Chapter 695: A King Medicine Is Only A Radish Or Cabbage
“Do you still want to bet?” At this point, Li Qiye leisurely looked at the Vinepill King with a relaxed and cool expression.
All of a sudden, the Vinepill King became beet red and felt himself burning up. The stone flower was already the best spirit medicine in his possession.
Although he came from the Heavenhoof Ravine and was greatly valued by the elders, he was a young disciple of the third generation. How could someone like him possibly take out a king medicine root so easily?
At this time, the Vinepill King had already mounted the tiger so he couldn’t get off. As a Heavenhoof disciple, if he chose to give up against an unknown alchemist, how could he have the face to live on? Even if he was confident in his pill refinement skill and wanted to make this bet, he couldn’t produce a satisfactory king medicine, thus all of this was meaningless.
“A king medicine, right? It is not like our Heavenhoof Ravine doesn’t have one.” At this time, a different voice came along that held great authority inside the valley: “Teng’er, make the bet with him.” [1. Teng must be his name, meaning Vine.]
“So it is an elder from the ravine.” Many cultivators changed their expressions after hearing this voice. They didn’t expect for this type of bet to actually disturb a Heavenhoof elder.
“Thank you, Master.” The Vinepill King became ecstatic after hearing this voice and quickly bowed towards the direction where the voice came from. With his master as his backing, he became a lot bolder.
Sure enough, in the blink of an eye, a Heavenhoof disciple hurriedly came and handed a medicine box over. After opening the box, one would find that it was also a silver maplegrass.
“A silver maplegrass of three million years of age and my stone flower to bet against your 3.67 million year old maplegrass.” At this time, the Vinepill King pushed the two medicine boxes forward. He wanted to use these two roots to bet for Li Qiye’s grass.
Although it seemed like the Vinepill King got the short end of the deal by using two to bet for one, this was not the case at all. The older the king medicine, the more precious it was. Sometimes, the price would even double.
“How about I join in as well?” At this time, a proud voice appeared. One person stepped forward and instantly appeared in front of everyone.
He carried an imposing and majestic momentum. It was Huangfu Hao, who was beaten in the alchemy garden of the Giant Bamboo Country. However, judging from his current appearance, his wounds had healed since his blood energy was great and he walked with a powerful pace.
Li Qiye’s arched his brows and dismissively said: “What, the last lesson was not enough? You still dare to come here to provoke me? This is indeed very brave!”
Huangfu Hao’s expression immediately soured after being quipped by Li Qiye. These words were simply exposing his scars once more. He had already been beaten by Li Qiye twice. The first was back at the Golem Square when Li Qiye threw away money, leaving him out of breath. The other time was back at the alchemy garden; he initially wanted to suppress Li Qiye, but who would have thought that he would be blown flying out of the capital? If it wasn’t for his ancestor who personally came out to help him, maybe he would still be lying in bed at this time.
This matter was truly humiliating to Huangfu Hao. He coldly glared at Li Qiye with bloodthirst in his eyes and awe-inspiringly said: “If I wanted you dead by midnight, you would definitely not make it past dawn.” [1. A chinese saying. To be more accurate, it is the hour of chen, which is 7-9 am or morning, but dawn sounds better? I don’t know what time is consider sunrise for the old chinese system when this phrase came out either.]
Whether it was business or personal, Huangfu Hao had an irrefutable feud with Li Qiye. Li Qiye didn’t only humiliate him, he also killed many people from his clan, including an ancestor. Their clan would definitely never let it go unless they used Li Qiye’s blood to wash away this disgrace.
Because of this, Huangfu Hao made no effort of hiding his murderous intent. If it wasn’t for the treefather’s birthday, he would have already tried to kill Li Qiye at this moment.
“You are right, if I wanted you dead by midnight, you would definitely not make it past dawn.” Li Qiye leisurely smiled and said: “Remember this phrase well.”
“Good.” Huangfu Hao leered while revealing a cold glint and laughed aggressively before speaking: “Then how about you and I bet our lives on this? Off with the loser’s head!”
Without a doubt, Huangfu Hao came to take Li Qiye’s life this time. If he couldn’t publicly kill Li Qiye, then using a bet to kill Li Qiye was another method.
Although many alchemists would use an alchemy competition to settle feuds, they would rarely bet their lives unless it was a blood feud.
“Bet with our lives?” Li Qiye looked at Huangfu Hao with one eye and chuckled before replying: “You think too highly of yourself. My life is very precious, priceless even. You actually want to bet my life with your worthless existence? Even if you had ten lives, they would still not be as precious as mine.”
Li Qiye never minced words against his enemies; he would ruthlessly beat them to death verbally.
“You...” Huangfu Hao turned beet red from anger as his eyes glared at Li Qiye.
Meanwhile, Li Qiye was too lazy to look at him. He dismissively said: “In my eyes, your worthless life is not even comparable to a king medicine. Don’t think too highly of yourself. How many meager coins is your life actually worth?”
Li Qiye’s vicious words left Huangfu Hao wanting to vomit blood from rage as his entire body shivered, but Li Qiye didn’t really care about him. Li Qiye gently waved his sleeve and lightly said: “If you can’t take out any treasures for the bet, then get the hell out of here. Don’t disturb my bet with someone else. I still want to give this Heavenhoof or whatever a good slap.”
Li Qiye’s words left everyone here speechless. They all felt that this fella was too arrogant. Offending the Huangfu Clan was one thing, but he now offended the entire ravine as well. It was as if he wanted to offend everyone in the world!
“Good, good, very good, little animal. I will spare your life and let you hold onto your head for a while longer.” Huangfu Hao coldly uttered: “Then I will bet with you. I was just afraid you wouldn’t be able to take out another king medicine root, that’s all.”
Having said that, he also took out a medicine box. The moment he opened it, one could see a knotweed plant inside. The medicinal fragrance that permeated the air gave others a refreshing feeling as if they were being cleansed.
“3.5 million year old knotweed.” Huangfu Hao sneered and said: “If you can’t take out another king medicine, then I won’t mind if you bet with your worthless life.”
Huangfu Hao was more focused on humiliating Li Qiye to quell his anger. Taking his dog life could wait for later.
“A king knotweed, amazing.” The cultivators here were astonished to see such a plant here. One person couldn’t help but exclaim: “The Huangfu Clan’s wealth is definitely commendable, truly worthy of being an alchemy clan.”
For many alchemists, especially those of humble birth, they wouldn’t be able to obtain a spirit medicine like this particular king medicine even if they tried their whole life.
However, it was different for someone like Huangfu Hao. He was the descendant of the Huangfu Clan and had a high status. Moreover, the clan was a famous alchemy clan with great power and wealth. Moreover, it also had a marriage alliance with the Alchemy Kingdom, which had control over the best vein for growing spirit medicines in the entire Stone Medicine World.
Because of these reasons, many people thought that it was not too surprising for Huangfu Hao to be able to take out this king medicine.
All of a sudden, all the cultivators here held their breaths. More and more were gathering here at Dao-sense Peak, wanting to watch the exciting event.
“Well, I can’t really take out another king medicine at this moment.” Li Qiye glanced over at Huangfu Hao and waved his hand to say: “How about a different item?”
“And I thought you were extremely rich.” At this time, the Vinepill King snorted and said: “Arrogant fool, boasting with just one king medicine. Today, you will learn just how rich this world really is compared to you.”
“Just use your worthless life as the bet instead.” Huangfu Hao mocked: “Today, I’ll take the short end of the stick; I’m willing to use this king medicine root in exchange for your dog life.”
“I wanted to show some consideration, but you just had to push it.” Li Qiye slowly said: “I don’t have something like a king medicine in my stash right now, but I have something else.” [2. The first sentence would only make sense in Chinese, so I localized it. The literal translation is “I spared you some colors, but you immediately want to open a dye shop.” This won’t make much sense in English, right? Color here is the shade of an expression, or face.]
Having said that, he took out another medicine box. The moment this box was opened, a blood energy shot out straight towards everyone’s faces. A series of sounds came about as a spirit medicine could be found sealed inside.
The moment someone saw the spirit medicine in the box, he immediately jumped and exclaimed in horror: “What... What... Is that an imperial medicine?”
At this time, Li Qiye slowly closed the medicine box and said: “Only an impoverished beggar like you would consider spirit king medicines as treasures when they are actually as common as turnips and cabbages. I can’t bring this crap everywhere since it would be too cumbersome. I have here a 5.38 million year old spirit medicine root. Since someone said I couldn’t take out another king medicine, I have no choice but to take this out from the stash to show off a little.”
“Impossible...” The people present became speechless once again in the face of this statement. Just what kind of items were king medicines? To many people, they were priceless treasures. But now, in Li Qiye’s words, they were like cabbages — this was way too overbearing.
But what could you do? This guy truly had the money to show off like this. He just took out an imperial medicine. Moreover, with that nonchalant appearance and the casual unveiling, perhaps even imperial medicines were only cabbages in his hands. With such great wealth, he could act arrogant no matter where he went.
Huangfu Hao’s expression became extremely unsightly, but he couldn’t do anything about it. Even as the descendant of the Huangfu Clan, taking out this king medicine was already his limit. Moreover, this root was meant to be a gift for his cousin, Ming Yexue of the Alchemy Kingdom. He wanted to earn her favor, but today, he had to pull it out to use as a bet.
Nevertheless, he was confident in winning this gamble. However, his confidence was no good as he was now rendered breathless by Li Qiye taking out an imperial medicine.
At the same time, the Vinepill King was both envious and overwhelmed with animosity. His eyes couldn’t help but turn red from indescribable jealousy. Keep in mind that he was a disciple from the Heavenhoof Ravine! A sect with two emperors! But he, as its disciple, was not even equal to a no-named alchemist, so how could he not go crazy from jealousy?
If this wasn’t Allpine Mountain, the Vinepill King would have already rushed over to capture Li Qiye alive and seize all of his spirit medicines.