The sun set in the west, with clouds burning bright red like fire.
A cool breeze began to rise in the courtyard.
Chen Mu sat at the square table inside the house, looking through the open door at the distant horizon that was gradually darkening, and slipped a piece of crispy pork belly into his mouth.
The outer crunch and inner tenderness of the meat, balanced with salty and savory flavors, made Chen Mu nod uncontrollably in approval.
This was merely the skill of a First Rank chef.
In his previous life, it was said that fine food should never be wasted, but most people only ate to fill their stomachs.
Busy work consumed too much energy. The quick pace of life left no time for people to contemplate anything else.
"I should really improve my cooking proficiency in the future."
Having traveled through time, what's wrong with taking a moment to appreciate good food?
With the help of Miaohua Studio in handling portrait business, income wasn't an issue.
In a little while, I'll find a Silver Boots errand boy to buy a batch of medicinal herbs, and there will be no more obstacles to practicing martial arts.
Thinking about the hard days the original body endured, and then looking at the present situation.
Chen Mu leisurely picked up a slice of cold mixed green vegetable, enjoying the chew.
Upon looking up, he saw a dark shadow silently flip over the wall.
Silver Boots?
Because I said I didn't want others to know, did he sneak in by climbing the wall?
Quite professional!
Just as Chen Mu was about to get up to welcome him, he caught the eye of the visitor.
Silver-white hair and beard, eyes squinted to slits, an expressionless face...
Isn't this the assassin from Chen Family Village?!
Like someone had pressed the pause button, Chen Mu froze halfway to standing, stunned in place.
Jie Jia: "..."
Serendipity!
"Ahem, how about we share a bite?" Chen Mu slowly sat down, feigning ease.
"I'm afraid of being poisoned to death," Jie Jia replied indifferently without even lifting his eyelids.
"Old sir, it seems you have quite a misunderstanding about me," Chen Mu said, shaking his head helplessly.
Jie Jia's eyes slowly rolled, fixating on the sleeve of Chen Mu's clothing.
Misunderstanding? How thick does one's skin have to be to spread poison while talking about misunderstandings?
"What do you need Silver Boots for?" Jie Jia asked, his face expressionless.
Silver Boots?
This old assassin is a Silver Boots from the Xue Family warehouse?
An assassin taking on errand work?
Chen Mu's expression turned peculiar.
Is the assassin business that tough to get by?
"I want to buy a batch of medicinal herbs." As long as he's not here to kill me, it's all good.
"The list," Jie Jia said, cutting to the chase.
"It's right here." Chen Mu quickly took out the detailed list of herbs he had prepared in advance.
Besides the essential herbs for Red Falcon Shape Cultivation Technique, he added quite a few other items, mainly to throw off any potential prying eyes.
"How much is the commission?" asked Chen Mu.
"Ten... twenty silver taels," Jie Jia said calmly, without expression.
Chen Mu: "..."
Did you just think of saying ten taels?!
This is outright extortion! Too much to bear!
Chen Mu, filled with righteous indignation, said, "Very well. Here is the commission, and this is half the cost of the goods, please take good care of it."
"Huh..." With a shift of his eyes and a slight twitch of the mouth, Jie Jia picked up the silver on the table and disappeared in a flash.
Chen Mu stared where the figure had vanished, only recovering his senses after a long while.
Damn it! I just wanted to find someone to run errands, how did I end up hiring an assassin?!
But it seems he has no intention of killing me.
He appeared before me, not as an assassin, but in the role of a Silver Boots from the Xue Family warehouse.
A slight relief washed over Chen Mu.
And as an assassin, judging by that ghostly speed, his martial abilities must be quite exceptional.
Isn't the whole point of finding someone to buy the medicine to prevent others from snooping? Now with this assassin Silver Boots handling the purchases, who would dare to probe into his affairs?
So, is this an unexpected blessing?
"It's just a little expensive!"
Twenty silver taels, the old man really dared to ask for that much!
Chen Mu's heart ached.
"Forget it, consider it paying for peace of mind," Chen Mu said with resignation, picking up the meal that had been scattered with snake venom, and buried it in a hole by the corner wall.
"Impulsive, alas, wasting a whole table of good food."
...
```
In the year 638 of Da Liang, on the 23rd of December, the weather turned cool.
Chen Mu rose in the faint morning light, just as he did every day.
Donning a thickened coat, Chen Mu opened the door and was met with a blast of cold air, reminiscent of late autumn in the north of his previous life.
Having been in this world for over seven months, without a phone or computer, he had naturally adjusted to early nights and early mornings.
He jumped from the westernmost house to the easternmost to wash up and cook.
Lighting the fire to boil water, rinsing wheat, picking and washing vegetables, he worked methodically.
His culinary skills enhancement made cooking second nature.
He chopped some leaves and combined them with grass seeds he had bought on purpose, and poured it into the chicken coop beneath the western wall.
Five hens clucked and pecked at the food, eliciting a satisfied smile from Chen Mu.
He had been raising the chickens for over a month, and they had provided him with plenty of eggs.
...
Returning to the stove to add more wood, he estimated the wheat would take a while longer to cook. Chen Mu took off his somewhat bulky coat, "I have time for some exercise."
He began with a few minutes of full-body joint movements and then started to run and jump in small bursts around the courtyard.
The movements started slow and then picked up speed, quickly reaching the pace of a 100-meter sprint.
With each tip-toe landing, he felt an almost uncontrollable urge to lunge forward, a powerful inertia brought on by the high speed.
But as his toes touched down, his muscles would suddenly contract rhythmically, propelling strength from the balls of his feet.
Whether with or against the motion, his body, on the verge of losing control, always managed to accelerate, stop, or even suddenly switch to moving backward as desired.
This was the Red Falcon Shape Cultivation Technique, a skill designed for agile movement and running.
After a quarter of an hour, the series of afterimages in the yard came to an abrupt stop.
Chen Mu took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, completing a cycle of the Shape Cultivation breathing method.
Fine beads of sweat emerged from his forehead, and a sense of pleasure and relaxation spread through his limbs.
Exercise stimulated the brain to produce endorphins, creating a sense of joy.
In his former life, he had always heard about this, but as an overweight individual, he never experienced it.
Now he had, and he was enjoying it immensely.
As he was slowly stretching, a sudden epiphany washed over him.
Soon after, a surging heat coursed through his body from every direction.
His muscles twitched involuntarily, as if there were mice scurrying and crawling just under his skin.
A pleasant tingling sensation enveloped him, and a special tissue formed beneath his skin.
It took a while for Chen Mu to come back to his senses.
Still feeling the afterglow in his mind, Chen Mu couldn't help but stretch his mouth into a smile, "A breakthrough?!"
Writing: 1445/10000/Second Rank;
Drawing: 1353/10000/Second Rank;
Throwing: 3316/10000/Second Rank;
Red Falcon Shape Cultivation Technique: 8/10000/Second Rank;
Cooking: 2642/10000/First Rank;
He rolled up his left sleeve and pinched his skin.
A sensation resembling the toughness of leather came through.
"It's like wearing a layer of thin armor."
Swinging his fist through the air, the sound of the wind whistled.
"My strength has increased too."
With a push from his toes, his power burst forth, and his figure vanished on the spot.
The earthy yellow wall of the courtyard loomed rapidly.
The next moment, his body came to an abrupt halt, almost against the wall.
With another thrust, he blinked back to his original position.
"My speed and reactions are faster! I could leave my earlier self two streets behind!"
"Defense, strength, speed, reaction time—my physical abilities have improved across the board!"
"This is Shape Cultivation!"
In that moment, he thought of the head constable Liang, who could leap five or six meters at a time, and suddenly felt that such a feat was no longer out of reach.
"It's all about grinding the proficiency, right?"
Thinking it over, Chen Mu bent down and picked up a pebble.
Whoosh!
Thwack!
A finger-sized hole appeared in the adobe wall.
Looking through the round hole, one could even see the street outside.
"And I've also increased the power of the Flying Locust Stone?"
"Great!"
At that moment, the scent of cooking wafted into his nostrils—the wheat rice was ready.
"With a second-rank breakthrough in Shape Cultivation and having achieved Muscle Transformation, I must treat myself."
"Fried squared pork, cold mixed vegetables, and a bit of flavored cured meat. Deliciousness to the extreme!"
```