This was new information to Lin Mu. He didn't think that a pill that could do something like this existed. But now that he knew this, he wondered how much it cost and what the side effects of such a pill could be.
He had already seen the unstable vital energy of the mercenaries, thus knew that it was one of the side effects, but wanted to know if there were more.
"What kind of pill do you think it is, senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked.
"I can't exactly tell. There are far too many pills that would fit the description, and different worlds may have different names for the same kind of pill. Unless you see it with your own eyes, it will be impossible for me to tell for sure." Xukong explained.
Lin Mu nodded upon hearing senior Xukong's words. It was reasonable that he couldn't know everything. He would just have to see it himself to know about it.
'Perhaps I can ask Hong Luo.' Lin Mu thought.
The four people then came to a halt in front of the tent. The two guards greeted Hong Luo before moving aside to let him enter the tent. Hong Luo lifted the curtain of the tent and entered inside while gesturing for the others to do the same.
One by one, everyone lifted the curtain and entered the tent. Upon entering the tent, Lin Mu could see that while it looked big from the outside, the insides of it were rather cramped. There were far too many items kept in the tent to allow a person to move freely inside it without bumping into something.
Lin Mu looked around and saw a multitude of items kept in the tent. He saw a bed that was kept on the other end of the tent, a little to the right side, and a set of table and chairs right next to it. Other than this, most of the tent was occupied by trunks, chests, and sacks, some of which were haphazardly strewn about.
Hong Luo turned around with an embarrassed expression on his face.
"Forgive me, brother Lin Mu. The tent is a bit… untidy. After all the elite mercenaries went on the mission and the disappearances happened, I had to move all the precious items in the camp to here." Hong Luo explained.
"It's fine, I understand." Lin Mu spoke while nodding.
Lin Mu had seen his fair share of messy places, thus he was not bothered by this much.
"Let me find the pills for you then." Hong Luo spoke.
He then turned around and went up to a chest that was placed upon another trunk. The chest had a small lock placed on it and looked sturdy as it was made out of some kind of metal, probably steel. Hong Luo then took out a small key from his pocket and inserted it into the lock on the chest and turned it around.
The lock on the chest opened with a snap, and Hong Luo lifted the lid of the chest. Inside the crate, three glass bottles were kept. One of them was opaque and could not be seen through, while the other two were transparent.
Hong Luo picked up the two transparent bottles and showed them to Lin Mu, who was standing behind him. He placed them on the table to let Lin Mu check them out. Lin Mu looked closer and saw that while the pills in both of the bottles seemed to be of a white color, the pills in one bottle were smaller than the other.
The bigger pills were three in number while the smaller ones were five in number.
Hong Luo pointed to the smaller pills and spoke,
"These are the lesser wound restoration pills and can be used to heal minor wounds such as cuts and flesh wounds."
Hong Luo then pointed to the bigger pills and spoke,
"These are the internal replenishment pills. They can be used to heal minor internal injuries such as hemorrhage and shocks."
Lin Mu then picked up the bottle with lesser wound restoration pills and opened its cap to smell them. There was no particular smell to the pills, and it seemed like they would only release their scent upon consuming them. He then picked up the bottle with the internal replenishment pills and opened its cap as well to smell them.
This time he could smell a scent that was floral in nature while also having some hints of pungency. He placed the cap back onto the bottles and pretended to store them in his pouch, while actually storing them into the ring.
Lin Mu now started to wonder about the origin of these pills. He knew that pills such as these could only be made by an alchemist, who were usually part of sects and were seldom independent or with other organizations. The reason for this was that in order to raise an alchemist, a great amount of resources were needed and if they wanted to progress their craft further, an even greater amount of precious materials and herbs would be needed.
It also took a long time for a cultivator to become an alchemist, as they needed to learn a lot of knowledge; knowledge which was often monopolized by the cultivation sects. Lin Mu wondered if these pills were from the Tri-cauldron peony sect as well.
"Where are these pills from?" Lin mu questioned.
"I do not know that brother. These pills are often given to us by the mercenary company for our use. They usually acquire these from the markets in Xiangwei city, thus these pills could be manufactured by any of the sects or other organizations." Hong Luo answered.
Lin Mu then looked at the last bottle of pills in the Chest and spoke,
"What kind of pills are those?"
Hong Lou's brows furrowed upon hearing Lin Mu's question, and a complex expression appeared on his face. He seemed to be deliberating on whether to tell Lin Mu or not. But in the end, he decided to go ahead and speak.
"They're a special kind of pills that can forcibly increase the strength of a person that is still in the Body tempering realm." Hong Luo spoke.
As soon as Lin Mu heard Hong Lou's words he knew he had hit the jackpot.
"What's their name?" Lin Mu asked further.
"They are called as vital spring pills." Hong Luo answered.
"Is that how the two guards outside reached the Tenth stage of the Body tempering realm?" Lin Mu probed.
"Ah, so brother Lin Mu noticed. It seems that your attainments in Spirit sense are higher than mine. Even I can't tell the difference between them and normal tenth stage Body tempering realm warriors. But of course, it was expected from a person of a standing such as yours, brother Lin Mu." Hong Luo replied.
Lin Mu noticed the probing tone of Hong Luo but did not mind it and just let it pass. He did not want to put too much focus on it and just let the other party make assumptions of themselves. So far it had only helped him from what he could learn from his experience of meeting the Hei Corps.
Seeing that Lin Mu did not speak further and did not react to his words in any way, Hong Luo confirmed his thoughts.
"Well then Brother Lin Mu, I guess we'll see each other in the night. And if you're in the town, you now know what to do." Hong Luo said.
"That I do, indeed." Lin Mu politely replied.
Lin Mu then turned around and left the tent. A few mercenaries saw Lin Mu exit the tent and seemed to be shocked by this. They then walked away while speaking to each other in hushed voices.
"Well, now that I have this, I'll have more advantages in a battle." Lin Mu spoke in his mind.
"That you do indeed, but still it's better if you never get any injuries in the first place," Xukong replied.
Lin Mu just nodded inwardly and reentered the town. His next destination was the southern side of the town. He wanted to see what was happening with the guards and also wanted to meet up with the members of the Night Vigil.
Lin Mu reached the southern part of the town after five minutes and walked towards the barracks of the town guards. Upon reaching there, he saw a huge crowd of people gathered around the barracks. Lin Mu went closer and saw that these people were all the residents of the eastern part of the town. They were all the people who had been affected by the strange phenomena last night.
Lin Mu saw that they seemed to have absolutely enraged expressions on their faces and were very close to exploding. They were gathered and were currently talking in whisperers, seemingly waiting for someone.
Lin Mu stood at the very back and waited with them. He did not want to disturb them right now and first wanted to see how the situation would progress. A minute later he saw the doors of the guard barracks open and out walked three people.
Lin Mu craned his neck to look and saw that it was actually the captain and vice caption of the town guards themselves.