Four Spirits Body Refining

Du Yehu was the son of a butcher. With plenty of rich food to eat, he had grown up big and sturdy, often chasing down and beating seven or eight children his age all by himself. He was known as the little tyrant of Du Family Town. That was also why Old Du gave him a sound thrashing every few days. The more he got beaten, the tougher he became.

Old Du had traded a full two jin of pig offal to a monk for his name.

The Zhuang Kingdom had made the Daoist Sect its state religion, so the Buddhist Sect naturally had a hard time of it. The old monk kept to the only dilapidated temple within a hundred li, and went hungry as often as he ate. When he saw pig offal, he looked like a cat spotting a fish, his eyes practically shining like a Buddha had manifested before him.

Back then, Du Yehu had clung desperately to those two jin of offal and refused to let go. He was hungry too. Though he was a butcher's son and had eaten his share of meat, the scraps were never enough to fill him up.

Through his tears, he had shouted that he didn't want some grand name. He just wanted the pig offal. He could be called Pillar, or even Pig Offal.

Old Du had been too embarrassed to bear it. He'd lifted him up and given him a sound beating, but by the time Old Du was worn out, little Du was still clutching those two jin of offal.

The old monk had immediately proposed splitting the offal with little Du, half for each of them. He'd also said that the boy was strong-willed and hard to tame, so Wild Tiger would be a fitting name.

Du Yehu had gotten an official name, but he still did nothing useful all day. Ever since he met the old monk, he followed at his heels every day. The old monk had all sorts of trades: fortune-telling, praying for rain, exorcisms, and every kind of trick and scam. But all Du Yehu learned from him was how to drink.

Old Du worried his son might up and become a monk, so every now and then he'd take his butcher's knife to the dilapidated temple to check on him. Fortunately, the old monk left before long. He slipped away without a sound, without even saying goodbye.

Later, the dilapidated temple was torn down and replaced with a Land God Temple.

Not long after that, Old Du met with disaster.

It all began over something trivial. A constable in town thought the meat he'd bought was short-weighted and berated Old Du for cheating him. By rights, the matter could have been settled by giving him two extra liang of meat. But Old Du was stubborn too. He grabbed his butcher's knife and stuck it into the chopping block, saying the constable could take the meat anywhere to be weighed. If he wanted to cheat him, he could forget it.

The constable couldn't stomach the humiliation. In a moment of anger, he stabbed Old Du, killing him on the spot.

Madam Du ran to the yamen to report the crime. The case was simple enough; there were witnesses and physical evidence aplenty. But the constable's brother-in-law happened to be the official in charge of Du Family Town's little yamen.

After a bit of tampering, the case became one in which the butcher Old Du had wielded a knife to attack the constable, who had been forced to fight back and accidentally killed him. In the end, the constable was docked half a year's pay.

Poor Old Du had slaughtered pigs all his life, but he didn't have the guts to kill a person. Madam Du couldn't swallow her rage and smashed her head against the yamen, killing herself.

That day, Du Yehu had led a bunch of children to the river in the neighboring town to catch fish. When he returned home, his family was gone.

So he picked up the knife Old Du had used to slaughter pigs and charged into the yamen in broad daylight. In front of everyone, he hacked the constable and his brother-in-law to death right there in the court.

He was only thirteen that year.

The case later reached the City Lord's Mansion. After investigating, the old City Lord pardoned Du Yehu and recruited him into the Dao Academy as an exception.

That was Du Yehu's story. He'd been stubborn since childhood. Once he'd made up his mind, no one could change it. It couldn't be helped; both his father and mother had been just as stubborn.

"Have they given you a cultivation technique yet?" Jiang Wang asked after a moment's thought.

Du Yehu pulled a little booklet from his robe and tossed it carelessly onto the table in front of Jiang Wang. "Here. A White Tiger Body Refining Technique, but it's incomplete. They said it's the standard version used by the military."

Of course, a technique like this couldn't be passed on to outsiders, but Du Yehu would never believe Jiang Wang would harm him.

Jiang Wang picked up the Military School technique and flipped through it casually. Without saying much, he rose to his feet. "I have something to take care of. Wait here for me."

Leaving Zhao Rucheng and Du Yehu to chat, Jiang Wang got up and went out. He found an empty room, went inside, and locked the door. Then he activated the Void Key and entered the Great Void Illusion Realm.

He summoned the Dao Evolution Platform and placed the incomplete manual on it to begin the deduction. The Merit on the Sundial steadily dwindled, stopping only when it reached 190.

The deduction of this technique had consumed a full 3,400 Merit, almost twice as much as the Purple Qi Comes from the East Sword Technique. It had also pushed the Dao Evolution Platform to its current limit.

Of course, that was also because this technique, though incomplete, was still a Military School cultivation method—a true transcendent technique. Its foundation was far superior to that of the Purple Qi Comes from the East Sword Technique, so its potential was naturally much greater.

Once the deduction was complete, Jiang Wang took the new technique and looked it over. He found that it had not only restored the missing sections of the White Tiger Body Refining Technique, but also expanded and evolved it. It now had four sections: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise. Once the four spirits were combined, its power would be on an entirely different level.

Jiang Wang exited the Great Void Illusion Realm, picked up the technique, and left. As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw a lovely woman in red standing outside. Her brows were dark as ink, her eyes rippling with autumnal light. A fleeting glance from her held an endless, subtle charm.

Her eyes were full of feeling, and her red lips stirred, as though she meant to say something.

"Excuse me." Jiang Wang walked past her.

It wasn't that Jiang Wang was truly so insensitive to beauty. He had just come out of the Great Void Illusion Realm, and the panic of nearly having his secret exposed made it impossible for him to appreciate even the most beautiful woman.

Drinking really did get in the way. Jiang Wang silently reminded himself to be careful. He had actually entered the Great Void Illusion Realm right inside the Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion, a place teeming with all sorts of people. He'd completely let his guard down.

Jiang Wang hurried back to Zhao Rucheng's private room. He waited a while, and only after confirming that no one had followed him did he breathe a sigh of relief and sit back down.

He returned the White Tiger Body Refining Technique to Du Yehu. The newly deduced Four Spirits Body Refining Technique existed only in the Great Void Illusion Realm, so he still needed to copy it down separately.

"When are you leaving?" Jiang Wang asked.

"Tomorrow morning," Du Yehu said.

"We'll see you off tomorrow—"

Knock, knock, knock! The untimely sound of knocking interrupted him.

"Come in," Zhao Rucheng said casually.

The woman who entered was the madam of the Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion, a flamboyantly dressed woman heavily coated in powder and rouge.

"Oh, my! Our young Master Zhao just gets more and more handsome." The woman teased him, even reaching out as though to touch his face, acting as if they were old friends.

Zhao Rucheng leaned back and deliberately glanced past the exposed expanse of pale skin above her bodice. "Don't get too close. Your chest makes me dizzy."

The madam gave an affected, coquettish laugh. "How naughty. You didn't have that problem before."

"Your Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion didn't act so high and mighty before, either!"

The madam's brows furrowed. "Has our little establishment failed to serve you properly? Did those lowly maids neglect our honored guest just now?"

Zhao Rucheng watched her with interest. "What do you think? I've spent so much silver today, yet you still won't let Miao Yu come out and meet me. The Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion is famous throughout the world. Is stringing along your patrons all you know how to do?"

The Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion was a truly world-renowned house of pleasure, with branches in every kingdom. Its elusive proprietress was rarely seen, but her fame for beauty had spread among the heroes of the world. She was hailed as the most beautiful woman under heaven.

Every man who had seen her was willing to become a servant beneath her skirts. Among them were powerful generals and nobles from illustrious houses; rumor even had it that the ruler of a kingdom and the leader of a sect were hopelessly devoted to her.

The Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion's foundations were undoubtedly formidable. Though this small branch in Maple Forest City had no expert in residence, the Pavilion's name alone made it the most refined house of pleasure in the city.

It was precisely because of the Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion's backing that the madam was so confident. But that same backing meant she absolutely couldn't allow the Pavilion's reputation to suffer. Her expression instantly darkened.

"Could it be..." A voice that seemed to melt the bones took up the thread. A woman dressed in a brilliant red gown entered with a graceful sway. Red was a difficult color to wear well; it could easily become garish. Yet it suited her perfectly—or rather, she herself was the finest embodiment of the word "alluring," impossible to overshadow.

She entered the room and swept her autumn eyes over everyone inside. At last, her gaze settled on Zhao Rucheng, bashful and smiling. "Could it be that it wasn't Mother who stopped me from seeing you, but that I simply didn't want to see you?"

Naturally, it was Miao Yu.