Chapter Five: Strolling Down Taowu Street

After bidding farewell to his master, Luo Changning returned to the Su family's small courtyard. Aunt Qing had prepared a lavish dinner: braised lion’s head meatballs, four-happiness meatballs, white-cooked pork, fried fish pieces, marinated beef...

Now Luo Changning needed to eat five pounds of meat at every meal, not even counting rice and vegetables. Ever since he began cultivating inner strength, medicinal pills had become a necessity—truly, as the saying goes, the scholarly are poor, the martial are rich!

On the Yao Hua Continent, martial artists used medicinal pills to speed up their cultivation. Pills were ranked as ungraded, inferior, medium, high, and supreme. High-grade pills could only be refined by first-rate alchemists, while supreme pills were even more rare, something one might only encounter by chance.

The Su family specialized in Gu poison, and their ancestral medical skills were formidable—treating the illnesses and wounds of commoners or postnatal martial artists was child's play for them.

As for pill refinement, that required talent and secret formulas. At most, the Su family could refine some common ungraded pills; even producing an inferior-grade pill depended on a stroke of luck.

Luo Changning sighed. Though the Su family had deep roots and no shortage of silver, Qingyang County was simply too remote. Obtaining any pill above inferior grade was a challenge!

In truth, it wasn't just Qingyang County—martial strength was low throughout all of Annan Province. The environment itself was ill-suited to martial cultivation. Though the region was vast, it was mostly hilly land and islands, with underdeveloped agriculture and commerce, making it the weakest among the thirteen provinces.

Moreover, it lay at the southernmost borders, separated by wild forests and the Blackwater River, and had never been valued by the successive Human Emperors.

After Dugu Bancheng staged his coup and changed the dynasty, things grew even more chaotic. With the mountains distant from imperial authority, bandits and pirates ran rampant, colluding with the useless officials sent by the court, wreaking havoc on the people.

Just look—here in Qingyang County there was a bandit stronghold occupying the entire Tianmen Mountain Range. Luckily, these bandits and pirates still followed some code of the greenwood; they did not harm the locals but preyed on neighboring counties instead. Even thieves, it seemed, had a sense of professional ethics.

But, if someone entered the Tianmen Mountains, they were trespassing on the bandits' territory. No matter who it was, they’d be robbed and killed all the same—and a delicate young lady would never return from the mountains.

Thinking of those villains who committed every imaginable crime, Luo Changning’s heart burned with indignation. Someday, he vowed, he would rid the land of this scum and bring peace to the people!

Swallowing the last piece of white-cooked pork, Luo Changning picked up a handkerchief to wipe his mouth, then rinsed with brine. “Aunt, Cousin, I’m finished,” he announced.

Aunt Qing laughed, covering her mouth, her enchanting peach blossom eyes sparkling. “Young master, do you see anyone else at the table besides you?”

Luo Changning looked up blankly and glanced around—sure enough, his aunt and cousin had slipped away at some point.

He pouted in dissatisfaction. It was one thing for his cousin not to wait for him, but even Aunt Qing had disappeared.

Seeing his aggrieved expression, Aunt Qing laughed all the harder. “Young master, don’t be upset—your face is as black as a lump of coal. No, wait, you are a lump of coal! Oh, you’ll be the death of me!”

With a cold snort, the young master Luo rose and left, though Aunt Qing’s laughter still echoed in the distance.

Aunt Qing was an elder, and nursemaid to the Su sisters, so her status was by no means that of an ordinary servant. When the Su family dismissed their household and moved from Miaonan to Annan, only Aunt Qing and Loyal Uncle were retained, a testament to their importance.

Furthermore, Aunt Qing herself was skilled in martial arts, bold and forthright, and beloved by all the masters of the Su family.

Luo Changning would never be angry over Aunt Qing’s jokes. In fact, he hoped she would tease him more often. Su Meng was gentle, Wen Rugong was cold and reserved, Loyal Uncle was honest and stolid—only Aunt Qing brought a spark of life to the otherwise solemn Su family courtyard.

Thinking this, Luo Changning smiled, his gloom forgotten. He sat cross-legged on his bed and began to cultivate the Profound-Yellow Heart Method.

The night passed. When Luo Changning opened his eyes again, he found the stream of energy within him had grown from the width of a single hair to three, though it still could not flow elsewhere—circulating through the meridians of his abdomen before dissipating.

Alas, he thought, I must continue to cultivate diligently. I have only just set foot in the realm of internal martial artists—who knows when I will advance to the innate stage? Master said that villain Dugu Bancheng has already reached the first stage of the Heaven-piercing Realm. If not for the burdens of state, his cultivation would be higher still. Even as he is, he could erase me with a flick of his finger, and his subordinates are innumerable...

Still, Luo Changning firmly believed that one day he would avenge his family, whatever the cost!

Stepping outside, he took a deep breath of the fresh morning air—though with his current cultivation, he could not yet sense the flow of spiritual energy in the world.

In the main hall, breakfast was already laid out: meat, eggs, and sheep’s milk.

Su Meng drank only a bowl of red date porridge before returning to her room.

After breakfast, Luo Changning asked in puzzlement, “Why hasn’t Cousin come to eat? Did he leave for the medical hall early, or is he still asleep?”

“Young master, Young Lord Wen left last night.” Aunt Qing, nursemaid to the Su sisters, was naturally not close to Wen Rugong, who had been adopted into the family. In her heart, only Su Meng and Luo Changning were her true masters.

“He left? How come I didn’t know?” Luo Changning was bewildered.

“Young Lord Wen said the sea of medicine is boundless—he wants to travel elsewhere to treat people and perfect his skills. As for leaving without saying goodbye, perhaps it’s because he doesn’t regard you as worth the trouble. Hmph! Though he is the master’s adopted son, now that you’re here, the affairs of the Su family are certainly not his to meddle in!”

Back when the Su family moved from Miaonan to Annan, it was partly to flee disaster, but also because Luo Changning’s identity could not be revealed. So when Su Qinqin discovered she was pregnant, she left Miaonan, for there were still those who had seen Luo Feng frequenting the Su Manor.

The direct line of the Su family left, but the collateral branches remained in Miaonan. Someday, Su Meng and the others might return—after all, it was their ancestral home.

Luo Changning shook his head, wondering why Aunt Qing was so unfriendly to his cousin. He himself was not especially close to Wen Rugong, but he respected him.

Unable to puzzle it out, he let the matter drop. Though he could not slack in his physical training, now that he was an internal martial artist, it was time to go out and broaden his horizons.

He asked his aunt for five hundred taels of silver notes and set off for Martial Market Street.

As the name implied, Martial Market Street was where martial artists could buy whatever they needed—pills, weapons, hidden tools, poisons, martial arts manuals...

Of course, one shouldn't get their hopes up—most of it was just a pretense. The goods available were mostly low-grade; at best, you might find an inferior-grade pill, and the martial arts manuals were little more than flowery but useless routines, unlikely to best even an untrained strongman.

Still, in this backwater of Qingyang County, Martial Market Street was the best place for martial artists to shop.

Luo Changning soon arrived. Even at this early hour, the street was crowded and lively, with small shops and stalls lining the road, selling all manner of goods.

He wandered from stall to stall, finding everything novel, though he didn’t know what to buy. Though he’d lived in Qingyang County for twelve years, his aunt had forbidden him from practicing martial arts in the past, so his excursions had been limited to the medical hall and the study—he’d never visited Martial Market Street. In the past two years, he’d shuttled only between Mohui Mountain and the Su courtyard, not even visiting the study anymore.

What he needed most now was medicinal pills—to cleanse his meridians, open all his acupoints. Only then could he draw the world’s spiritual energy into his body, transform it into an endless flow of true qi, unleash it to wound enemies, and ascend to the innate realm.

With this in mind, Luo Changning sought out stores selling such pills, hoping to find at least an inferior-grade one.

He walked the length of the street, only to be disappointed. Several shops sold Meridian-cleansing Pills, but all were ungraded.

Suddenly, his gaze was drawn to a man in a corner, cloaked in a rain cape and wearing a bamboo hat.

The man sat cross-legged on the ground, his hat shadowing most of his face. Before him sat a single clay medicine bottle. He simply sat there—whether a resting martial artist or a humble street vendor, it was hard to tell.

Luo Changning’s instincts told him this man was no ordinary person—likely an innate martial artist. Such figures might be common elsewhere, but in all of Qiuhe Prefecture, they could be counted on one hand, let alone in this tiny Qingyang County.

He stepped forward. “What kind of pill is this? Is it for sale?” he inquired.

Without raising his head, the man replied in a low voice, “This is a Meridian-cleansing Pill I refined myself. My first attempt. I’ll give you a deal—three hundred taels.”

“Three hundred? Is it an inferior-grade pill?” Luo Changning asked, excited. An ungraded Meridian-cleansing Pill cost at most eighty taels; an inferior-grade one was worth five times that.

“Buy it if you want. If not, leave.”

“I’ll take it!” Luo Changning handed over three hundred taels to the man.