Exotic Beast Meat

Jiang Che pondered briefly and decided to try his luck at a pharmacy first.

After all, medicine and poison came from the same family.

Some poisons could be used as medicine.

And some medicines could also be wielded as poison!

Several of the city's larger pharmacies were concentrated in the East District.

After turning down a street, Jiang Che spotted a pharmacy.

The plaque above its entrance bore the three large characters: "Hundred Herb Hall."

The pillars on either side read:

"May all beneath heaven be free of illness; why fear the medicines on the shelves gathering dust?"

"This is the one!"

Jiang Che walked inside.

The moment he entered, a rich medicinal fragrance rushed over him.

Many medicine cabinets stood throughout the spacious hall.

The densely packed little drawers were labeled with the names of various medicinal herbs.

Behind the counter stood an old man in an indigo robe. His goatee was trimmed neatly, and he was weighing medicine with a small scale.

"Shopkeeper." Jiang Che walked over. "Do you have any medicine that can instantly paralyze someone or leave their whole body weak and powerless?"

The old man with the goatee's hand trembled, and several slices of astragalus fell from the scale pan.

He looked Jiang Che over and said gravely, "Sir, you must be joking. Our Hundred Herb Hall is a respectable pharmacy. We only sell medicine to heal the sick and save lives."

"I am trying to save someone. It's just that the patient needs to be anesthetized immediately..." Jiang Che still did not give up.

"We truly do not have such a thing here. If you are not buying anything else, then please leave." The old man with the goatee raised his brows and directly saw him out.

Jiang Che had no choice but to leave.

"Looks like poison won't be easy to get..."

As Jiang Che walked down the street, he suddenly saw two half-grown boys fighting.

One of them had been knocked to the ground, but he suddenly grabbed a handful of ash from the ground and flung it into the other's eyes.

The other boy could not dodge in time. His eyes were instantly filled with ash, and he immediately flailed about in a panic.

In the blink of an eye, the situation had turned around.

The youth with ash in his eyes could not see clearly. He was tripped to the ground, then took quite a few punches before finally begging for mercy in helplessness.

As Jiang Che watched, inspiration suddenly flashed through his mind.

"I can use quicklime powder!"

He had read plenty of martial arts novels in his previous life. Using lime powder to catch people off guard in those stories had always worked like a charm.

This stuff boiled upon contact with water, so it could not be washed off with water and could only be dealt with using oil. It would not be easy to handle for a while!

"Besides, quicklime is cheap and easy to buy!"

Jiang Che immediately went to a general store and spent half a tael of silver on a large packet of quicklime.

The shopkeeper wrapped it in three layers of thick oiled paper, tied it tightly with straw rope, and warned him never to let it get damp.

With the quicklime tucked away, Jiang Che felt even safer.

Early the next morning.

Jiang Che arrived at the Martial Arts Hall and saw Zhang Xiong gnawing on a strip of dried meat from some unknown animal.

The dried meat did not seem particularly tasty. Zhang Xiong frowned as he chewed, nearly gagging several times, yet he still swallowed it.

"Senior Brother Zhang, what are you eating?" Jiang Che asked curiously.

As he drew closer, he caught a strong, rank, fishy smell and could not help frowning.

"Exotic Beast Meat," Zhang Xiong said as he chewed.

"What is Exotic Beast Meat?" Jiang Che asked doubtfully.

Zhang Xiong's eyes widened. "You don't even know what Exotic Beast Meat is?!"

Seeing Jiang Che remain silent, realization dawned on him. "No wonder your Qi-Blood has always been so weak."

He then began explaining to Jiang Che what Exotic Beast Meat was.

Exotic Beast Meat was made by capturing Black Beast Cubs and feeding them special medicines from a young age.

Once they reached adulthood, those Black Beasts lost their wild nature.

Then, the Black Beasts were used as breeding stock and crossbred with ordinary wild animals.

That produced mutated wild beasts carrying Black Beast bloodlines.

The meat of these mutated wild beasts was Exotic Beast Meat.

Ordinary people would be poisoned if they ate this Exotic Beast Meat.

But for Martial Artists who had broken through to the Blood-Qi Realm—

Not only would eating it cause them no harm, it was instead a great tonic for strengthening their Qi-Blood!

"Strengthening Qi-Blood!"

Jiang Che's eyes lit up.

Wasn't this exactly what he desperately needed right now?!

"Want a taste?" Zhang Xiong broke off a small piece and handed it over.

Jiang Che took it and gave it a sniff.

A powerful stench immediately surged into his nostrils, nearly bringing tears to his eyes.

It smelled like an uncastrated pig and sheep mixed together, except ten times more pungent and rank.

But as long as it could replenish his Qi-Blood, Jiang Che could not care less.

He put it into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed it whole.

Before long, Jiang Che felt a wave of warmth rise from his lower abdomen. His Qi-Blood had actually grown a tiny bit stronger!

"It really works!" Jiang Che was secretly stunned.

Seeing Jiang Che act as though he had never seen the world before, Zhang Xiong could not help shaking his head.

"This is the most ordinary dried Pig-Sheep Beast meat. It's low-grade Exotic Beast Meat. It costs ten taels of silver per jin, enough to eat for ten days, so it's not especially expensive. As for the effect, it's just so-so."

Jiang Che's eyes widened. Ten taels of silver for one jin, and the effect was already this good—yet Zhang Xiong called it just so-so.

He finally understood how far behind everyone else he was when it came to supplements!

"Low-grade? So there's even better Exotic Beast Meat?" Jiang Che asked.

"Of course." Zhang Xiong took another bite, and his face could not help twitching. "There's also mid-grade. Mid-grade is much more effective, but it costs one hundred taels per jin. And even then, it's something money cannot buy. Small quantities usually appear at auctions. Some major powers have it too, but they do not sell it publicly. They keep it for their own people."

Jiang Che nodded. That was only normal.

"There's also top-grade," Zhang Xiong continued. "Top-grade is already priceless. It is said that only the authorities, the Five Great Families, and certain top-tier powers possess small amounts. They say that even someone with terrible talent can successfully break through to the Iron Skin Realm after eating it!"

"That powerful?!" Jiang Che clicked his tongue in amazement.

"We should stop dreaming about it." Zhang Xiong sighed.

Jiang Che nodded. "Then where did you buy this Exotic Beast Meat? I want to buy some too."

He did some calculations. After buying soft armor, wrist blades, and quicklime, he still had around sixteen taels of silver left.

That was enough to buy one jin of Exotic Beast Meat!

"Huh? I brought this from home," Zhang Xiong said.

"Your home?" Jiang Che was somewhat surprised.

Zhang Xiong nodded and said:

"My family runs a pharmacy. We may not be as impressive as Jishi Hall, but we have everything we should have."

Jiang Che stared at him in astonishment.

"No wonder you didn't choose to attach yourself to another faction back then..."

But then he looked at Zhang Xiong's burly body and imagined him examining patients and dispensing medicine...

What? You say the medicine from my shop doesn't work? Then let's see whether my Layered Cloud Fist works!

Then a fist the size of a casserole swung over...

Jiang Che could not help finding the image rather comical.

"What is it?" Seeing Jiang Che stare at him without blinking, Zhang Xiong began to feel creeped out.

"Ah... nothing!" Jiang Che hurriedly shook his head.

"After we finish practicing, I'll take you to my family's shop. I'll give you a discount," Zhang Xiong offered.

"This... how could I accept that?"

Jiang Che scratched his head and smiled awkwardly.

"It's fine. We're fellow disciples, so why be so formal? Besides, we'll still make a profit." Zhang Xiong smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

By the time the two finished practicing their fists, it was already getting late.

Zhang Xiong then took Jiang Che to his family's pharmacy.

Jiang Che was greatly looking forward to it.

Along the way, the two chatted as they walked, exchanging insights on fist techniques.

Although Jiang Che's Qi-Blood was insufficient, his fist technique was solid, and Zhang Xiong learned quite a bit as well.

Zhang Xiong also shared some of the insights he had figured out over the years about increasing Qi-Blood, clearing up many of Jiang Che's doubts.

Before they realized it, they had arrived in front of a pharmacy.

Jiang Che looked at the pillars by the entrance and found them somewhat familiar. When he looked up—

"Hundred Herb Hall?!"