007 Back to the Martial Academy

Back to the Martial Academy

Zhang He's solution was simple. Put plainly, he would just sell different medicines to different people. He knew that the rich would never take cheap medicine because they didn't trust it. Ordinary people, on the other hand, couldn't afford expensive medicine, so they had to settle for cheap medicine. That way, with a few small changes to the packaging and presentation, the same medicine could be sold at completely different prices!

This sales strategy hit the mark with people of every class. If the Wang Family handled it well, the name of their pharmacy would spread throughout every level of Mengyin City in no time! With their previous approach, the Wang Family Pharmacy would only have been remembered by the wealthy.

Zhang He met Wang Pengyu's feverish gaze and smiled calmly.

"All right, things are more or less settled. I'll be off, then. I'll bring the other Five Poison Beads over in a few days."

Zhang He rose to take his leave.

"I'll see you out, benefactor!" Wang Pengyu hurried to his feet.

"Heh, don't call me benefactor anymore. Just call me by my name," Zhang He said.

"All right. Then I'll call you Brother Zhang from now on! You saved my life, Wang Pengyu's, so you're my brother!" Wang Pengyu declared solemnly.

Zhang He smiled without replying and headed out.

Wang Pengyu offered to send Zhang He home by carriage, but Zhang He refused, so he had no choice but to let it go. As he watched Zhang He leave, the fervor on Wang Pengyu's face still hadn't faded. Suddenly, he turned to the red-faced man beside him.

"A'can, what kind of person do you think Zhang He is?"

"His future accomplishments will be extraordinary! I saw the Martial Child Academy's insignia on his clothes, which means he's still a martial child... yet he's already cultivated true qi." A'can spoke calmly.

"What? Th-this means that, as long as nothing unexpected happens, he'll be able to reach the True Martial Realm someday?" Wang Pengyu was dumbfounded.

"Exactly. He also knows how to refine medicine, and he understands the ways of business..." A'can's expression was complicated as he watched Zhang He disappear into the distance. He couldn't help wondering where Zhang He had come from.

"To think I, Wang Pengyu, would be lucky enough to meet someone like him?" Wang Pengyu was both shocked and delighted. Even in his own lineage, there were only a handful of geniuses like that!

"Still, I've heard a little about the Martial Child Academy. Isn't it true that, before the age of eighteen, only the children of a few major lineages have cultivated true qi there?"

Wang Pengyu suddenly remembered something, and his expression turned slightly puzzled.

Who would have thought Brother Zhang was hiding his true abilities so well!

Carrying a black-feathered chicken he'd bought at the market, Zhang He returned home in high spirits. As he approached the door, he heard his little sister's laughter ringing out from inside like silver bells.

Zhang He pushed the door open and saw Mother Zhang picking vegetables with his little sister in the courtyard. She was teasing Zhang Yu, making her giggle.

"Ah He's back." At the sound, Mother Zhang turned her head.

She noticed the black-feathered chicken in Zhang He's hand, and a flicker of doubt crossed her face. But with Zhang Yu there, she didn't say anything. Mother Zhang stood up, wiped her hands, and took the chicken from him. Zhang Yu ran over, wanting her brother to hold her. Zhang He chuckled as he picked her up and planted a big kiss on her cheek, making her laugh with delight before he set her down.

"Mother, how are you feeling?" Zhang He could see that his mother was looking much better.

"Much better. I just feel weak." Mother Zhang looked at him, unable to hold back her doubts any longer. "Black-feathered chickens aren't cheap. Where did you get the money to buy one?"

"I was just about to tell you. Poisonous insects have been wreaking havoc in Mengyin City lately, and even the pharmacists here can't do anything about it. But the medicine I gave you yesterday can counteract the poison. I took some out to sell and earned a little money!" Zhang He knew he couldn't keep this from his mother. He set Zhang Yu down, took the money pouch from his clothes, and handed it to her.

"This much money?" Mother Zhang opened it and was instantly startled. The number of gold coins inside shocked her. In all these years, she'd never seen so much money.

"This is only part of it. We'll keep earning money from now on. I've already partnered with the Wang Family Pharmacy," Zhang He said.

"The Wang Family Pharmacy?" A trace of coldness appeared on Mother Zhang's face. "Which Wang Family Pharmacy?"

"It should have nothing to do with Father. It's a huge chain of pharmacies, and this one in Mengyin City is just a branch," Zhang He replied after thinking it over. It seemed his mother still held a grudge against his father.

Zhang He knew the Wang Family was a forbidden topic in his mother's eyes. His hazy memories still held a few fragments of what had happened back then. His father's betrayal of his mother, his faithlessness, and his decision to take another wife had made Mother Zhang hate him to the core. She'd even left the Wang Family with nothing and changed her children's surnames just to sever all ties with them! If she hadn't cut ties with the Wang Family back then, Zhang He would now be the Wang Family's eldest young master, its legitimate firstborn son!

"Ah, Hezi, you should know that, actually..." Mother Zhang sighed at his words, then changed the subject. "Go play with your little sister. I'll take care of this chicken."

"I'll do it. You should rest." Zhang He quickly took the chicken from her and went to prepare it himself.

Mother Zhang naturally wouldn't just sit idle. She went over anyway, insisting on helping.

"I didn't expect that medicine to be so miraculous. Your birthmark is gone, too." Mother Zhang looked at Zhang He's forehead and sighed. Then she abruptly changed tack and asked, "Hezi, don't lie to me. Where did that medicine really come from? The Martial Child Academy has never taught alchemy!"

So Mother Zhang had never believed Zhang He learned it at the Martial Child Academy.

"Ah." Zhang He had already worked out how to handle this. He put on an affected sigh and hesitated before saying, "Mother, I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone else. Actually, I once helped a down-and-out pharmacist by chance. To thank me, he taught me a few medicinal recipes. He said that with them, I'd never have to worry about making a living. But he told me not to mention it to anyone, so I wouldn't attract unnecessary trouble."

"Oh?" Mother Zhang was taken aback. "So that's how it was. No wonder you never let on. I was only afraid you'd gone down the wrong path. If that's the case, then I'm relieved. This must be your good fortune. It seems Heaven still has eyes."

"The Five Poison Beads can detoxify and improve your complexion. You can take them, too. Those little spots on your face are from toxins building up, and the medicine can clear them away," Zhang He said.

Years of hard labor, wind, and sun had left dark yellow spots on Mother Zhang's face, marks of age.

"Good. Good." Mother Zhang smiled. What woman didn't love looking beautiful? Especially when the medicine had been refined by her own son!

After they finished eating, Mother Zhang called Zhang He over.

"Hezi, you seem to have recovered almost completely. Go back to the Martial Child Academy tomorrow. I have this money at home, so I don't have to make pickles anymore. Don't worry about me. Staying here will only hold back your studies."

Zhang He's thoughts stirred. He'd actually forgotten about the Martial Child Academy. With the Martial Child Assessment coming up soon, this was the busiest time of year there.

"All right. I'll go back tomorrow."

"When you return to the Martial Child Academy, don't get into arguments with anyone." Mother Zhang hesitated. "Work hard. If you get a good result in the Martial Child Assessment, you'll earn people's admiration and have a chance at a good position."

As she spoke, Mother Zhang let out a long sigh. If only her Silver Eagle Chamber of Commerce were still around... Alas, there was nothing she could do to help now. Her son would have to make his own way in the world.

That night, in his room, Zhang He watched a black, dirty rat brazenly scurry past him.

He shook his head. "Once I've saved up some money, I'll buy a new house. I can't keep living here." Zhang He had never cared much about creature comforts, because he knew that if he wanted to go further on the path of cultivation, he shouldn't concern himself with enjoying life.

He wanted to buy a new house because he couldn't bear to let his mother and little sister suffer.

Zhang He closed the door and took out the Ten-Perfect Dominant Qi. Tonight, he would continue cultivating.

After swallowing the Ten-Perfect Dominant Qi, Zhang He stripped off his clothes and sat cross-legged. He formed hand seals and breathed in a special rhythm, his body turning bright red. The effects of the Ten-Perfect Dominant Qi appeared quickly, and the qi sensation within him began to churn.

True qi circulated endlessly through his body, absorbing large amounts of the qi sensation. Then it flowed through his fine meridians and out to every part of his body, tempering him without pause.

A warm feeling spread through him.

After circulating it for three full cycles, Zhang He felt a slight swelling pain in his body and stopped. By then, his true qi had grown by nearly a third compared to the night before. That was an astonishing rate of cultivation.

But...

"This growth rate is too slow," Zhang He said, dissatisfied. "At this rate, I won't be able to cultivate powerful true qi before the Martial Child Assessment. Tomorrow, I'll return to the Martial Child Academy. If I have nothing else to do, I'll go up the mountain to collect deadly poisons and use them to temper my body and increase my true qi!"

Zhang He made up his mind. If he wanted to temper his body and rapidly increase his true qi in a short time, using deadly poisons was the best way!

Deadly poison was also a unique kind of power. Take the King Cobra's venom, for example: it could kill someone so thoroughly that they'd be dead within minutes. Poison could inflict tremendous damage on the body, but the Rejuvenation True Explanation Zhang He cultivated could absorb it into his body and fuse it with his true qi. Then, by circulating his technique in reverse, he could reverse the poison's properties.

Once its properties were reversed, the poison immediately became a powerful tonic! Poison that would normally corrode the meridians could strengthen them when circulated in reverse! Poison was devastating when used to kill, but it was just as devastating when used the other way!

What others saw as deadly poison was an unrivaled tonic in Zhang He's hands!

That was the power of the Poison King!

The Martial Child Academy was full of youths under eighteen. Most of them came here to study and cultivate. If they achieved good results in the Martial Child Assessment, they could secure a promising future.

In the past, Zhang He had been at the third level of the Force Martial Realm, with the physique of a grown man. But no one would have given him a second glance for that level of cultivation.

Only when someone reached the fourth level of the Force Martial Realm would others start to look at them differently. The Force Martial Realm had nine levels. The first three were for ordinary people, the middle three were slightly above average, and only those in the final three could be considered superior!

"Everyone should be getting up by now. I'll go to the dormitory first." It was early morning, and there weren't many people on campus yet. Zhang He headed straight for the dormitory.

The Martial Child Academy had separate dormitories for boys and girls, with only a small garden between them. Everyone had a private room in their dormitory. However, the rooms were divided by rank, too. With Zhang He's status and lack of money, he could only stay in the most ordinary room, and the conditions weren't good.

When Zhang He returned to his room, the window of the room beside his had just opened. A fat young man inside looked troubled. The moment he saw Zhang He, his expression changed drastically, and he immediately pulled open the door.

"Zhang He, are you feeling better?"

The fat young man was one of Zhang He's two friends at the Martial Child Academy. His name was Tang Risong, and his family made clothes.

"Yeah. What's on the schedule today? Why do you look so glum?" Zhang He asked curiously.

"You came back at the worst possible time." Tang Risong pulled Zhang He inside, glanced outside, then walked over and knocked on the door of the room next door. A dark-skinned youth came out, his face troubled. His name was Wang Dachui. His blacksmith father had given him that earthy name. He was Zhang He's other friend.

"Zhang He, you're back!" Wang Dachui said, surprised to see him.

"Ugh. You came back at the worst possible time!" Tang Risong said. "How dare you come back? Don't you know we're going to the Martial Arts Arena today?"

Only then did Zhang He understand why the two of them looked so miserable. Going to the Martial Arts Arena meant combat drills, the nightmare of every student from an ordinary family! He remembered clearly that it was there he'd been beaten by those wealthy students!

It was all because of the Body Tempering Liquid. The Body Tempering Liquid was a specially supplied product. It was hard to buy even if you had money, and it was used specifically to temper the body and produce a qi sensation. As the Martial Child Assessment approached, the True Martial Hall of the Western Chu Kingdom would distribute Body Tempering Liquid to every martial child to help them make a final push in their cultivation.

There were many martial children in Mengyin City, so each one received an average of three bottles a month. Zhao Feng and the others needed a large amount of Body Tempering Liquid, so they turned their attention to ordinary students with average cultivation. Ordinary martial children made up a full two-thirds of the Martial Child Academy! The rich couldn't openly rob them, so they used pressure to force the ordinary students to hand over their Body Tempering Liquid themselves.

Zhang He had been beaten for the same reason.

"Dong, dong, dong." The bell announcing the start of class rang outside. Wang Dachui and Tang Risong both changed expressions.

"I think we should just give all our Body Tempering Liquid to Zhao Feng," Tang Risong suddenly said weakly. The deadbeat had actually caved.