Variables (Part 1)

"What Blackwater Gang? A while back, the Blackwater Gang was swallowed up by a group called the Horned Snake Gang. Now..." Cheng Shaojiu shook his head, indicating there was nothing he could do.

"As for the other one, that thug named Chen Biao, I did hear something about him from my cousin."

Cheng Shaojiu's lineage was flourishing and well-informed. Among the several towns around Feiye City, they counted as a force to be reckoned with.

On top of that, Cheng Shaojiu himself loved being generous with money and making friends, so he had many connections.

Thus, he had channels among all walks of life. He could dig up a little information on almost anything.

"What is it?" Wei He asked in a low voice.

"Some thugs around Rat Alley have all joined that newly risen Horned Snake Gang. Now they expand their territory everywhere every day, fighting and killing. It's quite the spectacle.

"But why are you asking after some thug? What, does this guy have a grudge against you?" Cheng Shaojiu glanced at Wei He.

"It's nothing. Thank you. If you can keep a closer eye on Chen Biao for me, I'll help you finish last time's assignment."

Wei He began bargaining.

There was another reason he had grown close to Cheng Shaojiu: this fellow had always been tormented by his academic studies at home.

His father had hired a tutor to give him one-on-one lessons, and assignments were handed out every few days.

That gave Cheng Shaojiu quite the headache.

He was the sort who loved playing around, joining the excitement, and making friends. How could he possibly sit still and compose essays?

So after discovering that Wei He could ghostwrite his homework, he decisively made a request.

He asked Wei He to give it a try.

To his surprise, Wei He's ghostwritten assignments turned out remarkably well and earned repeated praise from the tutor.

Though the praise was only for the neat, forceful handwriting, it was still far better than Cheng Shaojiu's own work.

Thus, the two often took what they needed from each other and made up for each other's shortcomings.

"Wonderful! I was waiting for you to say that. No problem at all. Chen Biao, right? I'll watch him like a hawk for you!" Cheng Shaojiu thumped his chest and gave his word.

"Thank you, Third Senior Brother." Wei He nodded.

"Wei He, Master wants you inside." Suddenly, a small-framed boy ran out from the door of the inner room and called over.

"Got it." Wei He put down the stone and quickly entered the inner room.

Inside, Old Man Zheng was bare-chested while an elderly pharmacist behind him applied medicinal plaster to his back.

The room was thick with the pungent scent of Chinese medicine.

Seeing Wei He enter, Old Man Zheng did not even raise his head. He merely flicked his eyes toward him. "Go buy me five taels of sappanwood, five taels of Angelica dahurica, White Peony Root, and six qian of Scrophularia ningpoensis. Front the money first. I'll repay you when you return."

"Yes."

Because Wei He could read and understood arithmetic, Old Man Zheng had often assigned him such errands after discovering this.

Carrying the cloth bag for the medicine, Wei He went out through the small side door and headed down the street toward another town.

The town where Huishan Fist Zheng was located stood close to the Inner City and was already a rather prosperous district. The pharmacy, however, was in a town nearer the Outer City.

There were more than ten towns within Feiye City, each one like a self-sufficient village.

They had residents, trading streets, and all manner of distinct characteristics, each different from the next.

Every town surrounded the great central square, and each had a route connected to it.

The Inner City lay at the deepest point beyond the square.

The sky had only just brightened.

Wei He strode quickly through street after street.

The shops and stalls along the streets had not opened yet. Only a scattered few bun shops had their wooden doors half-open, with faint figures visible carrying things inside.

After crossing a stone bridge between two towns, Wei He soon arrived before a shabby-fronted medicinal shop.

Zhao's Pharmacy.

Those four words hung on the signboard above.

Just as he was about to knock, a rustling sound suddenly came from the street to his right.

"Rebirth into ultimate bliss, crossing the sea by scent."

"Rebirth into ultimate bliss, crossing the sea by scent."

Someone kept murmuring the words in a low voice, seemingly the leader.

Immediately afterward, the voices of a large crowd followed in recitation.

Wei He's heart tightened, and he hurriedly knocked on the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

The pharmacy fell silent for a moment. Soon, the wooden door opened halfway, and a middle-aged man in a black round cap yanked him inside.

"Get in, quickly! The Incense Gathering Cult is here again!"

The shop was dark, with only a little light filtering in through the gaps in the door and windows.

Wei He and the middle-aged man said nothing, simply standing by the door and waiting.

They waited until the scripture-like chanting outside gradually faded into the distance and vanished altogether.

Only then did they both breathe a slight sigh of relief.

"These Incense Gathering people have been showing up more and more often lately. Who knows when it'll ever end?" The middle-aged man let out a long breath.

"Shopkeeper Qian, do you know who those people just now..." Wei He had seen those strange, mystifying processions before. Though running into one so suddenly had frightened him, they had never seemed to cause any trouble.

"That was the Incense Gathering Cult, a sect that has only recently begun spreading through the city. Whenever they come across someone suitable, they demand incense offerings and silver tribute.

"At first, they drew in many poor people and built up momentum. Then they used half-robbery tactics to seize quite a bit of silver and hand it out to everyone. After that, they grew larger and larger. I don't know why the authorities won't do anything about them."

Shopkeeper Qian's tone was helpless.

"If they catch you head-on and you don't hand over some silver, these people will have someone block your doorway every day and refuse to leave. You can forget about doing business."

"..." Wei He had no answer.

He bought the medicinal ingredients he needed from the shopkeeper, calculated the silver, packed everything up, and left the shop once more.

On his way back, he spotted that Incense Gathering Cult procession again from afar.

At a glance, the tightly packed crowd numbered at least two hundred people. They formed a long line like an enormous snake.

At that moment, they were confronting several constables who had stepped forward, shouting at them.

Several leading cultists were repeatedly shoved back and forth, looking as though they were about to be seized and hauled away.

Within the rest of the Incense Gathering Cult's ranks, an unsettling air seemed to be stirring.

Wei He glanced over from afar but dared not look longer. He hurried back toward Huishan Fist Zheng's courtyard.

He had not gone far when he suddenly heard a shriek behind him.

"Murder!!"

Then came a burst of furious cursing, roars, and screams.

Wei He quickened his pace, breaking into a faster jog as he rushed back.

He had only practiced Huishan Fist for three months. He had barely grown familiar with its basic forms and had never even fought in real combat.

If he got swept into it, who knew what might happen?

He ran all the way back to the courtyard in one breath, delivered the medicinal ingredients into the inner room, and settled the silver. Only when Wei He came back out did he realize a thin layer of sweat covered his back.

He did not know whether he had been frightened or had simply worked it up from running.

Having lived one life already, he knew better than anyone how devastating such sects could become once they gained momentum in a world like this.

"What's wrong?" Third Senior Brother Cheng Shaojiu looked him over, puzzled at how buying medicine had made him so hot.

"Maybe I got overheated from running." Wei He lowered his voice. "Let's continue."

He returned to his spot and picked up the stone again to train with the others.

By evening.

After Wei He finished training, drank his medicinal broth, and put on his clothes, he prepared to collect assignments.

Going out every so often to collect homework for money was also part of his long-term business.

But today, he felt especially restless.

Again and again, the scene from before replayed in his mind—the long procession of the Incense Gathering Cult.

I have to grow stronger as quickly as possible. He unconsciously touched the mark of the Boundary-Breaking Pearl on his chest.

The pearl had accumulated energy for so long, yet only half of it had turned black. The other half remained its original color.

After leaving Scripture Hall, he happened to pass a medicinal shop on his way home.

Remembering how he had bought medicine for his master earlier, Wei He's heart stirred, and he turned into the shop.

The shop was filled with medicinal fumes, somewhat choking.

A middle-aged woman in her forties wore a long black-and-gray dress. She held down a pestle in her hand and ground forcefully.

Beside her, a shop assistant lazily wiped down the counter with a rag.

"Shopkeeper, do you have any ready-made formulas for daily nourishment?" Wei He asked.

"Ready-made nourishing formulas?" Hearing this, the middle-aged woman smoothed her hair and set down what she was holding.

"One can tell at a glance that you're an outsider. People get prescriptions written by doctors or prepared by pharmacists. Who comes straight to a shop like ours asking for them?"

Her voice was somewhat hoarse. It did not sound like a woman's voice at all, but more like that of an old man.

Wei He was briefly stunned by her voice, then quickly recovered.

"Lately, I've felt that the food I eat doesn't keep hunger away for long, so I thought I'd look around and see whether there was something I could eat once and stay full for a long time."

"Meat. Meat keeps hunger away best. I do have some fresh game here, but it's rather expensive. Take a look and see whether you want any."

The Middle-aged Female Shopkeeper turned around and had the assistant fetch a skinny black strip of meat shaped like a stick from the inner room.

Smack.

She slapped the strip of meat onto the table.

"White-Spotted Black Snake Meat. Ten taels a jin. No bargaining."

Ten taels...

Wei He's heart tightened. It was a little expensive. The money he had brought would not buy much of this meat.

"This is fresh snake meat. I also have Wild Boar Meat, Wild Beef, Yellow-Haired Monkey Meat, Money Worms, centipedes, scorpions..." The Middle-aged Female Shopkeeper rattled off a scattered list of all kinds of meat.

Some were dried, while others were fresh.

Wei He pondered for a moment.

He bought a small amount of each kind, altogether forming a large pile.

In one go, he spent every bit of money he had saved for so long.

When he came out, he carried a bundle the size of a human head, filled with all kinds of dried meat and chunks of meat.

With the various meats in hand, he returned to his home near Rat Alley.

He began figuring out how to cook them alone. Wei Ying, his Second Sister, lived long-term in the neighboring room near Huishan Fist.

Only Wei He came back to stay at the old family home, so it was quiet enough.

After some fussing about, Wei He made every kind into minced meat, then cooked them and placed them in separate bamboo tubes as bowls.

There were twelve kinds in all.

He began trying them little by little, using the Boundary-Breaking Pearl on his chest to judge which meat gave the best value for money.

This would increase the speed at which the Boundary-Breaking Pearl accumulated energy.

He ate two portions each day and recorded the results. Before long, Wei He found the type of meat that increased the Boundary-Breaking Pearl the fastest at the same quantity.

It was Money Worm Meat.

These chunks of meat were extremely filling and packed with immense energy. They were usually used for patients who required heavy nourishment to replenish yin.

The price was not overly high either. It was slightly more expensive than the snake meat from earlier, but for now, it was at least still worth the cost.

After testing Money Worm Meat, he returned to his daily routine of training and tempering his strength.

In the blink of an eye, half a year passed.

The Boundary-Breaking Pearl's energy had finally accumulated bit by bit, and it was only a tiny fraction away from turning entirely black.

Wei He had also grown from his original height of one meter seventy to nearly one meter eighty, and the lines of his body had become much firmer.

Streamlined muscles connected together in solid layers.

He had finally passed the Strength Tempering stage and begun formally sparring with techniques.

In other words, he had become one of the burly men in the courtyard who fought all day long.

Having reached this point, Old Man Zheng finally began teaching him a method for grinding and tempering the flesh. It was specially made for Huishan Fist, capable of grinding the skin of one's fists into a thick, tough, and resilient state.