Chapter 10: Apricot Spring Hall Buys Medicine

  Li Ran was afraid that his younger brother would see him leave, so he quickly walked out of the alley, suppressing his emotions. After calming down, he identified the direction and headed towards another main street.

  Although it was still early in the morning, this street was already quite lively.

  Li Ruo's knife moved slowly forward with the crowd, carefully sizing up the shops on both sides of the long street. Ahead, a gilded signboard caught his eye, with three large characters written on it - Xingchun Hall, a pharmacy that was at least two stories high, with a fairly large facade, and the scent of medicine wafted over from afar.

  "It's here."

  Li Ran's eyes lit up, and he quickly walked over. In the pharmacy hall, more than a dozen people were already waiting in line to pick up their medicine. Behind the counter, Old Lang with his white beard was answering each person's questions one by one in a slow and deliberate manner.

  Li Ran stood at the end of the queue, suppressing the faint eagerness in his heart as the queue slowly moved forward.

  It wasn't until half a time had passed that the person in front finished wrapping up their medicine and left, giving Li Rou a chance to approach the counter.

  That old man in the middle raised his head and took a glance at Li Ruo Dao, seeing that he was still just a slightly weak-looking young boy with worn-out clothes, couldn't help but smile faintly. Before he could speak, suddenly a lean man rushed in from outside, squeezing to the front of Li Ruo Dao, turning around awkwardly and saying:

  "Brother, I'm in a hurry here, the patient is critical, can you make an exception for me?"

  Li Ranno's eyebrows slightly furrowed, and he took a slow step back. The man hastily pulled out the prescription, repeatedly urging him on. Old Lang carefully checked it over, grabbed all the medicines listed, wrapped them into a large package, and the thin man quickly left with the package. Only after being delayed for a while did Li Ranno walk back to the counter again.

  The old man raised his eyebrows and looked at the desperate young man in front of him, asking faintly:

  "Is there a square?"

  Li Ran shook his head: "No."

  Lao Lang nodded slightly: "Wait for a while, I'll help these people behind to get their medicine first, then I'll give you a prescription based on your family member's condition."

  After finishing, Old Lang turned his head and shouted to the people behind Li Ruo Dao: "Next one." The person behind him held a token and squeezed forward with force. Li Ruo Dao suddenly leaned his head forward and lowered his voice, saying: "I'm buying spiritual medicine."

  "Huh?"

  Lao Langzhong was startled and quickly raised his head to carefully examine Li Ruo's knife, then calmly shouted towards the back of the team: "Next one."

  At the same time, Old Lang's right thumb and index finger formed a circle, and he quietly made a hand gesture to a partner behind him at the counter.

  The fellow took two quick steps forward, lowered his head and gave Li Ruo a signal with his eyes. Li Ruo stepped out of the team and followed the fellow to the back house.

  After turning a corner and passing through a corridor, they arrived at a small, elegant hall. The shop assistant asked Li Rongdao to sit down and wait for a moment before leaving on his own. Before long, a middle-aged man with a broad face walked in smiling, bowed deeply to Li Rongdao, and sat down across from him.

  "Little brother, just now in the front hall you were slow and sluggish, I don't know what kind of spiritual medicine little brother wants to buy."

  Li Ruo's knife slightly smiled, he had long heard that the background of Xingchun Hall was not ordinary. It is said that the master of this hall was a fairy teacher in a mountain gate. The front hall was like an ordinary medicine hall, while the back hall specially received people who practiced spiritual medicine.

  Li Ran said with a faint smile:

  "I bought a twenty-year-old red ginseng and added six qian each of cinnabar, red lead, alum and bai lian grass."

  The middle-aged man's eyes lit up as he listened to this point.

  The elixir is precious, and most of the people here are disciples of some families or sects who have come to practice outside. Li Ruo's words were not ordinary, and the Red Practice Elixir was not too surprising, but what was surprising was that among the four common medicines he had opened, this middle-aged man could vaguely feel that when these four common medicines were combined, they might be able to extract the energy of the Red Practice Elixir to an astonishing degree.

  Only those who are extraordinary can know such a secret recipe.

  The middle-aged man smiled faintly, and his attention to Li Ruo Dao became more serious. He nodded to the partner beside him, letting him prepare the medicine, then turned his head to say to Li Ruo Dao: "Young brother, these herbs you've picked are worth a total of eight taels of gold."

  Medicines bought here are often priced in gold.

  Li Ran didn't show any surprise, nodded and casually took out the two gold bars and placed them in front of the middle-aged man.

  In a moment, several medicines were all packed and brought over, with an additional coarse cloth wrapper on the outside. Li Ran slightly opened the wrapper, the fragrance of medicine wafted out, several packets of medicine were checked to be correct, then he took over the silver coins found by the middle-aged man, shouldered the bundle, nodded and stood up to bid farewell.

  The elixir was obtained very smoothly, and Li Ran's heart was also quite delighted.

  From head to toe, Li Ruo Dao exuded a maturity that was far beyond his age, causing middle-aged men to secretly wonder and become even more cautious, hastily standing up and grasping Li Ruo Dao's hand to see him off: "Young brother, it's not easy being out in the world, if you have any needs in the future, feel free to come to Xing Chun Tang anytime."

  "Little tiger, see you out from the back door."

  The fellow led Li Ruo Dao through a corridor and came to a hidden back door, quietly pushed open the door, and said in a low voice to Li Ruo Dao:

  "Right out of here is Changchun Street, turn right when you exit and go straight into the main street crowd, be careful for a while."

  Rare medicine is precious and easily targeted by some villains. Xingchuntang thought of everything, Li Ranno was very satisfied with the service of Xingchuntang, he also knew that the other party must have taken him as a disciple of a certain force to go out and practice.

  Li Ran nodded and smiled, turned around and walked out, as the shopkeeper said, turning right into the main street, blending into the crowd and walking away quietly.

  In a few days, the Misty Valley will be opened, and the competition for selecting disciples of the Xuanji Sect will begin in half a year. Li Ruo Dao urgently needs strength. From the moment he obtained those two golden fragments, Li Ruo Dao had been focusing on the spiritual medicine. Now that he has it in hand, he can't hide his excitement.

  The next step is to find a place to practice and use spiritual medicine to quickly enhance one's strength.

  After turning several streets, Li Ruo confirmed that no one was following him and quietly returned to the vicinity of Yu's home in a secluded alley with the unassuming burlap package on his back.

  The population of Linfeng City is not large, but there are many floating populations, mostly teams rushing to the mountains, so rental and sale notices can be seen everywhere in the city.

  Not far from the Li family home, Lirán had long noticed a small courtyard with a tall attic, where a piece of animal hide was hung at the door with the words "For Rent" written on it.

  Li Rengdao quickly walked along the alley, and when he passed by Yu's house, his body slightly paused. He heard the sound of children laughing inside, and a warm feeling rose in his heart. He walked to the front yard of that small courtyard, knocked on the door, and an old man with a slightly hunched back opened the gate. A pair of dull eyes stared at Li Rengdao in surprise:

  "Hey little brother, who are you looking for?"

  Li Ruo's smile: "I'd like to rent this small courtyard, may I ask how many silver coins are needed?"

  The old man stared at Li Nian's attire, slightly revealing a look of dissatisfaction as he shook his head: "Young fellow, are you living alone or with family? This attic room is available for rent, but there are conditions. The maximum number of occupants cannot exceed five people, the monthly rent is seven silver coins, and three months' rent must be paid upfront in cash. Absolutely no arrears will be tolerated. Also, if you hunt wild beasts, absolutely do not allow the house to be stained with blood..."

  The old man still wanted to talk, Li Ran handed out three or four silver coins and said lightly:

  "There's no one else, just me living here, I won't let you mess up any place."

  The old man was suddenly stunned, dazed for a moment, took the silver, shook his head and went back to the house to collect a package, carrying the package away.

  There are too many empty houses in the city, and it's been a long time since anyone came to this old man's place. Today, he met such a straightforward tenant, alone without any nonsense, so the old man didn't waste any more words and just took the money and left.