Tonight, I'm pushing for the charts, desperately seeking votes! Targeting the total weekly vote leaderboard. To achieve this, I'm unleashing four chapters today as thanks to all my readers. －－－－－－－－－－－－－－ Late at night, after concluding his discussion with Elder Huang, Ye Qin slipped away from the Yongfu Inn without a sound.

To ensure Elder Huang exerted himself fully in gathering jade, Ye Qin promised him two significant benefits. The first was the provision of miraculous spiritual elixirs and sacred medicines. For a cultivator, these pills could enhance vital energy and cultivation, and for ordinary people, they were elixirs of longevity capable of curing all ailments. The second benefit was Ye Qin's pledge to support Elder Huang in becoming the representative of the Nan family within Pingzhou. Elder Huang’s most fervent desire was to become the agent overseeing the entire Jianghu order of Pingzhou, sitting above the region's Ten Great Guilds, managing affairs on behalf of the Nan family.

Of course, neither of these benefits would be realized immediately.

Ye Qin was acutely aware that at the third level of Qi Refining, he was certainly capable of defeating any martial artist within Pingzhou in a one-on-one confrontation. However, the Ten Great Guilds of Pingzhou had long since broken free from the Nan family's control—for two decades, in fact. There existed at least five or six peerless masters among them, not to mention thousands of guild members whose combined strength could not be underestimated. Forcing the Ten Great Guilds to submit once more to the "Nan family's" authority in the short term presented an immense challenge.

In this Jianghu where strength dictated everything, his current power gave him no assurance of decisively taking down those top-tier masters in one swift move.

"Do not be rash, proceed slowly, and absolutely do not alert the Ten Great Guilds. Your sole task right now is to mobilize the power of the Precious Treasure Gang to find as much jade as possible for me."

Ye Qin instructed Elder Huang.

He only required one or two Spirit Stones per month, which was sufficient. At most, in another year or two, he would reach the fourth or fifth level of Qi Refining, attaining the strength level once held by Nan Tianba. Even if he unexpectedly encountered other cultivators, he would possess the means to escape. Until then, everything should proceed as usual, avoiding reckless impulses as much as possible.

"Yes, Young Master, I shall act precisely according to your instructions!"

Elder Huang’s tone was deferential. He couldn't fathom why Ye Qin didn't seize the opportunity to subdue the Ten Great Guilds in one decisive action.

But Ye Qin's command was absolute; he dared not disobey. He had no choice but to temporarily suppress the urge to dominate the Pingzhou Jianghu and devote himself wholeheartedly to searching for jade for Ye Qin. As long as he could satisfy the "Young Master of the Nan Family," the seat of the family's agent would eventually be his. Why hurry?

Ye Qin left no method for Elder Huang to contact him directly. Instead, they agreed that if an urgent situation arose, Elder Huang could hang an inconspicuous small wooden plaque on the third-floor window of the Yongfu Inn. If Ye Qin happened to pass by and spot it, he would come to meet him.

Ye Qin departed the Yongfu Inn, circled the county town several times to ensure he wasn't being followed, and then returned to his private courtyard in the southeastern district. He changed out of his complete set of black robes and bamboo hat, donning the simple blue robes of an herb-gathering apprentice before heading back to the stone house in the herb-gathering hall's compound.

Yang Yicheng and Feng Xiao had not yet returned, likely still squatting near the martial practice grounds, watching the wheel-battle challenge of Senior Brother Xie Yun of the Herb Gathering Hall.

Ye Qin consumed a Dew-Lowering Pill and sat cross-legged on his cot, slowly converting the elixir's spiritual power into his vital energy. His only desire at this moment was to elevate his cultivation; he did not wish to waste time on extraneous matters.

The next day, just before dawn.

Yang and Feng finally returned from outside, pushing open the stone house door with weary bodies. Yang Yicheng looked dejected, seemingly quite disappointed. Feng Xiao, however, was beaming, humming a little tune.

Feng Xiao noticed Ye Qin already sitting in meditation with his eyes closed early in the morning and couldn't resist teasing him:

"Oh dear, look at Second Brother diligently cultivating his internal arts this early! But in my humble opinion, practicing your specific internal technique is much the same whether you do it or not; it only slightly strengthens the physique. Even if you trained harder and became tougher than an ox, you’d still be just an ox. I doubt you could defeat any of our fellow disciples here who have learned a few moves. With that effort, you’d be better off learning an offensive internal technique, or perhaps learning the Lightness Skill like I did. I guarantee that in three to five years, another hero will grace the city of Zhuqi."

The sitting postures for the vast majority of internal energy cultivation methods are largely identical. Each distinct technique has only subtle variations in hand seals. Thus, merely observing the sitting posture, one could not discern which technique Ye Qin was practicing, nor that he wasn't practicing internal arts at all.

Ye Qin had awakened the moment he heard the door open, knowing that Feng Xiao was prone to sharp-tongued remarks, most of which contained no good advice. He ignored him and asked Yang Yicheng: "Why are you back so soon? Is Senior Brother Xie Yun's ring challenge already over?"

"Is that even a question? I told you ages ago that Senior Brother Xie Yun wouldn't make it past the eighth round, and sure enough, that’s what happened. Senior Brother Xie Yun was kicked off the platform by a young master from the Fire Cloud Gang right as he faced his seventy-eighth challenger. It’s a pity he consumed so many pills to replenish internal strength, and even had an elder from our Herb Gathering Hall secretly stalling for time, yet he still failed to break into the eighth round! Our Senior Brother Xie Yun is still a hair's breadth short of being a top-tier master!"

Feng Xiao mocked Xie Yun at length, clearly delighted by his failure. After all, someone with his insignificant martial arts level couldn't even compete on the stage, so seeing the Herb Gathering Hall's strongest young expert fall short was undoubtedly a cause for great happiness.

Yang Yicheng, however, couldn't help but scratch his head in frustration. "Senior Brother Xie Yun is twenty-seven now. If he could have cultivated for just three more years, fighting this wheel-battle when he was thirty, he surely could have entered the eighth round. What a waste."

In this wheel-battle challenge, a person could only compete once in each age bracket.

If Xie Yun failed to achieve an ideal record during his youth, spanning twenty-one to thirty years old, he would have to wait until he was over thirty-one to compete in the adult bracket for those aged thirty-one to fifty.

The wheel-battle challenge was the most authoritative means of assessing strength in the Jianghu. Achievements gained on such a stage were the most easily acknowledged by all parties. Losing this chance to soar to prominence meant he would now have to slowly accumulate seniority in the Jianghu and make a name for himself through other means.

Xie Yun reaching the seventh round would only mark him as the most outstanding among first-rate masters, yet he remained just shy of being a top-tier expert. The difference between these two statuses was astronomical. Xie Yun had spent over twenty years cultivating in seclusion in the Herb Gathering Hall's Scripture Pavilion, but he couldn't hold out for those final three years, resulting in a near-total collapse of his effort, failing to cross the threshold into the ranks of top masters. Had he managed to endure three more years, he might have succeeded in one leap.

Hearing this, Ye Qin also felt a twinge of regret for Xie Yun.

However, it was only a fleeting moment of pity; he immediately dismissed the matter from his mind.

Senior Brother Xie Yun was the foremost disciple of Benefactor Li. Even reaching the seventh round was an exceedingly remarkable achievement. His future was bright and vast; he was destined to take over as the Master of the Herb Gathering Hall, far surpassing the ordinary disciples of the hall. He didn't require anyone to worry on his behalf.

Ye Qin felt he was better off managing his own affairs. As long as he intended to remain within the Herb Gathering Hall for one more day, he needed to fulfill his duties as an outer disciple apprentice, completing his daily quota of chores so as not to simply freeload off the hall. The remaining time should be spent immersing himself in cultivating the six basic spells he had only recently learned.

Seeing Ye Qin preoccupied with silent meditation and cultivation, Feng Xiao found himself largely ignored. Yang Yicheng was still distressed over Senior Brother Xie Yun's defeat at the final hurdle and had no inclination to engage with him. Feng Xiao soon grew bored, collapsed onto his wooden bed, and slept soundly to compensate for the exhaustion from staying up all night watching the fights.

Half a month flew by in a flash, and the day soon arrived for the Medicine King Gang to host their "Herbal Medicine and Pills Trade Convention."

The county town of Zhuqi grew increasingly bustling. Leaders, masters, or vice-masters and elders from the ten major guilds and hundreds of smaller and medium-sized guilds in Pingzhou, along with various martial arts elites, streamed in.

Medicine was an essential item for navigating the Jianghu, even affecting a guild's future prospects. The Medicine King Gang's large-scale sale of common and rare pharmaceuticals was a significant event, one few guilds would willingly miss.

Most importantly, as his cultivation progressed, Ye Qin’s internal mana continuously strengthened, vastly improving the endurance of his spellcasting. Coupled with increased familiarity from repeated use, the speed at which he cast spells naturally became quicker.

Ye Qin could now execute basic auxiliary spells—such as Wind Binding, Earth Evasion, Water Evasion, Wood Evasion, Entanglement, and Quicksand Technique—in rapid succession, one after another, without feeling the strain of insufficient mana.

During this interim, the Herb Gathering Hall also saw some new developments. Xie Yun, the leading disciple of the younger generation, saw his prestige skyrocket overnight after reaching the seventh round of the wheel-battle challenge, becoming a rising star highly favored in the Jianghu.

Ye Qin had briefly worried that Xie Yun might expose the abnormality of his martial arts. To Ye Qin's surprise, Xie Yun seemed not to have mentioned the matter to anyone.

During this period, everything else in the Herb Gathering Hall remained routine. The disciples still treated him as a low-level disciple capable only of menial labor, giving him little notice. Herbalist Wang, Vice-Master Ji, and Benefactor Li had not approached him either. This relieved Ye Qin somewhat; it seemed Xie Yun likely did not wish to reveal that he had been defeated by an ordinary, low-ranking disciple within the hall, as doing so would significantly damage Xie Yun's own prestige.

Conversely, Young Master Li Ping of the Medicine King Gang seemed quite interested in Xie Yun, personally naming him as one of his accompanying escorts. Xie Yun spent his days carousing throughout Zhuqi County, socializing with the lackeys and cronies of various guilds, frequenting taverns and pleasure houses for unrestrained revelry.

Any perceptive person could easily see that this was Young Master Li attempting to curry favor with Xie Yun, hoping to make him a confidant to pave the way for his succession as the next leader of the Medicine King Gang. If he lacked sufficient powerful backing within the gang, even being the current leader's son wouldn't guarantee him the position of Gang Master in the future. Although Young Master Li had a reputation for being a bit of a profligate, he possessed this small measure of cunning.