Chapter 2601 — The Quiet Trouble

"Absolutely. And the materials I traded from Wei Zhao came in stages—only this latest exchange brought me anything good. Before that, it was all ordinary fare!" You Panhu said. "Besides, when Han Jingyi refines pills, she doesn't have any of that material. Their materials must be their own—they didn't come from Leader Bai!"

"That makes sense." Elder You nodded. "So then, Han Jingyi must have good pill-refining materials in her possession, yes?"

"That has to be it," You Panhu said. "Otherwise, why would she refuse to show me her materials every time I went to see her? By any reasonable account, I'd already traded for everything she had. If she still won't show me the rest, something's definitely off."

"Father, something just occurred to me!" You Zhentian frowned, his expression suddenly grave. "We've overlooked something important!"

"What is it?" Elder You was slightly taken aback.

"Father, do you remember—back near Songshan City, they discovered the tomb of Zhang Liju, the first-generation Pill God?" You Zhentian said. Among ordinary folk, Zhang Liju was called the Medical Sage, but among cultivators he was known as the Pill God.

"That's true enough, but what does that have to do with Wei Zhao?" Elder You had once harbored designs on that ancient tomb himself, but later heard it was so perilous that he had let the matter drop.

"It seems unrelated, but in fact it has everything to do with it! Father, do you remember how Wei Zhao stirred up trouble between the Hidden Yu and Hidden Zhao families back then? And where exactly did Yu Huoxing of the Hidden Yu family get his Qi-Gathering Pill?" You Zhentian asked.

"The ancient tomb! Wei Zhao went to the ancient tomb too!" Elder You understood in an instant. Yes—if Wei Zhao had snatched one of the Qi-Gathering Pills, that proved he had been to the tomb. How else could Wei Zhao have known so many details?

And later it was said that Yu Huoxing, after thinking it over, admitted as much—the man in the ancient tomb had been Wei Zhao in disguise!

"Exactly. So tell me—is it possible that Wei Zhao found Zhang Liju's pill-refining notes in the tomb and gave them to Han Jingyi?" You Zhentian said. "Otherwise, how is Han Jingyi so formidable at pill-refining? And improving at such astonishing speed?"

"Right. That explains everything!" Elder You nodded. "It must be so—Wei Zhao obtained Zhang Liju's pill-refining notes! No wonder he turned his nose up at what Leader Bai gave him, and so readily traded Leader Bai's notes to us. He already had something better!"

"Grandfather, then shall I go trade with Wei Zhao again?" You Panhu asked hastily.

"No. If you go to Wei Zhao again, he still won't give you Zhang Liju's pill-refining notes, and it would only risk exposing our purpose." Elder You shook his head decisively, rejecting You Panhu's proposal. "This matter is now beyond the capabilities of the Hidden You family. Since we cannot obtain it by trade, and we cannot seize it by force—last time we had You the Third pose as a robber and he nearly died for it—we cannot take that risk and offend Wei Zhao again."

"So we just give up?" You Panhu was a pill refiner himself. He knew the value of good notes, and he knew how difficult it was for Han Jingyi to refine so many high-quality pills in such a short time. He wanted to learn from them too.

Of course, no one in the Hidden You family even entertained the notion that Han Jingyi could refine pills in tandem with Wei Zhao—or that she could produce several extra pills in the bargain. To them, such a thing was unimaginable.

"Of course we can't give up. But this matter must be reported to the Mystic Pill Sect and left for them to handle. If the Mystic Pill Sect obtains these notes, we can claim our share of the spoils—after all, we're the ones who brought the intelligence."

"I suppose you're right." You Panhu was somewhat disappointed. It seemed this matter had little to do with him now.

After the secret discussion, Elder You reported their deductions to Tian Canbian. But when Tian Canbian heard that Han Jingyi was Leader Bai's student, he hesitated. This was not something he could decide on his own; he could only report it further to his grandfather, passed up the chain layer by layer.

Elder Tian held another identity: he was that place's spokesman at the ancient level, and thus knew a little more. So the matter of Leader Bai's student gave him a headache as well. He could only keep reporting upward, until it reached Ancestor Xuanchen himself.

You Panhu never imagined that their coveting of Han Jingyi's materials would alarm the people of that place. Ancestor Xuanchen listened to Elder Tian's report, his expression shifting unpredictably. Zhang Liju's pill-refining notes? What a treasure that was! Granted, Han Jingyi was Leader Bai's student—but what if it were done discreetly?

At that thought, Ancestor Xuanchen immediately summoned his second senior brother, Ancestor Xuanzhen.

"Second Brother, take a look at this intelligence reported up from the ancient Mystic Pill Sect." Ancestor Xuanchen handed the documents in his hand to Ancestor Xuanzhen.

"Oh? News from the Mystic Pill Sect?" Ancestor Xuanzhen took the documents and read them carefully. But halfway through, his expression shifted slightly. "Zhang Liju's pill-refining notes?"

"Indeed. The pill-refining notes of Zhang Liju, the Pill God—and the founding patriarch of our second master!" Ancestor Xuanchen nodded.

"You mean we should get these notes back? But this Han Jingyi is Leader Bai's disciple..." Ancestor Xuanzhen hesitated. His pill-refining skill surpassed Ancestor Xuanchen's, and his pursuit of the craft was greater too—but when he saw Han Jingyi's status, he drew back.

"Disciple? She's merely a student—an ordinary teacher-student relationship, nothing more," Ancestor Xuanchen said with a smile. "And by the look of it, this student has kept it hidden. The Leader doesn't know she has Zhang Liju's notes. Besides, Zhang Liju is the founding patriarch of our second master. Taking these notes back is only natural, wouldn't you say?"

"True enough in principle, but this does involve the Leader..." Ancestor Xuanzhen still hesitated.

"How about this—aren't we just about to go seek the enemy who wounded Tagan Long? We can take a detour and look for this Han Jingyi along the way. If we find her, we take her notes in passing; if not, we let it go. What do you say?" Ancestor Xuanchen suggested.

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