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At this time, Senior Brother Yang was standing in front of his three Qi-refining juniors with a very dark face.

"So you are telling me that I owe the sect another 1000 spirit stones, 500 spirit stones for the perfect mind-calming pill, and 500 spirit stones as fees to Elder Hei for the treatment?"

"Yes, Senior Brother."

Just those three words hit Senior Brother Yang like a knife in his heart. The Jade Frost Pill costs him 5000 spirit stones. He paid 2000 spirit stones which were all his savings and then he took a loan of 3000 spirit stones from the sect. Now, he discovers that he owes the sect an additional 1000 spirit stones.

You should know that the sect will only allocate 200 spirit stones to Qi-refining disciples each month. If you want to get more, you have to rely on yourself, like completing the missions given by the sect.

200 spirit stones a month may be a lot for others, but for Senior Brother Yang, who is trying to break through to the Foundation Building Realm, it is not much.

"Senior Brother Yang, Elder Hei has also said that you should consume a Mind Calming Pill each week until you acquire the Jade Frost Pill."

"....So you mean to add another 1500 spirit stones to my loan?"

At this point, Senior Brother Yang felt like killing his three juniors, but soon the effect of the mind-calming pill kicked in, and he calmed down.

"How is the investigation going? Have you found out who laid the trap?"

Although his anger towards his juniors has diminished, it does not mean that he has forgiven the person who laid the trap.

"Senior Brother, the investigation for that naked man is still ongoing. But for the one who laid the trap... Elder Hei said that the trap uses the most common materials, and it is normal to find traps in Jade River Mountain as they are laid by people to hunt for beasts. So, it's very difficult to investigate, and it requires a lot of manpower and resources."

"So, you're saying that no one is investigating the person who laid the trap?"

"Yes, Senior Brother."

Hearing this, his eyes got red with anger, but the calming effect of the mind-calming pill once again took place, and he quickly calmed down.

"Let's go, let's go back to the sect otherwise I might accumulate more new debts."

.....

The old man, whom Lei Kongming calls Senior Huang, happily closes the door after Lei Kongming leaves and returns to his desk.

"Eh?" He discovers that the magazine he was reading has disappeared at some point. "Where did it go? It was a limited edition, where did it go?"

The old man panics and starts looking everywhere.

Walking out of Xunyu Pavilion, Lei Kongming pulls out a magazine from his clothes. A beautiful woman in revealing clothes is drawn on it.

"Tsk, Senior Huang really has some deep connections. I don't know how he was able to get his hands on this limited-edition magazine."

"Sigh, to prevent Senior Huang's health from deteriorating, I have no choice but to seize this shameless magazine," says Lei Kongming, shamelessly occupying the moral high ground.

Lei Kongming just reached his courtyard after selling mind-calming pills to Xunyu Pavilion when he found a servant waiting at his door. He remembers that the servant worked in the alchemy pavilion when he visited Lei Chen to ask him to refine mind-calming pills.

"Young Master Kong, the Fifth Elder asks you to come over to the alchemy pavilion as he has something important to discuss."

"Uncle Chen called me to discuss something?"

Lei Kongming was puzzled because he couldn't think of anything that Lei Chen needed to discuss with him.

"Sure, you can go back. I will come by myself after I put my things in my courtyard," said Lei Kongming, as he entered his courtyard.

The first thing Lei Kongming does is open the lowest compartment of his closet. Inside, there's a stash of magazines he's seized from various places to criticize. Although if he read these magazines now, he risked launching his crotch cannon. However, it does not prevent him from expanding his collection, which he can read after he has gotten rid of the crotch cannon.

After that, Lei Kongming puts the bag of spirit stones in his cultivation room and then exits the courtyard. He does not forget to activate the protection formation.

...….

As Lei Kongming arrived at the alchemy pavilion, the servant who had come to his courtyard greeted him and led him to a side room, asking him to wait as the Fifth Elder would be arriving soon.

Lei Kongming didn't have to wait for long as the door pushed open and Lei Chen arrived. However, Lei Kongming was shocked because compared to last time, Lei Chen looked visibly tired, had dark circles under his eyes, and even his walking posture seemed noticeably weak.

What's even more shocking is that Lei Chen is a Foundation Building cultivator. You should know that a foundation-building cultivator can work for several days without sleeping and will not experience any problems.

"Uncle Chen! What happened?.... Why do you look so tired?"

"Sigh, Xiao Ming, it's because of refining pills. For the last couple of days, I've been either refining pills or on the way to refining pills."

Lei Kongming's mouth twitched; he had never expected such a creative answer from Lei Chen. However, Lei Chen's answer still left Lei Kongming puzzled because he had visited him that morning to get his mind-calming pills, and at that time, Lei Chen seemed like a healthy old man. But now...

"But... you looked just fine this morning?" asked Lei Kongming, hesitantly.

"Xiao Ming, refining pills requires a lot of mental energy. As long as you have enough mental energy, everything will be fine. But once your mental energy is exhausted, your condition will rapidly deteriorate."

Lei Chen rubbed his eyebrows and said, "For a foundation-building cultivator, the best way to restore mental energy is to have a good sleep. But because of the upcoming Purple Cloud Palace Trails, everyone is asking me to refine pills. Even the patriarch asked me to refine as many pills as possible, preventing me from getting any rest."

"Uncle Chen, why don't you ask some outsiders for help? I think there are plenty of alchemists in the city."

Actually, there was another thing that Lei Kongming was curious about. Since Lei Chen had mentioned the "best way" to restore mental energy, he pondered over the other methods. However, observing Lei Chen's current condition, he decided to leave his questions for the time being.

"I have already tried, but they are also very busy and even some of them in turn, start asking me to help them instead. Now I don't even dare to step outside of the Lei family mansion for fear that they will catch me and use the favors I owe them to force me to refine pills for them."

"...…."

Lei Kongming was left speechless for a while and thought, 'Are alchemists nowadays so desperate that they directly resort to moral kidnapping?'

"Uncle Chen, what is it that you wanted to discuss with me?"

Hearing Lei Kongming's question, Lei Chen straightened his back and sat upright.

"Xiao Ming, are you planning to sell the mind-calming pills I refined?"

Suddenly, Lei Kongming panicked, thinking, 'Is the clan starting to investigate this? But he rarely asks Uncle Chen to refine pills to sell them, and coupled with his status, the clan should probably turn a blind eye to this.'

"Xiao Ming, don't panic. If those mind-calming pills are not for your cultivation, then I would like to buy them."

Lei Kongming sighed in relief when he heard that Lei Chen wanted to purchase them and wasn't here for any investigation.

"Uncle Chen, I would like to sell them, but now I only have 5 high-level and 3 perfect mind-calming pills left."

"I want the mind-calming pills to assist in my recovery, so just those 5 high-level mind-calming pills can do the job."

"Assist with recovery?" Lei Kongming was a little puzzled.

"Taking mind-calming pills along with proper rest will help me recover my mental energy quicker," Lei Chen explained.

"Then congratulations, Uncle Chen, on a quicker recovery," Lei Kongming said warmly.

"Haha... Xiao Ming, you don't need to flatter me. I will give you a good price. Here, take these 1200 spirit stones. I think they are enough for your 5 high-grade mind-calming pills," Lei Chen said with a smile.

Lei Kongming was a little embarrassed when his thoughts were exposed, but he shamelessly accepted the spirit stones without being polite.

Lei Kongming sighed while thinking, 'Poverty makes people shameless.'