Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)
chapter-750

Chapter 750 – That Person

It was only after that strange incident in Wenshui City that the Tang Seventeenth Master began to oversee the clan’s medicine businesses, but he had extensive knowledge and experience, and blood coral was an extremely famous item…it was not actual coral, but crystallized dragon blood. Moreover, no ordinary dragon would do. Blood coral could only be formed from the crystallized true blood of Golden Dragons or Black Frost Dragons.

To the Dragon race, blood coral was the most sacred of objects and they would not let any other race possess it. Not even the Great Zhou Imperial Palace or the Li Palace had any, and it was only because of a story that had taken place countless years ago that the Wenshui Tangs were so fortunate as to possess a piece of blood coral about the size of a forearm. This was kept hidden away in a secret room within their old mansion, and they never dared to take it out.

This bishop, in the face of the Tang Seventeenth Master’s assertion, somewhat hesitantly said, “If someone were to have sneaked into the Southern Sea…”

The Seventeenth Master shook his head. “All of the Dragon race regard blood coral as importantly as their own lives. Even if Zhou Dufu were to come back to life, he would not be able to remove it from the many dragons that would stop him.”

The bishop asked in confusion, “But other than crystallized dragon blood, what else could contain such abundant energy and such a thick aroma of life?”

The Tang Seventeenth Master fell into deep thought, then asked, “Could it possibly be Sacred Light?”

“This strange substance does not give off any Sacred Qi, and its energy is too violent.”

The bishop shook his head and added, “And Sacred Light is incorporeal and extremely difficult to make real. Not even the five archbishops of the Li Palace can do it unless they offer up their essence blood.”

Doctor Yang noted, “Correct, the ingredients that we were able to identify are probably used to mollify the destructive power of this violent energy. Crucially, according to the scriptures of the church, materializing Sacred Light requires an archbishop to offer up all his essence blood. How could it possibly be used to produce this continuous flow of Cinnabar Pills?”

One of the Fengyang doctors asked in shock, “Is this not saying that if one wanted to use crystallized Sacred Light to save a life, you could only use it once, and it would also require an archbishop to sacrifice their life?”

The bishop solemnly affirmed, “Correct, the starry sky has always been fair. Life has always had no distinction between the high and the low.”

The Tang Seventeenth Master fell silent for a very long time, seemingly pondering something. In the end, he asked no more questions, announcing, “All of you have one more day and night.”

After saying this, he walked out of the secret room and into the chilly courtyard. His gaze swept past the bare branches and onto the distant and gloomy sky.

The manager and the bishop came up behind him. They could sense his current mood and could see that he was worrying over something, so they kept quiet.

The Wenshui Tangs had paid such an enormous price, inviting so many famous doctors, but their true objective was not to analyze the contents of the pill and find a way to make the Cinnabar Pill for themselves. Even the Hall of Illustrious Persons and the Great Zhou Army had failed, proving that this path was either a dead end or too difficult to walk.

What the Tang clan truly aimed to do was to use the herbal composition to find out where the Cinnabar Pill was coming from. Golden eye grass grew everywhere, but golden eye grass that grew in different places would be subtly different in terms of medicinal power. Angelica was even more common on the continent, but one could always find a few clues through the flow of the herbs. There was also cinnamon, and goat weed…

Everything in the world had to leave traces, and the Tang clan, as a clan that made their way through the world on the path of business, possessed a nigh unimaginable amount of resources and a vast network. Thus, it was easiest for them to seize upon these traces and then find out where these traces sprang from or where they would ultimately end. If they could find out where the Cinnabar Pill was coming from, they would naturally find that person.

To this war between humans and demons, this person was far too important. Even if the war didn’t exist, that person would still be important.

Whether it was the Tang clan, the Orthodoxy, or the Imperial Court, they all naturally wished to control this person.

“Working backwards from these thirty-four ingredients, we should be able to find out where the Cinnabar Pill is being made, but even if we do find that person, we might not be able to control him.”

It was evident that this bishop knew the Tang clan’s true goal. Slightly uneasy, he said, “The Hall of Illustrious Persons and the two Divine Generals of Blue Pass attempted something similar. Although they were not as close to that person as we are, they probably also found some clues, even made a plan.”

The manager glanced at the bishop and then asked, “If we can’t control him, do we just kill him?”

The bishop nodded.

This sounded incredibly unreasonable, but in this vicious human world, it was actually the right and proper action.

‘Such a wondrous pill, such an important person. Either I use them or they die, but they absolutely can’t fall into the hands of anyone else, especially my enemies.’

“Out of consideration for the war, the military has a rather conservative stance and doesn’t have too deep an involvement in this affair, but the Hall of Illustrious Persons is greatly concerned that that person will be controlled by the Imperial Court. Moreover, they also knew that that person was not willing to be found and would assuredly be infuriated, so they made plans in advance to kill that person, but…”

A tinge of fear appeared on the bishop’s face, and his voice trembled. “In one night, thirty-three bishops of the Xunyang Church died the most miserable of deaths.”

The manager’s expression instantly transformed. “A very unyielding response, a very formidable move.”

It was obvious that Xunyang Church, which had lost thirty-three bishops in one night, had been in charge of conducting this matter.

The bishop looked at the Tang Seventeenth Master and said, “The purge in the capital conducted by Mao Qiuyu and Linghai Zhiwang might have been to conceal this matter.”

There was a sense that the bishop had not completely expressed what he wanted to say, and the Tang Seventeenth Master was silent, but he was actually thinking about other things.

He had his own speculations as to who the master of the Cinnabar Pill was. Like a few other people, he also thought it might be that person who had disappeared.

If those crystals containing that violent energy really were the legendary blood coral, then the answer seemed even more certain.

He was the Tang Second Master’s brother and also his most trusted subordinate, so he knew more secrets than most.

That person that had disappeared currently had a dragon at their side, and it just so happened to be a Black Frost Dragon.

But it was only today that he learned that thirty-three bishops of the Xunyang Church had died in a single night.

This made him somewhat doubt his conclusion.

That person might have the ability to make such a formidable move and they had the right to make such an unyielding response, but that person was not this cruel and callous, and those bishops were essentially their subordinates. That person was undoubtedly a great personage, but never seemed conscious of this fact.

Moreover, based on the Tang clan’s analysis, if that person was not dead, they should be in the south.

Last year, a desperate battle had taken place on the snowy plains. The Great Zhou Dynasty’s black-armored heavy cavalry had engaged in close combat with the demons’ wolf cavalry on the vast and boundless plain.

No one had expected that that person who had been missing for so long would appear on the battlefield with a downpour of swords. They engaged in a bloody battle, reversing the course of the battle but also suffering severe injuries at the hands of the terrifyingly strong Demon General Hai Di. At that point, that person disappeared into the sea of humans, never appearing again.

Only a few important characters like the Tang Seventeenth Master knew that after being wounded by Hai Di, that person had been ambushed immediately afterward by three human experts.

This was naturally a most shameless affair and could not be revealed to anyone, so the Imperial Court had kept an extremely tight lid on this information.

So in the Tang clan’s judgment, if that person had managed to survive by a fluke, it was only natural that they be in the south.

The greatest possibility was Holy Maiden Peak, but it could also be Scholartree Manor or Mount Li. Only these places could safeguard their life.

If that person was in the south, then the Cinnabar Pill that had been present in the forts of the frontline for a year already had no relationship to that person.

Then why were there so many clues that all seemed to vaguely point in their direction?

Could it be that the master of the Cinnabar Pill hidden behind the curtain wished to use that person’s name to perform some great undertaking?