One month later.
In front of the Ye Clan's medicine hall in the western market of Heaven Dou City, the entrance was already in chaos early in the morning. A long queue snaked from the shop door all the way to the end of the alley. Crowds surged and noisy voices filled the air, turning the originally quiet medicine hall into something resembling a vegetable market.
"Don't push, don't push! Everyone line up properly!"
The medicine hall's clerks shouted until their throats were hoarse. Behind them, other clerks handled money and handed out medicines in an orderly, efficient manner.
"Is there any Soul Recovery left? Give me ten tubes!"
"Honored soul master, our medicine hall limits purchases to two tubes per person!"
"Two tubes it is, quick, quick! Here's the money."
Before the words finished, a bag of gold soul coins slammed onto the counter with a thud. The clerk behind the counter was already used to it. After counting the coins, another clerk swiftly handed over two prepared tubes of Soul Recovery Potion.
At the end of the queue, a burly man with a rough face and blood energy swirling around him stood on tiptoe to look ahead, cursing, "Damn it, this is weird! I rushed here before dawn and I'm still so far back? By the time it's my turn, the good stuff will be gone."
"Hunting squad member?" A tall, thin man beside him chuckled. "Buying Soul Ignition?"
The burly man turned and glared. "How did you know?"
"With that blood energy all over you, you just finished hunting, didn't you?"
The thin man nodded toward the front. "Soul Ignition sells slower. At your position, you might still get two bottles."
The burly man's eyes lit up. "Really?"
The thin man laughed. "See? Nine out of ten here are buying Soul Recovery. They're all going to the Great Soul Arena to fight. Soul Ignition is mostly popular with you hunting squad folks."
"Exactly," the burly man spat. "This life-saving stuff—I wanted to stock up on a few more, but those bastards are buying like crazy."
"You've tried it? Doesn't look like it," the thin man narrowed his eyes. "I heard using Soul Ignition leaves you weak for at least three days."
"Yeah, we were unlucky," the burly man showed some lingering fear. "We were just hunting a hundred-year soul beast when a thousand-year one set its eyes on us.
"Luckily, one of our younger brothers had a bottle ready. He fought desperately for a few minutes, or our whole group would have died there."
The thin man's eyes widened. "A thousand-year soul beast? Soul Ignition is that powerful?"
"Who says it isn't? That little brother was only twenty-one. After one injection of Soul Ignition, he dared to fight a three-ring Soul Elder head-on for ten minutes!"
The burly man grew more excited as he spoke, gesturing with his hands. "He threw soul skills like they were free, one after another. The power left our eyes wide open.
"So this time I came to stock up on two more bottles."
Seemingly thinking of something, the burly man looked slightly dissatisfied. "It's just a bit expensive—one tube of Soul Ignition costs three hundred gold soul coins, fifteen times more than Soul Recovery."
"Life-saving stuff. Would you dare use it if it wasn't expensive?"
The burly man thought for a moment and nodded. "True."
Even if it cost a level of soul power and three days of weakness, if you lost your life, what use was soul power?
Similar scenes were not limited to Heaven Dou City. Almost every major city's Ye Clan medicine hall was playing out the same scene.
Although the Soul Ignition Potion and Soul Recovery Potion were officially on sale today, the Ye Clan had already sent people to sell them sporadically in the Great Soul Arenas, hunting towns, and even inside hunting squads beforehand. They strictly controlled the quantity, allowing the reputation of these potions to ferment to a certain degree before officially announcing the sales date.
Only then did today's scene occur. It was clear that the Ye Clan had mastered the art of hunger marketing.
Once the initial few days of frenzy passed, sales would inevitably decline somewhat, but it would be enough to spread across the entire low-end soul master potion market.
The Ye Clan's goal was clear: In the future, every soul master going to the Great Soul Arena should carry a tube of Soul Recovery Potion. Every hunting squad going out to hunt should have Soul Ignition Potion on hand. They wanted these two potions to become indispensable daily necessities for every bottom-tier soul master.
With the potions' explosive popularity, a new batch of medicinal herbs had been urgently delivered to the Butterfly House. Lin Yang recruited more caregivers specifically for cleaning and sorting herbs. Daily operations were handed over to Milan for coordination.
Milan was the oldest among the four little girls sent by Keynes. She had a steady personality and was honest. Catherine focused on studying medicine and wasn't very interested in management. Ye Lingling was the same. Lin Yang was even less involved—except for coming over daily to handle patients Catherine couldn't manage, he spent the rest of his time as a hands-off boss.
Milan perfectly filled this gap in the Butterfly House.
The other three girls also had their own roles: The youngest, Maisui, studied beside Catherine. Aileen and Xiao Kui served as nursing staff, handling logistics and patient care.
Although the Butterfly House was small, it now had the beginnings of scale.
During this month, Lin Yang's cultivation steadily broke through to level 35. Dugu Yan's Dragon Breathing Technique had reached the "constant" stage. Her next breakthrough wasn't far away. Yu Tianheng, perhaps stimulated by Lin Yang and Dugu Yan, had also broken through to level 30 a few days ago. He had gone with Qin Ming to the Sunset Forest to hunt for his third soul ring.
Now, in the entire reserve team, everyone except Ye Lingling had become Soul Elders.
That day, after class, a teaching teacher hurried over with a somewhat solemn expression.
"Lin Yang!" The teacher called out to him from afar.
"Teacher?"
Lin Yang stopped and turned around.
"Hurry, go to the Education Committee building immediately. The three Education Committee members have sent word—the Crown Prince wishes to see you."
Lin Yang's heart jumped slightly, but his face remained calm. He nodded. "I'll go now. Thank you, Teacher."
After the teaching teacher left, Dugu Yan frowned and asked in a low voice, "What does the Crown Prince want with you?"
Lin Yang pondered for a few seconds and slowly shook his head. "Nothing more than trying to win me over. No need to worry too much. After all, the three Education Committee members are still there."
Others might not know, but how could he not? The current Heaven Dou Crown Prince, Xue Qinghe, had long been secretly replaced by Qian Renxue, the young master of the Spirit Hall. Over the years, she had used the identity of the Crown Prince to maneuver in the imperial court, silently eliminating dissidents. The other princes had successively met with "accidents" or "illnesses."
Now, the only remaining legitimate bloodline of the Heaven Dou imperial family was the "playboy" Fourth Prince—Xue Beng. If the old emperor still had any suspicions, this Fourth Prince would probably have already "accidentally fallen into water." After all, princes had always been prone to dissolving in water!
Qian Renxue had painstakingly operated for many years, seeking nothing more than to seize the Heaven Dou Empire without shedding blood, helping that woman complete the Spirit Hall's grand unification.
Of course, Lin Yang had no interest in the various intrigues between the imperial family and the Spirit Hall, nor did he want to get involved. As long as it didn't affect his cultivation, they could play however they wanted.
He had long anticipated Xue Qinghe's summons. Not to mention that the three Education Committee members were all trusted aides of the Heaven Dou Emperor, even the potions currently circulating on the market—if someone investigated seriously—would eventually trace back to him.
So hiding was useless. What was coming would come.