Chapter Thirty-Five: The Theft

Chen Mu suddenly felt that the braised pork knuckle was not—well, the knuckle was still quite fragrant. But he felt a genuine heartache. He had only thought about treating the other party to a gourd of wine. The man had enjoyed the drink, but he himself had forgotten to provide a return gift. He hadn't sent gifts in so long that his social skills had grown rusty. Chen Mu looked at Jie Jia’s money bag with envy.

"Keep looking; if you don't look now, you won't be able to see it later," Jie Jia said, calmly sipping some fish soup. Chen Mu felt a sudden tightness in his chest.

...

Four days later, in a three-courtyard residence in Blue Armor Alley, East Market. Thirty or forty gang members were sprawled on the ground, snoring loudly. Inside an inner room, Zhang Ye was half-kneeling on the floor, leaning on the hilt of his sword. He shook his head violently, struggling to keep his eyelids open. As a result, he swung his head too hard and tumbled face-first onto the ground, his nose bleeding profusely. After struggling for a moment on the floor, he soon began to snore as well.

Chen Mu emerged from the alley behind the house and reached the front entrance. "I can find you even if you move house!" He wore a bamboo hat, gray robes, and his face was painted half-blue, dressed like a hero from the Water Margin. He stood at the door, peered inside, and reached out to close it: "Better not go in, just in case they're faking it."

He strode into the courtyard, smiling as he watched the members of the White Wave Gang lying all over the ground. Since he was playing the role of a Liangshan hero, he had to do what a Liangshan hero would do. He began to search them one by one. Two quarters of an hour later, Chen Mu weighed the cloth bag in his hand with disappointment. "Came too early." After a thorough search, he had only found a little over twenty taels of silver. It must be because Jie Jia was so ruthless that these guys didn't dare carry money on them anymore. He glanced at the closed room; those people inside must be wealthy, right?

He shook his head immediately. "Forget it, better to be safe. They are gang leaders and hall masters, after all; what if they have some hidden trump card? I’d better go back to selling my fish." Thinking this, Chen Mu carefully slipped toward the back wall and vaulted over it, leaving Blue Armor Alley quickly.

...

With Tier 2 Pharmacy skills, the Spirit-Bewildering Incense was incredibly potent. No matter how the White Wave Gang struggled, one gourd was enough to knock them out. In the following attempts, the White Wave Gang leader, Zhang Ye, tried many methods and tested various anti-poison treasures. Unfortunately, Chen Mu hadn't been idle either, constantly improving the incense with his pharmacy skills. The White Wave Gang could only continue to sleep soundly.

Later, having no other choice, the White Wave Gang had to disperse their strongholds. Chen Mu didn't intend to knock them all out at once. Whenever he went out to sell fish, he would randomly pick one White Wave stronghold and treat everyone inside to a gourd. The White Wave Gang was kept in a state of constant anxiety, with no energy left to bother a fisherman like him. It was just a pity for Chen Mu that the "return gifts" were becoming fewer and fewer.

...

Except for going out to sell fish every few days and playing cat-and-mouse with the White Wave Gang, Chen Mu spent his time quietly at home, diligently practicing the Red Falcon Shaping Technique every day. After completing the bone-refining stage, the breathing method for the shaping technique became more complex, requiring a cycle of one hundred and twenty breaths. The footwork sequences had nearly doubled, which meant that every full practice session consumed more time and energy. The proficiency gained each day was less than during the tendon-refining stage, but since progress was steady, Chen Mu wasn't in a hurry. He continued his daily routine.

Upgrading the Iron Lotus Seed throwing technique also became difficult. At Tier 3, throwing a more powerful Iron Lotus Seed required not just skill, but stronger physical fitness. He could feel that every throw was subtly reshaping his muscles. In contrast, the proficiency for the "Sword in the Sleeve" was easy to build. This was partly because it was still only Tier 2 and not yet at an advanced stage, and partly because, for now, it was more of a sword technique. While it could adjust his body muscles slightly, it was primarily a method of concealing and wielding a blade. Chen Mu appropriately reduced his Iron Lotus Seed practice and shifted his energy and time toward the Sword in the Sleeve.

...

Immersed in his training, Chen Mu almost lost track of time. Two months passed in a blink. It was August or September, the height of the sweltering summer in Qingshan County. In the back courtyard of the Tianyi Pavilion, a blue brick sat on a stone table. Chen Mu stood quietly by its side.

*Zeng!*
*Chi!*

With a light sound, a hole appeared in the blue brick. Chen Mu reached out to touch it; the edges of the hole were smooth and searing hot. In that instant, he had struck nine times. Each strike landed on the exact same spot on the brick. The rapid, intense collision not only pierced the brick but also generated a large amount of heat.

"Do you want to join the Crimson Pavilion?" Jie Jia, sitting by the stone table, couldn't help but raise an eyelid. "I can recommend you." This Sword in the Sleeve technique was perfectly suited for assassination.

"Will you split the reward for recommending me?" Chen Mu said indifferently. He flicked his wrist, and the short sword vanished into his sleeve.

"Eat your melon." Jie Jia picked up a piece of iced watermelon and took a small bite, never mentioning the Crimson Pavilion again. This melon had just been bought by Chen Mu. To enjoy something cold in the heat, he had spent days grinding his pharmacy skills until he found a natural mineral similar to saltpeter, using it to absorb heat from water and create ice.

"Can you tell me who spent the money to kill me back then?" Chen Mu sat down and took a bite of the cooling watermelon.

"I can," Jie Jia said blandly.

"Don't you assassins have to keep your employers' secrets?" Chen Mu asked in surprise.

Jie Jia rolled his eyes and glanced at Chen Mu. Chen Mu nodded with sudden realization: "As long as the money is enough, right?"

"Want to know?" Jie Jia put down the watermelon and stared at Chen Mu.

"No," Chen Mu said immediately, taking another bite of the iced watermelon with a look of pure enjoyment.

Jie Jia: "..." If you didn't want to know, why the hell did you ask?

Chen Mu happily ate his melon. They were all dead anyway; it made no difference if he knew or not. After finishing the melon and cleaning the table, he took a short rest before hiding under a shed to continue practicing the Sword in the Sleeve. The shaping technique had given him a basic resistance to cold and heat, allowing him to endure the scorching weather, but moving and leaping under the sun not only made him hot externally but also generated immense internal heat. With both sides heating up, it was truly miserable. Practicing under the cool shade of the shed was much more comfortable. He would wait until the sun set in the evening to grind the shaping technique.

"There seem to be more and more incidents of malevolent spirits haunting the city lately," the short sword suddenly appeared in Chen Mu's hand and then vanished just as quickly. "Do you know the reason?"

"That shouldn't be," Jie Jia paused, his hand holding the silver beads, a look of confusion on his face. "With the Evil-Repelling Mirror, there shouldn't be so many slipping through the net." But in reality, while the supernatural incidents hadn't been constant, they had been persistent over the last few months.

Chen Mu stopped his sword practice. "Could something be wrong with the Evil-Repelling Mirror?" he asked, filled with worry.

"It’s very likely." Jie Jia thought for a moment and nodded. "Over a decade ago, I encountered this once in Jiuyang County, Yanshan Prefecture. The Evil-Repelling Mirror was stolen, and the number of haunting spirits surged overnight."

"How was it resolved?" Chen Mu asked hurriedly.

"Simple. The superior government sent down another Evil-Repelling Mirror," Jie Jia said indifferently.

Chen Mu frowned deeply. The entire Great Liang Dynasty was currently plagued by natural and man-made disasters, already in complete chaos. The magistrate of Qingshan County had been missing for over half a year, and no one cared. It would be more accurate to say that Qingshan County belonged to the Li family of the County Assistant rather than the Great Liang. There was no "superior government" left to turn to.

He glanced at the composed Jie Jia, and Chen Mu became more certain that this old man must have his own means of dealing with spirits. He looked at the silver beads in the man's hand and shook his head helplessly. He couldn't afford a bodyguard like this.