Chapter 345 Starting a Spiritual Material Cultivation Business

North of the Panjiayuan Market was an extending road. There were rows of courtyard houses on its two sides, all elegantly cla.s.sical. Everyone who resided in this vicinity was either rich or a grandee.

An electric motorbike drove in from the other end of the road. It halted before the gate of a courtyard house.

This courtyard house was large and lofty. Stone lions guarded the mansion by both sides of the gate. Above its crimson-lacquered door was a copper board overlaid with gold, bearing the inscription, “Blessed Abode Bestowed by Heaven.”

This was the house of Liu Jinyin, as mentioned by Zeng Xunlong.

“Well, we have arrived,” Ning Tao said.

Only now did Qing Zhui release her hands clasping Ning Tao's waist. She dismounted the back seat of G.o.d's Will.

Ning Tao parked his electric motorbike, G.o.d's Will. He came to the door, grasped the bronze door knocker, and started to knock.

No one responded from within.

Ning Tao knocked the door again with the bronze knocker.

“Who is it?” This time, someone responded. It was the rather immature voice of a boy.

The door opened and a youth dressed in an ancient green Chinese robe appeared at the door. He stared at Ning Tao and Qing Zhui, his eyes full of wariness.

Ning Tao said, “Young brother, we're here to visit old Mr. Liu Jinyin. Is he at home?”

The youth said coldly, “You must have got the wrong house. There isn't any Mr. Liu here.” After saying this, he took a step back and stretched out his hands, preparing to shut the door.

Ning Tao reached out and pressed his hand against the door, keeping him from shutting it. “Please wait for a moment. If Liu Jinyin doesn't live here, is there a Liu s.h.i.+ba?”

The youth heard the name “Liu s.h.i.+ba” and his eyes sparkled momentarily. “Who are you two really? What do you want?”

Ning Tao said, “I have a business deal for old Mr. Liu. My surname is Su.”

The youth said, “I don't care what your surname is. You're a strange one. I've already told you there's no one by the surname of Liu here. Leave now. If you keep me from closing the door again, I will take action against you.”

Ning Tao was not affected and smiled. “I don't care if someone by the name of Liu Jinyin or Liu s.h.i.+ba resides here. I have brought the owner of this house a gift. Give this to the owner for me.” After he said this, he opened his medicine chest and took out a porcelain vial, handing it to the youth.

The youth shook the porcelain vial and heard clattering. He asked curiously, “What's inside?”

Ning Tao said, “Longevity elixirs.”

“So mysterious,” the youth mumbled, but he did not return Ning Tao the porcelain vial.

Ning Tao did not say more and turned to leave. He got up his electric motorbike, G.o.d's Will, and Qing Zhui went up after him. He revved the engine and left on the motorbike.

The youth saw Ning Tao ride the electric motorbike away. He pulled out the stopper of the vial and poured something out from it. It was a scrunched paper ball. He opened it and saw a transparent elixir inside. There was a phone number scribbled on the paper.

Along the way, Qing Zhui asked, “Brother Ning, I find that youth quite ordinary. So why didn't we barge in? If we did, he could not have stopped us.”

Ning Tao replied, “Liu Jinyin isn't in the courtyard house. After the youth opened the door, I scanned the house. The youth was alone.”

“Didn't Zeng Xunlong say that Liu Jinyin resides there?”

“Zeng Xunlong's mission had failed and the tomb raiding team was completely annihilated. So it will be strange if Liu Jinyin did not hide himself. He left that youth there as his spy. I believe my elixir will soon reach him. He's already over 90. I don't believe he can resist the temptation of my elixirs. Just you wait. He will call me,” Ning Tao said.

“Is Liu s.h.i.+ba the local tyrant?” Qing Zhui asked again.

Ning Tao answered, “I wish he is, but most probably not.”

“Who else can it be?”

“I don't know either.” Ning Tao was quite baffled himself. He had hoped that the tyrant of Beidu would be Liu Jinyin. If that was the case, it would be easier for him to move his clinic. But his instinct and experience told him that the likelihood was nearly nil.

After returning to their rented courtyard house, Ning Tao began charging G.o.d's Will. Then he left for Sky Clinic to process the medicinal herbs. He prepared to refine the Ancestor-seeking Elixir. On the skull fragment found in Florence Cathedral was recorded more than a dozen ingredients. He had a few of them at hand. He still lacked about 10.

There were only two ways to find the spiritual materials. One was to pick them in Shennongjia. The other was to ask the group organizer, Fan Huaying, to purchase them. Fan Huaying had a large circle of acquaintances. He had the means to find the spiritual materials and had helped Ning Tao once before. It would be easy for him to do it again.

After processing all the spiritual materials, Ning Tao also made up his mind. He called Fan Huaying's number.

“Oh, Brother Ning, what made you call me?” Fan Huaying's voice sounded friendly and affable.

Ning Tao smiled. “Of course I need your help. I would like you to find me some medicinal herbs. Would it be convenient for you?”

“Look at you. Don't be so polite, will you? Just send me your list. I'll see if I can find them,” went Fan Huaying's voice.

Ning Tao said, “Good. Then I'll send you the list later, and wire you ¥5 million.”

“No need. I will pay for you first. Let's talk after my purchases,” Fan Huaying said.

Ning Tao said, “That won't do. The medicinal herbs you're getting are very expensive. Let me wire you ¥5 million first. You can pay for me first if they exceed this amount. I will pay you the arrears.”

“Very well, wire me the money if you like. Oh, by the way, are you still in contact with Wushuang?” went Fan Huaying's voice.

Ning Tao was silent for a moment before replying, “No. But I follow her public account. She's busy with many activities lately, and has also been acting. Since she's so busy, I did not disturb her.”

Actually, he had taken the initiative to break off contact with Zhao Wushuang. He had not picked up her calls even though she had contacted him a few times. His romantic life was already messy enough. If he did not break off certain contacts, it would be even messier.

“I haven't seen her for some time myself. I will ask her if we three can meet up. I have something that requires your help. Let's talk when we meet,” Fan Huaying said.

Ning Tao said, “Alright.”

The conversation ended. Ning Tao compiled all the spiritual materials he needed into a WeChat message. He added a dozen ordinary medicinal herbs and some unnecessary spiritual materials to the list, and sent it to Fan Huaying.

He did trust Fan Huaying, but he could not guarantee someone else would not steal his phone messages. He had added a lot of ordinary medicinal herbs and other spiritual materials to the list. If someone stole Fan Huaying's phone messages, that person would end up with the wrong result even if he managed to refine the elixir. Moreover, this list did not include the required dosages and procedure. Without them, no one could refine the Ancestor-seeking Elixir.

After that, Ning Tao wired ¥5 million to Fan Huaying's bank account. If Shalim Talman had not paid him 2 million euros, he would lack the funds to pay Fan Huaying.

He had earned ¥10 million easily. It might be a large sum for an ordinary person, but not to pract.i.tioners, especially a cultivating doctor who needed to refine pills. It would only pay for one or two purchases of spiritual materials. Hence, he found it more and more imperative to cultivate spiritual materials himself.

After wiring Fan Huaying the money, Ning Tao pushed open the door of the Scriptures & Scrolls Store. He came to the spiritual field, transferred from the temple in the mountains. The field occupied an area of a dozen square meters and had a blue snow lotus growing in it. It was the Night Snow Lotus, which could prolong a dying man's life. He had added a leaf of this Night Snow Lotus to his elixir for Liu Jinyin. He did it in order to entice that cunning old loach. He had invested quite a lot in his bait.

Although a leaf had been plucked off the Night Snow Lotus, it was still growing well. Its spiritual energy was more abundant than when he first encountered it in the temple in the mountains.

Ning Tao circled the empty spiritual field once and said to himself, “Since I am studying Professor Jade's research notes and learning the divine plant cultivation method, why don't I move the other spiritual field from the House of Sword Pavilion Cave here? I shall merge the two fields so as to manage them better. That way, I won't need to travel here and there through the convenient door.”

After making up his mind, Ning Tao immediately acted. He shuttled continually through the convenient door, moving the spiritual field and a few spiritual materials from the House of Sword Pavilion Cave to the Scriptures & Scrolls Store.

The day pa.s.sed unconsciously as he busied himself for half a day.

Ning Tao was exhausted, his entire body bathed in sweat and also covered in dirt. But he had reaped the fruits of his labor. The merged spiritual field was about 30 square meters, occupying about one-third of the entire Scriptures & Scrolls Store. It looked quite magnificent. But the thing which most consoled and delighted him was that the spiritual energy from the transplanted spiritual materials had soared too, including that white-jade holy lotus which needed a bright environment to grow. It seemed to be less fastidious over its living environment now, growing quite well here.

These spiritual materials were quite demanding about their living conditions. But they could not find a better cultivation environment than Sky Clinic. Ning Tao did not doubt that the Flower of the Night, which required a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius to grow, could survive in this field. Regrettably, since he had not been able to grow the flowers, he had gotten rid of them.

But although he no longer had the Flowers of the Night, he had many other spiritual materials. Ning Tao sowed all the seeds of the spiritual materials he found in Shennongjia in the field. He believed that they would soon germinate and grow into higher-quality spiritual materials.

Merging the two spiritual fields and sowing the seeds… Ning Tao could be considered to have started his spiritual material cultivation business.

He opened the convenient door and departed from Sky Clinic. The setting sun had sunk down the westerly horizon. The sky was gradually darkening.

Ning Tao returned to his courtyard house. Only the Howling Celestial Dog, which was tending to the kid, and Qing Zhui were around. Bai Jing was busy with company business and was not yet home. Nor had they received any news from Yin Molan. He did not know whether Yin Molan had made headway in his investigation of the Genesis Biotech Company, which had provided the Ancestor-seeking Elixir for the Inst.i.tute of Biology. As for Jiang Hao, she had received a call from the Bureau of Special Affairs and had to report back. She was not yet at home too. He could not get her on the line, but this was quite normal. He was not worried that some accident would befall her.

Ning Tao went into his room, took off his clothes, and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

A few minutes later, Qing Zhui entered his room. She spoke to him through his bathroom door. “Brother Ning, time for supper.”

“Okay, I'll come after my shower,” Ning Tao said.

“Shall I come in and rub your back for you?” came Qing Zhui's voice.

“No need, no need,” Ning Tao said frantically.

Ring, ring…

The cell phone in his trousers suddenly rang with an incoming call.

Ning Tao said, “Qing Zhui, my cell phone is in my trousers. Go and see who called.”

“Okay,” Qing Zhui a.s.sented. She turned to pick up Ning Tao's cell phone.

Five seconds later, the door of the bathroom was suddenly pushed open. Qing Zhui strode in boldly.

Ning Tao immediately bent down, covering himself with a bottle of shower gel. He was utterly embarra.s.sed.

But Qing Zhui spoke seriously, “An unknown number. Can it be from Liu s.h.i.+ba? Will you pick up this call?”

Ning Tao turned off the shower and took his cell phone. He swiped up the reception panel. “h.e.l.lo, who is this…?”

An elderly voice resounded from his cell phone. “Mr. Su? I hear that you want to see me. My granddisciple brought me your gift. I like it a lot. I'm accepting this gift, but it won't be nice not to see you. Let's meet two hours later, at Heaven on Earth.”

“Heaven on Earth?” Ning Tao had never heard of this place before.

“Ask any old native of Beidu. Remember, I won't be waiting if you're late.” The man immediately hung up after these words.

Ning Tao was too lazy to consult an old Beidu native. He handed Qing Zhui his shower gel and typed in “Heaven on Earth” in the Baidu search box. Then, he browsed through the search results.

He was looking at his cell phone and Qing Zhui was staring at him. Both were concentrating solemnly, relis.h.i.+ng their actions.

One second later, Ning Tao turned off the screen of his cell phone and handed the phone to Qing Zhui. Only now did he notice Qing Zhui staring bashfully at him. He suddenly realized and began hunting frantically for his shower gel bottle. He found it in Qing Zhui's hands.

He had an inspiration and turned around in desperation. “Um, we won't be having supper at home. That Liu s.h.i.+ba gave us only two hours. We must leave now.”

Qing Zhui jerked up the corner of her mouth. She raised her delicate hand and pressed down the shower nozzle, directing it at Ning Tao's back.

Shhshhshh…