Alchemy Pavilion

"Second Young Master, I found what you—…" Xiǎo Bāo began, but her words were abruptly cut off before she could finish.

"What~ she has a cleaver!? Guards! Stop her!" Feng Shen yelled, pointing at her with mock terror. On the surface, he appeared frightened, but he was struggling to hold back his laughter.

He loved playing games like this, but he no longer wanted her following him around. He hadn't forgotten the insult she'd dealt him earlier, and more importantly, he needed her to stay in one place for now.

After all, Feng Shen couldn't have his little chicken running away at the first sign of danger. She deserved to die painfully and slowly, to experience the depths of despair before the end.

Before Xiǎo Bāo could even scream, "What is happening!?" she was swiftly surrounded by the guards. One of them struck the back of her neck, and she collapsed, unconscious.

The lead guard hefted her limp body over his shoulder. "Pick up the dead bodies. I'll head back to the Detention Center," he ordered.

Without waiting for a response, he vanished into a small puff of smoke.

The guards got to work, gathering the dead bodies. Due to the sheer weight of the demi-humans, it took two guards to lift each body.

Though they were pretty high levels of cultivation, they lacked the physical strength of body cultivators, so it took some work.

"Ugh… I hate my job," a guard grumbled, straining to lift a demi-humans dead body with all his leg strength. His muscles ached, and exhaustion weighed heavily on him.

"I hear you, brother… I hear you…" the guard on the other side replied, grunting as he struggled to lift the heavy body.

Watching everything unfold, Chun Ai was in disbelief until she snapped out of it and yelled, "Stop! That girl didn't do anything wrong! It was that man!" She pointed toward where the Second Young Master had been.

However, it seemed Feng Shen had vanished.

The crowd wanted to curse him, but was bewildered, as he had been standing there just a moment ago.

'Where did that bastard go!?' they all seemed to have screamed in their heads.

The guards rolled their eyes, recognizing it for the lie it was. They knew he was a coward, and they suspected the onlookers merely wanted to shift the blame onto him because they despised him.

So, the guards simply ignored the young woman's words and began disappearing one after another.

They didn't get paid enough to care, in all honesty.

Chun Ai felt a wave of defeat wash over her as her father comforted her, while the crowd slowly began to disperse.

With nothing else happening, there was no point in standing around.

▬▬ι═══════ﺤ

Waving a black fan gently to create a breeze, Feng Shen whistled in a good mood.

He was near the Alchemy Pavilion, which meant he was close to unblocking his meridians and finally able to cultivate.

Feng Shen knew it would take millions of years to regain his previous level of power, but he couldn't care less; time meant nothing to him anymore after having lived for so long.

Many eyes were drawn to him, not just for his handsome features, but also because he was alone.

However, no one was foolish enough to believe the Second Young Master of the Feng family was truly without protection; they suspected he had someone guarding him from the shadows.

As a result, nobody with ill intentions dared to approach.

Feng Shen could sense the killing intent directed at him, and it made him lick his lips in delight. He relished the feeling, having missed the thrill of such hostility aimed in his direction.

In his past life, no one dared to direct even a hint of killing intent toward him; not a single gaze fell upon him without his permission.

'Ah~ all these ants are so cute,' Feng Shen thought. He longed to start slaughtering every life in the city, but he knew he wasn't strong enough yet.

He needed to gather resources and everything else he could from this place before he could unleash any destruction.

Arriving in front of the Alchemy Pavilion, a wide, expansive building bustling with people coming and going up and down the steps, Feng Shen ascended and made his way through the main entrance.

"Welcome!"

Upon stepping inside, Feng Shen and others were greeted by several young ladies, each a beauty in their own right. They wore purple hanfus layered with additional garments, elegantly tied at the waist.

With small smiles on their faces, they began to grab hold of the men and women, pulling them toward various areas filled with herbs, pills, plants, and countless other items for sale.

"Handsome, let me show you around!"

However, before one of the young ladies could touch him, Feng Shen leaned in and whispered, "Touch me, and you'll lose your hands."

The young lady simply nodded and backed away, latching onto another man nearby. She couldn't explain it, but her instincts urged her to get away from him.

Left alone, Feng Shen began to stroll around, searching for what he needed. He made his way to the section with long shelves lined with the items he was looking for.

Taking his time, he then selected various pills, herbs, plants, and stems, some of which were hard to find; Breeze Pill, Silkleaf Herb, Golden Heart Blossom, Celestial Vine, and Spirit Reed Stalk.

"Do I have everything?" Feng Shen muttered to himself, glancing down at the mountain of items he was holding.

He had tucked his black fan away in his robe, leaving his hands full. "Yep, got that. Yep… Alright, I've got it all."

Having confirmed this, Feng Shen began walking toward the Furnace Rooms, a distinct section of the Alchemy Pavilion that housed numerous rooms filled with different types of furnaces.

Walking past the counter where the Spirit Stone Attendants were, who were busy, he entered a vast hallway.

Feng Shen soon found the room he was looking for and stepped inside.

Despite being a small room, it was very clean, featuring a rug beneath the medium-sized furnace that rested in the middle of the room.

Above, there was a small hole in the roof for ventilation.

One side of the walls, devoid of hanging scrolls, had windows that provided a view of the outside.

A couple of stools were scattered around, just in case.

Closing the sliding door behind him with his body, Feng Shen approached the furnace and placed his items next to it.

Cracking his hands, he said to himself:

"Let's get started."