"I'm not going to eat them all in one day."
Seeing Feng Yue's surprise, it was Ye Li's turn to laugh.
"Besides, ten pills only cost one tael. It's not like the gang can't afford it!"
Though he said that aloud, Ye Li was still weighing the gains and losses in his heart.
"With three Dragon Tiger Pills a day, I can cultivate for sixteen hours daily, six of which will be spent digesting the Dragon Tiger Pills."
"And with two Body Tempering Pills each month, I'll reach the middle stage of the Body Tempering Realm within three months."
"But maintaining an excited state for six hours every day will make things inconvenient if some emergency comes up..."
Hearing Ye Li's request, Feng Yue was completely speechless.
He had seen people scrambling to take Body Tempering Pills, but this was the first time he had seen someone scrambling to take Dragon Tiger Pills!
Still, Feng Yue did not refuse Ye Li's request.
Young people always thought their willpower was unshakable, but getting through this once did not mean they could get through every time after!
There were countless young people who had experienced the first day of abstinence countless times.
"You can have a dozen or more pills, but every day, you must take at least one Dragon Tiger Pill under our supervision! To prevent you from faking it."
"No problem!" Ye Li said carelessly. "Can I have the Dragon Tiger Pills now? I still need to go look at the shops the gang assigned me!"
Seeing Ye Li agree so decisively, Feng Yue leaned closer. "You really won't reconsider?"
"Reconsider what?"
"You've already come to Flower-and-Willow Alley. Don't you want to try doing it for real, with real guns and live ammunition?"
"Sorry, I refuse!" Ye Li raised a hand decisively.
"You brat, why?!" Feng Yue was utterly baffled.
In response, Ye Li merely smiled faintly and offered no defense.
He had no interest in multiplayer online games. He preferred single-player games where he controlled multiple characters!
Seeing that he could not persuade Ye Li, Feng Yue sighed helplessly, then took him to collect the Dragon Tiger Pills.
The person distributing the Dragon Tiger Pills was San Niang, the woman with the fallen-horse bun who had led the way earlier.
It was also from Feng Yue that Ye Li learned San Niang was actually a Post-Heaven Realm Elder-Reader within the gang.
And when she heard that Ye Li wanted more than a dozen at once, San Niang's eyes practically glowed as she looked at him, making his skin crawl.
"Little brother~ Would you like to come sit at big sister's house tonight? Big sister can teach you the gang rules!"
San Niang's tone brimmed with teasing. With the same smile he had used to deal with captains in his previous life, Ye Li politely declined.
"Big sister truly thinks too highly of me, but I've only just entered the Body Tempering Realm, and my foundation is not yet stable. I'm wholly devoted to cultivation and truly cannot spare the time."
San Niang was not upset by the rejection. Smiling, she slapped ten scorching wax-sealed pills into Ye Li's palm, her fingertips seeming to brush over the back of his hand without quite doing so.
"Fine, then, you little brother who doesn't understand romance~ Big sister will wait for the day you finally wise up."
The two traded a few barbs with smiles that did not reach their eyes. Under Feng Yue's speechless gaze, Ye Li waved goodbye to San Niang.
Only after leaving Flower-and-Willow Alley did he finally breathe a sigh of relief inwardly.
"This gang really is full of people showing off their repression. What old scallion thinks he can gnaw on tender grass like me!"
Naturally, Ye Li could not voice those thoughts in front of Feng Yue. Instead, he asked,
"Now that everything is done, shouldn't you take me to see those ten shops?"
"What's there to see..."
Feng Yue curled his lip. "Fine, follow me. Those ten shops are all together, on Yunjin Street a few li from here!"
As they walked, Feng Yue explained.
"Thirty percent of the shops in East City fly the Azure Dragon Gang's banner. Once they pay protection money, they're under our protection."
"The silver from your ten shops at the end of each month—after half is handed over to the gang—will leave you with... at least one and a half taels, and at most ten taels!"
He glanced at Ye Li. "Sound like little? Let me tell you, this is money earned lying down! Ordinary Body Tempering Realm cultivators can work themselves to death as guards or escorts for others and still might not earn this much in a month!"
Ye Li nodded. He understood the arithmetic perfectly well.
The biggest benefit for core students lay in this money.
"But since we take their money, we really do protect them. If trouble arises and they cannot settle it themselves, we have to step in."
"You can think of yourself as a guard. You practice martial arts when nothing is happening, and only show yourself when something is."
"After all, East City is unlike your South City. Martial halls stand everywhere here, and martial artists are most prone to conflict."
"You don't need to worry about places like tailor shops. What you need to pay special attention to is one particular restaurant!"
"There! That's the one!"
Feng Yue stopped and pointed at a three-story restaurant bearing the signboard "Wanchuan."
"When people drink too much, they tend to go mad with drink. Places like restaurants and teahouses are where trouble breaks out most easily."
"Those who get drunk and make a scene, those who know a little kung fu and refuse to pay, those trying to eat for free, hotheaded youths from different martial halls who take one look at each other and, with a single disagreement, flip the table... What month goes by without two or three such incidents?"
Ye Li listened attentively at the side, learning the business of being an ancient bodyguard.
"So once trouble starts, I step in and deal with whoever caused it."
"Wrong!" Feng Yue denied it.
"You think core students are constables? If you handle every chicken-feather, garlic-skin trifle, when will you cultivate?"
He pointed at several burly men in Azure Dragon Gang uniforms near the restaurant. "See them? They're the ones who handle the small fry."
"For ordinary disturbances, you don't need to act. Those ordinary gang members who have cultivated for half a year can take care of it."
"If core gang members had to act for everything, then what would be the point of keeping the lower-ranking gang members?"
"Only when they cannot handle it do you need to move! And if even you cannot handle it, there are still Post-Heaven Realm elders and the gang leader holding things down behind you!"
Ye Li silently memorized the experience Feng Yue was imparting. "So basically, I don't have to do anything and can still take money for free?"
"Of course. Your foremost task is cultivation! Cultivate like your life depends on it!"
Feng Yue nodded. "Once you're strong enough, no trouble is really trouble."
"With these ten shops, ninety-nine percent of the time, you're just a ballast stone, sitting there to steady the ship. As long as they know the Azure Dragon Gang's name hangs above them, petty scoundrels will have to weigh their options!"
As they spoke, the Azure Dragon Gang's eye-catching black uniforms with red clouds caused the lower-ranking thugs nearby to notice them from afar.
At that moment, one of the burly men took the initiative to approach.
"Boss Feng, why have you personally come out today? And who is this little brother? He's quite the handsome one!"
"This is Ye Li. He reached Body Tempering in two months! I'm bringing him around to familiarize himself with the place."
Feng Yue tersely stated the important points, and Great Han immediately understood.
Another peerless genius had joined the gang.
Body Tempering in two months—given that talent, he would break through to the Post-Heaven Realm and become an elder within a few years.
So they had better keep their eyes open and not pull any unnecessary nonsense!
Having grasped the key point, Great Han's smile deepened by several degrees.
"Ah, Brother Ye, one look at your bearing tells me your bones are extraordinary. This little brother is Peng Ke, an ordinary gang member. Just call me Old Ke."
"From now on, you can cultivate without worry. We'll make sure everything on this street is handled properly for you."