CHAPTER 46: CHAPTER 46: SUPER ANESTHETIC

Tao Zhendong.

Nickname: The Flying Little Bee.

He became famous very early on, a unique flower-picking thief.

Fifteen years ago, relying on his Qinggong and the colorless, odorless Fish Fragrance Muscle-Relaxing Powder, he entered countless young ladies’ boudoirs. However, this fellow, though infamous for flower-picking, was unwilling to force himself on beauties. After infiltrating and anesthetizing his victims, he would always tie them up before waking them. He would earnestly persuade them to spend a wonderful night with him. If the victim was unwilling, he would smear the young woman’s face and write "Ignorant" on her forehead before leaving with a flick of his sleeve.

So, after several years, although he committed numerous crimes, not many pursued him earnestly. Even the official bounty offered by the authorities only peaked at seven hundred taels of silver. This was because he went to the home of a Provincial Government prefect and smeared the face of the prefect’s precious daughter, prompting the prefect to personally increase the bounty.

Yet, such a notorious flower-picking thief was exposed by sheer chance. Qi Xiu happened to see him performing Qinggong and using Fish Fragrance Muscle-Relaxing Powder while Tao Zhendong was helping his son catch birds. The drug, so scentless and undetectable that even Qi Xiu’s Second Realm Alchemy skills could not detect a whiff of it, immediately piqued his immense interest.

Although Tao Zhendong flatly denied it on the spot, he could not withstand Qi Xiu’s days of pestering—using both soft and hard tactics, threats and bribes, and even mentioning reporting him to the authorities. After being thoroughly unsettled, Tao Zhendong reluctantly admitted it. After all, he was no longer the elusive Flying Little Bee of the past; he had a gentle wife and a pair of lovely children. If Qi Xiu really decided to act recklessly and push things to the breaking point, Tao Zhendong would be the one to suffer.

"This is the formula for Fish Fragrance Muscle-Relaxing Powder," Tao Zhendong said. "Let’s get this straight: if you use this stuff for illegal gains and something goes wrong, you must never involve me."

「The next day.」

Having experienced the excellent effects of the blue pills, a radiant Tao Zhendong handed over the secret formula for Fish Fragrance Muscle-Relaxing Powder to Qi Xiu. However, before doing so, he persistently cautioned him. He had been unwilling to part with the formula, precisely because he feared Qi Xiu would use Fish Fragrance Muscle-Relaxing Powder to follow in his footsteps. Should Qi Xiu be caught one day, they might trace it back to him.

Looking at the hesitant Tao Zhendong, Qi Xiu snatched the formula and rolled his eyes at him. "Give it here. You think everyone is like you?"

Having the formula in his hand, Qi Xiu felt a lot more at ease.

The power of the Medicine Talisman could be controlled to appear anywhere within a hundred meters around him, as well as the area it covered. It was commonly known as an area-of-effect BUFF. This was what made this Talisman Script different from the Suppression Talisman and Martial Talisman. After all, compared to the previous two types of Talisman Scripts, the Divine Marvel of the Medicine Talisman was almost purely supportive. Given their different focal points, the effects of their Divine Marvels naturally varied.

Fish Fragrance Muscle-Relaxing Powder was colorless and odorless, virtually undetectable. Its efficacy was fierce, instantly felling an ordinary person. Even a true martial arts master caught unprepared would be struck down immediately. This was also the reason Tao Zhendong had not been caught for so long. It wasn’t that no one had tried to catch him; it was the fear of Fish Fragrance Muscle-Relaxing Powder’s potency—no one was willing to apprehend him.

Once I go back and refine this super anesthetic, I can use the Medicine Talisman to deliver it directly to those two patrolling eagles. After they’re incapacitated, the city wall will be a minor obstacle, easily surmountable even with my eyes closed.

As an exchange, Qi Xiu gave the blue pill formula to Tao Zhendong and then left the clinic.

After walking a dozen or so meters, seeing Tao Zhendong anxiously closing the doors and turning away guests, a thought occurred to Qi Xiu. For a thief, his heart is too soft. If I were Tao Zhendong, I would have incapacitated and silenced anyone who came knocking on the first day. But if he dared to drug me, I could kill him with a single palm strike before the drug even took effect. Hmm, his choice was indeed the right one.

「...」

「In the clinic.」

Watching through the lattice on the door as Qi Xiu disappeared completely, Tao Zhendong collapsed on the ground as if his bones had been removed, utterly deflated. At last, I’ve sent that plague god on his way.

Wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead, Tao Zhendong took out a small porcelain bottle from his robes. It contained the very super anesthetic that had made him famous: Fish Fragrance Muscle-Relaxing Powder.

When Qi Xiu arrived today, my plan was to find the right moment to incapacitate him. Then, I would capture him, force the blue pill formula out of him, and subsequently silence him. However, every time I considered making a move, a chilling sensation pricked my heart, as if I would be struck dead on the spot the moment I acted.

Having been a flower-picking thief for so many years and never caught, aside from relying on Fish Fragrance Muscle-Relaxing Powder—which didn’t kill but was disgustingly effective—this inexplicably reliable intuition was also one of the reasons Tao Zhendong had managed to evade the law. After much hesitation, Tao Zhendong finally chose to trust his intuition and refrained from taking action. It was this choice that allowed him to narrowly escape with his life.

「...」

The escape plan is half-complete.

Upon returning home, Qi Xiu, without missing a beat, immediately set about trying to refine the super anesthetic according to the formula Tao Zhendong had given him.

"Bean Emperor, Dream Sky Herb, Ye Zhen, Ruyi Zhenpu..."

As his gaze swept across the list of medicinal ingredients on the formula, a hint of astonishment emerged in Qi Xiu’s eyes. The ingredients listed were all very common herbs. According to Tao Zhendong, the reason he called this super anesthetic Fish Fragrance Muscle-Relaxing Powder was precisely because the herbs needed for its refinement were as commonly found as the ingredients for stir-fried fish-fragrant shredded pork.

"Hmm, I have most of the ingredients here; I’m just missing two adjuvant herbs and two assistant herbs," Qi Xiu murmured. "But no matter. In the Second Realm of Alchemy, one can forego any five kinds of adjuvant, assistant, or guide drugs."

With all the necessary medicinal ingredients at hand, Qi Xiu promptly set to work on the refinement.

Although the ingredients for Fish Fragrance Muscle-Relaxing Powder were common, the difficulty lay in the refinement technique. A regular alchemist, relying solely on the formula, would need at least three to five months of dedicated effort to produce a finished product. But Qi Xiu was far from ordinary. Every time he attempted the refinement, a flood of insights and experiences surged in his mind. After just three to five attempts, his technique was already very skillful.

After twelve refinement attempts, he produced a semi-finished product that had the initial potency of the super anesthetic but was not yet colorless and odorless.

After nineteen refinements, the product was about eighty percent similar to the original but still fell slightly short in potency and its colorless, odorless properties.

Upon the twenty-second refinement, just as he was about to use up the last two portions of medicinal ingredients, a small amount of translucent, faintly phosphorescent powder quietly appeared within the medicine furnace.

Heaving a sigh of relief, his face smeared with black ash, Qi Xiu grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth. Success!

Glancing at the sky outside, Qi Xiu quietly estimated. It took a little over two hours. Sigh, my skills are still lacking.

After successfully refining Fish Fragrance Muscle-Relaxing Powder, Qi Xiu washed the black ash from his face, wrote several Medicine Talismans, tucked them into his robes, and hurriedly left the house.

「...」

On the bustling market streets, where pedestrians crisscrossed, Qi Xiu stood at an alley entrance, his sleeves drawn close, half of his body hidden in the shadows. He silently pinched a Medicine Talisman in his hand, scanning the men, women, elderly, and children passing by. Who should I test this talisman on?

"Hey, you! What do you think you’re doing?"

A sudden disturbance caught Qi Xiu’s attention. He turned to look. Three local ruffians with lewd smirks were surrounding a plainly dressed, red-faced young girl, spewing foul language and behaving arrogantly.

Heh, my test subjects have arrived.

A slight curve formed at the corner of Qi Xiu’s mouth. He pinched the Medicine Talisman between two fingers, and with a surge of Fiery Energy, it instantly turned to ash. At that same moment, a colorless, odorless cloud of medicinal essence appeared out of nowhere before one of the ruffian’s nostrils.

BANG!

Without any warning, the ruffian targeted by the Medicine Talisman collapsed to the ground like a heap of soft mud.

"Lao Liu, what’s wrong with you?"

Seeing their companion faint unexpectedly, the other two ruffians were shocked and started to go check on him. Before they could take two steps, another ruffian’s eyes rolled back, and he tilted his head back, crashing to the ground with a THUD.

"W-w-what is this? Have we seen a ghost?"

Staring in shock at his companions who looked as if they were dead, the remaining ruffian sensed something was terribly wrong. Just as he tried to run, a surging wave of numbness instantly overwhelmed his entire body.

BANG!

His legs buckled, and he went down headfirst, effectively giving the surrounding people an early New Year’s kowtow.

The surrounding crowd was filled with astonishment. Pointing at the ruffians who lay like dead dogs, they buzzed with speculation.

In the small alley, the instigator smiled faintly. Tucking his hands into his sleeves, he drifted away, leaving only a quiet verse echoing silently: "After the deed’s done, depart without fanfare, deeply concealing one’s skills and fame."

「...」