"You, stop looking around. Do you think Chu Ming can copy it for you? Look at me, Hou, if you tell me where you got this technique, I, Shao Pengshu, will take you as my disciple."
"Really?" Hou Wuchun was so excited he could hardly contain himself. "If I can become Lord Shao's disciple, my mother would be so happy if she knew... Master, wait here."
Shao Pengshu grabbed Hou Wuchun. "Where are you running off to? Can't you write? Are you asking Chu Ming to copy it for you?"
"Chu Ming may know how to write, but he isn't a martial artist. He couldn't capture the essence of the technique. He'd get the form, but not the intent."
"Tell your master where to copy it, and I'll go there myself."
Hou Wuchun shook his head. "I can write, Master. Let go of me. I'm going to ask Brother Chu."
"You can write, so copy it yourself. Why ask Chu Ming? You're not making any sense!"
Hou Wuchun was so anxious that sweat beaded on his forehead. "Master, Brother Chu. I mean, Brother Chu."
"Hou, don't get worked up. Take a deep breath and calm down. Speak clearly. Young Master Chu really can't copy it," Tan Hong said from the side.
Hou Wuchun took a deep breath and calmed himself, then pointed at Chu Ming's carriage. "I bought the technique from Brother Chu. He's the expert Master was talking about. If I want the next part, I can only buy it from him again."
He spoke slowly, one word at a time, in all seriousness.
Chu Ming? An expert?
"Hou, look me in the eye. I'll give you one more chance. If you keep talking nonsense, you can go back to Willow Town."
Shao Pengshu's expression was stern. His voice was soft, but his anger was unmistakable.
"Is your father forbidding you to tell us?" Tan Hong's face tightened, his voice turning cold. "Lord Shao is your master. Once a master, a father for life. He's your father, too."
"..." Hou Wuchun hunched his shoulders and looked at them fearfully, his voice trembling with tears. "Master, Lord Tan, Brother Chu really is the one who sold me the technique."
"Fine. Go ask Chu Ming. If you can't get the next part, I won't send you back to Willow Town. I'll put you in the Ministry of Justice Dungeon, where you can serve meals to those vicious criminals every day."
"Then... what if I do get the technique?" Hou Wuchun murmured.
Shao Pengshu's face darkened. "If Chu Ming can copy the technique you have with even half its martial intent, I'll cover your medicinal expenses for three years of martial arts training at the Criminal Defense Division, as well as all of Chu Ming's expenses at Hundred Origin Academy for three years."
"If you get the next part of the technique from Chu Ming, I'll call you—no, I'll call Young Master Chu my master!"
"Tan Hong will, too!"
Tan Hong: "..."
Three years of medicinal expenses?!
Hou Wuchun's eyes lit up. He bolted toward the carriage.
Shao Pengshu had spoken loudly, and Chu Ming had heard him from inside the carriage. He calmly took a brush, ink, and paper from a nearby bundle and began writing something.
Hou Wuchun ran up to the carriage and reached out impatiently to lift the curtain, but his hand stopped just as it touched the fabric.
"I call Lord Shao Master, and Lord Shao calls Brother Chu Master. My master's master... what should I call Brother Chu?"
"Grandmaster?"
He paused, unable to work out the relationship, but still lifted the curtain. The familiar scent of ink drifted out.
"Brother Chu... I have something I'd like to discuss with you."
"Come in and talk." Chu Ming didn't look up. He dipped his brush in ink and continued writing.
"The rest of Tiger Python Force..." Hou Wuchun took out the ten taels of silver he'd just received for the book and split it into two stacks: three taels in his left hand and seven in his right.
He held out his right hand, a smile on his face. "Brother Chu, could you write a little more?"
All of a sudden, Hou Wuchun felt unsure. He wasn't certain Chu Ming really knew the rest of the technique.
"Leave it there." Chu Ming glanced at the silver, then returned his gaze to the paper. "I'm writing it now."
Optimized Tiger Python Force was only the first form of the Body Forging Technique. It was quite useful for a beginner like Hou Wuchun, but of limited use to a martial artist like Shao Pengshu, who was already in the middle-to-late stages of the Blood Activation Realm.
The copy he was writing was from his earliest deductions, a version long since discarded. It wouldn't hurt to sell it for some silver.
"You really know it?"
"Mm."
Outside, Shao Pengshu and Tan Hong stood shoulder to shoulder, looking disdainfully into the carriage.
"Chu Ming doesn't even dare demonstrate Tiger Python Force in front of us, yet Hou Wuchun expects this young master to save him."
In Shao Pengshu's view, Hou Wuchun had climbed into Chu Ming's carriage just to hide from them.
"Lord Shao, that technique is extremely important. Should we report it and have Hou Ping arrested and brought to the Criminal Defense Division for questioning?" Tan Hong asked quietly.
"Report it? Arrest Hou Ping?" Shao Pengshu turned his cold gaze on him. "Are you stupid or crazy?"
"We find a good technique, then report it? Even if we report it, shouldn't we at least learn it first and rise to a high position?"
"If we report it now, they'll fob us off with a little silver."
"And as for Hou Ping, if you aren't afraid of angering Instructor Fang and Chief Instructor Lin, go ahead and arrest him."
Shao Pengshu weighed the technique in his hand, then held it out. "We haven't seen much of this technique yet, but its potential is extraordinary. If we can get the complete Body Forging Technique... Only you, me, Hou, and Chu Ming know about it. Chu Ming only knows a little."
Tan Hong nodded. "Rest assured, my lord. I won't tell anyone."
"Good." Shao Pengshu closed the book and felt around inside his robes, where things seemed a little bare. "If you want to keep looking, bring me twenty taels of silver."
"Huh?" Tan Hong stared at him. "Lord Shao, didn't you just say ten taels..."
"What ten taels? Hou wants twenty. Didn't you hear him?"
"Lord Shao, I still think Tiger Python Body-Forging Technique is better. I'll pass on this one."
The technique was good, but it was only a small part of Tiger Python Force. At most, it would make his qi and blood a little more solid; it wouldn't help him condense new qi and blood in a short time. Its benefits were limited.
The key was... Tan Hong glanced at the carriage behind them. Hou had said he'd copied several versions. Why spend twenty taels?
"For the rest of the journey, I'll take Hou Wuchun, and you take Chu Ming." Shao Pengshu seemed to see through Tan Hong's thoughts and spoke coldly.
"...Is that really appropriate?"
"What's inappropriate about it? I'm his master." Shao Pengshu tucked the technique into his robes. "It's about time. That boy won't get away. Let's head back to the Criminal Defense Division first."
"Yes."
The two walked toward the carriage together. Just then, Hou Wuchun emerged, carefully holding a sheet of paper in his hands.
"You finished copying it already? Young Master Chu may not be much good at martial arts, but he does have a little talent for reading and writing." Shao Pengshu casually held out his hand. "Give it here. Let's see how much martial intent it has."
"Master, the ink's still wet. Be gentle."
"What does it matter if it's wet? It's just a copy of..." Shao Pengshu snatched the paper away and looked down at it. He'd expected a tracing of the three pages Hou Wuchun had shown him, but the contents on the paper...
One glance was enough for him to see how extraordinary it was.
And it continued right on from the moves he'd copied earlier!
He abruptly looked up toward the carriage. "Did Young Master Chu just write this?"
The martial intent was lacking, but the moves on the page still shocked him.
"Yeah, the ink's still wet." Hou Wuchun pointed at the paper. "Master, if you don't hold it carefully, the drawings will smudge."
Shao Pengshu jolted, then quickly refocused, staring intently at the page.
Beside him, Tan Hong stared at the moves, dumbfounded.
Chu Ming's voice came from inside the carriage. "Steward Fang said this technique was only to be taught to people he trusts..."
Naturally, he'd pin the technique's origins on Fang Xiao.
"Don't worry, Young Master Chu. We're trustworthy!" Shao Pengshu hurriedly replied.
That was it! That was it!
The two of them once again became besotted, practicing the moves from the page.
With the moves on this page, they now had a complete, optimized version of Tiger Python Force.
"Um, Master, about what you said just now..." Hou Wuchun crouched on the carriage, his face tight as he quietly reminded him, "Does that still count?"
"It counts, it counts. Tan Hong will cover all your medicinal expenses." Shao Pengshu's attention was completely fixed on Tiger Python Force, and he answered without thinking.
"Right, I'll cover it all," Tan Hong chimed in, more or less the same way.
"And the other part?" Hou Wuchun asked.
Before you continue