Four Spirits Body Refining

Du Yehu was the son of a butcher. Thanks to all the fatty scraps, he'd been stout and sturdy since childhood, often chasing seven or eight kids his age all by himself, earning the title of Little Tyrant of Du Family Town. Because of this, Old Du gave him a thorough beating every few days—and the more he got beaten, the tougher he got.

His name was something Old Du had traded for with a full two catties of pig offal from an old monk.

With the Daoist Sect as the state religion of Zhuang Kingdom, the Buddhist faith naturally didn't fare well. The old monk held onto the only rundown temple for a hundred li around, eating one meal and skipping the next. When he saw pig offal, it was like a cat spotting a fish—his eyes practically gleamed with golden light, as if Buddha himself had manifested.

Du Yehu had clung to those two catties of offal for dear life at the time—he was craving it too. Though as a butcher's son he'd never lacked for meaty scraps, those trimmings were never enough to fill him up.

He'd cried and wailed that he didn't want some grand name, just the pig offal—he'd be fine called Pillar, or even Pig Offal.

Old Du couldn't save face, so he hoisted him up and gave him a thorough beating. He beat him until Old Du himself was exhausted, but Little Du was still clutching those two catties of offal.

The old monk promptly offered to split it fifty-fifty with Little Du, each eating half, and declared that this kid had a tough, unyielding nature—wild and hard to tame—so calling him Wild Tiger was just right.

Du Yehu had a proper name now, but he still spent his days doing nothing worthwhile. After getting to know the old monk, he followed him around every day. The old monk dabbled in all sorts of trades—fortune-telling, rain-praying, exorcism—a whole bag of tricks and scams. But Du Yehu only learned to drink from him.

Old Du worried his son might become a monk on a whim, so he'd regularly show up at the rundown temple, butcher knife in hand, to check in. Luckily, before long, the old monk left. He left without a sound, not even a word of goodbye.

Later, that rundown temple was torn down and replaced with an Earth God shrine.

Not long after that, Old Du met with disaster.

It started over something trivial. A constable in town thought the meat he'd bought was short on weight and scolded Old Du for cheating on the scales. Normally, tossing in an extra two ounces of meat would've settled it, but Old Du was stubborn too. He slammed his butcher knife into the chopping block and said, "Take it to any scale you want—if I'm short, fine. But don't try to rip me off."

The constable felt humiliated and, in a fit of impulse, stabbed him. Old Du died on the spot.

Madam Du went to the yamen to file a complaint. The case was simple enough—witnesses and evidence were all there. But as luck would have it, the constable's brother-in-law was the magistrate of that little Du Family Town office.

With a bit of twisting, the case turned into: Butcher Old Du attacked with a knife, the constable fought back in self-defense, and killed him by accident. The punishment was a half-year's salary docked.

Poor Old Du had butchered pigs his whole life, but where would he get the guts to kill a man? Madam Du couldn't swallow that injustice and dashed her head against the yamen gate, dying on the spot.

That day, Du Yehu had led a bunch of kids to fish in the river of the next town. When he came home, his home was gone.

So he picked up Old Du's butcher knife, charged into the yamen in broad daylight, and in front of everyone, chopped that constable and his brother-in-law to death right there in the hall.

He was only thirteen that year.

The case later reached the city lord's office. After investigating, the old city lord granted Du Yehu a special pardon, declaring him innocent, and even broke the rules to admit him into the Dao Academy.

That was Du Yehu's story. He'd been stubborn since childhood—once he made up his mind, no one could change it. No help for it; his father and mother were both that stubborn.

"The technique... should have been given to you by now, right?" Jiang Wang thought for a moment, then asked.

Du Yehu pulled a small booklet from his chest and tossed it carelessly onto the table in front of Jiang Wang. "Here, a White Tiger Body Refining Technique, and it's an incomplete copy. They said it's the standard military version."

This kind of technique naturally couldn't be passed around, but Du Yehu absolutely believed Jiang Wang would never harm him.

Jiang Wang picked up this military cultivation technique, flipped through it casually, said nothing more, and stood up. "I've got something to do. Wait for me a bit."

Leaving Zhao Rucheng to chat with Du Yehu, Jiang Wang got up and left, found an empty room at random, went in, and locked the door. Then he activated the Void Key and entered the Great Void Illusion Realm.

He summoned the Dao Evolution Platform, placed the incomplete text on it, and began the deduction. The merit on the sundial kept decreasing until it stopped at 190.

The deduction of this technique had consumed a full 3,400 merit points—almost twice as much as the Purple Qi Comes from the East Sword Technique! It had also reached the current limit of the Dao Evolution Platform.

Of course, this was also because, though an incomplete copy, it was still a military cultivation method—a true transcendent technique—with a much better foundation than the Purple Qi Comes from the East Sword Technique, and naturally a much higher ceiling.

When the deduction was complete, Jiang Wang took the brand-new technique and looked it over. He found that it hadn't just filled in the missing parts of the White Tiger Body Refining Technique; it had also expanded and evolved it. Now it was divided into four sections: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise. Finally, the four spirits merged into one, and its power was incomparable to before.

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 charming woman in red standing at the entrance. Her brows were like ink strokes, her eyes rippling with autumn waves—just a hurried glance from her carried endless, subtle allure.

Her eyes held affection, her red lips parted slightly, as if she were about to speak.

"Excuse me." Jiang Wang walked past her.

It wasn't that Jiang Wang was truly so oblivious to romance, but he'd just come out of the Great Void Illusion Realm with a panicked feeling of nearly having his secret exposed. No matter how beautiful the woman, he couldn't appreciate her at that moment.

Drinking really clouds the mind, Jiang Wang silently warned himself. He had actually entered the Great Void Illusion Realm right in the Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion, a place of mixed crowds and romantic dealings—this was completely reckless.

Jiang Wang hurried back to Zhao Rucheng's private room, waited quietly for a while, and only relaxed when he was sure no one had followed. He sat back down in his seat.

He returned the White Tiger Body Refining Technique to Du Yehu. The newly deduced Four Spirits Body Refining Technique only existed in the Great Void Illusion Realm; he would need to copy it out separately.

"When are you leaving?" Jiang Wang asked.

"Tomorrow morning," Du Yehu said.

"Tomorrow we'll see you off—"

"Knock, knock, knock~" An untimely knock sounded at the door.

"Come in," Zhao Rucheng said casually.

In walked the madam of the Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion, a heavily powdered, brightly dressed woman.

"Oh my~ Our Young Master Zhao is getting more handsome by the day!" The woman teased, reaching out as if to touch Zhao Rucheng's face, acting very familiar.

Zhao Rucheng leaned back, deliberately glancing at the half-exposed snowy softness of her chest. "Don't get too close. I get dizzy from cleavage."

The madam let out an affected giggle. "How annoying~ You never had that problem before~"

"Before, your Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion wasn't so stuck-up either!"

The madam frowned. "Has our establishment been lacking in service? Were those worthless girls rude to our honored guest?"

Zhao Rucheng looked at her with interest. "What do you think? I've thrown down so much silver today, and you still won't let Miao Yu come out to see me? The Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion is famous far and wide—is this the only trick you have for stringing along your patrons?"

The Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion was a pleasure house truly renowned across the world, with branches in every nation. The Pavilion Master was elusive as a dragon glimpsed but never seen in full, yet her fame for beauty spread through the ears of all the realm's heroes, hailed as peerless under heaven.

Every man who had laid eyes on her was willing to become a vassal beneath her skirts. Among them were no shortage of powerful generals, noble scions, and even, as legend had it, sovereigns of nations and masters of sects, all hopelessly devoted to her.

The foundation of the Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion was undoubtedly formidable. This small branch in Maple Forest City, though lacking any expert overseeing it, relied solely on the name of the Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion to stand as the most tasteful pleasure house in the city.

It was precisely because of the Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion's background that the madam had such confidence. Yet, for the same reason, she dared not let the Pavilion's reputation suffer any damage. Thus, her face instantly turned sour.

"Could it be..." At that moment, a voice that made one's bones melt took over the conversation, as a woman in a fiery red dress stepped in gracefully. Red was not an easy color to wear well, often veering into garish vulgarity. But it suited her perfectly—or rather, she herself was the finest embodiment of the word "gorgeous," impossible to overshadow.

She entered the room, her autumn-pool eyes sweeping over everyone present before landing on Zhao Rucheng with a shy, smiling gaze. "Could it be that it wasn't Mother keeping me from seeing you, but rather that I didn't want to see you?"

She was, naturally, Miao Yu.