Show of Strength

"Steward Sun is in his room right now. Shall I go announce you?"

Inside North City Medical Center, Liu Jun followed beside Chen Fei and asked in a low voice.

Ever since hearing that North City Medical Center would be getting a new Deputy Manager, Liu Jun had been paying close attention. As a peripheral figure within the medical center, only by latching onto someone powerful could he possibly advance further.

The new Deputy Manager had only just arrived and would surely be unfamiliar with many things. If Liu Jun approached him now, he would certainly be able to gain his favor, perhaps even becoming one of his trusted hands.

"No need. We'll talk when Steward Sun is free."

Chen Fei shook his head. Sun Shu knew he would be arriving today, yet had not specifically come out to meet him. It seemed that he either disliked Chen Fei, this parachuted-in newcomer, or simply did not care.

Either way, it already revealed Sun Shu's attitude.

Chen Fei did not mind. When he came to North City Medical Center, he had never intended to dig up evidence against Sun Shu or anything of the sort. He only wanted to refine pills in peace, earn money properly, and raise his cultivation.

As for the grand pie the Zhang Family had painted for him, Chen Fei had no intention of swallowing it.

"Does Steward Sun have any usual hobbies?" Chen Fei took a turn around the pill room, then looked back at Liu Jun.

"Steward Sun likes kicking," Liu Jun said, his expression somewhat strange.

"Kicking?"

Chen Fei's expression shifted slightly. What kind of odd hobby was that? Then again, when he thought of himself, he was probably even more of an oddball in other people's eyes.

"Spare me! I won't dare do it again!"

Noisy cries came from ahead. Chen Fei walked out of the pill room and into the backyard, where he happened to see several guards dragging a handyman along. The handyman's face was bruised and swollen, with blood still at the corner of his mouth.

He was now kneeling on the ground and constantly kowtowing, his eyes filled with terror.

"He hid medicinal herbs and got caught," Liu Jun explained quietly when he saw Chen Fei looking over.

Chen Fei frowned slightly. By the medical center's rules, a handyman caught concealing herbs was to be crippled. Of course, in practice, that rarely happened. Usually, the handyman would merely be beaten badly and have three months' wages deducted, enough to teach him a lesson.

Cases of actually crippling someone were rare. That was generally reserved for repeat offenders.

"My child is sick. I truly had no other way. I won't dare do it again—please spare me!" The handyman wept bitterly.

Creak!

The door to Sun Shu's room opened. Sun Shu slowly strolled out, step by step, until he stood before the handyman and looked down at him from above.

"Steward Sun, I won't dare do it again! I'm begging you!" The handyman slammed his head against the ground, blood soon streaming down his forehead.

"For this sort of thing, I've always given only one chance."

A faint smile appeared on Sun Shu's face. The handyman's eyes widened in terror. Just as he tried to retreat, a foot had already stepped onto his palm.

"Ah!"

The handyman screamed in agony. Sun Shu remained unmoved. Instead, he began grinding his foot down, and blood soon seeped out from beneath his sole, soaking into the dirt.

"Spare—"

Crack!

Before the handyman could finish, Sun Shu kicked both his arms, snapping the bones on impact. Before the handyman could react, his body involuntarily pitched forward.

Crack!

Another crisp crack rang out. At some point, Sun Shu had appeared behind the handyman and stomped on his calf. Bone shattered, and blood splattered everywhere.

"Don't say I wiped you out completely. I left you one leg."

Sun Shu said it lightly. The handyman had already fainted from the pain, and one of the nearby guards immediately splashed water over his face to wake him.

"Th... thank you, Steward Sun!" The handyman's lips trembled as he looked up at the lofty Sun Shu and muttered.

The corner of Sun Shu's mouth twitched. He glanced at Chen Fei in the distance, then unhurriedly returned to his room.

Liu Jun instinctively shrank his neck. Sun Shu's gaze just now had been far too terrifying, enough to send chills down one's spine.

Chen Fei said nothing. He glanced at Sun Shu's retreating figure, then turned to look at the handyman on the ground.

This was the fate of servants in this world—struggling to survive, yet liable to lose everything at any moment. Chen Fei's original body had not wanted to become like this, and the current Chen Fei naturally wanted it even less.

Only when great might belonged to oneself could one avoid such an ending.

Chen Fei officially began his post at North City Medical Center. He presented himself as harmless to man and beast, voicing no opinions on anything that had already existed in the medical center, and simply focusing on refining pills every day.

Chen Fei continued to increase the quantity of Qi Blood Pills, having the medical center sell them so that he could save up those Five Hundred Taels more quickly. He truly coveted Immortal Guides the Way.

At the same time, Chen Fei simplified the Grass Return Pill he had only recently acquired. Somewhat to his surprise, after the Grass Return Pill was simplified, refining Qi Blood Pills could increase its experience.

Chen Fei had always thought this would only happen after techniques were fused and then simplified. It turned out that pill recipes stemming from the same line could work as well.

After all, half the herbs needed for the Grass Return Pill actually overlapped with those for the Qi Blood Pill. That was probably the reason.

There was no need to cook dishes. Since he was already refining Qi Blood Pills, the Grass Return Pill's experience rose rapidly every day.

Meanwhile, Chen Fei had never stopped practicing movement techniques. Finally, on the fifth day after obtaining the techniques, Chen Fei completed the Fusion of four movement techniques and cultivated it to Great Perfection.

Technique: Crossing River Clouds (Great Perfection)

Compared to before, Chen Fei had made great strides in both agility and speed. He had seen some Skin Refining Realm martial artists sprinting before, and after a slight comparison, he discovered that his movement technique had already far surpassed theirs.

But Chen Fei could not yet determine exactly what level it had reached. And Crossing River Clouds was still far from its endpoint; Chen Fei intended to continue integrating other Movement Techniques into it.

In the night, Chen Fei had his face wrapped in a mask as he ran freely through Pingyin County. The exhilaration made him want to throw back his head and howl at the sky. But he forcibly suppressed the urge. If that howl escaped, the scene to follow would probably be a different one entirely.

"Hm?"

As he ran into an alley, Chen Fei's ears twitched slightly. At the same time, a faint scent of blood drifted through the air.

Chen Fei instinctively looked up. At some unknown moment, someone had appeared atop the alley wall and was now watching him with great interest. Chen Fei narrowed his eyes slightly. Though this person also wore a face mask and a set of Night Clothes, he gave Chen Fei a strange sense of familiarity.

"That Mountain Bandit!"

Chen Fei suddenly recognized him. Wasn't this the man he had encountered outside the city some time ago? Pu Liao's injuries had yet to heal, and no one knew how much he would recover in the end.

"Little brother, why not sleep properly at night? Why trouble yourself by running around everywhere?"

Jian Liang's gloomy voice drifted over. Like a startled wild deer, Chen Fei sprang backward in an instant.

The next moment, a flash of light appeared where Chen Fei had been standing. With a muffled thud, a Flying Knife embedded itself in the ground, still trembling faintly.