Lin Xuan happily took the prescription back to her room. Long Xiao turned off the lights and lay on the bed, beginning to study "Long Cang."
Recently, Long Xiao had basically finished reading all the pharmacopoeias that could be opened within "Long Cang." He started to study how to improve his strength again. Failing to catch Iruguchi Gorou made Long Xiao feel terribly stifled.
After studying for several hours, Long Xiao still hadn't come up with a result. Now, the only way to quickly improve his strength was to find the five-elemental qi, absorb it into his dantian with "Dragon Swallowing the Four Seas."
With his understanding of the five-elemental qi, Long Xiao could now fully incorporate it into his fist techniques. The stronger the five-elemental qi, the more powerful his fist techniques would become.
He studied for more than half the night before falling asleep. After dawn, Long Xiao finished his morning training and called Mi Tianfu, asking him to keep an eye on Xinglin Caotang for now, as he had something to do and needed to go to the medicinal materials market in Nankou City.
Nankou City was not far from Donghai, about an hour's drive by highway.
Long Xiao drove to Nankou City alone and, following the navigation, soon arrived at the entrance of the medicinal materials market.
The medicinal materials market in Nankou City was very large, serving as the largest distribution center for medicinal materials in the southeastern coastal region.
Upon entering the market, Long Xiao was greeted by piles of medicinal materials everywhere and crowds haggling.
Ever since Long Xiao discovered that medicinal materials contained a much richer life-qi than other plants, he had been considering absorbing life-qi from them to treat illnesses.
The content of life-qi varied depending on the type and age of the medicinal material. Long Xiao wanted to find the most cost-effective ones.
The common goods displayed outdoors, while containing life-qi, were far inferior to aged medicinal materials.
After browsing outdoors for a while, Long Xiao began to visit individual medicinal material shops.
The quality of the medicinal materials inside the shops was several times better than those outside. Soon, Long Xiao bought a bag of Sanqi.
Absorbing life-qi in public could potentially lead to unnecessary trouble. If someone approached, it could accidentally injure them.
Leaving the shop, Long Xiao looked around, but he was very disappointed. The market was crowded everywhere, making it very difficult to find a secluded spot.
Unable to find a private place, he had to continue browsing the shops. He decided to wait until he bought more items and then find a hotel to absorb the qi.
Not long after walking forward, Long Xiao spotted a very large medicinal material store. In front of the store, several piles of medicinal materials were stacked like small mountains.
As Long Xiao approached the entrance, he heard hurried footsteps behind him. Turning around, he saw a young man wearing a very dirty T-shirt, carrying a bag, walking towards him.
Long Xiao quickly stepped aside. The young man, without even looking at Long Xiao, walked directly into the shop.
Long Xiao felt an extremely strong surge of life-qi and hurriedly followed him into the shop.
As soon as he entered, Long Xiao saw the young man standing at the counter, asking a shop assistant, "Do you buy He Shou Wu here?"
The shop assistant nodded and said, "Of course we do. We'll buy as much as you have."
The young man looked around and said, "I have a thousand-year-old He Shou Wu. How much can you give me for it?"
The shop assistant burst into laughter. "A thousand-year-old He Shou Wu? You must be kidding. How could a He Shou Wu live for a thousand years?"
The young man said mysteriously, "You'll know when you see it. This is definitely a thousand-year-old He Shou Wu."
The young man placed the bag on the counter and took out a newspaper-wrapped bundle from it. Opening the bundle, a human-shaped He Shou Wu covered in soil appeared.
As soon as Long Xiao got close, he felt a very strong green qi. This life-qi was so concentrated that Long Xiao could see it without needing to concentrate his mind.
The shop assistant was stunned when he saw the human-shaped He Shou Wu. Then, he laughed and said, "You're kidding, right, brother? How could a He Shou Wu grow this big and in a human shape?"
"This is really a human-shaped He Shou Wu. I picked it myself, no mistake."
"All liars say that. Hurry up and get out, or I'll call security."
Helplessly, the young man re-wrapped the He Shou Wu, put it back in the bag, and left the shop.
Long Xiao knew that this He Shou Wu was an extremely rare treasure. If he could obtain it, he wouldn't need to search for life-qi for a while.
After the young man moved away from the shop and stopped to look around, Long Xiao stepped forward and asked, "Young man, is what you have in your hand really a thousand-year-old He Shou Wu?"
The young man looked at Long Xiao. He recognized him from the shop and nodded. "That's right. Do you want to buy it?"
Long Xiao nodded. "Yes, I want to buy it, but I don't know if I can afford it."
The young man hesitated for a moment and said, "I won't sell it too expensive. I'll sell it to you for a million yuan."
A million yuan wasn't a lot for Long Xiao at the moment, so he agreed without hesitation.
The young man muttered to himself, "Did I quote too low?"
Long Xiao took out his phone to pay, and the young man's eyes showed reluctance.
Long Xiao directly paid one and a half million yuan. Seeing the money transferred, the young man was surprised and said, "Big brother, why did you give me fifty thousand more?"
Long Xiao smiled and said, "I think this He Shou Wu is worth one and a half million yuan, so I gave you one and a half million directly. Is that okay?"
The young man happily handed the He Shou Wu to Long Xiao and said, "It's fine, absolutely fine."
Long Xiao took the He Shou Wu and was about to leave. The young man said, "Big brother, can I have your contact information? If I find any good medicinal materials in the future, I'll contact you directly."
Long Xiao told the young man his name and gave him his mobile number.
The young man's name was Jiang Ming, and he was from Zhedong. He had been going into the mountains with his father to dig for medicinal materials since he was a child. His elder brother was the largest medicinal material merchant in the Zhedong region.
Previously, his brother would buy the medicinal materials he dug up. Later, he discovered that his brother was making a profit from the price difference. So, when he found valuable medicinal materials, he would go to Nankou himself to sell them to medicinal material dealers.
After getting to know Jiang Ming a little, Long Xiao told him that he had opened a clinic called Xinglin Caotang in Donghai and that if he found any medicinal materials in the future, he could deliver them directly to Xinglin Caotang.
After Jiang Ming left, as Long Xiao was about to leave, he sensed that someone was watching him. As he walked forward, Long Xiao observed carefully and soon noticed that he was being followed by two young men of average height. One of them was the shop assistant from the medicinal material store.
Carrying two bags, Long Xiao browsed a few more shops and bought several dozen catties of Wutou before returning the way he came to the parking lot.
There weren't many people in the parking lot. Long Xiao arrived at his car, opened the door, and tossed the bags into the car. He stood by the car, waiting for the two young men to approach.
As the two young men approached Long Xiao, they were surprised to see that Long Xiao was waiting for them.
Although they felt something was wrong, they remembered the thousand-year-old He Shou Wu and bravely walked over.
"Outsider, we don't want your life. Hand over the He Shou Wu, and we'll let you go." The young man who spoke drew a military knife from his embrace and brandished it in front of Long Xiao.
Long Xiao looked at the other young man and asked, "Do you also have a military knife?"
The other young man hesitated for a moment and also took out a military knife from his embrace.
Before the two young men could figure out what Long Xiao meant by his question, their vision blurred, their hands loosened, and both military knives were in Long Xiao's grasp.