After the divine doctor Shao and his disciple began refining pills, Long Xiao approached the room where they were working. He dispersed his aura to observe them and found them chatting inside, all the precious medicinal ingredients already stored in their medicine chest.
Two hours later, divine doctor Shao emerged from the room with his disciple, holding a thumb-sized, dark pill.
"Invite the elder gentleman down. After taking this pill, he will recover quickly," divine doctor Shao said, placing the pill on the coffee table.
As divine doctor Shao and his disciple entered the living room, Long Xiao looked for Xiao Ming again, who was hiding behind the sofa.
Shortly after, Ge Xin and Ge Yu helped Ge Haitian down from upstairs. Divine doctor Shao asked Ge Xin to find a basin and place it on the coffee table, then administered the pill to Ge Haitian.
A few minutes after swallowing the pill, Ge Haitian began to vomit uncontrollably. Divine doctor Shao took out a small box from his pocket, opened it, and waved it under Ge Haitian's nose.
Ge Haitian grimaced in pain and vomited a thumb-sized, yellow object from his mouth with a "wah."
The yellow object was moving. Divine doctor Shao's disciple reached out to grab it, but suddenly a small hand emerged and pinched the yellow object between two fingers.
"Give it back to me," the disciple shouted, anxious.
Xiao Ming chuckled and said, "Are you talking to me?"
Seeing Xiao Ming, divine doctor Shao and his disciple turned pale and retreated, grabbing their medicine chest and preparing to flee.
Long Xiao flashed to the doorway, blocking their exit. "You're leaving without collecting your consultation fee?"
"Brother Ming, Lord Ming, spare us," divine doctor Shao and his disciple prostrated themselves before Xiao Ming.
Everyone in the room was stunned. No one expected the seemingly powerful divine doctor to kneel before Xiao Ming.
Xiao Ming picked up a teacup from the coffee table, poured some water into it, and rinsed the yellow object he was holding.
Long Xiao examined it closely and realized Xiao Ming was holding a toad.
"A golden toad. You two actually have such a thing."
"Brother Long, is this thing valuable?"
As he spoke, Xiao Ming opened his mouth, about to pop it in.
Long Xiao quickly exclaimed, "Why would you eat anything? The elder gentleman just vomited it out!"
Long Xiao's reminder made Xiao Ming's stomach clench, and he nearly threw up as well.
Xiao Ming approached the two, kicked their medicine chest with his foot, and said, "Open the chest and let me see what you've conned people out of recently."
Divine doctor Shao's disciple reluctantly opened the medicine chest, and a strong medicinal aroma filled the air.
Xiao Ming picked up the jade box containing the Tianshan Snow Lotus, glanced at Long Xiao, and placed it on the coffee table. "Sister Ge, the snow lotus is for you."
He then placed all the precious medicinal ingredients he had obtained from the Ge family onto the coffee table.
Beneath the medicine chest were several old ginseng roots, two lingzhi mushrooms, and some dendrobium officinale and cordyceps.
Xiao Ming licked his lips and unceremoniously tossed the items into his mouth, crunching them loudly.
Within three minutes, all the precious medicinal ingredients in the medicine chest were consumed by Xiao Ming.
"It's too little. Next time, con more."
"We dare not, Young Master Ming, Lord Ming, we will never dare to deceive people again."
Long Xiao stepped forward and said, "I've heard your medical skills are good. Why do you deceive people instead of treating them properly?"
Divine doctor Shao sighed. "People from the Bian Que Sect are hunting me, so I can't stay in one place for long. Besides, people nowadays trust Western medicine, and Traditional Chinese Medicine isn't as popular. If we only treated patients with our skills, we'd starve."
Long Xiao looked at Xiao Ming, who was also being hunted by the Bian Que Sect.
Xiao Ming sighed, threw the golden toad back into divine doctor Shao's embrace, and said, "Get up, you can go now. Remember, continue to deceive people." httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
"Young Master Ming, we will never deceive people again," said divine doctor Shao's disciple.
Xiao Ming glared. "If I tell you to deceive, then deceive. Otherwise, I'll chop you up."
Seeing Xiao Ming's fierce demeanor, divine doctor Shao's disciple was startled. Divine doctor Shao quickly said, "Young Master Ming is right. We will listen to Young Master Ming."
Divine doctor Shao and his disciple left dejectedly. Long Xiao asked Xiao Ming to take out a pill for treating internal injuries from his backpack and gave it to Ge Haitian.
Ge Xin and her siblings tidied up and helped Ge Haitian upstairs.
Ge Longfei opened the jade box on the coffee table, looked at it, and pushed it towards Long Xiao. "Long Xiao, my father doesn't need these medicinal ingredients anymore, so I'll give them to you."
Long Xiao quickly waved his hand. "No need. These ingredients are too precious; I cannot accept them."
"No matter how precious they are, they aren't as precious as my father's life. You helped us; these ingredients are what you deserve."
Xiao Ming leaned closer to Long Xiao. "Brother Long, just accept them. Aren't you still supposed to return their blue and white porcelain bowls? These ingredients can be considered compensation."
"That's right, Long Xiao. You bought the bowls with money. If you don't accept these ingredients, I'll have to give you money for the bowls."
"Alright, I'll accept these medicinal ingredients," Long Xiao said.
As soon as Long Xiao finished speaking, Xiao Ming put all the ingredients into his backpack.
Just as Xiao Ming finished, Long Xiao said, "These ingredients are not to be eaten. I have a use for them."
Xiao Ming licked his lips. "Brother Long, can I eat just a little bit?"
"No."
After staying at the Ge family's home for a night, the next day, Ge Longfei, Ge Xin, and Ge Yu led Long Xiao and the others to the front of the Ge family's ancestral tomb's underground palace.
The Ge family's ancestral tomb was surrounded by mountains on three sides. The white marble gate of the underground palace was over two meters high, carved with dragon and phoenix patterns.
Ge Longfei and his family of three lit incense before the tombstone and murmured for a while. Then, Ge Longfei turned to Long Xiao and asked, "Long Xiao, shall we go in now?"
Long Xiao shook his head. "Wait a moment. I'll look around the vicinity."
Long Xiao circled the Ge family's ancestral tomb for over an hour before returning to the stone gate. He said, "I feel something is not quite right. Xiao Ming, you and Yue Lan stay here; I'll go down by myself to take a look."
"No, I'm an archaeology major. I have to go down with you," Ji Yuelan said.
Ji Yuelan insisted on going down, so Long Xiao no longer persuaded her. "If you want to go, fine, but stay behind me and don't go more than three meters away from me."
"Brother Long, did you see something?" Ji Yuelan asked.
Long Xiao nodded. "Someone has tampered with this graveyard and altered the feng shui here."
Ge Longfei, hearing that someone had disturbed his family's ancestral tomb, hurriedly asked, "Long Xiao, has our ancestral tomb's feng shui been ruined?"
Long Xiao nodded. "Yes, it has been deliberately damaged. I'll come back up and help you deal with it. Let's go down and take a look first."
As the white marble gate was opened, a wave of chilling air washed over them. Long Xiao felt the 'Crimson Flame Worm' in his pocket stir.
Entering the white marble gate, Ge Longfei turned on his flashlight, and Xiao Ming also took out a headlamp from his backpack and put it on.
The tomb passage was a downward slope, about thirty meters long, with colored murals on both sides.
Ji Yuelan was very interested in the murals in the tomb passage. As they walked, she had Xiao Ming shine the light on them, taking many photographs.
After descending the slope, they reached a T-junction. Ge Longfei informed Long Xiao that the path ahead led to the main tomb chamber, while the paths on both sides led to two side chambers for burial objects.
"Long Xiao, which tomb chamber do you want to see first?" Ge Xin asked.
"Let's go to the two side chambers first."
"Long Xiao, are you looking for something?" Ge Xin asked.
Long Xiao nodded. "Your family's ancestral tomb has a very strong malevolent aura. I'm looking for Yin Sha Qi."