“`
At that moment, Chen Mu felt that even the braised pork knuckle wasn’t…well, the knuckle was still very fragrant.
But his heartache was genuine.
All he had thought about was treating someone to a drink.
And they had thoroughly enjoyed it.
He, on the other hand, had completely forgotten about the return gift.
It had been so long since he gave gifts, he was getting rusty at it.
Chen Mu looked enviously at the Jie Jia money pouch.
“Take a few more glances, because soon, you won’t be able to see it,” Jie Jia said nonchalantly, sipping his fish soup.
Chen Mu felt a sudden tightness in his chest.
…
Four days later, in a large courtyard house in the East Market’s Blue Armor Lane.
Some thirty or forty gang members were sprawled on the ground, sound asleep.
In a room of the inner courtyard.
Zhang Ye was kneeling on the floor, leaning on the handle of his knife.
He shook his head vigorously, trying his best to open his heavy eyelids.
But he shook too hard, and with a thud, he fell to the ground, his nose bleeding profusely.
After struggling briefly, he quickly fell into a deep slumber.
Chen Mu emerged from a small alley behind the house and approached the front gate.
“Even if you move, I can still find you!”
With a bamboo hat on his head, dressed in gray, and half his face painted blue, he resembled a mighty Liang Mountain outlaw.
Standing at the entrance of the room, he glanced in, then carefully shut the door: “Better not go in, they might just be faking it.”
Moving swiftly to the courtyard, he grinned at the sight of the Bailang Gang members lying all over the ground.
If he was to play the role of a Liang Mountain outlaw, he might as well do something they would do.
So he began to search each of them.
Two quarters of an hour later, Chen Mu weighed the cloth bag in his hand with disappointment.
“I came too early.”
After thoroughly searching, he could only find a little more than twenty taels of silver.
It must be because Jie Jia was too ruthless, making these guys too scared to carry money on them lately.
He eyed the firmly shut doors, considering the people inside must be quite wealthy.
Then he shook his head again.
“Forget it, better play it safe,” he thought.
“After all, these are the gang leaders we’re talking about. Who knows what kind of ace they might have up their sleeve.”
“I’d better get going and sell my fish.”
With that in mind, Chen Mu carefully made his way to the back wall and quickly scaled it to leave Blue Armor Lane.
…
With his Second Rank Pharmaceutical Technique, the power of the Mesmerizing Divine Incense was formidable.
No matter how much the Bailang Gang struggled, a single gourd of it was guaranteed to knock them out.
Over the next few encounters, the gang leader Zhang Ye came up with various strategies.
He tried many antidotes.
Unfortunately for him, Chen Mu was not idle and kept improving the Mesmerizing Divine Incense with his Alchemical Technique.
The Bailang Gang had no choice but to be sound asleep.
Eventually, with no other options, the Bailang Gang had to split up and relocate their bases.
Chen Mu wasn’t looking to knock them all out.
Whenever he went out to sell fish, he would randomly pick a Bailang Gang stronghold and “invite” all the members inside for a drink.
The Bailang Gang was left so terrified by his actions that they had no energy left to bother him, the fishmonger.
It was a pity though that the reciprocal gifts were becoming less and less, to Chen Mu’s regret.
…
Besides going out to sell fish every few days and engaging in a battle of wits with the Bailang Gang.
Chen Mu spent the rest of his time quietly staying at home.
Diligently practicing the Red Falcon Shape Cultivation Technique every day.
After completing Bone Transformation, the breathing method of Shape Cultivation became more complex, requiring one hundred and twenty breaths for one cycle.
The steps and stances nearly doubled.
As a result, he needed to invest more time and effort to complete each full practice session.
The proficiency earned each day was less than during the Muscle Transformation Stage.
But the steady progress was what mattered, and Chen Mu wasn’t in a hurry. He still methodically pushed forward every day.
Improving the Iron Lotus Seeds tossing was becoming difficult as well.
Reaching the Third Rank, to throw a more powerful Iron Lotus Seeds, required not just skill but also greater physical condition.
He could feel every throw subtly transforming the muscles throughout his body.
In contrast, the proficiency for the Sleeve Sword Technique was much easier to increase.
This was because it was still at the Second Rank and had not reached a more advanced stage.
“`
Another reason might be that Sleeve Sword Technique is currently more of a set of swordsmanship skills.
While it can make slight adjustments to the body’s muscles, it’s primarily a technique for concealing and wielding a sword.
Chen Mu accordingly reduced his practice of throwing Iron Lotus Seeds and inclined more of his effort and time towards the Sleeve Sword Technique.
…
Engrossed in his training, Chen Mu almost lost all sense of time passing by.
In the blink of an eye, two months had passed.
In the months of August and September, Qingshan County was experiencing intense heat.
Inside the backyard of Tianyi Studio.
A green brick was placed on a stone table.
Chen Mu stood quietly beside it.
Swipe!
Hiss!
A soft sound rang out.
Suddenly, a hole appeared in the green brick.
Chen Mu reached out to touch it.
The edges of the hole were smooth and hot.
Just a moment ago, he had struck with his sword nine times.
Each time, he targeted the exact same spot on the green brick.
The rapid and intense stabs not only pierced through the green brick but also generated a significant amount of heat.
“How about joining Zhu Yi Pavilion?” Jie Jia beside the stone table couldn’t help but lift his eyelids, “I can help you with a referral.”
This Sleeve Sword Technique is perfect for assassination.
“Half of the referral bonus for me?” Chen Mu said coolly.
With a twist of his wrist, the dagger disappeared into his sleeve.
“Just eat the melon.” Jie Jia picked up a slice of chilled watermelon and began to eat it, utterly avoiding the subject of joining the Zhu Yi Pavilion.
This melon was recently bought by Chen Mu.
To enjoy a bite of something cold in this scorching heat, he especially labored for a few days on his Pharmaceutical Technique, which led him to find a natural mineral similar to saltpeter from his previous life.
He used it to make ice by absorbing heat upon contact with water.
“Can you tell me who paid to have me killed?” Chen Mu sat down and slurped a cool bite of watermelon.
“I can,” said Jie Jia indifferently.
“Aren’t assassins supposed to keep their employer’s identity a secret?” Chen Mu asked in surprise.
Jie Jia’s eyes moved, casting a glance at Chen Mu.
Chen Mu immediately nodded in understanding, “As long as the price is right, right?”
“Want to know?” Jie Jia put down the watermelon and stared at Chen Mu.
“Not interested,” Chen Mu replied immediately, enjoying another mouthful of the chilled watermelon.
Jie Jia: “…” If you didn’t want to know, then why mention it?
Chen Mu cheerfully continued to eat his melon.
After all, they were already dead, and knowing or not made no difference.
After finishing the watermelon and tidying up the table, Chen Mu took a short rest before continuing to practice the Sleeve Sword Technique under the shade of a shelter.
The Shape Cultivation Technique had made him resistant to extremes of cold and heat, so he could endure this fiery weather as well.
But moving swiftly under the sun not only raised his external temperature, his body also generated immense internal heat.
Becoming heated inside and out was truly torturous.
Practicing the Sleeve Sword Technique under the shade was much more comfortable.
He could wait until dusk, when the sun was setting, to resume his hardcore Shape Cultivation.
“Lately, there seem to be more incidents of ghosts causing trouble in the city,” said Chen Mu, as the dagger in his hand appeared and disappeared, “Do you know the reason?”
“There shouldn’t be,” Jie Jia paused while playing with his silver beads, a puzzled expression on his face, “With the Evil-Repelling Mirror, there shouldn’t be so many that slip through.”
But in reality, over these past few months, although the supernatural disturbances had not been continuous, they kept occurring.
Chen Mu involuntarily stopped his sword practice.
“Could it be that there’s something wrong with the Evil-Repelling Mirror?” Chen Mu expressed his concern.
“Likely,” Jie Jia contemplated and nodded, “More than ten years ago, I encountered a similar situation in Jiuyang County of Yanshan Prefecture. The city’s Evil-Repelling Mirror was stolen, and suddenly the number of ghost disturbances increased sharply.”
“How was it resolved?” Chen Mu eagerly asked.
“Simple, the higher authorities sent down another Evil-Repelling Mirror,” Jie Jia said lightly.
Chen Mu’s brows furrowed deeply.
Nowadays, Da Liang was in constant chaos from natural and man-made disasters, and everything was in complete disarray.
The fact that Qingshan County’s magistrate had been missing for over half a year hadn’t bothered anyone.
To say that Qingshan County belonged to Da Liang was an understatement— it was practically owned by the Li Family who held the position of county chief!
There was no real higher authority to speak of.
Glancing at the unperturbed Jie Jia, Chen Mu became more certain that the old man must have ways to deal with ghosts.
Looking at the silver beads in the other man’s hand, Chen Mu shook his head in resignation.
He couldn’t afford such a high-level bodyguard.