Chapter Fifty-One: Third Chapter Upon Release

"Hu Shi, how did things go?" Su Yang entered the living room and asked Hu Shi, the chief constable of Yanggu County, who rose from his chair.

"Master, this time the achievements are significant. We captured twenty-four rebels with ninth-grade strength and seven with eighth-grade strength, thirty-one in total. The rewards are generous. Considering I myself am only ninth grade, making me suitable for the role of chief constable, any major promotion would have drawn jealousy, so they compensated me in other ways."

"Ten loads of grain, a thousand catties of pork, thirty chickens, and ten ducks—these would be worthless in times of peace, but right now, they'd fetch a hefty price at the market."

"In addition, there's a thousand taels of silver. Most importantly, there are fifty-nine merit points, which can be exchanged at the yamen’s storeroom for some old medicines, martial arts manuals, secret books, weapons, and such."

"Here's the inventory from the storeroom."

As he spoke, Hu Shi produced a list from his breast pocket and handed it to Su Yang.

On the list, there was only one martial art: "Basic Warrior’s Fist Technique."

This technique was very moderate, nothing particularly outstanding, nor anything clearly lacking. Many people began their training with this method, but Su Yang had no use for it.

He practiced the "Incense Fire Sect’s" method.

As for his own men, Ma Han and Wang Chao, they trained with the "Hundred Demon Ledger," which was a bit more advanced than the Basic Warrior’s Fist Technique. It was lucky enough just to obtain that method.

Secret manuals were classified as upper, middle, and lower grade.

There were only a few lower-grade manuals on the list—not as good as the "Wild Bull Long Fist," so there was no need to choose them. He only needed to exchange the merit points for the old medicines on the list.

Old medicines were also classified as upper, middle, and lower grade.

For example, the White Flesh Myriad-Year Fungus was among the lowest grade, with the weakest effects among lower-grade old medicines. It was very effective for ninth-grade warriors, less so for eighth-grade, but still had some use.

For seventh-grade warriors, the White Flesh Myriad-Year Fungus was useless.

There was also the Decade-Old Snake Blood Fruit.

The old medicine just taken from the Song family was also a lower-grade medicine, but among these, its efficacy was relatively good—strong for eighth-grade warriors and still effective for seventh-grade.

All the old medicines listed were lower grade.

Among them, the White Flesh Myriad-Year Fungus was the cheapest—a piece the size of a chicken egg cost only five merit points!

Other lower-grade medicines, such as Taishan Blood Ginseng, Wolf Tail Fruit, and Blood Ganoderma, were a bit more expensive, around fifty merit points each.

The more expensive medicines required far more merit points—fifty-nine points wouldn’t be nearly enough. Besides, Taishan Blood Ginseng, Blood Ganoderma, and Wolf Tail Fruit were useless for his purposes.

"Exchange all the merit points for White Flesh Myriad-Year Fungus. Have the chickens and ducks sent to me as well. The rest, you can keep," Su Yang said after a moment’s thought.

With fifty-nine merit points, he could get eleven pieces of White Flesh Myriad-Year Fungus—enough to nurture eleven ninth-grade warriors. Of course, not just anyone would suffice; at minimum, they needed to have some strength already, like Wang Han and Ma Chao, people who had potential but had never broken through.

The constables at the yamen who hadn’t yet reached the first grade would be suitable candidates.

But there was no need to recruit exclusively from the yamen. He could also buy some household slaves at the human market and train them. With White Flesh Myriad-Year Fungus and some hard training, it wouldn’t be difficult for an ordinary person to reach the ninth grade.

After all, he possessed the "Bone Assessment Technique"—any slave with a bone quality of grade D or above, once trained to first grade, could be implanted with a Mind Control Worm and thus become a loyal deathsworn for the Su family.

If luck was with him and he encountered a slave with grade C bone quality, he could focus on grooming them as a trusted aide.

"Very well, I’ll take care of it at once." Hu Shi nodded earnestly, then asked, "Master, is there anything else you need handled?"

"How are the rebels outside the city?"

Mentioning the rebels, Su Yang’s curiosity was piqued.

"Since the last time the rebels brought in a bull demon to break the city, they haven’t made any moves. They keep driving the commoners they’ve rounded up to storm the city as cannon fodder. At this rate, unless the grain inside Yanggu County runs out, the city won’t fall."

"The officials in the county office say that Yanggu County’s been lucky—there are retreating government troops defending the city, and King Qing hasn’t made Yanggu County his main target, just stationed the rebels here to block reinforcements. Even if we get more army support, it’s just routine intelligence."

"If we were King Qing’s main target, the city would have fallen in the blink of an eye."

Hu Shi recounted everything he had seen and heard in the county office.

After Hu Shi left, Su Yang took a bag of silver and headed for the Zhou family market. The laying hens at home were no longer enough—after all, there were many people in the courtyard, including two pregnant women who would need chicken during their confinement.

Though Hu Shi would send over thirty chickens and ten ducks, it was still too few. There were many servants at home who needed nourishment, and if he trained more warriors in the future, the demand for eggs would only increase.

Zhou Family Market.

People thronged back and forth, with locals placing whatever they wanted to barter on their stalls. Everything could be seen except that rice, flour, and fatty meat had become scarce. The few stalls that sold them charged exorbitant prices, yet buyers were many, to the point that the market resembled an auction.

After some inquiries, Su Yang learned that the Zhou family had stopped selling grain to outsiders, and the Yanggu County market, run jointly by the Feng and Wei families, had likewise ceased grain sales.

He hurried to the stalls selling pork and poultry at the Zhou family market. Only a little more than twenty chickens and ducks remained; the pork had sold out long ago.

A chicken had previously cost only two taels of silver.

Now, each chicken was marked at twenty taels—take it or leave it.

"Boss, twenty taels for a chicken is too much—you could buy a small house for that."

"Indeed, if you dropped the price to ten taels, we’d buy right away."

"Come on, shopkeeper, give us a break."

Several wealthy householders and purchasing stewards gathered around the Zhou family’s stall, pleading with hopeful looks.

"Heh," the middle-aged shopkeeper snorted coldly. "To be frank, it’s not just our Zhou family that’s stopped selling grain—so have the Feng and Wei families. As for hens, these may be the last twenty chickens sold at the Zhou family market. There isn’t even a feather to be found at the Yanggu County market now. In troubled times, food is worth more than silver. You’d best understand that."

"I’ll take all twenty," came a muffled voice before the shopkeeper had finished. Su Yang, face covered, tossed a heavy leather pouch forward—it was full of silver.

Twenty chickens, twenty taels each, four hundred taels in total.

"And you, sir, what’s your meaning by this?"

"If you buy all the chickens, what about us?"

"Brother, isn’t this going too far?"

"Aren’t you worried that once you leave the Zhou family market, you won't find your way home?"

Immediately, the wealthy buyers and stewards glared at Su Yang.

With a thud, Su Yang released his strength—eighth grade. His energy surged, his voice thundered, "A pack of ants. If you delay my master’s chicken dinner, you won’t be forgiven!"

Eighth grade?

The few wealthy buyers and stewards instantly fell silent. Though he was masked, they couldn’t recognize him, but from his voice, he was likely just a servant. Yet anyone who could command a servant of eighth-grade strength was not someone they could offend.

Those who had been arrogant moments before now hung their heads like beaten roosters, not daring to utter another word.