Jiang Yue's Promise

"Neither?" Jiang Yue asked, slightly startled as a trace of surprise flashed in her eyes.

In this Outer City, some people craved wealth while others pursued martial arts. Four hundred taels of silver, provided one did not spend recklessly, was enough to keep a family of several fed and worry-free for a lifetime in the Outer City. Meanwhile, a top-tier Skin-Grinding Method was enough for a commoner to step onto the Martial Dao and escape this muddy, bottom-tier fate once and for all.

Before this, she had seen far too many people rush headlong after fame and fortune, but this was her first time meeting someone who refused four hundred taels of silver and a top-tier Cultivation Method without the slightest hesitation.

"Do you even know what you're saying?" Jiang Yue furrowed her brow slightly, a trace of displeasure in her tone. "Four hundred taels of hard silver and a top-tier Skin-Grinding Method-either of those would cause people outside to beat their brains out if leaked. You want none of it? Could it be your appetite is even bigger and you're plotting something else?"

Meeting her gaze, Li Feng cupped his fists without a trace of servility or arrogance. "My lady misunderstands. This subordinate is not ignorant of the stakes; it's simply that compared to these things, there is a far more important matter right now that this subordinate cannot afford to slowly wait out."

"Oh?"

Jiang Yue sat back down behind the desk with renewed interest, tapping her fingers lightly against the tabletop. "Let's hear it then. What on earth is this matter that makes you willing to disregard even your own future?"

"This subordinate wishes to ask a favor of Constable Jiang."

Li Feng took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Over the years, this subordinate has managed to save one hundred and thirty taels. Added to the four hundred taels for capturing Liu Wu alive, that makes five hundred and thirty taels in total. This subordinate is willing to offer it all, and only asks that Constable Jiang use her connections in the Inner City to purchase a portion of Black Jade Bone-Molding Paste for this subordinate."

Black Jade Bone-Molding Paste!

Hearing this name, Jiang Yue's expression shifted slightly.

This was top-grade medicinal ointment used in the Inner City to mend tendons and reconnect bones. Ordinary people couldn't hope to buy it, and might not even have heard of it.

Jiang Yue sighed softly. "Black Jade Bone-Molding Paste... Are you trying to heal Lin Yanqiu's right hand?"

Li Feng nodded without the slightest concealment.

Even though curing his sister-in-law's right hand wouldn't allow her to continue practicing martial arts, she was the person closest to him in this world. Once healed, she could live out her days safely at home as an ordinary person.

As for the Skin-Grinding Method, he could think of another way.

"Have you thought this through?" Jiang Yue scrutinized the young man before her. "Whether it's the four hundred taels of silver or a top-tier Skin-Grinding Method, either can allow someone of your aptitude to gain a firm foothold in the Outer City. To abandon your own chance at changing your destiny just to heal someone else's hand-will you truly not reconsider?"

"I have thought it through."

Li Feng's tone was resolute.

A future in the Martial Dao was certainly important, but if he had to abandon the treatment of his closest kin to pursue it, what was the use of practicing these martial arts? Silver could be earned again, and a Cultivation Method could be figured out, but his sister-in-law's right hand could not be delayed.

Jiang Yue gazed at him quietly for a long moment, then suddenly chuckled. "Loyal and righteous-that's hardly a bad thing."

She pulled open the drawer of her desk, retrieved a thin booklet, and casually tossed it in front of Li Feng. "I agree to the matter of the Black Jade Bone-Molding Paste; the medicine will be brought to you within three days. As for those one hundred-odd taels of yours, forget it-I'm not short of that little silver. As for this booklet, take it and practice."

Li Feng looked down and saw several striking large characters inscribed on the cover of the booklet: "Iron Robe Skin-Grinding Method".

He couldn't help freezing for a moment, asking with a face full of confusion, "Constable Jiang, this is?"

Jiang Yue explained in a calm tone, "According to the rules of the City Guard Office, once a martial artist becomes a formal constable, the office issues a Skin-Grinding Method for their cultivation."

Li Feng frowned slightly, looking at the booklet as he tentatively asked, "So... is this the Skin-Grinding Method that only Regular Constables are allowed to practice?"

Jiang Yue nodded slightly. "Yes. However, this Skin-Grinding Method is not as good as my family's heirloom. The older chief constables in the office all cultivate this method. You've probably heard of the specific results-most of them experience a decline in bodily vitality after turning forty, gradually failing to suppress the hidden injuries within their bodies."

"Constable Jiang, this..."

A troubled look appeared on Li Feng's face, and he did not reach out to take it immediately. "From what this subordinate knows, the martial arts techniques of the office have always been strictly controlled. Since the Iron Robe Skin-Grinding Method can only be practiced by Regular Constables, if you impart it privately like this and others find out..."

It wasn't that he didn't want to take it, but the City Guard Office exercised extremely strict control over cultivation methods. Only after becoming a formal constable could one go to the office's Martial Arsenal to register, make rubbings, and practice.

Back then, even when his sister-in-law had become a chief constable, she hadn't dared to pass this Skin-Grinding Method on to him in private for cultivation, which showed just how severe it was. If private transmission were discovered, both the transmitter and the recipient would face heavy punishment: at best, they would be crippled, stripping away their martial cultivation; at worst, they would lose their heads.

"Ordinary constables naturally wouldn't dare do this, and neither would chief constables. Imparting cultivation methods in private is a cardinal taboo of the City Guard Office."

Jiang Yue stood up and said indifferently, "If it were before, I wouldn't dare transmit the City Guard Office's cultivation methods privately either. But starting today, I can."

Li Feng's mind raced, and sudden understanding dawned on him.

An ordinary chief constable naturally had no right to impart methods privately. The only ones who possessed this privilege and treated the rules of the City Guard Office as nothing were those in supreme command of the office.

Combined with why she cared so much about Liu Wu, and why the bounty for capturing Liu Wu alive was so extraordinarily high, the answer was already self-evident.

This Liu Wu was likely of utmost importance to the people in the Inner City, so much so that the moment Jiang Yue captured him, she could be certain she would use this merit to be promoted to Deputy Constable Director.

Only figures at or above the rank of Deputy Constable Director could ignore these rules.

She was preparing to be promoted to Deputy Constable Director!

"Now, I am privately passing this Skin-Grinding Method—which can only be practiced by Regular Constables—on to you. Do you... understand?"

Jiang Yue watched Li Feng quietly.

Li Feng naturally knew what he ought to say, and immediately declared, "This subordinate has drifted through life for half a lifetime without encountering a true lord. Since the lady has bestowed such immense grace upon me, from this day forth I shall naturally follow the lady's lead through thick and thin!"

What did it matter to him whether this Skin-Grinding Method caused great harm to the human body or not? He only needed to practice it until he reached the entry level so he could advance it to max level in advance, and then pay back the debt with perfected Skin Grinding; the damage caused could be said to be negligible.

"Very good."

Jiang Yue nodded slightly, quite satisfied with Li Feng's attitude, and said, "You may return first. Afterward, I will have a detailed private chat with Constable Chen, telling him to look after you more behind the scenes. Once you have cultivated this Skin-Grinding Method to success, I will promote you to a formal constable."

The factions within the Outer City were intricate and complex, and even within the City Guard Office, the waters ran very deep. As a chief constables who had been parachuted in from outside, she was going to be promoted to Deputy Constable Director not long after her arrival, and ascending to that position would naturally edge out certain people's spots, arousing jealousy.

Since she was newly arrived, she naturally had to cultivate her own faction. And if she wanted to cultivate a faction, the most important thing was absolute loyalty. This Li Feng was loyal and righteous, and his martial talent wasn't bad either-he was a talent worth nurturing.

Hearing this, Li Feng ought to have withdrawn right then and there. However, thinking of how his eldest sister had come crying to beg him, he hesitated for a moment before pressing on despite his misgivings, "Constable Jiang, this subordinate... still has one more favor to ask."

"Speak." Jiang Yue raised an eyebrow, though she didn't grow angry.

Li Feng took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "That idiot who spoke disrespectfully to you on the street earlier is this subordinate's own nephew. This subordinate dares to be bold and implores the lady to show mercy and spare him this once."

Jiang Yue was slightly stunned, then chuckled softly. "So that idiot turns out to be your nephew?"

If Li Feng hadn't brought it up, as a chief constable busy with official duties every day, she would have long since cast such an insignificant little character to the back of her mind. Where would she ever remember him?

"Fine." Jiang Yue waved her hand casually, unconcerned. "Since he's your nephew, there's no need for me to dwell on it further. Afterward, I'll have a word with the jailer chief and lock him up for another month to let him learn a lesson. Once the time is up, he can be released from prison."

Li Feng cupped his fists once more. "Thank you, Constable Jiang. This subordinate will take his leave."

His eldest sister had treated him well in the past and had even come crying to beg him to help rescue Zhang Qiang. If he had allowed his eldest sister's own son to die in prison, his conscience certainly wouldn't have let it go.

Now that he had obtained Jiang Yue's consent, the other stone that had been weighing heavily on his heart for this period of time had finally landed.

Jiang Yue said no more, waving her hand toward him.

Li Feng then picked up the booklet, tucked it into his bosom, and walked out of the Administrative Office.

Jiang Yue watched Li Feng's retreating back, a trace of pity flashing in her eyes.

"To be able to practice a blade technique and produce Blade Force within a few years just by casually picking up a manual-his talent is indeed not bad. It's simply a pity his background is too poor, and he couldn't get in touch with a Body-Tempering Method any earlier. Advancing to the Flesh Training realm in the future shouldn't be too difficult, but if he wants to reach the 'Sinew Training' stage, I'm afraid it will be somewhat troublesome."

Scions of prominent, well-to-do families often began using medicinal soups to assist in tempering their bodies from childhood. When they reached the age of fifteen—when their vital blood first opened—they would begin practicing a Body-Tempering Method, going through "three years of Skin Grinding and five years of flesh training." If they could achieve flesh-training perfection before the age of twenty-five, they would have a great grasp on stepping into the threshold of "sinew training" in the future.

She was only twenty-one now, and her flesh training was already perfected; she would cross into "sinew training" in another year or two, putting her well ahead of the twenty-five-year-old threshold.

In this Blackrock City, perfected flesh training could at best be considered a mainstay. Only by truly stepping into the realm of sinew training could one truly enter the ranks of experts.

However...

The poor study literature while the rich practice martial arts; these four words were the hardest chasm for bottom-tier martial artists to cross.

Li Feng had contacted the Body-Tempering Method far too late to begin with; his foundation of vital blood had already fallen a huge distance behind others. Now, because he had to treat his sister-in-law, he had given up a top-tier Skin-Grinding Method and could only practice step-by-step the ordinary Skin-Grinding Method issued by the office. It could truly be called being slow by a single step, slow at every step.

Added to the fact that his family background wasn't very good, he lacked abundant resources to assist his cultivation.

Even with high comprehension, without massive resources for support, his martial arts ceiling for this lifetime would be just about that. In the end, his best outcome would be to serve as a chief constable in this Outer City, ultimately disappearing among the common masses through the erosion of time.

However, for Jiang Yue, this was already enough.

What she needed was precisely a loyal subordinate with some martial talent, not a martial genius who could stand on equal footing with her in the future.

For someone as loyal and righteous as Li Feng, bestowing a slight favor when he was at his lowest was all it took to make him entirely devoted.

After all, how could adding flowers to embroidery ever compare to providing charcoal in the snow?