Late Blood-Qi Realm

After waiting another half hour, the sky had completely darkened before a washbasin-sized bowl of stewed meat was finally brought to the table.

By then, the meat had been sliced into pieces. There were no bones in sight, and it had not been stewed tender yet.

It was still edible like this.

Several side dishes were reheated.

A mouthful of meat went down. It was hard to chew, but the flavor was quite good.

After drinking a bowl of soup, Gao Fei felt a trace of warmth spread from his stomach and intestines throughout his entire body.

It felt like drinking Qi-Blood Soup, only far weaker—not even a tenth as potent.

Gao Linyue could tell as soon as he ate it. Shaking his head, he immediately complained to Second Aunt.

"Cooking demon beast meat like this is simply wasteful. Who sent it over?"

Second Aunt shook her head.

Gao Fei directly took over the conversation. He did not want to say too much to Second Uncle; explaining would be too troublesome.

"Just eat if there's food. Don't ask. Is there anywhere that sells Qi-Blood Soup? I want to buy some."

"Pharmacies sell ready-made Qi-Blood Soup. If you're not in a hurry, I can brew it myself. When do you need it?"

Gao Linyue had already seen at the martial arts hall that Gao Fei's qi and blood were deficient. Otherwise, he would never have let him drink the remaining Qi-Blood Soup.

"You all eat first. I'm heading out for a moment. Just save me a portion!"

The sooner he improved his strength, the better. If he bought it now, he could digest it tonight.

As he spoke, he stood up and prepared to leave.

"I know the pharmacy well. I'll go buy it after eating. It'll be much cheaper."

Of the basin of demon beast meat, Gao Fei and Second Uncle Gao Linyue ate the most. His cousin and Second Aunt did not dare eat much.

Their cultivation was insufficient. If they ate too much, they would not digest it, and it would instead harm their bodies.

After one meal, it amounted to roughly a bowl of Qi-Blood Soup. The efficiency was rather low.

Once he had eaten his fill, he took out all the silver on him and placed it on the table.

"Buy as much as you can!"

A fifty-tael silver ingot and some loose silver were tossed onto the table.

The amount of silver surprised Second Uncle Gao Linyue.

When this brat had gone out at noon, he had only extorted a little over twenty copper coins from him. Yet in just one afternoon, he had acquired so much silver.

When Second Aunt saw the silver, she was delighted at first, but then she restrained herself. Without saying anything, she lowered her head and continued eating.

Gao Yan, his cousin, merely glanced at the silver with no interest whatsoever.

One tael of silver was worth a thousand copper coins. One copper coin could buy two steamed buns.

"Five taels of silver per serving, about the same as a bowl at the martial arts hall. You can buy ten servings with this!"

"Second Uncle, sorry to trouble you with a trip!"

After seeing Gao Linyue out of the courtyard, Gao Fei began stretching in the small yard. He had eaten a little too much.

He walked around the courtyard, avoiding conversation with Second Aunt and his cousin.

After all, he had become a different person. His habits were bound to be different.

In a few days, he could simply claim that he had abandoned evil and returned to righteousness, turned over a new leaf, and seen through everything. Then, a change in personality would be normal.

For now, it was better to wait until he was stronger...

Half an hour later, Gao Fei obtained the Qi-Blood Soup he wanted.

Only, the loose silver had not been returned.

Taking the wine jar, he quickly returned to his room.

His stomach was too full, so he could not drink much at a time. He drank steadily until midnight, and Gao Fei successfully reached the Late Blood-Qi Realm.

His lifespan rose to sixty days.

As long as he kept breaking through, he would have a chance to live.

Even after finishing the entire jar, his qi-blood value was still increasing. His qi and blood had yet to catch up to his realm.

He could keep drinking. He would wait until it caught up to his realm. His martial skills were more or less enough for now, and he could still keep the Merit Points in reserve and see how things went.

He swung his fist. His punching force had reached around a thousand jin. In the courtyard, he easily lifted the three-hundred-jin boulder he normally trained with.

The next morning, while they were still eating breakfast, Xiao Liu knocked and entered.

"Sir, there's meat soup again today!"

After entering, he was not polite in the slightest. He raised a hand, grabbed food from the table, and began eating.

Second Uncle and Second Aunt merely glanced at him before continuing their meal.

Only Gao Yan pursed his lips. He grabbed two coarse-grain flatbreads, stood up, and wolfed them down as though there were not enough to eat.

Gao Fei understood that this was another freeloader. The next time he got money, he had to leave some for household expenses. Otherwise, he would truly be too embarrassed to stay in this home.

Smiling at the thought, he walked to Xiao Liu's side, grabbed him, and pulled him toward the door.

"I'm full. Let's go!"

"No! I'm not full yet..."

Gao Fei hurriedly covered his mouth and softly scolded him beside his ear.

"Were you reincarnated as a starving ghost? If I'd known, I wouldn't have opened the door for you."

"You know what my family's like. My old man is stingy. We only eat two meals a day. They can manage, but I practice martial arts—I can't. My monthly spending money isn't even enough."

"Enough. Lead the way. I'm going to the county yamen!"

Once outside, Gao Fei again used the trick of claiming he had been struck on the head and lost his memory to fish for information.

Lu Xiaoliu was a white-clad runner, without an official post—an outsider, not even paid a salary.

Having been assigned under Gao Fei, his wages were paid by Gao Fei. If the original owner was in a good mood, he paid; if he was in a bad mood, he did not.

This breakfast was Xiao Liu's benefit, only today it had been stripped away.

"Fine. From now on, I'll pay you every month. Here's this month's pay."

With that, he took out the remaining fifty copper coins. After thinking for a moment, he gave thirty of them to him.

"Thank you, sir!"

"Call me Big Brother!"

"Yes, sir!"

The county yamen was not far away. They arrived in half an hour.

The gates stood open. A large drum sat before them, with no one standing guard.

After they entered, they found a vast courtyard, much larger than the martial arts hall, surrounded by towering walls.

A young man in casual clothes emerged from the courtyard and shouted from far away.

"Gao Fei, where's my brother? Why didn't he come back with you?"

Gao Fei swept his gaze around. Three people stood in the courtyard. He turned to Xiao Liu.

"Who's this? What position does he hold?"

"A white-clad runner."

"So arrogant?"

What exactly had the original owner done? A man without even a salary dared shout at an official civil servant like this.

Lu Xiaoliu hurriedly pulled him close, bent to his ear, and whispered.

"He's in the Middle Qi-Blood Realm. The two of us can't beat him."

"Xiao Liu, do you trust your big brother?"

As he watched the man rush over, he raised his leg and kicked. The man flew back along the same path, sprawled on the ground, and did not move for a long while.

"No manners, no courtesy."

At this point, a man beside them wearing a proper constable's uniform, with a body shaped like a winter melon, spoke up.

"A few words between colleagues are one thing. But laying hands on him is going too far!"

Though he did not know when this backdoor hire had broken through, the one who had been kicked was his subordinate. If he did not protect his own people, who would be willing to work for him?

Gao Fei looked around and did not lower his voice.

"Xiao Liu, introduce them!"

"This is Constable Liu, Late Blood-Qi Realm. The one who was just kicked is his attendant. The one behind him who hasn't spoken is Constable Zhang, also Late Blood-Qi Realm."

Xiao Liu hurriedly smiled apologetically and introduced them one by one. "The man who got kicked is the younger brother of the middle-aged constable from yesterday."

Only then did Gao Fei understand. The Middle and Late Qi-Blood Realm were the normal cultivation levels for constables. Someone like him, who had entered through connections, did not count.

Constable Liu shifted his somewhat obese body and sneered.

"Do you know why there are only so few people in the county yamen?"

Seeing that Gao Fei did not answer for a long time, he continued with a righteous expression. "The day of reckoning for scum like you has arrived."

Everyone in Yueyang County who knew the truth was guilty. No one could stand on the moral high ground and condemn others.

Gao Fei looked at the man before him and shook his head.

"No matter how you settle accounts, it is not your turn, you hypocrite without any sense of responsibility, to gloat over others' misfortune."

"Whether we are hypocrites is not for you to decide."

The words "hypocrite" seemed to strike Constable Liu's sore spot. Faced with his retort, Gao Fei smiled.

"What? You're unconvinced?"

"How many villages outside the county city have vanished? You don't go risk your lives fighting demons."

"But when you see me as an easy target, you come preach benevolence, righteousness, morality, and virtue? If that doesn't make you hypocrites, what does?"

Constable Liu was thoroughly enraged.

"Brat Gao, my character is not for trash like you to judge."