Chapter 19: Acting While Injured

Qingya Garden, Corpse Affairs Hall, before the pavilion.

A small pouch flew out from a window on the fifth floor.

Upon seeing this, Du En did not need to think twice; seeing such a straightforward situation, he knew there was definitely a trap inside.

After looking and sensing more carefully, he immediately relied on his cultivation technique, which had recently made a breakthrough, to discover that a strand of hidden magic power was attached to the pouch!

If he did not catch it, the pouch would hit the ground, the spirit stones would surely shatter, and, what's more, he might not be able to dodge it!

If he did catch it, he would be struck by this magic power; even if he didn't die, he would likely be crippled on the spot!

You really do hate me, don't you...

Du En raised his eyebrows slightly, though he was not too surprised, and then he raised both hands, choosing to catch it.

"Du En, seeing your fate, I know that today is not a suitable day to go ask for wages."

He looked up at the sky; it was currently afternoon.

By the time he stood still, not a single drop of blood had spilled onto the ground from Du En's side.

The cultivation level of these overseers was at least late-stage Qi Refining; they were arranged to hold their posts by the Border City, and their strength was decent, so one needed to be careful.

He performed two major cycles of his technique, fully absorbing the dietary energy, and filled all the newly refined magic power into his dantian.

Following this, the two spoke no more; Xu Ran simply signaled for Du En to get on the cart, and he sent him to the intersection, but because he could not enter, they bid each other farewell and returned to their respective homes.

Amidst a muffled groan, his legs first buckled, his knees creaked and trembled, but he simply would not kneel; in the end, he braced himself and began to retreat step by step.

It was nothing more than an ant that could be crushed at will; when it died one day, he would just replace it with another.

After confirming that the overseer here was currently idle and inattentive, Du En took action again, sneaking all the way to the edge of the spirit field, right where Lü Xiang could see him.

"Hmph..."

Doing that would not only dirty his own eyes but also easily give those with ulterior motives a handle; if he handed it over secretly, it would harm his impression score with the upper-level managers.

Ginseng supplements the Qi, goji berries nourish the body, wild red dates nourish the blood... this Three Talents Porridge is not suitable for cultivation, but it is the best thing for recuperating the body.

Therefore, what this Corpse Affairs manager was targeting were the internal organs, the meridians, and the dantian!

It could even improve one's mood!

Thus, he did not bother to investigate Du En, who had already turned and left.

With such thoughts swirling in his mind, Lü Xiang felt restless; he immediately looked up and shouted to the overseer that he needed to relieve himself.

"Hmph! This is the fate of those who do not know their place!"

Moving stealthily, he arrived outside the shanty area.

Therefore, although he was actually quite heavily injured, he did not sustain any hidden or lingering damage.

"Basically still within expectations."

After finishing this task, he quietly left the small courtyard.

Because this brown rice porridge did not need to be watched closely, he sat cross-legged in front of the stove, silently circulating his Qi to heal his injuries with magic power.

He pulled out the stove, set up the clay pot, grabbed the medicinal herbs, added the brown rice, and began to cook.

That was why he had only just caught up to Du En now.

"Ah? Then you... sigh, such is fate!"

Rolling...

Being fellow sufferers in the same boat, he couldn't help but offer a reminder.

Du En nodded lightly, his tone somewhat distant: "You reminded me too late; they already came looking for us this morning."

"If they dare not to listen, we don't kill them, we just give them a beating!"

Having encountered He Bo, this Corpse Affairs manager, everyone in every link—from the corpse collection upstream to the transport midstream and the burial downstream—had suffered from the other party's malice.

A clear, cloudless day is the perfect time for murder!

"Cough..."

At this moment, he drove straight over, then paused to observe as he drew near.

Injuries to these places are very difficult to heal and will ruin one's foundation!

Not to mention that Du En was not only lacking in medicine, but his working environment was also extremely harsh; if he really let that malice succeed, he would likely never have another breakthrough in this life, only to spend his life burying corpses, or be buried himself when he met with an accident one day!

He Bo did not care at all that he had just ruined a person's future.

After finishing this pot of porridge, he continued to circulate his energy to promote the absorption of the dietary power.

A bitter, sour medicinal scent rose with the boiling, permeating the surroundings and drifting over the courtyard wall.

Long ago, during his previous reconnaissance of the enemy, Du En had already taken the opportunity to figure out the situation of some people in the two gangs; Lü Xiang, an old acquaintance of Luo Heng, was naturally among them.

The overseer didn't care about this; Xu Ran had originally wanted to go ask for wages, but as soon as he arrived, he saw Du En walking out in such a miserable state, so he was naturally frightened and, after hesitating for a moment, chose to come another day.

Du En looked back and saw only the person with a bitter expression, that familiar corpse transporter, Xu Ran.

Lü Xiang, who was acting as an old farmer in the spirit field with that sharp knife slung across his back, looked up and saw Du En wearing blood-stained clothes, and quickly figured out what had happened.

"Then you have to hurry up; today is the twenty-eighth, two more days and the month will be over."

Only then did the injuries on his body recover to a point where they would not affect strenuous activity.

"This kid... his movements are quite nimble; he gathered the spirit stones so quickly?"

The main thing was to observe the overseer.

His intentions were clearly vicious.

Those who remained in the shanty area at this time were naturally not ordinary people.

"But then again, the quota I gave them is a bit low; they actually gathered it all in half a day. Hmm, I can't let it go at that; I'll collect twenty first, and make him gather another twenty for me!"

Spirit fields, herb gardens, beast pens, fish ponds, and other such places were scattered like stars throughout the primeval mountains and forests of the Southern Border, where countless low-level cultivators were performing their day-after-day labor.

Once the major cycle was complete and his internal injuries had stabilized, he opened his eyes, smelling the sweet fragrance at the tip of his nose; he lifted the pot of Three Talents Porridge, which was now ready, and ate it in large mouthfuls.

Walking on the road back, the surroundings were already empty; Du En swallowed a mouthful of bloody phlegm and couldn't help but cough lightly.

Xu Ran's expression was pained, and he could only sigh; then, he thought of another matter and said, "Right, I heard the Blood Eagle Gang has started collecting protection fees again these past few days. It seems they are no longer entangled with the Iron Hand Gang, so you had better be careful on your end."

As they walked, fresh blood dripped onto the ground.

The sound of cart wheels approached.

He Bo did not feel surprised either, because he naturally would not let Du En spray blood everywhere and stain the courtyard red.

The lax overseer stayed in the shade of a tree, just waving his hand casually to signal for them to go and return early, not caring at all.

"Sigh, who's to say otherwise! It's still fine on your side; there are few people, and you have a sense of responsibility. It's like our side, where the boss never shows his face and only knows how to suck up to the overseer all day."

Fortunately, the Yellow Earth Art he cultivated had no other outstanding features, but it was sturdy and tough, meaning it was resistant to beatings and could take a hit.

Du En's expression was calm as an ancient well; he continued to add ingredients to the Three Talents Porridge in the pottery pot, then pulled out another set of clay stove and pottery pot, taking the detoxifying medicinal herbs he had recently intentionally mixed in with the gathered herbs, grabbing and putting them in according to the ratios he had tested, and adding only water to boil them.

"Hehe, they really deserve it!"

Even so, until his mana was exhausted, he had only neutralized eighty percent, barely forcing the remainder out of his meridians; what followed was relying entirely on the physical body, tempered by that cultivation technique and nourished by spiritual meals, to directly endure the damage.

Fresh blood overflowed from the corners of his mouth, staining his clean clothes red, his complexion turned deathly pale, and his aura instantly became chaotic and unstable; his mana was urgently mobilized to meet the intruder that was seeping into his internal organs and invading his meridians, seeking to perish together with it.

Xu Ran, who quickly understood the full story of the matter, sighed heavily with emotion.

Lü Xiang was naturally among them, inside a spiritual field.

After a while, Du En returned to the small courtyard alone.

And so, just like that, Lü Xiang was easily lured away from the spiritual field by Du En.

Please follow and read! Please add to your library!

(End of this chapter)