Lu Ping Shamefully Yielded...
[You opened the cloth bundle. Inside were three thumb-sized, dark red pills and a note.]
[Four crooked characters were written on the note.]
["Nourish yourself."]
[The signature was a peony drawn in a wobbly mess.]
[Low-Grade Body Tempering Pill.]
[The market price was about fifty taels apiece. Three pills made one hundred and fifty taels.]
In his first simulation, Lu Ping had earned only three or four taels of silver after working at a blacksmith's shop for a year.
Qian Cuihua had given him enough to work for fifty years.
More importantly, Body Tempering Pills were cultivation resources.
The essence of cultivation was resources.
And just the night before, he had pried open the door to the Black Tiger Gang's largest resource vault.
The price...
Forget it.
He didn't want to think about it.
The Lying-Flat Trait had already packaged and sealed away that part of his memory.
[That night, you took your first Low-Grade Body Tempering Pill.]
[The speed at which spiritual power circulated through your meridians was twice that of an ordinary cultivator.]
[After you finished cultivating, you were so exhausted that you rolled off the bed and lay on the ground for a full hour before you could get back up.]
[But the results were real. One night's cultivation was equivalent to half a month for an ordinary Body Tempering Realm cultivator.]
[You had originally planned to find a chance to escape, but somehow, you stayed by Qian Cuihua's side.]
[You shamefully yielded to a single Low-Grade Body Tempering Pill...]
[In the days that followed, you lived between the Gang Leader's suspicions and the Third-in-Command's doting.]
[The Gang Leader didn't ask you to drink with him again. But the number of hidden sentries around the woodshed where you lived rose from three to five.]
[Every three days, the Third-in-Command sent a maid to invite you to "drink tea."]
[You played both sides.]
[In front of the Gang Leader's spies, you acted like a low-ranking gang member who had been suddenly promoted, was trembling with fear, and only wanted to survive.]
[In front of the Third-in-Command, you acted like a... consummate Friend of Women.]
Lu Ping stared at the words "consummate Friend of Women" and smiled wryly.
In his previous life, his boss had made him accompany clients to eat, drink, and sing.
In this life, he had changed worlds and the form was different, but the essence could be summed up in one word—selling out.
The difference was that in his previous life, he had sold his liver; in this life, he was selling even more.
The text continued to scroll.
[You used the Third-in-Command's trust to begin learning the Black Tiger Gang's core information.]
[Qian Cuihua handled the accounts. She knew where every tael of silver in the gang went, where every shipment of ore ended up, and how the Gang Leader and Second-in-Command divided their profits.]
[And at certain moments, when her guard was at its lowest, she was willing to tell you everything.]
Lu Ping silently raised the Friend of Women Trait's practical rating by another notch.
Its efficiency at obtaining intelligence far exceeded that of any normal channel.
So why were all female spies as beautiful as flowers...
[You silently recorded everything in your mind.]
[The Second-in-Command had pocketed thirty percent of the profits from the ore. The Gang Leader knew, but turned a blind eye.]
[The Third-in-Command hated the Second-in-Command so much she ground her teeth.]
[Naturally, that wasn't because the Third-in-Command was some kind of champion of justice. It was simply because the Second-in-Command had left her out of the split.]
The greedy were greedy, the tolerant endured, and those who hated the greedy didn't hate their greed; they hated not getting their own share.
Across both lives, human nature seemed no different.
[Day 47. While sorting supplies in the rear courtyard warehouse, you discovered a batch of silver hidden in a hollow compartment.]
[Five hundred taels of silver, along with a chest.]
[The chest had a hidden lock.]
[This was ill-gotten money.]
In his first simulation, he hadn't had any chance to get near things like this.
Back then, he had been chopping vegetables in the kitchen. He hadn't even known which way the door to the rear courtyard warehouse opened.
The Third-in-Command had given him far more freedom of movement than a low-ranking gang member should have had.
[An option appeared.]
[A: Secretly report the location of the ill-gotten money to the Gang Leader.]
[B: Pretend you hadn't seen it, remember the location, and take it with you when you fled in the future.]
[C: Carry the silver away on the spot, then distribute it among the Black Tiger Gang members to win their hearts.]
Option A. Report it to the Gang Leader.
But a low-ranking gang member who had just been promoted suddenly knowing these secrets about the gang would immediately make the Gang Leader wary.
How did you find out? Who took you there? Whose side were you on?
When that happened, not only would he be finished, the Third-in-Command would suffer too.
If the Third-in-Command fell, he would lose his only backer in the Black Tiger Gang.
Option B. Remember the location, but leave it alone.
This money was his escape route, but he wasn't going to use it now.
As for option C...
Was there even an option C?
Lu Ping chose B.
[You restored the hidden lock in the hollow compartment, then turned and left.]
[The gang member at the warehouse entrance yawned and barely glanced at you.]
[Day 60. The Gang Leader suddenly summoned the gang's core members to a meeting.]
[There was only one topic: a nearby sect called the Blood Sha Sect had recently been expanding its territory and had already swallowed up three of the Black Tiger Gang's outlying strongholds.]
[The Gang Leader was furious, but also very afraid.]
[Although the Blood Sha Sect was also a secular sect, there were traces of a cultivation sect behind it.]
Lu Ping searched through his memories of the first simulation.
In his first simulation, the Black Tiger Gang had clashed with the surrounding sects, and the Gang Leader had sent men to serve as cannon fodder.
The manager had put his name forward.
He had played dead on the front lines and escaped, and the Black Tiger Gang had been wiped out.
The force behind the Blood Sha Sect was likely that nearby sect.
The countdown to their destruction had already begun.
The text kept scrolling.
[The Flattery Trait continued working, and the Third-in-Command constantly put in a good word for you. The Gang Leader's attitude toward you gradually shifted from "suspicious and wary" to "useful and controllable."]
[The Gang Leader began assigning you tasks that required some thought, such as collecting debts, taking inventory, and dealing with messengers from other gangs.]
[You weren't someone the Gang Leader trusted, yet he continued to make greater use of you.]
[You realized that the pressure from outside was mounting, and the Gang Leader needed everyone he could use.]
[The Third-in-Command invited you to "drink tea" more and more often.]
[She also complained about the Black Tiger Gang more and more in front of you.]
[You poured the tea as you listened.]
[Friend of Women, activated.]
[Flattery, activated.]
[You were an excellent listener and a soothing balm for the soul.]
[You occasionally chimed in, and every word hit the spot.]
[Then, the Third-in-Command couldn't help but pull you into her arms again...]
[You returned to your own woodshed and pondered.]
[The Third-in-Command was ruthless. She had killed without batting an eye when she was young, and she had more than forty enforcers under her.]
[Would someone like that pour out her troubles without holding anything back to someone she had only just taken in?]
[The Friend of Women's favorability bonus was real.]
[But aside from that favorability, was Qian Cuihua really sharing all this information just because she liked you?]
[Or did Qian Cuihua have some other plan?]
[You even went back over the night you first joined the gang. Had Qian Cuihua really just happened to pass by the main courtyard hall?]
[Or had she also heard that "someone strong had appeared at the mine"?]
[Day 130. The Third-in-Command sent you a fourth Low-Grade Body Tempering Pill.]
[Day 190. A fifth.]
[Day 240. You took your sixth Low-Grade Body Tempering Pill.]
[At noon, the spiritual power in your meridians surged, and your Dantian trembled.]