Virtue Has Its Reward

The heavy rain continued to fall. On the very street where Chen Haoyan had met his end, Shouchong's silhouette materialized abruptly. His gaze swept over the shattered remnants of Chen Haoyan strewn across the ground with a flicker of surprise. "Who did this?" To pulverize an entire man—what immense hatred could drive such savagery? Marveling under his breath, Shouchong began a meticulous search of the street, scrutinizing every crack and fissure as he swiftly reconstructed the battle in his mind. "The killer was deliberate, lying in ambush around the corner. Yet their technique lacked refinement, allowing Chen Haoyan to detect them from afar. How intriguing. The weak overcoming the strong? Chen Haoyan loosed his arrows, but the killer... didn't parry? They took the hits and charged straight into his face, and then... hm? Chen Haoyan lost?" Shouchong's brow furrowed sharply. Before long, however, he seemed to uncover another crucial clue. His knit brow smoothed, and a faint smile even curved his lips. "This footwork, this technique of erupting vital blood... Planting a Lotus in Fire?" *Clever boy!* Shouchong looked around, clicking his tongue in wonder. "I demonstrated that strike before him only once. Just once, yet he grasped its essence and put it into practice right away... and with surprisingly good form." *What astonishing talent!* "Aside from that... my Lotus Blade is gone. If not for that, Liansheng Bodhisattva wouldn't have been compromised and abruptly severed from my senses. And the Longxing County seal—could that boy have taken it as well? I fought tooth and nail, only for someone else to reap all the spoils." At the thought, Shouchong could not help a sigh of exasperation. His plan for tonight had been simple enough: draw all the attention in person while secretly sending Liansheng Bodhisattva to Youshen Temple in his stead. Yet two unforeseen hiccups had disrupted it. The first was that Chen Haoyan had shared the exact same idea, causing Liansheng Bodhisattva to arrive a step late and let Chen Haoyan beat them to the prize. The second was the Lotus Blade. Just as Liansheng Bodhisattva seized Chen Haoyan and prepared to execute him, the Lotus Blade abruptly vanished, and the immediate backlash struck Shouchong himself. The resulting chain reaction froze Liansheng Bodhisattva in its tracks. Only then had Chen Haoyan managed to slip away with his life. By the time Shouchong recovered and pursued him here, he found only scattered remains littering the ground. "...No matter." Shouchong shook his head, quickly steadying his mind. "I'm the one who took the loss by missing out on the pills in Youshen Temple. Still, Liansheng Bodhisattva accomplished its goal by reaping this season's incense from Youshen Temple. It wasn't a total loss." Besides, strictly speaking, Wang Ping was also a disciple of the White Lotus Sect. All things considered, the wealth had stayed within the family. "And... this is also an opportunity." Beneath the falling rain, Shouchong looked into the distance. At the heart of Longxing County, the majestic county yamen sprawled across the earth like a slumbering behemoth resting with its eyes shut. By all logic, with the loss of an internal strength martial master like Chen Haoyan, the county yamen should no longer pose any threat to him. In reality, that was far from the case. To Shouchong's senses, Chen Haoyan's death had not diminished the danger radiating from the yamen; instead, it had intensified to the brink of life and death. He knew the reason. A cold sneer touched Shouchong's lips. "A handy blade has broken, and with no other weapon at hand, he's forced to step out onto the stage. "Hmph... let's see how much longer you can hide." Withdrawing his gaze, Shouchong reined in his qi. He swept the area once more to erase every trace of combat before striding away into the rain. *** Wang Ping no longer cared what else was transpiring through the night. By now, he had returned to his small courtyard, stripped off his soaked clothes, and set a bulging pouch onto the table. Even now, he was still turning over the recent fight in his mind. Compared to his battle against Xie Shi, this clash with Chen Haoyan had undoubtedly been far more perilous. Strictly speaking, he should never have emerged the victor. *Killing Xie Shi only looked dangerous, but in truth, the timing, terrain, and circumstances were all in my favor. All I had to do was strike with my saber, and everything fell into place without a hitch... But Chen Haoyan was different. Slaying him came down to seventy percent luck. For his first blow in close quarters, he chose to sever my arm.* Wang Ping rubbed his shoulder. The phantom pain of the severed limb had not yet completely faded, compounded by the aftereffects of overexertion. Intense muscle aches made it difficult for him even to move. This was the consequence of training sinews without tempering the flesh. He had raw strength and explosive power, but lacked the bodily resilience to withstand the strain afterward. His stamina was dismal—he could barely last three minutes before flagging. *If that slash hadn't been aimed at my arm, but at my neck, I would have died on the spot. Even with Perish with the Sun, I wouldn't have had the chance to use it.* *Still, it wasn't that he underestimated me. At that moment, the single greatest threat to him was the hand holding the saber, and my injuries looked fatal enough that I wouldn't last long. In his eyes, neutralizing that arm sealed my doom, so he instinctively chose the safest, most reliable option.* Wang Ping replayed every beat of the fight. With the Desire Realm Deva Body, he could acutely sense shifts in Chen Haoyan's emotions, which helped him dissect Chen Haoyan's psychological state throughout the duel. This was invaluable practical experience. Once his review was complete, Wang Ping reached a conclusion: *With Qi Restriction and Perish with the Sun, trading wound for wound suits me best.* *And... my martial arts are still too weak.* *Overcoming the strong from below isn't my style; bullying the weak from above suits me far better. This time, my biggest flaw was that my martial arts were inferior to Chen Haoyan's.* *Otherwise, he wouldn't have spotted me in advance.* *I have to remedy this. Fortunately, with spiritual sense and the Desire Realm Deva Body, my cultivation progresses swiftly. I just lack a suitable weapon.* Moments later, Wang Ping sat upright once more. Forming hand seals, he employed Qi Restriction to convert true qi and circulate it through several cycles within his body. Most of his depleted vitality and spirit promptly revived. Next, he turned his eyes toward the pouch on the table. He had noticed earlier that Chen Haoyan kept this pouch clutched tightly against his chest, guarding it like a treasure. That was why Wang Ping had made a point of scooping it up before departing. "Let's see what we have..." Wang Ping stepped forward and untied the bundle. Instantly, twelve porcelain bottles accompanied by a rich medicinal fragrance greeted his eyes. Beneath each bottle was a corresponding label. "Holy crap..." Wang Ping's eyes went wide. The labels nearly blinded him with shock, and his hands trembled with excitement. "Virtue truly has its reward..." he muttered under his breath. He rubbed his eyes, half-believing he was dreaming. Only after a long moment did a relaxed smile spread across his face. They were all Daoist pills! During past chats with Liu Ye, Wang Ping had learned a bit about these elixirs. Supposedly, only the thaumaturge fangshi favored by the imperial court possessed the skill to concoct them. *A single pill can rival a month of medicinal nourishment!* *Did that bastard Chen Haoyan storm Youshen Temple just for these? Did he loot the temple's entire dispensary?* Wang Ping carefully took inventory of the elixirs. Gut-Severing Pill, Gu Poison Pill, Power-Dissolving Powder. Sinew-Transforming Pill, Bone-Forging Pill, Marrow-Cleansing Pill, Qi-Replenishing Powder, Antidote Pill, Body-Tempering Pellet, Heaven-Turning Remaking Pill, Snow Ginseng Ice Fruit Nectar Dew, Heaven's Will Soul-Returning Pill. "Three lethal poisons, nine tonics." Staring at the porcelain bottles, Wang Ping sank into thought. A question occurred to him—one that bordered on paranoia, yet could not be ignored. *Do the contents of these bottles actually match their labels?* Wang Ping picked up a bottle marked Body-Tempering Pellet. What if it actually contained Gut-Severing Pill? *Judging others by myself, if it were me, I would definitely keep one set of labels on the surface and another system in secret to deceive ignorant outsiders.* It was a basic theft deterrent. Youshen Temple stood out in the open. Had Perfected Youshen never considered the risk of pill theft while refining them? Wang Ping refused to believe that. *In this world, anyone who gets ahead has abandoned their humanity, and those who remain decent don't last long... Caution and foresight are never a mistake.* Wang Ping grimaced. *The trouble is, I know nothing of pharmacology.* With spiritual sense, he could analyze the components of these pills. But without pharmacological knowledge, knowing the ingredients did not mean he could deduce their exact effects. "...Looks like I need a test subject." After a moment's thought, Wang Ping pushed open the door, went over to the stable beside the courtyard, and led out the curly-maned horse assigned to him by the yamen. He gave it an affectionate pat. For his own safety, his horse would have to suffer a little. Activating his spiritual sense, Wang Ping extracted a pinch of powder from one of the pills, fed it to the horse, and waited patiently. To be safe, he sampled powder from the surface, the core, and the middle layers of each pill, ensuring the entire concoction was uniform. What if a poison pill was coated with a non-toxic shell? Better safe than sorry; he would rather waste a bit than walk into a trap. Throughout the process, he monitored everything with his spiritual sense. From the moment the powder entered the stomach to the onset of its effects, he observed clearly which organs were affected and how potent the reaction was. An hour later. After feeding a bit of Antidote Pill powder to the curly-maned horse—which had already begun foaming at the mouth and kicking its hooves in the air—Wang Ping returned to his room, his face grim. As it turned out, his paranoia was fully justified. Every single label was mismatched. The real identifiers were not the written words, but the subtle decorative patterns on the porcelain bottles—a deliberate code. *In this godforsaken place, not a single bastard acts like a human being!* If he hadn't been clever enough to recall how the old bastard Shouchong had screwed him over, and hadn't taken extra precautions, wouldn't he have had to die and resurrect all over again? "Absolute scum!" Wang Ping cursed under his breath. He rearranged the twelve bottles. Fortunately, while the labels had been swapped around, the labels themselves were not fabricated. There were still three bottles of poison and nine of tonics. *Gut-Severing Pill, Gu Poison Pill, Power-Dissolving Powder—keep these three together. Deadly poisons.* *Sinew-Transforming Pill, Bone-Forging Pill, Marrow-Cleansing Pill, Qi-Replenishing Powder, Antidote Pill, Body-Tempering Pellet... these target the physical frame, suited for external martial artists.* *Heaven-Turning Remaking Pill, Snow Ginseng Ice Fruit Nectar Dew... these two boost internal strength. Ingesting them generates an unfamiliar qi in the body, but without sufficient cultivation, they do more harm than good. The horse nearly dropped dead after taking some; good thing I acted fast and pumped its stomach.* *And the last one...* Wang Ping picked up the final bottle. It was labeled Body-Tempering Pellet, but actually held the Heaven's Will Soul-Returning Pill. The issue was that he had no idea what it did. *After the horse ate it, nothing happened. None of its organs changed. I can't even tell if it's toxic or not.* Wang Ping suspected this was the true prize Chen Haoyan had been after. After all, precious as the other eleven pills were, few held much value for Chen Haoyan—certainly not enough to risk his life for. *If that's the case, this is a hot potato. If word gets out that I killed Chen Haoyan and took these pills, it could bring no end of trouble.* With that in mind, Wang Ping stashed the Heaven's Will Soul-Returning Pill separately, then poured the Gut-Severing Pill into the bottle labeled Heaven's Will Soul-Returning Pill. He did the same with the bottles labeled Heaven-Turning Remaking Pill and Snow Ginseng Ice Fruit Nectar Dew, filling them with the remaining two poisons—Gu Poison Pill and Power-Dissolving Powder. He tucked the three booby-trapped bottles close to his chest. It was a casual precaution, but it might yield unexpected results. With that done, Wang Ping returned to his bed. *My Cloud-Piercing Sky-Shaking Bow is only at the entry level. To reach minor accomplishment, I must achieve bones like a tiger. This step focuses on tempering the skeleton...* He retrieved the Bone-Forging Pill. Swallowing the pill with water, he downed it in one gulp. At first, he felt nothing. Soon, however, a blazing fire seemed to ignite in his belly, raging outward through every limb and meridian. Then came the itch—an excruciating, maddening itch! It stemmed from deep within his bones, impossible to scratch. Knowing the medicinal potency was taking effect, Wang Ping dared not dally and immediately took up the Black Hornless Dragon Bow. *Whoosh!* Spurring his spiritual sense to suppress all stray thoughts and physical sensations, Wang Ping sank his focus entirely into his connection with the Black Hornless Dragon Bow, absorbing the surging power of the Bone-Forging Pill. Feeling the scorching currents within, his excitement mounted. *For the entry level of blood like fire, with spiritual sense to aid me, it took less than three days. Now, bolstered by elixirs, one night is enough to achieve the minor accomplishment of bones like a tiger!* *** The following morning, dawn broke. The rain had cleared, leaving blue skies. Beneath the rising sun, a vibrant rainbow hung high, and a fresh breeze swept through the county seat, which had just weathered a tempest. *Crack!* After an entire night, Wang Ping, who had been sitting as motionless as a stone statue on his bed, abruptly opened his eyes as a sharp crack echoed from within his body. The sound did not come from his mouth, nor from his viscera. It was a faint, collective vibration produced as every bone in his body set muscles, skin, and organs shuddering in unison—like rolling thunder across the sky, or the low growl of a tiger, signaling a total metamorphosis. "It's done!" As the resonance faded, Wang Ping sat drenched in sweat. Yesterday's muscle soreness had vanished without a trace, and a sharp gleam shone in the depths of his eyes. Bones like a tiger! Just like sinews and blood, bones were graded into four tiers: wildcat, striped, white-brow, and mountain lord. And Wang Ping's bones had attained the highest grade: mountain lord bones! Now, bolstered by true dragon sinews, supreme yang blood, and mountain lord bones, Wang Ping distinctly felt his stamina surge once more and his endurance under pressure multiply. Even unleashing his full strength as a unified force—as he had done with Planting a Lotus in Fire—felt far easier than before. Especially when his sinews and bones exerted force in concert. True dragon sinews and mountain lord bones—with a single punch, dragons roared and tigers bellowed. The whistling wind of his strike, combined with the steam rising from his vital blood and sweat, seemed as though wind and clouds truly followed in its wake! "Incredible!" Wang Ping stretched his limbs and let out a low roar. The thrill of this substantial power increase felt even more exhilarating than the explosive rush of cultivating the Iron Ox Art. Only after a long while did he settle down. Next, he wrapped the remaining pills, sealed them tightly, and used his spiritual sense to guide his curly-maned horse to swallow the package, concealing it inside the beast's stomach. *This should keep them hidden for at least one to three days.* Using his spiritual sense, Wang Ping adjusted the package's placement within the horse's gut to ensure it would not pass through. Only then did he set his mind at ease and turn toward the county yamen. Without a doubt, the county yamen must have already learned of Chen Haoyan's death. Rebels clashing, the head constable slain—hearing such delightful news, that lord magistrate who had rarely shown his face would surely be unable to sit still.