The righteous path punishes Heaven

Chapter 21 Hidden Conspiracy

Master Tianli's name has spread throughout the entire Qiankun Dao, and some disciples who had old acquaintances with Xu Tianli came to visit him. The first to arrive was Lin Yue, Xu Tianli's former good brother.

Lin Yue was an inner disciple of the Qiankun Dao sect and the son of a sect elder. He himself was at the late Foundation Establishment stage and was quite renowned among the other disciples. Before Xu Tianli was killed by Zhang Yunling, he had a good relationship with Lin Yue, and the two often interacted.

Now, to learn that his little brother Xu Tianli has such skill in alchemy and is respectfully called Master Tianli by many disciples, is truly beyond his expectations.

To avoid attracting attention, Lin Yue deliberately went alone without any attendants. "I want to see what's going on with this guy. I've never seen him refine pills before, and now he's suddenly a master. It's really inexplicable."

Lin Yue pondered this in his mind, his pace quickening as he walked through the various stalls of the trading house, heading straight for Zhang Yunling's location.

Zhang Yunling's business remained booming; the second and third-grade pills he refined daily were in high demand. Seeing that only three or four pills remained on the stone platform, yet a large group of disciples still waited patiently to buy them, Zhang Yunling announced:

"Since today's stock is sold out, the remaining three pills will each need to be purchased at double the price!"

This opportunistic act drew some dissatisfaction from a few disciples, but they all responded enthusiastically. One of the disciples at the front threw a bulging storage bag at Zhang Yunling and then reached out to snatch the pills.

"Excuse me, everyone." A deep voice rang out. Although the volume was not loud, the late Foundation Establishment stage cultivation contained within it spread with the sound waves. Immediately, the disciples who were scrambling for the pills quieted down and all turned their gazes to the person who spoke.

The newcomer was none other than Lin Yue. Upon seeing him, all the disciples made way for him, and the disciple who had forcibly bought the pills quickly put them away and hurriedly retreated.

Seeing the disciple quickly stuffing the pills into his storage bag, Lin Yue frowned slightly, becoming even more suspicious of Xu Tianli's identity as an alchemist.

"Junior Brother Tianli, I've heard you've been doing quite well lately. But don't forget the friends and family who were kind to you in the past." Lin Yue said slowly as he approached the stall. "Seeing that you've sold out of pills, why don't we take some time to catch up?"

Upon reaching this point, Lin Yue looked up, wanting to see just how much of a grade alchemist his brother Tian Li was, that his pills could cause these disciples to scramble for them so frantically.

At this moment, Zhang Yunling was extremely flustered. He cursed inwardly, "Why is that damned Lin Yue here again?" He wanted to leave quickly under the pretext of selling out of pills, but he suddenly realized that the storage bag full of spirit stones that the disciple had thrown on the stone platform earlier was still there. That bag contained nearly a thousand spirit stones!

Lin Yue's gaze had already locked onto them, and Zhang Yunling's hand had already reached for the storage bag. Then, he immediately turned around and ran away, shouting, "Brothers, all the pills are sold out this time. See you next time!"

All the disciples responded with shouts. Those who were lucky enough to buy pills had eyes full of anticipation, while those who didn't were filled with regret, secretly resolving to come early next morning to wait and be the first customer when Zhang Yunling's stall opened.

Everyone was whispering and discussing Zhang Yunling's sale of pills, but Lin Yue alone looked astonished and pointed in the direction Zhang Yunling had left, shouting, "He...he's not Xu Tianli!"

As the disciples were packing up to leave, they suddenly heard Lin Yue shouting in front of the stall that Zhang Yunling was not Xu Tianli. Immediately, sarcastic remarks came from one of the disciples:

"What the hell? This guy must be jealous of Master Tianli, pointing at him and saying it's not Xu Tianli? Tch." Several other disciples chimed in, "Exactly! It's true what they say, fame makes people afraid, just like pigs are afraid of getting fat. We outer disciples finally have a genius like Master Tianli among us, and these inner disciples just sniffed out the scent and came over, spouting nonsense and trying to bewitch us. Humph!"

Lin Yue stood there dumbfounded, staring blankly at the departing disciples. He was filled with shame and indignation. He stopped shouting and quickly chased after Zhang Yunling.

"No wonder he was wearing a black veil when I saw him before. I thought it was a bit strange then, and now it seems that's exactly why! Damn it!"

The Elders' Pavilion is located on the top floor of the Qiankun Hall.

The elders sat on either side of a long table. Lin Jiangcheng, the sect leader of Qiankun Dao, who was in the main seat, spoke first: "As for Xu Tianli's matter, all of you elders, including myself, are aware of it, right?"

The elders nodded in agreement. Lin Jiangcheng continued, "The Daoist Saintess Lin Qingxue is already a fourth-grade alchemist and is about to break through to the fifth grade. The original championship and the Dao Fortune Lotus Seed she brought back from the Netherworld Valley were meant for her, but now Xu Tianli has become a variable..."

At this moment, Sun Fuling, the chief elder of the alchemy room, spoke up: "Hey, I know this Xu Tianli very well. This boy was not originally a medicine boy, but came here directly as an outer disciple to take the test and become an alchemist. Moreover, he refined a perfect foundation-building pill with dual spiritual roots of the third-grade peak quality in just one attempt. His talent is terrifying and we need to pay more attention to him."

Elder Li Jin, who was in charge of matters concerning cultivators, chimed in, "That's right. Moreover, I heard that Xu Tianli recently opened a stall at the trading house, selling a large quantity of the pills he has refined himself. I heard that many of them are of the third grade. The disciples have even given him a nickname, Master Tianli."

Lin Jiangcheng nodded slightly, pondered for a moment, and then announced to all the elders: "Then, if Lin Qingxue successfully refines the Qiankun Qiyun Pill, the final assessment will proceed as planned."

"But if Xu Tianli has a stroke of luck and truly surpasses Xue'er, then we'll need to announce at that time that all the pills refined by the contestants must belong to the sect, and the rewards will be changed to other rare medicinal herbs. What do you elders think?"

The other elders remained deep in thought when Sun Fuling stroked his white beard and slowly asked, "These Dao Yun Lotus Seeds are extremely rare and precious natural treasures. Our sect sent several Golden Core stage experts and a Nascent Soul stage elder to lead the effort, and it took a great deal of work to obtain just a few. Moreover, these Qiankun Qi Yun Pills are high-grade pills with quality approaching sixth rank. Only a sixth-rank alchemist like myself can guarantee a successful refining. If it were that girl Lin Qingxue..."

When Lin Jiangcheng heard Sun Fuling's concerns, he simply smiled and said, "Elder Sun, please rest assured. I have made arrangements for Xue'er. If any unexpected situation arises, just handle it as I have suggested."

"That Xu Tianli, a mere outer disciple, could he really cause any trouble? He's probably just tired of living and looking for his own death."