The current problem facing the City Lord of Tianwu City was old age and bodily decline—he wouldn't live many more years. Gao Xinpeng's purpose in coming here was to refine a Life-Extending Pill for him, boosting his remaining lifespan.
Yang Kai happened to possess quite a few pill formulas for longevity and vitality enhancement, each with extraordinary effects. If he could actually refine one, it would surely make that Tianwu City Lord bounce back to full vigor with a dramatic increase in lifespan.
The problem was, the medicinal ingredients required by those formulas he knew were all exceedingly rare and precious. Setting aside whether they even existed in this Divine Weapon World, even if they did, they likely weren't something a place like Tianwu City could procure.
He had no idea what kind of Life-Extending Pill Gao Xinpeng intended to refine, or what effects it would have.
But if he could first earn the City Lord's trust, he would naturally be allowed to stay in the City Lord's Manor. When Gao Xinpeng arrived, they would inevitably cross paths.
So he planned to refine some pills for strengthening and regulating blood and qi. Such pills were relatively simple to produce, the ingredients weren't particularly rare, and Tianwu City should be able to find them.
If the City Lord of Tianwu City could take his pills on a long-term basis, extending his life by a few more years shouldn't be a problem.
The night passed without incident. At dawn the next day, Du Youyou returned, bringing back a large pile of medicinal ingredients.
"Thank you for your hard work." Yang Kai nodded.
Du Youyou smiled softly. "It is this servant's honor to share the Master's burden. Does the Master have any further instructions?"
"That's all. You may withdraw."
"Yes!"
Du Youyou retreated respectfully, and only then did Yang Kai produce a crudely fashioned pill furnace and several chunks of flame-red stone. The pill furnace was something he had found in the Void Spirit Sword Sect's storehouse—he couldn't tell how many years it had been gathering dust there. It was likely a relic left behind by some alchemist from several generations past.
The Void Spirit Sword Sect's storehouse contained several such items. Wan Yingying and the other two Disciples who were learning alchemy now all used pill furnaces obtained this way.
The flame-red stones were Fire Shine Stones. Yang Kai had no pill fire of his own, and there was no subterranean fire here to draw upon, so he could only use Fire Shine Stones to fuel his refining.
The Blood Vitality Pills he was crafting this time weren't complicated. Out in the wider world, Yang Kai could refine them without the slightest effort, but here he had to expend considerably more energy.
Two days later, a bottle of Blood Vitality Pills was successfully completed. Each pill was only about the size of a soybean, dark red in color, and the small bottle contained well over a hundred pills.
Yang Kai summoned Shi Minghui and had him bring two Blood Vitality Pills to the City Lord's Manor as an offering. Once the manor verified the pills' efficacy, they would naturally summon him for negotiations.
At that point, he could stay openly within the City Lord's Manor, waiting for Gao Xinpeng's arrival.
What Yang Kai hadn't expected was that after Shi Minghui left, there was no word from him at all. Yang Kai waited an entire day without seeing him return, nor did anyone from the City Lord's Manor come by. A vague sense that something had gone wrong began to creep in.
He sent Du Youyou to investigate, and the results left him dumbfounded.
Women really were better at getting people to talk, especially a woman as beautiful and shapely as Du Youyou. Even though the City Lord's Manor had its information locked down tight, she still managed to uncover some clues with ease.
According to her account, Shi Minghui had indeed entered the City Lord's Manor to present the Blood Vitality Pills. However, during the verification of their efficacy, something had gone wrong. An Earth-rank Alchemist from the manor had declared outright that the Blood Vitality Pills Shi Minghui brought were poisonous, claiming an attempt to poison the City Lord. Shi Minghui was seized on the spot and thrown into Tianwu City's dungeon, his fate unknown.
Yang Kai laughed out of sheer exasperation!
Here he was, a bona fide Emperor-rank Alchemist, having gone to the trouble of carefully refining Blood Vitality Pills, and someone had the audacity to call them poisonous? In that moment, he had the sudden urge to draw his sword and storm the City Lord's Manor.
Though Shi Minghui had been subdued through some unconventional methods, the man was still carrying out tasks on his behalf. Now that things had gone wrong, he certainly couldn't wash his hands of it.
Moreover, the fact that the City Lord's Manor hadn't come looking for him meant that Shi Minghui hadn't divulged even a shred of information about him. Otherwise, they would have followed the trail to his doorstep long ago.
But Yang Kai quickly suppressed the impulse. He had a nagging feeling that this matter wasn't so simple—that he had stumbled into some kind of entanglement. The City Lord of Tianwu City's situation was almost certainly more than just old age and decline.
This set his mind racing with suspicion.
With his current abilities, storming the City Lord's Manor wouldn't be difficult. The challenge was rescuing Shi Minghui. On his own, he was confident he could slip in and out undetected, but bringing someone else along was another matter entirely.
Tianwu City harbored quite a few Heaven-rank powerhouses, and the City Lord himself was at the peak of the Heaven-rank, backed by Gao Xinpeng of the Mystic Pill Hall. If things escalated, it would benefit neither him nor the Void Spirit Sword Sect.
After mulling it over for a while, Yang Kai instructed Du Youyou to find a way to determine Shi Minghui's current condition—his primary concern being whether the man was still alive. Meanwhile, he would wait for nightfall and go probe the depths of that City Lord's Manor for himself.
Du Youyou took her orders and departed.
Yang Kai began his careful preparations. When night finally fell, he dressed entirely in black and sneaked out of his residence, heading straight for the City Lord's Manor.
He couldn't help but feel a twinge of speechlessness. Here he was, a Sixth-Order Open Heaven realm cultivator, slinking around the Divine Weapon World like a common thief—it was practically an insult to his status.
The City Lord's Manor was heavily guarded on the outside. Even a Heaven-rank martial artist wouldn't be able to infiltrate it undetected. But these defenses were nothing more than a joke to Yang Kai.