Trouble, Part Two

The Mengjin Female Cultivator trembled slightly, sensing that something was wrong, and glanced toward the door.

Wei He stood in the doorway, watching her with a calm expression.

"Go on. Keep talking." He stared at the Mengjin Female Cultivator, a faint vicious glint in his eyes.

At his words, both the Mengjin Female Cultivator and Xu Chun shuddered all over. They hurriedly rose to their feet, lowered their heads, and left.

If Wei He had not been there, it would have been one thing. But with him present, they did not dare rashly come to the door and preach.

Originally, they had seen that the Wei family seemed to have a little money and was willing to sell pastries to everyone for almost no profit.

The two had discussed it, thinking that if they could pull Wei Ying into the cult, they might gain quite a few benefits.

Who would have thought that Wei He had only just left, yet returned so quickly?

The two hurriedly squeezed past Wei He through a tiny gap at his side, fleeing as though for their lives and quickly vanishing around the street corner.

Wei He fell silent for a moment, looking at the somewhat uneasy Wei Ying.

"Second Sister, don't interact with that Xu Chun anymore. She's not a good person. She belongs to those people who secretly preach at night."

"I-I understand..." Wei Ying pinched the corner of her clothes, looking somewhat lost, as though she had done something wrong.

"All right, I'm going back to practice. If anything happens when you're alone, just shout. Huishan Fist Academy is nearby, and so is home. We'll be able to hear you. Remember that, understand?" Wei He instructed.

"O-okay." Wei Ying hurriedly nodded, at a loss for what to do.

She had heard her younger brother mention the Incense Gathering Cult's wickedness and danger. Only now did she realize that she might have been in danger just now.

But upon thinking it over carefully, she still felt that Xu Chun did not seem like a bad person. Xu Chun had even given her a hand towel before. Would a bad person really be so generous? What kind of bad person gave things away for nothing?

"All right, I'm leaving first." The reason Wei He had returned was that when he wiped his hands earlier, he had caught the scent of Incense Gathering Cult incense on it.

These days, many people could barely afford even a thin gruel of coarse grain. Who had the leisure to buy incense sticks and burn them all day?

Other than people from the Incense Gathering Cult, no one would be idle enough to do something so pointless.

So he had kept his guard up. When he left earlier, he had not gone far before stopping to hide and observe in secret.

He had originally planned to watch for a while, then return to practice if nothing happened.

Yet he had barely left when he discovered the two seeking out his Second Sister.

What he feared was that his Second Sister had little experience in the world and was too easily deceived.

After driving the two away, Wei He stepped out of the shop and glanced back at his Second Sister.

She was still standing at the entrance, gazing at him from afar.

Wei He waved at her, signaling for her to go back inside and rest.

Only after seeing Wei Ying hesitate, turn around, and slowly begin kneading dough and adding yeast did he leave the shop.

He followed the street back and soon arrived before a black-lacquered gate.

He reached out and pushed. The gate was unexpectedly unlocked. He paused, then slipped through the opened gate in a flash.

Xu Chun and the Mengjin Female Cultivator were standing in the courtyard, speaking quietly. Beside them sat a ceramic incense burner, with the remains of an incense stick inside.

That was right. This was Xu Chun's courtyard, not his own.

After Xu Chun and the other woman fled in panic, they had returned to their own courtyard at once. They had not expected to hear the gate being pushed open so soon after getting back.

The two swiftly turned toward the entrance.

Splash.

To their surprise, all they saw was a cloud of white powder.

As quicklime scattered, Wei He took a great stride forward, lowered his head, and charged between the two women.

He pulled a hardwood stick from his clothes and began raining blind blows down on them.

More than ten breaths later, the two women howled without end, lying on the ground unable to move, their bodies covered in bruises and swelling.

Wei He scattered another handful of quicklime over their faces. Once he was certain they had not seen his appearance, he silently put away the stick, rushed into the inner room, took out two long strips of dried meat, and left, shutting the gate behind him.

The Incense Gathering Cult was powerful now. If he could avoid provoking them, he would.

But Xu Chun lived too close to him, and now she wanted to beguile his sister Wei Ying. He had no choice but to deal with her.

He would simply come beat her up every few days, rob a few things while he was at it, and pretend to be a Thief Gang member driven mad by hunger.

After doing it a few more times, she would have no choice but to move away.

With his head covered and his face coated in quicklime, she could not see who he was anyway.

Outside the gate, it was the hottest part of the day.

There was no one on the streets.

Wei He had chosen precisely this time, when no one was around, to act decisively.

He immediately turned and went straight to the gate of his own home next door, silently opening it and slipping inside.

Before long, from Xu Chun's neighboring courtyard, a group of people heard the commotion and quickly flooded in. Amid a jumble of shouted orders, they carried the two injured women away to see a physician.

In his own courtyard, Wei He stood bare-chested before a sandbag, throwing punch after punch.

Soon, there was knocking at his own gate as well.

His heart stirred, but his expression remained calm as he went to open it.

"Who is it?"

Outside stood several men and women holding clubs and kitchen knives. They had originally worn fierce expressions, ready to question whoever was inside about whether they had heard or seen what had happened next door.

But once the gate opened, they saw a sturdy, muscular man standing within. In sheer size alone, he was nearly the equal of two of their scrawny bodies.

The woman at the front unconsciously softened her attitude.

"Little brother, may I ask if you heard someone beating people next door just now? Did you see anyone run out from there?"

"No. Anything else?" Wei He looked impatient, as if he would start beating people if they wasted another moment of his time.

The people outside were frightened by him and did not dare speak for a moment.

Bang!

The door slammed shut.

Without another word, Wei He closed the gate.

Outside, the group jumped in fright, yet did not dare say anything harsh.

The leader had caught sight of the black-belt training outfit from Huishan Fist Academy hanging in the courtyard the instant the gate opened.

That was the key reason for the change in her attitude.

Those black-belt entry disciples from the academies were all formidable fighters. Any one of them could easily handle five or six people like them.

Moreover, those academy disciples often had ties to wealthy households and influential figures. They were frequently hired as head guards, temporary bodyguards, or escorts.

So they could not be offended lightly.

Before long, the group could only look at one another. Unable to vent their anger, they suppressed it in their hearts and went to knock on other doors.

Soon, the surrounding area was once again filled with the clamorous chaos of chickens flying and dogs leaping.

Wei He ignored them and settled down to continue practicing his fists.

After that round of beating.

More than ten days passed without Wei He seeing Xu Chun again.

He could rest far easier about Wei Ying's safety, and she continued opening her bun shop every day as usual.

The days flowed past like running water.

Gradually, prices in the Outer City seemed to stabilize. Some people began using mixed-grain flour ground from various coarse grains and beans as a basic medium of exchange, bartering it in large quantities.

Mixed-grain flour was traded for white rice, meat, and everything else, slowly forming a market.

Wei He discovered that no matter what happened outside, the meals at Huishan Fist Academy remained steady and unchanged. They still received however much rice and meat they were supposed to receive every day.

There was merely one additional rule: no taking food outside.

Old Zheng still wore his calculating, unhurried expression.

Every day, he lounged lazily in his recliner, gnawing on chicken feet. No one knew where he got so many chicken feet.

More than half of winter swiftly passed.

Wei He's qi and blood advanced another step, slowly moving toward completion.

Though it was slow, it was steady. After all, he had already accumulated enough Boundary-Breaking Pearls. Now, as long as he built his qi and blood to the peak, he could successfully break through Ox Hide and advance another step.

Hope lay right before him. Coupled with the minute progress he could feel each day, it gave Wei He the thrill of playing games in his previous life.

In the blink of an eye, winter passed. There was not the slightest hint of winter's chill in the weather; it remained scorching hot.

The strange weather had already lowered the Feiye River's waterline by more than half. The river water grew increasingly muddy.

Food on the market became scarcer and scarcer.

The grain and meat Wei He received from the Cheng Family each month also began to decrease. Clearly, Yonghe Escort Agency was having difficulties as well.

Cheng Shaojiu had spoken to him about the situation several times. The escort agency had previously accepted commissions at a high frequency, but most were human escorts—that was, jobs involving escorting living people out of the city.

Moreover, payment was mostly settled using other goods as collateral. Now that the frequency had suddenly dropped, nearly all those Outer City residents who could leave had already left.

Those remaining either did not want to leave or could not leave. Business had worsened as well.

But they would not be shorted what was owed to them. That was Cheng Shaojiu's guarantee.

Wei He also had his Second Sister begin rationing the daily supply of buns and steamed bread, while stockpiling grain and meat.

But it seemed every household was doing the same. The moment grain or meat appeared on the market, it was immediately snatched clean.

Later on, Wei Ying did not even dare open her bun shop. Once she opened, all her stock would be bought up within minutes.

Her wish of expanding the bun shop had come to an end.

Every day in Shiqiao Town, people collapsed in corners and sewers, motionless—and never moved again.

Even the stray dogs vanished one after another. Most had likely been beaten to death and eaten.

Splash.

With a sound of water, a large basin of yellow, muddy river water was poured into an even larger wooden tub.

A thin filtering cloth was stretched across the wooden tub. Two sturdy women stood on either side, lifting the cloth to let the muddy river water slowly drip through.

They were filtering water.

The weather was dry, and the Feiye River had become increasingly shallow and murky. Without filtering it, the water could not be used at all.

Then someone beside them scooped out the once-filtered water and poured it into prepared bamboo tubes stuffed with charcoal. The sections of bamboo were connected one after another, finally draining into another clean wooden tub.

The water they obtained was the cleanest water possible.

Wei He picked up a basin that had just been filled, poured in prepared medicinal powder, stirred it, then added somewhat cleaner hot water. It became a basin of hot water for Skin Grinding.

He carried the basin of medicinal water outside, returning to his own place.

His spot was no longer in the corner, but along the middle of the left-hand wall.

He was no longer beside Cheng Shaojiu either. Instead, he trained alongside a newcomer Cheng Shaojiu had brought in.

The newcomer was a sturdy youth with naturally somewhat scorched-yellow hair, named Ouyang Zhuang.

His family seemed to have some assets, and when he first arrived, he still had a somewhat pampered air about him.

But after enduring several merciless sparring beatings, he was no longer so unruly.

Before, whenever he saw Wei He, he did not even know to call him Senior Brother. Now, upon spotting him from afar, he would hurry over to help carry basins, fetch things, and so on.

Just like now.

Wei He had barely carried the wooden basin outside when Ouyang Zhuang came running over in quick strides and took it from him.

The two slowly walked together toward their practice spot.

"Senior Brother Wei, did you know that there are quite a few fewer people in the academy lately?" Ouyang Zhuang asked in a lowered voice.

"Fewer?" Wei He had recently been fully focused on accumulating qi and blood in preparation for breaking through. He had not noticed any other changes at all.

Now that Ouyang Zhuang, whom he had taken under his wing, mentioned it, he swept his gaze around and indeed discovered that there were noticeably fewer old and new students in the courtyard.