4: Chapter 4 Growth in Strength

Chen Hu's drive to Cultivate became stronger and stronger.

He swallowed a qi and blood pill and activated his Cultivation Technique to recover his Qi.

In the past, he certainly would not have been so extravagant as to use a qi and blood pill to recover his Qi.

After all, qi and blood pills were not cheap; they cost two taels of silver each.

His monthly salary plus his under-the-table income, if converted entirely into qi and blood pills, would only amount to a mere few.

Now, however, he had a thousand taels of gold as a base, so this bit of consumption was nothing at all.

More than half an hour later.

The Qi within Chen Hu's body had fully recovered.

He then continued to control his Qi to temper his skin.

The effect of this tempering was not as good as the last time, but after exhausting almost all his Qi, the strength of his skin had improved significantly once again.

He estimated that his current skin strength was likely not inferior to an ordinary practitioner at the Late Skin Refining Stage.

Unknowingly, the time had already reached the Hour of the Rat.

After several rounds of tempering, Chen Hu's skin had been strengthened to its limit and could no longer be tempered further.

Only by breaking through to the Middle Stage of the Skin Refining Realm could he continue to temper it.

The circulation path for the second level of the Longevity Technique was much more complex than the first.

Fortunately, Chen Hu was already at the Middle Stage of the Skin Refining Realm.

The circulation path of the Fierce Tiger Force had some overlap with the Longevity Technique.

Therefore, in just two hours, Chen Hu successfully mastered the second level of the Longevity Technique.

The Qi within his Dantian also underwent a transformation, becoming much more refined and powerful.

Compared to the original second level of the Fierce Tiger Force, it was seven or eight times more powerful.

He was certain that if his current self were to fight his former self,

his Longevity Qi would be able to break through his defenses in a single move and severely injure his former self.

Chen Hu was even certain that even if he were to Cultivate the Fierce Tiger Force to the third level, the Qi he would form would still be far inferior to the Longevity Qi of the second level.

For a moment, his anxious heart eased slightly.

Even if that dog Yang Shan sent people to assassinate him, he now had some ability to protect himself.

Meanwhile.

The Lian Residence.

Although it was late at night, Vice Hall Master Lian Qiao, who had just returned to the residence, still summoned Yang Shan to the study.

"Did you do the thing regarding Xu Gang?"

Vice Hall Master Lian Qiao asked indifferently while drinking tea.

Yang Shan's expression changed slightly, but he still admitted, "Father-in-law, it was indeed my doing."

"Why?"

Vice Hall Master Lian Qiao was somewhat dissatisfied: "Once your cultivation breaks through to the Late Skin Refining Stage, I would naturally have sought the position of Big Boss for you. Why did you have to kill Xu Gang?"

Regardless of which faction it was, infighting was a major taboo.

Yang Shan said with a helpless face: "Father-in-law, I didn't want to kill him either, but he somehow found out about my business dealings with the Venomous Snake Gang and sent people to investigate. To prevent the news from leaking, I had no choice but to kill him!"

"Who did you find to do it? It wasn't someone from the Venomous Snake Gang, was it?" Vice Hall Master Lian Qiao narrowed his eyes, staring at Yang Shan.

That cold and sharp gaze made Yang Shan feel immense pressure.

He quickly explained: "I am not that foolish. If I really asked people from the Venomous Snake Gang to do it, wouldn't I be handing them leverage? I found two people at the Late Skin Refining Stage who had just arrived in Linjiang Prefecture to make a living.

I didn't show my face personally either; I went through several intermediaries to find them. Before they acted, they didn't even know Xu Gang's identity. Once they knew Xu Gang's identity, they would be even less likely to leak this matter!"

Vice Hall Master Lian Qiao nodded with satisfaction: "You do have a bit of cleverness, but you had best focus your mind on cultivation."

"Yes, Father-in-law, I will follow your teachings!"

Yang Shan immediately bowed in response.

"Alright, it's getting late, go back and rest!"

Vice Hall Master Lian Qiao waved his hand.

Yang Shan saluted and withdrew.

On the other side, Chen Hu was still continuing to Cultivate.

Near dawn, the qi and blood pills were exhausted.

He then stopped cultivating.

Without qi and blood pills, cultivating was too slow.

After sleeping for more than an hour, Chen Hu's slightly fatigued spirit had already fully recovered.

This was the benefit brought by the energy pill.

After grabbing a meal at a nearby roadside stall,

he headed toward the Gang's stronghold.

Xu Gang's death had a certain impact.

But it was not large.

After all, a Big Boss was only a middle-to-lower-level member within the Gang.

After arranging the patrol duties,

Chen Hu left the stronghold and headed toward Medicine King Street.

Medicine King Street was also located in Changshou Ward.

At the same time, it was also within the Fierce Tiger Gang's sphere of influence.

It was under the jurisdiction of the First Battle Hall.

Most of the businesses on this street were clinics, pharmacies, and Medicinal Pill shops.

Besides that, there were quite a few herbalists setting up stalls on both sides of the street to sell various medicinal herbs.

Chen Hu headed straight for the Wang Family Medicinal Pill Pavilion in the middle section of Medicine King Street.

The owner behind this Wang Family Medicinal Pill Pavilion was not simple; it was one of the businesses of the Wang Family, one of the Five Great Families in the Inner City of Linjiang Prefecture.

As mentioned before, within Linjiang Prefecture City,

the number of Bone Refining experts did not exceed the number of fingers on two hands.

Yet the Wang Family had two Bone Refining experts.

Why did the Wang Family have more Bone Refining experts than the other four Great Families?

That was because the Wang Family was an Alchemy family.

The cultivation resources they possessed exceeded those of the other families by quite a bit.

Cultivation resources were divided into three categories.

Ordinary resources were various types of meat.

Advanced resources were various Medicinal Pills.

Special resources were exotic beast meat and precious herbs.

Ordinary resources went without saying; as for Medicinal Pill resources, as long as one was willing to spend money, and as long as they were not too rare, they could still be purchased.

However, exotic beast resources only circulated in the Inner City.

And they could only be traded using gold and exotic metals.

As for what exotic metal was?

Simply put, to forge a divine weapon, one had to incorporate exotic metal.

And divine weapons forged from different exotic metals possessed various special functions.

Of course, Chen Hu was just a low-status small leader in a third-rate Gang; he had only heard of divine weapons but had never seen one with his own eyes.

Furthermore, precious herbs were even rarer than exotic beasts.

They were generally medicinal herbs that had aged and undergone mutations.

Consuming a single precious herb that increased cultivation could potentially raise one by a whole Realm.

But back to the main topic.

After Chen Hu stepped into the Wang Family Medicinal Pill Pavilion, a young woman with delicate features came up to greet him.

"Brother Hu, are you here to buy Medicinal Pills?"

Although Chen Hu was not a regular customer of the Wang Family Medicinal Pill Pavilion, he had still become a familiar face.

"I want four bottles of qi and blood pills and one bottle of Meridian Protection Pills!"

Chen Hu did not dawdle and directly stated his needs.

qi and blood pills were for increasing cultivation, while Meridian Protection Pills were for protecting the Meridians.

When Cultivating, after circulating Qi for a certain amount of time, the Meridians would become fatigued.

If one persisted in circulating Qi while the Meridians were fatigued, it would damage the Meridians.

At this time, swallowing a Meridian Protection Pill would allow one to continue Cultivating.

In the past, Chen Hu would have to save for several months to buy one bottle of qi and blood pills; he simply could not afford Meridian Protection Pills.

Things were different now; he had a thousand taels of gold as a base, so to rapidly increase his cultivation, he had to use Meridian Protection Pills.

A quarter of an hour later.

Chen Hu walked out of the Wang Family Medicinal Pill Pavilion with the Medicinal Pills.

"Steward, this Chen Hu is just a small leader in the Fierce Tiger Gang, yet today he actually spent 10 taels of gold in our shop. He probably came into a windfall!" After sending Chen Hu off, the female clerk who had received him immediately reported to the steward.

"You, you are still too shortsighted. He is just a muddy-legged guy mixing in the Gang; even if he did come into a windfall, how much could it be!"

The steward spoke with disdain, his expression quite arrogant.

Although he was also just a servant of the Wang Family.

Yet, even as a servant of a Great Family, he felt he was superior to others.

"Yes, Steward, I understand!" The female clerk nodded.

In a flash, three days passed.

A piece of news spread: Yang Shan had broken through to the Late Skin Refining Stage and was about to take over the position of Big Boss.

As this news spread, Chen Hu didn't react much.

However, the group of underlings under him became anxious.

Because Chen Hu had always been at odds with Yang Shan in the past, if Yang Shan became the Big Boss, Chen Hu would certainly not fare well.