Back from the Dead?

When Ma Liu and the others pushed open the storeroom door and saw what was inside, they all gaped in shock.

The room was a complete mess. The medicinal herbs everyone had painstakingly sorted the night before had been tossed into disarray once more.

Even more glaring was the fact that the emergency rations they had left here had been eaten down to the last crumb.

As for the culprit, anyone whose eyes worked properly could identify him at a glance.

There was only one person in the entire storeroom: Jiang Feng. He was lounging in a corner, chewing on the last half of a flatbread. A pot sat before him, bubbling away as something simmered inside.

At the sight of the chaos, several hot-tempered men in the crowd exploded on the spot.

"Jiang Feng, are you crazy? Do you have any idea what'll happen to you for pulling a stunt like this?"

"If you want to die, find somewhere with no one around and do it! We worked so hard to sort those herbs, and you wrecked them all by yourself. Have you no shame?"

"And you ate all the food, too? That was everyone's rations for the next few days!"

The crowd poured their anger at Jiang Feng from all directions.

Ma Liu, however, didn't join in. His shifty little eyes kept roaming over Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng wore a tattered old garment, and his exposed skin was crisscrossed with wounds of every size. "Ragged" hardly did the sight justice.

Recalling Fan Qingyang's meaningful instructions the previous night, Ma Liu's mind automatically filled in one miserable scene after another.

He even suspected that Fan Qingyang had deliberately set up this situation, pinning all the blame on Jiang Feng first, then slowly dealing with him once he'd been pushed to the brink.

After all, this wasn't the first time they'd done something like this. They'd used the same tactics to torment plenty of serving girls at the Medicine Hall.

A few of the loudest men saw that Jiang Feng didn't even bat an eyelid, let alone make any attempt to explain himself. Their tempers flared, and they rolled up their sleeves, ready to use force.

Ma Liu reached out to stop them and advised them unhurriedly, "Hey, brothers, don't get carried away."

The men looked outraged, clearly seething with anger.

"Brother Ma, how can we not get carried away? Everyone went without dinner last night to save food, and this bastard ate it all by himself! What are we supposed to do for the next few days? We still have to go up the mountain to gather herbs!"

"Exactly! Gathering herbs on the mountain takes strength!"

Ma Liu raised a hand to signal for everyone to calm down, then said in an even tone, "This isn't for us to decide. We'll wait for Boss Fan to come back and let him handle it. After all, he's the one leading this assignment."

At that, the others fell silent, though the anger in their eyes didn't fade in the slightest.

Ma Liu naturally noticed. He cleared his throat and added, with a meaningful look, "You should have faith in Boss Fan. He'll definitely deliver the most 'fair' punishment."

He deliberately put extra emphasis on the word "fair."

No one there was a fool. They all caught his meaning between the lines. Everyone knew about the grudge between Fan Qingyang and Jiang Feng. After Jiang Feng pulled such an outrageous stunt, there was no way Fan Qingyang would let him off lightly.

They even had a vague idea that Boss Fan would probably punish Jiang Feng by making him replace all the missing herbs by himself.

That wouldn't be an easy job. If one person had to shoulder it and work day and night, it wouldn't be surprising if he literally worked himself to death.

Thinking of that, the fire in the crowd gradually died down. They stopped shouting and drifted off in twos and threes to sit and rest at the other end of the room, waiting for Fan Qingyang to return.

Jiang Feng didn't spare the noisy bunch a glance.

After swallowing the last bite of coarse-grain flatbread, he reached out and lifted the lid of the little pot before him.

A mouthwatering aroma instantly filled the storeroom. The stomachs of several hungry apprentices who hadn't eaten all night began to growl on the spot.

"Hmph, this kid knows how to treat himself. He's actually boiling herbs into soup. We never got that kind of treatment at the Medicine Hall."

"Damn it, when Boss Fan gets back, I'll make him spit out everything he just swallowed."

"If you ask me, we should just go over and take the soup now. We're starving."

"Don't rush. When Boss Fan gets back, the soup will have to be shared with everyone anyway. Jiang Feng's just keeping it safe for us for a while."

A wooden spoon stirred gently in the pot as Red-Beard Ginseng, Golden-Thread Angelica, Deer-Blood Vine, and various other herbs bobbed up and down in the thick broth.

Jiang Feng had specifically cooked this medicinal stew to replenish his qi and blood. The battle last night had taken too much out of him, especially the final slash that killed Sun Bowei. To ensure there was no chance of failure, he'd nearly drained his body of qi and blood.

On top of the injuries he'd sustained in the fight, he really couldn't hold out without replenishing himself soon.

As for the job of gathering herbs, he naturally wasn't going to do it.

There was no way he could keep Fan Qingyang's death a secret. Even if he explained that Fan Qingyang had struck first, with Xue Zhao and Wu Han there, his explanation would be about as useful as a fart.

There was no going back to the Medicine Hall.

He planned to leave this outpost once his qi and blood had mostly recovered, change his appearance, and start over somewhere else.

After all, he had now reached the seventh level of the Blood-Moving Realm and mastered the art of refining Blood-Qi Pills. Surely the vast Ping'an County could find room for one Jiang Feng.

He ladled out a bowl of the hot broth, blew on it, and tucked in with relish.

Feeling his nearly depleted qi and blood slowly filling up again, he couldn't help letting a long-missed, contented smile rise to his lips.

But just then, his ears twitched, and he abruptly looked toward the storeroom door.

He heard heavy footsteps coming through the downpour, rapidly approaching the storeroom.

Jiang Feng glanced over at Ma Liu and the others and silently counted them. Eight, no more and no less.

His brow immediately furrowed. In weather like this, no outsider should be coming around. Who could be outside?

As he wondered, a hurried knock sounded at the door.

Ma Liu and the others perked up at once, springing to their feet with excitement written all over their faces.

"Boss Fan's definitely back!"

The whole group surged toward the entrance.

Jiang Feng's icy voice came from behind them. "I advise you not to open the door just yet."

They stared blankly for a moment, then their faces filled with undisguised mockery.

"What, you only know to be afraid now that Boss Fan's back? You'd better think about how you're going to explain yourself to him."

"Jiang Feng, it's too late to regret it now. Just wait for your punishment!"

As they spoke, several of them joined forces and yanked the heavy storeroom doors wide open.

In an instant, a gale swept the torrential rain inside, bringing with it a strange chill that made the whole room feel several degrees colder.

Jiang Feng had kept his eyes fixed on the doorway. But the moment he saw who had arrived, his pupils contracted, and an overwhelming sense of absurdity shot from the depths of his heart to the top of his head.

Because the person standing there was Fan Qingyang!

Ma Liu and the others greeted him with beaming smiles and fawning enthusiasm, all clamoring to report what had happened.

"Boss Fan, you're finally here! Come in and see for yourself what Jiang Feng's done to the whole storeroom!"

"Exactly! All the hard work we put in last night was ruined by this brat!"

"And the most infuriating part is, he ate all the food we'd stored up, all by himself!"