Chapter 3421 — The Song Family's Trouble

"Off you go!" Feng Tianlong nodded. "You're a deputy bureau chief now, so you can manage your own leave time. But if an urgent assignment comes up, you'll need to report back at once!"

"Please rest assured, Director Feng. I know what matters and what doesn't." Qiu Lingshan nodded hastily in agreement...

Qiu Lingshan happily made ready to go home, never suspecting that a conspiracy had already begun to take shape, aimed at the Song family...

Overseas, the "Center." This was the headquarters of the Fire Wolf Gang and the Red Conch, situated on a mysterious island.

The one who controlled the Center was none other than Miss Lan, the very person cooperating with the Ancestor Xuanchen! And the current person in charge of the Center was a man called Dr. Benjamin II.

"I hear Song Lingrui has gone back to Huaxia?" Dr. Benjamin II's tone was steeped in hatred when he spoke that name.

"Yes, I hear she has left the mercenary organization and the Overseas Cultivators' Association. The one who went back with her was Song Xianghua, the honorary grand elder of the Overseas Cultivators' Association!" The speaker was Qiu Shanlong, the Center's commander of armed forces.

"Back then, if she hadn't interfered, our people would already have obtained the inheritance of that ancient spirit beast, and my latest genetically modified strain would have been successfully developed! Once it succeeded, it would have become a powerful asset to Instructor Li and Madam Lan! I failed their trust..." Dr. Benjamin II said bitterly.

That inheritance from the ancient spirit beast had been obtained by Song Lingrui by chance, and it had made her—an external-school expert at the great consummation of the late Heaven Rank—a rarity even in the cultivation world.

If Dr. Benjamin II's people had obtained it, he could have worked from his genetic modifications to research and produce a similar biochemical agent. Injected into a recipient, it could mass-produce countless experts!

That would be far stronger than the current batch of bio-humans, because in strength, defense, and endurance, Song Lingrui far surpassed them all. One could say Qiu Lingshan was a perfected expert created through modification; once this technology was mastered, Dr. Benjamin II's biochemical agent would advance by leaps and bounds.

"You can't be blamed for this, Doctor. Man proposes, heaven disposes—who could have known she would happen to take its place? Besides, if she hadn't always had the protection of the Overseas Cultivators' Association and the mercenary organization, we would have moved against her long ago. Now the timing is perfect—she's back in Huaxia. What do you say we..." Qiu Shanlong drew a finger across his throat.

"Mm, when the time comes, you must bring the corpse back to me. I want to study her blood and genes!" Dr. Benjamin II gave a cold laugh and nodded. "Go make the arrangements. But be careful—those are two experts at the great consummation of the late Heaven Rank, top-tier experts. You must eliminate them with absolute superiority. Send four experts."

"Four at the great consummation of the late Heaven Rank?" Qiu Shanlong pondered for a moment, then said, "Mobilizing so many experts will require Miss Lan's approval. It wasn't easy for Instructor Li to cultivate these people; we can't deploy them casually! Besides, these people are our secret force—nobody in the cultivation world knows that our Center has so many formidable cultivators."

"Fine, I'll speak to Miss Lan about this matter." Dr. Benjamin II nodded and agreed.

These past few days, the Ancestor Xuanchen had been thoroughly vexed. The second-grade medicinal cauldron he and Kang Zhaoming had made was meant to be sold to Wei Zhao's company at a high price, yet they had waited and waited, and still no one from Wei Zhao's side had come to negotiate the purchase!

There was no help for it. The Ancestor Xuanchen had grown too impatient, so he had no choice but to seek out Miss Lan again to discuss cooperation, intending to counterfeit the second-grade automatic medicinal cauldron!

Fortunately, Dr. Benjamin II delivered. After a period of painstaking research, he finally succeeded in producing a counterfeit! This was actually somewhat simpler than cracking the first-grade automatic medicinal cauldron. After all, the first-grade automatic cauldron used substitute materials, and when studying and cracking it, one had to alter certain parameters in the program to make it compatible with the genuine first-grade cauldron—there was an issue of compatibility involved. But the second-grade automatic cauldron had no such problem; once cracked, it could be used directly. So after the cracking succeeded, it could be mass-produced and put on the market for sale!

Yet everything had been prepared so well—just as the Xuandan Sect released the counterfeit second-grade automatic medicinal cauldron onto the market and was about to promote it vigorously and cooperate with the Cultivators' Commerce Association, the association unexpectedly launched an integrated smart version of the "First- and Second-Grade Automatic Medicinal Cauldron"!

It could refine not only first-grade pills but second-grade pills as well! Of course, if Dr. Benjamin II wanted to counterfeit this function, he could do so—there was no technical difficulty whatsoever.

But the main problem was not that. It was that this "First- and Second-Grade Automatic Medicinal Cauldron" was simply too miraculous. As long as one was a first-grade alchemist who could control pill fire, one could rely on the automated pill-fire energy assistance inside the "First- and Second-Grade Automatic Medicinal Cauldron" to complete the refining of second-grade pills!

This was a veritable divine artifact for alchemy! Those first-grade alchemists dreamed of refining second-grade pills, but their own strength fell short, so they could only give up. Now, with this divine alchemy artifact, the "First- and Second-Grade Automatic Medicinal Cauldron," wouldn't they rush to snap it up?

The appearance of this divine alchemy artifact instantly reduced the Xuandan Sect's counterfeit second-grade automatic medicinal cauldron from an object of attention to one nobody gave a second glance, and it nearly made the Ancestor Xuanchen vomit blood in frustration!

It was all money! So many second-grade cauldrons, plus the modification costs—all of it down the drain!

"Miss Lan, what are we to do now?" The Ancestor Xuanchen was trembling with rage, and he could only pin his hopes on Miss Lan.

"The pressing matter is to buy another set of their newly released first- and second-grade automatic medicinal cauldron and study it," Miss Lan said mildly. "In my view, it's nothing more than a functional upgrade, and they've simply found substitute materials for the second-grade cauldron. I believe we can counterfeit it."

"That's good to hear!" The Ancestor Xuanchen breathed a sigh of relief. This was the entire fortune of the Five Luminaries Sect, and now it was all staked on the medicinal cauldrons. If they couldn't be sold, wouldn't he weep himself to death?

"You needn't be too anxious. That's just how these things are—technology is the real power. We hold the high tech, so why should we fear them?" Miss Lan said indifferently.

"All right, then I'll arrange for someone to make the purchase!" The Ancestor Xuanchen breathed a sigh of relief. (Yesterday a reader raised an issue about Chen Xi via WeChat; Yuren has already made the correction. Thank you, enthusiastic reader. If there are any more bugs, please also send suggestions to Yuren through his public WeChat account yuren22!) RS

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