Judging from their reactions, the three young men had clearly never heard of brain platinum.

Chu Qiguang regurgitated the same spiel he had used to swindle Wang Cailiang and his father, then added a caveat. “This medicine is only effective for first-state martial artists. Once you reach the second state, its enhancement effects become negligible.”

The three young men were disappointed to hear this, but it didn’t really come as a surprise.

If a medicine this effective could work even on second-state martial artists, then there was no way that sons of village landowners like them could have access to it.

Chu Qiguang had added this caveat to downplay the value of brain platinum in order to avoid attracting too much attention. After all, given his current cultivation base, he could only stick to exploiting first-state martial artists.

Of course, as he grew stronger, he could make up superior medicines that catered to more advanced martial artists.

By the end of the treatments, Wang Cailiang was yawning repeatedly.

“Thank you for your hard work today, Brother Wang,” Chu Qiguang said quietly, “I’ll prepare the medicine for you tomorrow, and you’ll receive your payment then as well. Go get some rest.”

Wang Cailiang was indeed exhausted. He had drunk a lot at dinner earlier, and his eyelids felt unbearably heavy. Satisfied with his day’s work, he returned to his room to sleep.

Chu Qiguang invited the three young men back to his room, then said, “For each treatment, I charge Wang Cailiang fifty taels of silver. Each regimen consists of ten treatments, so I charged him five hundred taels of silver in total.” 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The three young men were shocked to hear this, and even the wealthiest one among them, Jin Fugui, couldn’t help but exclaim, “That’s way too expensive!”

“I didn’t think Wang Cailiang had that much money!”

“A batch of Hundred Refinement Ointment costs less than forty taels of silver. Surely fifty taels is asking for too much!”

“But my treatment is much more effective than using Hundred Refinement Ointment, and you can grow stronger without any effort,” Chu Qiguang replied with a faint smile.

Of course, Qiao Zhi could complete the foundation establishment procedure in just a single session, but the enhancement would be far too drastic and arouse suspicion.

This was why Chu Qiguang had instructed Qiao Zhi to divide the process into ten sessions. That way, the enhancement effects from each session would be significantly reduced, but still superior to the effects of Hundred Refinement Ointment, which was already highly appealing to aspiring martial artists.

After all, it gave them an edge over their peers at the academy, thereby increasing their chances in the future martial examinations.

“To be honest, I have to purchase the medicinal ingredients and then refine them myself. Brain platinum alone costs close to four hundred taels of silver per batch. Right now, I only have two batches on hand,” Chu Qiguang added.

He then feigned a pained expression as he compromised, “If you still think it’s too expensive, then I’ll sell you each regimen for only four hundred taels of silver.”

“I’ll take it for four hundred and fifty!” Jin Fugui declared.

The other two could only fight over the remaining batch of brain platinum, and in the end, it was purchased for five hundred taels of silver by a young man called Lu Ming.

The third young man’s name was Qiu Wen, and he could only let out a forlorn sigh. His clan was about as wealthy as the Wang Clan, but he was not his father’s only son, so he had no confidence in his ability to secure five hundred taels of silver from his father.

“Don’t be disheartened, Brother Qiu,” Chu Qiguang consoled. “I’ll be sure to notify you as soon as I get some new stock.”

“How did I lose consciousness earlier, Brother Chu?” Jin Fugui asked. “I didn’t even get to taste the medicine that you used.”

“During the treatment, part of your blood flow is restricted, so there wasn’t enough blood reaching your brain. That’s why you lost consciousness,” Chu Qiguang explained with a smile.

At the same time, he thought to himself that he had to learn the Heavenly Fiend Foundation Establishment Technique soon. Otherwise, relying on Qiao Zhi every time was far too inconvenient.

“At this point, I’m sure all of you already have a rough idea of my background,” Chu Qiguang continued. “As we all know, there’s going to be a war in the north soon, and all kinds of resources are currently being transported to the northern military base from Spirit Province. However, there are always going to be inferior products left behind. The circumstances are very complicated, so I won’t go into detail.

“All I can tell you for now is that I don’t have a stable supply of this medicine. Also, some secret techniques are required to administer the treatment, so I’d like to ask the three of you to keep this matter strictly confidential.”

Chu Qiguang had intentionally spoken in very vague terms to leave much to the imagination, and the three young men had already begun drawing connections between him and the northern military base.

Chu Qiguang could see that the three of them had all jumped to their own conclusions, and he added, “By the way, don’t tell Wang Cailiang that I’m selling this medicine to you for only 450 taels of silver. Also, I don’t have much in stock right now, so don’t tell anyone else about this. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to reserve it for you.”

The three young men nodded. The more people who learned about this medicine, the more competition they would face. Naturally, they weren’t going to say anything, and all of them quickly swore oaths under each other’s supervision to keep it a secret.

After that, it was agreed that they would bring the silver to Chu Qiguang the next day, and over the course of the following nine days, they would continue to visit every night for treatment.

As he watched the trio leave, Chu Qiguang gleefully thought to himself, After tomorrow, I’ll have over one thousand three hundred taels of silver. That should be enough for around forty days’ worth of Hundred Refinement Ointment.

Just then, a thought crossed his mind, and he turned to Qiao Zhi and asked, “Are there any demons or fiends in Azure Sun County?”

Qiao Zhi’s heart immediately sank upon hearing this. Clearly, Chu Qiguang was beginning to set his sights on the fiends of Azure Sun County, something that Qiao Zhi had always feared.

It’s a good thing I’m already prepared. I have to get Chu Qiguang to target the other fiends, particularly the dog fiends. That way, he won’t make us cats do any work.

With that in mind, Qiao Zhi replied, “I’ve heard that there’s a bunch of stray dogs in the county town that often band together to attack residents or steal from the stalls and vendors. There are also stories of people being mauled to death by stray dogs outside the county town. My guess is that there’s a dog fiend behind all of this.”

“Anything else?” Chu Qiguang asked.

“The stray cats in Azure Sun County are all really oppressed,” Qiao Zhi reported. “They don’t have enough to eat and are constantly being beaten. Also, there’s been a corpse reanimation incident in the county town, and the Daoist temple is working with the bailiffs of the county office to investigate. Quite a few dried corpses have been found outside the county town, stripped of their clothes and valuables, and no one knows what killed them.

“Some fishermen have also drowned at the docks recently, and bystanders say that they saw a dark shadow in the water at the time of the incident. Just a few days ago, there was a guy who went mad after straying down the wrong path while cultivating. He went on a murderous rampage on the streets before being detained by the Daoist priests of the Daoist temple.”

“Looks like there are quite a few demons and fiends around,” Chu Qiguang mused.

Seeing Chu Qiguang’s thoughtful expression, Qiao Zhi could tell that someone was about to get screwed over very soon.

Chu Qiguang reached down to pet Qiao Zhi, then requested, “Find out what those dog fiends are up to. If possible, capture a couple of them alive for questioning.”