Another Treasure Fish, an Unexpected Windfall!

"It's A Qi!"

Liu Chu had been about to step aside, but when he saw that the person chasing from behind was Han Qi, he froze and stopped moving aside.

This is bad. They're together!

The pursued man was a young man around twenty. Seeing the expressions on Liu Chu and Han Qi's faces, his heart immediately sank.

He knew he could not be stopped. If he was delayed even for an instant, Han Qi would catch up, and he would be facing two opponents alone.

He could not even beat Han Qi by himself. With another opponent added, his fate was easy to imagine!

"Get out of my way!!"

A ferocious glint flashed in the young man's eyes as he accelerated forward. Twisting his waist and hips, he threw a savage punch straight at Liu Chu's face.

The punch was as swift as lightning, its fist whipping up a howling gust. It carried the particular viciousness of street-fight brawls, enough to knock someone to the ground with one blow.

Faced with the incoming punch, Liu Chu was fully prepared. Rather than retreating, he surged forward. With only a slight tilt of his neck, he precisely dodged the opponent's fist.

As he tilted his head aside, his five fingers clenched into a fist. Seizing the opening left by the opponent's punch, he struck fiercely at the man's ribs.

The young man's punch had been full of vicious force, but because he had held nothing back, its momentum was too great for him to change moves.

In a street brawl, it would have been enough to seize the initiative and overwhelm his opponent in sheer momentum.

Unfortunately, he was facing someone like Liu Chu, whose Combat Technique had already reached mastery. Liu Chu saw through his flaw at a glance.

Bang!

The punch landed beneath his ribs. The young man felt as though his liver and gallbladder were splitting apart, the pain unbearable. He staggered back repeatedly, doubled over like a boiled shrimp.

Exploding Liver Fist!

A strike to the ribs, right where the liver lay.

Had Liu Chu not yet broken through into the Grade-Entry Realm, and had his strength not been so limited, that punch alone would have ruptured the man's liver.

Even so, after taking the blow head-on, the young man was in such pain that he briefly lost his fighting strength, his body reeling unsteadily.

Naturally, Liu Chu would not give him a chance to catch his breath. He suddenly raised his leg and unleashed a Scorpion Tail Sweep, his right foot smashing viciously into the man's face.

Smack!

The young man took another kick. His staggering body could no longer hold up, and he collapsed to the ground, seeing stars.

At that moment, Han Qi rushed up from behind, grabbed the young man's arm, and dislocated it in one motion. Then he let out a long breath, his eyes shining brightly with excitement.

"Hahaha, good lad! I never thought that after only two months in the martial academy, you'd already be this capable!"

Han Qi hauled the young man up by the back of his collar and looked at Liu Chu with amazed clicks of his tongue.

"Just luck."

Liu Chu answered modestly, then asked, "Who is this man...?"

He had not really wanted to involve himself in gang fighting, but when Han Qi called out to him, he had acted without hesitation.

But since he had intervened, he needed to find out who his opponent was, lest there be trouble afterward.

"Heh, this kid is worth quite a bit!"

Han Qi grinned and began searching him. Before long, he pulled out a money pouch and tossed it to Liu Chu without even looking inside.

"Twenty taels of silver?"

Liu Chu opened the pouch and looked at Han Qi in surprise.

Han Qi was not surprised in the slightest; he found it entirely normal. Grabbing the young man by the hair, he exposed his neck. "This kid's nickname is Bloodline Shrimp. He's the Green Tiger Gang leader's brother-in-law!"

Only then did Liu Chu notice a scar on the young man's neck, a vertical blood-red line like a shrimp vein. It was quite conspicuous.

"The Green Tiger Gang leader's brother-in-law?!"

Liu Chu's eyes widened.

"Hahaha, exactly, exactly! This time, we've rendered great merit!"

Han Qi was radiant with excitement, his eyes gleaming.

Although Liu Chu was worried, he did not say much.

They had caught him already. They could hardly let him go now.

He took ten taels from the pouch and handed them to Han Qi. "Here, half each."

But Han Qi shook his head. "No need. You caught this man. I'll be able to collect a reward from the gang later, and then I'll give you half of that."

"Let's go together."

Liu Chu did not insist. After thinking it over, he decided to help to the end and escort the young man back to the Golden Fish Gang with Han Qi, just in case anything happened. It was on the way, anyway.

"Alright!"

Han Qi nodded as well.

The two soon arrived at the Golden Fish Gang. Liu Chu did not go inside and simply waited outside.

After waiting for a while, Han Qi finally emerged in high spirits.

"Hahaha, Ah Chu, look what this is!"

Han Qi held up a brightly colored fish and waved it in front of Liu Chu.

"A Treasure Fish?!"

Surprise appeared on Liu Chu's face.

What Han Qi held in his hand was unmistakably a Treasure Fish!

"This time, I caught the Green Tiger Gang leader's brother-in-law and rendered great merit. Besides rewarding me with a hundred taels of silver, the gang leader also gave me this Treasure Fish!"

Han Qi pulled Liu Chu toward home. "Come on, we'll share this Treasure Fish!"

Liu Chu could not help licking his lips. He had never tasted Treasure Fish before. He had heard they offered considerable benefits to martial artists.

Then his heart stirred as he recalled the sacrifice requirement on the Comprehension Panel: three Treasure Fish / thirty taels of silver, two years of lifespan.

"A Qi, can you get more Treasure Fish?"

Liu Chu suddenly asked.

"Why are you asking that?"

Han Qi first asked a question, then shook his head before Liu Chu could explain. "The Treasure Fish harvested by the Golden Fish Gang are all in the gang leader's hands. Apart from supplying several designated families... only those who render great merit receive them as rewards."

"Can't they be bought with silver?"

Liu Chu asked unwillingly.

Han Qi still shook his head. "No. I heard it used to be possible, but later, several gang higher-ups used it to cook up false accounts. The gang leader then ordered that gang members could not use silver to buy the gang's Treasure Fish unless they were being rewarded for merit..."

After saying that, he asked curiously, "Why do you want Treasure Fish? The effect of Treasure Fish on martial artists varies completely from person to person. Some gain enormous benefits after eating one, while for others, the effects are negligible."

Liu Chu naturally knew that as well. Treasure Fish seemed difficult to digest, and their medicinal effects differed depending on the person who ate them.

But he intended to use them for sacrifice, so naturally, that did not matter to him.

"If you want to buy Treasure Fish, you can go to the Black Market. I heard the hall master say that Treasure Fish often appear there, and they're even a little cheaper than on the open market..."

Han Qi lowered his voice. "They're probably secretly swapped out by stewards, cooks, and the like from those families, taking advantage of their positions."

"Anyway, the effects of this stuff vary from person to person. Once cooked, they all look about the same. A cook can add some spices, and that's enough to pass the fake off as real..."

"Where is the Black Market?"

Liu Chu was immediately tempted.

He needed three Treasure Fish for the sacrifice. If the Black Market was cheaper than the open market, that could not have been better.

After all, he did not have much money on him. Naturally, he needed to save wherever he could.

Han Qi told him the location of the Black Market and some precautions. "Whenever you want to go to the Black Market, remember to call me. I'll go with you. The Black Market isn't safe. Many people choose to go in groups."

"No rush. I'll call you when the time comes."

Liu Chu nodded, abandoning the idea of asking Han Qi for the Treasure Fish in his hand. "I'll just go to the Black Market and buy them all at once. With only one Treasure Fish, it would be easy for someone to steal it from the tank."

Han Qi's house was next door. It was a little larger than Liu Chu's, with a small courtyard enclosed by a fence and a fairly spacious kitchen.

The two were both orphans who had grown up playing together, and they often mooched meals off each other. Naturally, they ate dinner at Han Qi's home this time as well.

Han Qi's cooking was not as good as Liu Chu's, so he was responsible for killing and scaling the fish.

Then he handed it over to Liu Chu to cook.

"I heard Treasure Fish are already incomparably delicious without any seasoning."

With practiced ease, Liu Chu simmered a pot of fish soup and carried it into the small courtyard.

"Half each, so there won't be any resentment!"

Liu Chu paid close attention to such little details. After serving the fish soup, he kept the fish tail, which had little meat and no auspicious meaning, for himself.

Though the fish head also had little meat, it carried a good meaning, so he gave it to Han Qi. They split the fish body and soup evenly.

That way, there would absolutely be no conflict.

Though neither of them would have cared about such a trivial matter, Liu Chu handled it patiently all the same.

"Here, fifty taels of silver. We agreed on half each, so don't refuse!"

Han Qi counted out fifty taels of silver and held them out to Liu Chu.

"Then let's split these twenty taels in half too."

Liu Chu took forty taels.

Although he intended to borrow money from Han Qi to buy Treasure Fish, borrowing was borrowing and dividing money was dividing money. Even blood brothers kept clear accounts; the two could not be mixed together.

"Fine, then."

Seeing that, Han Qi did not continue to decline.

"Eat the fish!"

With sixty taels of silver apiece, they had become rich overnight. Both of them were extremely happy.