CHAPTER 94: CHAPTER 90 ER LANG

In one day, the news that two master teachers from Medicine King Hall had each accepted the same person as an apprentice spread quickly among the major powers in the city.

"I heard that the youth named Chen Ku lifted Master Yang Luochen’s Water-Fire Dragon Head Staff with just one hand."

At the residence of Counselor Suiyou, Miss Sui Qingfang, who was adorning herself with floral designs before a mirror, listened to her maid combing her hair from behind and speaking, "Moreover, that youth still hasn’t cultivated Inner Qi. It’s hard to imagine how much Qi Power he would be able to develop if he achieved Inner Qi."

The maid’s fingers gathered Sui Qingfang’s hair, combing it down row by row, making it glossy and smooth like satin.

Sui Qingfang couldn’t help but recall the small gathering that day and said, "I’ve seen this person before. I didn’t think much of him at the time... To think he has such potential and talent. It seems I had underestimated people of humble origins before."

This truly was like a fierce tiger hidden in the field.

However, among the sensational news in the county, the matter of Chen Ku was just a minor addition, merely gossip for people during their leisure time. The real sensation in the county was still the vegetable market incident from a couple of days ago. Because Peace Path participated in rescuing a convict from the execution ground, the county government office had already issued a clear order defining this group, active in the villages of Baojiao County, as a "cult." This was the real matter that every master and power in the county needed to pay close attention to.

On Chen Ku’s side, he held a grand feast at Hongyan Tower. Two tables laden with dishes cost him over three hundred taels of silver, featuring top-notch ingredients from Baojiao County like Treasure Fish and Treasure Shrimp. However, compared to the expense of this feast, his income for the day was dozens of times greater. By leveraging the momentum of two masters taking him as an apprentice, he solved the sales problems of the ’crow sink sand’ at his shop without drawing a weapon or expending any real effort, signing orders for ’crow sink sand’ worth 15,800 taels in just one day. If you added the 3,000 taels of silver given by Official Chai Tiangui, he had earned nearly 20,000 taels of silver that day.

This was the benefit of having resources, connections, and backing—one aspect alone allowed for a respectable life, while having all three made it hard not to become wealthy.

Soon, after the banquet ended, Chen Ku bid farewell to the two masters, his senior brother, and Master Ke.

Back at the Iron Bank, the Iron Bank’s shopkeepers quickly sent people to sign orders and brought almost 10,000 taels in deposits as silver notes. After those 10,000 taels’ worth of silver notes were secured, the long-silent Transformation Diagram displayed new text.

[Diagram Master meets one of the cultivation conditions for the Fourth Transformation Map]

[Fourth Transformation Map]

[Awakening conditions: 10,000 taels of silver, 10,000 pounds of Iron Essence, one Ultimate Skill at Great Achievement, Robust Qi Cultivation, one strand of Evil Qi from a Peak Demon of the First Realm, 100 pounds of First Realm Demon blood]

(Note: After completing the fourth transformation of the Transformation Diagram, it can enhance the detection range of Evil Qi detrimental to the Diagram Master to ten li.)

Upon reading that note, Chen Ku momentarily lost himself in thought. So, the Transformation Diagram’s sense of malice and factors detrimental to me has a distance?

Upon careful thought, it seemed that previous instances were either face-to-face or within a range of two to three li. If he could achieve the fourth transformation, the range would extend up to ten li.

He thought to himself. In the future, if I could infinitely extend this range, wouldn’t I be aware if anyone, anywhere in the vast world, murmured my name with disrespect or ill intentions?

Pondering this, he then looked up at the conditions to awaken the fourth transformation. They required a bit more than the third map, but overall, they were fairly similar.

Iron Essence? Master Yang’s Water-Fire Dragon Head Staff seems to have Iron Essence added to it. This type of ore doesn’t seem to be abundant in Baojiao County; it can only be obtained in Qiu Dragon Mansion. This is somewhat troublesome. Do I have to make a trip to Qiu Dragon Mansion?

As for achieving Great Achievement in Skyward Strike, which was currently at Minor Achievement, with Master Yang’s diligent instruction, reaching Great Achievement in a single technique wouldn’t be an overly long or distant prospect. However, given his own Qualifications and Talent, it would likely still take a year or half a year. Robust Qi Cultivation represented the late stage of Inner Qi, a realm similar to his senior brother Yang Shaoqi’s. This was still quite distant, as he hadn’t even broken through to Inner Qi yet. On the other hand, acquiring a strand of Evil Qi from a Peak Demon of the First Realm and one hundred pounds of ordinary Demon blood seemed easier to obtain.

His thoughts turned. The Butcher Court might provide an opportunity to encounter such a high-level Demon Beast. If that doesn’t work out, thinking about it, a Peak Demon is equivalent to Inner Qi Great Perfection. Perhaps I could try playing the role of a Blade-Handler again and see if I can find an opportunity to execute a criminal at Inner Qi Perfection.

As he thought about being a Blade-Handler, he couldn’t help but remember those two heads coated in lime sitting in the small courtyard, for which he hadn’t yet gotten around to exchanging for money.

This is a good time to go to the black market and ask about the procedure for Blade-Handlers to close cases.

Before leaving the Iron Bank, Chen Ku assigned another task to Wu Gui: to find a courtyard for him inside or outside the city. Now that his shop was opened and he was earning big money, it was time to fulfill the grand promise he had made to his mother and sister-in-law before leaving his village: to bring his family to live in the city.

There were black markets near Snake Fish Town, and also within Baojiao County. However, unlike the small black market near Snake Fish Town, which was located in a small mountain ravine, the one in Baojiao County was different. The black market in Baojiao County, though called a black market, was actually a miscellaneous goods market backed by the Twin Rivers Guild. The Twin Rivers Guild was an Intermediary guild, specializing in middleman business. Some even suspected that people from the Twin Rivers Guild also subtly controlled several small black markets in other counties.