10: Chapter 10 The Efficacy of Beast Meat

exotic beast meat is not something that would ever circulate among ordinary Martial Artists.

Even if you had the silver, there would be no channel to purchase it.

Only noble families and the powerful are qualified to enjoy exotic beast meat.

As the fragrance of the exotic beast meat wafted out,

Chen Hu's heart grew increasingly restless.

He immediately took out a dagger.

He sliced a small piece off the exotic beast meat and put it into his mouth.

"Fragrant, it smells so damn good!"

Chen Hu felt as if his taste buds were about to explode.

In his two lifetimes, this was the first time he had eaten such delicious meat.

After chewing it for a while, Chen Hu somewhat reluctantly swallowed the exotic beast meat.

Immediately, a wave of heat spread from his stomach, permeating his limbs and bones within a few breaths.

"It really is exotic beast meat!"

Chen Hu was overjoyed and immediately activated the Longevity Technique to refine this heat.

After one cycle of cultivation, seeing the Qi that had grown significantly in his Dantian, he was extremely shocked.

The effect of just a small piece of exotic beast meat actually exceeded that of one essence blood pill.

It was at least comparable to the cultivation effect of two essence blood pills.

Chen Hu also discovered that under the nourishment of the heat transformed from the exotic beast meat, his skin and muscles had also been somewhat strengthened.

"This effect is truly Heaven-Defying!"

Chen Hu thought to himself that it was precisely because the effects of exotic beast meat were so good that noble families and the powerful wanted to seal it off.

Otherwise, having tasted the benefits of exotic beast meat,

ordinary Martial Artists would likely chase after it like crazy.

Although the noble families and the powerful were strong, many ants could kill an elephant.

If all Martial Artists were to compete with the noble families and the powerful for exotic beast meat, it would lead to extremely serious consequences.

He calmed his mind.

Chen Hu sliced off another piece of exotic beast meat to consume and put the remaining portion into his Storage Ring.

This exotic beast meat was too fragrant.

If left outside, what if it attracted other Martial Artists who smelled the aroma?

Two hours later.

Chen Hu looked inward at his Dantian.

His Dantian was already filled with Qi.

Originally, it would have taken him five or six days to Cultivate his Qi to saturation.

Now, after consuming just a few pieces of exotic beast meat, it had actually reached saturation directly.

"Since the Qi is already saturated, I will go all out to temper my skin!"

Thinking of this, Chen Hu mobilized his Qi and began to temper his skin according to the third level of the Longevity Technique.

Whenever his Qi was nearly exhausted,

Chen Hu would slice off another piece of exotic beast meat to consume.

Unknowingly,

the time came to early morning.

Chen Hu's skin had been tempered to its limit, and if he exerted his full strength, his skin would emit a golden light.

In other words, his skin had reached the highest Realm of Skin Refining—Golden Skin.

The next moment, Chen Hu threw a punch.

The fist broke through the air, and a faint explosive sound rang out.

"The power of this punch of mine probably reached ten thousand jin!"

Chen Hu was both shocked and delighted.

An ordinary Martial Artist at the Late Skin Refining Stage could only possess three thousand jin of force.

Unless one possessed a special talent, it was impossible to exceed three thousand jin.

For example, Tie Shan, who was born with Divine Power; although he was at the Late Skin Refining Stage, he had over four thousand jin of strength.

But compared to him, Tie Shan was still far behind.

Moreover, Chen Hu was not only freakish in strength, but his defense was also extremely powerful.

He even suspected that even if he met a Martial Artist of the Flesh Refining Realm, he would have the strength to fight them.

As far as he knew, at the Early Stage of the Flesh Refining Realm, one's strength only doubled.

In other words, an ordinary Early Stage of the Flesh Refining Realm only had six thousand jin of strength.

Only at the Refining Flesh Mid-Stage would one's strength exceed ten thousand.

Thinking of this, Chen Hu narrowed his eyes, and a flash of fierce light flickered in them.

But very quickly, the fierce light vanished.

"I still need to reach the Flesh Refining Realm before I go and slaughter Yang Shan and Vice Hall Master Lian Qiao; that would be safer!"

After all, Vice Hall Master Lian Qiao was a veteran of the Refining Flesh Mid-Stage.

Even with the invisibility card, if he couldn't kill the opponent in one strike, and the opponent wanted to escape, he might not be able to stop them.

Chen Hu was confident that as long as he broke through to the Flesh Refining Realm,

he would be able to kill Vice Hall Master Lian Qiao in one strike.

With a thought, the wealth gathering card, meat field card, and pill card appeared in Chen Hu's hand.

After midnight, the three cards had refreshed.

They could be used again.

He silently chanted "use."

The wealth gathering card yielded 10 taels of silver, the pill card yielded one essence blood pill, and the meat field card yielded 10 jin of braised beef.

This made Chen Hu feel slightly disappointed.

However, he quickly adjusted his mood; the fact that he was able to get 10 jin of exotic beast meat last night was likely due to new player protection.

It was not that easy to get exotic beast meat every day.

Putting the items into his Storage Ring, Chen Hu ate breakfast and then walked leisurely toward the stronghold.

"Boss Chen, this is last month's ledger, please take a look!"

As soon as Chen Hu arrived at the stronghold's office and took a sip of tea, a middle-aged man in a green shirt walked over with a ledger.

This middle-aged man in the green shirt was named Wu Jun.

He was also a member of the Fierce Tiger Gang, but he belonged to the Internal Affairs Hall.

For every stronghold, the Internal Affairs Hall would send accounting personnel and warehouse management personnel to be stationed there.

The Fierce Tiger Gang's revenue from Yuquan Street and Feiquan Street came from three channels.

One was the protection fees collected from merchants and residents, the second was the business revenue from shops directly operated by the Fierce Tiger Gang, and the third was shop rent.

Chen Hu took the ledger and began to flip through it.

The total protection fees collected this month amounted to 523 taels and 200 copper coins.

The revenue from operated shops was 876 taels.

Finally, the shop rent was 421 taels.

However, there were still three households that had not paid their protection fees, and one shop tenant had requested a three-day delay for rent payment.

Of the three households that did not pay protection fees, one was on Yuquan Street, and two were on Feiquan Street.

As for the merchant who requested a three-day delay in rent payment, they were also on Feiquan Street.

He put down the ledger.

Chen Hu called Da Niu and Wu Feng over.

Wu Feng was one of Yang Shan's men and also possessed the cultivation of the Early Skin Refining Stage.

"Da Niu, why hasn't Liu Wu's family paid this month's protection fee?"

Chen Hu asked directly.

Having managed Yuquan Street for several years, Chen Hu was still very familiar with the residents on the street.

This Liu Wu did not seem like someone who couldn't afford the 100 copper coin protection fee.

Liu Wu himself was a carpenter; although his income was unstable, his monthly income was eight or nine hundred copper coins.

His wife sold tofu and had a monthly income of at least 500 copper coins.

Then there was Liu Wu's eldest son, who worked as a porter at the docks.

His monthly income was also seven or eight hundred copper coins.

The three of them combined had a monthly income of over two taels of silver; how could they not afford one hundred copper coins?

Da Niu said disdainfully, "Liu Wu's youngest son was set up by someone; he lost several hundred taels at the casino, which directly emptied out the entire Liu family, almost forcing Liu Wu to sell his house!"

"So it turns out there was a gambler in the family!"

Chen Hu suddenly realized, "What happened to Liu Wu's youngest son now?"

Da Niu said with schadenfreude, "Liu Wu broke both of his legs."

Subsequently, Chen Hu asked Wu Feng again why the two households on Feiquan Street did not pay their protection fees.

Wu Feng said, "Reporting to Boss Hu, the eldest son of the Wang family passed the examination to become a Constable. According to the rules, they are exempt from the protection fee. As for the other household, it is the family of the Wang family's eldest son's father-in-law."

"Alright then, the protection fees for these two households are exempted!"

Although the Great Yong Kingdom had declined, a camel that is dying of starvation is still bigger than a horse.

Although the government's influence was not what it used to be, Gang members were still unwilling to provoke those wearing official uniforms.

After sending Da Niu and Wu Feng away,

Chen Hu went to the warehouse to take inventory, and after finding that the finances were correct, he signed his name on the ledger.

After finishing these tasks,

Chen Hu decided to go to the Slum Area to check on his underlings.