Nearby, the expressions of the Sunglasses Man and Jiang Shan gradually darkened.
Chapter 28: A Way to Make a Fortune
The Sunglasses Man, in particular, was utterly speechless.
Did Chu Hao even hear himself speak?
He had spent the majority of his net worth to buy a single first-grade pill—this renowned Yuanyang Pill—yet Chu Hao was calling it stir-fried meatballs meant for casual snacking, whipped up by the potful?
"Young brother must be mistaken!" The Sunglasses Man gave a dry cough. "Do you have any idea how much this pill is worth?"
"How could I possibly be mistaken?" Chu Hao shook his head. "This was just a snack I grew up eating. I know how to make it myself; I just need some herbs. I got so sick of eating it back then that I quietly fed it to the dog at the entrance of our village."
The Sunglasses Man was so angry his nose was practically crooked.
At this moment, Jiang Shan hurriedly tried to smooth things over. "Perhaps they just look identical."
Upon hearing that the Sunglasses Man had spent a fortune to buy it, Chu Hao pondered for a moment and said, "Big brother, you mustn't let yourself be scammed. This thing really is just the stir-fried meatballs I ate as a child."
After a short pause, Chu Hao added thoughtfully, "Oh, right, it seems to have another name—called the Yuanyang Pill, was it?"
Hearing Chu Hao utter the name of the Yuanyang Pill, they knew that what Chu Hao was saying was probably the truth.
Yet they still found it hard to accept. Chu Hao had been eating this stuff since he was a child?
The Sunglasses Man was acutely aware of how difficult this item was to acquire.
What kind of background did Chu Hao have to be able to treat the Yuanyang Pill like a snack?
It took him a long time to recover, but he still felt as though his chest had taken a bullet. He looked at Chu Hao and said somewhat powerlessly, "So the young brother is the one who saved Ranran? May I ask whose lineage you studied under?"
"I learned medicine from my grandfather!" Chu Hao replied.
"What is your grandfather's name?" the Sunglasses Man asked.
"My grandfather doesn't let me tell others." Chu Hao shook his head. "Big brother, this stuff really isn't expensive, and it's very simple to make. You should hurry up and find the person who sold it to you so you don't get ripped off too badly."
"Very simple? You can refine this pill?" the Sunglasses Man asked.
Chu Hao nodded. "Of course! I make a whole pot at a time!"
The corners of the Sunglasses Man's mouth twitched a few times before he took a deep breath and said, "Young brother, do you have any idea what the market price of this Yuanyang Pill is?"
"I have no idea!" Chu Hao shook his head.
"One billion per pill!" the Sunglasses Man said.
"Huh?" Chu Hao stared at the Sunglasses Man in dumbfounded amazement. "One billion a pill? This thing is worth a billion a pill? Have you people lost your minds?"
"Not only that, but... supply falls far short of demand. True Yuanyang Pills always go to auctions, and the actual transaction price far exceeds this figure." The Sunglasses Man said, "The one I have was won at an auction for 1.7 billion."
Chu Hao's eyes flickered slightly. He felt as though he had just discovered a lucrative way to make a fortune.
As a businessman, Jiang Shan's eyes danced with activity. He looked at Chu Hao and asked, "Are you certain you can refine this pill?"
Naturally, Chu Hao knew the effects of the Yuanyang Pill. The reason he had been able to get through the Qi Refining Stage so quickly was entirely due to the existence of the Yuanyang Pill.
However, because he had eaten so many of them, he had always assumed this stuff was... exceedingly cheap, which was why he had felt the urge to warn the Sunglasses Man!
He never imagined that the Yuanyang Pill would be worth this much money.
Chu Hao nodded. "I can refine it, and the quality will be much higher than this one."
Jiang Shan looked at the man in glasses and asked, "If there are enough Yuanyang Pills, can you sell them?"
"Of course!" the Sunglasses Man said. "Pills are in high demand and short supply right now. As long as it's graded, no matter what kind of pill it is, I can sell it, and at a remarkably good price."
Jiang Shan's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Chu Hao. "Divine Doctor Chu, would you be interested in teaming up to make some pocket money?"
Chu Hao's expression shifted slightly. In the past, he had no interest in money whatsoever.
However, after coming to Jiangcheng and experiencing the affairs of the Jiang family, he had learned the importance of money.
More importantly, the price of the Yuanyang Pill was simply too high. He felt that if he whipped up a single pot of them, it would be enough to last him a lifetime.
"Of course I'm interested," Chu Hao said with a smile.
"Good!" Jiang Shan's eyes lit up with joy. "How about this: I will provide the raw materials, you will be responsible for the refinement, and my friend here will be in charge of sales. The three of us will cooperate. As for the proceeds from the sales, he and I will take ten percent each, and you will take eighty percent. How does that sound?"
A stir went through the heart of the man wearing sunglasses as well.
He also needed money—or rather, walking the path of an immortal cultivator was inherently extremely expensive.
He wasn't a businessman like Jiang Shan, so he didn't have that many avenues for making money.
A single pill could bring him an income of at least one hundred million. Such a return was already quite impressive.
He looked at Chu Hao with a somewhat heated gaze.
Chu Hao nodded and said, "Alright!"
Hearing Chu Hao agree, the two of them were instantly overjoyed.
Jiang Shan was a businessman. For a venture with a thousandfold return where he didn't have to do anything except provide some raw materials, yet still get a ten percent profit—this was fantastic.
The Sunglasses Man looked at Chu Hao and then asked, "How many... how many can you refine at one time?"
"If we're talking about a full pot," Chu Hao calculated simply, "provided the raw materials are sufficient, I should be able to refine around one hundred to one hundred and fifty pills per batch."
Chu Hao's words left the two men in silence. One hundred to one hundred and fifty pills.
That meant every time Chu Hao refined a batch of pills, it would be worth over one hundred billion.
The breathing of everyone present grew somewhat heavy, including Chu Hao's!
This... was getting rich.
"Let's go, back to Jiangcheng first. We can talk on the way," Jiang Shan said, taking a deep breath.
Of course, before actually seeing Chu Hao's finished product, they didn't have absolute certainty. In the car, they discussed many details and ultimately decided that Jiang Shan would provide the first batch of raw materials first. Once Chu Hao refined the first batch of Yuanyang Pills, they would discuss the details and contracts further.
Chu Hao agreed as well. As long as he had the raw materials, refining Yuanyang Pills was no difficult task for him at all.
Along the way, Chu Hao also learned the Sunglasses Man's name: he was called Qin Su!
Yet for some reason, he had never revealed his true appearance.
With most matters discussed, Jiang Shan suddenly spoke up at this moment: "Now that this matter is settled, there is actually something I'd like to discuss with Divine Doctor Chu."
"What is it?" Chu Hao asked.
"Divine Doctor Chu!" Jiang Shan said. "Since you weren't blind, and when you treated Ranran earlier, you saw her entire body bare as well, I feel that Divine Doctor Chu, you ought to take responsibility for this matter."
Chapter 29: A Tampered Backpack
Jiang Shan was a businessman, and he wasn't stupid!
Although none of the three had mentioned each other's identities just now, Chu Hao knew that the man wearing sunglasses was an immortal cultivator, with a strength roughly at the Qi Refining Stage.
And based on what Chu Hao had said, the Sunglasses Man and Jiang Shan likewise suspected that Chu Hao was an immortal cultivator, even if his specific cultivation level remained unknown.
An immortal cultivator who had entered the Qi Refining Stage was the absolute pinnacle of existence in the mundane world. If he, Jiang Shan, could be on good terms with Chu Hao, it would make his business empire even more secure.
Most crucially, Chu Hao was a divine doctor—and as it now turned out, an alchemist!
Alchemists were exceedingly rare, even within the Immortal Realm.
If he could have Chu Hao marry Jiang Ranran, it would undoubtedly be a tremendous stroke of good fortune.
Chu Hao gave a dry cough. "President Jiang, I really was blind earlier, and my eyesight only just recovered. If you don't believe me, you can ask Su Nian!"
"Besides..." At this point, Chu Hao gave another dry cough. "I already have a wife."
"You have a wife?" Jiang Shan asked.
Chu Hao nodded. "Yeah, Su Nian and I went and got our marriage certificate this morning."
Jiang Shan was stunned. As he was driving, he turned his head and cast a peculiar look at Chu Hao. Seeming to connect it to something, he didn't ask any further questions, only letting out a long sigh. "What a pity!"
The car drove onward, and after about half an hour, they arrived in Jiangcheng.
Jiang Shan dropped Chu Hao off at the guesthouse. Before leaving, he gave Chu Hao his phone number, while Qin Su added Chu Hao on WeChat.
He intended to stay on good terms with Chu Hao!
If Chu Hao could truly refine Yuanyang Pills of a higher quality than the one in his possession, it meant Chu Hao was not only an alchemist, but an alchemist who had yet to be jaded by the world.
This powerful backer was one he had to cling to tightly.
Watching their car drive away, Chu Hao walked toward the guesthouse.
Mu Qingqing had already fallen asleep. Chu Hao walked lightly as he headed up the stairs and returned to his own room.
Just as he stepped inside, Chu Hao's nose twitched slightly. Having unlocked his seven apertures, his sense of smell had been vastly enhanced. The moment he entered the room, he caught a whiff of an unfamiliar scent.
His eyes swept across the room, finally coming to rest on the backpack sitting on the windowsill.
Someone... had rummaged through his backpack.
...
At the exact same time Chu Hao returned to the guesthouse, inside the Lin family villa.
On the second floor, wave after wave of agonizing sobs rang out.
Lin Teng was pacing back and forth in anxiety. He looked at Lin Kefu sitting in the wheelchair and said, "What should we do? Dad, what do we do now? Yiyi really seems unable to hold on much longer; she might actually die."
Lin Kefu cast a cold glance at him. "This is all of your own making. When Chu Hao came to Jiangcheng to fulfill the marriage engagement, even if you disagreed, you shouldn't have offended him to this extent."
"Framing him, beating him... throwing him by the roadside!" Lin Kefu let out a long sigh. "I went to great lengths to set up that scheme, yet he forcefully restrained himself. Now... I truly have no other choice!"
"You really can't blame us for this. You saw Chu Hao's clothes and styling yourself—he was just a country bumpkin. How could we possibly marry Yiyi off to someone like that?" With that, he let out a long sigh. "Besides, Yiyi's illness is too bizarre; we never could have imagined..."
"It's not that you couldn't imagine—I told you so, you just didn't believe me!" Lin Kefu sighed deeply.
With that, he looked at them and said, "He is at the guesthouse right now. Go and beg him! Didn't he say it? As long as... you kneel and beg him, and have Yiyi beg him, there might still be room for turnaround!"
"Beg that country bumpkin!" Lin Shuyu gritted her teeth.
"Then you'd rather just sit by and watch Yiyi die?" Lin Kefu glared at them and asked.
At that moment, a flurry of footsteps echoed from the doorway. A servant walked into the room and reported, "Master, Zuo Cheng is outside asking for an audience!"
"Zuo Cheng?" Lin Kefu's eyes turned frosty. "He was the one who came up with the idea to shoot that video, and he's the one who drove Yiyi to this state. Does he even have the face to come here? If Yiyi ends up dying, even if Zuo Cheng has the Luo family behind him, I'll make sure he's destroyed."
Lin Teng also cursed, "Throw him out!"
"He..." At this point, the servant said, "He claims he's brought a method to save the young miss, and he has someone with him named Luo Qing!"
"Oh?" Lin Kefu's expression changed as he asked, "Really?"
"Really. That person said that once you hear this name, you'll naturally let him in," the servant said.
"Quickly, invite them in!" Lin Kefu said hurriedly.
A trace of confusion appeared on Lin Teng's face as he asked, "Dad, who is Luo Qing? Is he some remarkable doctor?"
"He... is an ancestor of the Luo family. It seems the rumors are true; Yiyi might actually be saved. We can save her without relying on Chu Hao," Lin Kefu said.
...
Naturally, Chu Hao knew nothing of what was happening at the Lin family.
His conscience was clear; it was Lin Qinyi who had pushed things to the absolute limit first.
At the moment, he was inspecting his backpack. Nothing had been lost inside; the intruder seemed to have simply come in and rummaged through it.
Holding his pouch of silver needles, Chu Hao walked to the door, pulled it open, and took a breath. A moment later, he caught a trace of fragrance, and he looked toward the side.
The guesthouse had a single corridor per floor, with quite a few rooms lining it.
In the field of view, a woman dressed in a white long dress was standing blankly on a balcony.
Chu Hao glanced at her a few times. Although this woman also carried a fragrance on her body, it was different from the scent left behind in his room.
Following his nose, Chu Hao tracked the scent all the way forward.
Before long, he stopped in front of a certain room door.
The fragrance was drifting from inside this very room.
From inside the room, the sound of a phone conversation drifted out.
"Young Master Ye!" a voice tinged with allure rang out. "We've already found the person you wanted us to look for. I'm staying right next door to him!"
"Right, you know how we operate as a couple—when have we ever disappointed you?"
"The price is already agreed upon. I just heard some movement; he should be back by now. We'll make our move in a moment!"
"Alright, alright, we'll go find him right now. Same old rules, I'll send you photos after it's done, and you wire the payment!"
"Don't worry, we'll clean up properly!"
After a brief pause, footsteps sounded, followed instantly by the door of the room right in front of Chu Hao swinging open!
The two people inside stepped back in fright when they saw the person standing at their doorway.
Before either could speak, the corners of Chu Hao's mouth curled upward slightly. "Were the two of you looking for me?"
Chapter 30: Decisive Killing
On the second-floor balcony of the guesthouse, right outside a room door, Chu Hao stood there, gazing intently at the two of them.
His expression was ice-cold.
In fact, from the woman's phone call earlier, he had already guessed it.
These two were most likely assassins hired by Ye Hao.
He had mentally prepared himself long ago for the possibility that Ye Hao had his eyes on him, but he hadn't expected Ye Hao to move this fast.
After all, the Ye family was the head of the six great families of Yanjing; with the resources at their disposal, investigating him was no difficult task.
Su Nian had approached him several times over the past two days, making it very easy for Ye Hao to track him down.
What Chu Hao hadn't expected, however, was that their operation would be this swift—that two people would arrive here tonight and even tamper with his backpack.
Chu Hao's grandfather had told him that as an immortal cultivator, he must not harm ordinary mortals. But... were assassins considered ordinary mortals?
The answer was obviously no.
The two assassins were clearly veterans of many battles. After a brief moment of surprise, the woman gave a faint smile. "We were originally planning to go look for you, but we didn't expect you to come looking for us directly."
The man, who had maintained a cold expression throughout, spoke up: "There are other people in the corridor."
The woman chuckled softly. "Then she can only blame her own bad luck. You handle her, and try not to let her make a sound."
With that, she looked at Chu Hao and said, "Kid, if you want to blame someone, blame yourself for provoking someone you shouldn't have! Is Su Nian someone a person who can only afford to live in a guesthouse like this has any business touching?"
As she spoke, her right hand jerked upward, lunging straight for Chu Hao's throat.
Chu Hao clearly saw that wedged between the three gaps of her right fingers were sharp razor blades.
Her striking speed was blindingly fast; she had clearly undergone rigorous training.
As for the man, he didn't even bother glancing their way again. He vaulted directly out of the nearby window, heading straight for the woman in the white dress on the balcony.
The woman's attack was utterly sudden and exceptionally fast.
If an ordinary person had faced such a scene, they probably wouldn't even have had time to react.
But Chu Hao was no ordinary person. He was an immortal cultivator, and currently in the second realm of cultivation: the Aperture Opening Stage!
At this moment, the speed of the woman's attack was captured with absolute clarity by his opened eye apertures. In his vision, the woman was riddled with flaws from head to toe.
In a flash, he took a step backward.
At the same time, his wrist flicked across his waist. From the silver needle pouch at his waist, a silver needle about ten centimeters long instantly flashed through the air!
"Whoosh!"
The surrounding space rippled slightly, true elemental force surging forth. The needle pierced the void, accurately and flawlessly embedding itself into the woman's neck.
A look of astonishment crossed the woman's face. Her strike had missed, and she had just intended to swing her body forward and close the distance.
Yet at that very moment, she discovered that she seemed... unable to move her limbs anymore! The arm she had thrust out could not be pulled back, and her legs refused to obey her commands either!
She remained frozen in the exact posture of wielding the razor blades, standing right at the doorway, utterly unable to move!
"What did you do?!" The woman's expression shifted drastically. Then, recalling the strange flow of air she had sensed around Chu Hao just a moment ago, her face turned pale. "INTERNAL ENERGY RELEASE? YOU'RE A GRANDMASTER-LEVEL EXPERT!"
"Internal energy?" Chu Hao inwardly muttered in mute astonishment.
He was an immortal cultivator; the energy within his body was true elemental force, which was tiers above mere internal energy.
Having subdued the woman, he prepared to deal with the man. It would be bad if the fellow ended up harming that ordinary woman in the white dress.
"Bang!"
At that exact moment, he suddenly felt a shadow flicker in front of him, and a figure slammed heavily onto the ground right before him!
Chu Hao lowered his head, left entirely speechless.
The man who had been standing before him was now lying on the ground, frantically coughing up blood until his entire face was splattered with it.
When the woman saw this sight, her mind went completely blank.
What kind of people were they? The two of them were among the top-tier assassins in the country; joining forces, they had never failed a single mission!
Yet this time, she had been subdued by Chu Hao in an instant, and this man looked as though he was already on the verge of not surviving.
They had clearly kicked a steel plate, getting instantly decimated in seconds.
Chu Hao was also slightly surprised. He turned his head to look at the woman in the white dress.
At this glance, even Chu Hao found himself briefly dazed.
The woman's appearance fell into the category of a beauty, but compared to Su Nian, the gap was stark, and she couldn't even match Lin Qinyi.
Her expression was also somewhat cold and aloof.
Yet... there was a strange, compelling allure about her.
"Clean up your own messes; don't cause trouble for others!" The woman's voice rang out flatly. Without glancing their way again, she stood on the balcony and continued looking outward.
As if the affairs on Chu Hao's side had nothing to do with her at all.
Chu Hao was speechless. He turned his gaze back to the man.
The man was struggling desperately for breath, his breathing growing increasingly labored.
Finally, he managed to gasp out a breath. "Run... fast!"
With those two words, his neck slumped to the side, and his breathing stopped entirely.
"Dead?" Chu Hao's brow furrowed slightly.