Chen Xun, Marked by Others

"Customer, the total comes to one tael and three mace of silver."

"Here."

After taking the money, the clerk carefully weighed it on the scale, snipped off the excess with silver shears, and returned it to Chen Xun.

"Please come again."

After leaving the apothecary, Chen Xun skillfully made his way to another street.

"Pork! Fresh pork belly!"

"Lamb! Prime lamb, without the slightest gamey taste!"

"Beef! Beef from a cow that just fell to its death! Firm meat, limited quantity—once it's gone, it's gone!"

The cries of vendors from all kinds of butcher shops instantly reached Chen Xun's ears.

This was the county town's famous butcher street.

Not only could one buy meat from all kinds of livestock here, but also the various wild beasts hunted by hunters.

The street was packed with a ceaseless stream of pedestrians. Chen Xun blended into the crowd, utterly inconspicuous.

Before long, he arrived in front of a butcher shop.

The shop's business was mediocre. When the clerk inside saw Chen Xun, he hurried over to greet him.

"Customer, are you here for fresh wolf bones again this time?"

This butcher shop worked with quite a few hunters. Any wild beasts they hunted would be brought here for sale.

The fresh wolf bones Chen Xun had bought before had all come from this shop.

Chen Xun shook his head. "No wolf bones this time. Do you have python bones?"

That was right—Chen Xun's [Iron Garment Art] had already reached Minor Accomplishment.

[Martial Art: Iron Garment Art (Minor Accomplishment 20/800)]

With the boost from the [Perfect Iron Garment Art] trait, Chen Xun's Iron Garment Art training speed soared like a rocket as long as he had sufficient resources.

Only ten days had passed, yet he had already gone from beginner to Minor Accomplishment.

That was a speed beyond anyone else's imagination.

Even if someone who had trained the [Iron Garment Art] to Perfection dispersed their cultivation and started over, they still could not match Chen Xun's speed.

At the root of it all were the powerful effects of the [Trait: Iron Vest Training Boost (Blue)] and [Trait: Absorption Acceleration (Blue)].

With the support of those two great traits, one of Chen Xun's medicinal baths was worth two or three baths for others.

This greatly accelerated Chen Xun's progress.

Moreover, the [Absorption Acceleration] trait did not merely help Chen Xun cultivate the [Iron Garment Art]; it also aided his Blood Qi cultivation.

Ever since gaining the boost of this trait, Chen Xun's daily consumption of [Blood-Strength Powder] had increased by nearly half.

At the same time, his efficiency in absorbing the medicinal effects of [Blood-Strength Powder] had nearly doubled as well.

With this double improvement, Chen Xun's daily progress had risen from the original 1% to over 2% a day.

Over ten days, Chen Xun's physical condition had improved enormously.

He could now barely lift a three-hundred-jin stone lock.

With a single punch, he could easily break a hard wooden board several centimeters thick.

[Cultivation: First Blood-Qi Transformation (35%)]

Before long, he would surely reach the bottleneck of the Qi-Blood Second Transformation.

"Python bones? Bones from a python?"

"That's right."

"Please wait a moment, customer. I'll go ask whether we've received any pythons recently."

"Go ahead."

The clerk called over a colleague to attend to Chen Xun, then hurried away himself.

Chen Xun was seated on a chair, with freshly brewed tea beside him.

Chen Xun did not have to wait long before the departing clerk returned with a middle-aged man.

"This is our shopkeeper."

The clerk hurriedly introduced him.

"My name is Zhu Lin. May I ask if you are the customer seeking python bones?"

"That's right. Shopkeeper Zhu, does your shop have any?"

"No."

Zhu Lin shook his head in reply.

"No?" Chen Xun frowned slightly. This was becoming troublesome.

"However, although our shop doesn't have any, I know who does."

Zhu Lin suddenly smiled.

"Oh? Then please ask Shopkeeper Zhu to buy them for me. The price is negotiable."

Chen Xun's eyes lit up at once, and he promptly made his promise.

Zhu Lin had first suppressed expectations before raising them, merely to drive up the price.

And python bones truly were rare. Chen Xun could accept spending a little more.

Sure enough, upon hearing Chen Xun's words, the smile on Zhu Lin's face grew even brighter.

Afterward, Zhu Lin left the shop for a while. When he returned, he had an additional bloodstained cloth sack in his hands.

Upon opening it, Chen Xun found fresh bones still bearing flesh and blood within. Judging by their shape, they indeed came from a large python.

"Not bad. This is what I wanted."

"Here's the money we agreed on."

Chen Xun handed over the money, but the other party did not accept it immediately.

"Customer, that person didn't charge me for these python bones."

"But he asked me to pass along a message."

"What did he say?"

"He said that if you want python bones again in the future, you should go directly to him. Only he has a way to regularly obtain fresh python bones."

"Is that true?"

"Yes. His family raises a nest of pythons. Whenever someone wants one, they can slaughter one on the spot."

"Other butcher shops generally find it difficult to obtain python bones, because wild pythons are no easy prey. Their danger is no less than that of tigers and leopards. Unless they are absolutely certain, hunters will not hunt pythons."

Hearing this, a thoughtful look appeared on Chen Xun's face. "I see. Understood."

"Then please give me the address, Shopkeeper Zhu. I'll go there myself next time."

After obtaining the address from Zhu Lin, Chen Xun paid him a fee for his trouble and left the shop.

After coming out, he did not immediately leave butcher street. Instead, he walked to the place beside the address Zhu Lin had given him.

Dragon-Tiger Butcher Shop. Looking up, Chen Xun saw the exceedingly domineering signboard.

"The dragon refers to pythons. What does the tiger refer to?"

Chen Xun asked around and soon learned what the tiger meant. It referred to wildcats, a kind of beast with delicious meat.

Adult wildcats could grow over a meter long. They resembled tigers and were swift as the wind, making them extremely difficult to capture in the wild. Thus, they also bore the nickname Little Mountain Lord.

It was said that the owner of Dragon-Tiger Butcher Shop possessed a special method that allowed him to catch wildcats with ease.

After staring deeply at the Dragon-Tiger Butcher Shop signboard, Chen Xun turned and left.

At the same time, in the inner courtyard of Dragon-Tiger Butcher Shop, a father and son were talking in the study.

"Father, why did you give away such an excellent set of python bones? Even if few people want them, they're still worth quite a bit."

The son complained somewhat resentfully.

Hearing this, the father raised his eyes to look at his son and calmly said, "Wasn't it for your sake?"

"For my sake?"

The son pointed at himself in surprise.

"Of course. Tell me, what realm has your Iron Garment Art reached?"

"Don't mention it! I'm still at the proficient stage. This martial art is too difficult to cultivate. I can never grasp the proper measure of that breathing technique. The medicinal baths are far too ineffective, and my progress is too slow."

"What if I told you that I have a way to let your Iron Garment Art reach Major Accomplishment in one step?"

"What way? If you had such a method, why didn't you bring it out sooner?"

"The time simply hadn't come yet!"

"And now the time has come?"

"Of course, but we still need to wait a while longer—until that person cultivates the Iron Garment Art to Major Accomplishment, or even Perfection."

"At that time, all we need to do is seize him, peel off his skin, and use a special method to put it on you. Your defense will definitely be formidable."

"The Qingyun Martial Academy recruitment assembly will begin in a little over a year. If you can make it through and become a disciple of Qingyun Martial Academy, then our Old Li Family can rise again—and may even have hope of crushing the main branch."