Purple Down Treasure Medicine

Qingtian Town.

As all things began to stir with the coming of spring, Qingtian Town grew busy once more.

The former captain of the guard, Ji Ming, had left, and the original team members had all been replaced by new, young faces.

As the person in charge of the medicinal field guard, Lin Yan had no need to handle the specific fields himself, making him the most idle of them all.

However, Lin Yan did not waste his time. Aside from practicing martial arts, he spent every spare moment in the Great Fog Mountain.

With the help of the Earth Vein True Interpretation, he had scoured the Great Fog Mountain over the past two months, unearthing precious medicinal herbs worth two hundred taels.

His martial arts strength was growing steadily, and Lin Yan was quite satisfied with these days.

"Captain Lin!"

One day, as Lin Yan was practicing his punches in the courtyard, footsteps sounded from outside, and a guard hurried in.

"I just spotted a few figures heading toward the Great Fog Mountain. Judging by their pace, they must be martial artists."

Hearing the young man's words, the image of Li Guiyi surfaced in Lin Yan's mind.

Before the new year, Li Guiyi and his group had entered the Great Fog Mountain, clearly on a hunt, but after Lin Yan had sabotaged their efforts, they had evidently failed.

Now that the new year had passed, it was highly likely that Li Guiyi had returned to the Great Fog Mountain.

Lin Yan recalled shaking hands with Li Guiyi back then; his gray Martial Dao Tree had revealed the height of the man's own tree—two feet and eight inches. It was significantly higher than his own realm, but if he added the Stone Waist Savage Spine and his fist momentum, it was not as if he lacked the strength to fight.

Most importantly, he did not necessarily have to confront Li Guiyi head-on; he only needed to ruin the man's plans.

Having made up his mind, Lin Yan said indifferently, "Our duty is to guard the medicinal fields. As long as they aren't targeting the fields, it has nothing to do with us."

"Hehe, I was just informing you, Captain Lin."

Zhang Feng was not surprised by Lin Yan's reaction. Regardless, he had fulfilled his duty to report; if those mysterious martial artists were indeed targeting the fields, he would not be held responsible.

The medicinal fields in Qingtian Town were not harvested entirely every year. Some herbs took several years to mature, while others, though lacking in age, could compensate for it through sheer quantity.

Martial artists who set their sights on the medicinal fields were rare, but they did exist.

There were always those who, strapped for cash due to their cultivation, would risk offending the Tang Family to take such a gamble.

After Zhang Feng left, Lin Yan returned to his room, grabbed a bundle, and slipped out the back door, heading quickly toward the Great Fog Mountain.

Upon entering the Great Fog Mountain, Lin Yan opened his bundle, stripped off his clothes, and changed into the set inside. He bundled his old clothes up and hid them in the tall grass.

A green headscarf, a green mask, and a green tunic and trousers.

He was green from head to toe—a camouflage suit he had specifically crafted for moving through the forest.

Lin Yan moved with great caution, his pace unhurried. If it truly were Li Guiyi's group, based on their previous patterns, they would need to wait a while after setting their bait, which gave him plenty of time to track them down.

Half an hour later, Lin Yan had not found Li Guiyi and his men, but he caught a familiar, fishy stench.

He lightened his footsteps, not rushing toward the source of the smell, but circling the perimeter instead. After confirming that Li Guiyi and his group were not nearby, he finally approached the location of the stench.

Pushing aside the final layer of brush, his gaze fell upon the grass ahead, where a small beast lay prone.

It was no larger than a rabbit, its body a grayish-brown, but it possessed a pair of striking purple ears, furry and currently drooping limply.

The small beast lay motionless, its belly rising and falling slightly; it was clearly still alive, merely trapped in a deep slumber.

"A Purple Fur Beast."

Lin Yan's eyes narrowed.

Ever since obtaining the Earth Vein True Interpretation, Lin Yan had specifically gone to the Tang Mansion to find a pharmacopoeia and a book detailing martial arts treasures, ensuring he would not be ignorant of such things should he encounter them in the future.

The Purple Fur Beast was one of the treasures recorded in those books.

The beast's pair of purple ears were known as a precious medicine. Consuming them granted a martial artist at the second stage of skin refinement a thirty percent higher success rate when breaking through to the third stage.

Even if not used for breakthroughs, consuming them provided a massive boost to one's blood and energy.

Such a treasure was rare and hard to come by.

Lin Yan realized then that Li Guiyi's target was this Purple Fur Beast.

Lin Yan crouched down and turned the Purple Fur Beast over. There were bloodstains on the fur around its mouth, clearly from eating the drugged bait.

Looking at the unconscious Purple Fur Beast, Lin Yan destroyed the bait on the ground just as he had before, then picked up the beast and left quickly.

A short while later, Lin Yan stopped at the bottom of a hidden mountain stream. He pulled a dagger from his waist, gave the Purple Fur Beast a quick end, then sliced off its ears. He scraped away the fur with his blade and chewed them down directly.

They were crunchy, but carried a fishy tang.

Before long, a violent, hot current rose from his belly, beginning to spread through his limbs and bones.

Lin Yan dared not delay. He swallowed both ears in a few gulps, and within those few short breaths, the warmth grew increasingly intense, quickly turning into a scorching heat. It felt as if a ball of fire were burning in his stomach, heating his entire body until his skin began to flush red.

Hoo!

Exhaling a puff of hot air, Lin Yan raised his hands: Mountain Splitting Fist.

The first punch roared out, the fist wind exploding with a sharp crack, leaving a faint white trail in the air.

He followed with a second punch, faster than the first, its momentum even more ferocious.

The third punch, the fourth punch...

His speed grew ever faster, his fist momentum ever more imposing.

Borrowing the force of his strikes, the medicinal power contained within the Purple Fur Beast's ears was absorbed at a rapid pace, while simultaneously, the blood-qi within Lin Yan's body surged wildly.

Every punch was like adding fuel to a roaring fire, making it burn brighter and fiercer.

Blood-qi poured from his dantian, rushing into his muscles and meridians.

Under the scouring of this blood-qi, his meridians continuously expanded and contracted, each contraction sending even more blood-qi throughout his entire body.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, when the boiling blood-qi within him finally calmed, Lin Yan came to a halt.

He withdrew his fists and stood firm.

Steam rose from Lin Yan's entire body, as if he had just stepped out of a steamer.

He looked down at his hands; the veins beneath his skin had settled, but he could clearly feel that things were different.

Strength, speed, blood-qi—everything had ascended to a new level.

Looking inward at his mind, the Martial Dao Tree had actually reached a height of two feet and six inches. One had to realize that in the two months since he had stepped into the second stage of skin-tempering, the Martial Dao Tree had only grown by two inches.

Precious medicine—it was no wonder it drove martial artists mad; the effects were simply too obvious.

Last time, he had destroyed the bait left by Li Guiyi, but this time, because the Purple Fur Beast had eaten quite a bit of the minced meat, the meat was now scarce. Li Guiyi would inevitably suspect that someone had beaten him to it, and the most suspicious parties were those of us martial artists stationed in Qingtian Town.

When that time came, he, a second-stage skin-tempering martial artist, would be the prime suspect in Li Guiyi's mind. Faced with a treasure like the Purple Fur Beast, he feared Li Guiyi would not hold back just because he was a disciple of a martial arts hall.

With my current strength, it is not as if I lack the power to fight Li Guiyi.

If he had the strength to fight, there was no reason to remain targeted by a venomous snake in the shadows.

A look of resolve flashed in Lin Yan's eyes as he returned the way he came.

Upon reaching the baiting area and confirming that Li Guiyi and his party had not yet arrived, Lin Yan's gaze fell upon an old locust tree not far away. Its branches were lush and dense, quite suitable for hiding a person.

He kicked off the ground, climbed the trunk without a sound, and vanished into the canopy.

Time ticked away, second by second.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, footsteps echoed through the mountain forest.

Four figures emerged from the woods, with Li Guiyi in the lead.

Behind Li Guiyi followed three men, all first-stage skin-tempering martial artists. They wore sabers at their waists, their eyes scanning the surroundings with vigilance.

"Steward Li, it's that clearing up ahead," one of them said in a low voice.

Li Guiyi nodded and quickened his pace.

As they drew closer to the bushes, Li Guiyi's mood grew increasingly tense, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Through a gap in the shrubbery, when he caught sight of a patch of fuzzy brown fur, he was instantly overjoyed.

"It really is the Purple Fur Beast! The Patriarch's third stage of skin-tempering is within reach!"

Li Guiyi's voice cracked with excitement. Just as he was about to push aside the bushes to seize the Purple Fur Beast, a powerful gust of wind struck from above.

As a second-stage skin-tempering martial artist, Li Guiyi sensed something was wrong immediately. He jerked his head up, only for a cloud of white powder to envelop his head!

"Lime!"

Li Guiyi was quick-witted; he instantly closed his eyes, held his breath, and pushed off the ground to retreat violently.

However, at that very moment, the bones in Lin Yan's waist vibrated, his spine pulled taut like a great bow—Stone Waist Savage Spine, erupting with full force!

His figure was like an arrow released from a string, dropping from high above and crossing two zhang in an instant.

The first punch roared out.

The fist momentum was like a tide, the fist wind like thunder.

Li Guiyi raised his arms to block by instinct, but the moment fist met arm, his expression changed drastically.

This punch force—so fierce!

Not only was it heavy, but it also carried a peculiar fist energy that made his blood-qi surge upward.

BANG!

Li Guiyi's arms shook violently, and he was smashed back three steps.

Before he could even steady himself, the second punch had already arrived.

This punch was faster and heavier, its momentum three parts more imposing than the last, as if an entire mountain were pressing down upon him.

Li Guiyi's heart turned cold with fear. He could not see the path of the fist, but the overwhelming momentum left his entire body rigid, his breathing stifled.

BANG!

The second punch slammed into his hastily raised forearm, the sound of bone cracking echoing out.

The third punch followed on its heels.

Against this punch, Li Guiyi could no longer hold his ground.

His fist punched through the crumbling defense, landing squarely in the center of his chest.

Pfft!

Li Guiyi spat out a spray of blood, his body flying backward like a tattered sack before slamming heavily into a tree and sliding to the ground, his eyes losing focus.

Even in death, he could not understand why someone with such overwhelming strength would resort to low-handed tactics like throwing lime.

The dull thud of Li Guiyi hitting the ground still echoed through the woods, leaving the three martial artists who had undergone one skin-refining stage frozen in place, their scalps tingling.

What had they just witnessed?

Steward Li, a standout among those in the second skin-refining stage, had been beaten to death by this person in just... just a few punches?

From the first strike to the end, not even two seconds had passed—it was so fast they hadn't even had time to intervene.

Their legs turned to jelly.

They wanted to run, but their legs wouldn't move.

They wanted to scream, but their throats felt as if they were being throttled.

They watched helplessly as the man in green turned and swept his gaze toward them, his eyes as calm as if he had just swatted a fly.

"Run!"

Finally, one of them let out a hoarse cry and turned to flee.

But before he could take a single step, the wind of a fist was already upon him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three dull thuds rang out in quick succession, and three bodies flew backward, crashing into the shrubbery and falling silent forever.

After finishing off the three, Lin Yan began to loot the bodies while reflecting on the fight.

"Killing Li Guiyi this time has given me a better understanding of my own strength, and it also confirms that lime isn't very effective against second-stage skin-refining martial artists anymore; there's no need to carry it around in the future."

"Furthermore, the fact that I could kill Li Guiyi in a few punches was due not only to my own strength but also to the fact that he was caught off guard and forced into a passive defense by my continuous assault. If I had let Li Guiyi strike first, it wouldn't have been so easy."

Having finished his summary, Lin Yan finished looting the bodies, harvesting a total of only fifty-some taels of silver.

A look of regret crossed his face; the four of them certainly possessed more wealth than this, but they hadn't carried it on their persons.

This was normal. Aside from gang members who kept their money on them, most martial artists with established households hid their wealth at home, carrying only a small amount of cash.

Fifty taels of silver, plus fifteen years of cultivation time from the Martial Fruit.

This haul was barely acceptable.

Lin Yan scanned his surroundings. Due to the miasma, Great Fog Mountain had very few wild beasts, so counting on them to dispose of the bodies was unrealistic; he would have to bury them himself.

It took half an hour to bury the four bodies. Lin Yan then returned to where he had hidden his clothes, took off the green garment, burned it to ashes, and changed back into his original attire before leaving Great Fog Mountain.

Upon returning to his courtyard, Lin Yan skinned and cleaned the Purple Fur Beast, chopped it into pieces, threw them into a pot, added water, and lit the fire.

The greatest value of the Purple Fur Beast lay in its two ears, but that didn't mean the meat from the rest of its body was useless; eating it could also nourish his blood and qi.

Half an hour later, the aroma of meat wafted out.

Lin Yan lifted the lid; the broth had turned milky white, the meat was stewed until tender, and a thin, golden film of oil floated on the surface.

He picked up a piece with his chopsticks, blew on it, popped it into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed.

Before long, a wave of warmth rose from his stomach, spreading through his limbs and bones like a trickling stream.

Lin Yan's eyes lit up, and he began to eat heartily.

One piece, two pieces, three pieces.

After eating, he began to practice his punches...