The Lay Flat Life: My Wife's Cultivation Makes Me Stronger - Chapter 29

This guy… he’s willing to throw himself under the bus just to drag me down with him. How reckless. Han Feng thought as he watched Zhang Xiang continue with his fabricated story.

Zhang Xiang, standing tall and speaking loudly, said, “Elder, when I worked at Danxia Peak, I handled the collection of herbs, but never was I required to personally inspect their potency. Today, when I was assigned to Luoxia Peak, I went to collect herbs from Junior Brother Han. He insisted that I inspect the herbs myself.

But I’m merely a servant overseer. How would I know how to check the potency of herbs? I’ve never learned such things. It was my very first day on the job, and I was under pressure to collect the herbs. If I didn’t bring them back, I would’ve been punished by the elders. Han Feng wouldn’t give me the herbs without an inspection, so I went along with it, pretending to inspect the herbs and signing the document.

Later, I asked other servant disciples, and they told me that no such rule exists here on Luoxia Peak. Han Feng clearly tried to take advantage of my ignorance as a new overseer to shift the blame onto me. Elder, I’ve been wronged! Han Feng is trying to frame me!”

Elder Wang frowned, his face darkening as he replied, “Even if that’s the case, you still committed the sin of falsifying records by signing a document saying you inspected the herbs. That alone is a dereliction of duty!”

“Yes, yes. I accept my punishment,” Zhang Xiang quickly agreed.

Han Feng, however, maintained his composure and bowed respectfully. “Elder, I have always required that anyone collecting my herbs inspect their potency and sign off on it. Previously, Boss Ma was the one who handled this, before he disappeared and Zhang Xiang replaced him.

I believe that inspecting the herbs is an essential responsibility for those collecting them. After all, once the herbs leave my hands, I no longer have control over them. What if the collector switches out the good herbs for bad ones, or even poisons them? I can’t be held accountable for what happens after they’re out of my possession.

In this case, Zhang Xiang could have tampered with the herbs after taking them, or perhaps the alchemist was incompetent and made a mistake during the refining process. Either way, I am not to blame. I have evidence that Zhang Xiang confirmed the herbs were fine before signing the document.”

Zhang Xiang sneered, “Hmph! Whether or not you accept responsibility isn’t up to you. And as I said before, there’s no rule in our sect requiring the overseer to inspect the herbs. So the document I signed is invalid. I don’t recognize it.”

Elder Wang raised a hand to stop the bickering. “Enough. You’ve both had your say, and you’ve both presented your evidence. Now, I will personally inspect the pills to determine whether or not they are poisonous.”

With that, Elder Wang uncorked the bottle of Qi Condensation Pills and poured one into his palm. Without hesitation, he swallowed the pill.

What kind of caveman method is this for testing poison? Han Feng thought, watching the elder with exasperation.

After a few moments, Elder Wang nodded and said, “Indeed, the pill is poisoned.”

Upon hearing this, Ye Yuntang immediately jumped up, pointing a finger at Han Feng and shouting, “Han Feng, you bastard! You scum! What more needs to be said? It was your poisonous herbs that did this! You wanted to kill me! Five herbs made five pills—were you planning to kill five people?

Elder, I beg you to arrest this villain and subject him to severe punishment! He’s malicious, plotting to harm his fellow disciples. He should have his cultivation destroyed and be expelled from the sect!”

Elder Wang sat back in thought, contemplating how to proceed with the case.

At that moment, Jiang Surou stepped forward and spoke calmly, “Elder, I, too, am a mid-grade alchemist, and I am quite familiar with the process of refining Qi Condensation Pills.

There are three recognized recipes for this pill. One of these recipes calls for the use of Four-Leaf Orchid, in combination with four other ingredients: Golden Ice Flower, two taels of Qi-Seeking Root, five qian of Spirit Grass Ash, and one stalk of Fangzhen Orchid.

How, then, can you be so sure that the issue lies specifically with the Four-Leaf Orchid?

Furthermore, even if the problem did originate with the Four-Leaf Orchid, that herb has already passed through three sets of hands. First, it was in Han Feng’s care, then it was handed to Zhang Xiang, then it was stored at Danxia Peak’s herb repository, and finally, it was given to Alchemist Ye Longzhao before being used in the pill. Any one of these individuals could have tampered with the herb, so why automatically blame Han Feng?

If you really want to get to the bottom of this, you should be detaining everyone who handled the herb, including the alchemist. After all, this is within the safety of our sect, where the procedures are relatively few. If you bought herbs from a market stall and something went wrong, who would you even hold accountable?”

Jiang Surou’s voice was sharp as she continued, “I believe the responsibility lies with the person at the end of the chain—the alchemist himself.

An alchemist should take full responsibility for every pill they produce, ensuring its quality and safety. An alchemist should inspect every herb before using it in their refining process.

Think of it this way: if you eat something at a restaurant and fall ill, do you blame the farmer who grew the vegetables, or do you hold the chef and the restaurant responsible?

Once the herbs are sold to the alchemist, the responsibility for their use no longer lies with the cultivator who grew them. If there was something wrong with the herbs, the alchemist should have rejected them.

So, why is it that Ye Longzhao, the alchemist who made the pills, is not being held responsible? This is utterly laughable! If Han Feng is to be punished for supplying the herbs, then everyone involved in the supply chain—from start to finish—must also be held responsible. That includes the alchemist.

And if we’re going to be this meticulous, then we should all follow the chain of custody from the moment the herbs are picked to the moment they’re refined into pills. If that’s the case, then we’ll need to stand over every single person, watching them very carefully.

If someone takes a month to consume the pill, we’ll need to watch them for a month. If they take ten years, we’ll need to watch them for ten years. Is that how it should be?”

Elder Wang chuckled, shaking his head. “That would be ridiculous.”

Jiang Surou pressed on. “Exactly. The only way to prevent this kind of situation is to ensure that every person in the chain of custody takes responsibility for their part. The last person in the chain—in this case, the alchemist—should be the one held accountable for ensuring the final product is safe.

And what if the person who took the pill poisoned themselves afterward just to frame the alchemist?”

Elder Wang sighed, “Human nature can be unpredictable. There’s no surefire way to guard against that.”

“Precisely,” Jiang Surou agreed. “So if an alchemist’s pills are faulty, but instead of holding the alchemist responsible, we blame the cultivator who grew the herbs, it’s nothing short of absurd.

If the cultivator is to be blamed, then everyone in the chain of custody should be blamed even more because they failed to inspect the herbs before using them. If you claim that the collector didn’t know how to inspect them, then what about the alchemist? Does the alchemist not know how?”

Jiang Surou’s eloquence left the hall utterly speechless. The people present were wide-eyed, unable to respond to her impeccable logic.