After Hai Bodong finished speaking, he walked into the map shop without caring whether Xiao Ling followed him or not.
Seeing Hai Bodong enter the shop first, Xiao Ling waved to Qing Lin and Zi Yan who were chatting behind him and said, "Don't bask in the sun outside. Come into the map shop and rest for a while." As soon as the voice fell, Xiao Ling walked towards the map shop.
Zi Yan and Qing Lin looked at each other, nodded, and followed Xiao Ling's pace.
After following Hai Bodong into the map shop for a few minutes, Xiao Ling and the others came to a wall and stopped.
The group paused, and before Hai Bodong could react, Zi Yan asked curiously, "Old Hai, why did you bring us to this wall? Do we need to break it down to find a secret passage? I can help you."
Hai Bodong's lips twitched at Zi Yan's harsh words, and he replied with some resignation, "Little girl, this isn't a wall that needs to be opened. It's just a hidden stone door with a mechanism. I'll go ahead and open it, and then we'll have direct access to my treasure vault."
Under the curious gazes of the three, Hai Bodong walked to the wall, reached out his hand, tapped several locations, and stepped back.
"Boom..."
The wall began to shake, and the barrier that had blocked their path split open, revealing a passage inlaid with moonstones.
As the mechanism opened, Hai Bodong stepped inside, and Xiao Ling and the others followed closely behind him.
Walking through the passage, illuminated by the moonstone, Xiao Ling gazed towards its end.
He saw a secret room lined with shelves filled with items.
From left to right, the shelves held elixirs, medicinal herbs, fighting techniques, and refining materials.
Seeing this, Xiao Ling muttered to himself, "This layout is quite neat! Hai Bodong is quite a meticulous person."
After entering the secret room, Hai Bodong said to Xiao Ling, "Master Xiao Ling, please wait here for a moment. I'll get you the herbs for the Evil-Breaking Pill."
With that, Hai Bodong headed towards the shelves of herbs. Xiao Ling, Qing Lin, and Zi Yan sat down at a nearby table and chatted.
A moment later, Hai Bodong approached the table and chairs and, with a wave of his hand, a large pile of herbs fell before Xiao Ling.
Seeing Hai Bodong already bring the herbs, Xiao Ling cast his gaze over the large pile on the table. These herbs were considered rare, and several could fetch at least 500,000 gold coins at auction. However, even so, there was no demand. After all, anyone with even the slightest bit of discernment wouldn't put these rare herbs up for auction, because who knows, one day, they might find an alchemist who needed them, which would be a very satisfying transaction.
After carefully examining the herbs and finding nothing missing, Xiao Ling nodded slightly. Looking up at Hai Bodong, who was staring intently at him, he smiled and said, "Mr. Hai, I believe you should also know that refining pills has a certain failure rate. Before we begin, let me say something unpleasant... I have some confidence in refining this sixth-grade pill, but I can't guarantee it. So, if for some reason it fails, I will be held responsible..."
"I know, I'm not responsible, right... All you alchemists are like this. If you fail, can I still force you to stay?" Hai Bodong waved his hand in a simple way, smiling bitterly.
Xiao Ling nodded and said with a smile, "Since Mr. Hai can understand, this is naturally the best."
As if remembering something, Hai Bodong said with a hint of amusement, "When I first met you, I didn't know much about your identity. I've been asking around a little these days. If I hadn't asked, it would have been a big deal, but when I did, I was shocked. 'The first genius of the Gama Empire,' he cultivated Dou Qi at the age of four, became a Dou Zhe at the age of eight, and then joined Canaan Academy. Not a single word of news has been heard since. Until not long ago, he returned to the Gama Empire with the cultivation level of Dou Wang and the status of a sixth-grade alchemist."
Hai Bodong smacked his lips and said with some emotion, "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I really wouldn't believe that the Gama Empire had produced a genius like you. "
Walking up to Xiao Ling, Hai Bodong patted Xiao Ling on the shoulder and said with a smile: "As long as you don't want to hurt me deliberately, with your level of alchemy skills, I think you should succeed in one go."
"This old man, he actually flattered me before he even started refining the medicine. He is trying to blackmail me morally. If he fails, it can't be blamed on me for not refining it seriously." Xiao Ling complained in his heart after hearing what Hai Bodong said.
"Well, anyway, I don't plan to cheat this old man. I will have to let this Ice Emperor work for me in the future. The position of the Xiao family's butler is specially prepared for Hai Bodong." Thinking of this, Xiao Ling no longer thought about these trivial things. Now concentrating on refining the medicine is the key.
Putting the pile of medicinal materials on the table into his storage ring, Xiao Ling nodded slightly to Hai Bodong and said calmly: "Don't worry, Mr. Hai, I will do my best to help you refine this evil-breaking pill. It won't be long before you can recover your Douhuang cultivation. "
After looking around and finding that there was no good place to refine medicine in this secret room, Xiao Ling asked Hai Bodong, "Can you prepare a quiet room for me? No one can disturb me while I am not out, including Mr. Hai himself."
"Come with me." Nodding, Hai Bodong walked towards a side door, and Xiao Ling followed closely.
After entering the side door, a corridor appeared. The light in the corridor was slightly dim. Following Hai Bodong for a distance, he stopped outside a door at the bottom of the corridor.
Pushing open the door, a faint light shone out. The room, perhaps because it was frequently cleaned, looked quite tidy. It was not bad to use it as a temporary residence when refining medicine.
After giving instructions to Qinglin and asking him to practice well, Xiao Ling walked towards the room.
After entering the room, Xiao Ling looked around, smiled and nodded.
"Master Xiao Ling, is this place okay? "Hai Bodong asked with a smile. Seeing Xiao Ling nod, he continued, "In that case, please ask Master Xiao Ling to refine the elixir here. I will guard outside the corridor. During this time, you will get the quiet atmosphere you need. No one will disturb you."
(End of this chapter)