A Grand Scheme

Pigs were a species whose genetic makeup and bodily structure were very similar to humans, especially their internal organs.

In the Interstellar Era of his previous life, biotechnology had been highly advanced, yet pigs still had extensive experimental uses.

When Wu Yuan decided to conduct an experiment, the first thing that came to mind was a pig.

"My control over my body is extremely precise. Under normal circumstances, even if I swallowed something highly poisonous, I could control my body and expel all of it afterward." Wu Yuan thought to himself. "Still, to be cautious, I should first determine whether the liquid in this green jade bottle is beneficial or harmful!"

Better safe than sorry.

The more he learned about this world, the more wary he became.

"Let's begin." Wu Yuan walked toward the pigsty.

By the time Wu Yuan began his "biological experiment," night had fallen, and undercurrents still ran through all of Li City.

The Prefect's Mansion was brightly lit.

In the study.

"My lord, the Luo Family, the Wang Family, the Xu Family... all eight great families have agreed to jointly sign a petition accusing Xu Shouyi of sheltering bandit gangs, wantonly harming the local people, and trampling on the sect's laws." The White Robe Elder spoke respectfully. "However, the Guan Family of Dongye County has made it clear that they will not take part."

"That old fox, Guan Zishan." A glint of severity flashed in the eyes of the refined and distinguished Jiang Dongque.

A moment later, Jiang Dongque could only shake his head helplessly.

Guan Zishan had once been a First-class Expert and a general of the Chu Jiang Empire. Although he had never entered the sect's inner ranks, after the empire collapsed and he retired to his hometown in old age, the Guan Family had continued to flourish. Dongye County had practically become his private fief, and now Guan Family disciples had even begun entering the Sect Headquarters!

As prefect, he had no desire to provoke the Guan Family either.

"Never mind. We have the signatures of eight families." Jiang Dongque said, "Add the captured remnants of the Fierce Tiger Gang and the evidence we've secretly gathered over the past few years, and it should just about be enough."

Jiang Dongque looked toward Meng Qiang beside him. "Brother Meng, how are things on your end?"

"The Wu Clan refuses to admit that the Martial Academy Grand Competition was rigged." Meng Qiang was taller than the others, and his voice boomed like a bell. "Judging by the Wu Clan and Wu Yuan's attitude, they don't seem to be lying. Could we have gotten it wrong?"

"Gotten it wrong?" Jiang Dongque smiled and shook his head. "The Criminal Justice Office's constables just reported that they've confirmed Xu Manor specifically instructed the Fierce Tiger Gang a few days ago to target the Wu Clan and raise this year's tribute from three thousand taels to eight thousand!"

"According to the informant's exact words, it wasn't that they wanted the Wu Clan to pay more. But since the matter hadn't been handled, whatever they'd taken had to be spat back out." Jiang Dongque continued, "Xu Manor never specified what the Wu Clan had failed to do."

Meng Qiang was taken aback.

After a moment's thought, he said, "Does the prefect mean that Xu Manor paid five thousand taels to bribe Wu Yuan and make him throw the match? But in the end, the Xu boy lost to Liu Ruyan?"

Jiang Dongque gave a slight nod.

"But the Wu Clan refuses to admit it. What do we do?" Meng Qiang frowned.

Without even a victim coming forward, and with Xu Yuanhan having lost anyway, how much would the higher-ups believe if this matter were reported to the sect? They might even think Jiang Dongque had made the whole thing up.

"No matter!"

"I'll have someone 'accidentally' leak this news to Xu Manor." Jiang Dongque said calmly. "Xu Manor will think the Wu Clan is preparing to join the petition against them."

Meng Qiang looked confused.

"Truthfully, we don't know whether the Martial Academy Grand Competition was rigged in the first place. We can only infer from Wu Yuan's current strength that he shouldn't have lost back then," Jiang Dongque explained. "Even so, adding the Fierce Tiger Gang's testimony still won't prove it outright."

Meng Qiang listened.

He was strong, but he didn't understand the twists and turns of people's hearts.

"If there really was no rigging, then given Xu Shouyi's character, he'll simply settle the score with the Wu Clan later when he learns they falsely accused him." Jiang Dongque smiled faintly. "But if there was rigging, and Xu Shouyi learns the Wu Clan is going to report him, do you think he'll strike first in a panic?"

Meng Qiang started, then frowned again. "But the Wu Clan doesn't admit anything and has no plans to report them."

"Whether the Wu Clan admits it or not doesn't matter." Jiang Dongque smiled calmly. "As long as this really happened, they'll grow suspicious of one another, and Xu Shouyi will inevitably move against them."

"Could the Wu Clan go explain things to Xu Shouyi? Do you think he'd trust them?"

"When the time comes, if the Wu Clan doesn't want to die, they'll have no choice but to listen to me and actually file the petition." Jiang Dongque sounded confident.

Meng Qiang couldn't help nodding.

This was a grand scheme!

As long as Xu Manor had truly bullied the Wu Clan repeatedly, the two sides would inevitably grow suspicious of each other and find it hard to trust one another.

"Secretly keeping bandits and poisoning the lives of the people—that's a crime!"

"Interfering in local government affairs behind the scenes—that's a crime!"

"Rigging the Martial Academy Grand Competition—that's an even greater crime!" Jiang Dongque's eyes turned cold. "With all these charges piling up, even if Xu Shouyi doesn't fall, I'll make sure he won't dare compete with me again."

Meng Qiang sighed inwardly.

Martial artists fought head-on, but when it came to playing dirty tricks, how could they match these scholars?

"As for the Wu Clan, they clearly wanted no part in this, yet they've been dragged into it all the same." Meng Qiang shook his head to himself.

He wasn't close to the Wu Clan, so he couldn't say he pitied them. He just felt a little wistful.

Time passed, and day after day went by.

Under the "joint" assault of the garrison and the City Guard Army, the Fierce Tiger Gang, which had lorded it over Li City for a time, was completely wiped out.

The remaining gang members were either killed, captured, or fled under assumed names!

Wu Yuan returned to the Martial Academy and home once along the way to get a rough sense of the situation. He spent the rest of his time in the courtyard he had rented.

"Three days!"

"This is enough to prove it." Wu Yuan stood beside the pigsty.

He stared at the ten large pigs inside.

Three days ago, the ten pigs had been nearly identical. Now, however, they were noticeably different. Five of them had smooth skin and had grown significantly larger.

One huge boar stood out the most; it even seemed to give off a faint fragrance.

"Just a tiny bit of this mysterious liquid mixed into the feed of these five pigs was enough to bring about such an obvious change." Wu Yuan marveled to himself. "What if I drank all of it?"

The results were astonishing!

Wu Yuan wasn't a scientist or a Pill Master. He couldn't study the composition of this mysterious liquid, but he could at least confirm three things.

First, the liquid wasn't poisonous.

Second, it could greatly promote the growth and development of living beings.

Third, although the amount was small, its effects were astonishing!

"Taking it internally works very well." Wu Yuan's gaze shifted to the other two large pigs. "But applying it externally made almost no difference."

In fact, he had divided the ten pigs into four groups.

One group received a large amount of the mysterious liquid, another received a small amount, a third had the liquid diluted in water and applied to their skin, and the last ate their normal feed without coming into contact with the liquid at all.

The results proved that taking it internally was the most effective!

Of course, what he called a large amount was only large by comparison.

After three days of experiments, he had used less than one-tenth of the total liquid in the jade bottle.

"I can't waste any more."

"Today, I'll try it myself."

Wu Yuan took the jade bottle back to the middle of the courtyard.

Over the past few days, he had made repairs and filled in all the gaps. The courtyard walls were high, and none of the surrounding houses had a way to look in.

It was, in short, very private!

He fetched a basin of clean water. Without further hesitation, Wu Yuan poured in a tiny amount of the crystalline purple liquid.

The liquid slowly dissolved into the water, and a delicate fragrance began wafting from it.

"Gulp~" Wu Yuan lifted the basin and drank a large mouthful, then set it aside.

He clearly felt the water enter his stomach.

"So hot!"

"What tremendous energy." Wu Yuan's eyes lit up.

Everything was just as he had expected.

As soon as the water entered his stomach, the muscles there began to churn. The tiny amount of liquid dissolved in the water immediately took effect, and surging waves of energy began flowing through his blood to every limb and bone in his body!

His muscles, bones, and skin; his internal organs; his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose; even his brain.

A thread of mysterious energy seeped into every part of his flesh and every organ, then began to strengthen them!

"Is this energy more than ten times purer than that of a Low-grade Body Tempering Pill? And even this tiny amount contains so much energy? My body is absorbing it without any strain at all!" Wu Yuan could hardly believe it.

How could energy in this world be so pure?

He knew that even if his internal organs could expel impurities when he absorbed energy from Body Tempering Pills, his body still had its limits.

He had to proceed gradually, so he could only train once every two days.

But what if he absorbed this mysterious energy instead?

He could keep cultivating without pause, right up until his flesh reached its limit.

"Is this what Heaven's Materials and Earthly Treasures are?" Wu Yuan thought. "It's far more effective than I expected."

Wu Yuan had no idea that this Ancient Immortal Dew was extraordinary. It was perfectly suited for body tempering, ranked among the finest Heaven's Materials and Earthly Treasures, and was exceptionally precious.

One drop of immortal dew was more than enough to trade for a divine weapon!

"A treasure is only an external aid. If I let this Heaven's Materials and Earthly Treasures flow through my body freely, then ninety-nine percent of its effects will go to waste." Wu Yuan leaped into the air and struck a strange pose.

It was one of the movements contained in the Tiger Leopard Bone Refining Technique.

"Only by consciously controlling it and combining it with the strongest Strength Training technique can I bring out the full effect of this treasure." Wu Yuan focused his mind and cultivated with all his might.

In that instant,

his muscles, bones, and skin, along with all two hundred and six bones, rapidly joined as one and began to tremble faintly.

Like a gluttonous beast, Wu Yuan's muscles devoured the mysterious energy formed from the immortal dew.

"Ah~"

Wu Yuan felt waves of pain in every muscle and bone in his body. His heart beat faster, and his whole body felt as if he were in a steam bath. Wisps of mist rose from his skin.

It was a sign that his body was undergoing rapid transformation.

"How incredible." Wu Yuan clearly sensed his physical constitution changing, and he was shaken.

Neither in his previous life nor this one had his body ever improved so quickly. His strength was rising at a pace he could practically see with his own eyes.

His rate of improvement was several times faster than when he had trained using Body Tempering Pills!