Chapter 30: Remolding the Bones

As Chen Mu’s shout died away, a crowd immediately swarmed around him.

"Can you make it cheaper?"
"Yes, yes, your fish already smells a bit off..."
"Twenty copper coins, that's the most I'll pay!"
"Buy it if you want, get lost if you don't!" Chen Mu yelled, intentionally roughening his voice.
"Give me one!"
"Three! Here's the money!"
"Line up! Buy them one by one! Otherwise, get out of here!" Chen Mu waved his hands, shouting sharply.

Thirty copper coins would only buy three catties of white wheat now. The meat he was selling had been salted and cured, and each fish weighed nearly two catties. Thirty copper coins was a bargain. Despite his shouting, the crowd remained boisterous and pressed in around him.

"Dare to steal!" Chen Mu reached out and grabbed a hand, snapping the wrist out of its socket with a sharp crack.

"Aoo!" A scream of agony rang out, making those nearby shudder.

"Line up! If anyone causes trouble again, don't blame me for being ruthless!" Chen Mu roared fiercely.

The man with the dislocated wrist was a lean, swarthy fellow with a slippery, cunning look. Even now, clutching his wrist and howling, he stared at Chen Mu, refusing to run.

"What? Still trying to swindle me?" Chen Mu didn't coddle him. He grabbed the man’s arm and snapped, crack-crack—he dislocated the shoulder as well.

The swarthy man’s face turned deathly pale from the pain. Meeting Chen Mu’s fierce gaze, he quickly hunched over, tucked his head, and scrambled away.

The crowd finally quieted down, lining up to buy fish. The half-basket of smoked salted fish was soon sold out.

"Will you be selling tomorrow?" someone couldn't help but ask.
"Depends on my mood," Chen Mu replied nonchalantly.

Ignoring their questions, he shouldered his bamboo basket and strode away. He ducked into a small alley and immediately broke into a run. After weaving through several turns to ensure he wasn't being followed, he headed straight home.

"Half a basket, over thirty fish, more than nine hundred copper coins." Chen Mu chuckled, counting the coins. "Heh, that’s almost a tael of silver."

He owed this to the skyrocketing prices in Qingshan County. Usually, fish wouldn't fetch such a high price.

"From now on, I'll keep the live ones and take all the dead ones to the East Market to sell," Chen Mu mused. With his intoxicated bait, he wouldn't lack fish for a long time. "I need to buy two more water vats to store more live ones."

...

With food in the pantry, there was no cause for alarm. Ignoring the chaos and turmoil of the outside world, Chen Mu closed his doors once more to grind his proficiency. He pulled up the gray wall to review his skills:

Writing: 1532/10000/Second Tier
Drawing: 1402/10000/Second Tier
Throwing: 4353/10000/Third Tier
Red Falcon Body-Refining Art: 8539/10000/Second Tier
Culinary Arts: 5626/10000/First Tier
Pharmaceuticals: 1152/10000/Second Tier
Sword in the Sleeve: 4059/10000/First Tier

"The Body-Refining Art is short about fifteen hundred points. That'll take about twenty days. Although the Sword in the Sleeve is short six thousand, it's only First Tier, so it will level up faster. The Third Tier Throwing is sufficient for now; I can reduce the daily practice time for the locust stones. I'll focus primarily on the Body-Refining Art, followed by the Sword in the Sleeve, and reduce the energy allocated to the others."

Having made up his mind, Chen Mu dove into his training.

...

Nine days later, the live fish had all been eaten. Chen Mu prepared to go fishing again, this time choosing a deep river bend. He had baited the spot two days in advance to attract more fish.

He put on old, grayish-brown clothes and smeared brown pigment on his hands and neck. He also covered half his face with a special cyan-colored potion. Looking into a bronze mirror at his "yin-yang" face—one side a sun-bronzed cheek, the other marked by a cyan birthmark—Chen Mu smiled with satisfaction.

"Please call me Yang Zhi, the Blue-Faced Beast." He was used to hiding himself; he never wanted to be the center of attention. "Too bad I'm missing a peerless blade. Oh well, this short sword will have to do."

With a flick of his wrist, the short sword vanished into his sleeve. The proficiency of his *Sword in the Sleeve* technique was now over halfway, and he was becoming increasingly adept at concealing it. Even if someone grabbed his arm now, they wouldn't be able to find where the blade was hidden.

Everything prepared, Chen Mu grabbed his intoxicated bait, shouldered his bamboo baskets on a carrying pole, and quietly left the city.

...

By evening, Chen Mu returned home with two baskets filled to the brim. He threw the live fish into the vats and took the remaining dead ones to the East Market.

He let out one shout and began selling. With prices soaring and meat scarce, the small basket of fresh fish was snapped up in moments.

"Fisherman, will you be back tomorrow?"
"Depends on my mood!" Chen Mu gave a nonchalant smile, shouldered his baskets, and vanished quickly.

...

With his meat supply secured and the outside world increasingly unstable, Chen Mu felt less and less inclined to leave.

Half a month later, accompanied by a sound like popping beans from his tendons and bones, his Body-Refining Art smoothly broke through to the Third Tier. His muscles rippled and adjusted once more. His strength increased by at least thirty percent, and his bone density grew until they were as hard as stone. His body weight increased significantly; he estimated he weighed at least two hundred and thirty catties, yet on the outside, he still appeared to be a lean, one-meter-seventy-seven youth.

"Is this the Bone-Tempering Realm?"

Chen Mu swayed abruptly and vanished from where he stood. He didn't feel like he had used much effort, yet he was like a flywheel with immense momentum, launching himself over ten meters in an instant. If he hadn't reacted in time, he would have slammed headfirst into the wall.

"My speed is at least twice what it was before! At this speed, ordinary people wouldn't even be able to see me." He recalled the first time he saw that Constable Lu, who could cover five or six meters in a single stride. Now, he could do that easily, and he could run faster and longer.

"Heh! With this physique and speed, I can go to more distant river bends and catch more fish! Half for me to eat, half to sell for silver—life is good!"

Pan-fried fish chunks, stir-fried fish swim bladders, chopped pepper fish head, and a bowl of secret-recipe fish ball soup—Chen Mu prepared a grand full-fish banquet for himself. He chewed slowly and savored his lunch until about two in the afternoon. After cleaning the pots and pans and resting for a moment, he considered continuing his proficiency grinding. The *Sword in the Sleeve* was nearing a breakthrough, but he resisted the urge; being too obsessed wasn't good.

Changing into clean, grayish-white clothes, he strolled toward the Bafang Pavilion in Anle Ward. He hadn't stepped outside in seven or eight days.

...

Passing through the East Market, he was surprised to find quite a bit of funerary paper money scattered on the ground. Two months ago, many of those killed by the roving bandits were carried out through the East Gate to be buried, so seeing paper money was normal. But with the routed soldiers having dispersed and turned into mountain bandits, the city of Qingshan had been peaceful. Seeing the paper money reappear on the streets of the East Market gave Chen Mu an ominous premonition.

At the Bafang Pavilion, he ordered a pot of tea and a plate of melon seeds as usual, and sat in a corner to listen for news.

"Did someone else meet a grim fate last night?"
"Yes, their bodies withered and dried up, just like wind-dried salted fish!"
"That’s too bizarre!"
"I heard some even strangled themselves!"
"It must be an evil spirit causing trouble."
"Keep your voice down! What if you summon that thing here?"

Chen Mu cracked his melon seeds, his expression listless, his brow furrowed tightly. "Evil spirits?"

This was something truly unsolvable. In his predecessor's memories, he had heard such strange legends since childhood but had never encountered one, so he hadn't paid much heed.

"No, wait—maybe I have already encountered one." Chen Mu’s face suddenly turned grim. When he borrowed this corpse to return to life, his predecessor had already died inexplicably! That was most likely the work of an evil spirit.