Chapter 17 Three Paid Pieces of Intelligence

Everything was quickly settled. Lu Yin was persuaded by Chu Danqing to let Xie Liyang guard the Lu residence.

After finishing the discussion, Chu Danqing returned to his quarters without any delay.

The first thing he saw upon entering the room was a brocade box placed on the table.

He remembered that before he left, there was no such thing on the table.

Picking up a branch, he pried it open from a distance.

There were no hidden weapons or traps; instead, a rich medicinal fragrance wafted into his face.

"This must be the rare heavenly treasures Lu Yin mentioned he would have delivered to me later." Chu Danqing remembered that it was promised for sometime later today during last night's conversation.

As it turned out, he had been out all day, and if it hadn't been delivered, he might have forgotten about this matter until tomorrow.

Walking over to take a closer look, he saw that it was actually a ginseng root, fully grown into a human shape with all its leaves and fibrous roots intact.

[Millennium Hundred-Beard Ginseng]
[Type: Material]
[Quality: Excellent]
[Effect 1: Can be used for making potions, food, and other related items]
*(Note: Medicinal potency is too strong; probationary apostles are advised not to consume it directly)*

"Wait, it's not just one; there are three." Taking another look, Chu Danqing noticed the brocade box had three layers, with a Millennium Hundred-Beard Ginseng in each layer.

He decisively put away both the ginseng and the brocade box.

Although this brocade box did not have an attribute panel, it was clearly no ordinary item.

Being able to completely seal off the medicinal aroma once closed, it was undoubtedly meant for preservation.

"Good stuff, perfectly suited for Dabao's use." Chu Danqing felt that Lu Yin certainly knew how to win people over and was extremely generous.

Had the time and environment not been inappropriate, he would have wanted to immediately go out and purchase other supplementary materials to craft a resource for nurturing Dabao using the Millennium Hundred-Beard Ginseng as the main ingredient.

To fully unleash the complete effects of these three Millennium Hundred-Beard Ginsengs, he would have to return to Dimensional Paradise.

If he could make Dabao grow rapidly in a short period of time, wasting a bit of the medicinal potency would be acceptable, but unfortunately, that wasn't possible.

"The other supplementary materials don't need to be this good; ordinary medicinal herbs will do," Chu Danqing thought, planning to ask the Lu family to help purchase some.

He was not well-versed in pharmacology; he only understood some identification of medicinal properties for resources used to raise Dabao. Outside of that scope, he was completely clueless.

Seeing that it was getting late, he temporarily shelved the matter, intending to simply have someone pass a note to Lu Yin later.

"Time to rest." Chu Danqing directly blew out the candle and went to sleep.

He had been quite busy today, so he fell asleep exceptionally smoothly.

Until the preset alarm went off, he finally pulled himself out of his dreams.

The night passed uneventfully, and even if anything had happened, Dabao was there.

Summoning classes inherently sacrificed personal combat power in exchange for enhanced summoned creatures. If one also required a summoning apostle to be personally powerful, there would be no reason to choose the summoning class in the first place.

A win-win method certainly existed, but it was not something Chu Danqing could obtain at his current stage.

After eating breakfast, Chu Danqing took Dabao and headed toward South Mountain.

Just as the carriage was about to leave, it was blocked.

"Apostle Chu, I heard you were ambushed again last night." Lu Qiaoyun popped out from nowhere.

Chu Danqing lifted the carriage curtain and said, "Just petty thieves, nothing to worry about."

"I still have matters to attend to, so I won't disturb Miss Lu any further."

"Don't go, I have something to discuss with you." Seeing that Chu Danqing was about to leave, Lu Qiaoyun grabbed the coachman and pulled him down.

A look of helplessness appeared on Chu Danqing's face: "Then please be quick, Miss Lu. My business is very urgent."

The business he referred to was naturally not hunting down the lingering tiger, but getting away from Lu Qiaoyun.

If she took a fancy to him simply because he saved her life, that would be returning kindness with ingratitude.

"I'm coming too, Apostle Chu, I..." The moment Lu Qiaoyun opened her mouth, Chu Danqing gave Dabao a look.

Dabao didn't quite understand, but fortunately, he generally acted on intuition.

Thus, following his own thoughts, he simply picked up Lu Qiaoyun, who was in the middle of climbing onto the carriage, and hung her up on a tall tree nearby.

Then he shoved the coachman back onto the carriage and drove away.

"Well done, Dabao." Chu Danqing offered a word of praise.

Though he didn't fully understand why, a ferocious smile spread across Dabao's face anyway.

"Apostle Chu, forgive me for speaking out of turn, but the eldest miss..." the coachman couldn't help muttering.

Only to be directly interrupted by Chu Danqing: "Since you know you're speaking out of turn, then don't speak."

Could he be unclear about the situation? When all was said and done, he and Lu Qiaoyun had only met once. In terms of familiarity, she couldn't even compare to Lu Yin and Ji Yun.

In Chu Danqing's view, Lu Qiaoyun was simply having a romantic delusion flare-up.

Once he left this trial world after a few days, she would naturally snap out of it over time.

Therefore, there was no need for excessive contact.

On the way to South Mountain, Chu Danqing ran into Fierce Fist, who was also leaving the city.

The other party paused for a moment of thought before ordering his soldiers to halt, waiting for Chu Danqing's carriage to pass.

Upon arrival, the carriage also stopped.

"Going to South Mountain?" He looked at Chu Danqing sitting inside the carriage and uttered those three words.

Chu Danqing nodded: "You're going to West Gou, I'm going to South Mountain. Is there something wrong with that?"

"There's nothing wrong with that."

"I only suggest that you stop meddling in this affair. Leave immediately once the matter at South Mountain is settled, and you might still save your life," Fierce Fist glanced at Dabao and then said.

The departure he spoke of naturally meant leaving this trial world.

"You've investigated quite a few things; you wouldn't mind sharing them with me, would you?" Chu Danqing said, pulling out a vial of minor healing potion.

If one wanted to extract information from the other party, one had to show corresponding sincerity.

Fierce Fist coming over to tell him this was not out of kind intentions to warn him, but rather a hint that if he wanted to know more, he could pay for it.

"Another vial and I won't mind." Fierce Fist was satisfied with Chu Danqing's attitude, but it wasn't enough.

Chu Danqing did not continue to haggle with him and simply handed over another vial.

It was equivalent to giving away all the minor healing potions Iron Rock and Cold Shadow had compensated him with.

After accepting them, Fierce Fist spoke in a low voice: "The one who has come is the Earthly Master, the third disciple under the Peace Daoist Sovereign, acting as the guardian for his son as he sloughs off the three corpses to enter the Dao."

"With the deaths of the One-horned Flood Dragon and the Lingering Tiger, two-thirds of his Dao path have been severed. Even if he is fortunate enough to enter the Dao, his future achievements will be limited."

"This has thoroughly offended the Earthly Master beyond reconciliation."

A mere three sentences illustrated just how immense the subsequent trouble would be.

Fierce Fist held an official post, while Chu Danqing was merely a guest retainer of the Lu family. It was not hard to guess who would be targeted first to vent their anger.

Having said that, Fierce Fist departed directly.

Yet Chu Danqing felt something was slightly amiss.

It wasn't that Fierce Fist had lied, but rather that it felt like a puppet show.

This feeling did not stem from him being manipulated, but rather that the government, the Lu family, the Peace Dao, and even the Ji family and other factions in Yangxian County were all being manipulated by an invisible hand.

This included the so-called Earthly Master and his son who had come to slough off the three corpses.

The method of sloughing off the three corpses found in the human volume of the *Peace Scripture* was not some unsightly technique; on the contrary, it was an upright and orthodox path. Why bother doing it stealthily?

"Let's go, to South Mountain." Chu Danqing temporarily suppressed these doubts, planning to deal with the Lingering Tiger first before deciding on his next move.