As much as Kai didn't want to believe it, the earring in his hand was sufficient to confirm his suspicions.
It took Phoenix and the others a while to catch up to Kai because they couldn't keep up with his speed.
"Mr. Chance, could this be..."
Phoenix seemed to have a rough idea about what happened when she saw the soil that had been recently tampered with.
"I want this place dug up," Kai said without answering her question.
Phoenix ordered her men into action, and they soon uncovered bodies of young girls one after another.
They had wounds all over their bodies, making it a gruesome sight to behold.
"Urgh!"
Unable to stand the horrifying sight, Josephine threw up on the spot.
Everyone else had flames of burning anger in their eyes when they realized what was going on.
Lizbeth's eyes reddened as she muttered through clenched teeth, "Dmn... We should've done more than just kill Zachariah!" Even Tommy, the underground king infamous for killing people in cold blood, found himself disgusted and furious at what he saw. Kai simply kept quiet while the look in his eyes turned icy-cold. "Although Zachariah is a cruel and vicious man, I've never heard about him doing such a thing throughout these years. This might actually be someone else's doing, Mr. Chance," Phoenix whispered into his ear. She wasn't trying to justify Zachariah's actions of abducting those girls, but she didn't think the man would do such a cruel thing to them. One person came to mind when Kai heard what she said, and that person was none other than the sage-like old man, Venicus. "Fix the appearances of these girls and give them a proper burial," Kai said as he held a finger up to the air. A golden bright light shone from his finger, and with a wave, the beam of light shot into the air a second later before vanishing. The black cloud filled with hatred and resentment cleared up from the golden light before disappearing completely. Although Kai could've used that black cloud as an excellent resource for his cultivation, he chose not to do so and simply dispersed them in hopes that the girls would be able to rest in peace. Kai's expression remained gloomy even after he returned to the mansion. Josephine, on the other hand, kept throwing up while Lizbeth tried to comfort her. After spending a few hours searching the entire Jantz family residence, Kai found a stack of contracts and several large bags of herbs. "We found all of these in a single room, Mr. Chance. I've checked the footage from the surveillance cameras. Master Venicus was indeed the one staying in that room!" Phoenix said when she came in with a bunch of lingerie in hand. "That fcking perverted scumbag!" Tommy shouted furiously when he heard that.
Kai wasn't all that surprised as he had kind of seen it coming.
"D*mn you, Crescent Sect... I'll make you all pay for this!" he mumbled to himself while glaring coldly in the southwest direction.
"Mr. Chance, these are business contracts that the Jantz family has signed with the other business families..." Phoenix said while handing him a stack of documents.
Kai didn't even bother to look at them. "I'll leave these to you. All I want is the stuff in that bag."
Phoenix placed the documents down and opened one of the bags. "These are all extremely rare herbs aged over hundreds of years!"
Of course, Kai already knew that even if she didn't tell him. The spiritual energy in the bags was so strong that he detected it long ago.
What he didn't know was how the Jantz family managed to get their hands on such a huge amount of rare herbs.
I couldn't find this many rare herbs even in Yeringham, which is dubbed the 'City of Herbs,' let alone ones aged over hundreds of years! Since Yeringham is the largest source of herbs in all of Jazona, could it be that the Jantz family didn't get these from Yeringham?
"How on earth did the Jantz family get a hold of so many hundred-year-old rare herbs? This is way more than what one can find in Yeringham!" Kai voiced his question.
"The Jantz family purchased these herbs from Herb Palace, Mr. Chance. I found a contract that the Jantz family signed with Herb Palace earlier. They didn't purchase it from Yeringham. All hundred-year-old herbs entering Yeringham will first have to go through the Herb Palace. They will pick out the herbs of excellent quality before releasing the rest to be sold in the market," Phoenix explained.
"The Herb Palace?" Kai paused in confusion. He was still just an ordinary person up until two months ago, so there were plenty of things that he hadn't heard of.
"The Herb Palace is located at Tayhaven Town in Summerbank. Tayhaven Town is also dubbed a mini 'City of Herbs.' The Herb Palace specializes in producing pills with specific purposes. Most of the martial artists in Summerbank have purchased their pills. However, this is the first time I've heard of someone purchasing these herbs from the place. They value these herbs very much, so it isn't like them to sell them so easily," Phoenix continued.
Kai found himself getting really worked up after hearing all that. I had no idea such a place existed in Jazona! Now it makes sense why these herbs are of such top-notch quality! They've all been specially picked out!
Recalling the explosion pill that Zachariah took, Kai asked, "Zachariah took a green-colored pill in the arena. Was that also purchased from the Herb Palace?"
Phoenix shook her head. "No. The Herb Palace has extremely strict regulations. They will not produce and sell such pills. The only pills they sell are detoxification pills, bone-strengthening pills, and several other body-strengthening pills. If the Herb Palace is willing to sell pills like these that temporarily boost your strength, the entire martial arts circle would go crazy."
Kai nodded. Not only is the Herb Palace knowledgeable in producing pills, but they have also done their homework when it comes to business. They know that selling such pills would result in chaos in the martial arts world, which would only bring harm to themselves. It is precisely because of the Herb Palace's strict regulations that Zachariah went as far as hiring Master Venicus from Crescent Sect to produce the longevity pill.
"Looks like we'll have to pay the Herb Palace a visit!" he said excitedly.
Although it was extremely tempting to just take the Herb Palace for himself and use the herbs they had as resources, Kai couldn't bring himself to do such a thing.
Instead, he decided to negotiate with them and see if he could purchase their herbs just like how the Jantz family did.
"Mr. Chance, the owner of the Herb Palace is a very eccentric person. I doubt they would agree to meet up with strangers like you so easily. They are backed by a prominent family from Jadeborough, which is the reason why the herbs from all over the country go through them before being sent elsewhere. The Herb Palace wouldn't have been able to get their hands on this many rare herbs otherwise! The Jantz family is making purchases worth tens of billions, and the herbs we found here are only a part of them. If you need these herbs, we could try to continue ordering these herbs from the Herb Palace under the name of the Jantz family. However, it will be a little pricey..." Phoenix said awkwardly.
Tens of billions was an unimaginably huge figure for Phoenix, and she simply couldn't fork out that much money.
"Have someone resume the business with the Herb Palace under the name of the Jantz family. Don't worry about the cost. I'll figure something out..."
Kai wasn't about to give up on such valuable resources for his cultivation due to financial limitations.
As the amount of spiritual energy in nature was decreasing, it would not be enough to sustain Kai's cultivation due to how strong he was becoming. That was why he needed to seek alternative resources to obtain spiritual energy.
