Chapter 5

"Are you talking about the Black Water Gang? A while ago, the Black Water Gang was swallowed up by a gang called the Horned Snake Gang. Now..."

Cheng Shaojiu shook his head, indicating his helplessness.

"As for the other one, that thug named Chen Biao, I did hear something from my cousin."

Cheng Shaojiu's family was prosperous and well-informed, making him a notable figure in the surrounding towns of Feiye City.

Moreover, he himself enjoyed being generous and had many friends.

Therefore, he had connections with people from all walks of life, and all kinds of news could be heard from him.

"What news?" Wei He asked in a deep voice.

"It's about the thugs in Rat Alley. They all joined the newly risen Horned Snake Gang. Now they're expanding their territory every day, fighting and killing, quite lively.

But why are you asking about a thug? What? Does this guy have a grudge against you?" Cheng Shaojiu glanced at Wei He.

"Nothing much, thank you. If you can keep an eye on Chen Biao for me, I'll help you finish the homework from last time."

Wei He was making a deal.

One reason he and Cheng Shaojiu had become close was that this guy always struggled with his academic work at home.

His father had hired a tutor to give him one-on-one lessons and would assign homework every few days.

This made Cheng Shaojiu quite frustrated.

He was the type who loved to play and make friends, and couldn't sit still to write or study.

So, when he discovered that Wei He could write his homework for him, he promptly made the request.

He asked Wei He to give it a try.

To his surprise, the homework Wei He wrote was quite good and received praise from the tutor.

Although the praise was only for neat and strong handwriting, it was much better than what he could do himself.

Thus, the two often helped each other, each taking what they needed and complementing each other's strengths.

"That's great! I've been waiting for you to say that. Chen Biao, right? I'll keep an eye on him!" Cheng Shaojiu patted his chest, making a promise.

"Thank you, Third Senior Brother." Wei He nodded.

"Wei He, Master is calling you over." Suddenly, a small boy ran out from the inner room of the courtyard and called out.

"Got it." Wei He put down the stone and quickly entered the inner room.

Inside, Old Man Zheng was bare-chested, and an old pharmacist was applying a plaster to his back.

The room was filled with a strong smell of traditional Chinese medicine.

Seeing Wei He come in, Old Man Zheng didn't even look up, just glanced at him. "Go buy five taels of su wood, five taels of white芷 (bai zhi), white peony, and six qian of rehmannia. You can pay for it first, and I'll reimburse you when you come back."

"Yes."

Because Wei He could read and do arithmetic, after being discovered by Old Man Zheng, he was often assigned to do such tasks.

With a bag for the medicine, Wei He left through a side door and walked along the street toward another town.

The town where Hui Shan Quan was located was close to the inner city, already a bustling area, while the pharmacy was in a town near the outer city.

This Feiye City had over a dozen towns, each equivalent to a self-sufficient village.

Each town had residents, market streets, and various unique features.

All the towns surrounded a large central square, with each having a connection to that square.

The inner city was at the far end, beyond the square.

It was still early in the morning.

Wei He walked quickly down the streets.

The shops and stalls on the street were not yet open, with only a few bun shops having their wooden doors half-open, and people could be seen moving things inside.

Crossing a stone bridge between the towns, Wei He soon arrived at a dilapidated pharmacy.

Zhao's Pharmacy.

A sign hung above the door with four characters.

Just as he was about to knock, a rustling sound came from the street to his right.

"To the Pure Land, crossing the sea with the scent."

"To the Pure Land, crossing the sea with the scent..."

Someone was muttering softly, seemingly the leader.

Immediately, a large crowd joined in, chanting together.

Wei He's heart tightened, and he quickly knocked on the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

The pharmacy was silent for a moment, then the wooden door opened halfway, and a middle-aged man wearing a black round hat pulled him inside.

"Quick, come in! The people from the Kōdō Sect are here again!"

The shop was dark, with only a bit of light coming through the door and window cracks.

Wei He and the middle-aged man didn't speak, standing by the door waiting.

They waited until the chanting voices gradually faded away and disappeared.

Only then did they both breathe a sigh of relief.

"These Kōdō people are becoming more frequent. I don't know when it will end." The middle-aged man sighed.

"Mr. Qian, do you know who those people were just now..." Wei He had seen those strange processions before, and although they were scary when encountered suddenly, they didn't seem to cause much trouble.

"That's the Kōdō Sect, a new religious group that has recently spread in the city. When they encounter suitable people, they ask them to offer incense and money.

At first, they attracted many poor people, gained momentum, and then used semi-coercive means to get a lot of money, which they distributed to everyone, leading to their rapid growth. I don't know why the authorities don't do anything about it."

Mr. Qian's tone was helpless.

"If you encounter them and don't give them money, they will block your door every day, and you won't be able to do business."

"..." Wei He was speechless.

He bought the medicine he needed from Mr. Qian, calculated the money, packed it, and left the shop.

On his way back, he saw the Kōdō Sect procession again from a distance.

There were at least two hundred people, forming a long line like a snake.

At that moment, these people were confronting a few officials who had come to stop them.

The leading sect members were being pushed around and were about to be arrested.

There was a sense of unease in the rest of the Kōdō Sect procession.

Wei He glanced at them from a distance and quickly walked back to Hui Shan Quan's courtyard.

Not far along, he suddenly heard a scream behind him.

"Murder!"

Then came angry shouts, roars, and screams.

Wei He quickened his pace, running faster back to the courtyard.

He had only been practicing Hui Shan Quan for three months and was just familiar with the basic moves, without any actual combat experience.

If he got involved, who knew what would happen.

He ran back to the courtyard, delivered the medicine to the inner room, settled the money, and when he came out, he realized he had broken out in a cold sweat.

He wasn't sure if it was from fear or from running.

As someone who had lived a lifetime, he knew all too well the destructive power of such sects in this world.

"What's wrong?" Third Senior Brother Cheng Shaojiu looked at him, wondering why he was so hot from buying medicine.

"Maybe from running." Wei He said softly. "Continue."

He walked to his position and resumed lifting the stone for training.

In the evening.

After finishing his practice, drinking the herbal soup, and getting dressed, Wei He prepared to collect homework.

Collecting homework periodically to earn money was a long-term business for him.

But today, he was particularly uneasy.

His mind kept replaying the scene he had seen earlier, the long procession of the Kōdō Sect.

"I must get stronger as soon as possible." He subconsciously touched the mark of the realm-breaking bead on his chest.

The bead had accumulated only half black, with the other half still in its original color.

On his way back from the lecture hall, he passed by a pharmacy.

Recalling the medicine he had bought for his master, Wei He had an idea and turned into the shop.

The shop was filled with the pungent smell of medicine.

A middle-aged woman in her forties, wearing a black and gray dress, was grinding medicine with a pestle.

A clerk was lazily wiping the counter with a cloth.

"Mr. Qian, do you have any ready-made tonics?" Wei He asked.

"Ready-made tonics?" The middle-aged woman straightened her hair and put down her work.

"From your question, I can tell you're a layman. Tonic formulas are usually prescribed by doctors or prepared by pharmacists. Why would you come to our shop and ask directly?"

Her voice was hoarse, sounding more like an old man's than a woman's.

Wei He was taken aback by her voice but quickly recovered.

"I've been feeling that the food I eat isn't filling enough, so I thought I'd come and see if there's anything that can keep me full for a long time."

"Meat. Meat is the most filling. I have some fresh game, but it's a bit expensive. Do you want to take a look?"

The woman turned and had the clerk fetch a black, thin piece of meat from the back room.

She placed the meat on the table.

"Spotted black snake meat, ten taels per pound, no negotiation."

Ten taels...

Wei He's heart tightened. Ten taels could feed a family of three for five days.

"This is fresh snake meat. I also have wild boar meat, wild beef, yellow-haired monkey meat, money bugs, centipedes, scorpions..." The middle-aged woman listed various types of meat.

Some were dried, some were fresh.

Wei He pondered for a moment.

He bought a little of each, spending a total of twenty taels.

He spent all the money he had saved.

When he came out, he had a head-sized bundle in his hand, filled with various dried and fresh meats.

He returned to his home in Rat Alley with the meats.

He started experimenting with how to cook them. His older sister, Wei Ying, lived in the neighboring house at Hui Shan Quan.

This old home was where he lived alone, which was peaceful.

After some experimentation, Wei He turned each type of meat into minced meat, cooked it, and placed it in different bamboo tubes.

There were twelve types in total.

He began to taste them one by one, observing the realm-breaking bead on his chest to determine which meat had the best value.

This was to speed up the accumulation of the realm-breaking bead.

By eating two portions each day and recording the results, Wei He quickly found the type of meat that increased the realm-breaking bead the fastest in the same quantity.

It was the money bug meat.

This meat was extremely filling, rich in energy, and generally used for patients who needed a significant boost in yin.

It wasn't very expensive, costing one tael per pound, making it a very cost-effective choice.

After testing the money bug meat, he returned to his daily routine of practicing and building strength.

Time flew by, and half a year passed.

The energy in the realm-breaking bead had almost completely turned black through this intermittent accumulation.

Wei He, who was originally 1.7 meters tall, had grown to nearly 1.8 meters, with a much more muscular build.

His muscles were well-defined and flowed smoothly.

He had finally moved past the stage of building strength and began practicing specific techniques.

He became one of the strong men in the courtyard who sparred every day.

At this point, Old Man Zheng finally began teaching him a method to toughen his skin, specifically for Hui Shan Quan, which could make his fists thick and resilient.