Gifts of the Dead

Five minutes later:

Chu Qing found Pharmacist Li.

More than a dozen not particularly famous pharmacists trembled when they saw Chu Qing covered in blood.

"Everyone, I saved you. How should you repay me?"

The pharmacists fell silent. After a moment, some offered gold and silver, while others offered medicinal ingredients.

Chu Qing smiled and remembered every offer.

In the end, he had the pharmacists loot the temple's gold and silver, leaving only Pharmacist Li behind.

After more than ten days apart, Pharmacist Li had grown much thinner, and his spirits were poor.

The instant he saw Chu Qing, he understood his identity.

"My lord, the secret medicine wasn't lost."

"I hid it at home."

Chu Qing fell silent. After a moment, he said, "Had I known, I could have torn down your house instead of risking my life to save you."

Pharmacist Li...

Half an hour later:

The pharmacists came out carrying packages large and small.

Chu Qing gathered them all up, then drove the pharmacists away.

Once they had gone a little farther, he retrieved the scabbard from the tree and then set the temple ablaze.

The raging fire lit the road ahead.

Pharmacist Li sighed. "Such a fine temple. What a pity to burn it down."

Chu Qing smiled. "There's a legend in my hometown—Rebirth Through Fire. If a dead person walks through fire once, they might come back to life."

Pharmacist Li...

"Come on, carry my assets. Let's go home."

Pharmacist Li looked at the packages weighing at least dozens of jin and fell silent once more.

The fire at Worry-Free Temple alarmed many people.

More than ten li from Worry-Free Temple, a group of burly men raced madly toward it.

When they arrived, the flames were still roaring.

The scattered corpses outside the temple sent chills down their spines.

One burly man panicked. "Boss, what do we do?"

"The goods were burned, and everyone is dead. Will the master beat us to death?"

The Chief Subordinate's expression was grave. "Bring me my white pigeon."

A lackey handed him a white pigeon.

The Chief Subordinate sneered. "I'll send a message by carrier pigeon and report to the master, asking him to dispatch reinforcements. Once they arrive, we'll follow the tracks and avenge our Rebel Army brothers!"

The lackeys all nodded.

At that moment, one lackey said, "Boss, we still haven't tracked down that killer from Black Harbor last time."

"Now we have to track another one... won't that be even more exhausting?"

The Chief Subordinate threw back his head and laughed. "Idiot!"

"As long as we catch one killer, we can torture him into confessing and make him shoulder everything."

The lackeys...

Flap!

The white pigeon soared into the sky, flying toward a place a thousand li away.

Stone Rock County:

Some wealthy households saw the fire at Worry-Free Temple and immediately rejoiced in its misfortune.

"Good riddance."

They knew that the monks there were all members of the Rebel Army.

But they had not dared to make a move and clean them out.

"Who knows which fierce figure did it?"

"Could it have been a student from the Martial Academy's Inner Court?"

When the pharmacists' families saw Worry-Free Temple ablaze, they were instantly shocked and furious.

"How did those blade-wielders set the temple on fire?"

"I was planning to wait for my husband to return, then go to the temple to burn incense and fulfill my vows!"

An hour later:

They saw their relatives, who had been missing for days, at the city gate and immediately clutched one another and wept.

Only after a while did they ask where the blade-wielders were.

Why had they not come to collect the remaining payment?

A pharmacist sighed. "At the time, I saw a masked youth use a greatsword taller than a man to cut down the blade-wielders and the great monk."

"In the end, he rescued us."

"That masked youth seemed to know Pharmacist Li."

Everyone was aghast.

Martial Academy:

Some instructors and students also frowned.

One Vice Principal, unaware of the situation, even smiled. "Did some student take the Worry-Free Temple mission?"

"Killing and arson, all in one go. Not bad methods."

Before long, an instructor reported, "Principal, no student accepted this trial."

"We suspect it may have been the work of a wealthy household."

The Vice Principal was silent for a long time before sighing. "These recent classes of students... they enjoy the Empire's benefits, yet refuse to share the Empire's burdens!"

"Do they think that because the Imperial Star is swaying and the Millennial Calamity is approaching, they can join the Rebel Army and overturn Heaven and earth?"

"I hope the new students arriving in a few days... will be different."

That instructor remained silent.

He Qi Dog, his eyes bloodshot, stared at the fire at Worry-Free Temple without speaking.

He had a feeling:

The one who set Worry-Free Temple ablaze was the killer who had murdered Young Master He Qi.

Originally, he should have gone over at once to investigate.

But he waited for more than an hour before twenty iron riders finally assembled.

The iron riders were exhausted.

When they heard they were going to Worry-Free Temple, they grumbled under their breath.

But they still obediently followed him there.

More than ten minutes later:

He Qi Dog examined the corpses outside the temple, his brow tightly furrowed.

"First, blade-wielders charged the Rebel Army's army formation and were killed instead."

"Then someone suddenly came in from behind the army formation and killed nine men in one breath. One of them was even a Squad Leader!"

"This person is not only an expert, but also highly skilled in army formations."

Finally, he looked toward the burning temple.

He remembered that there had been a Rebel Army captain in the temple who had forged more than a hundred Iron Sinews and over twenty Iron Bones.

That captain was equally skilled with palm and fist, no weaker than he was.

After a long while, he said quietly:

"The killer is around one meter seventy-eight tall, barefoot, with a heart of iron and human lives treated as grass. He uses a heavy blade and knows blade techniques."

"His traits resemble those of the killer who murdered Young Master He Qi."

By the end, He Qi Dog's heart felt heavy.

He had not expected the killer to know blade techniques.

"Could it be... that the missing secret inheritance is actually a secret blade art?"

This had become difficult.

Medicine Shop:

Chu Qing, masked, looked at the several boxes before him.

He opened the first one first. Inside were over a hundred portions of Toad Secret Medicine.

The moment his fingers touched the secret medicine, the heart he had held in suspense finally settled completely.

"For this little bit of secret medicine, how many enemies did I slaughter?"

"Tell me, was it easy for me?"

Pharmacist Li lowered his head and said nothing.

It wasn't easy for you. Cutting people down was tiring too.

Chu Qing tucked the box into his robes. Uninterested in the other boxes, he turned and asked Pharmacist Li, "What were you doing in the temple?"

Pharmacist Li sighed.

"Refining Hemostasis Powder and marching pills."

Chu Qing frowned.

Those two things were basic provisions for war.

What were the Rebel Army... planning to do?

Pharmacist Li asked weakly, "Is war about to break out?"

"Can Stone Rock County... hold on?"

Chu Qing said calmly, "War has nothing to do with you. If someone kidnaps you again next time, I'll still snatch you back."

Pharmacist Li...

"Go. Get some proper rest."

Pharmacist Li sighed, turned around, and went to the back courtyard.

Only then did Chu Qing open the other boxes.

The second box contained a pile of Silver Notes.

He counted them roughly. There were actually more than seventy thousand taels.

That much silver was enough to support a large-scale war.

The third box contained seven pearls—Stone Bamboo Pearls.

At that moment;

Even Chu Qing's hands trembled slightly.

"Back then, for one pearl, I slaughtered He Qi and more than three hundred enemies."

"If he'd told me earlier that Worry-Free Temple had pearls, why would I have needed to kill him?"

He blamed He Qi.

Unfortunately, all that remained of He Qi was a head.

The final box was the largest, and it contained a pile of jewelry.

Gem-inlaid necklaces, hairpins, rings, Jade Pendants, loose gemstones, and more.

Though valuable, they would be extremely troublesome to turn into cash.

The rest was broken silver, silk, jade artifacts, and the like.

Their total value was not even as high as a single pearl's.

He packed the Silver Notes, gold, silver, and jewelry into one large bundle. He left some for Pharmacist Li and planned to have Madam Jin keep the rest.

As for the pearls and secret medicine, he decided to use them immediately.

"Use the secret medicine first!"

There were a full one hundred and eight portions of secret medicine—enough to advance the Toad Skill.

The Toad Skill could not only forge several more Iron Sinews, but also link the Iron Sinews of other techniques and temporarily increase combat power.

As for the pearls... the Profession Slot showed that they were ordinary pearls. Using one could only add a single Golden Sinew.

"I need to find someone to specially refine them."

And the only person who seemed able to specially refine pearls for him was... Madam Jin?