The Situation

The Gold Jade Mo Pi Fa required one hundred experience points to advance to Initial Accomplishment, while advancing it to Major Accomplishment required three hundred.

Now that my Mo Pi Fa has reached Initial Accomplishment, both my vitality and endurance have improved. I should be able to increase my skin tempering from twice at dawn and dusk to three times a day. If so, in about another ten days, I should reach Mo Pi Major Accomplishment.

Chen Mu mused inwardly.

Mo Pi Major Accomplishment!

For ordinary people, it would take at least a year of bitter training. Yet he could achieve it in less than a month. Such progress was beyond the imagination of ordinary people, but for him, it was just right.

At present, his apparent strength was that he had never cultivated a Body Tempering Method and had merely developed Saber Force. Thus, it was best for him to lie low and build up his foundation, quietly tempering his skin to Perfection and even stepping into Flesh Tempering.

As he was pondering this.

The old servant's voice suddenly came from outside.

"Master, Master Min has come to visit."

"He's here."

Hearing this, Chen Mu immediately gathered his thoughts, swiftly put on his clothes, stood up, and went to the door to receive him.

Min Baoyi stood outside in casual clothes. When he saw Chen Mu emerge, he smiled and said, "Brother, are you free today? Come have a few cups with your old brother."

"Since my old brother invites me, how could I dare refuse?"

Chen Mu cupped his hands, turned to give the old servant a few instructions, then followed Min Baoyi out.

Min Baoyi had brought no one else, only himself. He led Chen Mu along the clean, orderly bluestone streets, his nose twitching slightly as they walked. "Brother, you've been cultivating a Mo Pi Fa, haven't you? Did I interrupt your training?"

"I just finished."

Chen Mu did not conceal it. Practicing a Mo Pi Fa was hardly any secret.

Min Baoyi smiled. "The Gold Jade Mo Pi Fa is an excellent art. If I'd been able to use this Mo Pi Fa to become Initiated when I was young, I might have had hope of stepping into the Tendon Transformation realm by now. Unfortunately, I only received the Yu Family's patronage later on."

"The Yu Family?"

Chen Mu was slightly startled by Min Baoyi's words.

Min Baoyi had identified the Gold Jade Mo Pi Fa with a single remark, which showed that his relationship with Xu Hongyu went beyond a simple superior-subordinate one. He was most likely one of Xu Hongyu's trusted confidants. But Chen Mu was somewhat puzzled by the Yu Family Min Baoyi had mentioned afterward.

However, Min Baoyi soon cleared up his confusion.

"Although the Chief Constable bears the surname Xu, she is from the Yu Family Direct Lineage..."

Min Baoyi briefly revealed Xu Hongyu's background. The Yu Family of the Inner City wielded enormous influence throughout the city. He himself had risen to the position of Runner Office chief through the Yu Family's support, and after Xu Hongyu became Chief Constable, he naturally became one of her direct subordinates.

Before long.

Min Baoyi brought Chen Mu to a restaurant on Middle Street. With the proprietor personally receiving them, they booked a private room on the second floor. Once they entered and took their seats, Min Baoyi began explaining Jade City's various factions in detail.

During his days as a head runner, Chen Mu had spent most of his time practicing saber techniques and the Mo Pi Fa. Still, he had gathered some understanding of Jade City's powers through various channels. Much of it remained vague, however, and he was far less informed than Min Baoyi.

"The Inner City has four great lineages: the Yu, He, Xie, and Xue Families. The City Lord bears the surname Xue, so I needn't say more about that... Of the other three, the Xie Family controls ninety-nine percent of Jade City's medicinal herb trade. Nearly all resources needed for martial cultivation pass through their hands. The He Family monopolizes iron refining and cloth, while the Yu Family controls the salt trade."

Min Baoyi spoke fluently and confidently. Clearly, these things were no secret to anyone with even a little standing.

Chen Mu had previously possessed only a hazy understanding of this information. Now that he heard it clearly, he was not surprised. In a great city like Jade City, with a population of over a million, whoever controlled salt, iron, cloth, and medicinal herbs basically controlled ninety-nine percent of everything.

As for rice, flour, and grain... those most vital goods naturally could not be controlled by a single family. The four families likely all had a hand in them, much like the Outer City's City Guard, which was not controlled by any single family.

"The salt trade..."

When the salt business was mentioned, Chen Mu fell into thought. Unfortunately, he had not been a chemical industry specialist in his previous life, nor had he ever thought of collecting methods for refining salt and iron in case of "unexpected need." There was no profit for him to gain in that area.

Min Baoyi only touched briefly on the Inner City's four great families before turning to the City Guard.

"Jade City has a population of over a million. The four great City Guard offices in the east, south, west, and north together have more than ten thousand men. At present, all four families basically want control over this force, to turn it into their own private army. Thus, they scheme and undermine one another in secret. He Mingxuan, the deputy Chief Constable of the South District, comes from the He Family of the Inner City and does not get along with the Chief Constable. You must be careful around him in the City Guard from now on."

At this point, Min Baoyi lowered his voice slightly.

Chen Mu's eyes flickered as he revealed a thoughtful expression, then he cupped his hands and said, "Thank you for the warning, Brother Min."

He had not known this before. Though he had always vaguely suspected that the City Guard was not a solid monolith, it now seemed that was indeed the case. Xu Hongyu had not transferred him directly to the General Office, instead having him remain in the Nine Stripes Ward Guard Office to "train," perhaps because she wanted him to grow further.

After all, the Nine Stripes Ward Guard Office was Min Baoyi's territory. It could be said that Min Baoyi covered the sky with one hand there, making it a relatively safe environment for Chen Mu. Once Chen Mu entered the General Office, he would be directly swept into the conflict between two great powers, where schemes and intrigues sprang up one after another. One careless step could lead to eternal doom. Not only would he be unable to serve Xu Hongyu, he might even become a burden to her.

Seeing Chen Mu's grave expression, Min Baoyi laughed heartily to ease the atmosphere. "There's no need to worry too much. The Chief Constable is ultimately above that man, and Nine Stripes Ward is my territory. As long as you're cautious, nothing will happen."

"Then there's the Red Gold Gang and the Black Crow Sect in Nine Stripes Ward. Try not to provoke either of these forces. I still haven't figured out who stands behind the Red Gold Gang, but it can only be one of those few families. As for the Black Crow Sect..."

At this point.

Min Baoyi revealed a trace of apprehension. "The Black Crow Sect appears to merely beguile ordinary commoners, using its doctrine to make them worship some Black Crow God. In truth, it also uses this as a pretext to amass wealth, and the person behind it is a vicious villain."

Chen Mu knew the Red Gold Gang and the Black Crow Sect quite well. As a head runner, he had received a visit two days earlier from one of the Red Gold Gang's deputy leaders, who had brought him a "housewarming gift."

That housewarming gift was rather interesting: silver, along with two people. The two were the gang members who had earlier tried to abduct Wang Ni after taking his silver. They had been beaten black and blue, then thrown before him.

Chen Mu had not taken the matter to heart in the first place. Since the other side had shown him such respect, he gave them a way out as well. He accepted the silver, and the matter was considered completely settled, with no further repercussions.

As for the Black Crow Sect...

In chaotic times, any similar force was exceedingly dangerous.

On the surface, martial warriors ruled this world. Even if ordinary refugees and rioters gathered in groups of tens or hundreds of thousands, they could not stir up much trouble. But in reality, that was not the case.

Their path was to use such organizations to amass wealth on a grand scale, then use that wealth to cultivate elite forces.

Of the Body Tempering Method's stages, Skin Tempering and Flesh Tempering could basically be forced through with enough resources. If one ignored side effects and bodily damage, using the poorest-quality formula, less than two hundred taels of silver could produce a Flesh Tempering martial warrior.

Although such forcibly cultivated people were abysmal in every aspect, once their numbers grew, they became extremely formidable. With several hundred men equipped with armor and military weapons, they would be terrifying. Some might even comprehend Force.

In fact.

Any household with even a little power was secretly raising such private soldiers nowadays.

"Other than those two groups, the rest are merely motley rabble with basically no backing, so there's no need to care about them. There are no influential clans or powerful nobles worth mentioning in Nine Stripes Ward either. Anyone with even a little power has basically either moved to the Inner City or settled in the central district of the South District." Min Baoyi then briefly described Nine Stripes Ward's situation.

"Understood."

Chen Mu nodded slightly.

Min Baoyi raised his wine cup and drank, smiling as he said, "All right, I've more or less explained everything to you. Brother, you only need to focus on training now. In two or three years, once you break through to the Flesh Tempering Realm, you can be transferred to the General Office and help Lord Xu."

As he spoke, Min Baoyi could not help but sigh inwardly. He had come from a Yu Family affiliate and practiced martial arts from childhood, but Saber Force had held him back for many years. He had only barely comprehended it at the age of thirty-four. Had he achieved it sooner and received greater attention, things might have been different now.

Chen Mu, on the other hand, had developed Saber Force first and caught Xu Hongyu's eye. But he had only begun cultivating a Body Tempering Method now, which was somewhat late and had wasted much time. Min Baoyi estimated that it would take three or four months for Chen Mu to reach Mo Pi Minor Accomplishment, around another year to reach Major Accomplishment, and two or three years to reach Perfection.

Before the age of thirty, reaching Min Baoyi's current realm would not be difficult.

But if Chen Mu wanted to go further and challenge the third realm of Tendon Transformation, the difficulty would be immense. One step slow, every step slow.

A Flesh Tempering martial warrior who had grasped Saber Force could be considered somebody in the Outer City. But looking across all of Jade City, he would only count as middle-tier. Only upon entering the third realm of Tendon Transformation, where one could unleash the force of a thousand jun with every gesture, could one be considered among the upper ranks and wield power even in the Inner City.