Moving House

The next day.

By chance, yesterday's unbroken drizzle had given way to clear skies. From early morning, sunlight blazed in all directions, the bright sun driving the city's gloom away and forcing every trace of filth into hiding.

Chen Mu had no idea of the undercurrents that had surged through the night.

But he had always prepared for danger in times of peace, and he understood that opportunity and crisis went hand in hand. Becoming a head runner had certainly placed him in a higher position, but it also meant facing thornier troubles and greater perils. If he wanted to hack through brambles and thorns and climb into the clouds, the only thing he could rely on was his own strength.

Thus, he had not slackened in his cultivation for even a night. Once the move was complete, he would begin cultivating the Mo Pi Fa.

Generally speaking, moving into a new home was a troublesome affair, but for Chen Mu, it was quite simple. There was practically nothing in the house worth moving; the only ones he needed to bring were Chen Yue and Wang Ni.

Dressed in new clothes and washed spotlessly clean, Chen Yue followed Chen Mu out of the house.

Ever since she had turned twelve, Chen Mu had rarely taken her out. Even when he did, he would deliberately make her look disheveled and filthy, turning her into a short, ugly figure whose gender could not be discerned. Now, at last, she could go out wearing new clothes.

Chen Mu held no attachment to the two old houses. Yamen Runners were already waiting outside. Once he emerged with Chen Yue and Wang Ni, they escorted the three of them toward the back street of Nine Stripes Ward.

Very soon.

They arrived.

It was a residence behind the City Guard, separated from it by only about two streets. Though it was not some lofty mansion behind deep gates, its two redwood doors stood straight and proper, the front swept spotlessly clean, while the rows of rooms inside were neat and tidy.

This estate had two courtyards, a front courtyard and a rear courtyard, with three rooms running both lengthwise and crosswise. It was quite spacious; even with another three to five old servants and maids, it would not feel cramped. This was already no residence an ordinary family could afford to live in.

"Master."

An old servant was waiting outside. The moment he saw Chen Mu, he respectfully bowed, then led Chen Mu through the gate while explaining the arrangement of the residence.

"Master Min does not usually come here, so this old servant is the only one who normally sweeps away dust and fallen leaves. If Master feels there are not enough hands to order about, it is also very easy to purchase servants from the market."

After introducing the house, the old servant stood cautiously to one side.

The world was chaotic these days. Being able to serve a person of power was something countless people would fight tooth and nail for. Though one would enter the slave registry, from then on one would no longer be tangled up in all manner of exorbitant taxes, nor harassed by gangs and hooligans. Even without monthly wages, one would at least have no worries over food and could live quite easily.

Naturally, he did not dare show the slightest neglect toward Chen Mu, his new master. If he displeased Chen Mu and was driven out, he would have nowhere left to shelter himself.

"I prefer quiet. There is no need to buy more servants for now."

Chen Mu waved a hand at the old servant.

The residence was neither small nor particularly large. One old servant was basically enough to sweep the courtyard. Chen Yue also had Wang Ni by her side now, so there was no need to buy maids either. Keeping things as they were was best.

Having moved into the spacious new home, Chen Yue became exceptionally lively, insisting on entering every room and inspecting every corner. Wang Ni obediently followed beside her without interrupting.

Chen Mu did not frolic about with Chen Yue. Instead, he went to the rear courtyard by himself.

The rear courtyard was where people lived, with a main residence and wing rooms on either side. Chen Mu told Chen Yue to choose whichever room she liked. After looking between the two sides, Chen Yue chose the western wing room, while Chen Mu took the main residence. In the past, the siblings had always been forced to squeeze into one room, and in winter, they had even needed to share a single bed. Now, they finally had spare rooms.

"At last, it's starting to look like something."

Chen Mu entered his main residence and nodded slightly as he looked over the spacious, bright outer room and the bedroom within. He then sat down on a yellowwood chair. After pondering for a moment, he took a stack of yellow paper from his robes.

Written on the paper was the Gold Jade Mo Pi Fa.

He had actually examined and memorized it carefully last night, but the Mo Pi Fa differed from saber techniques. It was a Body Tempering Method that required external materials, so he had been unable to begin practicing it last night. Today, he still needed to purchase the necessary items.

Rather than calling it the Gold Jade Mo Pi Fa, it would be more fitting to call it the "Golden Sand" Mo Pi Fa. The method required first digging a pit and lying horizontally within it, then burying the body under fine sand. Finally, one poured over it a decoction brewed from medicinal powder, repeating the process several times.

It stated that ordinary Mo Pi Fa methods often used coarse salt for grinding, stone posts for impact training, and similar means to temper the skin membrane. Either they constantly damaged the skin membrane and forced it to regenerate and transform, or they used repeated impacts and beatings to toughen it. No matter which method was used, it would leave some hidden injuries in the body. They might not show when one was young, but once old age came, all manner of problems would emerge.

The Gold Jade Mo Pi Fa, by comparison, was much gentler. It relied more on specially prepared medicinal powder for tempering, with cool sand and earth sharing the fierce potency of the powder. Balanced and moderate, it was one of the methods that harmed the body the least.

"The Mo Pi Fa is a matter of accumulated effort. One year for Initial Accomplishment, another year for Major Accomplishment, then another year for Perfection..."

Chen Mu murmured as he looked at the description on the paper.

More specifically, an ordinary person needed three years to achieve Perfection, but that time was not fixed. It also depended on one's natural physique and compatibility. Usually, the better one's natural physique, the faster one's Skin Tempering.

Compatibility referred to how well one matched the medicinal powder. After all, some people had cold constitutions, some had hot constitutions, some belonged to yin, and some to yang. If one's yin, yang, and five elements all perfectly matched the medicinal powder, and the body was exceptionally suited to it, then one could even temper beyond the usual amount—changing from two sessions each day, morning and evening, to three sessions a day. Naturally, progress would then greatly accelerate.

"My natural physique seems only moderately good. I wonder what my compatibility is like."

Chen Mu revealed a thoughtful expression.

Moderately good natural physique sounded decent, but in truth, so long as one was not born grotesquely malformed, hunchbacked, or with too many or too few bones, one counted as having an "average" natural physique. Moderately good merely meant being a little better than the most ordinary person.

Yet what concerned Chen Mu most was not his natural physique or compatibility, but whether something like the Mo Pi Fa could, like saber techniques, accumulate experience through the system.

No sooner thought than done.

The Gold Jade Mo Pi Fa had two medicinal powder formulas: one for internal consumption to strengthen qi and blood, and one for external brewing to temper the skin. The medicinal ingredients used in the two formulas were different. Though neither was among the most precious varieties, in this day and age, anything involving medicinal herbs was basically not cheap.

After personally going to the pharmacy to buy them, Chen Mu calculated roughly that, at the rate of two portions a day, morning and evening, it would cost nearly two hundred taels of silver a year. An ordinary family simply could not afford it.

Fortunately, he was fairly well-off now and had at least three hundred taels of silver. Moreover, after becoming a head runner, he would naturally have certain ways to obtain money, so he could bear the expense.

After busying himself for an entire day, dusk was already approaching.

Chen Mu had Chen Yue go play in the front courtyard. Then, in a corner of the rear courtyard, he lay down in the pit he had dug and buried his body beneath sand and earth. Afterward, he picked up the kettle placed beside him and poured the prepared medicinal decoction over himself, from his feet to his chest.

Chen Mu had enjoyed lying in sand pits at the seaside in his previous life, but after this half-kettle of skin-tempering medicinal soup was poured over him, the sensation immediately became different. The warm decoction seeped through the cool grains of sand. When the two mixed together and touched his skin, a burning sensation immediately rolled up from the soles of his feet and spread upward.

For a moment.

Chen Mu could not even tell whether this was agony or an oddly refreshing ache.

It felt as though countless ants were trying to burrow in through every inch of his skin. Fine pain mixed with faint numbness and itchiness, along with a thread of subtle comfort. It was an indescribably strange flavor.

After roughly a quarter of an hour, the sensation gradually began to fade.

Chen Mu picked up the kettle and poured on more medicinal soup... Repeating this three times, he finally used up the first portion.

He climbed out of the sand pit.

Chen Mu did not feel that his body had grown much stronger. Instead, his entire body felt numb and limp, and for a time he could not even muster any strength. So he called for Chen Yue and had Chen Yue and Wang Ni support him back to the room, where he climbed into a wooden tub to wash.

"Brother, why did you bury yourself in a pit? Were you practicing some kind of martial art?"

Chen Yue asked curiously as she poured water for Chen Mu.

Chen Mu leaned weakly against the side of the wooden tub, letting Chen Yue add water to it. Chuckling, he said, "That's right. How about Yue Er practices martial arts too?"

"No."

Chen Yue pulled a face at Chen Mu. "I won't stupidly bury myself like that."

With that, she ran out.

Chen Mu shook his head with a laugh and lay comfortably in the warm water. Then he summoned the System Panel and immediately saw a new change appear upon it. Beneath the Whirlwind Saber Technique and the Fierce Wind Saber Technique, a new line had appeared.

Gold Jade Mo Pi Fa (Not Accomplished)

Experience: 11