With that, Chu Qiguang hauled Chen Gang up, pried the youth's jaw open with his right hand, and tipped a bowl of blood down his throat with the other.
"Swallow it down. Don't spit it out."
Enduring the foul, metallic stench filling his mouth, Chen Gang gulped down the dog monster's blood. Meanwhile, guided by Qiao Zhi, Chu Qiguang began striking Chen Gang's body with palm strike after palm strike.
Chu Qiguang had been studying the Heavenly Demon Foundation Establishment Method under Qiao Zhi these past few days, and this was the perfect chance to practice on Chen Gang. However, his technique and explosive power fell far short of Qiao Zhi's. His strikes took much longer, and it was easy for him to injure Chen Gang in the process.
Fortunately, with Qiao Zhi constantly offering corrections from the side, they managed to complete the entire Heavenly Demon Foundation Establishment Method without any real mishaps.
Chen Gang felt as though a fire were raging through his innards, and the agony was far worse than the last time. Whenever Chu Qiguang's palm came slamming down, Chen Gang felt as if he were on the brink of death.
Yet by using a dog monster's blood to stimulate his bloodline, the transformation of his physique proved far more potent than the effect of ordinary dog's blood.
He thought to himself, 'The changes this time must be greater, which is why it hurts so much more.'
Looking down at Chen Gang kneeling on the ground and gasping for breath, Chu Qiguang said, "Familiarize yourself thoroughly with the changes in your physical stamina. Keep training in martial arts every day and strive for an early breakthrough. When I had trained for six full days just like you, I had already reached the first stage of martial arts."
Chen Gang did not speak. Instead, he stared in shock at his own hands. As he clenched his fists with force, power surged throughout his entire body like a tidal wave, filling him with intense excitement.
Such rapid growth in strength was enough to enchant anyone.
***
In the blink of an eye, the ten-day period arrived, marking the complete end of Jin Fugui's and Lu Ming's treatments. They bade Chu Qiguang a reluctant farewell, repeatedly reminding him to notify them the moment he had more stock.
During those ten days, Chu Qiguang spent every daylight hour at Yinglue Academy practicing the Heavenly Spirit Body Tempering Fist to solidify his foundation. At night, he first rested in meditation, then applied the Hundred-Refined Ointment to cultivate the Yaksha King Fist. His martial arts progressed by leaps and bounds until he could finally unleash 120 consecutive sonic booms with his punches, bringing him even closer to the second stage's threshold of 300.
However, between covering the daily food and drink for himself, Chen Gang, Qiao Zhi, and the dog monsters, renting a new courtyard to live in, and using the Hundred-Refined Ointment without fail every single day, the silver he had earned recently had dwindled to just over nine hundred taels.
'Silver... silver... silver... There's truly never enough of it. Once I finish what's on hand, I need to find some new sources of income.'
Having seen the two off, Chu Qiguang returned to the courtyard and found Wang Cailiang practicing Yinglue Academy's Iron Mountain Palm.
Chu Qiguang walked over and said, "I've found a courtyard. I'll be moving out in a few days."
Wang Cailiang asked, "Brother Chu, why the rush to leave? I wish I could share a bed with you every day and talk through the night!"
'I certainly don't,' Chu Qiguang scoffed inwardly, though outwardly he said, "I hate to part with you as well, Brother Wang, but taking advantage of your hospitality indefinitely wouldn't do. Still, the courtyard I found isn't far from here. When you have time, Brother Wang, you can drop by often."
Wang Cailiang grinned. "Then it's settled! I'll definitely visit frequently."
After exchanging a few more perfunctory pleasantries with Wang Cailiang, Chu Qiguang headed back toward his room. On the way, he saw Grandma Sun wielding a rattan cane, thrashing her grandson's backside stroke after stroke while scolding angrily, "Stealing food, will you? Stealing food! That was an offering I prepared for the Daoist temple! How could you steal it? Are you trying to kill yourself and your granny both?"
Chu Qiguang frowned and spoke up to dissuade her with a few words before stepping into his room. Listening to the child's wails drifting in through the window, he shook his head and sighed inwardly, 'Feudal superstition is truly pernicious.'
On the bed, Qiao Zhi stretched lazily and said, "I found the cat monsters' leader."
"Oh? Where?"
***
Early the next morning.
"Buns for sale! Hot buns for sale!"
"Meat buns, three copper coins each! Fresh from the steamer!"
Chu Qiguang watched Kelaifu Bun Shop a short distance away. The man selling buns inside was a burly fellow of massive build. Though his face was covered in fierce flesh, he wore a perpetual, ingratiating smile.
Seeing the burly man wipe his brow with a sweat towel and carry out another bamboo steamer of buns, Chu Qiguang asked curiously, "You're saying almost every cat monster in Qingyang County comes to this bun shop carrying a rat in its mouth?"
Over the past few days, Qiao Zhi and the dog monsters had scouted the county for traces of the cat monsters, discovering that every night, the cat monsters would bring rats to this bun shop.
Chu Qiguang chuckled. "Could it be that this fellow has the cats catch rats for him, and then makes buns out of rat meat?"
Qiao Zhi nodded. "Yet I can't catch the faintest whiff of demonic qi on him. He's either an ordinary human, or a monster exceptionally skilled at taking human form. Unless he actually makes a move, I really can't smell his demonic qi."
Qiao Zhi's gaze shifted repeatedly across the man's shoulders, neck, arms, and hands.
"That fellow's body... is unnaturally strong. And his perception is remarkably keen; he's already noticed that the dog monsters and I are watching him. He must have trained in some formidable martial arts, though it's hard to tell what stage he's in. In any case, he'll certainly be far harder to deal with than that big black dog."
Qiao Zhi looked at Chu Qiguang. "What do you plan to do?"
Chu Qiguang rubbed his chin, considered it, and said, "Since he has a human form... let's probe his depths first."
Qiao Zhi asked, "Are you sending those dog monsters in? I'm afraid this shopkeeper might turn them into buns too."
Chu Qiguang laughed. "Why would I send them? Since he possesses a human identity, we'll deal with him through human means."
Thus, after returning to the courtyard, Chu Qiguang sought out Wang Cailiang to ask for a favor.
The moment Wang Cailiang heard Chu Qiguang merely wanted to deal with a bun shop owner, he patted his chest and said, "Rest assured, Brother Chu! He's just a bun peddler. I can settle him with a sneeze. Just say the word, and tell me how you want him served up."
***
Another day passed. At midday, in an alley not far from Kelaifu Bun Shop, Chu Qiguang nodded to the middle-aged man before him.
The man was Du Litian, the very village head from Wang Family Village who had previously come to the Zhou family to collect grain. Now, however, he was dressed in official uniform, having remarkably become a bailiff of the county yamen's zaoban squad, summoned here by Wang Cailiang to lend a hand.
Du Litian looked at Chu Qiguang with a flattering smile and asked, "Young Master, is it this bun shop? I've already made inquiries. The man's name is Lin Nan. He's all alone in the world. After renting the storefront, he opened this shabby bun shop, barely scraping together a living."
Du Litian had secured his post as a zaoban bailiff entirely through the Wang family's connections by taking someone else's quota, so he was naturally at Wang Cailiang's beck and call.
Chu Qiguang asked, "Does he have any backing?"
Du Litian replied, "He's merely a bun peddler. What backing could he possibly have?"
Chu Qiguang smiled and produced a tenth of a tael of broken silver, pressing it into Du Litian's hand. "A few days ago, that crude brute offended me, so today I wish to teach him a lesson and vent my anger. I'm truly troubling you with this, Brother Du."
Though Du Litian had worn an obsequious smile from the start, it was only out of awe for the Wang family's power; being summoned to help had still left him somewhat reluctant.
Now, feeling the silver in his palm, his face instantly split into a broad grin.
"Not at all, not at all!" Tucking the silver into his robe, Du Litian asked, "How does Young Master wish for me to handle him?"
Chu Qiguang smiled faintly. "Brother Wang has already spoken to Reckoner Li of the Revenue Office. Brother Du, you may go right ahead and extort that brute to your heart's content."
The reckoner of the Revenue Office was specifically responsible for calculating money, grain, and taxes; with a single stroke of his brush, he could multiply the taxes several times over or exempt someone from paying a single copper coin. With such backing, bailiffs dared to fleece the common folk with utter impunity.
Hearing Chu Qiguang's words, Du Litian grew even more delighted. Having influential backing provided, along with pocketing silver, just to shake down a bun shop owner—this was practically a windfall dropped straight from the heavens.
Chapter 47