Finally in Hand

Chen Shaojun successfully collected his tally slips.

Eight red slips, plus the two bamboo slips from the morning, came to a total of eight hundred and sixty copper coins.

That was no small sum.

He was only a little over a hundred coins short of one tael of silver.

"Eight hundred coins a day—within Shengjing City, that should count as a decent income."

Chen Shaojun put away the tally slips. Thinking of how a celebrity in his previous life could earn 2.08 million in a single day, he did not dwell on it too much.

He understood clearly that in this world, the strong never lacked silver. Yet for the weak to train in martial arts and strengthen their bodies, this little money was far from enough.

After that, Chen Shaojun did not linger there any longer.

He had already received the benefits, so naturally, he needed to avoid showing his face before that scarred man as much as possible.

He returned to the rear courtyard.

Though exhaustion was hard to conceal, the apprentices still stood excitedly outside their rooms, craning their necks toward one corner of the courtyard and pointing as they whispered among themselves.

"Who was it?

Who did this?"

In the courtyard, a lame old man was hopping mad. At his feet lay Big Black Dog, its body stiff and motionless.

Chen Shaojun immediately understood what had happened.

"Brother Chen, you're back?

Hehe, you'd never guess what happened."

Zhao Hu spotted Chen Shaojun and hurriedly called out excitedly. "See that? Liu Two-Leg's vicious dog is dead."

"How did it die?"

"No idea. We only heard it let out a miserable howl, then it collapsed onto the ground and stopped moving."

"Maybe it was struck by heavenly retribution?"

"Heavenly retribution?"

"That's right. That vile beast relied on its master's power and committed every evil imaginable. Even Heaven probably couldn't stand the sight of it any longer, so it sent down retribution and killed it."

The others all chimed in, their faces brimming with schadenfreude.

"That vile beast died well. It should have died long ago."

Some even gritted their teeth in hatred.

Clearly, they had suffered plenty of abuse from it before. Chen Shaojun swept his gaze over them and knew that this person's resentment ran so deep mostly because he had been bitten only a few days ago.

Chen Shaojun looked at the black dog again and found its eyes wide open and bloodshot, with boundless terror faintly visible within them.

This was dying with eyes still open.

"Sinful, sinful!"

Chen Shaojun shuddered and did not look any further.

Liu Two-Leg grew tired after cursing for a while.

As for how the black dog's corpse would be dealt with?

No one cared.

Nor was it their place to ask.

Chen Shaojun quickly put this interlude behind him and turned his thoughts toward his own development.

He felt that today's harvest had been enormous.

Spirit-Nurturing Pill, horse-taming techniques, the traditional Chinese diagnostic method of Observation, Auscultation, Inquiry, and Palpation, the martial art Eight-Step Cicada Catcher, the Plum-for-Peach Substitution Technique, the Baleful Severing Ruler, and the Daoist true method, the Tai Shang Perception Scripture.

Right, and the Primordial Spirit Pearl he had already used.

Their effects differed, but every one of them was a rare treasure.

All of them were of tremendous help to him.

Especially the Primordial Spirit Pearl.

It had tempered his physique, laid the foundation of his Dao, and even added half a jiazi of lifespan to him.

Not to mention a Daoist true method like the Tai Shang Perception Scripture, which could be cultivated continuously to increase his strength.

However, he had also discovered something.

The more good things he possessed, and the faster his strength and methods increased, the greater the risk of being discovered.

It was only because there were no experts in the pawnshop that he could remain hidden for so long. Otherwise, he suspected he would not have been able to conceal himself for very long at all.

Changes in a person's essence, qi, and spirit, as well as the vigor of their blood and qi, could never escape an expert's senses.

"So I need to start learning martial arts as soon as possible.

That way, the people in the pawnshop will have a reasonable explanation for the changes in my essence, qi, and spirit."

Chen Shaojun pondered this.

And abandoned the idea of learning martial arts from Xu Hongtao.

Previously, because he knew nothing of martial arts and had no cultivation method, he had considered starting with Xu Hongtao.

But now, through the treasure-appraisal reward, he had already learned the Tiger Demon Body-Tempering Fist.

Naturally, there was no longer any need to learn martial arts from Xu Hongtao.

He did not want every change in his strength to be exposed before the man's eyes.

Xu Hongtao might not be particularly strong, but he was still an old hand who had traveled far and wide through the martial world. His eye was exceedingly sharp.

Chen Shaojun could hardly guarantee that he would not reveal some flaw beneath the man's watchful gaze.

"Then tomorrow, I'll need to go out and find a martial arts school to affiliate with, learn a few techniques, and use them to deceive others."

Chen Shaojun settled on the plan.

What he truly wanted, however, were legendary methods of concealing one's aura and hiding one's spirit. He knew that the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror's rewards encompassed all things beneath heaven and surely included such spells.

Unfortunately, the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror's rewards appeared with just as little pattern.

What he wanted was not necessarily what it would reward him with.

Then Chen Shaojun closed his eyes and cultivated the Tai Shang Perception Scripture, visualizing the Cosmic Star Chart.

Strands of "qi" immediately gathered within his dantian.

"Twenty years. After so many twists and turns, this Jade Ruyi has finally returned to my Peng Family's hands."

Inside a room, a burly figure wore an excited expression.

This figure was naturally the scarred man surnamed Peng who had committed the massacre that wiped out an entire family.

And he was, in fact, Peng Dongcheng, the son of Peng Xu, the patrol guard who had been stripped of his household and exiled twenty years ago.

Half a year earlier, at a gathering, he had personally seen Zhao Quan take out the Jade Ruyi. He immediately took notice and soon recognized that it was an object belonging to the Peng Family.

Especially the pearl embedded atop the Jade Ruyi.

His father twenty years ago might not have recognized it, treating it only as a top-grade gemstone.

But during his many years in exile, Peng Dongcheng had encountered another stroke of fortune. His knowledge had become even broader than his father's had been.

That was why he could recognize that the pearl was very likely the legendary heaven-and-earth treasure, the Primordial Spirit Pearl.

Thinking of the Primordial Spirit Pearl's precious mysteries, and of how the Jade Ruyi itself belonged to the Peng Family, desire immediately stirred in his heart.

One night, he secretly went to Zhao Quan's home and proposed a deal to purchase the Jade Ruyi.

Unfortunately, Zhao Quan did not agree and flatly refused.

He wore regret on his face, but he had long expected it in his heart.

Perhaps from the moment he learned that Zhao Quan had come to Shengjing City to escape disaster, with neither relatives nor friends in the city, murderous intent had already arisen within him.

Thus, the instant Zhao Quan refused without hesitation, he drew his sword.

Once killing intent arose, he showed no mercy.

The seven members of the Zhao Family soon all died beneath his sword.

Yet in the end, his methods had not been ruthless enough. The cries of alarm from the murder carried beyond the residence.

Shengjing City was, after all, the City of Six Spirits, with countless Dao Martial Arts experts.

The officials' arrival was also far faster than he had expected.

After hesitating briefly, he could only retreat.

Then he could only watch helplessly as treasures such as the Jade Ruyi in the Zhao residence were sealed away by the authorities.

Fortunately, no one in the authorities noticed the peculiar nature of the pearl atop the Jade Ruyi.

The half-year public notice period.

He waited through it every day.

After learning that this batch of treasures had been bought up by the shopkeeper of the Lin Family Pawnshop, he deliberately waited another day before visiting. Through an ordinary transaction, he finally got this treasure into his hands.

"More than half a year.

It's finally in hand.

These past six months have been agonizing.

But everything was worth it."

Peng Dongcheng's heart surged with excitement. The scar on his face seemed to twitch with his agitation as well, making him look exceptionally ferocious.

.