Sun Yan's Frustration

Sunlight pierced the morning mist, and human voices gradually filled the streets of the Changle Ward.

Following Lin Yanqiu's guidance, Li Feng made his way to the Hundred Herbs Hall.

Stepping inside the Hundred Herbs Hall, a rich fragrance of medicinal herbs drifted through the apothecary.

The shop was not particularly large, but the interior was kept immaculately clean. Several rows of solid wood medicine cabinets stood against the wall, fitted with small drawers bearing labeled tags.

The hour was still early, and the shop was somewhat desolate, with no apprentices or helpers in sight. Only an aging shopkeeper with a wispy goat beard was behind the counter, weighing medicinal herbs with a scale.

This man was Shopkeeper Sun. In his youth, he had also practiced martial arts, and after retiring, he came to the Changle Ward to open this apothecary.

Because his prices were reasonable and the medicinal efficacy was decent, he gradually built a reputation over the few years. Many martial artists in the Outer City bought their herbs here, and even quite a few regular constables from the City Guard Office came to him for purchases.

"Shopkeeper, sorry for the trouble, but does the shop have medicinal herbs that assist with the practice of the Skin-Grinding Method?" Li Feng stepped forward, cast a glance around his surroundings, and brought his fists together in a salute.

Shopkeeper Sun stopped what he was doing and looked Li Feng up and down. Seeing that his attire was ordinary and his build somewhat slender, but since Shopkeeper Sun had practiced martial arts for many years and deeply understood the principle that one should not judge a book by its cover, he did not look down on him and truthfully introduced:

"The medicines used for basic skin grinding come in two types: ointments and medicinal baths. The ointment is applied directly externally after a workout, costing about one tael of silver per dose. It is rather irritating to the skin, and the medicinal efficacy is not quite as good."

"As for a medicinal bath, you boil it in scalding hot water after martial practice, wait for the time it takes to burn an incense stick, and then enter the vat to soak. By comparison, the medicinal efficacy of a medicinal bath is much milder, causing less skin irritation while yielding better results than the ointment. However, it also requires more herbs; preparing a single medicinal bath costs about two taels of silver."

Li Feng gasped inwardly.

A single medicinal bath cost two taels of silver. Doing it once every day for a month came out to sixty taels of silver. He only had one hundred and thirty taels of silver in total, so if he used medicinal baths every day, he could last for two months at most. If he still hadn't attained mastery after two months, where would he find the money to buy subsequent herbs?

No wonder everyone said that literature was poor while martial arts were rich; even if an ordinary family managed to get their hands on such a cultivation method, they simply couldn't sustain this enormous consumption.

Just as Li Feng was pondering, a mocking voice suddenly came from behind.

"Well, well, isn't this our City Guard Office's white runner, Li?"

Li Feng turned back to look and saw Sun Yan shaking a folding fan in his hand. His skin seemed somewhat darker than before, evidently having unlocked some knack in the Skin-Grinding Method by relying on the piled-up resources of his family.

This Sun Yan fancied himself a dashing and romantic young gentleman just because he held a shaking folding fan.

Yet in reality, because of his long-term martial practice and a well-off family background that provided good meals with never a shortage of meat, he had grown extremely robust and sturdy overall.

Coupled with the fact that he had been cultivating the Skin-Grinding Method recently, his skin had darkened somewhat. Such a rough and brawny dark-skinned fellow was clutching a delicate folding fan, which clashed entirely with his whole person and looked rather comical no matter how one viewed it.

Sun Yan glanced sideways at Li Feng, guessing that Li Feng was here to buy medicine for that sister-in-law of his, Lin Yanqiu.

"What? Came here to buy healing medicine for your sister-in-law?"

Sun Yan folded his fan and said with a pretentious posture, "The medicine at the Hundred Herbs Hall isn't cheap. Do you want me, Brother Sun, to lend you some?"

Naturally, it was impossible for him to lend money to Li Feng. In fact, ever since he began practicing the Skin-Grinding Method, Sun Yan had constantly used expensive herbs from the Inner City in order to accelerate his cultivation progress. After a month, even with his relatively well-off family, they couldn't withstand such an exorbitant consumption.

Now his family didn't have much silver left to spare him for buying Inner City herbs, so he had no choice but to inquire with Chief Constable Zhao and learn that the constables of the City Guard Office usually came here to buy cultivation herbs. Only then did he run over to see how the herbs in the Outer City fared.

Right now, he purposely uttered these words merely to humiliate Li Feng, a mere white runner.

Li Feng's gaze turned slightly cold as he calmly replied, "Don't trouble yourself. What I want to buy are skin-grinding herbs to assist with body tempering."

At these words, Sun Yan first froze, then couldn't help but let out a sneer.

"Buying skin-grinding medicine? You?" Sun Yan's eyes were filled with utter disdain. "A temporary white runner like you doesn't even have a skin-grinding method, so what are you buying this kind of medicine for? Do you even know how to grind your skin? Even if you could get your hands on a skin-grinding method, can you afford the medicine for it?"

Sun Yan pointed his folding fan at the herbs on the counter, his tone growing increasingly sarcastic and harsh, "Didn't you hear the shopkeeper's quote just now? Even the cheapest dose of ointment costs a full tael of silver, which is enough to match half a month's stipend for a white runner like you. What are you going to buy it with?"

"What I buy it with is no concern of yours, so don't you worry about it."

Li Feng's expression remained as usual, not taking Sun Yan very seriously.

He drew several heavy silver ingots from his bosom, counted out thirty-four taels, and said to the shopkeeper, "Shopkeeper Sun, please help me pack four doses of medicinal bath and twenty-six doses of ointment."

Four doses of medicinal baths and twenty-six doses of ointment totaled thirty-four taels of silver, which was just enough for a month-using a medicinal bath once a week to prevent the Skin-Grinding Method from inflicting excessive harm on the skin. If he still hadn't attained mastery after a month, he would simply come back.

"Right away, patron. Please wait a moment, I'll pack the herbs for you right now." Shopkeeper Sun's eyes lit up. He immediately accepted the silver and turned around to pack the medicine.

Only then did Li Feng turn his head back, looking up and down at Sun Yan with a playful gaze as he spoke:

"Young Master Sun, what about you? Isn't your family background always very substantial? Weren't you still boasting at the City Guard Office before about how your family spent money to pave the way, sending you to the Inner City to become a registered disciple and learn martial arts? How is it that now you've lowered your status and come all the way to an Outer City apothecary to buy medicine?"

Pausing for a moment, Li Feng continued to taunt him, "Could it be that Young Master Sun is too mediocre in aptitude, consuming too many precious Inner City herbs while your skin-grinding progress remains so slow that your family can't sustain such a massive expense, forcing you to run to this Outer City apothecary to make do?"

"You... talking nonsense." Having his sore spot exposed in public, Sun Yan was instantly driven into a fury. His face turned the color of a pig's liver, and for a moment he was actually rendered speechless, unable to squeeze out a single sentence of rebuttal for the longest time.

Li Feng let out a scoff and ignored him further.

A moment later, the shopkeeper finally finished packing the herbs.

Li Feng picked up the medicinal materials and walked out of the shop.

Watching Li Feng's retreating figure as he carried a large bundle of herbs, Sun Yan was so angry that his back molars were nearly crushed to bits.

"Putting on a brave face despite being bruised!"

Sun Yan cursed in a low voice through gritted teeth.

He didn't believe that a low-level white runner like Li Feng could earn this much money; he must have used the severance pay issued after Lin Yanqiu was severely wounded and retired to buy the medicine!

"Hmph! What a prodigal, squandering his sister-in-law's healing money!"

Sun Yan harbored hidden resentment in his heart, while a thought abruptly surged up.

If Li Feng bought so many skin-grinding herbs without the corresponding cultivation method to go with them, using the medicine would be a complete waste.

The rules of the City Guard Office were strict; a white runner was simply not qualified to come into contact with martial Dao cultivation methods. Could it be... that woman Lin Yanqiu broke the rules and secretly passed the City Guard Office's skin-grinding method to this brat behind closed doors?

The more Sun Yan thought about it, the more he felt it was a certainty, and an ominous, venomous light inevitably welled up in his eyes. He originally wanted to expose them on the spot, but after a brief contemplation, he suppressed the impulse.

He currently had no substantive evidence in his hands, and all of this was mere guesswork. Besides, he was about to take over Chief Constable Zhao's position; if he launched an abrupt attack without conclusive proof, it wouldn't look good for his impending succession as chief constable.

"I'll let you be smug for a few more days. Once I catch the evidence of you two secretly passing on cultivation methods behind our backs, let's see how the City Guard Office deals with the likes of you!"

Sun Yan clutched that out-of-place folding fan and fanned himself fiercely, calculating viciously in his mind.

There was no rush; he couldn't rush. Impetuosity easily ruined matters. Once he became the chief constable, he would have plenty of ways to slowly deal with this brat.