"Chief Constable Hou came too...?" Chi Jin was a middle-aged man dressed in brocade robes. He looked quite shrewd.
Hou Ping looked at the newcomer, his lips moving slightly. He merely glanced at Chi Jin before cupping his hands toward Fang Xiao in greeting.
Hou Wuchun and Chi Lin blinked a few times, then hunched their shoulders and followed behind Hou Ping.
Only after Chief Constable Hou and the other two had left did Chi Jin wave his hand. Two men emerged from behind the carriage, hauling a large chest.
"You must be Head Constable Fang, I presume?" Chi Jin asked with a beaming smile.
"What do you want?" Fang Xiao's expression was impassive.
He knew this man. He was one of the wealthiest merchants in Willow Town, with numerous businesses.
But precisely because of that, Fang Xiao had no desire to deal with him.
He was a merchant, just like the Chu Family. Merchants put profit first.
"Brother Chu... Is he at home?" Chi Lin spoke up. "I'm his friend. I invited Brother Chu to a banquet at the Green Bamboo Pavilion yesterday, but he couldn't make it, so I've brought over some gifts today."
Fang Xiao adjusted the saber at his waist, his voice turning chilly. "You've come to the wrong place."
With that, he paid no mind to their reaction, turned around, went back inside, and shut the courtyard gate.
"Father..." Chi Lin was a little anxious.
Chi Jin stared at the humble little courtyard, his brow furrowing tightly.
Willow Town wasn't very big, and Chi Jin was a man of some standing there. Wherever he went, he was surrounded by people.
But the owner of this little courtyard... was no ordinary man either.
The old man just now worked for the Catching Yamen, and even Hou Ping had called him Brother Fang. He was definitely an expert.
As for the young man inside, he had once been unknown... No, it would be more accurate to say his reputation had been terrible. According to the information Chi Jin had gathered, he was a fallen young master, the sort who'd picked up all kinds of bad habits.
Yet after a serious illness, the young man had come to his senses. Not only had he taken first place in the Academy Exam, he had also been summoned by the Registrar of Baiyuan County.
The Registrar held Principal Eighth Rank. Even Chi Jin would have to spend a fair bit of silver greasing palms just to secure a meeting with him.
He'd wanted to offer this fallen young master some favors and build a relationship before the young man rose to prominence. But he hadn't even managed to see him before getting turned away at the door.
"Let's go back."
With Head Constable Fang standing in their way, getting into that courtyard was all but impossible.
"Father?"
"We'll talk about it later. There'll be plenty of opportunities."
Inside the courtyard.
Fang Xiao listened as the rumble of the carriage wheels faded into the distance. Only then did his tense expression gradually relax.
"My wife died because of the Chu Family's internal struggle over profit. Now that the young master has shown his talent, his future is boundless. I mustn't let him get mixed up with these merchants who'd do anything for profit."
He turned toward the main room. Xiao Shan was focused on clearing away the dishes.
"Tiger Python Force..."
Fang Xiao fixed his gaze on Chu Ming's room.
He'd originally planned to go to the Catching Yamen with Hou Ping after lunch to discuss the case.
But the appearance of that wrinkled sheet of paper had left him deeply unsettled.
"Xiao Shan, is the young master's medicinal decoction ready?"
"It's ready."
"Good."
Fang Xiao went into the kitchen, picked up the kettle, and poured out a bowl of dark-brown medicinal decoction.
The medicine was called Tiger Force Decoction. It was essential for practicing the Tiger Python Body-Forging Technique. One batch cost two taels of silver and lasted at most ten days.
Drinking it every day cost six taels of silver a month.
An ordinary household spent about one tael of silver a month.
Practicing martial arts required talent, but it also depended on financial support. Six taels a month for medicinal decoctions was more than most ordinary people could afford. That was why he'd eventually decided to join the Catching Yamen.
Fang Xiao carried the decoction to Chu Ming's door. "Young master, your medicine is ready."
Chu Ming set down his pen and paper, rose, and opened the door. "Give it to me."
He took the decoction, blew on it a few times, and downed it in one gulp.
Although the improved Tiger Python Body-Forging Technique no longer damaged the body the way the original technique had, meaning it no longer required medicine for recovery,
the decoction did more than repair the body. It also strengthened it. Practicing the Body Forging Technique while the medicine was being absorbed sped up his progress, so he'd kept drinking it.
"Does Steward Fang need something else?"
Holding the empty bowl, Fang Xiao looked at Chu Ming with a piercing gaze.
There'd been frequent murders these past few days, so he'd been coming home late and leaving early. He only saw Chu Ming at dinner in the evenings.
But now, as he looked at his young master, an unfamiliar feeling stirred within him.
Chu Ming's complexion had brightened, his build had become more robust, and he seemed to have grown a little taller too.
"Um..." Fang Xiao wasn't sure how to begin. "Was the technique on that sheet of paper you drew, young master?"
Chu Ming didn't answer. Instead, he turned and walked to the desk, picking up two fresh sheets of paper. "Do you mean these, Steward Fang?"
The moment Fang Xiao saw the technique held out before him, his pupils contracted.
It was the same... but it also seemed different!
There were more movements and detailed explanations.
And this set of movements felt even more advanced than the one Hou Ping had bought!
"Y-Young master, is this Tiger Python Force?" Fang Xiao's throat felt dry.
The ink on the paper was still wet. What did that mean?
The young master had just drawn this technique!
Chu Ming nodded slightly. "It's Tiger Python Force."
"You changed it?"
"More or less."
Fang Xiao was shaken to the core.
The Tiger Armor Army of West Rong Prefecture had developed its Body Forging Technique under the direction of successive commanders, combining a hundred different techniques to create the one best suited to the army.
Every commander of the Tiger Armor Army had been a terrifying expert in the Organ Refining Realm.
The Tiger Python Body-Forging Technique could be called the finest Blood Activation Realm technique in West Rong Prefecture in a hundred years.
The young master had only been exposed to martial arts for a month, yet he'd already improved the first force of the Body Forging Technique?
Fang Xiao took the two sheets of paper, his entire mind sinking into them.
The sixty movements clearly bore traces of the one hundred and twenty movements in Tiger Python Force, but they'd been refined. From the very first stance, he could feel how smoothly and seamlessly they flowed together.
The more he read, the harder it became to resist trying them out himself.
"I've never seen anyone with such high martial talent as the young master."
Fang Xiao couldn't help praising him, a strange feeling rising in his heart.
If he'd practiced these movements back then, could he have mastered the first force in just a few months and condensed Qi and Blood Power?
It was a pity he was already old, and his Qi and Blood were in decline...
If the entire Tiger Python Body-Forging Technique was like these movements, perhaps he could still make a push in his later years and reach the Qi and Blood Power beyond the twelve paths.
"I'm tired." Chu Ming waved a hand, preparing to return to his room and continue studying Poetry, Politics, and Military Strategy.
"Oh, right. I haven't had time to draw the movements that come after these. Steward Fang, you'll have to wait a little longer."
The door closed. Fang Xiao stood there, stunned.
The movements that came after these?
What movements?
Huh?!
He jerked his head up.
"Could it be that the young master didn't just improve Tiger Python Force, but the entire... Tiger Python Body-Forging Technique?!"
Impossible!
That was his first thought.
But right afterward, he found himself thinking it was entirely possible.
"The young master comprehended a palm technique out of nowhere, and improved Tiger Python Force after practicing martial arts for just a month. It's entirely possible he can improve the forces that come after it too!"
No!
As the thought struck him, a brilliant light suddenly shone in his eyes.
What did it mean to improve a technique?
"The young master must have fully comprehended Tiger Python Force, Tiger-Roar Force, and even the forces that come after them before he could improve and derive new forms from them!"
"That means the young master's strength...!"
Fang Xiao stared at the tightly shut door, his expression changing again and again. In the end, he couldn't hold back and knocked on the doorframe.
Knock, knock—
"Does Steward Fang need something else?" Chu Ming, seated at his desk, didn't much feel like getting up.
"Y-Young master, how many paths of Qi and Blood Power have you condensed?"
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