Library of Heaven’s Path

“This…”

The seductive lady was rendered speechless.

She had previously thought that the young man was just making up lies to scare her, but after hearing what he had to say, doubts began to arise in her mind.

The area that she was living in was indeed the southwest area of this underground black market. She had chosen the area because it was close to the underground river, which would have made it easier for her to absorb the yin energy from the damp environment and further her cultivation.

However, if what the young man said was true, she had made a major mistake.

“Are you still doubting my words?” Zhang Xuan shook his head. “The Concealment Formation of this underground black market is powered by the underground river, so it carries a tinge of yin. It’s this yin attribute that allows the underground black market to circumvent the Spiritual Perception of a Celestial God, thus allowing it to remain hidden from the world.

“The southwest region happens to be where the yin energy originates. Living there is bound to eventually cause some problems to your body…”

“Enough. I don’t deny that there’s some truth to what you are saying, but anyone can come up with a believable theory. There’s no concrete evidence to prove that what you are saying is true. Unless…”

With a wave of her hand, the seductive lady gestured for the four middle-aged men to back off before looking at Zhang Xuan once more. “Do you have a way to make my red bumps disappear? If so, I can sell you the Mayang Beast Blood at the price you mentioned.”

“That isn’t a problem at all,” Zhang Xuan said. “Pass me ten bottles of God Essence Pills.”

Ten bottles of God Essence Pills?” the seductive lady asked doubtfully for confirmation.

As spiritual energy receded from the Firmament, the value of God Essence Pills had been continuously on the rise. While she was still able to afford ten bottles of God Essence Pills, it was still a substantial sum to her.

“Indeed. If you wish to resolve your affliction, you’ll need to pay a certain price. God Essence Pills are usually used as a source of spiritual energy, but they can do much more than that. Of course, if you are unwilling to pay the price, you can just ignore what I just said. Three thousand Divine Coins isn’t a small sum, but I believe it shouldn’t take me too long to acquire it with my means!” Zhang Xuan said with a wave of his hand.

“Very well, I’ll trust you this once. However, if you are unable to solve my affliction, you need not think of leaving here alive!” The seductive lady harrumphed coldly.

“It’s your first time here so you might be unaware of it, but the underground black market is a lawless place, unlike Twilight City. No one will say a thing even if I kill you right here, right now!”

On the other hand, Zhang Xuan simply stood quietly on the spot. He could not be bothered to even respond to the seductive lady’s threats.

Soon enough, the ten bottles of God Essence Pills were brought right before Zhang Xuan.

“I need an isolated chamber in order to refine these God Essence Pills into something that can resolve your affliction,” Zhang Xuan said.

The seductive lady stared at Zhang Xuan quietly for a moment before waving her hand impatiently. An attendant immediately stepped forward and led Zhang Xuan over to a chamber.

Entering the chamber, Zhang Xuan closed the door before setting up multiple layers of isolation barriers.

After that was done, he took out a single God Essence Pill, and with a tap of his finger, he infused a surge of Heaven’s Path zhenqi it.

The affliction that the seductive lady was suffering from was by no means easy to cure. However, the attributeless Heaven’s Path zhenqi was exceptionally powerful in assimilating all sorts of energy and fusing them together, making it the perfect cure.

The reason he had asked for ten bottles of God Essence Pills was, of course, so that he could use them himself. In order to raise his cultivation swiftly, he was bound to require as many cultivation resources as possible.

In any case, the underground black market was bound to have done many evil deeds over the years, so he did not feel any guilt obtaining these God Essence Pills from her.

He kept the placed of the God Essence Pills into his storage ring and waited in the isolated chamber for roughly fifteen minutes before walking out of the room with a pale face.

As soon as he walked out of the room, he saw the seductive lady standing right in front of the entrance, as if trying to prevent him from running away.

Zhang Xuan passed the God Essence pill infused with his Heaven’s Path zhenqi over and said, “Swallow this pill!”

“You used ten bottles of God Essence Pills to forge a single one?” The seductive lady looked at Zhang Xuan suspiciously.

A single bottle contains ten God Essence Pills, which means that I have given you a hundred pills in total. Yet, all you returned me is a single God Essence Pill…

it doesn’t seem like the God Essence Pill has changed in any way either… Do you take me for a fool?

“Just give it a try, and you’ll know whether it’s worth the price or not,” Zhang Xuan replied with a confident smile.

The seductive lady carefully assessed the pill to check if it was laced with poison before swallowing it. A moment later, her eyes lit up.

She quickly lifted her hand to touch the crimson rose on her neck before ripping her robe to examine her body. Overwhelmed with agitation, her body simply would not stop trembling.

The medicine that the young man had given her was truly miraculous! Within just two minutes of consuming it, the red bumps that had plagued her for over two years actually vanished entirely! At the same time, she found her body feeling lighter than ever.

Was this medicine not a little too amazing?

“You…” The seductive lady stared at Zhang Xuan in shock.

She had tried all kinds of medicine and visited all sorts of physicians in order to resolve her affliction, but nothing had worked. It was with no other choice that she had resorted to using perfume and tattoos to hide the symptoms.

Who could have known that the young man would be able to see through the root of her problem and solve it with a single pill?

This was too frightening!

“Boss, I don’t know if I’m seeing things, but your complexion seems to be much better than before!” one of the middle- aged men remarked.

The seductive lady was surprised to hear such words. She quickly took out a mirror, and her eyes widened in astonishment when she saw her own appearance.

Due to her affliction, her skin had become a little rough and coarse. As a result, she had no choice but to apply a thick layer of foundation in order to conceal her worsening skin tone. Yet, just by eating that pill, not only did she manage to get rid of the red bumps, her skin also became much smoother.

It was almost as if time had regressed a decade for her!

Was this medicine really that incredible?

“Do you have any more of that medicine?” the seductive lady asked.

She had resolved the problem of the red bumps for the moment, but she was not certain if she would suffer a relapse in the future. What would she do if she did not have any more medicine then?

Besides, even if she did not suffer a relapse, the pill would still allow her to preserve her youthful appearance. Just this was enough to make her spend huge sums of money on it!

“It took me half my life just to successfully forge this single pill, but you still want more? Bring me another ten bottles of God Essence Pills!” Zhang Xuan said.

The reason the other party suffered from the red bumps was due to her inability to amalgamate the yin energy and yang energy within her body properly. That was a problem that could easily be solved with his Heaven’s Path zhenqi.

However… what was with her complexion getting better and more youthful?

Could it be that his Heaven’s Path zhenqi had become much more potent after he started cultivating the Pathos of Heavens?

A thought arose in Zhang Xuan’s mind.

A person’s emotions can affect their appearance as well. This is similar to how a person in love will look as if they’re glowing. Could it be that my Pathos of Heavens has changed the nature of my Heaven’s Path zhenqi?

Emotions were known to be a source of motivation and tendencies, but they could create tangible differences in one’s appearance as well. There was a saying that those who were constantly happy would age slower than those plagued with worries.

Who could have known that comprehending the Pathos of Heavens would have such an effect on the Heaven’s Path zhenqi?

“Give me a moment…”

The seductive lady quickly headed out, and a moment later, she returned with another ten bottles of God Essence Pills.

“I’ll forge another one for you right now,” Zhang Xuan said as he returned to the isolated room.

Another fifteen minutes later, he walked out with a face even paler than before, such that it looked as if he would stumble and faint at any moment.

The seductive lady took an even more detailed look at the pill this time around, analyzing even the slightest marks on it. However, she was still unable to discern any differences between it and a normal God Essence Pill.

After a moment of contemplation, she raised her hand and relayed some instructions to one of the middle-aged men.

Soon, a middle-aged lady was brought over.

Possessing the cultivation of a middle-tier God, she appeared to be in her forties. However, it was likely that she was much older than that as there were signs of age spots on her skin, and her skin tone had turned a little yellowish.

It was likely that she was around seventy to eighty years old.

Having read through the book left behind by Streak of Gray, Zhang Xuan had gained some understanding of the average lifespan of gods in the Firmament.

Before the receding of spiritual energy, normal gods would usually be able to live to 150 and beyond. However, due to the worsening environmental conditions, most cultivators could only live till eighty nowadays.

As for Semi-Divinities, those who could live to sixty could already be considered to have lived a long life.

The only way for a god to lengthen their lifespan was to rise to the level of a Celestial God. Celestial Gods enjoyed a lifespan of around a thousand years.

God Kings were known to be able to live ten thousand years, and Conferred God Kings were rumored to have at least a hundred thousand years to their lifespan.

As for God Monarchs…

The Nine God Monarchs were known to have existed ever since the Firmament came to be. In the eyes of the world, they were eternal existences that could never be destroyed.

“Swallow this pill!” the seductive lady said.

Without any hesitation, the middle-aged lady took the pill and swallowed it.

A moment later, her appearance began to change. Her age spots gradually lightened till they could not be seen anymore, and her face began to glow with vitality. It was almost as if someone had reversed her time by decades, returning her to the time when she was still an alluring lady in her early thirties.

“This…”

The middle-aged lady looked at her new appearance in the mirror with her mouth agape.

There were plenty of capable geniuses in the Firmament, but none of them were able to create such a miraculous beautifying pill. Even the most expensive beautifying pill available on the market would not be able to pull off such a transformative change in one go!

The middle-aged lady felt as if she had been born anew through the pill.

“It’s indeed effective… Hahaha! With this, even if I cast aside the underground black market, I’ll still have a never- ending supply of money!”

With an excited gleam in her eyes, the seductive lady looked at Zhang Xuan and said, “Brother, may I know how I should address you?”

It had just been a transaction between the both of them previously, so it would not matter even if they did not know each other’s names. They would soon part with one another and likely never see one another again.

However, the situation had changed. The person standing before her was a potential business partner.

“Zhang Xuan.”

“I am Qi Ling-er. I believe that you are aware that the pill you forged has the effect of bestowing a person with a second youth. So, why don’t we work together to turn this into a huge business? You’ll be responsible for forging the pills, and I’ll secure the distribution network to sell the pills. As for the profits, how does 50:50 sound to you?” the seductive lady, Qi Ling-er, offered.

“50:50? Sounds fine by me.” Zhang Xuan nodded.

Considering the widespread connections that she had built up over the years as the boss of the underground black market, it was not unreasonable for her to demand half of the profits. Besides, it would not be too much trouble for him to forge the pills anyway.

“Good! First and foremost, I need you to forge ten of these pills for me. I’ll be marketing them in Twilight City over the next few days in order to create some hype,” Qi Ling-er instructed.

“That isn’t a problem, but I will need sufficient God Essence Pills for that,” Zhang Xuan said as he looked at Qi Ling-er.

“I understand. However, the God Essence Pills will be treated as the cost of our business venture,” Qi Ling-er replied with a soft chuckle. “A God Essence Pill costs around a Divine Coin, so ten bottles of them amount to one hundred Divine Coins.”

“Let’s do just that then.” Zhang Xuan nodded.