Apothecary

"Good! Straightforward words!"

After hearing Wu Ming's words, Chen Gui was immediately delighted. He gave Wu Ming's shoulder a hard slap and said, "Come, come, come! I invited a few people. Let's have a proper drink today!"

Without waiting for Wu Ming to react, he pulled him out of the martial academy, called over several young martial artists he had met there, and together they went to the Flying Feather Restaurant, just two streets away from the Seven Martial Alliance, where they ordered a table full of fine dishes.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill,

Chen Gui led Wu Ming through eight or nine streets and alleys until they reached a somewhat secluded road. At the end of that street stood a shop with a signboard reading "Chen's Apothecary."

This shop did not look as large as Wu Ming had imagined, but he soon learned that the Chen Family's apothecary business was extensive. Jingye City covered an enormous area, so they had many such storefronts throughout the city. The one before them was merely one of them, and after Chen Gui came of age, the Chen Family had placed it under his management.

Rather than entering through the front door, Chen Gui led Wu Ming around the shop and into a courtyard behind it. The courtyard was fairly spacious, with several neat houses connected along the east, west, and north sides.

Inside the courtyard,

Two men in training jackets were drinking tea, while another, clearly much older, held a heavy ring-hilted saber and practiced his blade techniques in the yard.

The moment Chen Gui entered, the younger men clasped their fists in greeting and called, "Young Master." The older man set down his ring-hilted saber and said with a chuckle, "Why are you back so early today?"

"Uncle Yong."

Chen Gui smiled as he stepped forward to greet him, then began introducing Wu Ming.

Very soon,

Wu Ming learned that the two younger men in the courtyard were Sun Wang and Ma Liu, both First Blood Forging martial artists. The man who used the ring-hilted saber was named Hu Yong, a Second Blood Forging martial artist.

These three martial artists were responsible for guarding this apothecary and preventing theft, robbery, and the like.

Martial arts flourished in this world, so crimes committed through force were naturally commonplace. Even though the Cautious Punishment Division maintained order throughout the city, such threats could never be completely wiped out. Thus, any business had to spend heavily to hire guards.

For a business like the Chen Family's apothecaries, people had to patrol day and night. Things were somewhat better during the day, but once night fell and all manner of bandits emerged, without guards keeping watch, the entire shop would be stripped bare within an hour—not even a single hair left behind.

After learning of Wu Ming's circumstances from Chen Gui, Hu Yong regarded Wu Ming with more seriousness. Sun Wang and Ma Liu showed a trace of envy as well. Though Wu Ming's "middling-low" aptitude was something Hong Jiu, Steward Zhang, and the others looked down upon, in truth, most martial artists could not even reach that level. For them, achieving Second Blood Forging was already exceedingly difficult.

Very soon.

Chen Gui had business to attend to and left first, leaving Hu Yong to explain the arrangements to Wu Ming.

"...The city looks calm on the surface, but that only holds true in daylight. Once night falls, it is a time when demons and monsters crawl forth, and nimble thieves scurry everywhere. The Cautious Punishment Division's wanted notices are replaced batch after batch, yet their numbers have never diminished."

Hu Yong knew Wu Ming came from a village outside the city and had previously only trained at the Seven Martial Alliance, so he did not know much about the city. Hu Yong therefore took the initiative to explain. Theft happened almost every night. Even this apothecary, guarded around the clock in shifts by several Blood Forging martial artists, had attracted nimble thieves more than once.

In truth, attracting nimble thieves was still the better outcome. Generally speaking, they sought wealth rather than lives. Once discovered, they would usually flee at once. But some vicious bandits, infamous far and wide, did not merely steal—they even resorted to open robbery and murder!

"The city has the Cautious Punishment Division. Do these vicious bandits still dare run wild like this?"

After hearing that, Wu Ming could not help frowning as he asked.

Hu Yong gave a dry laugh. "Jingye City is so vast. How could the Cautious Punishment Division's small manpower possibly manage the entire city? At most, after something happens, they conduct a token investigation. So long as they do not catch them in the act, they generally cannot track them down afterward."

"Those with bounties and wanted notices are actually only the few whose faces were seen or whose identities were confirmed. As for the many others whose identities are unknown, there is simply no way to investigate them. After all, there are no fewer than tens of thousands of martial artists in this city."

After listening to Hu Yong's lengthy explanation, Wu Ming gained a deeper understanding of the city's situation.

Those nimble thieves and vicious bandits, on one hand, relied on their martial strength, able to leap over eaves and walk along walls, acting with utter abandon and fearing nothing. On the other hand, most of them risked their lives for resources and took crooked paths.

Because many martial artists lacked sufficient aptitude, they needed vast resources to break through their realms. The silver earned through honest work was simply not enough to purchase so many resources, so naturally, some would take the path of theft and robbery.

This was the fundamental reason why, despite Jingye City's strict order, incidents of theft and robbery remained impossible to stamp out.

"What weapon do you use?"

Hu Yong suddenly asked Wu Ming.

"A spear."

Wu Ming replied.

Hearing Wu Ming's answer, Hu Yong raised his brows and shook his head. "A spear is a little hard to use in a place like this. It would be much more formidable when patrolling estates outside the city and dealing with monsters."

Though Hu Yong used a saber, he knew weapons well. The more open the terrain, the more a spear's advantages could be brought into play. But in a place like an apothecary, where space was relatively cramped—especially if fighting broke out indoors—a spear simply could not be properly wielded.

In Hu Yong's view, Chen Gui's arrangement for Wu Ming to come to this apothecary was not particularly suitable. But he had also learned from Chen Gui that Wu Ming had once earned Hong Jiu's favor, receiving personal guidance from him. Wu Ming's aptitude was not bad either, and reaching Second Blood Forging was only a matter of time. Placing Wu Ming here to guard the apothecary was most likely merely a way to deepen their friendship.

"It is indeed difficult to wield one in confined spaces."

Wu Ming nodded slightly. As someone who trained with the spear himself, he naturally understood its strengths and weaknesses even better. But such problems were really limited to the First and Second Blood Forging stages. Once one reached Third Blood Forging, a martial artist possessed the tyrannical strength to alter the environment itself. With one sweep of a long spear, even solid bluestone courtyard walls would shatter in an instant, and the environment's impact would gradually lessen.

"Mm, but it is not really a problem. The ones we guard against are nimble thieves. Vicious bandits generally do not come calling. Fights rarely break out indoors, and outside, this courtyard and the alley beyond are barely spacious enough to use it."

Hu Yong shook his head with a smile and did not continue the topic. Instead, he began introducing the courtyard.

The courtyard lay behind the apothecary. Most of the more valuable medicinal ingredients, along with the silver collected each day, were stored in the main house on the north side. Hu Yong personally stood guard over that northern main house.

The houses on the east and west sides were left vacant. There were six rooms in total, with Sun Wang and Ma Liu each occupying one. Now that Wu Ming had arrived, he could freely choose one of the remaining four rooms as a place to rest and catch his breath in ordinary times.