Information

"How much for this yang fire pill?" I asked the hooded pill maker who was wearing dark robes, looking all mysterious. His edginess was making me doubt his authenticity as an alchemist. No matter what he did, he couldn't hide what he sold.

'I mean--come on man, I know this is Viagra,' I thought internally, pinching the bright yellow pill between my fingers.

"40 silvers for one," he faked a deep tone. I immediately noticed it because he was not quite as good as me.

My chin hardened, my lips moved upwards with my eyebrows, and multiple lines formed on my forehead.

"Hoho, FOURTY silvers," I said, making the legendary 'trump face' as I put the pill down. I walked away from that shop and entered another one nearby.

'Hmph, did he think I would be awed by his appearance and forget about that outrageous price? Whoever pays nearly half a gold for some Viagra surely has erectile dysfunction,' I thought.

The reason I was buying this was that I was going to have a 'pleasant night' with the woman who had the poison I needed. Indeed, all that chasing and killing was because I heard about that poison.

She could suck people's cultivation while fu- uh... mating, so I needed to have some 'resourceful support.' I was skeptical about what that man said, though. The poison and the woman; both shouldn't exist in such a low-level area. Still, it didn't hurt to be prepared.

'I'll see what special physique she has...' thinking that, I beckoned the pill maker who was busy reading a green scroll.

"15 silver kins," this seller offered me a better deal. I haggled for about five minutes and bought four pills from him at 50 silvers. They were orange in color, indicating higher quality.

"That is why, people should consider every option around them before choosing one," I verbalized my daily dose of wisdom as I exited that shop. I had less than 15 gold kins left with me now.

'That will be enough for tonight,' there was no reason for me to rob other people. They got lucky. I looked around myself and spotted those money pouches hanging from their waists, unprotected.

A lot of things had happened this morning. After going that far away, trying to find Chunu now was just foolishness. I knew where she stayed in this town, so I wasn't too worried. If she couldn't even take care of herself after reaching rank 4, then she wasn't worth my time.

I shook my head and made my way towards Yellow Rocks Mansion. I wanted to know more about that poison powder. I was sure they had some kind of information about it. Hopefully, it wouldn't cost too much.

...

Clink! The sound of coins mixed in with the background chatter as I put my money pouch on the counter.

"What do you say, brother Hu? Care to join this Fan on a little 'adventure'?" I asked. I was going to a brothel this evening, how could I not bring Hu Shuo with me?

I was 99.99% sure he hadn't touched a girl in his whole life. I was an expert at identifying virgins.

"What are you here for?" he didn't answer my question, asking me instead. How rude.

"I need some info about a certain type of poison," I folded my hands, lazily leaning over. Glancing left and right, I found that only he was working today.

He grabbed my pouch and looked inside. "Getting information about one type of poison doesn't need so much."

I'd separated five golds and put the remaining eight with me in another pouch. I just remembered that I had wanted to pay him back the money I wasted.

"I know it's been tough on you these two weeks and I've finally made some money that'll help you. This is for you brother Hu, cut the fees for information and take the remaining money."

"I don't need it," he said, taking a gold coin and putting 40 silver kins inside. He left the pouch there and went to a different room that had many dusty scrolls arranged in wooden columns. I followed him there.

"So, what type of poison do you want to know about?" he asked, not facing me but the scrolls. He hadn't so much as looked at me this whole time.

'Oh come on... The last thing I want to do is to convince a person to take MY money,' I rolled my eyes.

"Search for rare powder-type poisons," my voice echoed in the small but tall room.

There were tens of columns filled with scrolls that recorded writings relating history to alchemy. It was a mini-library of sorts.

I also spotted a few books but they were placed up high and some kind of mechanism was preventing others from accessing them.

Hu Shuo was manually looking at different scrolls from three specific columns and I figured it would take some time. Thus, I picked a few scrolls near me and started reading.

The first scroll I found recorded the general history of the Changlu continent. How it was first occupied by wandering tribes and how with time they evolved into various clans and families. As with the history of any place, war was frequently mentioned along with a plaque. The author kept mentioning a famous cultivator known as Demon Lord Niao. This man was a legendary figure who was born as the son of a poor woodcutter and later turned into a core condensation stage cultivator. He commanded the war against demon beasts four hundred years ago. Today, he ruled the whole continent.

Half an hour, then one hour, and two hours passed just like that. Finally, Hu Shuo came to me carrying six scrolls and a small book the size of a dictionary.

"I'll charge a full gold for this," he grumbled and put the scrolls on a nearby table where he started to open them one by one, reading out loud what was written in them.

None of them matched what the man had told me except for what was written in the fourth scroll.

"Everblossom Lia is a-"

"Yes, that's it!" I shouted. I remembered the name, Lia.

"Shhh," he said, looking serious. He continued, "...is a flower that grows in the border of a desert zone. As its name implies, once it has bloomed it never wilts unless a living creature touches it. Its petals turn into a deadly type of poison that can only be neutralized by the pollen grains of the same flower. The longer the flower lives before a creature kills it, the more poisonous its petals become. It is extremely rare and no one knows when another Lia flower sprouts after one die. Most of the alchemists consider it t-"

"Okay, that's enough. Make a copy of this, I'll read all of it later myself," I was thirsty now. I did drink half a jar of water earlier but drinking that much wasn't nearly enough when I was sweating just by sitting. The heat in this desert was no joke.

"That'll cost an extra 55 silver kins," he gazed at me, shutting the book and rolling the other scrolls close.

'I don't care man... I already gave you 5 gold coins,' my head moved up as I forced a tired smile.