“Well, I can sense it when the time is not right,” Yang Guanfeng said. “Although there doesn’t appear to be much change, the measures taken to safe-keep the secrets here are much more stringent than last time. There are many more police informers leading us to the culprit’s hideouts.” After all, he had already worked in this field for more than 10 years. As to whether anyone was keeping an eye on them of if there were any hidden spies among them, he had plenty of experience in that area.

  “Yes, Miao Qingfeng was following behind us all day. He is obviously someone sent to keep an eye on us. What useful things do you think we can find out with him following behind us all day?” Lu Xiufeng laid on the bed and lit a cigarette as he spoke.

  “Ah, tell me about Secretary Guo?”


  “Why are you suddenly interested in him?” Yang Guanfeng asked.

  “Hey, he is such a young man, so anyone would be interested in him. Maybe one day he will be my immediate superior.”


  “Him?”


  “Hey, you don’t look down on him do you?”


  “How dare I do that!” Yang Guanfeng exclaimed.

  “Although his family’s power was an important element in helping him reach that position at such a young age, his ability is also essential for his advancement,” Lu Xiufeng said. “Perhaps I should say it is the most important factor, especially as his position is getting higher.”


  “As for Secretary Guo, I have been in touch with him a couple of times. He is indeed young and mature, but he is also quite scheming!” Yang Guanfeng used that word as an evaluation after giving it some thought.

  “Scheming?”


  “Yes, very.”


  Who were they? They were criminal police officers. They had encountered and handled all sorts of cases and met all sorts of criminals. They had developed extremely keen judgment skills. They could see at a glance what a person’s personality was like and whether the person would pose any potential threats or not. It was oftentimes not far from the truth.

  “Be honest with me, why are you suddenly asking this all?” Yang Guanfeng asked.

  “Nothing, I just asked out of pure curiosity,” Lu Xiufeng replied.

  “Forget it, I won’t ask if you don’t want to talk about it.”


  The two people talked softly for a while, mainly to communicate about the relevant matters of the case, before falling asleep one after the other.

  With a ring, a clear sound rang out in the middle of the night.

  “What is that sound?”


  The two men sat up from the bed almost at the same time. They felt around for the pistols at their waists.

  After a long time……

  The room was dark. There was no abnormal situation happening within it. It was also dark outside.

  “There is no one here.”


  “Wait a little.”


  Yang Guanfeng did not turn on the light. He felt around in the dark and groped the ground. He found a small iron ball, which was the size of glass beads. It was very inconspicuous.

  “The information has arrived.”


  With the help of the light from their cellphones, they found a note inside the little iron ball. There was only a sentence on it.

  [Miao Xihe wants to live forever and be forever young!]

  “What the f*ck!” Expletives burst out of Lu Xiufeng the moment he saw the note.

  While it looked like a simple sentence, the information in it was, in fact, significant.

  As long as one was human, the person would have thought about being forever young and immortal. No matter how old or young, in the country or abroad, most people just thought about it and dreamed about it. They would just imagine it for a while. Some people put their thoughts into action, such as emperors, the Qin emperor, Egyptian Pharaohs, etc., but those were in the ancient past. After entering the modern era, people no longer considered that matter. Of course, some secret institutions had always been engaged in research regarding the possibility of immortality, but they had rarely been made public.

  Now that they had suddenly received such a message in the remote village, what was the meaning of it?

  Miao Xihe wanted to be forever young and become an immortal. That could be understood. However, it was certainly not as simple as the words implied. He did not just have the thought to be immortal. He had put it into action. That created questions regarding the actions he had taken. What did he do, and how did he do it?

  The first emperor of Qin had sent people to look for an immortality elixir. It was a rumor that had been passed down since ancient times. Some emperors had invited Taoist scholars from other places to create elixirs and pills. Those who practiced Taoism and martial arts did it through cultivation and taking pills. So far, those were the only main methods that were known. There were two rumored ways to achieve immortality. One was self-cultivation, and the other was to use external things, such as pills. What method was Miao Xihe using? Combined with the information they knew, this Valley of Thousands of Medicine was inherited from the King of Medicine and had considerable knowledge in medicine. The inheritance of hundreds of years was not a simple thing. It was probably through the help of medicine. Therein lied the problem. Since it was a medication, it had to be tested. Few medications were successful after one try. They had to go through many tests, including animal testing and clinical trials. How did they test it?

  The two looked at each other. It was clear that they both thought of the same thing.

  “This Miao leader has great ambition!” Lu Xiufeng exclaimed.

  “What are power and wealth compared with immortality? Those are all nothing!”


  “We can’t trust all of this either,” Yang Guanfeng whispered.

  “Huh?”


  “We can’t rule out the possibility that those dissatisfied with him in this stockade want to frame him through this opportunity.”


  “Yes, however, there are many ways they can frame him,” Lu Xiufeng said. “It’s the first time I’ve heard of such a special way. Hey, I remember you said that there was a rumor about an old man over 200 years old in this stockade.”


  His eyes were very bright. He did not appear even a little bit drunk at all.

  “Yes, that was a rumor.”


  “The rumor may not be true, but it may not be false either,” Lu Xiufeng said. “Let’s make a bold assumption. This Valley of Thousands of Medicine, which has been passed on for hundreds of years, has been passed on by the King of Medicine. In the beginning, they studied drugs, considered how to cure diseases and save people, and gradually developed their knowledge until they could strengthen one’s body. They focused mainly on prevention. They suddenly discovered that by taking some medications, people could live longer lives, so they began to study that aspect. It has since been passed down from generation to generation. Hundreds of years later, there would be a little progress every year. Such accumulation is quite considerable and amazing. The old man who lived for more than 200 years may be the successful case of this research result, and the Miao leader wants to go further.”


  “After all, immortality is a great temptation to anyone!”


  “Well, that assumption makes sense, but it will be very difficult to prove it,” Yang Guanfeng said.

  They had come there to investigate the deaths that had occurred hundreds of miles away, not to investigate the matter of immortality. Even if that kind of thing existed, it would be the top secret of the Valley of Thousands of Medicine. Only a few people would know about it.

  “Well, let me think about it.”


  “Don’t be rash. These words can’t be spoken carelessly.”


  “Don’t worry, I know the severity of it,” Lu Xiufeng said.

  The sky brightened.

  The air in the Valley of Thousands of Medicine was particularly fresh, and it felt particularly smooth when breathing.

  “There is no pollution at all in such an environment,” Lu Xiufeng said. “The people work at sunrise and rest at sunset. The pace of life is slow, and there is no pressure for survival. The people here would definitely be healthy and long-lived.”


  When a person became sick, it simply meant that the person’s body was weak. All kinds of diseases popped up frequently nowadays, and some diseases had the trend of showing up among the youth. It was often because of pollution, the pace of life was too fast, and extreme stress.

  “Where are we going today?” Miao Qingfeng asked.

  “Well, it’s a nice day today. Is there anything that we need to pay attention to in the Soothing of Gods Lake?”


  “What do you mean, Captain Lu?” Miao Qingfeng was stunned after hearing his question.

  “Well, we can fish there, right?”


  “Fishing, of course, you can,” Miao Qingfeng said with a smile. “I’ll arrange for someone to prepare equipment for you right away.”


  “We’ll have to trouble you then.”


  “Fishing! Great thinking!”


  “I think there are a lot of places that we have already explored the past two days,” Lu Xiufeng said. “I thought about it all last night. I want to straighten out the current information first and move on to the next step. What do you think?”


  “Alright.” Yang Guanfeng agreed.

  The three men went to the lake. They looked at the beauty of the lake and basked in the sun as they fished.

  Aah! Lu Xiufeng yawned.

  “This is a special kind of pleasure!”


  “Ha-ha, Captain Lu, you can come often in the future if you like it,” Miao Qingfeng said.

  “That can’t do. It’s against the rules.” Lu Xiufeng took out his cigarette case.

  “Hmm, is it OK to smoke here?”


  “It’s fine.”


  “Can I ask, why is this called the Soothing of the Gods Lake?”


  “Well, according to the older generation, this lake can give peace to the dead in this stockade.”