Chapter 8. Under the Imperial City Gilded exterior, desire devours people.

The Bo family mansion in the Imperial City.

A mysterious person in a black robe stood before Bo Jia Zi.

“Guests will arrive tomorrow, remember to entertain them well.” The loose black robe concealed his appearance.

In the cold room, the thin moonlight filtering through the paper window shone on that person, only allowing one to see the sharp chin and thin lips exposed under the wide hood of his black robe.

The moonlight shone on his clean white teeth, revealing a chilling coldness.

In the silent night, the “hissing” voice of the mysterious black-robed figure was particularly terrifying, like a black venomous snake lurking in the darkness waiting for its prey to arrive.

The snake’s body, covered in black scales, constricts and coils, slowly tightening. Its cold fangs bite into the prey’s neck, injecting venom into the blood vessels, paralyzing and corroding the prey’s nerves. When the prey no longer resists, it opens its mouth to swallow the prey whole, slowly digesting it completely.

“Yes, my lord.” Bo Jia Zi bowed respectfully, not asking any unnecessary questions.

A gust of wind blew open the window, and everything returned to darkness.

*

Since the eldest daughter’s death and the family head falling ill, the Bo family had begun to show signs of decline. At this rate, the Bo family would surely disappear amidst the undercurrents of the Imperial City.

But for some unknown reason, starting a month ago, the Bo family’s business suddenly began to revive like a withered tree coming back to life. It rose from its low point, not only stabilizing its foundation but also miraculously keeping pace with its former arch-rival, the Hua family. Step by step, they ascended, becoming one of only two major medicine merchants in the Imperial City, almost monopolizing all the sources of rare and precious medicinal materials in the Imperial City.

Xin Jiao Zhou and her group headed straight for the Bo family mansion in the Imperial City based on reliable information Hua Rong brought back from the Immortal Medical Valley.

As for why they didn’t choose the Hua family, it was because the Hua family’s eldest son was currently the emperor’s favored consort, the Beauty Consort, and had already attained the position of Noble Consort. The Hua family could be said to have achieved great fortune through one person.

The Beauty Noble Consort’s favor was currently at its peak, with complex relationships intertwined in the court. Many powerful ministers wanted to curry favor with and form connections to the Hua family, not to mention the Hua family’s original livelihood, the Hua family medicine business.

The Hua family medicine business had long been entangled with imperial relatives and powerful officials.

The martial arts world and the imperial court had always kept their distance. Not getting involved with the imperial court was an unspoken principle among martial artists, let alone for the Heavenly Sword Sect, which was a demonic cult that intimidated the martial arts world.

The taller trees catch more wind.

No matter how powerful they were, no matter how fearless, they could not escape the laws of the world.

Xin Jiao Zhou and her two companions all changed into low-key traveling clothes, which wouldn’t give people any negative impressions visually.

Xin Jiao Zhou directly used her disguise from Guanyin Town, covering her forehead mark with a simple and elegant face veil, then transforming into a fair-skinned young lady.

A Yu had handled many affairs for Xin Jiao Zhou when she secretly left the sect, of course including many disguise and face-changing tasks. He changed into a set of gray casual clothes, standing beside Xin Jiao Zhou, making people understand their relationship at a glance, preventing any misunderstandings or rudeness.

Although Hua Rong wasn’t dressed as flamboyantly as before, he still exuded an air of luxurious elegance and noble aloofness. His attire was just simpler and more low-key than before – a light red robe with delicate patterns embroidered in pale gold thread on the hem and cuffs. Clearly, nothing could make him give up his beloved red and gold colors.

Upon arriving in the Imperial City, Xin Jiao Zhou and her group didn’t need to ask around much. A conspicuous golden signboard reading “Bo Family Pharmacy” appeared at the city gate, with over a dozen chain pharmacies throughout the Imperial City.

The group didn’t have any particular criteria for selecting a pharmacy, simply choosing the nearest one.

As soon as they entered the store, a young clerk with good eyes approached them.

“Esteemed guests, what would you like?” The clerk wore a trademark smile, the greeting words already formed into muscle memory, coming out automatically.

Only Xin Jiao Zhou returned a polite smile to the clerk, then no one paid him any more attention.

The group walked directly to the counter in the corner.

“Are you the shopkeeper of this store?” A Yu asked.

Seeing that the people before him were of uncommon appearance, dress, and bearing, the shopkeeper quickly responded with good judgment: “Yes, this humble one is.”

“Call your family head out here,” A Yu said coldly, accustomed to emotionless execution, his usual communication with others had become like commands, stiff and without a trace of warmth in his voice.

The shopkeeper thought he had encountered troublemakers, not wanting to disturb other customers and lose business, so he said calmly and discreetly: “Please, esteemed guests, follow me first.”

Xin Jiao Zhou glanced lightly at the shopkeeper, following him towards the back courtyard, with the other two following suit.

The shopkeeper led them to a secluded room in the back courtyard, quite properly brewing a cup of fresh tea for each of them, then putting on a respectful and fawning manner, said: “Please, esteemed guests, wait in this reception room for a moment. This humble one will go invite the family head right away.”

With that, he walked out of the room, turning to close the door.

Xin Jiao Zhou and Hua Rong exchanged a glance, then quietly picked up their cups to sip tea.

Not long after, the door was opened again. The newcomers were not the Bo family head, but a group of thugs from the Bo family pharmacy. Each was broad-shouldered and muscular, with fierce eyes and intimidating airs.

However, they couldn’t scare this group.

The thugs carried clubs in their hands, and without a word, they raised their clubs intending to teach these people a lesson.

Xin Jiao Zhou and Hua Rong didn’t move, elegantly sitting in their chairs, sipping tea and watching A Yu single-handedly take down the group of strong men.

The people on the ground fell neatly.

One moment they were wielding their clubs fiercely, the next they became like kittens with trimmed whiskers just learning to walk, struggling to get up from the ground.

A Yu coldly looked at these low-level practitioners struggling at her feet. If it weren’t for the fact that the Sect Master still needed to do business with this pharmacy, she wouldn’t have gone so easy on them.

Those who dared to harbor evil intentions towards the Sect Master deserved death.

The shopkeeper, who had been lurking in the corridor outside, constantly monitoring the situation, saw that the other party had only sent out one person, yet in an instant had taken down all of their thugs.

Was the opponent too strong, or were their own thugs too weak? As the shopkeeper, she was very clear about the strength of their thugs.

The Bo family pharmacy, renowned throughout the Imperial City, wouldn’t spend money to hire a bunch of useless decorations to adorn the place.

It was precisely because she knew this that she was even more terrified.

The shopkeeper’s old heart received quite a workout today.

Although her legs were uncontrollably weak and her limbs were shaking, she still clenched her fists tightly, using her nails to dig into her flesh to stimulate her nerves with pain, allowing herself to control her body and calm down.

At this point, her face was already contorted with fear, but she still put on a smile. However, the resulting effect was less than ideal; the expression was really quite unbearable to look at, worse than not smiling at all.

“Esteemed guests, this humble one had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai, offending you all.” The shopkeeper said in a low, submissive voice, repeatedly nodding and bowing.

Her attitude was appropriately humble, emotionally charged. While apologizing, she didn’t forget to take out a handkerchief, occasionally wiping nonexistent tears from her face, before continuing: “The Bo family pharmacy has truly been experiencing misfortune lately, encountering successive man-made disasters. Seeing that you all spoke in such a refined manner, this humble one mistakenly thought you were noble persons wanting to curry favor with ‘that family’ and came to cause trouble for our establishment.”

She sobbed a couple of times, then continued: “This humble one was truly muddle-headed. I hope that you, in your greatness, can be magnanimous and spare this humble one this once.”

After speaking, under the cover of wiping her tears, she secretly peeked at Xin Jiao Zhou and the others from behind her handkerchief, discovering that they had no reaction to her performance.

As if thinking of something else, she continued to add: “If the esteemed guests have come this time seeking any medicinal herbs, as long as our pharmacy has them, please feel free to instruct. This humble one will personally deliver them to your door tomorrow.” She made a promise.

Hearing that the shopkeeper had finally gotten to the point, Xin Jiao Zhou picked up her porcelain cup, used the lid to brush away the tea foam on top, took a sip of tea, and then unhurriedly spoke: “In that case, we’ll trouble the shopkeeper then.”

Different trades have different skills, and after all, they were here to buy medicine.

Hua Rong, understanding Xin Jiao Zhou’s meaning, unceremoniously instructed the shopkeeper to gather the medicinal materials. Apart from the originally needed herbs, he was quite generous in not demanding any additional medicines as compensation.

If one were to seriously calculate, the consequences of deliberately attempting to assassinate the three major leaders of the jianghu world would be more than ten pharmacy shopkeepers could bear.

Hearing the list of items requested, the shopkeeper’s expression changed slightly, but she quickly covered it up with her trademark smile.

After Hua Rong had finished arranging for the delivery of the medicine, the three of them stood up to leave.

The shopkeeper saw off the three “great Buddhas,” her body leaning weakly against the inner door of the shop, exhaling a heavy breath.

It’s easy to invite gods but hard to send them away. Now that these gods had been sent off, the following matters would be easier to handle.

She wouldn’t do business that lost money and cost her job.

*

In Mingxia Palace, Mu He received a new commission.

An assassination commission.

That night, the crescent moon hung high.

A figure almost merged with the night appeared and disappeared under the moonlight.

Outside the Yunlai Inn, suddenly a strong and powerful hand appeared, silently pushing open one of its windows. Immediately after, a masked person in black clothes flipped in, a series of actions as smooth as flowing water.

The black-clothed person raised their foot, just about to approach the bed when they were kicked by someone flying in.

A Yu didn’t dare use internal energy, fearing the wind force might harm Xin Jiao Zhou, so she directly used the most primitive fighting method – hand-to-hand combat.

The black-clothed person, caught completely off guard by the kick, lost the initiative and could only continuously retreat, avoiding the other’s fierce attacks.

Taking advantage of A Yu’s entanglement with the black-clothed person, Xin Jiao Zhou put on her clothes and got out of bed, lighting all the lamps in the room. The room became as bright as day.

Hearing the commotion, Hua Rong also rushed in to assist, raising his hand and waving his sleeve, throwing a small packet of medicinal powder towards the black-clothed person.

No matter how fast the black-clothed person moved, they couldn’t avoid the combined attack of two top martial arts experts. Some powder still got on their body.

Mu He immediately sensed something was wrong and wanted to pause his offensive actions to change his form and retreat.

But just this moment of hesitation allowed Xin Jiao Zhou to seize the opportunity and pull off his face covering.

Although Mu He escaped, his face had already been seen by the other party.

Looking at the sky on the verge of dawn before him, he knew this mission could not be completed.

Mu He had originally thought this was just an ordinary assassination, the process might be a bit troublesome, but he hadn’t expected that he would fail.

The commission letter only mentioned the method of assassination and detailed requirements, without much description of the target’s background. It only specified the need for the strongest assassin. He hadn’t expected… that even with him personally taking action, he couldn’t defeat them.

Before daybreak, Mu He returned to Mingxia Palace.

He instructed his subordinates to return the commission to that client in the front hall, then urgently went to the quiet room to detoxify and treat his injuries.

The shopkeeper had waited expectantly all night, only to receive notice that the commission had been returned.

Although Mingxia Palace had provided compensation, compared to the medicinal materials she had to hand over today, it was just a drop in the bucket.

The shopkeeper collapsed into a chair, unable to come to her senses for a long time.

She couldn’t afford these things at all. The matter could no longer be concealed, she could only report the situation truthfully to the family head.

Only now did she think about cutting her losses in time… but it was already too late.

Greed knows no bounds, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant.

The shopkeeper returned to the Bo family pharmacy in a dazed state. She gathered paper and brush, ground some ink, and wrote a letter explaining the whole affair, which she placed under the account book on the counter. By the time she finished all this, it was already broad daylight.

Outside, the cries of street vendors rose from all directions. The bustling world of mortals was truly hard to part with.

The pharmacy clerks arrived one after another to start work. A young, brash girl with a mouthful of eye-catching white teeth greeted her. It was the same young clerk who had proactively welcomed Xin Jiao Zhou yesterday.

The shopkeeper felt somewhat emotional and, before leaving, passed on some experience in managing the pharmacy to her.

The young clerk was overjoyed, thinking she was about to be promoted by the shopkeeper. She put in even more effort than usual in greeting customers, her smile now carrying a few more degrees of sincerity.

However, she would never see the shopkeeper return again.