Medical Sage

”Azure Dragon Ravine?”

Upon hearing this, Chen Fei’s eyes flickered slightly as he murmured to himself. So that’s the largest gathering area for Loose Cultivators in all of Eagle Gorge? If I get the chance, I should go and have a look.

”Well then, I shall take my leave,” Chen Fei said with a smile, walking past Liu Zheng and heading outside.

Watching Chen Fei’s disappearing figure, the warm smile on Liu Zheng Liu Erye’s face gradually faded. His brow furrowed, and his eyes glinted with a sharp light as that daunting aura appeared once again.

”Ayun, can you tell? Is he really an Alchemist?” After a moment of thought, Liu Zheng Liu Erye suddenly asked the middle-aged man with short black hair standing behind him.

”Hmm. I sensed a lingering pill fragrance on him. From its intensity... if I may be so bold, I fear even the Great Elder could not concoct something of that level,” the man named Ayun replied in a muffled voice, his head lowered.

”Even the Great Elder couldn’t? Are you saying the pills he refined these past few days are above Low Grade Third-Level?” Liu Zheng Liu Erye’s eyes narrowed, and a slight tremor ran through him.

”I’ve seen the Great Elder perform alchemy more than once, and a Low Grade Third-Level pill doesn’t have this kind of fragrance,” the middle-aged man affirmed, nodding emphatically.

Hearing this, Liu Zheng Liu Erye fell silent. After a long moment, he shook his head with a look of resignation and sighed softly in his heart. Such a terrifying figure has really come to our backwater. Luckily, he’s not an enemy.

”Clan Leader, someone from the Island Master’s Residence has arrived,” a subordinate suddenly reported from outside.

”The Island Master’s Residence?” Liu Zheng Liu Erye was momentarily stunned, then his lips twisted into a mocking sneer. ”They only send someone now that he’s gone? What a grand display. Unfortunately for them, he might not fall for such a ploy... I understand. Let them in.”

A mysterious and powerful Alchemist capable of refining a Six-Pattern Cloud Vein Pill is an incredibly esteemed figure. And they send a mere few subordinates to extend an invitation? Who do they think they are!? Heh.

「...」

After leaving the Liu Family of Jinbao Pavilion, Chen Fei slightly altered his appearance and skin tone. Anyone who wasn’t familiar with him or had only seen him once or twice would certainly not recognize him now.

After he had finished, Zhen Jingkong inquired from within his sea of consciousness, ”Where to now?” I have no idea what Chen Fei is planning. Logically, with his astounding alchemy ability, shouldn’t his next move be to find a shop, purchase a large batch of alchemy materials, and then hide away in some remote mountain forest? He could consume pills to aid his cultivation while quietly waiting for Quann Zhenyi and his group to return in half a year. But it seems Chen Fei has no such intention.

”What am I preparing to do now? Of course, I’m going to seek rev—”

Before Chen Fei could finish the word ”revenge,” his eyes narrowed. His gaze shot intensely across the bustling street as if he had sensed a familiar presence. He scanned the crowd, and his eyes finally landed on a group of figures swaggering arrogantly down the street.

”Speak of the devil!” Chen Fei squinted and smiled as he watched the domineering group. ”I was just thinking about paying them a visit, but who would have thought they’d obediently deliver themselves to my doorstep?”

It turned out that these people were none other than the group he’d had a life-or-death conflict with, the very ones who had tried to kill him: the Master of the Golden Toad Cave—the King of Gilded Toads—and his entourage! Chen Fei had been planning to seek them out for revenge, but he hadn’t even left the island when they appeared before him, as if by divine providence. It would be a crime against the heavens’ good will not to act.

At this thought, a faint aura, reminiscent of the one he’d had just after surviving the Thunder Tribulation Spirit Qi Baptism, leaked almost unnoticeably from his body before being swiftly concealed. A few breaths later, the same thing happened again.

At that exact moment, the King of Gilded Toads, who led the swaggering group, seemed to sense a familiar aura. His brow furrowed slightly, and a chilling gleam shot from his sinister, green pupils. His gaze pierced through the crowded street and, a moment later, settled on Chen Fei.

This aura... so it’s him. It’s been days, and he still hasn’t stabilized his realm? Heh heh. To think I’d find him here by sheer luck after searching so hard. You little bastard, did you think changing your appearance would be enough to fool me, the King of Gilded Toads?

The King of Gilded Toads smiled sinisterly as a bone-chilling killing intent radiated from him, so frightening that even distant passersby felt a sudden change in the air. Their expressions shifted, and a fine, cold sweat beaded on their foreheads and necks.

”Cave Master, what is this?” Zang Rui, one of the Golden Toad Cave’s Deputy Cave Masters and a Second Level Middle Stage Beast, asked in surprise. I don’t understand why the Cave Master would suddenly unleash such obvious killing intent.

Behind him stood eight grim-faced men in black iron armor. They had huge toad heads resting on their shoulders, and their bodies were covered in festering sores. Their skin was a sickly yellow or black, and their eyes glowed with an eerie green light that would make one’s skin crawl.

These eight men in black iron armor were the Golden Toad Cave’s infamous Eight Iron Guards of Golden Toad, renowned throughout the North Side Area of Eagle Gorge. Each one was an expert at the Peak of Second Level Early Stage Beast, and together, even a typical Qi Refining Eighth Layer Powerhouse would be no match for them.

The King of Gilded Toads had previously dispatched them to search for Chen Fei to prevent any unexpected issues. When the search proved fruitless, he had simply brought them all to Canglan Island, never expecting to stumble upon his quarry by such a coincidence. They had run into Chen Fei again by sheer chance. But this time, it was unclear who was the prey and who was the hunter.

”HISS! It’s the King of Gilded Toads from the Golden Toad Cave! What’s he losing his mind about?”

”Shut up! That’s a man who kills without batting an eye. Do you have a death wish? Let’s go! We can’t afford to get dragged into whatever this is.”

”Even Deputy Cave Master Zang Rui and the Eight Great Iron Guards are with him. Good heavens, what are they all doing on Canglan Island!?”

...

Under the oppressive aura of the King of Gilded Toads, a powerhouse at the Peak of Second Level Middle Stage, nearly every bystander on the street turned pale. They all began to hurry away in a panic, terrified of being caught up in some unwarranted disaster.

After all, the infamy of the King of Gilded Toads was far greater than that of someone like Wuu Jun from Crow River. Wuu Jun was only at the Qi Refining Eighth Level, while the King was at the Peak of Second Level Middle Stage Beast, equivalent to the Peak of Qi Refining Eighth Level, making him far more powerful.

”Look at that brat. Sense his aura,” the King of Gilded Toads said, his lips curled into a cold smile as he pointed at a figure ’hurriedly’ departing through the crowd.

”Him? Eh, that aura feels... wait, Cave Master, could it be that kid from before!?”

Zang Rui immediately looked where the King was pointing. A moment later, his expression shifted. He stared intently at the departing figure’s back, a flicker of astonishment in his green-glowing eyes.

Soon, that astonishment twisted into cold cruelty. A chilling grin spread across his face as he said, ”So the little brat was hiding on Canglan Island all along. Heh heh...”

Clearly, he too had now recognized Chen Fei’s true identity. They had searched the territory near the Golden Toad Cave for so long without success, only to find he had been here on Canglan Island the entire time.

The King of Gilded Toads watched Chen Fei walk away, his green eyes shimmering with a cold light. ”I was just wondering what excuse I could use to kill that brat on Canglan Island, and now he’s making it easy for me,” he thought, a chilling killing intent sweeping outwards. ”Is he really planning to just walk off the island? Does he think I haven’t recognized him? Heh heh...”

Though the King of Gilded Toads was audacious, he was ultimately just a Peak of Second Level Middle Stage Beast. He didn’t dare to lock horns with the two Island Masters of Canglan Island, both at the Peak Realm of Qi Refining Ninth Layer. Therefore, Chen Fei’s decision to leave the island played right into his hands.

「Several hours later」

Chen Fei departed Canglan Island by boat. The King of Gilded Toads, Zang Rui, and the Eight Iron Guards of Golden Toad followed closely behind...