18 (Thanks to Night of Cramps for Becoming Alliance Leader)

He did not know how much time had passed, nor how long he had endured.

Zhang Rongfang gradually felt the pain in his body begin to recede, like the ebb and flow of the tide.

Before long, he was lying on the bed drenched in sweat, gulping down breaths.

His clothes and hair were completely soaked, as though he had just crawled out of water.

His physical strength and concentration had been nearly drained by the intense pain.

Yet Zhang Rongfang still forced himself to fight off his drowsiness and looked at his Attribute Panel again.

Sure enough, his attributes had changed once more.

'Zhang Rongfang—Life Force 12–13.

Skills: Returning Spring Purifying Time Talisman Classic—Yue Type Talisman (Mastery), Guanxu Skill (Essence Aperture, First Layer).

Available Attributes: 0.'

"Life Force went up by two points! No wonder the transformation was so drastic."

Zhang Rongfang got out of bed.

Crack.

A faint crack suddenly appeared along the bedframe where he had braced himself with his hand.

"Hmm? My strength increased?"

He raised his hand in surprise and looked at the bedframe. A clear handprint had appeared there.

The brown wood grain had been forcibly crushed apart, leaving splinters jutting out.

"So reaching mastery in the Yue Type Talisman can also increase strength?"

Zhang Rongfang had never heard of such a thing.

Still, he knew that once Martial Cultivators Entered the Ranks, their strength greatly increased. After Entering the Ranks, the skin membranes on their bodies also thickened, enhancing their defenses.

It seems I've entered the Tendon Forging stage? According to what Senior Sister Zhao taught, Tendon Forging is the first step toward increasing one's strength.

He got up and moved his limbs around the room.

Zhang Rongfang began trying to adapt to his current strength.

There was no need for anything else. He simply practiced the Yue Type Talisman Thirty-Two Styles, over and over again.

Time slowly passed, and the benefits of increased Life Force gradually revealed themselves.

Simply practicing the Yue Type Talisman at an unhurried pace, Zhang Rongfang could feel his strength slowly recovering.

After finishing three sets of forms, he pulled a wooden box out from beneath his bed. Opening it, he found several dark pills inside, like balls kneaded from sesame paste.

These were Blood Nourishing Pills, a special benefit for Martial Cultivation Disciples.

Two per month. Zhao Dacong had handed Zhang Rongfang all of his previous allotments at once.

He picked up a Blood Nourishing Pill and tossed it into his mouth. A sour, leathery taste instantly filled his mouth.

Suppressing his nausea, Zhang Rongfang forcibly swallowed it.

Then he changed clothes and washed himself up. Seeing that he still had some time, he prepared to rest for a while.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Senior Brother Zhang, there's a package for you at the Letter Room."

"A package for me?" Zhang Rongfang froze. Ever since taking over his Previous Body, he had done nothing else. Nor did he have the ability to keep submitting work to the Goulan.

Who would send him a letter?

Filled with doubt, he rose, drank some cold water, and headed for the Letter Room.

Inside Qinghe Temple's Letter Room.

Zheng Zhonglin patted a yellow package in front of him.

"What a tiny little box."

As the person in charge of the Letter Room, he normally would not concern himself with ordinary letters or packages.

But no one knew that long ago, he had been placed there by the current deacon of the Patrol Inspector Office.

The Patrol Inspector Deacon wielded enormous authority and was currently contending with the Supervisor for the position of next Palace Master. So now was the time to choose a side.

Looking at the package before him, the sender was unknown and there were no markings. The recipient, however, was Xiao Rong's disciple, a little Daoist named Zhang Rongfang.

Zheng Zhonglin rubbed his hands together. Holding the package, he avoided the several servant Daoists sorting letters nearby and entered the inner room alone, lowering the curtain that blocked the doorway.

Zheng Zhonglin quickly placed the package on a small stool. His hands moved back and forth with practiced ease, and soon he had completely undone the entire package.

If it had been anyone else's package, he naturally would not have dared to act recklessly. Who knew what secrets might be inside? He would not dare touch such a great taboo lightly.

But this was Xiao Rong's disciple. Those above had strictly ordered it, so opening the package to inspect it was no big deal.

Inside the package was a wooden box.

Zheng Zhonglin did not stop. He picked up his tools and continued with the next step.

The box was quickly opened, finally revealing what had been placed within.

"Hiss!?"

The moment Zheng Zhonglin saw the contents, he sucked in a sharp breath.

Money!!

So much money!!

Inside the Black Box lay a stack of banknotes, each worth one tael!

The thick stack had clearly been exchanged into small-denomination Treasure Notes deliberately, since using notes of too large a value would easily draw attention.

Zheng Zhonglin had seen plenty of Treasure Notes in his day, but this stack before him was worth, by a rough estimate, at least seventy taels! What did seventy taels even mean!?

In Huaxin County, seventy taels could buy a fine horse of decent quality! In a place where a pig cost only ten to fifteen taels, seventy taels could buy six pigs!

Zheng Zhonglin swallowed and looked around. He quickly rummaged through the package, finding another letter.

He looked at the stack of Treasure Notes, then thought of the recipient of this box: Zhang Rongfang, the man who had offended the Chen Family.

Greed repeatedly surfaced in his eyes, then vanished.

After struggling for a while, he finally made up his mind. He took all the Treasure Notes from the package, put the box back, placed the letter properly, and tied the package up exactly as it had been.

Now that I've taken the money, no one will know it was me. So many people handled it along the way—why should anyone be certain it was me?

Even if that kid knows it was me, what can he use to fight me without the Patrol Warden Office backing him!?

This was not the first time Zheng Zhonglin had stolen valuables from packages. He had long since grown used to it.

Only, the amount this time was rather large. It made him somewhat uneasy.

In the past, the people he stole from had all been those with no background to speak of. Most of those Daoists had simply endured it.

But this time, there was a little too much money.

If Zhang Rongfang had not offended the Chen Family, and if the Chen Family had not specifically named him as someone to be dealt with, Zheng Zhonglin would not have suddenly become so bold.

Not long after, a little Daoist Priest lifted the curtain and entered.

"Room Master, Senior Brother Zhang Rongfang, Master Xiao Rong's disciple, has come to collect his package."

Zheng Zhonglin had already put away the Treasure Notes. Acting as if nothing had happened, he pointed to the box among a pile of packages beside him.

"There. Carry it out."

"Yes." The Servant Disciple stepped forward and carefully carried the wrapped box outside.

The sky was cold and clear.

At noon, Zhang Rongfang stood outside the Letter Room and still felt somewhat chilled.

It was already late November. Winter had arrived, and the temperature was growing colder by the day.

He watched several servant Daoists moving things around. One little Daoist Priest carried a Black Cloth package toward him.

"Senior Brother, this is your package."

The little Daoist Priest placed it on the wooden table before him.

A ring of wooden tables had been set outside the Letter Room to make it easier to hand over and place items.

Zhang Rongfang looked at the package and gently patted it.

Words had been written on the outside of the package in Charcoal Pencil.

'Qinghe Temple, Tianyin Zhang Rongfang Receive.'

The handwriting was elegant and neat, carrying a faint sense of familiarity for Zhang Rongfang.

It was my Previous Body's elder sister's handwriting.

His Heart Shivered. He knew that what was meant to come had finally come.

Picking up the package, he turned and left.

"Something's wrong!" Zhang Rongfang suddenly felt that the package in his hand did not feel right.

The opening of a package would normally be tightly sealed with special needlework.

From what he recalled of his Previous Body's elder sister Zhang Rongyu, every package she sent had exceptionally neat, dense stitches.

Yet the stitching sealing the package he had just picked up was unusually messy. It had only been threaded through a few times, barely enough to close the package.

The package may have been tampered with!

Zhang Rongfang immediately guessed at that possibility.

He turned around and fixed his eyes on the little Daoist Priest who had just handed him the package.

"Junior Brother, may I ask whether anyone else touched my package just now?"

The little Daoist Priest felt a little intimidated under his gaze. The other man was a Cultivation Disciple, a rank above him.

He therefore answered respectfully.

"Reporting to Senior Brother, the package was delivered directly to our Letter Room this morning. It was not touched at any point in between."

"You're certain no one touched it?" Zhang Rongfang asked again.

"I'm certain, Senior Brother. Other than moving it a few times while checking the name, no one touched it," the little Daoist Priest hurriedly replied.

Zhang Rongfang asked no more. He merely looked into the Letter Room through its window.

Right by the window, Zheng Zhonglin was using the light to count the banknotes in his hands.

As if noticing his gaze, Zheng Zhonglin turned around and looked at Zhang Rongfang. He smiled, his eyes carrying a trace of pity and some other obscure meaning.

Zhang Rongfang remained expressionless.

Though the Letter Room was a place without any real fighting strength, it was part of Qinghe Temple, where experts were everywhere.

As a Barbarian Confucian Household, even if his things were stolen, he could only endure it. No one would stand up for him.

Especially now, when Xiao Rong was paying less and less attention to him.

Carrying the package, Zhang Rongfang turned and returned to his quarters.

Once back in his room, he quickly opened the package, read the letter's contents, and then pulled open the Black Box.

Inside was utterly empty. There was nothing at all.

Snap.

Zhang Rongfang closed the box with an expressionless face. Following the letter's instructions, he lifted the bottom of the box and carefully pulled out a thin wooden board.

Inside the board was a small rectangular hidden compartment.

Two banknotes lay inside.

Two Treasure Notes, each worth fifty taels.

The package was opened. The first layer's seventy taels was taken. I just don't know whether it was taken on the road or after it arrived at Qinghe Temple.

Zhang Rongfang had truly wanted to storm into the Letter Room and inspect it himself just now.

But he could not, and he did not dare.

Although there were no Martial Cultivators in the Letter Room, and Zheng Zhonglin, its manager, was merely a Wen Xiu—

If he acted that way, he would be breaking Qinghe Temple's rules.

He had not even Entered the Ranks yet, while Qinghe Temple had at least a dozen Martial Cultivators who had! The deacons among them were at least Third Grade, not to mention experts above Fifth Grade like the Supervisor and the Palace Master.

So if he dared make a move, the Patrol Warden Office could arrest him immediately and subject him to the rod.

And more importantly, he did not know whether the people from the Letter Room had truly taken it.

He only suspected them because there were often reports of things being stolen from the Letter Room.

"Forget it. It's only seventy taels. Most of the money Zhang Rongyu sent is still here. Even if I reported it, no one would likely care. The Letter Room has been reported more than once before."

Zhang Rongfang felt stifled and aggrieved. Looking at the box on the table, he said nothing further.

*Bang!!

Zheng Zhonglin was struck over the head with a club, his face instantly covered in blood.

He swayed unsteadily, clutching the package he had planned to bring home. Everything before his eyes was spinning.

Thud.

Unable to stay upright, he collapsed sideways onto the ground. The package in his hands rolled away.

"What audacity! You dare attack me at Qinghe Temple!? Do you know who I am—"

Bang!!

Another blow smashed into his forehead.

Zheng Zhonglin stared at the masked man who had stepped out before him and pointed a finger at him.

"Good—good sir, spare my life!!"

He threw himself to the ground, dropping to both knees.

This was the only road from Qinghe Temple down to Huaxin County.

Every day, another Martial Cultivator Daoist returned home with him—his nephew, Zhao Heigou.

Both of them had bought houses in Huaxin County.

This time, Zheng Zhonglin had been preparing to take the stolen valuables back to his house and let his wife keep them safe.

Yet he had never expected someone to dare attack him on the mountain path outside Qinghe Temple!

His nephew had barely assumed a stance before being knocked down in a few blows.

Then it had been his turn.

Heaven have mercy, he was only a Wen Xiu who managed the Letter Room, yet someone had actually launched a Sneak Attack on him along the road down the mountain.

Zhang Rongfang looked at the two people lying on the ground, grabbed both their packages, and ran.

Whether the man before him had stolen his money or not, he would take it first and ask questions later.

As long as he did not beat anyone to death, everything was Easy to Say.

Ever since he had beaten someone to death last time and no one had come looking for trouble, Zhang Rongfang had grown bolder.