Chapter 32: Stability
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Behind the Tianyi Studio, separated by only a single wall.
Jie Jia carefully chewed a slice of crystal pork knuckle. Its fresh, savory flavor assaulted his taste buds, sending his saliva glands into overdrive and forcing his eyelids slightly higher.
He glanced at Chen Mu in surprise.
The scholar could cook?
“If you like it, please eat more!” Chen Mu said warmly.
“I don’t stay at Tianyi Studio at night,” Jie Jia replied indifferently.
You want me to ward off evil spirits for you? You must have miscalculated!
“It’s all right. I don’t stay here at night either,” Chen Mu said calmly.
He only needed the old man to be present during the day.
The old man Jie Jia spoke of ghosts and spirits without changing expression.
Chen Mu had long suspected that the old fellow possessed some means of dealing with them.
He had immediately rented the residence beside Tianyi Studio, paying a high price for it.
The truth was somewhat different from the folk legends.
Ghostly creatures were not afraid of sunlight. They simply disliked it. Daytime still carried risks.
Jie Jia glanced at Chen Mu in surprise.
Was this fellow really so fearless?
Forget it. No point thinking about it. Time to eat. It would be a waste to let such delicious food go cold.
After drinking the last mouthful of fish-ball soup, Jie Jia let out a satisfied belch.
There was no harm in letting the scholar stay here.
As long as he did not add anything strange to the food, at least the three daily meals would be a pleasure.
In that case, he could charge a little less.
“Ten taels a month.”
Chen Mu stared at Jie Jia in astonishment. “Could this residence belong to you?”
“No.” Jie Jia was baffled.
“Then how can you charge me rent?” Chen Mu asked with utmost seriousness.
Jie Jia was speechless.
Was rent what I was asking for?
It was a fee for warding off evil!
“Old Master Jie may not know this, but the rental agreement required one month’s deposit plus three months’ rent in advance. It has already been paid, so there is no need for you to collect it on the landlord’s behalf.” Chen Mu smiled broadly.
I simply refuse to pay. If you have the ability, move out.
Jie Jia was speechless again.
…
Toward evening, as darkness began to settle, Chen Mu had dinner early.
He locked his front door and walked unhurriedly toward the northern part of the city.
Along the way, he stayed as much as possible on the main roads, where people could still see him.
Before long, he arrived at a residence.
He took out a key, opened the brand-new brass lock, and pushed the door inward.
It was a large, three-courtyard compound.
All the courtyards he had rented before put together were not as spacious as this one.
The rent was equally steep: five taels of silver a month.
His former residence had cost only one tael for an entire year.
“Expensive or not, I still have to rent it.” Chen Mu turned to look at the neighboring compound, and his heart settled.
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The Zuo family’s great residence stood just beyond the wall. It was the home of the Zuo family’s eldest young master, Zuo Sheng.
Young Master Zuo was a genuine hard man who had personally hacked evil spirits to pieces!
Chen Mu had spent ten taels of silver confirming this intelligence through the Zuo family’s coachman, gardener, night watchman, and one injured guard who had witnessed the incident firsthand.
“With Old Master Jie and Young Master Zuo serving as two unwilling guardians, the ghostly threat should be manageable for now,” Chen Mu thought silently.
“It’s just a little expensive.”
He had already spent a fortune in March stockpiling medicinal materials and grain.
During this period, he had scattered even more silver to guarantee his own safety.
At present, he had only eighty-six taels of silver and a jar of copper coins left on him.
“It won’t affect my life for now, but sooner or later I’ll eat through all my savings.”
He entered the room closest to the Zuo family compound.
Chen Mu shut the door tightly, washed up, and climbed into bed.
“I need to sell more fish.”
All the core shopkeepers and attendants of the Wonderful Art Studio had already left Qingshan County. Only an empty shell remained.
Chen Mu’s portrait business had completely gone under.
Selling fish had instead become one of his major sources of income.
If he made several more trips each month, he could easily save eight or ten taels.
It was certainly not as profitable as painting portraits.
But it had the advantage of being a steady, reliable stream of income.
…
The Whitewave River south of Qingshan County.
Early the next morning, Chen Mu arrived there with the dew still clinging to his clothes.
He had deliberately chosen a deep-water bend far from Qingshan County.
Because it was so distant, few people came here to fish, and the river was rich with them.
He baited the hooks and hauled in the catch in one smooth motion.
After filling two large bamboo baskets, he cast a regretful glance at the drunken fish swaying helplessly on the surface.
Chen Mu hoisted the carrying pole onto his shoulder and strode toward Qingshan County.
At first he walked quickly. Then he went faster and faster, until eventually he broke into a run.
His toes struck the ground, blasting a small crater through the dirt.
His figure blurred, and he shot more than ten meters forward in an instant.
Ever since Tempering the Bones, he had felt as though a giant flywheel had been installed inside him.
Once he began running, he carried tremendous momentum. With only a tiny expenditure of energy, he could surge forward at a full sprint.
Sheng Hong had said that the Red Falcon Body-Refining Art could make a person faster than a galloping horse.
According to the information from his previous life, an ordinary horse normally ran at around thirty kilometers per hour. Over short distances, its top speed could reach fifty-five kilometers per hour, and in a full sprint, even seventy.
Chen Mu glanced at the rapidly retreating woods on either side.
“At least sixty kilometers per hour!”
And he still felt that he had room to accelerate.
In his previous life, Bolt had reached only around forty-five kilometers per hour—and that was in a short-distance sprint.
As for Chen Mu…
He felt as though he could run for an entire day!
Wind roared past his ears. The sensation of moving like lightning exhilarated him more and more as he ran.
Only now did Chen Mu finally understand how extraordinary the Body-Refining Art truly was.
It had genuinely lifted him beyond the limits of ordinary people.
Carrying two baskets of fish, Chen Mu unleashed the Bursting Dash of the Red Falcon Body-Refining Art and raced straight toward Qingshan County.
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…
East Market
“Fresh river fish! Thirty copper coins each! First come, first served! Buy now while supplies last!”
A booming voice suddenly rang through the streets of East Market.
“Fisherman, it’s been quite a few days since you last came to sell fish!”
“I’m in a good mood today!”
Chen Mu still wore his bamboo hat and gray robe, his face painted half black and half white as he disguised himself as Yang Zhi.
“Well now, what good fortune have you encountered?”
“Are you buying or not? I don’t have time to chat. Pay up!”
“Hey! What a brute…”
One basket of fish was quickly snapped up.
The sun had not yet passed its highest point when Chen Mu packed up his empty baskets and returned to his new home in West Market.
Ever since renting this compound, he had spent his days there practicing martial arts and improving his proficiency.
He had not given up his original residence.
After moving out part of his grain and medicinal supplies, he sealed the place up and turned it into a secret warehouse.
Once the threat of the ghostly creatures had been temporarily resolved, Chen Mu settled into a more stable routine.
Although he was quite curious about them, he restrained himself from making further inquiries.
With his current strength, deliberately seeking them out would be tantamount to courting death.
Besides, he possessed his proficiency system. Sooner or later, he would cultivate the Body-Refining Art to perfection.
Once he no longer feared ghostly creatures, he could investigate them as he pleased. He might even capture a couple to guard his home.
After that, he practiced during the day in the rear courtyard of Tianyi Studio, then returned at night to sleep in the residence beside the Zuo family compound.
Every three or four days, he went fishing once.
At first, he did it to obtain meat and earn money.
Later, he found that he enjoyed the sensation of running at top speed through the wilderness even more.
The thrill of moving like the wind and lightning truly made his blood surge.
And the sense of accomplishment from reaching sixty kilometers per hour on nothing but his own legs was tremendous!
Thus, he grew increasingly fond of grinding his proficiency, day and night without rest.
One night, half a month later, Chen Mu successfully raised Sleeve Sword to the second level.
Writing: 1,576/10,000/Second Level;
Painting: 1,443/10,000/Second Level;
Throwing: 5,753/10,000/Third Level;
Red Falcon Body-Refining Art: 409/10,000/Third Level;
Cooking: 6,226/10,000/First Level;
Alchemy: 2,152/10,000/Second Level;
Sleeve Sword: 16/10,000/Second Level;
He glanced at the figures displayed against the gray wall. With a flick of his wrist, a short sword appeared in his palm. With another flick, it vanished.
A thought flashed through his mind.
A hole instantly appeared in the wooden pillar beside him.
Concealed, swift, and concentrated into a single strike.
At the second level, Sleeve Sword allowed him to complete the entire sequence—drawing the blade, piercing the wooden pillar, withdrawing it, and concealing it again—in an instant.
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