Zhou Qin had her eye on a commercial unit on the main pedestrian street of Tiannan City. It was a two-story building, roughly over three hundred square meters. It used to house a small appliance store, but because it couldn't keep up with modern development, business had been steadily siphoned off by larger malls. The owner, unable to sustain the losses, was looking to transfer the lease and try his hand at something else.

Li Yundong followed Zhou Qin through the property, inspecting every floor. He murmured to her quietly, "This place is decent, bright and spacious, right on the street. But the rent must be substantial. I wonder if we can actually afford it?"

Zhou Qin smiled as she explained, "I inquired. It's three hundred thousand a year."

Li Yundong jumped slightly. "Three hundred thousand a year? That’s no small sum!"

Zhou Qin nodded. "It's significant. The two residences we rented before cost over a hundred thousand each annually, but those were dwellings. This is a street-front commercial space, so naturally, the price reflects that."

Li Yundong pondered for a moment, then turned to Ziyuan, asking, "Ziyuan, what do you think?"

Ziyuan seemed distracted, lost in thought. "Huh? What did you say?"

Li Yundong felt a pang of curiosity; he had never seen Ziyuan so unfocused. "What's wrong? You seem preoccupied."

Ziyuan collected herself and offered a slight smile. "Nothing at all. Were you asking about the rent?"

Seeing she wouldn't elaborate, Li Yundong decided not to press the issue for now, resolving to ask her privately later. He said, "Yes, I think the price is quite steep. Three hundred thousand a year is a lot of money. Even if we pay it all upfront, we'll have completely drained our funds. Never mind renovations; we'll be stretched painfully thin."

Li Yundong continued, "Look, while we have a large supply of tea leaves, we can't run a teahouse with just Tieguanyin, can we? We'll definitely need to stock other varieties, which means more expenditure."

As he spoke, Li Yundong couldn't help a wry laugh escape. "You don't know the cost of rice and firewood until you manage the household. Since becoming the Sect Leader, I’ve realized money isn't just money! I always assumed cultivators could achieve Bigu (abstinence from grain) and wouldn't need to spend a dime on food. Now I see that entire notion is absolute nonsense!"

Ziyuan smiled softly. "Dharma, wealth, companions, land, and tools—you cannot cultivate without wealth. Even great cultivators need to eat, drink, and take care of basic necessities. The theory of cultivation is rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine; it's scientific and rigorous. Even when explained through Western scientific principles, some aspects align. The law of conservation of energy, for instance, explains the laws of cultivation: a person cannot create energy from nothing. They must absorb and borrow energy from their surroundings, or store excess energy within the body through eating, practicing, and then release it when needed."

Zhou Qin, overhearing Ziyuan and Li Yundong suddenly discussing cultivation, had been listening intently. Hearing this, she suddenly interjected, "Then is Bigu a lie?"

Ziyuan glanced at her, pleased by her eagerness to learn, and smiled encouragingly. "No, the art of Bigu exists both in antiquity and the modern age. There are just some differences in how people understand it."

Zhou Qin asked, "What are the differences?"

Ziyuan looked toward Li Yundong and smiled. "He's your master; perhaps you should explain?"

Li Yundong chuckled. "Testing me? Fine, I'll explain."

Li Yundong turned to Zhou Qin. "Bigu, also called Dangu or Juegu—as the name implies, you can see from the characters that it fundamentally means abstaining from eating the five grains. However, most people think Bigu means eating absolutely nothing, just subsisting on dew and wind. Think about it: if all of us cultivators just survived on air and dew, how much money would we save? Would I be worrying like this?"

Zhou Qin laughed lightly. "But what is the reality?"

Li Yundong gave a knowing chuckle. "In reality, that’s completely wrong. Bigu is primarily intended to purge the body of turbid qi. Since humans eat grains, they inevitably produce excrement and urine—it’s filthy. How can one ascend to immortality that way? But if you don't eat grains, where does the body get nutrition? A living person constantly consumes energy; where does that consumed energy come from? It can't really just be air and dew, can it? That would be a huge joke!"

Zhou Qin grew more curious. "Then where does the nutrition come from?"

Li Yundong grinned. "Where from? By eating other things! Bigu only means abstaining from the five grains; eating things that aren't the five grains is permitted!"

Zhou Qin gasped, surprised and intrigued. "No way! If you eat other things, won't you still... well, produce waste?"

Li Yundong burst into laughter. "That depends on what you eat! The Book of Northern Qi records a hermit cultivator from Langya Mountain who practiced Bigu. But every day, he consumed raw herbs like Huangjing, Yuzhu, Fuling and pine nuts. The Old Book of Tang also records a man named Wang Yuanzhi, another cultivator practicing Bigu; what did he eat daily? Ganoderma! He ate Lingzhi like it was a meal! Naturally, he didn't need the five grains!"

Zhou Qin’s mouth fell open. "Are you serious? Eating Lingzhi as a meal? How much would that cost for one sitting?"

Ziyuan laughed softly, stepping in. "So, Dharma, wealth, companions, land, tools. Do you see now why wealth is ranked second? In ancient times, many cultivators were not wealthy and had little money, yet they yearned for cultivation. Since they couldn't afford the various necessary medicinal herbs, they went up the mountains themselves to gather herbs and practice in the wilderness."

Zhou Qin sighed in understanding. "No wonder those ancient cultivators all lived in the mountains and were experts in Chinese medicine—they had to be self-sufficient. But why don't we hear about things like this anymore in modern times?"

Ziyuan nodded. "The practice of Bigu still exists in the modern era. On January 7, 1988, the People's Daily reported on a twenty-five-year-old girl named Xiong Zaiding from Yuexingtang Village in Xiongjiapu District, Macheng City, Hubei Province. This girl had suffered a severe illness at fifteen. After recovering, she stopped eating; for ten years, she consumed not a single grain of rice. When she finally got out of bed well, she moved and spoke as normally as before—it was quite the sensation at the time."

Li Yundong chimed in, "That girl must have encountered a great cultivator and taken a Bigu Pill or some other miraculous elixir."

Ziyuan glanced at Li Yundong and nodded. "You guessed correctly! At that time, the Celestial Master of our Zhengyi Sect happened to be passing through and fed her the Immortal Bigu Pill; that is what saved her life."

Li Yundong asked in surprise, "So she didn't continue cultivating afterward?"

Ziyuan shook her head. "No. The severe illness had damaged her dinglu (cauldron/vital furnace). Even after being saved, she was just a ruined furnace."

Zhou Qin asked curiously, "Immortal Bigu Pill? Does such a thing actually exist in this world?"

Ziyuan smiled. "Oh yes, I even remember the formula!"

Zhou Qin was eager. "Tell me about it?"

Ziyuan began reciting, "The Immortal Bigu Pill is meticulously prepared from Chinese herbs and foodstuffs like Huangjing, Yuzhu, sesame seeds, Tiandong, dried dates, black beans, Lingzhi, pine nuts, Baizhu, mulberry fruit, walnuts, honey, Maidong, and others. Furthermore, it includes mineral medicines such as cinnabar, realgar, and mica as medicinal guides in the prescription."

Zhou Qin listened, utterly dumbfounded. "Good heavens, those are all highly nutritious health foods! So they really didn't need the five grains! How much would it cost to eat this every day?"

Li Yundong burst out laughing at this point. "You finally get it?"

Ziyuan chuckled. "Among cultivation sects, only a very select few with substantial financial backing can afford to practice Bigu, and even then, only a handful of sect leaders and direct lineage disciples can consume that Immortal Bigu Pill. Ordinary sects can't afford it even for their leader. That’s why our cultivation community has another nickname for the Immortal Bigu Pill."

Li Yundong and Zhou Qin asked in unison, "What's the nickname?"

Ziyuan pursed her lips into a smile and said, "The Bankrupting Pill!"

The three of them then burst into hearty laughter together.

Su Chan, who had been moving about inside the shop, heard their combined laughter and curiously shuffled over, blinking her eyes. "Yundong, what are you talking about that’s so funny?"

Li Yundong laughed warmly and patted her head. "Nothing important. How do you like it?"

Su Chan nodded excitedly. "Mhm, it’s wonderful! We all really like it here!"

Li Yundong turned to Zhou Qin. "Then let's rent this place. I won't drag my feet anymore!"

Zhou Qin noted that Li Yundong had previously been deeply troubled by the high rent, debating it at length with her and Ziyuan, yet now, with just one sentence from Su Chan, he made an instant decision. This clearly showed Su Chan's paramount importance in his eyes.

Zhou Qin let out a silent sigh, though she betrayed nothing on her face. She smiled and nodded, pulling out her phone. "I'll make a call to the people at the Bureau of Commerce." With that, she stepped aside to make the call.

Li Yundong smiled and nodded, privately wondering: Hadn't Zhou Qin’s connections in official circles dissolved after her father’s downfall? How could she still reach the Bureau of Commerce?

But then he quickly reasoned: Even a giant centipede dies stiff, and the Zhou family still held some influence in Tiannan City.

However, not long after, Li Yundong saw Zhou Qin return, her face ashen. His heart gave a sudden lurch, and he asked in a low voice, "What happened?"

Zhou Qin kept her face cold for a long time, saying nothing. After a while, she finally ground out a chilling laugh through clenched teeth. "That person surnamed Wang saw that the Zhou family had fallen and that things had cooled off. Now he’s putting on airs." She then looked at Li Yundong with genuine confusion. "Master, did you manage to offend someone? The moment I mentioned you wanted to rent this storefront, they immediately backed out."

Li Yundong was surprised. "Me? No... wait a moment..."

Li Yundong mused thoughtfully. "If I list the people I've offended, there are quite a few, actually. Liu Chuan at school counts as one. In the cultivation world, I’ve practically offended all six major sects; the Zhengyi Sect goes without saying. In the business sector, there’s Zheng Youming and Zhao Yougen—those are people I’ve crossed."

Ziyuan sighed with resignation. "Do you remember what I told you on Tianlong Mountain, not to commit excessive slaughter, lest you find your path blocked in the future? Do you understand now? This world is full of petty people. In a direct confrontation, you could crush them with one finger, but their specialty is launching sudden attacks from the shadows. You won't even know who is harming you."

Li Yundong offered a bitter smile. "Yes, yes, Master Ziyuan, you have taught me a lesson! What do we do now? Zhou Qin, is there any room for maneuver?"

Zhou Qin shook her head. "If my father were still in office, this would be no problem at all. But now..."

Li Yundong didn't want Zhou Qin to carry a psychological burden. Although inwardly annoyed, he still smiled to comfort her. "It's fine. Even the Tang Monk faced eighty-one trials on his journey to the West. What is this minor obstacle compared to that?"

Zhou Qin sighed. "This storefront is the most ideal. None of the other available shops are nearly as suitable."

Li Yundong smiled and said to Su Chan, "Go call your martial uncles and martial sisters. Let's go."

Seeing that things hadn't gone smoothly, Su Chan obediently agreed. She bid farewell to everyone at the Fox Zen Gate, and the group left the shop together.

Once they were back on the pedestrian street, Zhou Qin sighed. "Master, it’s all my fault. If only I hadn't..."

Li Yundong cut her off before she could finish, laughing. "Don't say that; it’s not your fault. As the saying goes, the cart will find a way when it reaches the mountain, and the boat will straighten itself when it reaches the bridgehead! There will definitely be a solution. If all else fails, we don't have to rent this place. We can go look at other locations."

The others nodded in agreement and were about to leave when they suddenly heard an elderly voice shout out, a mix of surprise and delight, "Little Divine Doctor?"

Li Yundong found the voice somewhat familiar but didn't pay it much mind. However, Zhou Qin’s heart skipped a beat. She turned around and looked closely, seeing an old woman dressed in a dark blue short jacket and dark cyan cloth shoes with thousands of stitched layers on the soles, smiling brightly at her.

Zhou Qin recognized the old woman as someone she had become quite close to during her stay in the hospital. She exclaimed, both surprised and overjoyed, "Old Madam Xu!"

=========================================== Heading out to the movies this afternoon; the second update is early. Happy New Year to everyone! Many thanks to all the students who voted for my PK tickets during the New Year. Thank you for your support and encouragement! Tangtang bows to you all! H

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