The shopkeeper clearly knew nothing about his master, Long En, so he sat down next to him and chatted with him about it.

"The missing person notice ostensibly states that this female physician is someone the Princess of Qin relies heavily on, and that the Prince of Qin is only concerned about the Princess's health, hence his willingness to go to great lengths to find her. However, who doesn't know that the Prince of Qin's power in court has already grown considerably? Furthermore, some insiders have revealed that the Prince of Qin was initially dissatisfied with this arranged marriage, and has deliberately neglected the Princess since the wedding. Why would he care so much about these trivial matters now?"

"If that's the case, then why bother searching?" Long En asked, puzzled.

The innkeeper sighed, refilled his employer's teacup, and said, "Currently, there are two most credible theories about the real reason why the King of Qin sought out this female physician. One is that the King of Qin was already acquainted with her..."

"Oh? The mighty War God Qin King is actually acquainted with a lowly female doctor?" Long En exclaimed in surprise.

The shopkeeper chuckled and said, "It's said that when that female physician was still a lowly apothecary in the palace, she was quite skilled. She even cured the Crown Prince's smallpox, which even the imperial physicians were unsure of. It's also said that she was often favored by the Prince of Qin, and some even vividly described their intimate relationship. So, the rumor goes that the Prince of Qin wanted to take that female physician as his concubine, hence... hehe."

"Hmph...'The world is full of wonders.' This is truly a case of even an iron tree blooming after a thousand years! Do you know who that female doctor is?" Long En asked in surprise.

The shopkeeper scratched his forehead and thought for a moment before replying, "It's said to be... oh, that she's the eldest daughter of Yi Shangkun, a high-ranking pharmacist in the palace, from the Yi family in the west of the city."

"Yi Shangkun... I don't seem to remember him? But it seems that the Yi family is bound to 'when one person attains enlightenment, even his chickens and dogs rise to heaven'!" Long En thought for a moment and joked.

The shopkeeper replied, "That's right. Not to mention you, boss, if it weren't for this recent incident, who would know that there's such a remarkable person hidden in the Western Qin Kingdom? But you don't know, boss, the second reason why the King of Qin is looking for this female physician is even more amazing!"

"Oh? How so? Tell me about it," Long En said with great interest.

The shopkeeper, now adopting the air of a storyteller, cleared his throat and began, "It's said that the eldest daughter of the Yi family in the west of the city is incredibly ugly. She used to stay within the family compound, never daring to even breathe loudly in her room. She was truly a cowardly, incompetent, and ugly good-for-nothing. Then, for some unknown reason, she suddenly fell into a coma and lost consciousness. As a result, the young master of Xiqin Academy hastily broke off her engagement. But a year later, on the night Yi Shangkun was preparing to abandon her body in the wilderness after failing to arrange a ghost marriage for her, lightning flashed and thunder roared in the sky, and a seven-colored phoenix phantom appeared, landing precisely in the young lady's attic in the backyard of the Yi family compound. And then, the young lady actually woke up."

"He was in a coma for a year and he woke up? Is that even possible?" Long En stopped the tea he was about to drink, his eyes widening in surprise.

The shopkeeper continued vividly, "Oh dear, this matter has been the talk of the town in the west of the city for a long time, it's the talk of the town. Because of this, almost everyone who knows about it considers that young lady a witch, but..."

"'Witch'...but what?" Long En asked, equally shocked.

"However, because the young lady became completely different from the previous good-for-nothing and cowardly after she woke up. She entered the palace to be punished in place of her father, cured the Crown Prince of smallpox, and helped Princess Yue fight against Emperor Jing, even being forced to kneel in the snow as punishment. Her courage and strength were beyond the reach of ordinary people. So some people said that the young lady might be... the legendary descendant of the vampires who had been missing from the Western Qin Kingdom for many years, and the guardian of the Western Qin Kingdom."

"A descendant of the vampires... a guardian of Western Qin... someone really said that?" Upon hearing this, Long En seemed to be nailed to the spot, staring at the shopkeeper's face in astonishment.

Just then, two men with very unusual appearances walked in one after the other.

The innkeeper, noticing this, quickly came to his senses, stood up, and greeted them with a smile, bowing and apologizing, "Esteemed guests, I'm truly sorry, but our shop is already closed for today. Please come back early tomorrow to continue your business!"

Upon hearing the voice, a chubby man with a sword at his waist turned around to look at the tall, expressionless figure behind him. He then pointed at the door and questioned the shopkeeper, "The door to this wine shop is wide open. How can you close it just like that?"

"This is because..." the shopkeeper said, turning his head to glance at the wide-open doorway, then swallowed the rest of his words.

As the saying goes, "harmony brings wealth," and being a businessman, he didn't want to constantly argue with customers over such trivial matters. So, he shook his head, walked to the counter, opened the ledger, picked up a pen, and with a forced smile, said in agreement, "Alright, alright, please show me your identification, which household you belong to, and I'll go get you some wine right away."

Upon hearing this, the chubby man's eyes widened in surprise. He turned around again and stared at the silent man behind him for a moment before turning back and asking, puzzled, "Hey, why are you asking so many questions, old man? You sell wine, I buy wine, we've settled the transaction, why do I need to show my identity?"

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper put down his brush, closed the ledger, and patiently explained, "Oh, it seems that this is the first time you two have come to our Zuixianfang to buy wine. According to the old rules of Zuixianfang, if you want to get wine from us, you must show your identity. Otherwise, even if you say that you are the Jade Emperor or the Heavenly King, I'm sorry I can't give you wine."

Upon hearing this, the chubby man suppressed his anger and blurted out, "Then why don't other places want it, but you, Zuixianfang, insist on doing it this way?"

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it. These are the rules of our Drunken Immortal Inn. Or, you two could please consider going to another place where they don't follow the rules!" The innkeeper said as he stepped down from the counter and gestured for them to leave without any politeness.

Upon seeing this, the man immediately became enraged and shouted, "What do you mean by this? Are you complaining that I don't have money for your drinks?"

As he spoke, the chubby man slammed a hundred-tael silver ingot heavily onto the counter beside him.

The shopkeeper merely glanced at the silver on the counter with an indifferent expression, still smiling, but with a very contemptuous tone as he joked, "Look at what this gentleman is saying. These days, everyone who can come to our Drunken Immortal Pavilion is either rolling in money or wielding great power. But even the richest among them can't compare to the man in the whole city who's offering a bounty to find a mere female physician in his household!"

The chubby man was about to angrily retort again when the man behind him suddenly sneered and finally spoke, his words extremely arrogant and shameless: "He's nothing more than a mere King of Qin, a mere child with not even all his teeth yet. What's so special about him?"

"Young man... This guest has quite the air of arrogance! He is none other than the invincible Spirit Void War God..." Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper scrutinized the speaker, noticing a certain air of nobility about him, yet for some reason, he refused to reveal his identity. Just as he was about to say something more, Long En, who had been sitting quietly in a corner, finally spoke up: "Shopkeeper, fetch a jar of the finest Daughter's Red wine from Zuixianfang for this guest."

Since the owner had spoken, the shopkeeper had no further objections, so he composed himself and went down to fetch wine as a gift.

After the two men received the wine, they still left their money on the counter, no matter how the shopkeeper tried to refuse. Long En didn't say another word and just sat there drinking tea.

The two were about to leave when the man suddenly stopped and walked towards Long En. He lifted the corner of his robe and sat down beside him, bowing and thanking him, "Thank you, sir. May I ask your honorable name?"

There's no need for mincing words between honest people. Long En had already seen that this man was no ordinary person, so he stopped beating around the bush, simply smiled and said calmly, "It's just a jar of wine... No need for you to worry about it, sir!"

As he spoke, Long En inadvertently glanced at the chubby man outside the door who was leading two fine horses, and asked curiously, "What? It's so late, sir, are you perhaps... still going to travel through the night?"

"Oh, well, I had no choice. I was in a hurry to get to Peach Blossom Village to take care of some important business. I was passing by when I ran out of wine, and I could smell the aroma of your winery from afar. It was the only place with your shop still lit up, so I came here out of curiosity. It turns out that the famous Drunken Fragrance Winery is hidden in such an inconspicuous corner of the market. It's really something!" The owner glanced at the horse outside the door, then carefully looked around the winery, and exclaimed with some unexpected admiration.

"Peach Blossom Village? What kind of place is that? I've never heard of it before," Long En asked with a smile as he poured a bowl of hot tea and pushed it in front of the man.

The man chuckled, “Oh, actually I just heard about it from someone. I heard that it’s the border between Western Qin and Southern An Kingdom, a forgotten paradise. By the way, I heard that the mountains there are home to a rare and precious single-leaf grass that’s extremely rare in the entire Lingkong Continent.”

“Single-leaf grass… So that place was called Peach Blossom Village… Was there a magnificent ten-mile peach forest there?” Long En suddenly asked in surprise, as if he had remembered something.

"Yes, yes, before I set off, I specifically asked someone familiar with the terrain there, and that's what he told me," the man recalled briefly.

"I understand now. The person who took Ruoxi in must be a villager from Peach Blossom Village." Long En suddenly realized and said with delight.

That day, he heard that there was a mountain in the southern border of Western Qin where a very precious single-leaf grass grew, so he went there alone to find it. However, he was accidentally bitten by a poisonous snake in the mountain. Fortunately, he was discovered and rescued in time, otherwise he would have surely lost his life.

That night, these two equally self-important men met and talked late into the night by candlelight, seemingly enjoying their conversation until very, very late…