Carefree Path of Dreams

“Ouch…..my head hurts!”

Huang Fu Renhe opened his eyes and held his head as though it was about to blow up.

At that moment, he recalled vividly what happened yesterday and was very surprised. “This is strange. Even though I owe a stranger a favour, why should I treat him so nicely?”

He didn’t know that Fang Yuan was not only a skilful speaker but could also use his magical energy to affect others. As such, he landed into a trap set by Fang Yuan, allowing Fang Yuan to know everything about him.

“Brother Huang Fu, you have woken up. Come and have some soup to sober yourself up!”

Fang Yuan open the door and served a big bowl of hot soup.

“Thank you for your help. This place is…..”

Huang Fu Renhe asked as the walls around him looked unfamiliar.

“This is a temporary place that I’m living in. Brother Huang Fu, you don’t have to worry, I have brought your stall back along with your medicinal pellets and powder and nothing has been lost…..I admire the medicinal powder that you have made as they are really good!”

Fang Yuan gave a light smile and said.

In reality, this world had a rather traditional view towards pills and medicine. An ordinary pharmacist like Huang Fu Renhe could at most dispense or concoct a few types of medicine. On the other hand, alchemy disciples and alchemy masters could use spiritual fire to concoct higher grade spiritual pills and medicines.

However, through Fang Yuan’s thorough investigation, he found out that Huang Fu Renhe’s skills in making pills were of a similar standard to that of a spiritual disciple. If his success rate of making pills was higher, he would have been cultivated by other sects long ago. Of course, Fang Yuan would not let go of this chance.

“Hmm……Brother Fang, you think too highly of me…..”

Huang Fu Renhe blushed slightly.

He aimed for perfection when producing pills and medicine and hence he had incurred much losses. If it was not for his low success rate, he would not have been so poor.

“I shall tell you the truth!”

Fang Yuan revealed. “I am from Qingye City in the Qinghe County. I am actually living in the secluded valley, which is a well known for producing spiritual rice. I am inviting you to have a visit there. Will you accept my invitation?”

“The Qingye Secluded Valley?!”

Huang Fu Renhe squinted his eyes and was surprised. “Are you the famous doctor from the secluded valley?”

“I have to say that is me since there is only one secluded valley in Qingye City!”

Fang Yuan touched his nose and didn’t expect that he would be that famous.

“Pardon me for the disrespectfulness!”

Huang Fu Renhe immediately bowed and was still in shock.

He could feel that Fang Yuan was willing to establish a relationship with him. If he were to go to the secluded valley, with Fang Yuan’s assistance, his skills in producing pills and medicine would definitely improve tremendously.

However, even though Fang Yuan produces his own spiritual objects, Huang Fu Renhe’s experiments required a vast amount of resources. Could Fang Yuan supply his needs?

Also…..

“Even though my secluded valley is not that big, I should be able to handle and support all your experiments’ needs!”

Fang Yuan seemed to know what was on Huang Fu Renhe’s mind and assured him.

Fang Yuan was not lying. Even if the secluded valley was not big enough, he had another piece of spiritual land in the Green Peak. If he had not seen Huang Fu Renhe’s strong foundations, he could easily spend large amounts of money to invite any other pharmacists.

As for alchemy masters, they not only needed to be talented but also needed a master to pass down skills to them. At the moment, Fang Yuan wasn’t thinking about this as this was impossible for him.

“Since you have invited me, I shall gladly accept your invitation. However, I will have to pick my sister up!”

Huang Fu Renhe’s reply was swift and decisive. Fang Yuan was not expecting such a quick response.

‘Wow…..he answered so quickly although I had already prepared a few other methods to convince him just in case!’

Fang Yuan looked at Huang Fu Renhe and had a feeling that Huang Fu Renhe was not stupid at all. It seemed like Huang Fu Renhe had tricked him instead of the other way round.

‘On top of that martial artist previously, could he have provoked many others and is looking for means to get out of the prefecture?’

“Good, since you still have another family member, I shall bring her back as well!”

With a slight doubt, he followed Huang Fu Renhe to the south district outside the city.

As compared to the prosperity inside the city, the south district here felt like a slum. The houses here were built side by side and did not look stable, as though a breeze could blow the houses down. There were piles of rubbish along the road which gave a horrible stench.

“You used to live in such places?”

Fang Yuan scrutinised the place, embarrassing Huang Fu Renhe in the process. Fang Yuan added, “The people here are really poor.”

“My house is just right in front, the one below the small bridge!”

He quickened his footsteps as he approached the entrance of his house. “I was drunk and didn’t return home. My younger sister should be very worried.”

“Brother Renhe, why are you only back now?”

At the roadside, there were a few people in tears as they called out to him. “Something bad happened at your house. A few fierce people went into your house!”

“What?”

Huang Fu Renhe was shocked and quickly ran under the bridge.

Along the river, there was a straw cottage and covered with mud outside. There were many people gathering outside his house and a middle-aged lady exclaimed as she saw Huang Fu Renhe coming. “Mister Huang Fu, hurry up! Your sister is being taken away by a few bad guys!”

“Lanruo! Lanruo!”

After hearing what the lady said, Huang Fu Renhe became very anxious and squeezed through the crowd, and saw a few strong men trying to her sister away.

“What are you all doing? Let go of my sister now!”

Huang Fu Renhe immediately pounced forward, his eyes welled with tears.

“Bang!”

One of the men laughed and pushed him away, as he fell to the ground.

“Brother!”

Even though her sister was young and her face was covered with dirt, her voice was sweet and clear and her eyes were glittering.

“So you are her brother! Hehe…..your sister is pretty. I want her for 5 taels of silver!”

A man with a small beard walked out from the straw cottages. He rubbed his small beard and threw out a silver piece with a cold laugh

“Get out of here now!”

Huang Fu Renhe was infuriated.

If not for spending a huge capital for the resources in producing pills and medicine, how would he become so poor? No matter how poor his family was, they were surely not worth just a few taels of silver.

“Looks like….you are in big trouble!”

Fang Yuan had realised that this group of men were not simple.

‘If they wanted her just because she was pretty, what was the use of having a young girl? Wouldn’t they have to support her for another few years?’

‘If they wanted to sell her away for money, there were other choices as there were many other families outside the city who were also selling their children….’

Fang Yuan carefully looked at the young girl. She was dirty and it didn’t seem like she had anything special.

‘Eh?’

However, after looking at her for a few times, he realised something.

‘This girl’s magical energy is very strong…… almost 3 times as much as a normal person! Her magical energy has reached the threshold of a spiritual knight’s!’

Magical energy was mysterious and could not be otherwise detected without special means.

For example, Fang Yuan could conceal much of his real power and managed to deceive Ling Yin.

However, this young girl had not been trained and was born with such overflowing magical energy. Hence, she did not know how to conceal her real power. With Fang Yuan’s dream master cultivation, even though he was just a dream disciple with limited offensive capabilities, his skills in detection was superb and could sense the difference in that young girl.

‘This means that……this group of men are not simple. They are most likely to be puppets to some powerful person!’

‘But to kidnap my sister?’

Fang Yuan let out a cold laughter and went to Huang Fu Renhe’s side. “Do you need my help?”

“Yes, please. I will remember this!”

Huang Fu Renhe was in a dire situation and needed any help he could get.

“Very well!”

Fang Yuan nodded his head and blocked the group of them.

“Hey kid, go mind your own business and don’t interrupt us!”

The man with the small beard was startled at first and then gave a warning with a wicked smile. He was wearing a shirt with the sign of a wolf’s head.

“Aahh….the imprint of the Wild Wolves Gang?”

A few screams were heard and the crowd began to disperse. Many of them retreated as they were afraid.

The Wild Wolves Gang was the gang that controlled this poor district. It was rumoured that the gang leader was a 4 Heavenly Gates martial artist. The people in the gang were violent and rude. Their reckless nature allowed them to earn money through extortion.

“How? Do you still want to interfere?”

The man with the small beard replied with a cocky face, deriving happiness from threatening Fang Yuan.

His gang had real influence in the area. Even though he was just a small pawn in the gang, he became rich ever since he took up private jobs.

He was even happier seeing Lanruo struggling.

The glowing talisman he had showed that she was a suitable person. If he could turn Lanruo in, he would be able to get 100 golden leaves as a reward!

“Brother Fang, what should we do?”

Huang Fu Renhe’s feeling was dampened.

He clearly knew the intentions of the Wild Wolves Gang.

“What do you mean what should we do? How could you not do anything and look at your sister being taken away?”

Fang Yuan looked at Huang Fu Renhe.

“How can I do that?”

Huang Fu Renhe shook his head.

“Then things are easy!”

Fang Yuan went forward and said, “Do you all want to break your arms on your own and kowtow to apologise or do you all need me to help you?”

“What an arrogant kid, break his limbs!”

The man with the small beard was furious and saw a silhouette moving quickly.

“Kacha! Kacha!”

Sounds of bone fractures were heard. He wanted to retreat quickly, but it was too late.

“Aahh! My hand!”

“Spare me!”

“A martial artist!”

……

Among the screams, Fang Yuan easily broke the arms of a few gangsters and brought the young girl to safety. He then stood in front of the man with the small beard and smiled at him.

“Aahh….you better not come near me! My uncle is the protector of the Wild Wolves Gang. He…..he…”

The man with the small beard retreated and was crying in pain silently.

“Oh!”

Fang Yuan nodded his head. He then grabbed the man’s right arm and twisted it. “So what?”

“Karak!”

A fracture sound came and the man immediately knelt on the ground with tears and mucus dripping down.

“Hmm?”

Looking at the talisman that fell out of clothing, a puzzled expression appeared on his face: “This is……spiritual inscriptions. This spells trouble!

“Leave now!”

He turned his head without looking back at the man and called out to Huang Fu Renhe.

“Okay!”

Seeing what had happened, Huang Fu Renhe knew that he couldn’t stay here any longer, and quickly entered the straw cottage. Not long after, he came out cursing while carrying a big baggage. He then kicked a few of the gangsters as they once destroyed his stuff.

“You bring your sister and leave now! Remember to wait for me at the house!”

Fang Yuan handed Lanruo back over to Huang Fu Renhe and reminded him.