Nourishing the Blood

"Doctor Xing, one packet of Blood-Nourishing Powder."

"Fine. Just dissolve it in hot water."

Li Mu stood before the pharmacy counter and handed over an ounce of silver.

Doctor Xing accepted the silver, gave Li Mu an indifferent glance, and without another word tossed him a small medicine packet before lowering his head to resume reading.

Carrying the packet, Li Mu hurried back by a roundabout route.

Those two had chosen a very secluded spot in the small garden, and he had acted swiftly and decisively. No one should have seen anything.

Even if someone really came investigating, he could just tell the truth and demonstrate his beginner-level Dripping Water Swordsmanship.

Since it involved the servants of Myriad Swords Tower, Steward Leng Shuangyu handled everything herself.

Given Leng Shuangyu's ways...

She would certainly think a talented future servant was more useful than two cripples.

She would surely discard those two without a second thought and pursue the matter no further.

After all, Hidden Sword Manor was never short of servants.

When Li Mu returned to the wooden shed, Hui Zhen had not waited for him because he had come back late from buying medicine. He had already finished eating and gone off to practice his swordsmanship.

Li Mu spent five copper coins on a piece of braised pork, which he ate with steamed bread, rice porridge, and pickled vegetables. He dug in heartily and ate with great satisfaction.

Many people could not bear to buy braised pork, and they looked at Li Mu with envy and jealousy... Once you received reward silver, you sure became lavish!

Several others who had also received reward silver were getting the same looks.

"Strange. Did those two or three get hurt?"

Wiping the grease from his mouth, Li Mu glanced over and suddenly noticed something was wrong.

Two or three people were clearly dejected and had poor appetites, as though they could not eat.

One of them moved very unnaturally, as if he had been injured.

"Vitality and blood: 5.0, 5.0, 4.9. No swordsmanship entry. About the same build as me."

"Looks like they were targeted too, but they lacked the strength and weren't prepared. Their reward silver probably didn't survive..."

Li Mu had already guessed most of it.

Fortunately, he had brought his wooden sword, his swordsmanship had entered the beginner level, and the people who had come after him were not experts.

Thinking back to what he had done earlier that day, his blood still boiled.

"My heart still isn't ruthless enough..."

Li Mu reflected that he still had reservations about killing people.

But in times like these, it was a world where people "ate" people.

Human lives were as cheap as grass!

If he was not ruthless enough toward others, he would likely be the one to die...

A trace of resolve slowly appeared in Li Mu's eyes.

"Strength is the foundation. Vitality and blood, swordsmanship... I need to improve them all as quickly as possible."

Back in the dormitory.

Li Mu went to the hot-water room, spent one copper coin to fill a kettle with boiling water, and opened the packet of Blood-Nourishing Powder.

"Blood-Nourishing Powder..."

It was a packet of medicinal powder made from various herbs ground into red and reddish-brown granules.

He poured all the powder into the tea mug on the small wooden table, added boiling water, and stirred it thoroughly. A cup of dark-red, viscous medicinal liquid formed.

It gave off a strong, pungent smell.

Li Mu found it hard to describe the scent. After letting it cool for a while, he pinched his nose and gulped it all down, his throat burning slightly.

Moments later, a scorching sensation ignited in his lower abdomen and swiftly spread through his entire body.

"This medicinal potency..." Li Mu's face twisted slightly as heat surged through his body, demanding release.

He looked out the window. The sky had only just darkened.

It was still early.

But with the end of the month approaching, coupled with the threat from Steward Leng Shuangyu's casual whipping and expulsion earlier that day, almost everyone had rushed to the training grounds.

There was no other reason... Train hard, change your fate!

The entire Sword-Wiping Slave Dormitory was quiet.

As for the two people in the small garden, they apparently had not yet been discovered. There was not the slightest commotion...

Seeing that no one was around, Li Mu quietly made his way to the open space behind the dormitory and hid beneath the shade of a tree.

He checked the progress on the Sword Register.

[Dripping Water Swordsmanship: 95/500 (Beginner)]

He had practiced five times today and struck twice, gaining fourteen points of progress.

"Fighting can increase progress too?" Li Mu pondered.

"What I did today was different from my usual sword practice. All I thought about was using my full strength to defeat them in a single move.

"At that time, my entire body and mind were focused on the sword momentum of Rain Thorn..."

Li Mu could still recall the two fierce thrusts he had made that day. Rage had burned in his chest, his blood had boiled, his spirit and intent had become one, and his force had been precise and ruthless.

Thinking about it this way, although he had not gone through the full set and had used only two moves, it had consumed more focus than practicing the entire routine.

It was only natural for his progress to increase.

Still, being able to unleash such decisive, fierce sword moves in that moment...

Was also thanks to Li Mu's relentless day-and-night training.

"Normally, sword practice, work, and carrying water use up a lot of my strength. At night, I can only practice five times.

"I wonder how long I can practice now with the medicine supporting me..."

Casting aside his thoughts, Li Mu picked up a wooden sword from the nearby bushes.

His opening stance was still Dripping Water Pierces Stone...

But upon closer inspection, one would discover that beneath the same sword-move sequence, his exertion of force and footwork had clearly risen to another level compared to before.

Instructor Zhao Meng had not yet explained the specific methods for reaching proficiency.

But Li Mu possessed Clear Sword Eyes. Once any swordsmanship entered the beginner level, the path of subsequent cultivation would unfold before him, section by section, with perfect clarity.

"The proficiency level of Dripping Water Swordsmanship lies in stronger force. The sword momentum splits into twelve evenly launched strikes, forming a scattering rain-like pattern.

"Once fully mastered, it is comparable to firing twelve hidden weapons at once, turning an opponent into a sieve.

"Rain Thorn is most powerful within a single step, but Fine Rain Flying can reach as far as three steps!"

If Li Mu had reached the proficiency level today...

Those two would not have merely suffered blown-out eyes and a wound in the back.

At such close range, caught completely off guard, their faces and backs would surely have been shredded by the sword momentum of Fine Rain Flying.

As sword shadows danced, the scorching medicinal potency seeped into every strange meridian and pathway throughout Li Mu's body.

The progress of Dripping Water Swordsmanship rose bit by bit.

The more he practiced, the less tired he became.

He even felt as though he could keep practicing until dawn!

This was Blood-Nourishing Powder! The effect of that medicinal liquid worth an ounce of silver entering his body for the first time.

His frail body, which had never taken medicinal supplements before, seemed to receive an exceptionally abundant nourishment at that moment.

Li Mu's eyes shone brightly. He felt incomparably vigorous and fierce.

"While the momentum is with me, let's see how far I can get tonight..."

He had a premonition that under the nourishment of Blood-Nourishing Powder, his vitality and blood would surely rise greatly.

Strength was born from blood.

The stronger his vitality and blood, the stronger his sword momentum!

He wondered how high his vitality and blood would reach tomorrow after he had fully absorbed the medicine's effects. And his swordsmanship?

Li Mu looked forward to it.

Early the next morning.

A servant sweeping the central courtyard passed through the small garden and suddenly kicked something.

Looking down, he turned pale with shock.

"Something terrible has happened! There are dead people!"

"Cough, cough... Not... dead..."

"Save..."

The two people on the ground were barely conscious, their breathing as faint as a thread. They really were nearly dead.

After a burst of commotion, Steward Leng Shuangyu arrived with several people.

This area fell under her jurisdiction.

Several servants from the Myriad Swords Tower line, including Zhao Meng and Zhao Tuo, followed behind her.

When the two on the ground saw Leng Shuangyu, a glimmer of hope rose in their eyes.

After inspecting their injuries, Leng Shuangyu reached a conclusion:

"Both were injured by a single Rain Thorn sword momentum, then struck heavily with stones. Their hands and feet were crippled."

One of the weapons was still nearby, with bloodstains on the stone.

As for the sword? It had not been found.

"Steward Leng, the attacker was clean and decisive. His Rain Thorn sword momentum was extremely skilled, and his force was astonishing. He must have practiced Dripping Water Swordsmanship for at least a year, and his talent is not poor."

Zhao Meng, who had come along, spoke.

Leng Shuangyu nodded slightly.

Behind them, the expressions of several servants changed.

There were many servants in Myriad Swords Tower who met those conditions, including some present here. If they truly pursued the matter...

"N-no, it was Li... Li, cough, cough..." The two lying on the ground struggled to speak.

But after going without even a drop of water all night and suffering severe injuries, their mouths and tongues were cracked and dry. They could only make faint sounds like buzzing mosquitoes.

No matter how anxious they were, no matter how badly they wanted to reveal the culprit's name, they could not do it.

"My lady, how should this be handled now?" Zhao Meng ignored the movement at his feet.