Proud Goddess Falls in Love with Me
Chapter 177 - 177 174 Xu family of the Provincial City_1

177: Chapter 174 Xu family of the Provincial City_1 177: Chapter 174 Xu family of the Provincial City_1 The two bodyguards didn’t say a word before they pinned Zhou Siming to the ground, with no regard for the fact that he was an elderly man, and beat him up severely.

Zhou Siming felt like his body was falling apart and looked at the youth through the pain, saying, “This elixir pill was refined for Lu Chuan.

If you are from Cloud City, you should have heard of Lu Chuan’s reputation.

Even Long Tianya died by his hands, aren’t you afraid of retaliation for stealing his pill?”

Upon hearing this, the youth burst into laughter and said, “Lu Chuan?

I have indeed heard that name these past few days.

Isn’t he just the one who killed that local snake Long Tianya?

Such a trivial matter is also worth showing off?”

“But since you’ve said so, let me tell you, old man, listen well.

I am Xu Shaoming, the Eldest Young Master of the Xu family from Jiangbei Province!

That Long Tianya, in the eyes of my Xu family, is little different from a gatekeeper, so this Lu Chuan is even more insignificant to me.

Understand?”

Zhou Siming’s face changed.

He had long heard of the Xu family and knew it as a major power that could cover the sky with one hand in the entire Jiangbei Province.

Moreover, the Xu family’s main territory was in Jiangbei City, Jiangbei Provincial City.

Compared to Cloud City, Jiangbei City was like a tiny place; the two were not on the same level at all.

This indicated the terrifying extent of the Xu family’s influence.

He looked at the young man in front of him in disbelief, never expecting him to possess such a significant background, suddenly unsure of what to do.

Xu Shaoming looked at Zhou Siming with a sneer and asked, “Old man, why aren’t you talking anymore?

Are you scared by my identity?”

Zhou Siming’s face darkened as he replied, “Even if you are the Eldest Young Master Xu, you shouldn’t engage in such forceful plundering.

You are tarnishing the reputation of the Xu family!”

Xu Shaoming slapped Zhou Siming across the face and laughed, saying, “Old thing, whatever I take a liking to is mine; there’s no such thing as forceful plundering.

If you’re not convinced, let that Lu Chuan come to me.

I would indeed like to see how much ability a nobody like him has!”

After saying this, he swaggered out of the medical hall.

Zhou Siming struggled to his feet and sighed helplessly, feeling extremely regretful in his heart.

If he had known that this would happen, he wouldn’t have shown off so carelessly.

“What should I do now!”

After pondering over it, Zhou Siming decided he could not let Lu Chuan know about this incident.

Although Lu Chuan was now a person of influence in Cloud City, compared with the Xu family of the Provincial City, he was still far behind.

He knew Lu Chuan’s personality well; once Lu Chuan found out about this, he would surely seek revenge on Xu Shaoming, and all the little capital he had worked hard to accumulate would be lost, and he might even lose his life.

“It seems I can only bear this burden for now.”

At night, Su Ming, Mu Nanqing, and Suzumiya Ichikazu returned.

Seeing the bruise on Zhou Siming’s face, Su Ming asked with confusion, “Old Zhou, what happened to your face?”

Zhou Siming gave an embarrassed smile and said, “It’s…

it’s nothing, I just had a little fall.”

Suzumiya Ichikazu followed up, “Grandfather Zhou, you seem a bit unhappy.”

Zhou Siming replied, “Ah…

I encountered some troubles with alchemy today.

I’m a bit tired, and I’ll go rest in my room now.”

After speaking, he hurried back to his room.

Su Ming and the other two felt puzzled but didn’t think too much about it, assuming that Zhou Siming was just unhappy because he had encountered problems during alchemy.

Three days later.

Lu Chuan finished his closed-door cultivation and came out of his room.

“The base of the Azure Dragon Great Array Formation has been completed, but I think I overestimated the quality of the Profound Ice Stone.

Using it as the base to provide energy is fine, but using the Profound Ice Stone as the core of the array is somewhat lacking,” he said.

The Azure Dragon Great Array Formation was exactly the Composite Array Formation Lu Chuan intended to refine.

This array was a formidable Composite Array Formation within the Foundation Establishment Realm, often used by smaller sects as their Sect Protection Array.

This formation integrated four types of arrays: killing, illusion, enigmatic, and Spirit Gathering, making it a cost-effective choice among formations.

Once this formation was successfully refined, Hanging Gourd Medical Hall would become virtually impregnable.

Even a level 9 expert of the Transcendent Realm wouldn’t be able to break through the defenses of the Azure Dragon Great Array Formation.

However, Lu Chuan had tried several times to activate the array with the Profound Ice Stone as the core and had failed each time.

He now needed to find higher-quality gemstones as the core for the Azure Dragon Great Array Formation to successfully refine the Composite Array Formation.

“Supreme grade gemstones are not to be found at will.

I should ask the rich tycoon Qi if he has any reliable information.

If not, I might as well make a trip to the Provincial City, where I should easily find a supreme grade gemstone given its vast resources.”

“I’ll deal with this later.

First, let me check how Old Zhou is doing with the Black Dragon Pill.”

Lu Chuan went straight to the alchemy room to see Zhou Siming listlessly tampering with the medicinal herbs, looking completely devoid of energy.

“Old Zhou, how is the pill refining coming along?”

Seeing Lu Chuan approach, Zhou Siming shuddered and became panicky.

His eyes dodged evasively as he stuttered, “Lu…

Lu Chuan, your retreat ended so soon?”

Lu Chuan smiled and replied, “I encountered a small problem, so I had to stop for now.”

Zhou Siming looked conflicted and finally bowed deeply to Lu Chuan with a face full of shame, saying, “Lu Chuan, I have let you down.”

Lu Chuan looked puzzled and quickly helped Zhou Siming up, saying, “Old Zhou, what are you doing?”

Zhou Siming sighed and said, “That Black Dragon Pill…

I didn’t manage to refine even one.”

Lu Chuan comforted him saying, “I thought it was something serious, it’s just not having refined it, what’s the big deal about that?

We still have over a dozen hundred-year medicinal herbs, you can take your time to practice.”

Zhou Siming said awkwardly, “I’ve used up all those dozen hundred-year medicinal herbs…”

Lu Chuan’s eyes widened in shock, “All used up, and not a single one was refined?”

Zhou Siming nodded guiltily.

Lu Chuan’s face was filled with astonishment, and a trace of perplexity showed on his face.

“Your refining technique should be fine, I’ve seen it before.

With over a dozen hundred-year medicinal herbs, it shouldn’t have been a problem to refine three or four Black Dragon Pills.

How could none have been refined?”

Zhou Siming said with a lack of confidence, “Maybe I really don’t have any talent for alchemy, Lu Chuan, I’m really sorry, from now on…

I won’t refine pills anymore.”

Lu Chuan quickly comforted him, “Old Zhou, don’t talk like that.

It’s not your fault, I asked you to refine a pill that was too difficult, that’s on me.

And don’t blame yourself, it’s just over a dozen hundred-year medicinal herbs, if they’re gone, we will find more, it’s not a big deal.”

Although he said this, he was already bleeding inside.

Over a dozen hundred-year medicinal herbs gone just like that.

Zhou Siming felt so ashamed he almost couldn’t face himself, and came close to telling Lu Chuan the truth.

But to avoid causing Lu Chuan any trouble, he ultimately held back.

Just then, Mu Nanqing walked over and, seeing that Lu Chuan had left his retreat, smiled and said, “Xiaochuan, you’ve come out just in time, rich tycoon Qi is waiting for you outside, he says he has something to discuss with you.”

Lu Chuan nodded, “Okay, I got it.

I’ll go right away.”

He turned his head and glanced at Zhou Siming, patting the old doctor’s shoulder, saying, “Old Zhou, cheer up, it’s nothing.”

Then he walked toward the grand hall.

Qi Zhenyun was waiting in the grand hall.

Seeing Lu Chuan approach, he hurriedly greeted him with a smile, “Lu Chuan, it’s been such a long time!

Who would have thought that in just a few short months, even Long Tianya had died at your hands.

Now you really are a major figure in Cloud City.”

Lu Chuan said with a smile, “Rich tycoon Qi is too kind, what business does rich tycoon Qi have with me?”

Qi Zhenyun said, “Well, tonight there’s a banquet with many influential people attending, and recently everyone has been talking about you.

Quite a few are applauding you for killing Long Tianya, so they asked me to invite you over to meet everyone.”

“Moreover, tonight, the Eldest Young Master Xu from the Xu family of the Provincial City will also be there.

This is a rare opportunity to connect with the people of the Xu family.”

Lu Chuan raised his eyebrows, “The Xu family?

Is it the same Xu family that’s very famous throughout Jiangbei Province?”

Qi Zhenyun nodded, “That’s right, that’s why I thought of inviting you to go with me.

Building a relationship with the young master of the Xu family can’t be a bad thing.”

Lu Chuan showed a smile and said, “Since rich tycoon Qi has said so much, I’ll have to graciously accept the invitation.”

Zhou Siming, passing by and hearing their conversation, wore a grave expression as he approached Lu Chuan, saying, “Lu Chuan, maybe you shouldn’t go tonight, instead you could give me some more guidance on alchemy.”

Lu Chuan said with a smile, “Old Zhou, we can talk about alchemy tomorrow, I’m actually quite eager to meet this Eldest Young Master Xu.”

Zhou Siming looked anxious, wanting to dissuade Lu Chuan but couldn’t think of a good reason.

Qi Zhenyun laughed, “Old Zhou, why don’t you join us.”

“Alright, that’s settled, I’ll send someone to pick you up tonight.”

After saying this, he turned and left.

In the evening, Qi Zhenyun had his driver come to pick up Lu Chuan and Zhou Siming.

Zhou Siming was conflicted, advising Lu Chuan several times both openly and covertly not to attend the banquet, but Lu Chuan didn’t wish to offend Qi Zhenyun and insisted on going, even asking Zhou Siming to accompany him.

In the end, both of them got into Qi Zhenyun’s car.

On the way, Zhou Siming was full of trepidation, not knowing what might happen when Lu Chuan met Xu Shaoming, all he could do was pray silently.

Upon arriving at the venue of the banquet, Qi Zhenyun led Lu Chuan and Zhou Siming to the hall, where many people had already gathered, chatting in small groups.

As Lu Chuan arrived, they all swarmed over to greet him.

“Lu Chuan, you really are a young hero.

So young, yet you’ve taken down Long Tianya, truly a child favored by the heavens!”

“Yes, Long Tianya was quite a scourge in Cloud City; by getting rid of him, you’ve just done a public service!”

“There’s nothing more to say, you must join us for a few drinks later!”

…

Lu Chuan dealt with these people awkwardly, as it was obvious that he was not good at networking and felt somewhat out of place in this kind of social event.

As everyone was enjoying their conversation, Xu Shaoming entered the hall with his bodyguards.

He had an air of arrogance, looking down on everyone as if he was superior and everyone else was beneath him.

He surveyed the room and then called out with condescension, “Who’s Lu Chuan?

Come over here this instant!”