Chapter 4989 — Sealing the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion

"Ha ha, Vice Island Lord Wu is indeed a man of keen perception. To be frank with you all, though today you are nominally doing the Myriad Medicines Sect a favor, in truth you are doing me a favor as well." Zheng Dongjue and Zheng Dongsheng exchanged a smile.

"What do you mean by that?" Wu Miao and Nan Tian Jiguang were still utterly at a loss.

Catching the meaningful glance Zheng Dongjue shot him, Tong Yangxi hastened to explain, "There have long been outsiders speculating and sniping about who stands behind the Myriad Medicines Sect, and we have never responded directly. But Vice Island Lord Wu and Vice Chancellor Nan Tian are hardly outsiders, so there is no need to keep hiding it. The power behind the Myriad Medicines Sect is far in the sky and yet right before your eyes: it is the Zheng family!"

"Is such a thing possible?!" Wu Miao and Nan Tian Jiguang were startled at the same time. This was no small surprise. The Zheng family had a seventh-rank alchemist like Zheng Dongsheng and Zheng Dongjue, whose word in the Elixir Hall was law, and yet hidden behind them was a commercial force on the scale of the Myriad Medicines Sect. They already bore a trace of what it meant to be a top-tier clan!

"Absolutely true. This matter should not be spread abroad, so I hope the two of you will keep it confidential for us." Zheng Dongjue nodded.

"Naturally." Wu Miao and Nan Tian Jiguang nodded again and again, thinking to themselves that no wonder a mere Myriad Medicines Sect could summon a seventh-rank alchemist like Zheng Dongsheng and have him take such pains to help deal with the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion. It was their own family's enterprise all along!

But this only hardened their resolve to cultivate ties with Zheng Dongsheng and Zheng Dongjue. A family of such scale, even if not truly a top-tier clan, was still a formidable ally on one side, one that could prove of great use in days to come.

"The Myriad Medicines Sect is of the utmost importance to my Zheng family. The Heavenly Elixir Pavilion must be eliminated. I entrust this matter to you, Vice Island Lord Wu." Zheng Dongjue cupped his hands in salute.

"Leave it to me. Wait for good news." Wu Miao nodded with great readiness.

Wu Miao was a man of swift and decisive action. He immediately sent word to the Island Lord's Pavilion and requisitioned a squad of Central Island Guards, then swept off in grand array toward the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion.

The market street was thrown into an uproar once again. In a span of barely a single day, the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion had become the center of attention for the third time. The first two occasions were one thing, but this third time had actually stirred the Central Island Guards, and even the Standing Vice Island Lord Wu Miao had appeared in person. This affair had truly blown up.

Because Wei Zhao had earlier opened sales of seventh-rank elixirs, not only placing five seventh-rank Great Return Pills on the display stand but also announcing that orders would be accepted for any kind of seventh-rank elixir, the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion now brimmed with popularity. The little shop was packed three layers deep and then some, its business more booming than ever before.

With so many customers, they simply could not keep up. Not only did Xueli and Tianchan pitch in personally, even Wei Shenjin was so busy his feet hardly touched the ground. As for Wei Zhao, he had simply gone off to the Five Elements Merchant Guild to find Cai Zhongyang—first, to pay his respects to him and Hou Guanqi, and second, to borrow a few assistants to meet the emergency. Otherwise, with only Xueli and the others to rely on, they would have been worked to death.

As it turned out, it was precisely during this interval while Wei Zhao was off at the Five Elements Merchant Guild fetching reinforcements that Wu Miao led his men in a charge upon the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion.

The Central Island Guards were all at least Nascent Soul-stage experts. The customers crammed into the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion could not stand in their way at all. At a single command from Wu Miao, they poured in one after another, and the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion was instantly thrown into chaos.

"What are you doing?" Wei Shenjin turned pale with fright, and Tianchan and Xueli's expressions changed as well.

"The Guards are conducting an investigation. All uninvolved parties, get out!" the guard captain barked coldly. The customers packed inside the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion scrambled and tumbled out in a rush, and the shop emptied at once, leaving only the three of them surrounded in the center.

"An investigation? Investigating what?" Tianchan quickly regained her composure. Ignoring the guard captain, she frowned directly at Wu Miao, who stood at the doorway at his leisure, and said, "Our Heavenly Elixir Pavilion does honest business. What heinous crime have we committed to be treated like this?"

"Honest business?" Wu Miao laughed at the words. He walked slowly to the display stand at the very center and picked up the five seventh-rank Great Return Pills that had just been set out. With a cold sneer he said, "Should I call you ignorant and fearless, or should I call you reckless beyond all bounds? To dare sell seventh-rank elixirs with such fanfare—truly an eye-opener."

"What do you mean? It is only selling seventh-rank elixirs. Is that against the law?" Tianchan, Xueli, and Wei Shenjin exchanged glances, somewhat baffled.

"Hmph. Selling seventh-rank elixirs alone is of course no crime. But selling elixirs smuggled from the Eastern Continent—that is a monstrous crime deserving of ten thousand deaths!" Here Wu Miao's voice turned suddenly harsh: "The Heavenly Elixir Pavilion has smuggled and trafficked in seventh-rank elixirs, and the evidence is conclusive. From today onward, the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion is sealed, all seventh-rank elixirs are confiscated, and the Eastern Continent shall be notified!"

As his words fell, the guards roared their assent and at once moved to drive Tianchan and the other two out of the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion.

Tianchan, Xueli, and Wei Shenjin were thrown into a panic. Unlike Wei Zhao, they had never been to the Eastern Continent, nor did they know the various rules as well as Wu Miao, the Standing Vice Island Lord. They had never even heard of such a thing as elixir smuggling, and for a moment they had no idea what to do.

The three were quickly pushed out of the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion. Watching helplessly as the guards produced the sealing strips, Tianchan and Xueli grew frantic and recklessly rushed forward to block their path.

"What? In broad daylight you dare defy the Guards—do you know what that means?" Wu Miao looked down at the two women from on high and said blandly, "Obstructing the Guards is tantamount to provoking the Island Lord's Pavilion. The Guards have the right to kill without quarter. A word of kind advice: you would do well not to ruin yourselves."

By now Tianchan was no longer so flustered. Calmly she retorted, "I would like to ask one question: how do you prove these are elixirs from the Eastern Continent? If you cannot, then your charge is fabricated. Even the Guards must show just cause for their actions—there are so many people watching."

At this Wu Miao could not help but regard Tianchan a little more highly. Most people, faced with such a display, would long since have fled as far as they could in terror. He had not expected this woman to have a measure of courage and to argue her case so stoutly.

There was a great crowd of onlookers present. If he could not offer a plausible reason, the streets would soon be full of all manner of conspiracy theories, which would inevitably damage the image of Vice Island Lord Wu. He still intended to contest for the position of Island Lord in days to come; he could not let such a trifle tarnish his public reputation.