At this moment, inside the apothecary, the ancestor of the Wind Guard in the gold robe, hands behind his back, looked around with a faint indifference as the door behind him closed.
This apothecary wasn't big and looked ordinary. There was an iron kettle boiling water on the stove at the side, emitting some vapor.
The first person he saw was a youth in a rough hemp robe who was sprawled out at the side.
This youth's expressions were ever-changing. Sometimes, he would frown, sometimes he would fall into deep thought, and sometimes he had a smug expression. He also muttered some random poems that didn't make sense.
The other party actually didn't even glance at his arrival.
The ancestor swept his gaze over and could tell that it was just a small Golden Core cultivator. Hence, he directly ignored him and looked at the second person standing at the side with a longsword in his arms.
This person was also a youth and was currently smiling at him.
"This esteemed guest, don't mind me. I'm just a guard. If you wish to make a purchase, please proceed inside."
As he spoke, the youth shouted at the counter.
"Ling'er, a guest has arrived!"
Ling'er, who was calculating behind the counter, looked up when she heard this.
The counter was too big and her body was petite. She had been bending her head and fiddling with the abacus. At this moment, as she raised her head, it seemed quite sudden. Upon noticing the ancestor, Ling'er's eyes brightened, and she warmly called out.
"Esteemed guest, what do you want to buy? The white pills we have here are famous in the entire Bitter Life Mountain Range. One spirit coin per pill. If you buy more, you can even get a discount."
The Wind Guard Race's ancestor frowned slightly. He coldly looked at the youth hugging the sword and then at the girl. Over the years, not many people could be so calm in front of him.
The reactions of these people here were a little different from what he had imagined. Fortunately, not everyone was the same. Not far away, a small cultivator was trembling and looking at him in fear.
In his opinion, this performance was normal.
Immediately after, the ancestor's gaze landed on the two people wiping the ground in the apothecary.
One was a fatty and the other was an old man. The two of them were very busy wiping the floor. The fatty even turned his head and shouted at him.
"The place was just wiped, and it's still wet. Don't step on it!"
The ancestor's gaze turned cold. Most of the people who dared to speak to him like this were already dead. However, he didn't attack immediately. The fatty was an ant that he could casually crush. He could just crush it more thoroughly later.
After that, he turned his head and looked at the old man sitting in the distance who was petting a parrot. This old man looked like an ordinary mortal, seemingly on the verge of death.
After the ancestor confirmed carefully, he retracted his gaze.
In his opinion, no matter what these people had to rely on to put on such a posture when facing him and not take him seriously, this wasn't important. He placed his hands behind his back and calmly spoke.
"I won't buy the medicinal pills. How much are your lives worth? I'll buy them."
As he spoke, the aura of half a step into Nihility erupted from his body. He lifted his right foot and stomped on the ground.
In his perception, with this stomp, this place would instantly be razed to the ground and turned to ashes. These people in front of him would also complete the transformation from life to death in the blink of an eye and become bones.
He was especially going to turn that fatty to ashes.
However, at the next instant, the old man was stunned. He lowered his head and looked at the ground.
Nothing happened. Everything was normal. It was as though his aura had erupted and the might of his stomp was like a stone ox entering the sea. There were no traces or fluctuations.
Only the kettle on the stove at the side swayed and landed on the ground with a clang, spilling hot water all over the ground.
The fatty who was wiping the ground instantly became anxious and glared back.
"You old fellow, I just finished wiping there!!"
The ancestor was surprised and his expression changed slightly. He immediately spread out his divine consciousness and observed the floor carefully before looking at the kettle that had fallen.
He felt that something was amiss and his pupils contracted. He was very sure that there was nothing wrong with the eruption of his aura earlier and the power had been transmitted as well.
Logically speaking, not only would that kick turn this apothecary into ashes, but the entire earth city would also turn into ruins.
But now, only a kettle had fallen.
Uneasiness and vigilance rose in the ancestor's heart. At this moment, he quickly turned his head and looked at the side room. A figure carrying firewood suddenly walked out.
This was a woman dressed as a maidservant. At that moment, her face was filled with anger and intense killing intent. She was like a volcano that was about to erupt completely, as though there was an irreconcilable feud between them.
"You old meatball, I only went out to get some firewood. You actually knocked over the water I just boiled! Do you know how difficult it is to boil water without using your cultivation!!"
As the maidservant roared angrily, her cultivation base erupted. The fluctuations of the perfected Spirit Repository that were close to the Nihility Realm caused the ancestor to instantly become even more solemn. He immediately reacted and knew why his kick earlier was ineffective.
At the same time, he also understood why these people's reactions were different from what he had imagined. All of this was because of this woman in front of him.
Moreover, the other party was clearly so powerful but she disguised herself as a servant girl. This made him even more surprised. Although many experts had strange habits, he had never seen such a strange hobby.
At that moment, he had already put away his initial arrogance and made himself as calm as possible. With a wave of his hand, he swept up the kettle and placed it back in its original position. After that, he calmly spoke.
"I'm here to seek justice for the loss of my race's holy item. Since Fellow Daoist is here, we can talk about it."
"I don't care if it's a holy item or not. It has nothing to do with me. Hurry up and boil the water for me, or I'll eat you!"
The maidservant sneered.
The ancestor frowned. He originally planned to be polite, but the other party was actually so rude. Did she really think he was afraid? Hence, he spread out his divine consciousness and carefully probed. After discovering that there was indeed no Nihility here, his gaze turned cold as he looked at the back room.
"Little thief, get the hell out here!"
As he spoke, the ancestor took a step forward and headed straight for the back room. He no longer planned to waste time here. With a sway, he arrived in front of the curtain of the back room where Xu Qing was with his divine consciousness.
He lifted his right hand and grabbed. The thin divider swayed elegantly. At the next instant, the ancestor's expression changed. He could sense that as the curtain swayed, a huge force suddenly counterattacked from within. Before he could react, it enveloped his entire body.
Amidst the rumbling, the ancestor's entire body trembled and he took a few steps back. His internal organs were churning violently. He suddenly turned his head to look at the maidservant and his eyes were filled with killing intent as he spoke coldly.
"You want to protect him?"
The maidservant rolled her eyes at him and spoke impatiently.
"If you can kill him, then do it. It's best if you kill the person hugging the sword at the entrance as well. I will even thank you."
As she spoke, the iron kettle on the stove made whistling sounds, indicating that the water had boiled.
The maidservant immediately went over and picked up the kettle. She then quickly walked toward the mortal old man who was petting the parrot. When she got close, her footsteps became light. This scene stunned the ancestor again.
He witnessed that the fellow Daoist with the same cultivation level as him seemed to have become a different person at this moment. The hostility on her face dissipated completely and an extremely obedient expression appeared as she brewed tea for the mortal old man.
This scene caused the ancestor's heart to skip a beat. While feeling weirded out, he quietly took out a jade pendant and focused on investigating the old man.
This jade pendant was also a treasure of their race. It could accurately determine all cultivation fluctuations below the Soul Accumulation realm. At this moment, the jade pendant's feedback was that everything was normal.
The ancestor was puzzled, but he instinctively felt that there was something wrong with this apothecary. As he hesitated, he gazed at the two people wiping the ground, then at the youth holding the sword and the muttering cultivator.
Finally, he glanced at the counter. No one behaved weirdly and everything was normal.
This gave him a very bizarre feeling.
The ancestor hesitated. At that moment, he suddenly saw that the mortal old man was no longer petting the parrot. Instead, he picked up his teacup and took a sip.
In his exposed left hand, there seemed to be a bead. Upon closer inspection, there was a frightened face in the bead. He recognized it. It was Master Black Pupil.
Although this person's cultivation wasn't high, seeing him sealed up in a bead, the ancestor's scalp turned numb and he slowly retreated.
He wanted to leave. He felt that this apothecary was becoming scary because he thought of another possibility.
Although this possibility was extremely slim, as he looked at everything in his surroundings at this moment, he felt that this impossible thing seemed… not that impossible.
This idea made his forehead sweat, his body uncontrollably shiver, and his heart race uncontrollably. His current reactions were similar to what he believed the people inside the store would show when they noticed him.
The tension made him feel an unprecedented sense of regret, realizing that he had been careless and impulsive. He shouldn't have walked into the small apothecary so impulsively.
'If my guess is correct, then how can this place be a small apothecary? This is a f*cking nine levels of hell!'
As the ancestor trembled, Ling'er sighed.
"Are you really not buying medicinal pills? Our medicinal pills are very good."
The ancestor fell silent. He took out his storage bag and placed it on the counter, replying in a deep voice.
"I'll buy it!"
Ling'er was happy. She put away the storage bag and handed a white pill over.
The patriarch silently took the tea, stepped back slowly, trying not to dirty the ground he had just walked on. He instinctively cast a brief look at the ordinary old man who was drinking tea.
The old man also lifted his head slightly and gazed at him.
The moment their gazes met, the ancestor's mind rumbled as though his mind had received a massive shock, causing him to shiver violently. The sweat on his body soaked his golden robe in the blink of an eye.
"Soul… Accumulation…"
The horror in the ancestor's heart transformed into a huge wave that bombarded and drowned his mind. Every inch of his body seemed to be screaming, telling him that it was dangerous.
These danger signals seemed to be independent as they tore at his flesh, blood, soul, and all his perceptions.
He felt regret, extreme regret, unprecedented regret. He felt that the greatest mistake in his life was to enter this ordinary small apothecary.
"How is this possible…"
The ancestor perspired profusely and involuntarily knelt down.
At the same time, the heir spoke softly.
"Come."
