Insect Traces

"Barely made the minor accomplishment."

As Su Yan gave this reply, Xu Guan stepped forward and reached out.

His aura shifted instantly, muscles bulging, and those wiry hands grabbed at Su Yan like an eagle's talons.

Su Yan's expression changed; he planted his stance and swung his arm, power gathering in his palm as he immediately executed the Old Ape Supports the Mountain technique to defend himself.

A claw and a block collided.

He instantly felt a massive force rush over him, and as the strength in his arms met it, it was shattered like dead wood.

His stance broken, he retreated two steps before finally discharging the force.

His arms were left buzzing with numbness, but the eagle-like aura on Xu Guan receded, and he burst out laughing: "Truly the minor skin-refinement accomplishment. Household Registration Bureau Officer Fang, Su Yan's poll tax need no longer be collected."

Fang Xueyun smiled and nodded, echoing the sentiment: "Indeed it should be so, he is truly a heroic youth."

"Many thanks, Chief Constable Xu."

Since Su Yan did not need to pay taxes, he naturally returned to the crowd, though his heart was filled with intense doubt.

This move by Xu Guan was merely a probe, and he didn't actually intend to hurt me, but how could my minor skin-refinement accomplishment catch his eye? Why is this?

Amidst his musings, crying suddenly sounded: "Household Bureau Official, I... our family head went into the mountain to gather Cinnabar Lingzhi and got injured the day before yesterday, and we only managed to scrape together six coins of silver. Please... please grant us a few days' grace."

Su Yan's train of thought was interrupted by this weeping. He looked over and discovered that the weeping person was actually Guo Yun's wife.

The woman was weeping tears of anxiety, while the minor official wore a dark expression: "The Great Li Code: those who fail to pay the poll tax shall do hard labor. If I grant you grace, what about the others? Wouldn't everyone do the same?"

The official had seen this kind of inability to pay tax silver countless times, so naturally he would not show mercy.

Village Head Zhang opened his mouth, but no words came out. Soon after this summer tax came the Lin family's collection of mountain fees, and coupled with the silver the family needed to set aside for daily living, who could patch this hole for Guo Yun's family?

The summer tax patched? What about the mountain fees?

Guo Yun hadn't simply failed to scrape together money for the moment; he was injured.

"The remaining four coins, I'll pay."

Su Yan's voice rang out, and everyone was startled.

That's right, Brother Yan hunted a tiger yesterday and has silver right now, but wasn't he going to practice martial arts?

The crowd watched as Su Yan walked over and dropped the single tael of silver he had just had left into the wooden chest.

The official paused, then checked off Guo Yun's name.

"Why aren't you thanking him yet?"

With that single prompt, Guo Yun's wife immediately prostrated herself, kowtowing loudly with thuds that covered her forehead in mud.

The surrounding people, along with Su Yan, helped her up: "Auntie, I once received help from Uncle Guo Yun; there's no need for this."

"Many thanks, Brother Yan. Even if I have to smash pots and sell iron, I will pay Brother Yan back this money."

Others might not know, but as Guo Yun's wife, how could she not know?

It was true that Guo Yun had helped Su Yan once or twice, but afterward Su Yan had already repaid him with several Cinnabar Lingzhi patches all at once, earning quite a bit.

Had Guo Yun not been injured and needed his life saved, forcing them to use up the family's silver, how could things have reached this state?

Now that Su Yan was still willing to step in, it was a debt of great kindness and virtue.

Once the matter of Guo Yun's family was settled, all the other households had their preparations ready, and although they scraped together the money with difficulty, they could be considered to have paid their taxes.

Fang Xueyun, together with the minor official and laborers, packed the silver into sealed chests, preparing to transport it back to the yamen.

Xu Guan and the rest of the constables and bailiffs were also preparing to leave.

Just before departing, however, he suddenly spoke: "The body-tempering supplementary skills of the Golden Ape Martial Arts Hall's Inner Gate are quite good. If you are a descendant of the Inner Gate and have nowhere particular to go, come to the yamen and try your hand."

With that, Xu Guan strode away, leaving Su Yan stunned.

After Xu Guan and his party left the village and could no longer be seen from the village entrance, one of the bailiffs among them finally couldn't hold back.

"Chief, that Su Yan is merely at minor skin-refinement, and there are quite a few among us brothers who are at this level. Why?"

"Why?"

Xu Guan smiled, glancing at the bailiff. Under his command there were over a hundred bailiffs; those entered in the roster and formally on the payroll as constables numbered forty or fifty, and there were indeed quite a few martial artists in the Skin Shifting Realm.

However, Su Yan was different.

He merely raised his brows slightly: "Would you dare fight a tiger at minor skin-refinement?"

The bailiff was left speechless.

"Could you enter the gate in ten days, and fight your way through a breakthrough to minor accomplishment?"

"How is that possible?!"

The bailiff's eyes widened, but Xu Guan did not answer. He pinched his horse's flanks with his legs and galloped to the front of the procession.

The bailiff didn't know, but he had a more comprehensive understanding.

Inside the Martial Arts Hall, he naturally had his informants, and it just so happened that Su Yan had defeated Wei Kang at the Martial Arts Hall.

The Market Ward also had bailiffs, and they knew when he had returned to the Market Ward and when he had fought the ferocious tiger in the mountains.

These three things had actually happened within three or four days, and Su Yan's journey from entering the gate to minor accomplishment had taken place precisely within these same three or four days.

For a young man like this, if resources were properly coordinated, a Sinew and Bone Realm was guaranteed, and perhaps even the Blood Shifting Realm was possible.

Had someone not seen with their own eyes that very day that Su Yan was right there in the Mountain Market, he would have almost thought Niu Han was killed by him too.

Bizarre insects from the mountain coming down to slaughter several people—such a situation hadn't been seen in years.

However, perhaps Pang Tianfeng was the one who had done it.

Leaving that aside, once Xu Guan and his group departed, each household returned home to prepare for tomorrow's labor.

Those who needed to go to the mountains went to the mountains, and those who needed to till the fields went to the fields.

Only, just as Su Yan was about to leave, Guo Yun's wife grabbed his sleeve and stuffed six coins of silver into his hand.

"Brother Yan, Auntie only has six coins right now. Wait... wait until the family head gets better, and we will find a way to pay you back for sure."

"There's no need for that."

Su Yan stuffed the six coins of silver back, but a question arose in his heart: Didn't Uncle Guo Yun gather Cinnabar Lingzhi? How could he get injured?

Su Yan had seen Cinnabar Lingzhi nests; they were all among old tree stumps and tangled bushes, not dangerous places at all.

If they were only gathering Cinnabar Lingzhi from these stumps and fallen trees, he figured no accidents should have happened.

Guo Yun's wife said: "For some reason, the day they wanted to gather Cinnabar Lingzhi, they were burned by a bug that could breathe fire. Not just him, but the several people who went into the mountain together with him also injured their hands, though it's not considered severe."

Su Yan's gaze stirred: "A bug?"

"Doctor Du said it might be a bizarre insect. If they hadn't returned in time, I'm afraid they would have lost their lives."

"Auntie, take me to see Uncle Guo Yun."

Without thinking much, Guo Yun's wife was startled at first, then nodded: "Brother Yan has a good heart."

She led Su Yan to her home, where her son was drying mountain goods found in the mountains out in the courtyard.

"Mom."

Seeing his mother return, the child called out, but upon seeing Su Yan, he immediately revealed a trace of fearful expression.

"Quickly call him Brother Yan."

"Brother Yan."

She led Su Yan into the house. Inside the crude room, a bamboo-wood bed was set against the window. Guo Yun was lying on it, covered with a quilt, with his right arm bare and wrapped in a layer of herbal medicine.

At the junction where the herbal poultice covered the base of his arm, charred black skin was faintly visible.

"Axiu, that summer tax... Yan, Brother Yan."

Guo Yun was filled with anxiety, but suddenly seeing that Su Yan had also come, he tried to sit up slightly.

"Don't move."

Zheng Xiu immediately went forward and held him down: "Brother Yan lent a helping hand and lent us one tael of silver."

"Thank you, thank you, Brother Yan."

Guo Yun was stunned and quickly offered his thanks. If he couldn't pay taxes looking like this, going to do hard labor would mean certain death; even if he didn't go and Zheng Xiu went instead, she would likely find it hard to endure.

"Uncle Guo Yun, let me check your injuries."

Su Yan greeted him and walked to Guo Yun's side.

"Brother Yan is a capable person. Have a look."

He stretched out his arm, though it was extremely reluctant. Su Yan stepped forward to examine it: the arm looked as though it had been burned by fire, charred entirely black, and even faintly showed signs of festering.

Fire poison, not ordinary fire.

Su Yan's gaze shifted slightly. His ability to recognize medicines had reached minor accomplishment for some time, and furthermore, having controlled the Darkwater Centipede to hunt down who knows how many poisonous creatures, he sensed something was wrong with just a single touch.

It really seems to be a bizarre insect.

He set the arm back down, then took out ten taels of silver: "Auntie, this is a fire-poison injury. I'm afraid just these skin-healing herbs won't be very effective and will leave sequelae. Go to the Hundred Herbs Hall and buy some Miasma-Clearing Powder; it can dispel this fire poison. Take some and send it over to the other families as well."

"This... how can this be?"

Ten taels of silver—that was no small sum.

"If Second Uncle hadn't been injured, I'm afraid he would have suffered as well. Everyone blocked the disaster together, so consider this my thank you to everyone."

"Axiu, since Brother Yan instructed it thus, just go."

Guo Yun suddenly spoke up, and only then did Zheng Xiu nod: "Brother Yan, sit for a moment. I'll find Elder Brother Zheng to take me into the city."

Zheng Xiu hurried away, anxious to save her husband.

As soon as she left, Guo Yun said: "Guo Yun offers many thanks to Brother Yan for saving his life. That bug should be a bizarre insect; it might be of help to Brother Yan. It's at that Cinnabar Lingzhi patch near the boundary of the Inner Mountain."