The silvery moonlight spilled across the earth.
A dark carriage moved slowly through the night.
Chen Mu sat leaning against the carriage, holding a small cloth bag.
He occasionally took out the silver inside to check if it was real, his face beaming, looking as if he had never seen the world.
Opposite him, Jie Jia still sat with his eyes half-closed, expressionless.
But his eyeballs under his eyelids kept moving, always subtly sweeping towards the cloth bag in Chen Mu's hands.
"Stop peeking already," Chen Mu glared disdainfully at the old man, "You're a mighty killer that has seen it all, why are you so petty? Keep your cool!"
Unmoved, Jie Jia simply stated, "Twenty percent."
Chen Mu immediately felt breathless.
They had sold seven copies of the Shape Cultivation Technique altogether.
They had earned a total of seven hundred and thirty taels of silver.
Twenty percent was one hundred and forty-six taels.
Just doing this simple calculation made Chen Mu's heart ache sharply.
"Here, here, here..." Chen Mu counted out the silver grudgingly and threw it to Jie Jia.
He had no choice but to give it; without the old man, he wouldn't have been able to sell so many copies of the Shape Cultivation Technique.
After putting away the money bag, he casually took out a book.
This was a medical book he had just scavenged from the black market, preparing to use it to enhance the proficiency of his Pharmaceutical Technique.
He valued this skill that he had developed unintentionally.
The old man Jie Jia's skills in adulterating medicines were getting better and better.
If he didn't hurry to enhance his proficiency in Pharmaceutical Technique, he feared he might be taken advantage of by the old man and die.
...
Five days later, at the Chen Family residence on the west side of Ping'an Square.
For safety reasons, including his own original yard, he had rented three residences in a row.
At the moment, he was digging a hole in a room in the second residence.
The place where the bed used to be was now cleared up.
There was a hole in the ground about one meter in diameter.
The hole, about four meters deep, connected to an underground space five meters in length and width.
The ground was strewn with some sulfur lime for pest control and moisture prevention.
Due to rising prices in Qingshan County, he was preparing to stockpile some medicinal materials and grain.
These past days, he had been busy digging a cellar to store these supplies.
In the following days, he went out several times, changing merchants on each occasion.
Accumulating life essentials like wood, rice, oil, and salt in small amounts but frequently, he slowly stockpiled a large quantity.
He even had Zheng Tu specifically gather a batch of dried cured meat for him, which was easy to preserve.
Once Jie Jia delivered the medicinal herbs he had ordered, his accumulation of supplies was considered complete.
Afterward, he stayed at home all the time.
He spent his days practicing the Flying Locust Stone and the Red Falcon Shape Cultivation Technique.
In between, he studied the newly acquired medical books, boosting the proficiency of his Pharmaceutical Technique.
Life was monotonous but not without its flavors.
Watching his proficiency slowly increase, Chen Mu was filled with vigor every day.
He didn't completely confine himself at home either.
Every five days, he would go out to see live people, train as much as he needed to train, but he had to ensure he didn't make himself autistic.
The second purpose was to collect information and intelligence.
...
At Anle Square in the East Market, Eight Directions Building.
This was the largest teahouse in the East Market of Qingshan County.
It attracted a large number of storytelling artists.
Bringing all sorts of news from every direction around Qingshan County.
As usual, Chen Mu found a corner, spent ten copper coins for a pot of tea, a plate of melon seeds, and then sat there listening to the storytellers and to the gossip of people in the hall.
"Have you heard? The Shao family village thirty li north of the town is gone," a short, fat patron whispered to his companion nearby.
"What happened?" The other person at the table immediately asked curiously.
"The authorities said it was raided by bandits. I just happened to come back from there a few days ago, bodies everywhere, it was horrendous," said the short, fat patron, who couldn't help shivering as he spoke.
"A massacre? What bandits are this bold?!"
"They say it's the defeated army from the rebellion in the north that has scattered. These people have no restraint, more ruthless than ordinary bandits," the short, fat patron said angrily, "They couldn't just live peaceful lives, what were they rebelling for? They should all be captured and beheaded!"
"Looks like we can't use the trade routes in the north anymore…"
The patrons traded worried conversations about the declining state of their business.
Chen Mu cracked melon seeds indifferently but thought about the defeated army.
This wasn't the first time he had heard of the defeated army causing trouble.
He could clearly sense that the range of bandit trouble was growing larger and coming nearer to Qingshan County.
"Could there be bandits bold enough to attack Qingshan County Town?" Chen Mu was startled by the thought that suddenly sprang to mind.
"No way, no way..." Chen Mu hastily discarded the thought.
But... what if Qingshan County really were to be breached?
Where would I go then?
Even though he had mastered the Muscle Transformation Realm and could easily knock down more than ten men,
what if he were surrounded by hundreds or thousands?
Chen Mu had no interest in listening to a storyteller and focused instead on eavesdropping on conversations throughout the hall.
Five out of ten were talking about chaos in the outside world.
Chen Mu's mood couldn't help but grow heavy.
After staying in the tea house for just an hour, he was ready to get up and go home.
Instead of listening to this news that made him anxious, it would be better to go home and practice to improve his proficiency.
As he walked out the door, he inadvertently caught sight of a familiar figure.
It was none other than Zuo Sheng, the eldest young master of the Zuo Family.
The other party seemed to sense someone watching him and immediately turned his head to look.
Upon seeing Chen Mu, he was slightly taken aback, then soon smiled and nodded in greeting.
Chen Mu was startled, subconsciously nodded back, and then quickly left.
Why would this young master recognize me?
Inside the Bafang Tea House, Zuo Sheng watched the unremarkable scholar with interest.
"Interesting fellow."
…
Inside the Chen Family's courtyard in Ping'an Square.
Chen Mu examined an Iron Lotus Seed he was holding.
It was the size of a peanut, oval-shaped, covered in pits and craters as small as grains of sand, and extremely rough in texture—this was even after he had polished it; otherwise, it would have been even rougher.
Besides these, there were nine spiral lines on it, each painstakingly carved by himself.
These were special patterns he had comprehended through his proficiency.
Carved onto the Iron Lotus Seed, they were similar to rifling in a gun barrel, allowing the seed to spin upon release, increasing its power.
He flicked his wrist.
Whooo...
Bang!
A chopping board a palm's thickness on the wall ten meters away was instantly pierced through.
"Now, this can actually compare to the bullets of a handgun."
Chen Mu carried a bag of Iron Lotus Seeds and kept throwing them relentlessly.
In no time, the locust wood chopping board on the wall was riddled with holes like a hornet's nest.
In the past, in order to hide his martial arts abilities, he dared not practice openly.
Now, with Boss Zhen away and Miaohua Studio half-shut, Chen Mu's portrait business had come to a complete halt, and Zhou Liang and Zheng Huan hadn't turned up since a certain day.
Chen Mu found himself delightfully free.
He let loose and practiced martial arts at home to his heart's content.
Whoosh!
Bang!
He threw the last Iron Lotus Seed.
The chopping board instantly exploded into a mass of splinters.
At that moment, a surge of heat suddenly flowed from all over his body.
His arms, chest, back, abdomen, thighs—muscles all over his body undulated rhythmically, swelling up noticeably.
Chen Mu quickly pulled out his gray wall.
Calligraphy: 1445/10000/Second Rank;
Painting: 1353/10000/Second Rank;
Throwing: 3/10000/Third Rank;
Red Falcon Shape Cultivation Technique: 2769/10000/Second Rank;
Cooking: 3016/10000/First Rank;
Pharmaceutical Technique: 1143/10000/First Rank;
Breaking through to Third Rank in throwing can enhance physical fitness too?
This feeling is almost the same as when I did the Muscle Transformation during the Red Falcon Shape Cultivation!
Previously, practicing with the Flying Locust Stone, his body had been subtly and continuously strengthening.
Now, breaking through to Third Rank, quantitative change had led to a qualitative transformation, and his strength and speed had soared once again.
Lifting his shirt, he couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of his sharply defined six-pack abs.
This was the physique he had dreamed of in his past life—now it had come so easily!