Sale

Afterward, Xu Zhengxiong chatted with him for a while longer before Fang Xing left the duty room.

As soon as he stepped out of the County Yamen, Xu Le was waiting for him at the entrance.

Seeing Fang Xing emerge, Xu Le strode forward, curiosity written all over his face. "What did Uncle Xu say to you?"

"Something about the fugitive," Fang Xing replied.

"Huh? Did they find the fugitive's trail?" Xu Le asked in surprise.

Fang Xing shook his head. "Not that. We just learned some more about the situation."

"What situation?"

Xu Le asked.

"Nothing much. Just that the fugitive is a member of a cult." Fang Xing's expression remained calm.

"...?"

A cult?!

Xu Le's eyes widened as he stared at him. "Y-you're not joking, are you?"

"That's what Uncle Xu said. I heard he's a cultist from something called the Fire Worship Cult."

"The Fire Worship Cult..." Xu Le furrowed his brow and lowered his head in thought.

"Brother Le, you know it?" Fang Xing asked, seeing him ponder.

Xu Le shook his head. "I don't know that cult's name, but cults are hard to deal with. You'd better be more careful from now on."

Fang Xing smiled faintly. "No need to worry. If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. The higher-ups will naturally deal with the cult."

Hearing that, Xu Le nodded as well.

Dealing with cults was naturally not something lowly Yamen Runners like them needed to worry about.

The Great Jing Dynasty had specialized agencies and forces to resolve such matters.

"Let's go patrol first." Xu Le did not press further. With that, he left, Fang Xing following close behind. Before long, the two vanished from the entrance of the County Yamen.

The work of a Yamen Runner was easy. Other than those assigned to rotating shifts guarding the County Yamen, everyone else was basically responsible for patrolling outside.

The area Fang Xing and Xu Le patrolled was Anqing Ward in North City.

The ward consisted of four streets.

It was a place where all sorts of people mingled, a den of dragons and snakes.

Gambling houses, red-light streets, taverns, and the like were the most common sights there.

Going out on patrol was also a good opportunity for gray income. Basically, the factions operating there would offer them a little something to grease their palms.

However, that was only the small share. The larger share basically flowed to the constables and those even higher up.

This was not unique to Qingshan County. It was the same throughout the entire Great Jing Dynasty.

Everywhere had its motley mix of people.

Not to mention the chaos of the present age—even during the Great Jing Dynasty's prosperous era, it had been the same, perhaps even more so.

As long as the tribute was generous enough, the authorities would turn a blind eye to these entrenched factions.

At 5:15 p.m., the day's patrol was complete. After finishing work and parting ways with Xu Le, Fang Xing returned home, changed into a brown short outfit, and left again.

About half an hour later, Fang Xing arrived before a pharmacy in South City.

Chen's Pharmacy!

It was a long-established pharmacy in Qingshan County.

It was trustworthy and had an excellent reputation.

The sky had darkened, and the pharmacy was about to close. There were no other customers.

After glancing around, Fang Xing stepped into Chen's Pharmacy.

"What does the customer need?" A young woman in green came forward with a smile as soon as he entered.

"I want to sell something." Fang Xing got straight to the point.

The young woman in green smiled faintly at that. "Our shop only buys medicinal herbs or items related to medicinal herbs."

Fang Xing nodded, then took out a small bottle. "There are Blood-Qi Pills in here. Do you buy them?"

"Blood-Qi Pills!"

At the sight of the small bottle, the young woman in green's eyes immediately lit up. She quickly recovered, looked at Fang Xing, and said, "Of course our shop buys Blood-Qi Pills, but we'll need to inspect the goods first."

Fang Xing nodded. "Fine."

"Please wait a moment, then." The young woman in green spoke and headed into the inner room of the pharmacy. Soon, a middle-aged man around forty or fifty came out.

He wore a brown robe, had a small tuft of beard, and sharp, capable eyes.

Coming out of the inner room, the middle-aged man crossed the distance to Fang Xing in a few steps.

After sizing him up, the man smiled. "Little brother, I'm the shopkeeper here. My surname is Chen. Are you looking to sell Blood-Qi Pills?"

As he spoke, Shopkeeper Chen's gaze fell on the small bottle in Fang Xing's hand.

Fang Xing nodded and immediately handed him the bottle containing three Blood-Qi Pills.

"Shopkeeper Chen, have a look."

Shopkeeper Chen said nothing more. Taking the bottle, he carefully examined the three pills inside.

"The medicinal potency is pure... These are high-grade Blood-Qi Pills!" Shopkeeper Chen's eyes flickered as he looked at the three Blood-Qi Pills, but he quickly calmed down. Looking at Fang Xing, he said, "Little brother, your pills are of excellent quality. I'll take them. As for the price... how about five taels of silver each?"

Five taels...

Hearing Shopkeeper Chen's offer, Fang Xing quickly calculated in his heart.

Blood-Qi Pills sold at market price usually went for five or six taels of silver. This was already a decent price.

As for the finer details, there was no need to haggle too much. Others needed to make a profit too.

Besides, one packet of Blood-Qi Powder could be enhanced into ten Blood-Qi Pills. Other than needing time to accumulate Enhancement Points, it was an investment with ten thousandfold returns for him.

"Fine, deal." Fang Xing nodded.

A smile appeared on Shopkeeper Chen's face, and he readily took out the silver.

After selling three Blood-Qi Pills, Fang Xing received fifteen taels of silver.

He would use part of it himself, while the rest was needed for daily expenses.

After all, the original owner had basically spent his entire monthly income on learning martial arts.

Practicing martial arts was an extremely money-burning path.

After selling the Blood-Qi Pills, Fang Xing spent another three taels of silver to buy three packets of Blood-Qi Powder, then quickly left the pharmacy.

After seeing Fang Xing off, Shopkeeper Chen looked at the three Blood-Qi Pills in the bottle, his smile radiant.

"Uncle Chen, wasn't the buying price for those Blood-Qi Pills a little high? Five taels of silver!" At the side, the young woman in green looked at Shopkeeper Chen with a slight frown.

Shopkeeper Chen smiled and looked at her. "You silly girl, buying price also depends on quality. These three Blood-Qi Pills are all high-grade, with pure medicinal potency. Selling them for six taels each would be effortless."

"I see..." The young woman in green nodded. Looking in the direction Fang Xing had disappeared, then back at Shopkeeper Chen, she asked, "Uncle Chen, that man has probably practiced some martial arts, right?"

Shopkeeper Chen nodded. "Yes. He has practiced martial arts. His blood-qi is robust, and he should have reached the Blood-Qi Limit."

"At that stage, why wouldn't he keep them for himself?" the young woman in green asked, blinking.

"Pills are precious. Do you think just anyone can use them as they please? He probably sold them because he ran into some difficulty. I just don't know whether there'll be more in the future."

Shopkeeper Chen sighed.

Then he put away the bottle and looked at the young woman in green. "All right, it's getting late. Close up."

The young woman in green nodded and began tidying up.

"I used two, sold three, and have five left. These dozen or so taels of silver will be enough for now. I'll think about it again after I improve."

Back home, Fang Xing took stock of what he had and planned the road ahead.

He had the materials to enhance items. What he lacked at present were Enhancement Points.

Without Enhancement Points, nothing would work.

Fang Xing had also planned to try enhancing silver, but the prompt that appeared immediately made him abandon the idea completely.

Enhancing a single tael of silver required five hundred Enhancement Points.

That was even more of a robbery than robbery itself!

Not only silver—even enhancing ordinary copper coins required fifty Enhancement Points per coin.

"Could there be some special rule for enhancing silver and copper coins?"

A thought flashed through Fang Xing's mind, but he could not puzzle it out no matter how hard he thought.

This kind of enhancement was simply outrageous.

With that many Enhancement Points, enhancing other things would be far better than enhancing a tael of silver or a copper coin.

Enhancing money was definitely not viable.

Casting aside those distracting thoughts, Fang Xing took out a Blood-Qi Pill and began absorbing it.

His martial arts training could not fall behind.

The potent medicinal energy spread through his body, reaching all four limbs and every bone.

Compared to the first time he had swallowed a Blood-Qi Pill, he was much better off now.

At the Blood-Qi Limit, his physical constitution had improved greatly.

He could absorb the medicinal energy more smoothly as well!

Arriving in the courtyard, he practiced stance training to absorb the Blood-Qi Pill's medicinal potency while also drilling the martial arts moves of the Capture Hand.

With peerless comprehension, after only two days of training, the Capture Hand in his hands had become completely different from before.

Every move contained powerful force, fierce and domineering.

The Nine Capture Styles had each nearly reached the stage of mastery.

The benefits of powerful comprehension revealed themselves at this moment.

The same martial art could display utterly different power in different people's hands.

Although he had not formally studied under a master, with his peerless comprehension, he had already thoroughly grasped it.

He trained until deep into the night. Only when his knuckles had turned white and he had completely absorbed the Blood-Qi Pill's medicinal potency did Fang Xing stop.

Steam rose from his head, bean-sized drops of sweat falling from his cheeks as he panted heavily.

The Blood-Qi Pill's medicinal potency provided tremendous assistance. After several hours of training and absorption, his blood-qi had grown stronger once again.

"At this rate, perhaps I'll be able to step into the ranks of martial artists within a month."

Feeling the changes in his body, the thought crossed Fang Xing's mind.

Although his innate bones were poor, his powerful comprehension was a great pillar of support.

Crossing from the Blood-Qi Limit to Bright Force meant stepping through the first Dragon Gate of martial arts!

However, the prerequisite was sufficient energy.

Food supplements and pills—these factors had a tremendous impact!