Getting Money

Three joys arrive today, worthy of celebration.

After a while.

Qingyang Town has arrived.

Yang Heng entered a small tavern, ordered a pot of fine wine and several signature dishes, and sat on a wooden stool to wait.

It wasn't that Yang Heng didn't have money to spend at a restaurant, but this small tavern suited his current identity as an ordinary apprentice at the Hundred Herbs Pharmacy.

Restaurants were crowded and full of prying eyes. Most of the people coming and going were of extraordinary status, and the restaurants in Qingyang Town were all located in the central district, not far from the pharmacy.

The masters at the pharmacy often came to the restaurant to eat, and occasionally Shopkeeper Chen would also go.

If he ran into them face-to-face, he couldn't explain how an ordinary apprentice like him had the money to eat at a restaurant.

Now that Yang Heng had achieved success in martial arts, as for why he didn't start his own business and become independent, but instead remained a small apprentice at the pharmacy, constantly enduring the scolding and insults of his masters.

There were many reasons for this.

First, the pharmacy had martial artists to suppress it. Within the territory of Qingyang Town, having the identity of a pharmacy apprentice could save him a lot of trouble when he was out and about.

Second, the Hundred Herbs Pharmacy in Qingyang Town was merely a branch. The main store was located in Qinghe City and belonged to the Medicine King Gang, a large gang in the city. Its background was deep, and ordinary martial artists would not dare to provoke it.

Yang Heng understood that to survive in this world, one needed connections.

Especially in these chaotic times, where martial artists ran rampant, having a powerful force behind you to shelter you from the wind and rain would greatly reduce the risks.

He no longer had to worry about being suddenly strangled by a martial artist who appeared out of nowhere.

With this identity, they would often be hesitant and dare not act recklessly.

This was also why Yang Heng, despite his success in martial arts, still remained at the pharmacy.

Once his cultivation progressed further, he would head to Qinghe City. After all, the Qingyang Town region was remote and lacked martial arts resources, making it unsuitable for martial artists to cultivate.

Due to the scarcity of resources, it was difficult to cultivate martial artists in Qingyang Town. As soon as they became martial artists, they would head to areas where martial artists gathered.

Martial arts cultivation depended first on talent and second on resources.

Resources included cultivation techniques, pills, masters, connections, and so on.

Most of these things were not available in Qingyang Town.

Yang Heng's current plan was to accumulate Qi and Blood, improve his cultivation, and find a way to transfer to the Medicine King Gang.

The Hundred Herbs Pharmacy was also a subordinate force of the Medicine King Gang. Based on the contributions made to the gang, a certain number of spots were allocated each year. Whoever received a spot could join the Medicine King Gang and become a disciple.

These spots were controlled by Shopkeeper Chen and another martial artist. Whoever received a spot was entirely up to their discretion.

It was not easy to obtain a spot, and Yang Heng had yet to find any leads.

He learned this information from the idle chatter of the pharmacy apprentices. There had been instances of pharmacy members transferring to the Medicine King Gang in the past.

While he was lost in thought, the dishes were quickly served.

Looking at the delicious food and fine wine before him, Yang Heng began to feast.

He held a pig's trotter in one hand and reached for the glistening chicken leg in the other.

He gnawed on the pig's trotter with his left and bit into the chicken leg with his right, his mouth full of oil, enjoying himself immensely.

After a while, the plates on the table were spotless, not a single leaf of vegetable left.

"Burp."

Yang Heng let out a loud burp and thought, this is the life a person should live.

From now on, he would eat according to this standard.

But as soon as he thought of his wallet, Yang Heng's face immediately showed a look of bitterness.

Last time, he had obtained fifteen taels of silver from Li Kui and the other two. To fill the Marrow Cleansing Pearl, he had spent eight taels on pork strips, and this meal had cost one tael.

Now he only had six taels of silver left.

This meant he could only eat six more meals of this standard.

Thinking of this, Yang Heng made up his mind: he had to make money, he absolutely had to make money.

As for the source of the money, he also had an idea.

When great heroes of the past and present had no money for drinks, the first thing they thought of was wealthy merchants, and they would go to their homes to 'beg for alms'.

Most wealthy people were corrupt and unjust. Taking a little of their wealth to spend was not excessive.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many stories of robbing the rich to help the poor throughout history.

If the great heroes could do it, why couldn't he?

Yang Heng thought to himself.

Of course, Yang Heng wouldn't pick the hardest targets first.

The wealthy merchants in town had money and hired skilled guards to protect their homes. Some wealthy merchants even hired Blood Brave Disciples to guard them and ensure their safety.

As for the landlords in the countryside, they did not have such martial force deployments. Most of them relied on mutual assistance among brothers or on the tenants working under them for protection.

Yang Heng decided to start his path to making money with the rural landlords.

Money is extremely important for martial artists.

Money is needed to buy weapons, money is needed to buy tonics that speed up cultivation, money is needed everywhere.

It can be said that a martial artist's strong physique is built with money.

Even a single hair they shed could be worth several copper coins.

In this world, you can't get anywhere without money.

Take the meal Yang Heng just had, for example. It wasn't cheap, but it was worth every penny.

This one meal provided as much energy as Yang Heng's usual ten jin of pork strips.

The pork strips don't taste as good as this meal, and eating too many makes you nauseous.

After resting for a while, the food in his stomach had been fully digested, and his Blood Essence had grown slightly stronger.

However, the Marrow Cleansing Pearl had only accumulated 0.5% of its energy.

The nutrition contained in this meal would have provided 5% energy to the Marrow Cleansing Pearl in the past.

Yang Heng speculated that either the Marrow Cleansing Pearl had grown larger, or the difficulty of accumulating energy had increased.

The requirements for accumulating energy had become stricter, and ordinary meals might no longer be able to provide energy to the Marrow Cleansing Pearl.

Higher quality food was needed, and meat was the bare minimum.

Ideally, precious herbs, or even pills, would be best.

It's not that Yang Heng had foresight.

He had kept the two old ginseng roots he got from Li Kui, which were of good age, without using them.

Yang Heng's idea was that cultivating martial arts consumed a lot of physical energy, and these two old ginseng roots could be used to replenish that energy, accelerate martial arts cultivation, and improve his cultivation faster.

By chance, they came in handy today.

Yang Heng smiled, feeling as if there was destiny guiding him.

But these two old ginseng roots were just a drop in the bucket. To fill the Marrow Cleansing Pearl, more potent herbs and tonics were needed.

Of course, filling the Marrow Cleansing Pearl was a long-term endeavor that couldn't be completed in a short time.

The most important thing right now was to make money!

With sufficient funds, he could maintain the basic nutrition required for his daily martial arts training.

This would prevent him from depleting his body, which would lead to endless troubles.

Yang Heng wasn't one to procrastinate.

Once he made a decision, he would execute it immediately, acting decisively.

Yang Heng got up, placed one tael of silver on the table, and strode out of the tavern.

He had delivered medicine to most of the villages within fifty miles of Qingyang Town during his usual rounds.

He knew exactly who the oppressive, corrupt landlords were.

Recalling them in his mind, Yang Heng immediately thought of one person—Wang Gui.

This man was the landlord of Green Willow Village. He engaged in bullying and extortion, preyed on the villagers, and often harassed the village women. Sometimes, he would even commit violence in front of their husbands. His crimes were numerous and unforgivable.

A cold glint flashed in Yang Heng's eyes as he decided to start with him.