Chapter 45

Looking at the chubby little boy in front of him, Yang Junshan squatted down with great pleasure and patted his head, saying, "Thirteenth Brother, do you still remember who I am?"

The little boy tilted his head and looked at Yang Junshan for a while, seemingly with some memory, but ultimately shook his head and said in a babyish voice, "I don't know!"

Yang Junshan chuckled, picked up the little boy, and said, "Xiaohaozi, I'm your Fourth Brother Yang Junshan. Do you remember now?"

The little boy mumbled, "Fourth Brother," clearly still a bit unfamiliar with Yang Junshan. Yang Junshan didn't mind, after all, the boy was only five years old, and the last time he saw him, he was just two and a half, barely able to speak clearly. It had been nearly three years, and if he could recognize him, he would truly be a prodigy.

Well, his thirteenth brother would indeed become a prodigy in the future.

Yang Junhao was the thirteenth in the third generation of the Yang family. The women of the fourth branch of the Yang family, except for Fourth Aunt Yang Tianfang, never married out. They took in husbands and their children were all surnamed Yang, ranked by age like Yang Junshan and others. Yang Junhao was the only child of Seventh Aunt Yang Tianyan and her husband An Xia.

According to the ranking of the direct line of the Yang family's fourth branch, Yang Junshan was the fourth, Yang Junping was the ninth, and Yang Junxin, who was only one year older than Yang Junhao, was the twelfth sister.

When they arrived home, Han Xiumei was still not back. Seventh Aunt Yang Tianyan was busy in the kitchen preparing the meal. Seeing Yang Junshan return with his son on his back, Yang Tianyan smiled and said, "Xiaoshan is back. You've grown to look more and more like your father over the past two or three years!"

"Seventh Aunt!"

Putting down the little boy who had already become familiar with him on the way, Yang Junshan rolled up his sleeves and was about to help.

Yang Tianyan hurriedly shooed him away, saying, "Go, go, go, you're not needed here. Go to the main hall and see your Seventh Uncle. I heard you're about to successfully summon a spirit. Your uncle has brought you a good gift this time!"

Hearing about the gift, Yang Junshan's face lit up, and he greeted Seventh Aunt before running to the main hall. The little boy, Yang Junhao, was already playing with his Twelfth Sister and Hu Niu.

When he entered the main hall, Yang Junshan heard his father laughing, "I heard you haven't been traveling these days and have been staying in Qingstone Town. I thought you had changed, but it turns out you were in seclusion, quietly advancing your cultivation to the peak of the first level of the Martial Realm. How about it, did I interrupt your breakthrough this time?"

A hearty laugh came from inside the room, "Third Brother, what are you talking about? The second level of the Martial Realm isn't that easy to break through. You have experience with that. Besides, how could I not come when Third Brother invites me?"

Walking into the main hall, Yang Tian Gang was sitting at the head of the table, and a man who looked a bit younger than him was sitting on the right side. Compared to Yang Tian Gang's rugged appearance, this man looked more like a scholar, with a lively and spirited demeanor. He was Yang Junshan's Seventh Uncle, An Xia.

Sitting opposite him were two sturdy men in coarse clothing, with honest faces. They were Yang Tieniu and Yang Qingniu, who had followed Yang Tian Gang from Qingstone Town.

"Father, Seventh Uncle, Uncle Tieniu, Uncle Qingniu!"

As soon as he entered, Yang Junshan greeted the four of them. He then felt a gaze on him and turned to see Seventh Uncle An Xia smiling at him, saying, "Xiaoshan, you've made quite a bit of progress in these few years. Seventh Uncle has brought you a good gift this time. I wonder if you'll like it!"

Yang Junshan immediately smiled, "I'm sure I'll like Seventh Uncle's gift!"

An Xia laughed heartily and took out a palm-sized purple leather bag from his chest. Yang Junshan could see clearly that this bag, like the brocade bag tied to Yang Tian Gang's pipe, was a storage bag used to hold items.

Shaking the storage bag in his palm, a palm-sized object fell into An Xia's hand. This object looked unremarkable from the outside, and if it weren't for the faint spiritual energy emanating from it, Yang Junshan would have thought it was just a piece of clay and stone that had been broken and glued back together.

Seeing Yang Junshan's puzzled expression, An Xia smiled, "What do you think, can you recognize this?"

Yang Junshan hesitated, "It looks like a middle-grade spirit material, Tianhuang stone, but it doesn't seem quite right."

This time it was An Xia's turn to be surprised, "Xiaoshan, have you seen this before?"

"I haven't seen the real thing, but I've read about Tianhuang stone in the *Fengwu Zhi*. However, this piece of Tianhuang stone doesn't seem quite like the one described, so I'm not sure."

Seeing Yang Junshan shake his head, An Xia praised him, "Not bad, really not bad. This is indeed a middle-grade spirit material, Tianhuang stone, which I obtained from an old engraver by chance. The old engraver was skilled in engraving various spirit patterns and characters and was very famous locally. Even the children of powerful families would go to him to engrave spirit patterns when making magical artifacts."

An Xia had traveled extensively and had more experience and knowledge than Yang Tian Gang. When he talked about his travels, the others listened with great interest.

"Some refined cultivators often make seals and other magical artifacts, which are usually first carved from middle-grade spirit materials like Tianhuang stone and then refined by a magical artifact craftsman."

"Every time the old engraver carved these patterns, he would collect the powder and particles that fell from the Tianhuang stone. Over time, he gathered a large piece. Although this piece is no longer considered a middle-grade Tianhuang stone, it can still be called Tianhuang mud, which is top-notch among lower-grade spirit materials."

Seeing his son listening intently, Yang Tian Gang laughed and scolded, "Hurry up and thank your Seventh Uncle! This large piece of Tianhuang mud must have cost him a lot!"

...

Although the Tianhuang mud was a gift for Yang Junshan, it was still a valuable item, and he would need his father's help to refine it into a magical artifact. Therefore, Yang Tian Gang kept it for the time being.

After the meal, Yang Tian Gang and the others clearly had important matters to discuss, while the thirteenth brother, Yang Junhao, continued to play around Hu Niu. With his second brother and little sister keeping him company, Yang Junshan had the time to spare. The only one who had to make a sacrifice was Hu Niu, who was constantly teased by the little siblings.

Carrying a carved bow and a quiver of iron arrows, Yang Junshan was about to leave the village for the Western Mountain when he ran into Su Baozhang, who had just returned from checking the spirit fields.

"Did you hear about Zhang Yueming's father coming to our village?" Su Baozhang immediately mentioned Zhang Chenghong when he saw Yang Junshan, leaving Yang Junshan puzzled. He nodded and waited for more.

"I didn't expect that guy to have some skills. In the past few days, he has cured several people's old ailments with the pills he made, earning the gratitude of many villagers. Some even say that Zhang the blacksmith has a lot of influence, bringing a pill maker to the village. If it were anyone else, even the village chief couldn't invite him!"

Su Baozhang said angrily, "Listen to this, isn't he just criticizing us indirectly! But the guy does have some skills. A few days ago, I heard that Li Shen from the neighboring village had a mishap while cultivating and caught a fever, burning and delirious. Zhang Chenghong gave him a pill, and the fever went down, and he became clear-headed."

"But the illness caused by cultivation mishaps is the hardest to treat. After half a day, Li Shen's fever came back, so Zhang Chenghong gave him another pill to bring down the fever. This went on for four days, and Zhang Chenghong gave Li Shen five pills in total, finally curing his fever. What's that look on your face? Did I say something wrong?"

Su Baozhang was excited, but he saw Yang Junshan's face full of ridicule and sarcasm, which puzzled him, thinking Yang Junshan was mocking him.

Yang Junshan asked coldly, "How much does Zhang Chenghong's pills cost, Brother Baozhang?"

Su Baozhang was taken aback, "Not cheap. It's said that the five pills for Li Shen cost him three jade coins, which made Li Shen very upset. His family's autumn harvest from the spirit field this year is gone."

Yang Junshan snorted, "A box of ten spirit-inducing pills for cultivators at the Mortal Realm costs only five jade coins. How dare Zhang Chenghong charge three jade coins for a few crude pills?"

Su Baozhang was stunned, "But his pills are really effective!"

Yang Junshan's face was even more sarcastic, "It's just a fever. Even a clumsy pill maker could cure it with one pill. He used five! A pill to dispel evil costs no more than ten stone coins to make, and it usually sells for twenty stone coins at most. This guy is selling each one for sixty stone coins, which is outrageous!"

"But what can you do if the illness keeps coming back?"

"If the illness didn't come back, wouldn't he only earn the money for one pill?"

Yang Junshan left Su Baozhang speechless, "Controlling the illness to come back is simple. Just add some extra ingredients to the pills."

After a moment, Su Baozhang said incredulously, "Is this guy really that despicable?"

Yang Junshan sneered, "The man who can openly hang a 'charity' banner at his son's celebration, what kind of character do you expect him to have?"

"We can't let this guy continue to deceive people!"

Su Baozhang quickly walked towards the village, saying, "We must expose his despicable face. In recent days, he has been buying medicinal herbs and spirit grass from every household under the guise of pill making. Who knows how many tricks he's playing behind the scenes. We can't let the villagers be deceived anymore."

Yang Junshan grabbed him, saying, "Do you have any evidence? Don't forget, all of this is voluntary for the villagers. If you accuse him rashly, the villagers won't support you."