The distance between Guiyan Town and Taixi City was not all that far. However, because Shen Xiu was carrying a large wild boar on his back that, even after field-dressing, still weighed at least over two hundred catties, his travel pace was somewhat slower.
The towering city walls of Taixi City stood firmly against the earth, looking no different than usual.
Yet the moment he entered the gates, he sensed that something unusual had happened over the past few days.
Upon entering the city, he was subjected to multiple inspections. The inspectors were not only the city's regular garrison guards, but also men belonging to the Chen family of Taixi City.
Rooted deeply in Taixi City for many years, the Chen family controlled the majority of the city's iron trade, and their influence was by no means small.
Still, the Taixi City prefectural yamen was no pushover; for them to allow the Chen family to participate in joint inspections, something serious had clearly happened.
The atmosphere within the city felt bizarre as well.
Even the local ruffians of the Azure Dragon Gang had put aside their usual acts of bullying citizens and were instead scouring the streets and alleys, anxiously searching for something.
Shen Xiu pulled aside a passerby by the roadside and only then learned that a major incident had occurred in the city over the last few days.
Word had it that the eldest young master of the Chen family had been abducted by bandits and remained missing to this day.
By now, virtually the entire Chen family had turned Taixi City upside down, offering a hefty reward for any clues.
The bounty for the Chen family's eldest young master had already risen to a mouth-watering five hundred taels of silver.
When Shen Xiu returned to Jínhóng Martial Hall, he found many of the hall's disciples gathered in the training grounds. All of them were staring intently at the elevated platform directly ahead with fervent expressions.
Standing coldly upon the stage was a lean-figured middle-aged man dressed in a black martial robe.
Shen Xiu recognized him; this was the rarely seen master of Jínhóng Martial Hall, Yang Jinhong.
Unexpectedly, Yang Jinhong—who had stepped into the peak of the Third Realm: Bone Cleaning and was on the verge of breaking through to the Fourth Realm: Guicang—did not possess the bulging, explosive muscles typical of practitioners at his level. Instead, he looked rather frail.
He actually looked much thinner than he had before.
Yet there was no doubt about it: those lean muscles contained a terrifying aura of power.
It was evident now that the news from the Chen family had shaken even Yang Jinhong, who had been in seclusion attempting to break through to the Fourth Realm: Guicang.
"Yesterday, the head of the Chen family entrusted me with tracking down the whereabouts of his eldest young master, Chen Mo, offering a reward of one thousand taels of silver. I announce here and now: if any of you are able to find the young master's whereabouts, your mandatory monthly tasks will be waived, you may keep the entire reward for yourselves without the hall taking a single coin, and you will additionally be granted five opportunities to consume Peiyuan Broth."
Yang Jinhong spoke in an even tone. His voice was not particularly loud, yet it rolled like thunder into the ears of every single disciple present.
As soon as the Hall Master made this announcement, an uproar broke out across the courtyard. Setting aside the errand disciples, even the registered disciples who had paid out of pocket to learn martial arts turned green with envy.
What concept was one thousand taels of silver?
It was enough to exclusively retain the top courtesan at the Chunxiang Brothel in the southern district for a whole month, with enough left over for whatever positions one desired.
Shen Xiu merely watched all of this quietly, uttering not a single word.
The Chen family's eldest young master possessed extraordinary talent. Though only twelve or thirteen years old, he was already a registered martial practitioner with the cultivation of peak Body Tempering.
To be able to slip through the Chen family's layers of heavy security and abduct the son of the Chen family head—who himself possessed formidable strength—what level of power must that bandit command?
This was hardly something ordinary formal disciples like them, who had not even reached the Third Realm: Bone-Cleaning Realm, could ever hope to covet.
To harbor such unrealistic ambitions would likely cost them their lives for nothing.
Not long after making his appearance, Yang Jinhong vanished from the training grounds, and the surrounding disciples gradually dispersed.
Shen Xiu inadvertently overheard some disciples whispering among themselves, speculating whether the Hall Master had failed his breakthrough. They gossiped about how they had apparently seen the Hall Master covering his mouth and coughing up blood.
None of this had anything to do with him, however; this was not the first or second time the Hall Master had failed a breakthrough attempt.
Threading through the crowd, Shen Xiu made his way to the External Affairs Hall, submitted his completed task, and received three taels of silver in return.
With seventy percent of the earnings skimmed right off the top, Shen Xiu had no room to complain; after all, the platform itself was established by the martial hall.
If one wished to avoid such a split, there was actually a way: become a personal disciple of the Hall Master.
Unfortunately, the Hall Master's personal disciples tended to have terrible luck. The Hall Master originally had four personal disciples, but two of them had previously followed him to wipe out the Chihuo Bandits, and both had perished together.
Another had subsequently encountered an accident and vanished while completing a mission, leaving only Lin Yuan as the sole surviving personal disciple.
Thus, being Master Yang's personal disciple was truly not a desirable position.
There was yet another alternative: graduating from the hall. Once a disciple's strength reached the peak of the Second Realm: Tendon Refining and they returned two hundred taels of silver to the martial hall, they could graduate and receive official recognition from the hall.
They would still be permitted to accept missions as hall disciples.
As for those who left midway without meeting the requirements, they would merely regain their freedom, but would forever forfeit access to the martial hall's resources and mission-taking platform.
All of this remained a distant prospect for Shen Xiu. His current strength meant he did not need to consider such matters just yet.
Returning to his private courtyard to rest, Shen Xiu did not immediately take on another task. Instead, he planned to rest for a few days. His encounter with that massive wild boar at Lǐ Family Village had made him acutely aware of his own shortcomings.
His strength had not yet reached a certain threshold, and he lacked an agile movement technique to boost his speed.
Movement techniques, however, were matters of serendipity and could not be forced; he could only temporarily set the thought aside. The only thing he could do right now was raise his cultivation level.
After such a long period of time, he could faintly sense that the vital energy and blood throughout his entire body had reached a peak. The time interval before his second Body Refining breakthrough should be just a hair's breadth away.
Over the next few days, Shen Xiu stayed quietly within the martial hall. Lacking the assistance of Peiyuan Broth, he subsisted daily on the Monster Tonic Soup as a substitute.
Kept up over a long period, this accumulation would inevitably lead to a qualitative change.
In his spare time, he continued to coach Jian Shuhao in his training. Jian Shuhao was still practicing the Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Skill, though his progress remained slow.
On this day, after finishing his bowl of Monster Tonic Soup, Shen Xiu returned to his courtyard and began his daily martial practice, executing the thirteen stances of the Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Skill to refine the medicinal potency within him.
As the time passed and the vital energy and blood surged within his body, the familiar sensation struck once more. Accompanied by a series of popping sounds throughout his frame, Shen Xiu stepped into the mid-stage of Body Tempering without any surprises.
The skin and flesh across his body were refined once more, growing even tighter and sturdier, brimming with explosive strength. He felt that at this moment, he could casually crush the life out of an ox with his bare hands.
Sprinting out of the martial hall, Shen Xiu looked into the distance—that massive yellow ox by the riverbank in the back was actually still there.
At that exact moment.
The moment that large yellow ox laid eyes on his figure, it reacted like a mouse seeing a cat and bolted in the opposite direction!
Yet how could it possibly outpace Shen Xiu, who had already reached Body Tempering: Mid-Stage? Unsurprisingly, he caught up to it almost immediately.
Before long.
The large yellow ox once more experienced the sensation of riding a roller coaster, its body hoisted up and down in mid-air, bouncing about with such intensity that it felt as though it might fly right out of its skin.
Frothing at the mouth with its tongue lolling out, the ox wore the expression of something that had been thoroughly broken.
Only then did Shen Xiu set it back down on its feet, feeling that his current strength made lifting this massive ox effortless, with enough energy left over to comfortably knock out a few deep squats.
Releasing the ox, Shen Xiu fed it a handful of tender grass out of lingering guilt.
"Which heaven-forsaken bastard is this?! Even leaving my ox alone is too much to ask!"
Just as he returned to the martial hall, Shen Xiu suddenly heard an angry roar from the cowherd boy outside.