Seeing Liu Tiesuo die with his eyes still open, Zhang Xiuying felt no fear at all—only relief.
"Thank you." Zhang Xiuying kowtowed.
"How much silver will it take to buy back your daughter?"
"How much silver will it take to buy back your daughter?"
"Seven taels," Zhang Xiuying said.
This man's life isn't even worth as much as an Earth Origin Pill, Zhao An thought.
In truth, human life was even cheaper than he had imagined.
Liu Tiesuo had sold his daughter for just two taels, and some wealthy households could buy slaves for less than a string of copper coins.
"I can lend you seven taels to buy back your daughter, but there's one condition." As Zhao An spoke, he gently set seven pieces of broken silver on the table.
"I agree. I'll agree to anything, as long as I can buy my daughter back." Zhang Xiuying eagerly accepted before Zhao An had even finished speaking.
The next moment, Zhao An saw white light like smoke drift from Zhang Xiuying and settle into his palm, where it gathered into a pale-white Virtue Fruit.
Zhao An gazed at the Virtue Fruit in his palm, lost in thought.
It seemed that saving people wasn't the only way to obtain Virtue Fruits. Fulfilling this woman's greatest wish could do it, too.
He didn't even have to state the specific terms of the exchange. The Virtue Fruit would come to him on its own.
Putting away the Virtue Fruit, Zhao An had accomplished his goal. He immediately turned and left.
"Y-you haven't told me what the condition is! How can I repay you?" Zhang Xiuying was still kneeling on the ground. Seeing Zhao An about to leave, she couldn't help asking.
"I've already gotten what I wanted."
That evening, at Bright Moon Clinic.
Dozens of pieces of broken silver and a large pile of copper coins lay scattered across the table.
"We collected sixty-four taels of silver. As agreed, we each get thirty-two." Zhao An counted it all out in front of the Female Physician, then took his share.
Meng Wanyi and Meng Shao exchanged a glance. Neither seemed to have expected Zhao An to keep his word so faithfully.
He even took another five taels from his thirty-two and paid for that morning's medicine.
"Thank you." Meng Wanyi felt, for some reason, as though she'd made a tidy profit, and thanked him instinctively.
"Does your clinic sell Earth Origin Pills?" Zhao An suddenly asked.
"Yes. Twenty taels of silver each," Meng Wanyi replied.
"You want one?"
"That expensive? They only cost ten taels each on the market." Zhao An thought the young woman must have money on the brain—she was so desperate for silver she'd gone mad.
"The ones on the market are all inferior pills. The truly high-quality pills have long since been snapped up by the powerful lineages. Ordinary people don't stand a chance.
"The Earth Origin Pills I refine are at least high-grade! I can even make flawless top-grade pills—if you're willing to pay more!" Meng Wanyi spoke as though he were an ignorant outsider.
"I don't have the money." What Zhao An had earned today was just enough to buy one Earth Origin Pill, but spending so much silver on only one pill seemed terribly wasteful.
He might as well buy inferior pills on the market. He wasn't taking them to practice martial arts himself; he only needed the energy to extract the Soul Slaves' martial arts results.
"Do you have anything else that's highly nourishing and good value for money?"
"If it's highly nourishing, it won't be cheap." Meng Wanyi shook her head.
"Then do you have any medicinal herbs with stronger properties?" Zhao An asked, backing down another step.
He truly knew next to nothing about this world's medicinal herbs and pills.
"There are some, but you can't just eat those herbs carelessly. Even if they're not poisonous, taking them can still cause trouble." Meng Wanyi kindly warned him.
"Never mind. Sorry for the trouble, but could you recommend a few?" Zhao An said unconcernedly.
A short while later, Zhao An left the clinic with a large bundle in his hands.
Red Blood Root, one of the main ingredients used to refine various qi-and-blood-nourishing pills.
Meng Wanyi had offered him quite a few choices. After considering what he needed, Zhao An had ultimately decided to buy this herb.
Red Blood Root grew high in the mountains, in sunny places. Its stems and roots were red, and its roots looked as if they were wrapped in masses of crimson veins.
Its properties were gently nourishing, making it specially suited to deficiencies of qi and blood in the body.
On the market, a pound of ten-year-old Red Blood Root cost ten taels of silver.
But all the Red Blood Root Zhao An had bought was only a year old. A pound cost just a hundred copper coins.
In terms of medicinal properties, the difference between one-year-old and ten-year-old Red Blood Root wasn't actually that great. But rarity made it precious. Ten-year-old Red Blood Root was scarce, while one-year-old Red Blood Root wasn't exactly growing all over the mountains, but you could still dig up a whole handful on a sunny slope. That was why it was so cheap.
For Zhao An, buying this low-year Red Blood Root was excellent value for money.
"Remember, Red Blood Root has potent properties. Without other herbs to balance it, if you take it on its own, use as little as possible each time you boil it..." Meng Wanyi stood in the clinic doorway and reminded him again and again.
"Big Sister, why are you so concerned about him? Don't forget, this Zhao An is a wicked man," Meng Shao said quietly.
"If he's wicked, why does he keep his word so faithfully...?" Meng Wanyi watched Zhao An walk away, then glanced back at the pile of broken silver on the table.
Meng Shao was puzzled, too.
Indeed, after these two encounters, Zhao An's behavior had been truly strange.
He was far too scrupulous about rules. The lewd look in his eyes was gone, and even his speech had lost its crude profanity.
She had to admit that this wicked man seemed much more mild-mannered and easy on the eyes now. It was as if even his face had changed.
"Could it be that he cracked his head this time, died and came back to life, and had a complete change of character?" Meng Shao wondered aloud.
"Who knows? If the world had one fewer wicked man, that wouldn't be a bad thing." Meng Wanyi smiled faintly and closed the door.
In the small courtyard, Li Gou'er and Zhao Chunzi had spent all day running around with Zhao An to collect debts. Once they got back, they took quick cold showers and went to bed early.
Of course, Zhao An hadn't shortchanged them.
After spending two taels of silver on Red Blood Root, he still had twenty-five taels in broken silver left.
He split five taels between the two boys, making them so delighted they nearly hugged Zhao An and kissed him.
Even if they spent extravagantly, those five taels would last them a good long while.
Zhao An didn't rest. As soon as he got back, he went straight to the kitchen and began boiling the Red Blood Root.
Before long, the medicinal scent, tinged with a hint of dryness, spread through the air. Even in the small courtyard, it was impossible not to smell it.
By the time the medicine was ready, night had grown late.
Zhao An stayed in the kitchen, focusing on the Soul Pool deep in his mind.
His number of Soul Slaves had now grown to five, proof that Zhao An had killed quite a few people these past days.
[Soul Slave Xu San's enslavement period has ended. Extract Karma Fruit?]
"Extract."
Xu San's enslavement period had lasted a full five years. Given the time flow of martial arts deduction, only five days had passed in the outside world.
At the command, Xu San's soul, in its Soul Slave state, instantly scattered into nothingness. Then the dim glow that burst forth gathered into a small red fruit, which Zhao An absorbed of its own accord.
The sensation of an initiation poured into him once more.
It was the final result of Soul Slave Xu San's five years of ceaseless martial arts practice, without sleep or rest.
The complete, perfectly ordered knowledge, the blade forms honed through countless refinements—they were almost identical to the Fierce Tiger Blade Art that the gang leader Zhou Hu had once displayed!
Soul Slave Xu San had nearly perfectly replicated every blade form of the art, reproducing them with astonishing precision.
At the same time, Zhao An's body was also absorbing the fruits of that arduous practice!
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