Pogushaling
It showed only the identity photo of Roy in the information sheet, but it would suffice. The young man looked like how a teenager should look—young and tender, with dewy cheeks and pale complexion—as a 16-year-old kid, he exhibited a delicate air of pampered young master. Only his expression was a little dull, unparalleled to his young age.
He Lin contemplated. On the night of the accident, he did not seem to see anyone who depicted similarities with the young boy. He Lin racked his mind, but the image of a long-haired young man suddenly flashed in his mind.
‘Could it be him?’ At that time, the sun had already sunk in the waves of the sea, and the crackling fires of their bonfire were the only source of light that illuminated the face of the young man. Despite the fire, it did little to make out the side of the man’s profile, so his impression was hazy. The flash of blue light that appeared in the sea kept He Lin preoccupied the whole time. Hence, he paid little attention to the looks of other survivors.
‘That blue light… what the hell was it?’
He Lin repeatedly recalled when he saw the blue light with his solid mental power. He was unsure what kind of thing it was, but he was sure that the glow came from a person or a humanoid creature and likely that “he” saved everyone from dying.
At this moment, He Lin broke out from his reverie as he received the test report from his adjutant, Fei Ta. The chemists approved a high evaluation of the quality of Ningxiang Pill¹, even if the basic test only resulted as 4-star medium-grade. Still, the actual effect of the drug far exceeded the capabilities of that rating value. The chemist expressed their clear-cut indignation for someone using such a superb technique to refine such useless conventional drugs into something significant. They strongly urged He Lin to recruit him into the medical team and let Lou Yi conduct a thorough and reformatory education!
He Lin found it ridiculous and inconsistent. He shook his head and ignored the medical team’s request, exited the mailbox, and entered the Huahua World of “Roy ” instead.
Huahua World’s medicines had increased to ten types and each of which was sold in limited quantities. So long as the shelves of her shop were complete, it always ended up wiped out by the end of the day, making the popularity of her shop clamber up successively by each day. With that said, the buyer clamored for more information about the upcoming medicines.
Regardless, An Xian did not fluctuate and steered away from her plans. She always conducted herself as per her rhythm and felt unconflicted to hurry the concoction of medicine and loading goods in haste.
Her plan was already set in stone.
One, make money and buy land. The flower fields were all rented now, and she must purchase them as soon as possible to create a small plot of spiritual energy blessed land that would be cheaper for others in the future.
Second, practice. Her current cultivation base was like that of the outer disciple of Lingyuan Sect. It’s no problem to fool the mortals since she could only rely on her face as an ace.
Third, find out what happened over 1,800 years ago? Where did the cultivators disappear to? Back then, the Cangquan Mountain where she cultivated had been submerged by the seawater and also buried some of the immortal cultivators within. When her level increased enough, she must go underwater to investigate it.
An Xian recently made a small profit from the Deformation Pill and finally had the money to buy a plant of Huixian Grass. When she was about to place the order, a message prompt suspended her from doing so.
Strange, didn’t she install a temporary message blocking feature? How did this message still bypass it?
An Xian clicked on the notification with curiosity, and a round ball of hair appeared on the screen in an instant. Although it may seem weird, she knew that this was the default virtual image of the system. Hence, she ignored it and looked instead at the name atop the hairy ball — “Your Excellency H.”
Your Excellency H: [Hello, Huahua Leader, I have taken the liberty to interrupt. I want to ask you for medicine, but I don’t know if you can make it.]
Huahua Leader: [What kind of medicine?]
Your Excellency H: [Repair mental damage and relieve mental pain.]
Huahua Leader: [This medicine is not impossible to refine. But, I must first understand your mental level and health status.]
Was silent for a few seconds, Your Excellency H: [Mental A, in good health.]
Huahua Leader: [A? With such high mental prowess, it’ll not be easy to repair it.]
Your Excellency H: [Based on your words, is it achievable?
Now it was An Xian’s turn to deliberate this time. Instead, she promptly closed the chat window and searched online for the prices of several key medicinal materials—the lowest of which required over tens of thousands of credits.
After weighing it over for a moment, An Xian, at last, said, “Well, send me your medical report first, and I will plot the corresponding program. Please heed that this kind of treatment is expensive. If you want to issue an order, then you must deposit an advance payment first.”
Your Excellency H: [Wait for 5 minutes.]
Five minutes later, An Xian received a detailed medical report except for a blackened real name.
From the report that this Lord H sent, whether by height, weight, or physical aptitude, it had reached the ideal perfect state of a man. If the looks behind the virtual screen brought justice to his username and were outstanding, then he was outright the absolute figure of the male god level.
Too bad that his mental power sustained critical injuries. And he was only a distance away from a nervous breakdown. Presumably, he ought to use some specialized treatment methods. Otherwise, the unceasing pain would be enough to make him worse off than death.
Although the cultivation base of An Xian suffered from great degrees of cut and could not develop a solution that would heal him in an instant, there was still a way to cure it. She could plan a long-term course of treatment, which was also considered a sustainable income.
Huahua Leader: [I have read your medical report. If you trust me, then pay a 7W as a down payment, and I will deliver the finished product to you next month.]
The other party did not show its confirmation, but after a few seconds, the League Master of Huahua World received a 7W credit deposit.
This was the most valuable and most challenging order that An Xian had received so far. She expected the total market price to exceed at least 40W. If there was no unforeseen mistake, the refined pill may break through the confinements as an ordinary product. It might even attain the level of a primary spiritual product. The most important thing was not An Xian’s medicine refining technique, nor the input of spiritual energy, but the quality of the medicinal ingredients.
It was rare to meet such a big client who was so frank about his demands. An Xian went to the medicinal ingredient marketplace to select the ingredients personally. The quality of those materials ordered online irrefutably had some weeds mixed in with the seedlings and only met the standards of An Xian once in a blue moon. It was always necessary to increase the workload of keeping the flowers separated from the weeds every time.
On the other hand, He Lin was also astonished that “Roy ” accepted the order without the slightest hesitation. Not even mentioning the possibility of failure. Even though Roy was informed that his one level lowered mental power, even a therapist or pharmacist above level 7 was not a hundred percent confident of curing this grave mental injury.
‘Is this young man indeed capable, or is he overestimating his capabilities?’
Not long after, what He Lin worried about would no longer be the other party’s strength. But regret that he had lied about his real spiritual level, extending the healing time significantly.
The next day, An Xian incurred an unmanned magnetic levitating vehicle and went straight to the largest trading market in Cangyan City.
This trading market covered an area of over 2,000 square kilometers that integrated auctions, retail and wholesale stores, planting, and medicinal refining in every nook inside. Sure enough, a day spent here would end you with all the things you need that correspond to those categories it catered to. One should expect that there would be no auspicious day that the market was not jammed pack with people. Without a doubt, that market was always bustling with lively chatter and excitement every day.
An Xian wandered around the wholesale area, traversing to the sea of people as he looked over the shelves of each shop one by one. Restorative materials were piled up in different categories. Most of which were of average quality, but occasionally, a small amount of high-quality restorative ingredients mingled within. An Xian’s target was those good restorative ingredients that were overlooked by the shopkeepers.
“Mr. Liu, this herbal medicine shop has a wide range of comprehensive ingredients, with each carries the highest quality and price that is more affordable than other pharmacies.” A confident voice rang out coming from the shop next door.
An Xian glanced at the medicinal materials that were deemed “of the highest quality” in the person’s mouth. Then retracted her gaze and continued to pick her things.
“Mr. Liu, you can just inspect the goods yourself. I believe you must have a better vision than me.”
“En, let me look at it first.”
An Xian only treated them as insignificant passers-by. Who knew that one of them even hesitated to shout her name during her buying time. “Roy? Are you Roy?”
She resembled the real Roy seventy to eighty percent, so it was not odd that they regarded her as him. This was also the reason she borrowed his identity.
Hearing her borrowed name, An Xian paused in her doings, raised her head, and looked at the person who just made the noise. A man stood there with brown hair, looking like in his twenties. A well-ironed Western suit, coupled with a shrewd and competent look, donned his medium-height frame on.
“Is it you?” He looked at her up and down with scrutiny, and finally, his haughty eyes stopped on her face with a weird expression. “I haven’t seen you in a few years, and you seem to have changed a lot.”
What’s with the strange “changed a lot”? Everyone was susceptible to changes.
An Xian cast her eyes on him flatly, as if there was nothing significant before her. And at high speed, quickly maneuvered through the memories he had got from Roy in his mind and found information about this seemingly pompous person.
He seemed to be Roy’s former classmate. Although Roy had forgotten his name, she vaguely recognized that there was nothing that screamed good about their relationship.
“Didn’t you go to Bellevue Medical School? It’s not the holiday season now. Why? Expelled from school?” Ou Hao said with a malicious smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
It was apparent that he was not aware that Roy had graduated from Bellevue Medical School in advance. An Xian did not bother to correct him. There was no need to waste precious expressions and time for passers-by whose names Roy did not even bother to remember.
“Tsk, you are still as dull as before.” Ou Hao glimpsed at the restorative materials in her hand and let out a ridiculous laugh, “The ability to discern medicine is as bad as ever.”
An Xian darted a glance at this overweening man. ‘He couldn’t even recognize such a rare Pogushaling yet still have the confidence to laugh at other’s poor eyesight?’
The appearance of this exotic material was very similar to the common Shique Mushroom, but there lies a great expanse of differences in quality and efficacy, with the former on top. If accidentally used as the said mushroom by someone who was unfamiliar with the goods, then it was definitely a reckless waste of excellent resources and likely to result in a defective product.
Because of the low demand, the supply channels of Pogushaling had never been many, and the quality was also unsatisfactory. The price of Pogushaling was ten times that of Shique Mushroom. Nowadays, some people consider Pogushaling with such high quality as an ordinary Shique Mushroom and sell them at a cheap price. How could An Xian not accept this wonderful reason?
Ou Hao saw that she did not say a word and felt a little bored. Just as he was about to leave, his eyes caught sight of the figure of Mr. Liu headed toward them. With a bulb flashed atop his head, he raised his voice and said, “Roy, Shique Mushroom was a mere common drug, yet there are also useful and awful points. Like the one in your hand—the color is dim, the shape is irregular, and the texture is too smooth. I tell you, it is not a great product at first sight.”
Mr. Liu’s figure had just reached the two of them. Hearing Ou Hao’s loud voice, he turned his head to look at the Pogushaling in An Xian’s hand, and a trace of hesitation flew across his face.
An Xian ignored the frothy person, took out the credit card and swiped it on the meter, and put the “common” Pogushaling into the bag without any trouble.
Seeing that his previous classmate ignored himself once again, Ou Hao said with a loathsome face, “Roy, it’s okay to be a person with poor talents, but you can’t be self-righteous. As long as your will to learn and inquire is strong, you can always gain something. But look at you. You have made no progress for so many years. Such a disappointment.”
An Xian put the Pogushaling into the polished shopping cart, took a step, and walked away that was neither hurried nor slow. But refined and carefree.
It enraged Ou Hao that he almost vomited blood on the spot.
Mr. Liu moved his lips as if he wanted to stop her, but gave up in the end.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Liu. That was my former classmate, with low mental talent and poor eyesight, which is laughable.” Ou Hao suppressed his seething anger and apologized through gritted teeth.
“Poor eyesight?” Mr. Liu looked at him with a wry smile. “Do you know what he bought just now?”
Ou Hao said, confused, “Isn’t it just a low-quality Shique Mushroom?”
“Haha, Shique Mushroom? No, no, no. It’s a high-quality trunk of ‘Pogushaling’.” A minute ago, Mr. Liu was not very sure until he found the young man had made a particular action. It was to wrap the Pogushaling in bright tinfoil and put it in a separate space. Bright tinfoil could dilute the smell mixed in with other herbs. Pogushaling was under the category of few restorative materials that needed to safeguard the purity of its unique fragrance.
Ou Hao’s face contorted with disbelief written on them. “Impossible.”
Mr. Liu explained neither to this foolish person. Instead, he said indifferently, “You know, you said something right—it’s okay to be a person with poor talent, but you cannot be self-righteous.
“Your classmate with ‘poor eyesight’ just used 1250 points to buy a trunk of Pogushaling, which is worth 13,000 points.”