Su Mu’s pupils contracted slightly. After a brief daze, suspicion and anger surged in his heart before he finally returned to calm.
The pressure emanating from the Pharmacist was no illusion.
Su Mu’s gaze flickered, and he clearly saw that, in that instant, the spiritual qi drifting between heaven and earth had been stirred—such mastery over spiritual qi far surpassed that of Yuan Wuming.
At the sa ti, he sensed sothing strange within the Pharmacist. The Pharmacist’s power was not strong, only at the level of Dark Force, not even reaching Transforming Force, and the bones in his body were clearly untempered.
But in the Pharmacist’s body there seed to lie a special power, different from both Power and Attribute Power.
As if it were a pure, yet bone-chillingly cold spiritual qi of heaven and earth.
Why could soone at the Ninth Grade Refining Realm manipulate the spiritual qi of heaven and earth that only a Sixth-Grade Martial Artist could touch?
Five Extres Realm Martial Artist?
Or perhaps even soone above the Five Extres Realm?
"No wonder you’re so remarkable, little friend. Your insight goes far beyond the ordinary. It seems your journey this ti has borne significant fruit." The Pharmacist’s tone remained gentle, but his eyes were sharp as torches, staring fixedly at Su Mu as if to see through him.
"I have never harbored ill will toward you, little friend. Please, answer my question."
Su Mu’s five senses were keen beyond asure. He could discern that the Pharmacist before him bore not the slightest hostility. He trusted his own judgnt, and this mont affird his earlier suspicions about the Pharmacist’s origins.
The Pharmacist and Little Doctor both had extraordinary backgrounds—definitely not natives of the Three Counties, most likely from Qingzhou Prefecture.
"Xiaoyue is innocent as the dawn, lively and kindhearted... in my heart, she is like family."
"Family... family, is it..." The Pharmacist’s eyes flickered with complexity at these words. In the end, he let out a sigh that was nearly inaudible. After pondering silently for a while, he waved his hand, and the study door behind him suddenly closed.
An invisible power covered the study; in an instant, the sound of wind through the bamboo outside vanished without a trace. The Pharmacist rose and bowed deeply toward Su Mu.
Su Mu hurried to his feet to support the Pharmacist, his own eyes full of (surprise/)astonishnt. This power that sealed off all sounds from outside was unmistakably spiritual power—he hadn’t known it could serve such a wondrous purpose.
"Pharmacist, you flatter . If there’s anything you wish to say, please do not hold back."
"I wish to entrust Xiaoyue to you, little friend."
The Pharmacist bowed again. "You are the only one I trust, little friend. My ti is short; before long I plan to travel afar, but when I return I will tell you everything."
"Pharmacist, you..."
"I know my own body. I should have died over a decade ago. This ’illness’ is beyond redy—even living these few extra years is more than enough. The only thing in this world I cannot put aside is Xiaoyue."
Su Mu trembled all over. Before his eyes flashed all those familiar faces of days past—the Pharmacist, too, seed suddenly more ethereal and translucent in this mont.
Snapping out of it, Su Mu saw again the Pharmacist as he first t him—crane-haired, child-faced—yet, a few years later, that face was now covered in deep wrinkles.
"Pharmacist, why don’t you let take a look for you?"
"No need. Birth, aging, sickness, and death—why strive in vain? All is fate."
The Pharmacist waved his hand. The two spoke a bit more within the room, until finally the Pharmacist solemnly reminded him,
"I truly entrust Xiaoyue to you, little friend."
"Also—unless absolutely necessary, don’t teach Xiaoyue too much martial arts in the future; you both should leave Qingyun as soon as you can..." As he said this, a trace of complexity and worry flashed in the depths of his eyes. "With your talent, little friend, you are destined for a far wider world."
"You can rest assured, Pharmacist. I will take good care of Xiaoyue."
...
The crescent moon hung slanted upon the tips of bamboo, its pure radiance spilling across Yanque Street.
Su Mu stood alone in the courtyard, his mind in turmoil. After the trip to Changfeng County, his comprehension had transford from Hidden Dragon Level to Dragon-and-Phoenix Level, and he had also touched upon so of the Five Extres Realm’s mysteries.
Returning to Qingyun, Su Mu finally perceived the Pharmacist’s extraordinary nature—the Pharmacist was by no ans a Ninth-Grade Refining Power Martial Artist.
"That chilling, uncanny power..."
Past mories flashed before his eyes, settling at last on five years ago in Dongbian Village—two figures appeared in Su Mu’s mind.
One was tall and thin, wearing a gray wolf mask, the Death Warrior overseer who regularly brought antidotes for Ding Shisan.
The other was the Pharmacist.
The day Su Mu completed his apprenticeship in forging, the overseer had revealed himself and used a bone-chilling power to examine his physical condition.
At first Su Mu thought it was simply a form of power forged by a martial artist, but as the overseer vanished without a trace, Su Mu buried the matter deep in his mind—until today, when the mory was suddenly recalled from deep within him.
All because the special power he sensed in the Pharmacist today was extrely similar to the power that overseer had used back then. At that ti Su Mu had not yet entered the Martial Dao and had little sense of it—so now he still could not make a direct judgnt.
But Su Mu had a habit when pondering such things: he would always consider the worst-case scenario.
"If the Pharmacist is the overseer..."
Su Mu felt a sudden chill in his heart. His mories began to flow; aside from the first year in Dongbian Village, he had never seen the overseer again.
It was as if he was being subtly guided onto a path of self-salvation—the only way out being to head for Qingyun City.
When he went to Qingyun City in search of the Pharmacist, the Pharmacist also happened to be away, and, what’s more, he first t the Pharmacist in Qingshui Town.
Both in terms of ti and place, the Pharmacist was highly suspicious. And the Small Faceless Transformation Technique was also taught to Su Mu by the Pharmacist.
Moreover, now that he thought about it, the way the Pharmacist could easily recreate pills further confird this suspicion. The Qingyun Three Counties were remote, and among them, very few had knowledge of Gu Poison.
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