Madam Jin Was Useful Too

Daoist Master Zi Qing ultimately stayed at Peace Inn as a waiter.

But he did not carry trays or sweep the floors.

He cooked in the rear courtyard, swallowing the flavor of smoke and fire.

After the many burly men tasted it, they discovered that Daoist Master Zi Qing's cooking was quite delicious.

Chu Qing left.

He departed the great desert and traveled day and night, hurrying back to Shi State City.

Because:

The final Golden Toad Method Daoist Master Zi Qing had given him was obscure and difficult to understand.

Even though Chu Qing had studied before, he could only make out part of it.

He felt that this half-volume of secret transmission had been written entirely in various codes.

Without understanding those codes, one could not know the mysteries within.

Therefore:

He decided to find Nangong and Madam Shi to study it together.

Traveling day and night, he quietly returned to Shi State City as dusk fell.

The Shi State City of today had regained its former prosperity.

Under the night curtain, lights blazed brilliantly. Poor laborers tugged their children along, buying candied hawthorns, roasted chestnuts, and the like to make them happy.

Young women, too, wandered through the bustling streets surrounded by scholars.

Chu Qing passed through the crowd alone.

The people here were utterly incompatible with him.

He seemed like an outsider.

Before long, he contacted Nangong and went to Shi Residence.

Then:

He took out Daoist Master Zi Qing's human-skin secret transmission.

Madam Shi looked at Chu Qing, then at the human skin, and asked in surprise, "You actually beat Daoist Master Zi Qing to death?"

Chu Qing nodded, then shook his head.

Nangong asked curiously, "Could it be that you beat him until he was half-dead?"

Chu Qing briefly recounted what had happened in