Unique, Illiterate...

Inside the Martial Hall, in the martial registration room, the five people in the room fell quiet when they heard Li Chengfeng's words. They could all see the shock on one another's faces.

"Wait here for a moment."

Immediately after, the old man with half-white hair and beard spoke with a frown. At last, he gave them a look, and all five of them withdrew behind the window.

"With this old man's divine-intent perception, everything this boy said was true..."

"..."

Seeing that the five of them had actually reacted like this, Li Chengfeng immediately grew somewhat nervous and sat silently where he was, waiting for the result.

A moment later, the five of them returned to their seats. The old man with the half-white hair and beard had taken the place in front of Li Chengfeng. Smiling, he picked up the file and wrote on it stroke by stroke.

Li Chengfeng leaned forward for a look... He did not recognize the characters.

[Li Chengfeng, commoner origin, eighteen years old, residence on Wuhou Street... suspected awakened past-life wisdom, or perhaps received a miraculous transmission of cultivation method from an expert. Cultivation method unknown, quality superior.]

The old man finished writing the information stroke by stroke, then looked at Li Chengfeng with a smile. Seeing his face full of blank confusion, he knew Li Chengfeng could not read, and with a smile, he added three more characters at the end: illiterate.

After finishing, the old man copied it out five times in succession, signed his own name at the end of each copy, pressed down his handprint, and then stood up again.

Then the burly man sat down, clicking his tongue in wonder as he looked at him. He glanced at Li Chengfeng's information, signed his own name on each copy as well, pressed down his handprint, and then rose.

Immediately after, under Li Chengfeng's astonished gaze, everyone in the room signed their names and pressed their handprints one after another.

Once the handprints were done, under the unanimous gaze of all five, they sealed the letters with beeswax. Then they walked out together and, under Li Chengfeng's stunned stare, gave a whistle.

"Whoosh~"

Five majestic eagles descended from the sky. Each wore iron claws on its legs and an iron beak guard over its beak, and each had a message tube fastened to its leg.

The five of them each stuffed a beeswax-sealed letter into an iron tube, then released the great eagles.

This...

Li Chengfeng watched their movements, unable to keep the shock from his face. He had never imagined that after coming to be registered in the records and displaying his cultivation method, he would actually encounter something like this.

"Little brother, this is your household seal. Hang this household seal before your door, and you may be exempt from all court taxes."

After the great eagles had been released, the old man with the half-white beard turned back around and took five round tokens cast from bronze out of his robes. In the center of each round token, the character for "martial" had been cast in brass.

After speaking, the gray-bearded martial artist took out another bronze waist token from his belt. Engraved on it were the character for "martial" and the name Li Chengfeng. Smiling, he handed it to Li Chengfeng. "This is your identity mark. Hang this token at your waist, and you may avoid disasters from the court and make use of the Martial Hall's functions."

"Thank you, senior!"

Li Chengfeng silently cupped his hands and took the items, thinking that since things had already come to this, he could only go with the flow and watch how things changed.

"All right, your entry into the martial register is complete. You may go."

The old man with the half-white beard spoke to him with a smile. After saying that, he could not help reminding him, "Now that you've already become a martial artist, you should still buy some books and learn to read, and also learn some medical knowledge. Young people should strive to improve."

"Many thanks for your reminder, senior."

Li Chengfeng's heart stirred when he heard this. He hurriedly cupped his fists in thanks, then, with a smile, walked out of the room under the gazes of the five people seeing him off. After that, he hesitated for a moment, took his long spear, and went to the pill purchase area.

When he went inside and looked, an even more spacious room than the martial-text registration area appeared before his eyes. Even his great spear, more than four meters long, could enter smoothly!

But the layout inside was like an ordinary medicine shop. At the back were large medicine shelves, and in front there was only one long counter. Behind it, more than ten people in yellow robes waited. The difference was that outside the counter stood a row of young attendants as well.

"May I ask what pills this honored customer wishes to buy?"

As soon as Li Chengfeng stepped inside, a young attendant took the initiative to walk over. He cupped his fists to him and spoke with a smile.

"How much is one Blood-Qi Pill?"

Li Chengfeng looked at the various pill names behind them and could not help asking the attendant in front of him.

"Five taels of silver per pill. If purchased by a martial artist at the Meridian Opening realm, then four taels of silver per pill. If honored customer wishes to buy pills, you need only show your waist token."

A faint smile appeared on the young attendant's face, and his voice remained calm as he spoke.

"Five taels of silver for one pill? Fuck, that's almost enough to buy two pigs!"

When Li Chengfeng heard this price, even though he had been somewhat prepared, his heart still filled with shock.

But seeing the other party's calm smile, he did not say anything. The corners of his mouth merely twitched as he silently took out the fifty-tael silver note. "Ten pills."

"Very well, please wait a moment."

The young attendant accepted Li Chengfeng's silver note and answered with a smile. Then he walked to the counter and called out, "Ten Blood-Qi Pills, received one fifty-tael silver note."

Pa~

The young attendant's voice had just fallen when a small square box was taken down by a man in yellow robes inside and set on the counter with a pa.

After receiving it, the young attendant opened it and inspected it. Then he brought it before Li Chengfeng with a smile.

"Honored customer, please look. Ten Blood-Qi Pills, each with a full pill layer, flawless, and of excellent quality. After confirming them, sign and press your mark, then you may take them away."

The young attendant brought the pills before Li Chengfeng and opened the box with a smile as he spoke to him. As he spoke, he took out a slip of paper from inside the box and placed it before him.

Li Chengfeng could not read. After inspecting the color and quality of the pills and feeling that they were indeed no different from the ones Zhao Lie, the leader of the Black River Gang, had given him, he simply drew a circle in silence, then pressed a handprint on it.

"Very well, honored customer, take care."

The young attendant did not care what Li Chengfeng had signed. After Li Chengfeng had finished signing and pressing his mark, he put the slip of paper away and spoke with a beaming smile.

Li Chengfeng nodded silently, took the box of pills, lifted his long spear, and walked out in silence.

After he walked out of the room, Li Chengfeng looked at the sun in the sky, and his figure paused.

He was a poor bastard again.

He looked around the hall, his gaze pausing outside the rooms hung with plaques for cultivation methods and weapons. In the end, he could not help looking toward the bounty room. After thinking for a moment, he lifted his feet curiously and walked in.

Once inside, he saw that it was also a shabby room. Below sat three middle-aged men with long beards and faint smiles on their faces.

And without any need for introduction, there was a notice board at the top, written with all kinds of bounties.

[Bandit-Extermination Bounty: West Mountain True-Qi Realm mountain bandits Zhang Mazi and Wang Ergou, three merits awarded for each person; Body-Tempering Realm mountain bandits Liu San, Sun Qing, Li Hu, and Ma Biao, one thousand taels of silver awarded for each person, or one thousand two hundred taels' worth of cultivation resources]

[Bandit-Extermination Bounty: Thirteen Linked Docks of Shuiyang Prefecture, chief leader and Xiantian Realm martial artist Guo Zhenyi; whoever kills this man will be enfeoffed as a Marquis of a Thousand Households. Second leader and perfected Spirit-Aperture martial artist Chen Xingyi; whoever kills this man will be rewarded with the post of a Hundred-Household Official...]

"..."

[Item-Seeking Bounty: Seeking pure-yang precious medicines; ten merits awarded for each one]

[Talent Bounty: Seeking people capable of refining tools or refining pills, or talents skilled in beast-taming, formations, or mechanisms; cooperation will bring generous returns]

One bounty after another fell into his eyes. Li Chengfeng's gaze paused over the characters he did not recognize, and in the end he turned to ask the service staff beside him, requesting an explanation.

After staying in the room for half a quarter of an hour, Li Chengfeng, having heard the contents explained, silently withdrew.

"Xiantian Realm, Condensed-Aperture Realm... I wonder what sort of levels those are."

Thinking of the contents of the bounties the man had described, Li Chengfeng sighed inwardly. Then, sensing his own strength again, he suddenly found that being so poor was not quite so hard to accept.

"I'm still too weak. I should go back and cultivate properly first. Let's get through Zheng Pandao's hurdle before anything else."

Li Chengfeng sighed inwardly. Recalling the name of that Master Zheng, then thinking of Zhao Lie waiting for him at Lin-Feng Pavilion, he straightened his expression, put away the pills in his robes, and silently carried his spear out of the county yamen.