Chapter 535: Pill King at the Grand Medicine Testing Convention
After Pill King asked his question, the crowd came to a realization. Qin Wangfei had been sitting so far away from the stage and had no prior knowledge of the full ingredients list. How was she so certain that the Xie Clan had cheated?
Isn’t that too miraculous?
Everyone looked at Han Yunxi to wait for an explanation, but she simply remained calm and said, “Your Excellency Pill King, I was familiar with the prescription for Sixty Rooms from the start. When I saw the Wang Clan Head pick out those ten ingredients for Xie Peng, this junior began to harbor my own suspicions. Then when Fourth Master Wang so easily gave up, this junior determined that there was something wrong with the ingredients.”
“You can determine it was Sixty Rooms just by seeing ten of its ingredients?” the Pill King clearly disbelieved her.
But Han Yunxi only grinned. “Your Excellency Pill King, this junior wasn’t certain at all. It’s just…I was about seventy to eighty percent sure, so I decided to take a gamble. Didn’t I bet on the right answer in the end?”
Naturally, it was the detox system that had helped Han Yunxi discovered Sixty Rooms. Its capability for breaking down medicinal ingredients and their proportions could topple any medical genius in an instant. Of course, it helped that the system had a record of Sixty Rooms in its archives to begin with. Sixty Rooms was a famous prescription; if this was some lesser-known, private creation hidden by its owner, then the detox system would have been at a loss all the same.
“You had a seventy to eighty percent certainty just after seeing 10 ingredients?” the Pill King was still doubtful.
Han Yunxi walked over and began to arrange the ingredients on the table according to scale. “Your Excellency Pill King, the theory behind Sixty Rooms comes mainly from its distribution of various proportions. The ingredients vary between inhibiting, balancing, or enhancing each other to create a cohesive fusion. The Wang Clan Head gave Xie Peng ten ingredients that made me suspicious, but Xie Peng’s leftovers allowed me to guess the proportions of ingredients he used for his pill. After figuring that out, I was seventy to eighty percent certain of my guess!”
Naturally, the detox system’s own tools had the credit for all that work. Han Yunxi didn’t explain herself thoroughly, but she hit the nail on the head when it came to the prescription, so Pill King understood her at once. He suddenly burst into laughter. “It was this old man who invented the Sixty Rooms prescription. I never thought that I’d live to see the day a junior unmasked the secret to my formula. This old man has seen my life’s desire fulfilled, haha!”
Both the crowd and Han Yunxi were stunned by his words. They never expected Pill King to be the inventor of Sixty Rooms! And yet, his next words shocked them utterly.
“Qin Wangfei,” he began, “Will you be willing to accept if this old man took you as my disciple?”
Han Yunxi was frightened by the proposal. After all, Pill King was the soul of Medicine City and its true master. So many people had begged to be his disciple but were turned away at the door because he never took any students. She subconsciously glanced towards Long Feiye, who was equally amazed. But he quickly gave her a comforting look. In his eyes, this was simply a honor that Han Yunxi deserved!
Leaving aside her talents and ability, her ploy to fix the prices for Pill Fiend Pharmacy’s ingredients had already brought happiness to the people. She was worthy of the highest honor in the medical community.
“Qin Wangfei…isn’t willing?” His Excellency Pill King asked in amusement.
“No!” Han Yunxi recovered her senses and immediately fell on her knees. “Master is above me. Please accept obeisance from your disciple! Master can simply call this disciple Yunxi.”
How could she refuse such a good thing? With Pill King’s support, would there be any difficulties facing her in Medicine City in the future?
“Haha! Good, good!” His Excellency Pill King was delighted. He strode forward with large strides to personally help her up. Although he was getting on his years, his movements were extraordinary and emanated an impressive, dignified bearing. With the exception of Long Feiye, everyone else was still stunned by the turn of events.
His Excellency Pill King actually took in an outsider as his disciple. Is…is this a dream?
Head Elder Xie was the most dumbstruck of all. He stood stock still until Han Yunxi looked his way. Her gaze made him unconsciously back away until he almost stumbled.
“Master, since you’ve come, please preside over matters to see justice done,” Han Yunxi said sincerely.
His Excellency Pill King had been observing the Grand Medicine Testing Convention from the shadows so he knew exactly what was going on. He was about to speak when Head Elder Xie cried injustice. “Old Senior, this one has never seen Sixty Rooms before. Even if I had, I wouldn’t dare to use it as a cheat and betray everyone’s trust! This is purely due to the good luck of my Xie Clan and all a coincidence. I won’t be able to wash my sins clean even if I jumped into the Yellow River, now that esteemed wangfei has denounced me on false charges! Old Senior, please have clear judgment!”
The facts were ironclad, but Xie Deyi still wanted to argue? He was probably forced to a point of no return like a dog anxious to jump off the wall.
“A coincidence? Heheh. Head Elder Xie, you ‘coincidentally’ didn’t know the formula for Sixty Rooms, but a little child of the Xie Clan did?” Han Yunxi’s laughter was frigid.
Now Xie Deyi was rendered speechless. He felt his vision go black as he narrowly avoided passing out. His eyes flickered to Ouyang Ningnuo in the seats offstage, but the man only avoided his gaze. Both the Sixty Rooms and Poison Roundworm had been given to Xie Deyi by Ouyang Ningnuo. Xie Deyi wasn’t an idiot and knew full well the consequences if he was caught cheating, but he risked everything regardless when he saw the old prescription.
A rare prescription like Sixty Rooms was something he’d never seen before, to say nothing of everyone else in Medicine City. He didn’t even guard against the likes of Gu Qi Sha because it should’ve been perfectly safe, and yet it was Han Yunxi, a poisons expert, who unmasked his trick in front of everyone and attracted His Excellency Pill King.
The end results left Xie Deyi with no choice but to resign himself to his fate. Victory or defeat was determined with only one move. The Xie Clan had utterly lost!
His Excellency Pill King gave Xie Deyi a stern look before raging, “You’ve already lost face for Medicine City and you’re still crying out injustice? As this old man sees it, you ought to be punished severely as a warning to others. It’ll give the rest a good lesson and rectify their views!”
His Excellency Pill King naturally wouldn’t be the one to issue those orders, but nobody would dare to defend the Xie Clan after those words, much less plea mercy for their sake.
The fourth elder immediately issued orders. “Someone come, take Xie Deyi into custody and put him in the prisons to await his inquest! Today’s competition is invalid! Once the Council of Elders is reorganized, we’ll rehost the competition on another date. The Mu and Xie Clans have committed grave errors and ruined the name of our Medicine City and its self-respect. The Council of Elders will punish them severely and give a proper explanation to both you all and the rest of the world!”
Of the seven members in the Council of Elders, Xie Deyi had fallen off his high horse while the second and third elders (who hailed from the Mu Clan) had long left the scene. It thus fell upon the fourth elder to preside over matters. As he finished speaking, he respectfully bowed towards His Excellency Pill King and Han Yunxi.
“I respectfully invite Old Senior and esteemed wangfei to honor us with your presence when the time comes, and to judge over the convention amongst us juniors.”
“It is better to accept deferentially than to decline courteously,” Han Yunxi replied immediately.
Although the Pill King was disinterested in such mundane things, he hesitated after Han Yunxi’s reply and nodded to show that he accepted. The fourth elder was thrilled beyond words. “Thank you, Old Senior. Thank you, esteemed wangfei. If the two of you don’t mind, please come to the Council of Elders—”
The Pill King raised a hand to refuse the offer before he could finish speaking. “Yunxi, come with this old man,” he said.
He left as soon as he spoke, leaving Han Yunxi to hurry after him. Long Feiye shot a glance at the Wang Clang Head before following suit. Once they were gone, the crowd left behind remained stunned, still too shocked to believe everything that had just happened. Ouyang Ningnuo was amongst him, his expression completely flabbergasted.
A single prescription for Sixty Rooms had not only ruined the Xie Clan, but earned favor for Han Yunxi in the Pill King’s eyes. Had he ended up making the wedding clothes for someone else—giving others all the advantages? This was probably the heaviest loss he’d incurred in his history of doing business. After all, he had spent an exorbitant sum to get the Sixty Rooms formula from the person who owned it…
—
There were no limits to the Medicine Forest, so the Council of Elders only took up a portion of the land. Most of it still fell within the Pill King’s domain. His Excellency Pill King brought Han Yunxi deeper and deeper into the woods. Once they went past a thick copse of trees, a luxuriant field of medicinal plants appeared before their eyes. Within the field was a simple, crude courtyard—Pill King’s private quarters.
After entering the house, His Excellency Pill King turned to look at Long Feiye and murmured, “You should wait outside.”
It was the first time anyone had refused entry to His Highness Duke of Qin!
Long Feiye glanced at Han Yunxi and saw her nod, so he accepted the request and left. It was obvious His Excellency Pill King had matters to discuss with her. He ended up waiting an entire hour with no sign of Han Yunxi. When he was about to knock on the door, it suddenly opened. Only Han Yunxi emerged from the house. Long Feiye glanced behind her and saw His Excellency Pill King sitting inside with his legs crossed, intently reading a scroll as if nothing had happened.
“How did it go?” Long Feiye asked hesitantly.
Han Yunxi smiled. “We finished our talk. Let’s go.”
Just like that? She seems to be in a good mood, but what did they talk about?
After leaving the field with Han Yunxi, Long Feiye finally gave in and pulled her back. “What happened?”
“His Excellency Pill King wants to pass down everything he’s ever learned to me…”
That should be good news, but Long Feiye was unhappy. Before Han Yunxi could finish, he interrupted, “And the terms?”
A consummate expert like the Pill King would never take in disciples lightly, much less teach them his knowledge. The Pill King was so keen on Han Yunxi that he must have had high demands.
“He wanted me to stay in that hut with him for ten years,” Han Yunxi replied with a grin.
“You….” Long Feiye began to grow nervous.
“I agreed. I’ll clean up my things when we return to Southern Ning and make arrangements to have someone else take care of Pill Fiend Pharmacy,” Han Yunxi said earnestly, before adding, “Long Feiye, I’ll leave Mu Linger’s affairs to you. With Gu Beiyue and Gu Qishao there, I don’t need to worry about Pill Fiend Pharmacy, either. In the future I’ll be living here, so you can find me whenever you need something.” She was so thorough with her words that Long Feiye began to feel unwell all over. His fingers tightened their grip on hers as if he’d never let her go.
Finally, he asked in a heavy tone, “Han Yunxi, you won’t worry about your lordship either?”
Han Yunxi looked at him innocently. She wanted to continue the farce, but his serious expression made it impossible for her to keep up the act. When that man got serious, he was exactly like a persistent little child. She suddenly felt her heart ache and muttered, “I was tricking you. Long Feiye, how could I ever bear to leave you?”
She had chatted about many things with the Pill King in his hut, increasing the man’s admiration of her worth. He had given her many demands, but she refused to budge or agree to any of them. Finally, it was the Pill King who relented and gave her a medical book instead. He also said that she was welcome to come back at any time if she changed her mind.
When Han Yunxi saw Long Feiye realize the truth, she burst into laughter, so amused that she couldn’t stop. She was getting better and better at teasing him. Han Yunxi, ah, Han Yunxi. Was I really so self-abasing and air-headed before him in the past?
Suddenly, Long Feiye raised his arm and wrapped Han Yunxi within the depths of his large black cloak. Soon enough, muffled noises emerged from the depths that were enough to turn a listener’s face red. Long Feiye was severely punishing Han Yunxi with his kissing…
TLer’s Note: Once again, this will be the last release before I’m off to Hawaii for vacation (June 1st – June 12th!). Check the announcement post for other random reads! <3