Chapter 188: Insisting on a Fight

Zhou Qianfan was dumbfounded, his eyes filled with nothing but sheer astonishment.

"You're actually going to do this?"

Mu Lin didn't get angry. He simply smiled. "Uncle Zhou, when it comes to a confrontation above the Divine Realm, I'm not as confident as I usually am. For your own safety, you should leave quickly."

"Well..." Zhou Qianfan nodded slowly. "You have a point."

Mu Lin turned and went into his room. "I'm going to concoct the medicine!"

Dragon Bone Grass, Nine-Flame Dragon Ginseng, and a Bright God Fruit.

The Dragon Bone Grass and Nine-Flame Dragon Ginseng were for replenishing vitality and blood, to help restore Elder Li's life force.

As for the Bright God Fruit, it was meant to strengthen his spiritual power, helping Elder Li readjust to a conscious life.

The state of being neither alive nor dead during a coma was known as the intermediate state. In this state, a person's spirit was extremely ethereal and could travel thousands of miles in a single thought.

But to awaken him, one had to help him re-acclimate to his body.

And re-acclimating to one's body required a powerful spirit.

Naturally, the Bright God Fruit was indispensable.

The moment he opened the box, Mu Lin felt a wave of potent medicinal energy wash over him.

A single breath was enough to leave him feeling invigorated.

It wasn't hard to imagine just how potent the medicinal energy of the entire fruit must be.

'What if he's too weak to absorb it? That would be awful...' Mu Lin muttered to himself. 'I should probably make it into a liquid solution first and add it in bit by bit.'

No sooner said than done. A dozen or so minutes later, an amber glass bottle was filled with a slightly cloudy liquid.

The cloudiness came from the pulp of the Bright God Fruit, which would enhance the solution's efficacy.

He set it aside. Next were the Dragon Bone Grass and Nine-Flame Dragon Ginseng. Mu Lin was quite familiar with these herbs, so all he needed to do was prepare them slowly.

The process was rather slow.

Once the preparations were complete, he slowly mixed the liquids.

And with that, he was finished.

He looked up and was surprised to see the sky had already grown dark.

He hadn't expected the concoction process to take so long.

Mu Lin opened the door and stepped out to find Zhou Qianfan lounging on the sofa, watching TV.

He looked quite relaxed.

Hearing Mu Lin's door open, Zhou Qianfan immediately shot to his feet. "Mu Lin, is the medicine finished?"

Mu Lin said, "I lost track of time. My apologies, Uncle Zhou."

Zhou Qianfan quickly waved his hand. "It's fine, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

"I was just killing time anyway! Come on, I asked Ying'Er, and she recommended a nice restaurant. My treat!"

Mu Lin smiled. "Alright! I'd be happy to accept."

When they arrived at the restaurant, Zhou Qianfan asked the owner for a private room and told him to bring out a spread of his best dishes.

The owner found it odd that a party of just two would request a private room, but he didn't say anything.

After all, with how advanced payment methods were these days, it was unlikely they were planning to dine and dash.

Once the food and drinks were served, the waiter closed the door behind him.

Zhou Qianfan encouraged Mu Lin to eat and drink.

After a few rounds of drinks, when the mood was just right, Zhou Qianfan worked up the courage to ask:

"Mu Lin, are you really willing to teach Ying'Er to cultivate?"

Mu Lin picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and smiled. "Of course. If she's capable, why shouldn't she?"

"Ying'Er was born into a wealthy family and has been pampered her whole life. I don't know if she can handle the hardship. If she decides to give up, you won't make fun of her, will you?"

Mu Lin said seriously, "I won't. After all, this path certainly isn't for everyone, but everyone has the right to try."

Zhou Qianfan nodded thoughtfully. 'Mu Lin has a great attitude, the mindset of a truly important person.'

'I, on the other hand, worry far too much about gains and losses.'

"I understand!"

Zhou Qianfan let out a long laugh. "Yes, you're right! We'll let Ying'Er give it a try. If our Zhou Family produces a cultivator, our position in Anhua will be even more secure. We could even extend our influence throughout all of Nanjiang Province."

Lost in his daydreams, Zhou Qianfan kept drinking. It wasn't the wine that intoxicated him, but his own excitement. He ended up passing out right on the table.

Looking completely exasperated, Mu Lin used acupuncture to sober Zhou Qianfan up, woke him, and then helped him back to the hotel.

The next morning, Zhou Qianfan had to go meet a client, so Mu Lin went for a stroll through the streets.

He had already asked Zhou Ying for the location of the largest pharmacy in Di Yang City.

He needed to purchase some herbs. Helping Zhou Ying step onto the Martial Dao would require a large quantity of medicinal ingredients.

The prescription he'd given Zhou Ying the day before was a very basic one for treating internal injuries.

It was nothing special.

If Zhou Ying truly wanted to begin cultivating, the amount of herbs she would need was no small number; the pharmacy supposedly had almost everything imaginable.

It even took custom orders—they could find any herb you wanted.

Some people guessed that the shop's owner had a powerful figure backing them; otherwise, it would be difficult to establish such a large enterprise.

As Mu Lin stepped into the pharmacy, he couldn't help but nod. The shop's operator clearly knew their business. Just by taking a quick sniff, he could tell the quality of the herbs was excellent, and yet the listed prices were quite fair.

It made Mu Lin wonder how the owner managed to stay in business at all.

But Zhou Ying had said the shop had been open for several decades, and it had always been run this way without ever going bankrupt.

That meant the shop must have found a way to be profitable.

Mu Lin wasn't in a hurry to buy anything. Instead, he browsed with great interest, occasionally pinching a few slices of licorice root to chew on like a snack.

The shop clerks saw Mu Lin's actions but didn't get angry, continuing to serve customers with a good-natured attitude.

This made Mu Lin even more interested in the shop, and he gave the place a thorough look, inside and out.

In the end, he concluded it was just an ordinary, time-honored brand with nothing particularly special about it.

This gave him an excellent impression of the shop. 'It's rare to find people who do business with such integrity these days.'

He was just about to go buy his herbs when he suddenly saw a man and a woman walk in.

There was nothing inherently strange about that, but something about them felt very odd to Mu Lin.

The young woman's face was vacant, and her steps were very unsteady.

And... he had seen this girl before. It was Li Xue's best friend, Ye Chunshui!

'What is she doing here?'

'Could she just be sightseeing? No, that's impossible!'

'It's a five or six-hour drive!'

'That's too far to come just for a stroll.'

The person with her had a dark expression, his brows perpetually furrowed in a sinister glower.

His mouth opened and closed nonstop as he muttered some incomprehensible words, and Ye Chunshui walked obediently ahead of him.

'If this was simple coercion, she could obviously run away. The shop is full of people!'

'That left only one possibility: her mind was being controlled.'

Mu Lin picked up a small stone and flicked it, aiming for an acupoint on Ye Chunshui's waist.

Ye Chunshui suddenly jolted, and the clarity returned to her eyes.

The mental control over her had been successfully broken.

"Where am I? How did I get here?!"

Ye Chunshui stopped in her tracks. The sinister man was still chanting his spell, and when he saw she was no longer moving, he gave her a shove.

Ye Chunshui looked back and was so frightened she immediately turned to run.

She hadn't taken more than a few steps when the sinister man said, "You dare run? Hmph. You can run, but you can't hide. Don't think I don't know where you live!"

"Take one more step, and I guarantee your whole family will be executed!"

As soon as he said this, Ye Chunshui froze, not daring to move.

She didn't care about her own safety, but she couldn't bear it if something were to happen to her family.

Mu Lin was by her side now. He whispered, "Don't be afraid. Follow me."

Ye Chunshui said in a panic, "If I run, he said he'll go after my family..."

Mu Lin smiled. "That's a small matter. I won't let him do it. If he dares, I'll make sure he doesn't live to regret it."

"Who are you going to make sure doesn't live?!" The sinister man heard Mu Lin's words and strode forward.

"You dare interfere with my, Young Master Xu's, business? You must have a death wish."

The sinister man, calling himself Young Master Xu, lunged straight for Mu Lin.

Mu Lin's eyes flashed, and the man's movements froze for an instant.

"Tell me who sent you to do this dirty work. Bring him here. Otherwise, you'll be the one dying today."

Young Master Xu had thin lips that made him look exceptionally cruel. He gave a sinister smile.

"Die? I think you're the one whose death is near. Challenging the Xu Family on our own turf in Di Yang City? You must be tired of living."

The moment he said this, the expressions on the faces of the onlookers changed drastically.

'Shit, a fight's about to break out! We have to run! It would be awful to get caught in the crossfire.'

Forgetting all about their shopping, they turned and hurried away, wanting only to leave this place of trouble as quickly as possible.

In the chaos, quite a few people even grabbed some expensive herbs on their way out. The clerks paid them no mind, instead rushing to the back of the shop.

They had to notify the Shopkeeper!