Theft

Chen Mu suddenly felt that even braised pork knuckle wasn't... Well, the knuckle was still delicious.

But it truly pained him.

He had only thought about treating them to a gourdful.

They had enjoyed their drink.

Yet he had forgotten about the return gift.

It had been so long since he last gave a gift that he had gotten rusty at it.

Chen Mu looked enviously at Jie Jia's money pouch.

"Take a few more looks. If you don't, you won't get to see it later." Jie Jia calmly took a sip of fish soup.

Chen Mu's chest immediately tightened.

Four days later, in a three-courtyard residence on Lanjia Alley in the East Market.

Thirty or forty gang members lay sprawled on the ground, sleeping soundly.

Inside a room in the inner courtyard.

Zhang Ye knelt on one knee, bracing himself with his saber hilt.

He shook his head fiercely, trying hard to force his eyelids open.

But he shook too hard and crashed face-first onto the floor. Blood streamed from his smashed nose.

He flopped around twice where he lay, then quickly fell back into a deep sleep.

Chen Mu emerged from the small alley behind the residence and arrived at the front gate.

"Even if you move, I can still find you!"

He wore a bamboo hat and gray clothes, with half his face painted blue. He looked like a Liangshan Hero.

He stood at the doorway and peeked inside before reaching out to shut the door. "Better not go in. What if they're pretending?"

He strode into the courtyard and smiled at the White Wave Gang members sprawled all over the ground.

Since he was playing a Liangshan Hero, he had to do what a Liangshan Hero ought to do.

Then he began searching them one by one.

Two quarters of an hour later, Chen Mu disappointedly weighed the cloth pouch in his hand.

"I came too early."

After searching through them all, he had found only a little over twenty taels of silver.

It had to be because Jie Jia had hit them too hard, making these people afraid to carry money on them lately.

He glanced at the tightly shut door. The people inside should be quite rich, right?

But he immediately shook his head.

"Forget it. Better to play it safe."

"After all, they're a Gang Leader and Hall Master. What if they have some trump card?"

"I should hurry up and sell my fish."

With that in mind, Chen Mu carefully circled around to the rear wall, climbed over it, and swiftly left Lanjia Alley.

With Second Tier Medicine Crafting, the Spirit-Disturbing Incense was extremely potent.

No matter how much the White Wave Gang struggled, a gourdful would definitely put them down.

Over the next few times, White Wave Gang Leader Zhang Ye came up with quite a few methods.

He tried many antidotal treasures.

Unfortunately, Chen Mu had not been idle either. He kept using Medicine Crafting to improve the Spirit-Disturbing Incense.

The White Wave Gang could only sleep soundly.

Eventually, left with no other choice, the White Wave Gang had to split up their bases.

Chen Mu did not intend to knock them all out at once, either.

Whenever he went out to sell fish, he would randomly pick a White Wave Gang hideout and treat every gang member there to a gourdful.

The White Wave Gang was so harassed by him that everyone was on edge, leaving them with no energy to trouble him, the Fisherman.

It was just that the return gifts were becoming fewer and fewer, which Chen Mu found rather regrettable.

Other than going out every few days to sell fish and outwit the White Wave Gang.

Chen Mu quietly stayed at home the rest of the time.

Every day, he diligently practiced the Red Falcon Body Tempering Technique.

After completing Bone Strengthening, the Body Tempering Technique's Breathing Method became more complicated, requiring one hundred and twenty breaths per cycle.

The fixed forms of the footwork had nearly doubled.

This meant that each time he practiced a full round at maximum effort, it cost him more time and energy.

The Proficiency he gained each day was considerably less than during the Muscle Strengthening stage.

But progress was steady, and Chen Mu was in no rush. He continued advancing step by step each day.

Improving Iron Lotus Seeds Throwing had likewise become difficult.

At Tier 3, throwing more powerful Iron Lotus Seeds required not just skill, but stronger physical qualities as well.

He could feel that every throw was subtly changing the muscles throughout his body.

By comparison, Sleeve Sword Proficiency was much easier to grind.

First, it was still only at the Second Tier and had not yet reached an advanced stage.

Second, it was probably because Sleeve Sword was currently more of a sword technique.

Though it could also make minor adjustments to his muscles, it was more a technique for concealing and wielding a sword.

Chen Mu appropriately reduced his Iron Lotus Seeds Throwing practice and shifted more of his time and energy toward Sleeve Sword.

Immersed in cultivation, Chen Mu could barely feel time passing.

In the blink of an eye, two months had passed.

In the eighth and ninth months, Qingshan County was in the height of summer.

In the rear courtyard of Tianyi Hall.

A blue brick rested on the Stone Table.

Chen Mu stood quietly beside it.

Swish!

Hiss!

A soft sound rang out.

A hole suddenly appeared in the blue brick.

Chen Mu reached out and touched it.

The edge of the hole was smooth and scorching hot.

In that instant, he had drawn his sword nine times.

Each strike had landed on the exact same point of the blue brick.

The rapid repeated thrusts had not only pierced through the brick but also generated and accumulated a great deal of heat.

"Do you want to join Zhu Yi Pavilion?" Jie Jia's eyelids lifted slightly as he sat beside the Stone Table. "I can recommend you."

This Sleeve Sword technique was far too suited for assassination.

"You'll give me half the reward for recommending me?" Chen Mu asked blandly.

With a turn of his wrist, the Short Sword vanished into his sleeve.

"Eat your watermelon." Jie Jia picked up a piece of chilled watermelon and took small bites, never mentioning joining Zhu Yi Pavilion again.

Chen Mu had bought this watermelon just recently.

To have a bite of something cold during the sweltering heat, he had specifically spent several days grinding Medicine Crafting before finding a natural mineral similar to saltpeter from his previous life.

He used its heat absorption when mixed with water to make ice.

"Can you tell me who paid to have me killed back then?" Chen Mu sat down and bit into a cool piece of watermelon with a slurp.

"I can," Jie Jia said blandly.

"Aren't assassins supposed to keep their employers confidential?" Chen Mu asked in surprise.

Jie Jia rolled his eyes and glanced at Chen Mu.

Chen Mu immediately nodded in understanding. "As long as the price is high enough, right?"

"Want to know?" Jie Jia put down his watermelon and stared at Chen Mu.

"No." Chen Mu answered at once, taking another bite of chilled watermelon with an expression of enjoyment.

Jie Jia: "..."

If you did not want to know, why the hell bring it up?

Chen Mu happily ate his watermelon.

They were dead anyway. Whether he knew or not made no difference.

After finishing the watermelon and cleaning up the table, Chen Mu rested briefly before hiding beneath the awning to continue practicing Sleeve Sword.

The Body Tempering Technique had given him a preliminary resistance to heat and cold, so he could still endure this scorching weather.

But dodging and weaving beneath the sun not only heated his body from the outside, it also produced tremendous heat within him.

Being roasted from both sides was truly miserable.

Practicing Sleeve Sword beneath the cool awning was much more comfortable.

He could grind the Body Tempering Technique later, once the sun set in the evening.

"It seems there have been more and more cases of Yinhun causing trouble in the city lately." The Short Sword abruptly appeared in Chen Mu's hand, then vanished again. "Do you know why?"

"That shouldn't be happening." Jie Jia's hand, which had been rubbing Silver Beads, paused. His face showed confusion. "With the Exorcism Mirror in place, there shouldn't be so many that slipped through the net."

Yet in reality, over the past few months, Malevolent Spirit incidents had not occurred one after another without pause, but they had never stopped either.

Chen Mu's sword practice came to a halt.

"Could there be something wrong with the Exorcism Mirror?" Chen Mu asked worriedly.

"That does seem likely." After thinking it over, Jie Jia nodded. "More than ten years ago, I encountered this once in Jiuyang County, Yanshan Prefecture. The Exorcism Mirror in the city was stolen, and the number of Yinhun causing trouble suddenly surged."

"How was it resolved afterward?" Chen Mu hurriedly asked.

"Very simply. The higher authorities sent down another Exorcism Mirror," Jie Jia said blandly.

Chen Mu frowned deeply.

Natural disasters and man-made calamities were constantly occurring throughout Great Liang now. The place had long since become a complete mess.

No one had cared even though the Qingshan County magistrate had been missing for over half a year.

Rather than saying Qingshan County belonged to Great Liang, it would be more accurate to say it belonged to the Li Family of the County Magistrate!

What higher authorities were there anymore?

Glancing at the calm Jie Jia, Chen Mu became even more certain that the old man had some means of dealing with Yinhun.

He looked at the Silver Beads in the other man's hand and helplessly shook his head.

He could not afford this bodyguard.