Bargaining

The Disguise Technique was simply a precaution Chen Fei had prepared in advance. After all, he would soon be selling Revival Pills in the Dark market. Going there in his current appearance and build would make it far too easy for people to see through him.

Among the martial artists of Pingyin County, the Dark market was practically an open secret. There were bound to be people from the Zhang Family there. Chen Fei did not yet want to break with the Zhang Family, so concealing his identity was particularly important.

"Disguise Technique simplification in progress... Simplification successful... Disguise Technique → Washing Face!"

Excellent!

Seeing the result of the simplification, Chen Fei grinned. He tried washing his face with clean water, and sure enough, the Disguise Technique's experience increased by 1. At the same time, insights into the Disguise Technique surfaced in his mind.

Chen Fei did not delay. He rinsed his face with clean water more than ten times in succession, and the Disguise Technique's experience rose rapidly.

A moment later, Chen Fei stopped. Washing his face did not grant experience slowly, but he wanted something even faster. Based on his observations over the past few days, there were actually ways to take shortcuts with these simplified methods.

Chen Fei tried wetting a towel, then wiped his cheeks with it. The insights regarding the Disguise Technique in his mind immediately increased, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

Over the following days, Chen Fei took one Revival Pill each day, steadily pushing his cultivation toward the peak of the Skin Tempering Realm. At the same time, he continuously refined Blood Qi Pills, raising the Revival Pill's experience and gradually approaching the Perfection Realm.

It was foreseeable that Chen Fei would need money in more and more places from now on. Revival Pills would be his stable source of income in the future.

During the intervals between refining pills, Chen Fei never stopped training his movement technique. After incorporating the fifth movement technique, the new techniques began to offer him increasingly less help.

The most obvious change was that after the new movement technique was integrated, Crossing River Cloud's proficiency had already neared the Perfection level.

But such a situation was unavoidable. The function of basic movement techniques was inherently simple, and there were only a few routes that needed to be used when exerting force.

For Chen Fei to rely on these few basic techniques to train his movement technique to this extent was already no easy feat. However, he could also sense that a transformation in his movement technique was close at hand.

Perhaps after incorporating the ten newly purchased movement technique manuals, Chen Fei's speed would reach a new level.

He did not neglect pill refinement or his movement technique, and naturally, he would not forget the newly acquired Disguise Technique either.

Between pill refinement, during breaks in training, or while resting after tea and meals, Chen Fei always remembered to take out a towel and wipe his face from time to time.

In just a few days, the people at the Medical Hall noticed Chen Fei's rather peculiar habit.

They had previously heard that this assistant manager loved cooking, though they had never actually seen him cook. Now, however, they discovered that Chen Fei seemed to be somewhat of a clean freak.

There was clearly little sweat on his head or face, and he looked extremely clean, yet Chen Fei still wiped his cheeks every so often. It felt as though he would scrub his own face bald if this continued.

Chen Fei paid no attention to their stares. He simply liked being clean—nothing wrong with that. Moreover, as the experience values of his various techniques kept rising, all kinds of insights surged through his mind.

The feeling of achieving success in learning and being filled with knowledge left Chen Fei deeply intoxicated.

"Something big happened."

Early in the morning, Liu Jun came before Chen Fei with a mysterious air.

Chen Fei nodded, signaling Liu Jun to continue.

"Weren't several wealthy households in the county killed a few days ago? Last night, the constables and yamen runners from the County yamen went out to surround and capture someone."

Chen Fei's expression shifted slightly. No wonder he had heard such a commotion outside last night. So this was what had caused it. He could not help thinking of the portrait he had thrown into the County yamen.

"Did they catch him?"

"No. I heard that the bandit was somewhat slow to react at first, but once those constables got close, he injured every one of them in an instant, then ran away."

Liu Jun shook his head regretfully. Anyone would fear a vicious bandit who slaughtered entire families, and everyone hoped such a person could be captured.

Chen Fei nodded slightly. He understood that the County yamen had underestimated Jian Liang's strength, allowing him to escape. But from another angle, it also showed Jian Liang's formidable power, something no ordinary martial artist could compare to.

He just did not know whether this would make that group of vicious bandits restrain themselves, or drive them to retaliate even more frantically.

"I heard someone provided information to the yamen but did not take a single tael of reward money... Such a huge sum of money, what a pity!" Liu Jun muttered to himself as he walked away, his eyes full of longing for money.

Ten days quickly passed. The Revival Pill's experience finally reached the Perfection Realm. Not only did each batch produce more pills, but every pill was plump and smooth.

These were already superior-grade Revival Pills. In all of Qingzheng Medical Hall, there were only a handful of alchemists capable of refining Revival Pills to such a standard.

A single Revival Pill sold for ten taels of silver, while the cost of the medicinal ingredients was extremely low—negligible compared to its selling price.

Over those ten days, Chen Fei had also cultivated the Disguise Technique to the Perfection Realm. He could now alter his facial features at will and even make slight adjustments to his physique.

Thus, Chen Fei now met the conditions to sell Revival Pills in the Dark market. The only issue left to resolve was the source of his medicinal herbs.

The various Medical Halls and pharmacies could not possibly sell medicinal ingredients to Chen Fei in large quantities. After all, they had alchemists of their own and had no reason to handle their herbs that way. Therefore, Chen Fei needed to find another route.

At the same time, Chen Fei's cultivation would likely complete its breakthrough within the next few days. Then, he would become a martial artist of the Muscle Tempering Realm. Compared to the humble Skin Tempering Realm, the Muscle Tempering Realm would at least give Chen Fei some power for self-preservation.

Dark market.

"I need a batch of medicinal herbs. Can you provide them?"

Before the book stall, Chen Fei wore a veiled bamboo hat, and his face had already been altered. He had deliberately lengthened the corners of his eyes and made his body slightly taller. His entire appearance gave others the impression that he was cold and difficult to approach.

"With money, anything can be arranged."

Chi Defeng looked at Chen Fei and felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity. But with people constantly coming and going in the Dark market, it was normal for some faces to seem familiar.

"I want ten portions of these medicinal ingredients!"

Chen Fei handed over the prepared list. Chi Defeng took it and glanced over it a few times before saying, "They're not difficult to find. Double the market price, delivery in six days. How about it?"

Chen Fei wanted to roll his eyes. Without saying a word, he took the list back from Chi Defeng's hand and turned to leave.

He had come to Chi Defeng for medicinal herbs mainly because they were acquainted. It was not as though Chi Defeng was indispensable; he could still gather enough medicinal herbs elsewhere.

"Hey, don't leave! The price can be negotiated!"

Chi Defeng hurriedly tried to stop him. What was wrong with people these days? They would not even bargain over the price. Truly, the world had gone downhill—business had never been this difficult before.

"Half a tenth above market price. The difference will be enough to cover your trouble," Chen Fei said, turning back.

"Things are chaotic outside right now. Medicinal herbs aren't easy to find," Chi Defeng said, shaking his head.

"There are so many refugees. If you are willing to pay them, they will naturally help you find the medicinal herbs."

Recently, the refugees outside Pingyin County had not decreased. Instead, their numbers had grown ever larger. Several more county towns had been breached, and the surrounding region had become increasingly chaotic.

Rumor had it that troops had already been sent to suppress the unrest, though no one knew what the final outcome would be.