Chapter 45: Hostage Situation

After putting away the remaining two-thirds of the purple orb, Fatty floated over to Lin Chuan and said with rare solemnity:
"You have perfected the first layer of the Heavenly Feather Transforming Dragon Art. Now, feel the changes in your body."

Lin Chuan closed his eyes and looked inward. His meridians had expanded more than three times their original width, and his blood had taken on a dark golden hue, emitting a faint sound of roaring dragons and crying phoenixes as it flowed.

His bone density had increased drastically, and a strange power surged between his muscle fibers.

Most astonishing was his Dantian—the original sea of Qi had expanded more than ten times, and the spiritual energy was so dense it was almost liquefied. Lin Chuan had a premonition that he was now capable of fighting a martial artist at the Xuanwu realm head-on.

"Try this."

Fatty tossed over a piece of refined iron.

Lin Chuan casually squeezed it, and the hard refined iron was compressed like soft mud, with wisps of dark golden flame escaping from between his fingers.

"This..."

Lin Chuan looked at his hands in shock.

"The power of the Crimson Gold Dragon, the Nirvana Flame of the Five-Feathered Peacock, and the fusion of the Heavenly Feather Transforming Dragon Art,"

Fatty explained, "The strength of your physical body is now comparable to a low-grade spirit-tier magical treasure."

Lin Chuan clenched his fists, feeling that the twenty-six days of agony were finally worth it at this moment.

...

When Lin Chuan walked out of the alchemy chamber, the sky was already completely bright.

He stretched lazily, feeling the surging spiritual energy brought by the circulation of the Heavenly Feather Transforming Dragon Art within his body.

After twenty-six days of hard work, he had finally successfully refined the blood of the Crimson Gold Dragon and the Five-Feathered Peacock. The first layer of the Heavenly Feather Transforming Dragon Art had also reached the realm of perfection, and his cultivation had smoothly broken through to the sixth level of the Spirit Martial realm, just a hair's breadth away from the late Spirit Martial realm.

The morning light spilled onto the bluestone slabs of the Earth Fire Courtyard, casting a warm golden glow.

Lin Chuan habitually looked in the direction of the alchemy chamber, but then he frowned—at this usual hour, Zhang Yida should have already rushed into the alchemy chamber to start his day's alchemy work.

"Why is this guy slacking off today?"

Lin Chuan muttered to himself with a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. Considering himself a "qualified capitalist," how could he tolerate his subordinates loafing on the job?

Lin Chuan straightened his robes and walked toward the side chamber where Zhang Yida lived.

In the small medicine garden in front of the chamber door, several spiritual herbs swayed in the morning dew, clearly having already been watered. Lin Chuan raised his hand and knocked on the door.

"Yida, it's time to work!" he called out.

There was no response.

Lin Chuan knocked again, with a bit more force: "It's already dawn. If you don't get up to make pills, I'm going to deduct your pill profit share for this month!"

Still absolute silence.

A trace of unease swept through Lin Chuan's heart.

Zhang Yida possessed a nearly obsessive passion for alchemy and had never been late or left early.

He reached out and pushed the door open. The room was somewhat disheveled, but Zhang Yida was nowhere to be seen.

"Strange..."

Lin Chuan looked around and found that Zhang Yida's storage bag and commonly used alchemy tools were all missing.

With a deep frown, just as Lin Chuan was pondering, the gate of the Earth Fire Courtyard was suddenly pushed open violently with a loud "bang."

"This is bad! Something huge has happened!"

A rough voice came along with hurried footsteps.

Lin Chuan turned around and rushed out of the side chamber, only to see Wang Tiehu barging into the courtyard with a flushed face, his clothes soaked with sweat as if he had sprinted all the way here.

"Brother Tiehu? What happened?"

Lin Chuan hurried forward and grabbed the panting Wang Tiehu.

Upon seeing Lin Chuan, Wang Tiehu grabbed his arm as if he had seen a savior:

"Lin... Brother Lin! Zhang Lin and Li Yu... they... they've been kidnapped!"

"What?"

Lin Chuan's pupils shrank. "Tell me slowly, what on earth is going on?"

Wang Tiehu took a few deep breaths, barely managing to steady his breathing:

"Yesterday morning, after Zhang Lin and Li Yu finished selling the pills accumulated over the last three days, they strolled around the outer city, wanting to find a place to open a new branch. As a result... as a result, they were kidnapped by a group of late Spirit Martial realm martial artists!"

Lin Chuan's expression turned gloomy: "Go on."

"Those people forced them to hand over the formula for the modified Gathering Spirit Pill, but how could they possibly know it?"

Wang Tiehu wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Those people interrogated Zhang Lin and the others for several hours. Seeing they couldn't get anything out of them, and knowing Zhang Lin and Li Yu didn't believe they dared to kill anyone, they used Li Yu to threaten Zhang Lin, forcing Zhang Lin to enter the Heavenly Sea Secret Realm..."

Hearing the four words "Heavenly Sea Secret Realm," Lin Chuan's heart sank heavily.

The laws of the Dao Court stipulated that if anyone with a household registration in the outer city of a cultivation city was killed within that city, the killer would pay with their life;
whereas if someone with a household registration in the inner city of a cultivation city was killed within the city, not only would the killer pay with their life, but the mastermind behind the scenes would also be executed by the Dao Court as a warning to others.

The majesty of the Dao Court was inviolable!

However, the Dao Court did not police secret realms. Secret realms were grey areas untouched by the laws of the Dao Court. Once someone entered a secret realm, even if they died inside, the Dao Court generally would not pursue the matter.

"And then?" Lin Chuan's voice was as cold as ice.

"Just as day was breaking today, someone found Zhang Yida, saying it would take twenty million low-grade spirit stones and the pill formula to ransom back the lives of Zhang Lin and his wife!"

Wang Tiehu's voice trembled. "Zhang Yida took all his worldly possessions and went without a second word, telling me to come find you before he left..."

Lin Chuan's fists clenched involuntarily, his nails digging deeply into his palms.

He had anticipated that the modified Gathering Spirit Pill would attract covetous eyes, but he hadn't expected the other party to resort to such despicable tactics.

Because the production cost of the Rising Clouds Apothecary's Gathering Spirit Pill was only half that of ordinary Gathering Spirit pills, it was priced at sixteen low-grade spirit stones—four stones cheaper than the market price. Over the past three months, it had won rave reviews from the vast majority of low-tier martial artists.

Even though the Rising Clouds Apothecary had limited production capacity, turning out only over twenty thousand Gathering Spirit pills a month—not even ten percent of the previous monthly sales volume in Tianyun City's Gathering Spirit Pill market—
the identical medicinal efficacy combined with the lower price caused numerous low-tier martial artists to stop buying Gathering Spirit pills from other shops, waiting exclusively to snap up those from the Rising Clouds Apothecary.

A few days ago, Zhang Lin had told Lin Chuan that due to their emergence, Tianyun City's monthly sales volume of Gathering Spirit pills had plummeted over the past month, dropping to less than half of the previous month.

"Do you know who did this?" Lin Chuan asked in a deep voice.

Wang Tiehu shook his head: "I'm not sure, but it must be a joint effort by the other apothecary shops."

A flash of cold light crossed Lin Chuan's eyes.

"Where did they agree to make the trade?" Lin Chuan asked promptly.

"The Heavenly Sea Secret Realm, Endless Sea."

Wang Tiehu looked at the sky. "There is still one hour left."

Without another word, Lin Chuan strode directly out of the courtyard gate and headed toward the secret realm plaza.