Chapter 47: Lin Asheng

In the blink of an eye, several more days passed.

The conditions for "Stone Boiling" and "Pill Manipulation" were not yet met, so they had to be left for the future.

Over these past few days, Lu Yuan fully utilized the Tiaohe Zhishu, constantly using it to harmonize and strengthen the quality and efficacy of medicinal herbs for Ingestion.

And after mastering this technique.

Even though his own True Qi was limited and the number of times he could harmonize herbs each day was small, his progress in Refining Essence into Qi still saw a very obvious improvement; in just three or five days of effort, that wisp of True Qi within his body had grown by more than ten percent.

This speed of progress undoubtedly made Lu Yuan overjoyed, as he saw the dawn of reaching the completion of Refining Essence into Qi sooner.

After all, besides seeking longevity, cultivating immortality was also about being carefree between Heaven and Earth.

If one were to exhaust long periods of time and lifespan just on meditation and cultivation, it would instead be a disguised form of being trapped in a cage, having nothing to do with the word "carefree."

However, this rapid progress did not last long.

On this day.

After harmonizing the last bag of medicinal herbs in the room, swallowing them, and refining them with the Food Consumption Technique.

Lu Yuan opened his eyes, looked at the empty herb bags in front of him, and sighed:

"Sitting and eating away one's fortune, I must go and get some money."

In the few months since Kundu died, he had never gone to fight in the ring again—or rather, his rocket-like rise in Martial Arts strength no longer allowed him to bully the weak—and his expenses all along had been covered by the seven hundred Silver Yuan earned from the second match.

Seven hundred Silver Yuan was not a small amount, but it could not withstand his increasing demand for the quality of medicinal herbs; for the past few months, buying herbs alone cost over one hundred Silver Yuan each month, and all his savings were finally nearly spent in the last two days, leaving only a pitiful few Silver Yuan.

This forced him to consider the idea of getting money.

In fact, among the Earthly Fiend Arts, there was a technique specifically for getting money, which was "Yellow and White."

This technique could transmute gold and silver through the method of burning and refining Pills, belonging to a purely wealth-generating art.

However, like "Stone Boiling" and "Pill Manipulation," this technique required a high-quality pill furnace to operate, and the environment Lu Yuan was currently in did not allow for it.

"It seems I can only go and borrow some from the powerful, bullies, and wealthy tyrants in the city."

The persona of Qingyike had been retired for a long time; Lu Yuan, feeling restless, immediately left the garden and went onto the street, both to relax and to scout for information, looking for a suitable target.

He arrived at the most prosperous market in East City.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the secular world, he went to a teahouse in the busy market as he always did, ordered a pot of Green Jade Mist tea and two plates of dried fruit snacks, and sat in a corner to listen to the tea guests chatting:

"Sigh, damn it, business has become increasingly difficult to do these past few years. Yesterday, a few black-skinned dogs came to my run-down shop again, opening their mouths to demand some fire-prevention tax, and they forcibly took away twenty Silver Yuan just like that; this means another month or two of work for nothing."

"Twenty Silver Yuan? Those black-skinned dogs really dare to ask. The market already has a water-disaster tax, and now they come to demand a fire-prevention tax again; being skinned layer by layer like this, how are people supposed to live!"

"Sigh, there's no way around it. We small business owners can't survive, and those who farm are even worse off. I'm planning to find an opportunity to sell off the shop and be done with it, so I don't have to suffer that anger."

"Old Li, be careful. If you don't open the shop, what will you do?"

"I haven't thought about it yet. In this day and age, without connections, whatever you do might be swallowed whole by others. Sigh, come to think of it, there are too few people like Qingyike; otherwise, how would they dare to be so unscrupulous?!"

"Indeed, this Qingyike has only appeared twice, but a while ago, he scared those corrupt officials and bullying tyrants so much that the atmosphere was cleared up. It's just a pity it was only a flash in the pan, and now it has returned to the old ways..."

Although more than a month had passed, the topic concerning Qingyike was still mentioned by people from time to time.

Various conversations and news were mixed in the teahouse, and Lu Yuan took everything in with his extraordinary hearing.

However, after listening for a while without obtaining any desired information, he finished the pot of tea, ate the two plates of dried fruit snacks, and prepared to leave.

And it was at this very moment.

On the busy street outside the teahouse, a sudden clamor arose.

Lu Yuan, who happened to be sitting by the window, turned his head to look.

He saw that on the crowded street, a path was suddenly cleared, and a disheveled woman in rags was kowtowing on the ground all the way, her mouth seemingly muttering something, as pious as a pilgrimage.

While Lu Yuan was feeling curious, most of the tea guests in the teahouse also flocked to the window to peer out upon hearing the noise outside, and they clicked their tongues in wonder:

"It's Alin Sao again. She's been kowtowing along this street for almost a month now, right?"

"Isn't that so? It's been a full month. She kowtows around the entire street every day. If it were me, I would have given up long ago."

"Sigh, her family is broken and she is half-mad now. She kowtows every day just to beg for Qingyike to appear and uphold justice for her. It's truly pitiful to watch. I don't know who gave her that idea..."

Hmm?

Hearing the conversation of the tea guests around him, Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow and asked a tea guest near him who was nearly sixty years old:

"Old sir, why is this Alin Sao looking for Qingyike?"

Lu Yuan's temperament clearly showed he was no ordinary person, and although the tea guest was from a well-off family, he dared not be negligent and immediately said:

"Does this young brother not live in East City? This Alin Sao is a famous pitiful person in the nearby area; everyone knows her plight."

Lu Yuan said: "I truly do not know, please enlighten me, old sir."

The old tea guest looked at the street outside the teahouse, sighed, and said:

"Alin Sao was originally a widow who remarried a few years ago to a wine shop assistant named Lin Asheng. The two gave birth to a son and were quite loving.

After having a son, although Lin Asheng was a wine shop assistant, he was sharp and intelligent. Before long, he used his savings to take over a shop and opened his own wine shop.

He had been an apprentice for many years and was quite experienced in the way of brewing. He even created a Sophora flower wine with a very good taste, which became an instant hit in East City. As soon as the shop opened, it was full of customers, and the couple's life quickly became prosperous and wealthy."

Hearing this, Lu Yuan vaguely understood what had happened and said:

"And then, their business was targeted by someone?"

The old tea guest also sighed:

"Exactly. After Master Qin, a Martial Recommended Scholar of East City, passed by the wine shop and drank the Sophora flower wine once, he became very interested in the secret brewing recipe and proposed to buy it, but Lin Asheng refused on the spot.

It was precisely because of this refusal that a huge disaster was buried for Lin Asheng's family. That Master Qin himself was a Martial Recommended Scholar, and his elder brother was even the Chief Clerk of East City. How could he allow a small street peddler like Lin Asheng to refuse something he wanted to get his hands on?

So, not many days later, Master Qin sent his steward to Lin Asheng's wine shop to buy a dozen jars of Sophora flower wine and demanded that he deliver them to Qin Fu personally. Lin Asheng didn't think much of it at the time and immediately took his assistant and pulled a cart to deliver the wine, but he never expected that once he went, he would never be able to come out of Qin Fu again..."

(End of this chapter)