Chapter Thirteen: The Medicine Shop's Inquiry

  After entering the backyard of the pharmacy, everyone was busy unloading the car and opening boxes to inspect the goods.

  Xiao Ziyang didn't bother with such rough work. He watched from the side as the pharmacy assistant checked the medicinal materials, and there were no errors. Then he turned around and left.

  Xiao Ziyang didn't go far, he came out of the alley and turned into the Furei Hall pharmacy.

  That night in Qingtai Town, he tried to cultivate according to the "Zi Yu Sheng Yan" secret recipe. The immediate effect made him delighted and at the same time, his heart was solemn, not daring to rely on his physical strength again, forcibly cultivating without the assistance of medicine.

  He came to the Furei Hall pharmacy, on the one hand, he wanted to prepare a few medicines and find an opportunity to try their effects; more importantly, he planned to ask the pharmacy's resident doctor to check whether the prescriptions added by later generations to the secret recipe were accurate.

  Fu Rui Tang is the largest pharmacy in Shuo An City, and all the doctors who sit in the hall are famous doctors from Gan Zhou.

  Xiao Ziyang walked into the pharmacy, and his footsteps paused slightly as he was shocked by the scene inside. Although he had already seen from outside that this pharmacy was grand, it was nothing compared to the shocking interior of the pharmacy.

  As I stepped through the main entrance, I saw that along the inner wall, which was nearly twenty feet long, dozens of medicine cabinets were arranged in a row. In front of each cabinet stood an assistant, occasionally opening the densely packed drawers to grab medicinal herbs according to the prescription in their hand. The entire pharmacy presented a bustling scene of activity.

  On one side of the gate, more than a dozen square tables were placed against the wall, with a doctor sitting at each table.

  At both ends of the shop, a counter was placed, and behind each counter sat a middle-aged man wearing brocade clothes. The two men kept scanning the pharmacy with their eyes, looking like they should be the owners of the pharmacy.

  Xiao Ziyang looked around for a moment and chose a doctor with no one in line next to him.

  No wonder this man's business is so bad, he looks like he's only in his thirties. In the profession of traditional Chinese medicine, experience is most important, and people generally do not believe in young doctors.

  Xiao Ziyang thought that a doctor who could enter the Furen Hall would definitely not be an ordinary doctor, and since he wasn't there to see a patient, he didn't care too much about the other person's age.

  He came to the young doctor, sat down in front of him, took out a prescription from his pocket, and handed it over to him under the man's strange gaze. He bowed his hands and said: "My father has been practicing external martial arts for many years, but as he gets older, his body is getting worse and worse. I have found this prescription through someone, which is said to be able to nourish the vital energy and greatly benefit the damage caused by practicing external martial arts. Would you please take a look at it, Doctor? The consultation fee will be paid by me."

  The doctor nodded, took the prescription and examined it carefully. At first, he didn't pay much attention to it, but after a while, his expression changed. After finishing reading the prescription, his face had become extremely serious.

  He gently put down the prescription and looked up at Xiao Ziyang, asking: "May I ask where this prescription comes from?"

  Xiao Ziyang looked at him and was slightly startled in her heart. She asked: "What's wrong, is there something not quite right with this prescription?"

  "That person shook his head and said, 'No, this prescription is a masterpiece of monarch-minister-left-right-assistant configuration, it's truly a rare sight in my life, it must be the work of a famous doctor. I'm asking only because I want to get acquainted with this great man.'"

  Xiao Ziyang let out a sigh of relief and said, "This prescription was given by a predecessor in the martial arts world. It's an heirloom from his family, so I suppose the wise person who left this prescription has long since ascended to immortality."

  The doctor shook his head and said, "This prescription is absolutely fine, you can use it with confidence." He then handed the prescription back to him.

  Xiao Ziyang's face showed joy, and he took the prescription with both hands, carefully putting it in his bosom. He then took out a silver ingot and handed it to the doctor.

  After thanking the doctor, Xiao Ziyang came to the counter again, handed the prescription to the pharmacist, and asked him to prepare a dose according to the prescription.

  While he was waiting for his partner to fetch the medicine, he suddenly heard a dull thud from behind him. He turned around and saw that the shopkeeper on the east side of the pharmacy had actually fallen to the ground!

  The shopkeeper, who had just been inspecting the pharmacy with a serious expression, now had a look of extreme panic on his face. He fell heavily to the ground, but strangely, he didn't use his hands to support himself. Instead, he held them high in the air, clutching a pale green token.

  The shopkeeper used his elbow to support himself, struggled to get up, and walked to the front of the counter with a young man, bowed his head and held the token high above his head, saying: "I've seen... sir!"

  The young man slightly furrowed his brow, took over the token, and said in a cold voice: "Take me to see the store owner."

  The shopkeeper responded with a low "yes", then turned sideways and walked ahead, not daring to lift his head.

  This strange scene caused everyone in the pharmacy to look at each other in dismay. To think that this Fu Rui Tang Pharmacy was one of the top two pharmacies in the entire northwest, and the shopkeeper was a respected figure in Shuo An City, yet someone had appeared who could make him so fearful and respectful.

  Everyone in the pharmacy stared curiously at the young man, except for Xiao Ziyang, who lowered his head and didn't dare to look more.

  Xiao Ziyang's first glance at the young man only thought he was ordinary, but when he took a closer look, he felt a somewhat familiar pressure from that person.

  The pressure brought a figure to his mind, the figure sat cross-legged under the moonlight, with hands changing magic seals like lightning, and a black flag fluttering in front of him, emitting a faint glow.

  Xiao Ziyang actually felt a pressure similar to that of the evil cultivator who slaughtered the mountain bandits from this young man!

  "Master Xian!" As soon as these two words flashed through Xiao Ziyang's mind, he immediately withdrew his gaze and pretended to be nonchalant, lowering his head to look at his toes.

  What he didn't know was that this action made him very conspicuous in the pharmacy. Fortunately, at this time everyone's attention was on the young man, and no one noticed his difference.

  He grabbed the medicine and Xiao Ziyang hastily left the pharmacy. He followed the main road that the convoy had taken earlier, heading towards the North Gate.

  Arriving at a location not far from the city gate, Xiao Ziyang turned into a slightly narrower cross street and came to an old inn called Jiuru Inn, which was also where the Golden Knife Escort Agency stayed in Shuoan City.

  Xiao Ziyang entered the inn and asked for a quiet room on the upper floor. He handed over a package of medicinal herbs to the waiter, instructing him to cook it with mutton to make a pot of medicinal stew.

  "Zi Yu Sheng Yan" only requires one set of medicinal herbs to assist in cultivation for the first layer, unlike later on, where besides medicinal herbs and internal medicine, there are also formulas used for washing and bathing.

  He tossed a handful of copper coins to the young waiter and returned to his room.

  Xiao Ziyang lay quietly on the bed, waiting. Today at the pharmacy, he ran into that young man who might be a fairy master, although it surprised and intrigued him, but he didn't take it to heart. The fairy masters were high above, naturally they wouldn't have anything to do with a small errand boy like him.