Lightly Wiping the Longsword

"One pill every morning, for seven days in a row. Crush this herb and light it, and it will help the injured recover faster." Song Mu took out the herbs and gave his instructions.

"Thank you for your trouble, doctor. Here is the consultation fee. Please accept it!"

Seeing that their Big Brother's injuries had improved, the people around them were all in high spirits, and the sinister killing intent from earlier was nowhere to be seen. How could Song Mu dare accept these people's consultation fee? He waved his hands again and again.

In the end, Song Mu could not resist Jian Liang's enthusiasm. He tentatively accepted one silver tael, and the smiles on the faces of the people around them grew even wider. They no longer forced Song Mu to take any other consultation fee.

Chen Fei watched from the side, a faint chill in his heart. It was only because Song Mu understood the ways of the world that they were fine. If he had really accepted all the consultation fee just now, the two of them would probably have lost their heads by now.

These people seemed bold and straightforward, but how could they truly hand money over to them so casually? Even if it was a consultation fee, it was the same.

They walked out of the room and came to the Great Hall, only to find that Pu Liao had already fainted on the ground.

"This man tried to run just now. The brothers caught him and broke one of his legs," someone said beside Jian Liang.

Jian Liang's brows shifted slightly. He looked at Chen Fei and Song Mu with a smile that was not quite a smile, then finally cupped his hands and said, "My brothers don't know their own strength when they strike and ended up injuring someone. How about we give some silver taels so this brother can go back and properly treat his wounds?"

"No, no, we wouldn't dare!"

Song Mu hurriedly waved his hands. He glanced at Chen Fei. Chen Fei understood, stepped forward, hoisted Pu Liao onto his back, and quickly left the courtyard.

"Should we chase after them and kill them?" someone suggested.

"Forget it. They did save quite a few of our people. Big Brother's injuries are stable now too. Their lives can count as the consultation fee." Jian Liang smiled coldly, turned, and walked toward the Backyard.

Chen Fei ran for a while with Pu Liao on his back and could not help panting. With Bone-Attached Gangrene dragging him down, although Chen Fei's cultivation had been constantly improving recently, his stamina was only somewhat better than an ordinary person's.

At this moment, running with someone on his back was truly a little too much for him.

"Run faster, in case they change their minds."

Song Mu was also gasping for breath beside him, but he did not dare stop to rest, afraid those people would chase after them again right then.

Chen Fei nodded. The urgency he felt toward his own strength tightened even more. Today had truly counted as good luck. Otherwise, one wrong step, and he probably would have fallen inside there.

Pu Liao's strength was already not weak. He had taken advantage of Jian Liang's departure to look for a chance to escape, yet in the end, he had still been caught and dragged back. From that, it was clear how many skilled hands there had been among those people just now.

All the various contingency plans Chen Fei had thought of earlier, even if they had truly been carried out, would likely have ended with more ill than good.

In less than fifteen minutes, the two of them had run back beneath the city wall. When Cui Sanjie and the others saw Chen Fei's group, especially Pu Liao's miserable state, they could not help being startled.

"What happened!" Zhang Sinan looked at Pu Liao's broken leg, her brows tightly furrowed. Even if this leg was treated, he would not be able to walk normally in the future.

"We ran into a nest of Mountain Bandits. Sigh..."

Now that they had arrived here, Song Mu finally let out a breath of relief and recounted everything that had just happened one by one. As he spoke, the people around them listened with their hearts pounding in alarm.

One could imagine that if Song Mu's medical skills had been a little worse, or if he had not had Healing Pills, or even if he had been a little greedier for money, then by now his head and body would have been in separate places.

"This group of Mountain Bandits has some nerve. I'll report this to the County Government Office and have these Mountain Bandits hunted down!"

Zhang Sinan shouted coldly, turned, and headed into the county. Cui Sanjie hurried forward and whispered a few words beside Zhang Sinan. Zhang Sinan's expression shifted, but she did not speak. She only continued walking forward.

Chen Fei took a few deep breaths. In the end, this matter would probably also be left unsettled. The County Government Office would not care about matters outside Pingyin County, and the Zhang Family, in all likelihood, would also act as if this had never happened.

No one had died, so wasn't everything fine?

The matter unfolded just as Chen Fei had expected. The Zhang Family did not make this matter public. Afterward, they merely compensated the three of them with some silver taels as consolation.

Pu Liao's consolation money was a little more, after all, one of his legs had been broken.

Chen Fei received a dozen or so silver taels. At the same time, the fact that he could refine Healing Pills also spread through the Medical Hall.

Zeng Defang was deeply comforted in his old age, and even invited Chen Fei to his home to drink a few cups with him.

Compared with Qi Blood Pills, Healing Pills were still somewhat more difficult to refine. Yet only a dozen or so days after Chen Fei had obtained the Pill Recipe, he could already refine Healing Pills on his own. This was enough to show Chen Fei's talent in alchemy.

It also dispelled the thoughts of some people who believed Chen Fei could only refine Qi Blood Pills, and that once he refined other pills, he would be beaten back to his original form.

"Old Zeng, do you have the Pill Recipe for Grass Return Pills?" Chen Fei asked in a low voice.

Grass Return Pills could be considered the advanced version of Qi Blood Pills, possessing an even stronger effect in promoting cultivation. Of course, the price was also higher. Only Flesh Refining Realm martial artists might be willing to spend money to buy this kind of pill for cultivation.

Originally, Chen Fei had already felt that cultivating with Qi Blood Pills was not slow. But this world was too dangerous. Who knew when an accident would arrive? Chen Fei hoped his cultivation could grow a little faster.

Using Grass Return Pills to cultivate was probably a luxury even people from ordinary Noble Families would not indulge in while still in the Skin Refining Realm. But Chen Fei could refine them himself, so the problem of being unable to afford them did not exist.

Just like with Qi Blood Pills, after refining them, he could hold back a portion for himself to consume.

"Grass Return Pills, huh. Without the Zhang Family's permission, they cannot be passed on to outsiders."

Zeng Defang shook his head, picked up a chicken claw, and tossed it into his mouth.

"Then how can the Zhang Family agree?" Chen Fei pressed. With Chen Fei's current speed of earning money, if he bought Grass Return Pills for cultivation himself, he would probably still be unable to make ends meet.

"Marry into the family."

Zeng Defang smiled and glanced at Chen Fei, saying, "But you no longer have a chance. The Misses of the Zhang Family have all married. Aside from marrying in, however, there is one other method, and that is to render merit for the Zhang Family."

"Please enlighten me, Old Zeng." Chen Fei cupped his hands.

After three rounds of wine, Zeng Defang had already collapsed on the table, snoring loudly in sleep. Chen Fei returned to his own courtyard and wiped the longsword in his hand.

Aside from Grass Return Pills, Chen Fei also wanted to obtain stronger martial arts techniques. But judging from what he had learned from Zeng Defang just now, the Clear Wind Sword and Wind Suspension Force were already the best techniques that someone outside the Zhang Family could obtain.

Stronger techniques would only be passed down among Zhang Family members, or to those who married into the Zhang Family and became one of them. Otherwise, even if someone rendered merit, they still could not obtain the techniques inherited by the Zhang Family.

"Every Noble Family, or places like Extreme Mountain Martial Hall, all hide their profound techniques. Right now, while I'm in the Skin Refining Realm, it's still fine. But once I reach the Flesh Refining Realm, the effect of the Wind Suspension Breathing Technique will definitely weaken further. And there's also the Green Mountain Sword for fighting enemies. Later on, it definitely won't be able to keep up either!"

Chen Fei muttered to himself, looking at his Panel as an idea slowly emerged in his mind.

The Panel could simplify techniques, and techniques cultivated to the Great Perfection Realm could even undergo Fusion. Since he could not obtain profound martial arts techniques, why not cultivate several more basic techniques? When the time came, fusing them together would surely cause a change.

From quantitative change to Qualitative Change—why should he bend his knee and beg others? Chen Fei could completely carve out a martial path of his own.