Chapter 2515 — Straying into the Medicinal Garden

"Very well, Vice President—mind how you go. I won't see you out," Wei Zhao said with a nod.

"Until next time!" The Heaven Rank vice president hoisted the lanky man's corpse and was gone as swiftly as he had come, vanishing from everyone's sight in an instant. Wei Zhao turned his head and looked toward Right Third and Right Pan'gao.

"Are you two still going to serve as my bodyguards?" Wei Zhao asked.

"That... Senior Lin's divine arts shield his body—naturally he has no need for the protection of small fry like us..." Right Third said awkwardly. His form of address had shifted from "Mr. Lin" to "Senior Lin," and after witnessing the marvel of Wei Zhao's true qi shielding his body, he knew all the better that there was no way he could do anything to Wei Zhao.

"Oh—what's that you're holding?" Wei Zhao pointed at the large leather case in Right Panhao's hands.

"This... it's money. From the auction—the money from selling the pills..." Right Third did not dare conceal it and told the truth.

"Oh. Since you two won't be protecting me anymore, doesn't that mean you owe me some compensation for my losses? Just hand the money over to me. It's a bit on the small side, but I can't be bothered to give you two a beating over it," Wei Zhao said.

"This... this has to be handed in to the Hidden You Family..." Right Third said with a bitter face. "If I give it to you, I won't be able to explain myself when I get back!"

"Oh? Then what about the pure yellow jade—you don't have to hand that in to the You Family? I've taken the pure yellow jade. How will you explain that when you go back?" Wei Zhao countered.

"I... I'll say Senior Lin robbed us of it—that we were powerless to stop you..." Right Third said.

"Then it's settled. Just say the money was robbed by me as well," Wei Zhao said.

"Ah? Is that so..." Right Third was momentarily stunned, but on reflection it really was a decent excuse. Since the pure yellow jade had already been taken, a little money from the pill sales hardly made a difference!

"What—is that not acceptable?" Wei Zhao's gaze toward Right Third turned cold.

"No, no—of course it's acceptable... Right Pan'gao, hand all the money over to Senior Lin!" Right Third started in fright and hastily agreed.

"Yes..." Right Pan'gao dared not defy Right Third's wishes. He carefully handed the case to Wei Zhao, then said, trembling, "Senior Lin, please accept it..."

"Oh, fine. Then you may go," Wei Zhao said, taking the leather case and waving them off impatiently.

"Very well, we'll be going then. Mind how you go, Senior Lin..." Right Third let out a breath, seeing that he had escaped disaster. He hastily seized Right Pan'gao's hand and went racing down the mountain.

Watching Right Third's receding figure, Wei Zhao secretly let out a breath of his own. It would be a lie to say Wei Zhao had not been nervous. He did have the ability to cripple Right Third, but that had to be built on the premise of a surprise attack; as things stood, there was no way Wei Zhao could have pulled off a complete ambush. Right Third and the Heaven Rank vice president alike had been on their guard, and in a real fight Wei Zhao would surely have given himself away. Yet a few words plus the killing of the lanky man had achieved a deterrent effect, leaving Right Third

and the Heaven Rank vice president both afraid to act rashly—and thus Wei Zhao had easily defused the crisis before him.

He stood in place and waited a good while. Only when he heard no further sound did Wei Zhao set off—but not down the mountain. He continued upward, intending to circle around before descending, so as to spare himself any further complications from someone lying in wait at the foot of the mountain.

Yet after walking a while longer, Wei Zhao was stunned by the sight before his eyes! Across the whole mountainside, every slope and hollow, rare medicinal herbs of every kind had been planted! Though they could not be called heaven-and-earth treasures, they were all first-rate ingredients for pill refinement!

At the very least, the materials for refining many second-grade pills could all be found here! The discovery both startled and delighted Wei Zhao. If he brought some back for Han Jingyi to refine pills with, wouldn't that neatly solve the problem of pill-refining materials?

But Wei Zhao quickly calmed himself. These medicinal herbs were all valuable things; they could not possibly grow wild on this mountain. And this was the very place where the Cultivators' Trade Association held its marketplace—so the herbs planted here almost certainly belonged to the Cultivators' Trade Association.

Sure enough, Wei Zhao had not been there more than a few minutes when two men came racing toward him, shouting as they ran, "Who goes there?"

A glance told Wei Zhao they were two cultivators at the peak of the late Earth Rank, and the robes they wore were identical to those of the law enforcement hall of the Cultivators' Trade Association. That fact alone confirmed Wei Zhao's earlier guess—this really was the territory of the Cultivators' Trade Association!

"Are you from the Cultivators' Trade Association?" Wei Zhao asked, just to be sure of his guess.

"That's right—but don't bother trying to get friendly. This is a forbidden zone of the Cultivators' Trade Association; none may enter save the association's president, vice presidents, and elders!" One of the law enforcement cultivators eyed Wei Zhao warily. "Who are you? Trespassing in the forbidden zone is a capital offense. If you can't explain yourself clearly, we'll have no choice but to take you down the mountain to see the vice president!"

"Oh? Your vice president and I are good friends," Wei Zhao said with a smile. "As for trespassing—I wouldn't call it that. You might say I strayed in by mistake."

"Strayed in? This place is so out of the way, and the road so hard to travel, running in the exact opposite direction from the marketplace—who are you trying to fool, claiming you strayed in?" The law enforcement cultivator clearly did not believe him. "And as for knowing the vice president—we've heard that one plenty of times!"

"You don't believe me? I even have a card he gave me." Wei Zhao had no wish to come to blows with these two law enforcement cultivators. Those two gatekeepers earlier had been deliberately making trouble, after all, while these two were merely doing their duty—and he had, in truth, strayed into their medicinal garden.

"A card?" The law enforcement cultivator watched Wei Zhao reach into his pocket without stopping him. They were cultivators at the peak of the late Earth Rank; naturally they had no fear that Wei Zhao might draw some weapon. If Wei Zhao were a cultivator stronger than they, he could kill them without any weapon at all; if he were weaker, a weapon would do him no good.

Wei Zhao fished out the card wrought of pure gold and held it up before the eyes of the two law enforcement cultivators.

"Eh? It really is the vice president's card—and a top-grade pure gold one at that!" The two law enforcement cultivators clearly knew their valuables, and they knew that the vice president would never give out such a card unless to an important guest. Ordinarily, a platinum-plated card was generous enough; most were plain steel!