Dear? Tea Money!

"Instructor Lin." Deputy Constable Tan Hong hurriedly bowed.

Hou Ping was half a beat slower, but he also bowed.

Lin Zhenwu merely nodded slightly, then looked at Fang Xiao. "Old Fang, how many years has it been?"

"More than ten, I suppose."

"Has it really been that long?" Lin Zhenwu gripped his spear and gave it a forceful thrust. The spear planted itself firmly in the ground.

Hou Ping looked at the government office's floor and secretly winced.

Couldn't you lean it against the wall? Did you really have to show off? You didn't have to lay the floor yourself, did you?

After a pause, Lin Zhenwu looked away and casually sat down, adding, "You... you've gotten a lot older."

Fang Xiao acted as though he hadn't heard him. In a low voice, he said, "Don't worry about whether I'm old. If you don't hurry up, the man's going to get away."

"A few rats who cultivate unorthodox arts—how far could they get?" Lin Zhenwu surveyed the government office, then suddenly sighed. "The place is miserable. You don't even have a cup of tea."

"..." Hearing this, Hou Ping gestured to the constables outside.

"Old Lin, are you coming or not? If you aren't, I'm going by myself!" Fang Xiao's expression darkened.

"Something's wrong! They've escaped!"

Just then, Zhang Yi rushed in from outside.

"Zhang Yi, explain yourself. What happened? Didn't I tell you to follow them discreetly?"

"Lord Shao, I... I lost them!" Zhang Yi panted.

"Which way did they go?" Lin Zhenwu dropped his casual air, pulled his spear from the ground, and demanded sharply.

"South! They ran south!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Lin Zhenwu, Fang Xiao, and Shao Pengshu dashed out in an instant, with Tan Hong close behind.

Hou Ping was half a beat slower. By the time he came to his senses, only Zhang Yi remained, panting heavily with sweat rolling down his forehead, along with a constable holding a tray of hot tea, looking utterly lost.

"Chief Constable Hou, you don't need to go." Zhang Yi held a pot of tea and gulped down several mouthfuls. "Constable Shao told you and me to wait at Wheat Valley Alley."

Wheat Valley Alley?

Hou Ping paused.

But then he thought it over. With his meager strength, he probably couldn't catch up anyway.

"All right, Constable Zhang. Would you like some cold tea, too?"

"Yes. I'm dying of thirst."

Zhang Yi watched Hou Ping turn and walk away, a vicious glint flashing deep in his eyes.

Willow Town, at the end of West Street.

After reading Poetry, Politics, and Military Strategy outside for a while, Chu Ming had been interrupted by Qin Gui. He'd returned to his room and started studying the blood-refining manual, Blood Fiend Body-Forging Technique.

"There's too little content. Using the method in here, I can condense at most five strands of this so-called Blood Fiend Qi..."

"Blood Fiend Qi... Qi and Blood Power..."

In his mind, Tiger Python Body-Forging Technique was a vast lake, while Blood Fiend Body-Forging Technique was a little puddle beside it.

The method of cultivation in this manual was too crude for his taste. He'd only read through its contents and hadn't practiced it.

But he hadn't dismissed the technique outright. Instead, he planned to use the Mastery and Integration and Drawing Inferences abilities from [Reading] to derive and refine a new technique.

"Tiger Python Body-Forging Technique emphasizes offense and defense in equal measure, leaning toward balance. Blood Fiend Body-Forging Technique, on the other hand, has fierce attacks and is bloodthirsty..."

"Bloodthirstiness isn't ideal, but I can keep the fierce attacks."

He tried guiding the lake of Tiger Python Body-Forging Technique in his mind into the little puddle of Blood Refining Technique.

"No, if I do that, Blood Refining Technique will end up just like Tiger Python Body-Forging Technique..."

He'd succeeded, and yet he'd failed. The technique he'd derived wasn't what he wanted.

"If I could get the complete Blood Refining Technique, I should be able to derive something decent."

Chu Ming shook his head and looked out the window.

The sun was setting. Golden rays fell across the courtyard, where Xiao Shan was sweeping up leaves with a broom.

Had Steward Fang still not taken care of things after a whole day?

He slowly rose and walked out of the room.

"Are you hungry, Young Master?" Xiao Shan set down her broom. The beads of sweat on her face sparkled in the setting sun.

"I am."

"I'll get right to cooking." She ran into the kitchen, as happy as if she'd just received some tremendous reward.

She rinsed the rice and washed the vegetables. White steam rose.

Chu Ming wondered, if he were an ordinary person, perhaps living out his life like this wouldn't be so bad.

But he wasn't.

He couldn't be, either!

Though his strength had improved by leaps and bounds, he could only just barely protect himself.

For the Chu Family to have built such a vast fortune in Baiyuan County, they could not possibly be easy to deal with.

For more than twenty days, Xiao Shan had cared for him attentively, asking for nothing in return. He knew that.

But for that very reason, he couldn't take Xiao Shan with him.

Because danger could come at any moment.

Chu Ming's gaze sharpened as he looked across the street, beyond the courtyard.

He sensed murderous intent there.

He glanced at Xiao Shan, then left the courtyard and walked slowly along the street.

At the same time, he activated [Sword Gourd Spiritual Sense], pushing his perception to its limits.

"The smell of blood mingled with a stench of rot, and... the scent of tea."

The exact same faint odors he'd smelled on Huang Lu and Qin Gui during the day.

Had they visited the same place? Met the same person? Or done something similar?

He hadn't seen the face of the person hiding in the shadows, but he'd already guessed who it was.

Chu Ming walked steadily along the street and soon reached the area near Wheat Valley Alley.

This was exactly where the tea stall had been yesterday.

He paused for only a moment, then entered Wheat Valley Alley.

In the shadows.

The Teahouse Owner, who had followed him all this way, hesitated, but still went in after him.

The alley was deep and dim, with a powerful stench of rot. The Teahouse Owner hadn't gone far when he spotted a figure.

"Oh, it's the young master." He pretended to greet him. "You shouldn't come here. There've been murders here these past few days."

His face was creased with wrinkles, his smile sinister.

"I wonder if the young master brought the tea money today." He edged closer, the vicious glint in his eyes growing more pronounced.

"You didn't pay for your tea yesterday, young master. How about today... leaving your heart and liver as payment?"

Half a meter away, he suddenly lunged. Something bulged sharply from both shoulders, and his hands, dry as firewood, became bony claws that viciously grabbed at Chu Ming.

Scratch, scratch—

Chu Ming leaned slightly to the side and easily dodged the attack. Claw marks appeared on the wall where he'd just been standing.

With the powerful perception of [Sword Gourd Spiritual Sense], the Teahouse Owner's movements were far too slow.

"How did you find me? Qin Gui?" His voice was cold as he raised his right hand.

But the Teahouse Owner didn't answer at all. After one claw came another, even fiercer.

Chu Ming furrowed his brows and struck out with Wind-Slapping Palm.

Thud—

The Teahouse Owner gave a muffled groan. Too slow to react, his shriveled body, like an old tree branch, flew away like a ragged sack.

That weak?

Chu Ming froze for a moment.

He'd assumed the Teahouse Owner who stayed beside that young master—who was a little girl—was an expert. Since the man had confidently come after him, Chu Ming had mobilized all the Qi and Blood Power in his body, just in case.

He just hadn't expected... that even an expert couldn't withstand a palm fueled by six strands of Qi and Blood Power.

He walked over to the Teahouse Owner and bent down to inspect him. The man was already dead.

It wasn't that he couldn't withstand it. He'd died outright...

Chu Ming lifted the cloth over the Teahouse Owner's shoulders. The bulges were actually two protruding bones. Only then did Chu Ming realize what had seemed off about the Teahouse Owner yesterday.

"Those two white cloths weren't for wiping sweat. They were hiding the protruding bones."

Chu Ming smiled awkwardly. Had he been too cautious? He'd killed the man with one palm before even finding out whether Qin Gui had sent him...

"Forget it. I'll be going to Baiyuan County soon anyway. I'll settle the Chu Family's score then."

He searched the Teahouse Owner's body and found a few silver coins, along with two books wrapped together in gray cloth.

"Blood Fiend Body-Forging Technique, Blood Claw Hand."

After leafing through them, Chu Ming smiled.

"The complete Blood Fiend Body-Forging Technique, a martial skill, and five taels of silver. Not a bad haul."

But what about the corpse...

"Constable Zhang, there's no need for us to go in, is there? It reeks in there."