“City Lord Lu only has this one precious son, whom he holds in the palm of his hand fearing he’d melt away. This guy beat him up, so he definitely shouldn’t expect to leave the city alive!”

Hearing what the passersby said, Jun Changxiao decided to take Lu Tingyi hostage, making City Lord Lu wary of taking action, and it actually worked.

Of course, he’d already vented his anger by beating him up, but he didn’t forget his mission in coming to Linyuan City. So, taking advantage of having the hostage in hand, he planned to complete a transaction with the other party.

City Lord Lu was very cooperative and immediately sent for a medicinal materials appraiser.

“Appraise it.”

Jun Changxiao tossed over the spatial ring containing the medicinal materials. He wasn’t worried the other party would snatch it away, since his precious son was still in his hands. He calculated that if he encountered more people like this in the future, why bother with robbery at all?

“Is this a career change to kidnapping now?” the System said speechlessly.

After careful verification, the medicinal materials appraiser who’d been summoned said earnestly: “City Lord, these medicinal materials, though they appear ordinary, contain extremely vast energy and can completely be classified as Profound-tier!”

As he spoke, he was internally shocked.

Having dealt with medicinal materials year-round, he was absolutely intimately familiar with what kind of energy different varieties contained. But these materials that were clearly very ordinary yet possessed such great energy were something he’d never seen before!

City Lord Lu’s thoughts weren’t on the medicinal materials but entirely on his son, so he urged: “Quickly appraise their value.”

“This…”

After brief consideration, the medicinal materials appraiser said: “From their effects, they’re comparable to Profound-tier, but they’re still common ordinary medicinal materials after all, so calculating comprehensively, approximately two million profound stones.”

“Only two million?”

Jun Changxiao felt a bit disappointed.

The System said: “The seeds were bought at the Jingshui Town general store for only two hundred thousand, and after just over a month of cultivation you’re selling them for ten times the price. What more does the host want?”

“True enough.”

These medicinal materials were merely the first batch planted, only a few tens of thousands of plants. The medicinal fields could be expanded later, and when the volume increased, the profits would be substantial!

“Lu will give two and a half million!”

Seeing the disappointed expression on Dogshit’s face, City Lord Lu decided to give more!

“Two hundred fifty is unlucky where we come from, so round it up to three million.” Jun Changxiao said.

“Alright!”

City Lord Lu agreed without thinking.

So cooperative—if he’d known, he should’ve asked for five million!

Jun Changxiao said: “This is your territory after all. I’m worried you’ll pull tricks, so give the money first before I hand over the person.”

“Fine!”

City Lord Lu hurriedly tossed over several spatial rings. After checking each one, he confirmed there were exactly three million genuine profound stones.

“Whoosh!”

Jun Changxiao set Lu Tingyi upright in place, with formation flowing light appearing around him to envelop him, saying: “This is a type of formation that could explode at any time. Similarly, after half an hour it will also disperse on its own. City Lord Lu understands what I mean, right?”

“Understood, understood!”

City Lord Lu swore solemnly: “You and your wife can now leave very safely. Lu will absolutely not send anyone to pursue you!”

“Farewell then!”

Jun Changxiao stepped back, put his right hand on Hua Meigui’s waist and leaped up, flying out of Linyuan City at top speed.

City Lord Lu didn’t pursue. He rushed to the formation, seeing his son lying on the ground half-dead, and his heart immediately felt knife-cutting pain.

“Whoosh!”

Half an hour later, the formation automatically dispersed.

After confirming Lu Tingyi was safe, City Lord Lu finally held him in his arms, looked furiously in the direction Jun Changxiao had left, and said with eyes splitting with rage: “Immediately investigate this guy’s background!”

His son beaten, money extorted—he couldn’t swallow this grievance.

Of course, City Lord Lu’s meaning was to first send people to investigate, and after confirming the other party’s identity, then decide whether to seek revenge, because if the other party had power, he could only accept the loss and eat humble pie.

…

“Swoosh!”

In the heavens, Jun Changxiao sped along, feeling absolutely delighted in his heart.

Two hundred thousand profound stone cost seeds, multiplied tenfold in just over a month—if he expanded the scale and increased investment, would he ever lack money in the future?

Hua Meigui was equally happy, because her husband not only acknowledged she was his woman but also proactively held her while flying.

Happiness came too suddenly.

However, when she gradually calmed down, she said: “Husband just offended Linyuan City’s City Lord like this—how can we do business in the future?”

“Not a big problem.”

Jun Changxiao said: “This is ultimately a small city. As long as the medicinal materials are good, we won’t worry about selling them anywhere.”

After verification by the Upper Realm’s medicinal materials appraiser, he had confidence in the medicinal materials cultivated in the Nourishing Soil, so his ambitions also grew larger, definitely planning to go to bigger cities to seek business opportunities.

Actually, from the Mortal Realm’s perspective, Linyuan City was at most on par with Qingyang City. To earn big money and get rich, he definitely needed to go to first or second-tier major cities where experts were everywhere.

“Swish!”

After flying for some distance, Jun Changxiao landed in the wilderness, set down Hua Meigui, and said: “Walk yourself.”

Though after entering Pill Transformation Realm he had the power of flight, restricted by heaven and earth and his realm limits, his true energy consumption was extremely fast, unable to achieve sustained endurance.

…

On Linyuan City’s side, City Lord Lu dispatched large numbers of warriors and scouts, launching a large-scale manhunt, vowing to investigate the identity of the person who’d extorted him.

However.

Just as the city was in a state of high alert, a middle-aged man wearing a black robe with gold trim walked in from outside.

He slightly raised his head and muttered to himself: “I sense a special medicinal material aura.”

This person dressed stylishly with excellent bearing.

However, before even entering the city’s main street, he was surrounded by soldiers. The reason—his black robe matched the one draped over Hua Meigui!

“What’s the meaning of this?”

The middle-aged man frowned slightly.

A general walked over, carefully examined the black robe he was wearing, and said coldly: “Detain him!”

Because Lu Tingyi had been abused and held hostage, the city had entered a state of high alert. With someone suddenly appearing in matching attire, they naturally wouldn’t ask questions first but detain him.

“Wait a moment!”

The middle-aged man methodically took out an object from his spatial ring, then hung it on his chest, saying calmly: “Look clearly at what this is.”

The general squinted to look, discovering it was something like a medal with complex carvings around it and two small golden characters “Pill Hall” in the center. His facial muscles immediately stiffened.

A Pill Hall medal!

This was someone from the Pill Hall!

The Upper Realm had many non-faction neutral organizations, the most famous being Realm Hall, because it existed to maintain world peace. Besides that, there were also Martial Hall, Temple Hall, Formation Hall, Pill Hall, and others.

Pill Hall, as the name suggested, was an organization related to pills, ranking second only to Realm Hall in fame, because pills played a crucial role in the martial world.

The medal hanging on the middle-aged man’s chest was a Pill Hall medal. Those qualified to obtain it were all alchemy masters recognized by the Pill Hall.

“Quickly stand down!”

The general urgently ordered the soldiers to withdraw their various weapons, then said with a trembling smile: “So it’s a Pill Hall master. Just now we were quite offensive. Please forgive us!”

A master indeed.

Transcendent status.

The middle-aged man straightened his attire, put his hands behind his back in a proud manner, and said: “Take me to see your City Lord.”