"Stop. Do you know who you're ignoring?"
Hearing this, Jiang Zuo paused. He found it a little funny.
'Hasn't she considered who *she's* trying to stop?'
Jiang Zuo then turned to the young woman and asked, "Who am I ignoring?"
The young woman seemed frantic. "I—I didn't mean to. I'm just in a hurry. We need that medicine to save a life. We really don't have time to look for another one.
Ten times the price. That medicine costs ten thousand at most. I'll give you a hundred thousand.
Is that okay?"
Jiang Zuo looked at her and said flatly, "And what if I told you I also need this medicine to save someone?"
The young woman froze for a moment, then said, "We're in a real rush. Any later and it will be too late."
"And what if I told you that if he doesn't take this medicine tonight, he's a dead man?"
'How could there be such a coincidence in this world?' The young woman stammered, "But... but..."
Before she could finish, Jiang Zuo spoke for her. "But the person dying isn't one of yours, and the one in a hurry isn't you. If someone else loses their medicine, they can just try harder to find more. Maybe they'll even get lucky. The point is, since *you're* the one in a hurry, *you* should be the one to get it.
What does it matter to you if someone else lives or dies? At most, you'll offer a moment of silence, pity them a little, and then lament how unpredictable life is."
The young woman stared at Jiang Zuo in disbelief. "I..."
Jiang Zuo said coldly, "Since whether we live or die has nothing to do with you, what does your hurry have to do with me? You need to save a life; I need this urgently.
If it were you, would you sell it to me?
You already know the answer, don't you?
Well, your answer is my answer.
Are you trying to force someone else to do something you wouldn't do yourself?"
Jiang Zuo turned and walked away.
'Money?'
To Jiang Zuo, the concept was meaningless.
'And so what if he did have some concept of it?'
'A hundred thousand to make him wait a night? What gave them the right?'
The young woman watched Jiang Zuo's departing back, horrified. Then, her horror turned to anger. 'What right did he have to say that to her?'
'What right did he have to judge her?'
'People weren't as dark as he made them out to be.'
「******」
Century Garden
It was a relatively old residential complex, and it was where Jiang Zuo lived. The name sounded quite grand, but in reality, it was just an ordinary neighborhood.
He rented his place here. He couldn't afford to buy a house; where would a recent graduate get that kind of money?
It was hard to say whether Su Qi owned property, but she probably didn't either. Cultivation, it seemed, was a very expensive endeavor.
To Jiang Zuo, these were clearly just ordinary medicinal herbs, yet they had cost him two hundred thousand.
'No wonder so many people flocked to Market Division Two.'
The apartment was a two-bedroom, one-living-room unit. It wasn't big, but it wasn't small either—enough space for them to live in.
Come to think of it, he and Su Qi had treated this place as their marital home back then. After they got their marriage certificate, Su Qi had seemed very happy.
Jiang Zuo frowned. 'After all this time, he could still be moved by thoughts of Su Qi.'
When there had been no hope or anything to look forward to, he never even thought about it. But now that Su Qi was back in his life, he was actually starting to have feelings again.
There was even a sliver of anticipation.
Jiang Zuo didn't dwell on it and instead went to the kitchen.
He placed a hot pot on the induction cooker. As for what he was about to do, it was Alchemy, of course.
"Who in the world invented this method of Alchemy? A true genius."
Jiang Zuo then began to process the medicinal herbs in his hands before adding water and turning on the heat.
Jiang Zuo's technique for handling the herbs was exceptionally skilled, as smooth as flowing water. It was practically an art form.
Before long, Jiang Zuo finished processing all the herbs and began to place them into the hot pot.
Because he was only using a pot, Jiang Zuo had no intention of congealing a Pill. Besides, it wasn't possible to do so.
What he needed was a liquid.
Jiang Zuo continuously added herbs until only the last three ingredients remained. He then cranked the heat to maximum.
When he smelled a clear fragrance, a smile touched the corners of Jiang Zuo's lips. He added all the remaining herbs and watched as the original soup in the pot rapidly transformed into a viscous liquid.
Once the transformation reached a certain point, Jiang Zuo tossed in the Moon Tear Bead.
The Moon Tear Bead immediately lit up with a blue glow.
The liquid was quickly absorbed by the Moon Tear Bead.
The color of the Moon Tear Bead also began to change, shifting from a pinpoint of blue to a light blue, and then toward sky blue.
Just as it was about to turn completely sky blue, the transformation abruptly stopped.
Jiang Zuo knew it had reached its limit.
'It barely qualifies as Middle Grade, but it's enough for my purposes.'
Afterward, Jiang Zuo locked all the doors to prevent anyone from barging in suddenly.
'Now, all that's left is the Array.'
He went into the secondary bedroom. There was a large empty space there, enough for him to draw two Arrays.
And since it was right by the window, there might even be a pleasant surprise in store.
The Cultivation Technique Jiang Zuo practiced was different from conventional ones. Others relied on natural talent for their Cultivation, while Jiang Zuo relied on plunder.
To learn this method of plunder, he first had to condense Innate Chaotic Qi in his body.
Only with it could he begin to plunder and start his Cultivation.
Innate Chaotic Qi was divided into Innate Qi and Chaos Qi.
And Innate Qi was further divided into Innate Qi, Two Qi, and Three Qi.
Innate Qi was the most common, and its plunder speed was the slowest.
Jiang Zuo didn't dare to dream of Chaos Qi. What he wanted now was Innate Two Qi, and he was relying on this Moon Tear Bead to get it.
To generate Innate Qi, one could rely on Five Elements Power or Sun and Moon Essence.
Any single power of the Five Elements had a chance of activating Innate Qi, while Two Qi required three or more.
Three Qi required the coordination of Sun and Moon Essence.
Originally, Jiang Zuo had planned to gather three types of Five Elements Power today to activate Two Qi. If he ran out of time, even Innate Qi would do. In any case, he had to be able to cultivate after tonight.
Now, luck was on his side. He had the Moon Tear Bead, and the Moon Tear Bead contained a significant amount of Moonlight.
「That night.」
Jiang Zuo sat within one Array, while the Moon Tear Bead was placed in another.
When the midnight moon shone through the window, Jiang Zuo smiled. 'Indeed, heaven is on my side.'
As the Moonlight fell upon the Moon Tear Bead, it began to radiate light. The light was absorbed by the Array, which then lit up completely.
This Array was a source-linked Array to the one Jiang Zuo was sitting in.
As a result, Jiang Zuo's body was instantly enveloped by the energy of the Moon Tear Bead.
The Moonlight energy began to surge into Jiang Zuo's body.
In an instant, excruciating pain flooded Jiang Zuo's consciousness—an intense, heart-wrenching pain, a pain worse than death.
This was the price one had to pay to obtain Innate Qi. Success meant life; failure meant death.
This Array was very fragile; Jiang Zuo didn't dare to move a muscle. It was in no way comparable to the Arrays in the Immortal Spirit Cave Mansion. There, he could writhe in agony, but here, he couldn't afford the slightest disturbance.
The slightest misstep would lead to utter destruction.
This pain lasted for the entire night.
At dawn, Jiang Zuo opened his weary eyes. The Moon Tear Bead had already turned transparent and shattered.
Then, Jiang Zuo held out his palm, and two streams of white gas swirled in his hand.
Only upon seeing these two streams of Qi did a smile appear on Jiang Zuo's face.
He had successfully formed Innate Two Qi.
From now on, he could finally cultivate.
With Innate Two Qi, his Cultivation speed would be ten times that of an ordinary person. In other words, his aptitude could now be considered at a genius level.
If Innate Three Qi were to appear, his Cultivation speed would be terrifying.
Back then, in the Immortal Spirit Mansion, he had only obtained Innate Qi. But through his own hard work, he eventually evolved it into Chaos Qi.
At that time, he had instantly ascended to the pinnacle of the world.