Experimenting! It Worked

Hong Clan Martial Hall.

"Still want more? No. Not even if you pay extra. If they don't provide the soup, I can't conjure it out of thin air. You only take this medicinal soup once every four days. Your strength isn't enough—drinking too much would be bad for your body."

Shi Lei shook his head repeatedly.

Zhang Lingshan asked again, "Then, Senior Brother, do you know of anything that can replenish qi and blood? I want to buy some to nourish my body."

"Go look at the pharmacy yourself."

Shi Lei answered impatiently, then hurried out of the martial hall, off to busy himself with who knew what.

The moment he left, Tie Feng immediately sidled over and said mysteriously, "I've got something good for replenishing qi and blood. Want to try some, Brother Xiao Shan?"

"What is it?"

"Tiger meat. Tigers are creatures of True Yang. Eat tiger meat, and you'll have more strength when practicing the Righteous Yang Posture. Half the effort, twice the result!"

As he spoke, he pulled an oil-paper packet from his robes and took out a small strip of dried tiger meat, holding it up before Zhang Lingshan's eyes. Meaningfully, he said, "This stuff is quite rare. Ordinary people couldn't buy it even if they wanted to."

"How much?"

"Ah, talking money between brothers hurts feelings. But this thing isn't mine—I'm only keeping it for someone else. How about this? Two taels of silver. I'll take the risk and sell it to you."

"That expensive?"

"How is it expensive? It's always been this price, all right? This is an internal price. Outside, you couldn't buy it no matter how much you offered. Forget it if you don't want it."

Tie Feng's face darkened with displeasure.

After thinking it over, Zhang Lingshan said, "Two taels it is. If it really works, I'll want more."

"It'll definitely work. Would your brother here lie to you?"

Tie Feng broke into a grin and snatched the silver Zhang Lingshan handed over, so delighted he was practically over the moon. This Shorty really is dumb and loaded. I doubled my money without breaking a sweat.

Later, I'll buy another oil-paper packet and sell it to him.

Zhang Lingshan had no idea what Tie Feng was thinking. Walking off to one side, he immediately stuffed the tiger meat jerky into his mouth and began chewing.

The jerky was incredibly chewy. Even after chewing it to pieces, he still could not bite through it. Once he swallowed it whole, a faint warmth immediately flared up in his stomach, as if the jerky concealed a packet of hot water.

Pop.

The hot water spread through his stomach, filling him with a warm, comforting sensation, but it quickly faded away.

What was miraculous was that after eating just one strip, he already felt a trace of fullness.

After three strips went down, his stomach was full. When he practiced the Righteous Yang Posture again, he felt heat surge from the center of his abdomen and spread toward every limb and bone.

Just as Tie Feng had said, half the effort, twice the result.

Zhang Lingshan was overjoyed and immediately practiced with even greater vigor.

If Hong Zhengdao had been here, he would have recognized at a glance that Zhang Lingshan's Righteous Yang Posture had begun to take on some genuine form. But the apprentices training in the outer courtyard lacked that discerning eye. Besides, everyone was occupied with their own business and had no mind to pay attention to an insignificant figure like Zhang Lingshan.

Time flew by as he held the Standing Posture.

When Zhang Lingshan felt his stomach become empty again, he checked the Panel.

Name: Zhang Lingshan

Martial Art: Righteous Yang Posture (Minor Accomplishment)

Energy: 0.1

Three Tiger Meat Strips take two hours to digest and can increase Energy by 0.1.

Zhang Lingshan came to this conclusion.

Lunch happened to be served then. He ate another big bowlful, and by the time dinner was served in the afternoon, another 0.1 Energy had arrived.

Adding the 0.1 from his afternoon meal as well.

That meant that during the time he practiced at Hong Clan Martial Hall, he could gain a total of 0.3 Energy.

It was still a little too slow.

But he had no better option for now. He could only go home, train extra, eat another three Tiger Meat Strips, then buy a bowl of Eight Treasures Soup to drink.

Calculated that way, he could gain 0.5 Energy a day.

The efficiency is still a little low. I need to think of something...

Zhang Lingshan pondered in secret.

So, after leaving Hong Clan Martial Hall that afternoon, he went to the pharmacy from before. But rather than buying Eight Treasures Soup, he spent five taels of silver and had the clerk weigh out one qian each of more than twenty kinds of Medicinal Ingredients.

Then he took out the tiger meat jerky and asked, "Do you have this kind of dried tiger meat here? I just asked at the butcher shop, and they said this dried tiger meat is actually a kind of Medicinal Ingredient, something only pharmacies prepare."

"What a coincidence. A batch was just dried today. How much do you want?" the clerk asked with a smile.

"Give me one tael of silver's worth first."

"Coming right up!"

The clerk was quick and efficient. He promptly prepared a packet for Zhang Lingshan, containing more than twice as much tiger meat jerky as Tie Feng had given him before.

Zhang Lingshan's eyes narrowed slightly.

He knew Tie Feng had definitely made a profit off him, but he had not expected the man to make more than double. What a damn scam.

That kid looked honest enough, with his thick brows and big eyes, yet he was even craftier than a crooked merchant.

Taking the tiger meat jerky, he immediately ate one strip and found no difference in effect. So he bought another four taels of silver's worth.

That left him with only eight taels of silver. He did not dare spend recklessly anymore and had to save some for emergencies.

Fortunately, he had enough Medicinal Ingredients and tiger meat jerky to last him for the time being.

Upon returning home, Zhang Lingshan immediately began brewing medicine. He ground one kind of Medicinal Ingredient into powder, boiled it into a paste, then drank it all in one gulp to test how efficiently it increased Energy.

Very quickly.

He tested one herb called Spirit Root Grass.

After taking it, it would immediately increase his Energy by 0.1 in less than half an hour. And it was cheap, costing only one qian of silver.

By that calculation, one tael of silver could increase Energy by 1 point. It was even more cost-effective than the medicinal soup Shi Lei sold.

Besides that, Zhang Lingshan discovered that drinking certain Medicinal Ingredients alone not only failed to increase Energy—it even reduced it.

Before the Energy dropped, the Energy Points on the Panel would flash red, warning him that the substance was poisonous.

If he managed to vomit out the poison in time, the Energy Points would hold steady without dropping.

This made him understand one thing: if someone poisoned him in the future, he could force the poison out, or use Energy to counteract it.

In other words, as long as he had enough Energy, he would be immune to all poisons.

Spirit Root Grass, Iron Dendrobium, and Azure Ling. These three Medicinal Ingredients are the most cost-effective. I can alternate between them so the toxins from any one herb don't build up too much and reduce my Energy.

Zhang Lingshan summarized his findings and wrote down everything he had learned on a sheet of paper.

Only when he was so exhausted that he could barely keep his eyes open did he finally fall asleep.

Morning.

He jolted awake once more. The same nightmare, the same red marks appearing on his body again.

After recovering himself, Zhang Lingshan immediately pulled himself together. After swallowing three strips of tiger meat jerky, he resumed testing his Medicinal Ingredients.

He did not go out to scrounge a meal until lunchtime was almost served.

After eating, he returned home to continue testing the Medicinal Ingredients, then went out for another meal in the afternoon.

The next day was the same.

On the third day, Shi Lei waited for Zhang Lingshan to arrive, intending to sell him medicinal soup again, only for Zhang Lingshan to refuse him outright.

He had already tested several Medicinal Ingredients that increased Energy. Their value for money was far better than that medicinal soup. Who would care about that stuff anymore?

Has this Shorty given up?

Seeing that Zhang Lingshan did not even come to Hong Clan Martial Hall except to scrounge meals every day, Tie Feng was left speechless. He had originally wanted to keep selling tiger meat jerky to Zhang Lingshan, but it seemed he would not be able to sell any now.

"What happened to that unbreakable determination to learn martial arts? You even smashed your head against the wall—what a joke."

After Zhang Lingshan refused him, Shi Lei's expression immediately darkened, and he sneered disdainfully.

It had only been a few days, yet this trash had already given up. He had wanted to make him into a cash cow too. Damn it.

He gulped down the unwanted medicinal soup, then pointed at the apprentices and shouted, "What are you all looking at? Train properly! Do you want to be as useless as him? All you know how to do is scrounge meals every day. Trash!"

Zhang Lingshan ignored him.

After eating, he immediately returned home. He first practiced the Zheng Yang Skill for a while to digest his food, then drank a bowl of Spirit Root Grass paste.

[Energy +0.1]

Name: Zhang Lingshan

Martial Art: Righteous Yang Posture (Minor Accomplishment+)

Energy: 5

"It worked!"

Zhang Lingshan was overjoyed. He had waited so long for that plus sign that the flowers had withered.

Finally, he could continue adding Stat Points!