Chapter 102, Blood Totem
Chapter 102, Blood Totem
The sound of the wooden fish that Aniu heard was obviously abnormal. Hua Changxi learned that the sound of the wooden fish could be heard every night, so he planned to spend the night in the medicine shop to see what was going on.
"Sister Pu Cao, let me see the account book for this period of time."
Seeing that it was still early, Hua Changxi started to look through the account book and soon discovered that the sales volume of pills in the pharmacy had increased significantly in the past two months.
First, the merchant Zhuo bought more elixirs;
Second, Yu Hui introduced a eunuch named Xiao Guizi to buy elixirs. Every time Xiao Guizi came, he would buy more than 50,000 taels of elixirs.
When Hua Changxi saw that Yu Hui introduced Xiao Guizi to buy medicine just after she saved Eunuch Xuan, she guessed that Xiao Guizi should be Eunuch Xuan's subordinate from the East Factory.
The pills purchased by Mr. Zhuo and Xiao Guizi accounted for 80 percent of the total sales, and the remaining 20 percent was mostly sold by ten other pharmacies.
Hua Changxi looked at Pu Cao: "Sister Pu Cao, have you visited the other ten stores?"
Pu Cao nodded: "I have seen it. Yu Hui is reliable. The names of the shops have been changed to Shennongtang, and the plaques are marked with serial numbers. People can tell at a glance that the ten shops are branches of our Shennongtang."
Hua Changxi looked at the first volume of "Common Plant Medicinal Materials" on the medicine cabinet and asked, "Is anyone here to buy a book?"
Cattail: "Some people asked, but they bought little, but the other ten sold some."
Hua Changxi nodded: "The Zhuo family's medicine shop has been in business for so many years, and its reputation is still good."
Pu Cao looked at her and said, "Chang Xi, now the employees of the ten branches of the pharmacy are still from the original Zhuo family. In this case, are the pharmacies still yours?"
Hua Changxi said with a headache: "I know what you mean, but I don't have time to deal with these things. I have asked Yu Hui to look for a suitable manager. You should also pay more attention to whether there are suitable people in your daily life."
Pu Cao nodded in agreement. After moving into Feng'anfang, she was not idle. She often walked around the streets and got to know most of the people in the neighborhood. It turned out that there were quite a few capable people in the neighborhood.
Hua Changxi added: "Whether it's a steward or a clerk, there is no restriction on gender when selecting."
When Pu Cao heard this, his eyes lit up and he quickly agreed with a smile.
Hua Changxi continued to look at the account book, looked at the amount of pills sold, and rubbed his forehead.
There will be more and more customers in the future, and it is obviously not enough for her to make and sell pills alone.
She did find a few good candidates in the Mentoring Hall, but they were mortals and could only refine ordinary pills. Only cultivators could refine spiritual pills.
Hua Changxi looked at Pu Cao and said, "Sister Pu Cao, have you read any medical books recently?"
Pu Cao replied while tidying up the counter: "I'm reading. I've finished reading this book "Common Plants and Medicinal Materials" and the several medical books you recommended. I was just hoping you would recommend me a few more books to read."
Hua Changxi: "Do you like studying medicine?"
Cattail nodded and smiled: "I like it. If I become a doctor, I can not only cure my own illness, but also help others. How great is that."
Hua Changxi: "Sister Cattail, let me teach you how to make the elixir."
Pu Cao paused and asked, "Really?"
Hua Changxi nodded: "After dinner, I will wait for you in the alchemy room."
Pu Cao's face was full of joy: "Yeah."
After dinner, Hua Changxi made a few batches of ordinary elixirs in the alchemy room and let Pu Cao familiarize himself with the alchemy process.
Late in the night at midnight, there was a noise coming from Aniu's room. Hua Changxi and Pu Cao hurried out of the alchemy room, just in time to see Aniu walk out of the house as if he had lost his soul, and go straight to the back door.
Qingniu wanted to grab Aniu, but Hua Changxi stopped him by raising his hand.
Hua Changxi sensed carefully and did not hear any sound of the wooden fish, but Ah Niu obviously looked like he was led away by something.
"You guys stay home, I'll go over and take a look."
Seeing Hua Changxi following Aniu out of the yard, Pu Cao was a little worried and looked at Qingniu: "Changxi and Aniu, will they be okay?"
Qingniu shook his head: "Don't worry, there shouldn't be many people who can hurt Hua Changxi."
Pu Cao looked at Qingniu: "You seem to be very afraid of Changxi?" Every time Changxi came over, Qingniu didn't dare to hang around in front of her.
Qingniu's face wrinkled: "There is an indescribable aura on her body. It has a suppressive power on me. When I see her, my legs go weak."
Pu Cao didn't know much about cultivators and just thought that Hua Changxi was stronger than Qingniu.
On the other side, Hua Changxi fell far behind Aniu and followed him for several streets, and finally came to an abandoned house in the southwest corner of Feng'anfang.
Watching Ah Niu walk into the abandoned house, Hua Changxi was worried that the person in the dark had other means of detection, so he did not dare to get close. He just flew into the air on his somersault cloud and looked down from the sky. He soon saw a monk in white sitting cross-legged in the yard of the abandoned house, beating a wooden fish with his eyes closed.
The wooden fish he struck made no sound, but ripples of spiritual energy continued to spread outward.
As soon as Aniu entered the yard, the monk in white opened his eyes, with an obvious smile on his face, and stopped beating the wooden fish.
As soon as the sound of the wooden fish disappeared, Ah Niu regained his clarity of mind. Seeing that he was standing in an unfamiliar place, his expression changed drastically: "Where is this place?"
The monk in white said with a smile: "Bull God Protector, you are here at last."
Aniu didn't listen to what the white-robed monk said at all. He looked around warily and turned around to run away.
When the monk in white saw this, his face darkened. He turned the golden bowl in his hand and pointed the bowl at Ah Niu. Ah Niu was illuminated by a beam of golden light and his body was instantly fixed.
At the same time, a huge bull shadow emerged above him, and a deafening "moo" sounded.
The cow's shadow and the cow's sound flashed by, but it was enough for Ah Niu to see clearly.
"See? You possess the magical powers of the Bull God. You are the guardian of the Bull God, and you are tasked with awakening the Bull God."
Ah Niu shook his head violently: "I don't understand what you are saying."
Seeing his resistance, the monk in white had no choice but to change his strategy. He took out a martial arts book called "The Powerful Bull Demonic Art" and tempted him, "Do you want to become an invincible warrior? After practicing this "The Powerful Bull Demonic Art", you will become an invincible top warrior."
After hearing this, Ah Niu remained unmoved: "I'm living a good life now, and I don't want to become a strong man." After saying that, he ran out of the abandoned house.
When the white-robed monk saw this, he shook his head and said, "Bull God Protector, you can't escape the mission of awakening the Bull God." As soon as he finished speaking, he flashed and blocked Aniu's way, and reached out to grab him.
At this moment, the monk in white suddenly felt a palpitation, looked around, and finally looked up at the sky.
When the white-robed monk saw Hua Changxi flying down on a cloud, his face changed drastically and he grabbed Aniu and ran away.
When Hua Changxi saw this, his face changed. There were many people in the alley, and if he really started fighting with the white-robed monk, he would definitely hurt others by mistake.
Thinking of this, Hua Changxi quickly condensed spiritual power in his right hand. The next moment, a huge Buddha's hand flew out and slapped towards the white-robed monk like lightning.
"boom!"
The monk in white was knocked away, and Aniu broke free from his restraints and fell to the ground.
The monk in white was beaten and bleeding. Seeing that Hua Changxi was so powerful, he looked at Aniu unwillingly and could only grit his teeth and choose to escape.
Hua Changxi naturally would not let him go and quickly chased after him.
The monk in white was very anxious when he saw Hua Changxi chasing him relentlessly and at a very fast speed. While chasing, he noticed that Hua Changxi was intentionally avoiding the houses around him, and he immediately had an idea.
"Boom~"
The white-robed monk directly attacked the surrounding houses, and in an instant, several houses were destroyed.
Seeing the white-robed monk indiscriminately attacking the surrounding houses, Hua Changxi's face darkened. A fire lotus condensed in the palm of his hand. With a "whoosh", the fire lotus broke through the air, growing from small to large, and instantly covered the white-robed monk.
"Ah~"
A shrill voice rang out in the night sky. Before the voice faded away, the monk in white had been burned to ashes by the fire lotus. When the wind blew away, no trace of him remained.
"Plop~" a string of Buddhist beads fell to the ground. Hua Changxi stepped forward to pick it up, then returned to help Aniu up and quickly left the place.
The destroyed houses and the shrill screams woke up everyone in Feng'anfang. Everyone walked out of their homes trembling with fear, wanting to know what had happened.
After Hua Changxi brought Ah Niu back to the pharmacy, he gave him a healing pill and asked Qingniu to take care of him while he rested.
"Sister Pu Cao, several families were injured during the fight just now. Come with me to take a look. If there are any injured, ask them to come to the pharmacy for free treatment. Tell them that the pharmacy is helping the neighbors in the street."
After hearing this, Pu Cao nodded, went to the street with Hua Changxi, and followed the crowd towards the street where the houses were destroyed.
The houses of six families were destroyed, but fortunately no one was killed. As for the injured, Pu Cao had them sent to the pharmacy to be treated by Hua Changxi.
Hua Changxi had just bandaged the wound of the injured person when people from the Five Cities Military Division arrived and came to inquire about the situation.
"We didn't know what happened. It was the middle of the night and we were sleeping soundly when we suddenly heard a loud bang and then the house collapsed."
"Luckily the neighbors showed up in time and rescued us."
"That scream was terrifying. When we passed by, we didn't see anything. It was as if we had misheard that scream."
The people in the neighborhood were very active in reporting what they knew to the government officials.
The people from the Five Cities Military Division listened but couldn't understand the main point, so they could only go back and report.
After the Wucheng Bingmasi people left, Hua Changxi looked at the wounded crying in the medicine shop and said to Pu Cao, "These six families have young people. You can arrange them to work in the branch store. You can let them withdraw some wages first and repair the houses they live in."
Pu Cao nodded, and seeing Hua Changxi frowning, he comforted her, "Changxi, don't blame yourself too much."
Hua Changxi shook his head: "We shouldn't do this in the city." He paused, "The government officials will definitely come again."
Pu Cao said quickly: "Don't worry, I know how to deal with them."
Hua Changxi said 'hmm': "I'll go back to my room and rest for a while."
After returning to the room, Hua Changxi took out the Buddhist beads he had picked up.
There were eighteen beads in the Buddhist rosary, seventeen of which were burnt black, and only one bead was not burned by the fire lotus and remained intact.
Thinking of the scene where the white-robed monk casually took out the martial arts technique, Hua Changxi guessed that this Buddhist bead should be a magic weapon in the storage.
The monk in white was already dead, so she handed a drop of blood over with confidence. Soon, she sensed the space inside the bead.
There are quite a few things in the space, including books on martial arts, spirit stones, spirit plants and fruits, as well as some elixirs, talismans, magic tools, and formation plates and flags.
"what is this?"
There was a transparent sphere as big as a grapefruit in the space. As soon as Hua Changxi took it out and touched the sphere, flames appeared inside the sphere, and then the flames engulfed the sphere at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In an instant, the entire sphere was ablaze with fire.
Hua Changxi quickly took his hand away, and the flames were like the receding river water, quickly retracting into the ball and disappearing.
"Is this a spirit stone?"
Watching this scene, Hua Changxi felt that it was very similar to the reaction of the spirit-testing stone. Then his eyes lit up, and he took the spirit-testing stone to Aniu's room and asked Aniu to put his hand on it.
Aniu put his hand on it, but unfortunately, the ball didn't react at all.
Seeing this, Qingniu raised his hoof to indicate that he wanted to be tested too.
Hua Changxi let the green ox touch the ball. As soon as the ox's hoof was placed on the ball, a green light immediately became brighter.
Seeing this, Qingniu immediately grinned.
Hua Changxi looked at Qingniu, then looked at Ah Niu: "It's strange that cows have spiritual veins but humans don't."
Then, Hua Changxi called Pu Cao in and asked her to touch the ball.
As soon as Pu Cao placed his hands on the sphere, a green light and a red light appeared in the sphere. The two lights were equally powerful and quickly filled the entire sphere.
"Changxi, what is this?"
Hua Changxi: "This is a stone for measuring spiritual veins. Sister Pu Cao, you have a spiritual vein and can practice."
Pu Cao looked delighted: "If I practice, can I become a god like you?"
Hua Changxi smiled and said, "He's not a deity, but a cultivator." He noticed from the corner of his eyes that Ah Niu lowered his head in disappointment, and consoled him, "Ah Niu, you can practice cultivation too."
In fact, the most suitable way of cultivation for people whose bloodline has reverted to their ancestral lineage is body training. The "Nine Revolutions Profound Art" obtained in the Five Finger Mountain is a profound body training method.
Ah Niu raised his head sharply: "But I couldn't even make the ball light up."
Hua Changxi: "Let me study it. You can definitely practice it."
Aniu has always believed in Hua Changxi, and after hearing what she said, his expression instantly improved.
Hua Changxi took the spirit-measuring stone back to the room, and started to flip through the other things in the Buddhist beads space. Soon, he took out the golden bowl that reflected A Niu Niu's shadow.
After burning the golden bowl with the fire lotus and seeing that there was nothing unusual about it, Hua Changxi dropped a drop of blood on it.
When the blood merged into the golden bowl, relevant information about the golden bowl emerged in Hua Changxi's mind: a totem bowl that can reflect bloodline totem.
"totem."
A totem is usually a symbol of an ethnic group.
Hua Changxi's eyes flickered, and she really wanted to know which god protected her ancestors.
So she placed the golden bowl on the table, pointing the mouth of the bowl towards the door, and then quickly walked into the range of the bowl's light.
When she aimed at the mouth of the bowl, a golden light shot out from the bowl. When the light enveloped Hua Changxi, she felt that the blood in her body was ignited, burning and boiling, as if something was revived.
Then, a swaying, dazzling colorful lotus emerged and bloomed from Hua Changxi's body.
"What a nice smell, what is that smell?"
"It smells like lotus."
"Where does the lotus fragrance come from?"
At this moment, the pharmacy and surrounding neighbors all smelled the fragrance of lotus.
Hua Changxi was not surprised to see the lotus. She had guessed it when she had taken the fire-type atavism fruit - the Flowing Red Lotus and gained the Fire Lotus Burning Silence magical power.
But the next moment, her eyes widened.
"Hey~"
A clear and melodious bird song sounded, and then a colorful firebird emerged from Hua Changxi's body.
In the yard, Qingniu fell to the ground with a thump, and in front of Pu Cao and Aniu's stunned gazes, he prostrated himself, his entire body still trembling, as if he had encountered something terrible.
Hua Changxi was also surprised. She was not surprised that there was a lotus in the blood totem, but she did not expect that there was also a firebird.
This firebird is Suzaku, right?
Her ancestors were not only protected by the lotus, but also by the Suzaku?
Soon, Hua Changxi figured it out. She had a father and a mother. There was a god on her father's side, and there must be a god on her mother's side as well.
The Hua family’s surname is Hua, and I think their ancestors were protected by the lotus. The protection of the Vermillion Bird comes from the ancestors on the mother’s side.
Zhuque is one of the four spirits, and her ancestors on her mother's side are quite powerful!
Hua Changxi put away the golden bowl and thought: "There are cows, snakes, flowers and red birds. The blood totems are either animals or flowers. Could it be that the human race in the past relied on the protection of the demon race?"