This was quite the unexpected discovery.
Jiang Chen already had a bone-deep grudge with Danhuo City. Whether it was Emperor Danji or Pill King Jilang, both of them hated him to the core.
It wasn't just because he'd cost Danhuo City the Myriad Year Pill. It was because Jiang Chen had shattered Pill King Jilang's undefeated legend, slapped Danhuo City across the face, and shaken the very foundation of their dominance in the Dao of Pills.
For Danhuo City, this was the most unacceptable blow of all.
So when he heard that Lin Yanyu was an enemy of Danhuo City, Jiang Chen found himself developing a far deeper interest in the man.
Of course, he had no intention of revealing any of this just yet.
Lin Yanyu, meanwhile, hadn't noticed anything unusual about Jiang Chen. Clearly, the thought of his father had stirred his emotions.
Seeming to realize he'd lost his composure, Lin Yanyu flushed with embarrassment. "Fellow Daoist Huang, I apologize. I got a little carried away."
"It's nothing. Getting emotional when thinking about family matters is perfectly natural."
Jiang Chen paused, then asked as if making idle conversation, "Danhuo City's pill arts are unrivaled, so they must have quite a few alchemy geniuses. I wonder—how many prodigies with innate spirit bodies are there among them?"
Lin Yanyu smiled bitterly. "Innate spirit bodies are exceedingly rare. Among a million people, you'd struggle to find even one. Danhuo City has some, but not many."
"Fellow Daoist Huang, why do you bring this up all of a sudden?" Lin Yanyu looked puzzled. "Could it be you're hoping to befriend alchemy geniuses?"
Jiang Chen nodded. "I have a friend who's fallen gravely ill. They say the only hope of saving him lies with an alchemist who possesses an innate wood spirit body. But such a constitution is terribly difficult to find."
"Innate wood spirit body?" Lin Yanyu started, then nodded involuntarily. "Among innate spirit bodies, wood spirit and metal spirit bodies are the most elusive. Innate fire spirit bodies are more common by comparison. But those who truly possess a superior-grade innate fire spirit body are still needle-in-a-haystack rare."
"Fellow Daoist Lin, you're well-connected and well-traveled in Danhuo City. Do you happen to know any genius with an innate wood spirit body?" Jiang Chen pressed.
Lin Yanyu shook his head reflexively, but then something clicked. His eyes suddenly lit up and he blurted out, "I don't personally know anyone with an innate wood spirit body. But a while back, when I was still in Danhuo City, I happened to overhear a piece of news about one."
"Oh? Do tell." Jiang Chen's eyes lit up too.
He was asking about the innate wood spirit body because he wanted to track down Mu Gaoqi. The gravely ill friend and the need for an innate wood spirit body were nothing more than pretexts.
Lin Yanyu took a moment to collect his thoughts. "I kept a low profile in Danhuo City, and my network wasn't extensive. But once, I heard someone mention that a major power in Danhuo City had purchased a batch of slaves. When they tested the new acquisitions, they actually discovered one with an innate wood spirit body. The news caused an enormous stir throughout the city at the time."
"Really?" Jiang Chen feigned surprise, though a storm was raging inside him.
Based on the timeline, this could only be Mu Gaoqi. He'd never expected to stumble upon intelligence about his missing friend like this.
Lin Yanyu sighed. "The world is full of wonders. That faction really hit the jackpot. But too much good fortune isn't always a blessing. Just look at my Lin family—if we hadn't discovered our ancestral pill recipe, perhaps we wouldn't have been torn apart."
Jiang Chen had no patience for the Lin family's saga right now. "Which faction got so lucky?"
Lin Yanyu replied, "It's a gang in Danhuo City called the Star Plucking Gang. They're considered a first-tier power there."
"Star Plucking Gang?" Jiang Chen rolled the name around thoughtfully.
"Fellow Daoist Huang, you're not planning to go to the Star Plucking Gang to seek treatment, are you?" Lin Yanyu asked.
"Is there some issue with that?"
"The difficulty is immense. Danhuo City is extremely hostile toward outsiders. For an ordinary person to get anything done by the Danhuo City powers, the price is exorbitant." Lin Yanyu held nothing back.
At least knowing the Star Plucking Gang's name put Jiang Chen somewhat at ease.
No matter what, Mu Gaoqi absolutely could not be left to languish out there. Serving as someone else's slave would be a tragic waste of his innate wood spirit body.
"Would someone like him—a slave—actually be put to important use?" Jiang Chen asked with genuine curiosity.
"Hard to say." Lin Yanyu thought for a moment. "Slaves from outside, especially those with murky backgrounds, might not receive serious investment from Danhuo City. They could turn him into a specialized pill-refining puppet—a Pill King in title only, without granting him real status or teaching him much of anything."
"But isn't an innate wood spirit body incredibly rare?" Jiang Chen frowned.
"It is. You could say that in all of Danhuo City's history, they've produced only a handful. But the alchemy world sometimes cares even more about lineage than the martial world. They place enormous weight on a person's origins and background. If a genius' past is unknown, they'd rather lose that genius entirely than risk passing down their knowledge. History is littered with examples of rival factions sending infiltrators disguised as prodigies to steal pill recipes. It's happened so many times that the alchemy world now guards its doors jealously. You know why my father never earned Emperor Danji's favor, while Pill King Jilang was the one who got promoted?"