Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior-Chapter 53 - 51: Poisonous Gu Trail, Demon Slayer Bureau

Chapter 53: Chapter 51: Poisonous Gu Trail, Demon Slayer Bureau

Comprehension: 23!

Once again, a warm current emerged from his abdomen. However, after experiencing the great transformation of cultivating Transforming Force and breaking the limits of comprehension, this time Su Mu didn’t feel much, only a warm sensation in his body that quickly faded.

Su Mu picked up the long spear design on the desk, feeling an itch in his hands after months without forging.

In this world, this spear’s design might be considered unconventional in the eyes of Martial Artists. It was crafted by his own hands, and he wished to forge it himself.

"A livelihood, perhaps, let’s go check out the Forging Workshop."

Su Mu retrieved the thirty-forging long saber hanging on the wall, slightly hesitating as he placed the recommendation letter written by Uncle Li into his coat.

He remembered Uncle Li mentioning that the Forging Workshop’s deadline was before the start of autumn. Initially, Su Mu intended to wait for the Pharmacist’s return, but a series of events ensued, seeking the Pharmacist, avenging, and delaying it all while striving for Transforming Force. By now, the deadline had long passed.

"Better bring it along, just to see how things are."

Yanque Street and Golden Iron Long Street were only separated by a street. Under the gentle snowfall, the young man donned a conical hat and stepped out briskly.

Clang!

The familiar sound of iron striking stirred an even greater itch in Su Mu’s heart. Along the way, most of the dozen or so iron shops on the long street were closed. Those still open were small in scale, doubling as both workshops and residences. When orders came in, they would fire up the forge; otherwise, they resembled ordinary homes.

The gates of the Forging Workshop at the end of the street were tightly closed, yet some sounds could be heard from within. At the entrance, someone had built a chubby snowman with a green radish cut into three pieces for eyes and a nose, while its arms and legs were branches of a locust tree, topped with a furry tiger-skin hat.

Just as Su Mu was about to leave after glancing at the snowman, a series of footsteps sounded from within the Forging Workshop, one pair weighted and powerful.

"Grade-Entering Martial Artist."

Soon, the door opened with a gust of wind.

Two figures emerged, one a young man holding a roll of parchment, who went to post it on the left door of the Forging Workshop after opening the door.

The other was a sturdy man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, roughly in his forties, who noticed Su Mu on the street and paid attention to him before they both turned back inside after posting the notice. The gates of the Forging Workshop closed once again.

"One is Ninth Grade, but the other is very strong... at least a Bone Forging Realm Martial Artist."

Su Mu sensed a dangerous aura from the robust man, an aura he hadn’t even felt when facing the Iron-armored Strongman and Zhao Xuan. Now, he was much stronger than he was back then.

"That man might very well be at the Seventh Grade Muscle Strengthening Realm. To run such a large iron shop in Qingyun City, not easy indeed."

Su Mu’s heart tightened as he approached to take a look at the notice. The general content was twofold: the Forging Workshop would close from today, and would recruit a batch of Blacksmith Masters and apprentices next spring.

"Recruiting blacksmiths... next spring."

This year’s Spring Festival came earlier than usual, and with the Forging Workshop closing, Su Mu, having memorized the notice content with a glance, turned and left, heading to the Market before going to the clinic.

As spring was near, the pastry shops were bustling, with a long line despite the heavy snowfall, as people were busy buying New Year goods.

During this period, Su Mu had purchased pastries from all the pastry shops in the city, and the most famous was naturally Qingfeng Hall.

It’s said that Qingfeng Hall is run by people from Qingfeng Gang, one of the Five Great Powers of Cyan Cloud. Hundred Elixir Tower nearly monopolizes the herbal medicine business around Qingyun County, while Qingfeng Hall integrates into the marketplace, with many stores in the city, and traces of Qingfeng Gang’s business in various trades.

The characteristic sign of Qingfeng’s business is the two characters ’Qingfeng’ below their shop’s plaque.

However, Pharmacist Lin and Little Doctor preferred the old store named Xinghua House, diagonally opposite Qingfeng Hall, run by an elderly couple.

The pastries there were reasonably priced and substantial, deliciously ungreasy, with the only drawback perhaps being a lack of refinement, which might be why it didn’t earn the favor of the city’s wealthy families.

Su Mu approached Xinghua House and waited a moment. After a few customers ahead of him purchased their goods, it was his turn.

"Su, I saved a box of Osmanthus Cake for you. What about the other box?"

"What do you have today?"

"There have been many people buying pastries lately. Today, only three boxes are left..."

"Then wrap them all up for me."

Su Mu contemplated briefly and decided to buy them all. Just as he finished speaking, hurried footsteps sounded behind him, "Hold on."

Soon, a slender, fair-skinned girl in a padded jacket, with a neck like snow, ran over, stopping breathlessly in front of Su Mu. She took a few deep breaths and then looked up.

"Su, can you leave a box for me? Just one box, please."

Su Mu, a frequent visitor to Xinghua House, remembered the girl from their previous encounters. An old customer herself, he thought letting her have one box was no big deal.

"Sure, which one would you like?"

"This box of date paste cakes, please. Thank you, Su."

The girl expressed her gratitude, and the two of them paid and left with their pastries. As they were about to leave, the elderly couple at Xinghua House called out to them, "Wait, you two. Our little shop will close in five days and won’t reopen until next spring."

The old woman with a face full of freckles spoke, while the other, a tall but hunchbacked old man, turned and fetched two boxes of pastries from the cabinet.

"These are new pastries we’ve been working on recently. We plan to perfect them for sale next year. There are two boxes here – if you don’t mind, you can each take one."

"New pastries? I want them!" The girl beamed with joy and grabbed one box, her eyes lingering on the other, but Su Mu was quick to accept it too.

"Thank you very much."

The two of them left with the pastries, heading down two different streets at the alley’s end. The girl went toward Golden Iron Long Street, while Su Mu quickly made his way to the clinic.

"Su, come in quickly. I’ll make you some tea."

The Little Doctor waited at the clinic door, holding a light yellow paper umbrella painted with peach blossoms, and another in hand, although Su Mu was used to wearing a conical hat and cloak.

"This is a new pastry from Xinghua House, Little Doctor, try some later."

"What? New pastry?"

The Little Doctor hurriedly brought it over, looking full of anticipation.

Su Mu and the Pharmacist entered the pharmacy, where Pharmacist Lin gave Su Mu a piece of good news today. As usual, after releasing some poisonous blood, Pharmacist Lin brought out a dose of medicinal powder.

"My young friend, there are some signs of progress with this Gu poison issue."

After speaking, he poured the medicinal powder into the freshly released poisonous blood. Immediately, the poisonous blood started bubbling and showed signs of lightening in color, and the pungent fishy smell also somewhat dissipated.

Seeing this, Su Mu was overjoyed. After several months, there was finally some progress. "Thank you, Doctor."

"It’s nothing. The Gu poison in your body is one of the most troublesome I’ve encountered in my life, but to be honest, as a medical practitioner, resolving such a Gu poison brings a great sense of accomplishment. I haven’t been this engrossed in studying medical skills for a long time."

The Pharmacist’s words naturally radiated interest, and he began to explain.

"The medicinal ingredients in this powder are quite pungent, meaning that ordinary people might experience excessive heat and an unsettled heart fire when consumed..."

"Currently, I have a few more prescriptions in mind that I plan to study, and they may be useful then..."

As he spoke of medical skills, the Pharmacist’s demeanor changed, becoming eloquent and lively.

Su Mu listened attentively, then waited for the Pharmacist to list a set of required medicinal ingredients. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Some of the herbs in these prescriptions are not easy to find these days, like this Three-leaf Summer Flower. It’s not particularly rare, but it contains a certain toxicity and is rarely used medicinally, and it withers as the climate cools. It might be hard to find in Qingyun City now."

After talking for a while and eating some pastries, Su Mu stood up to leave.

"Su, in just a few days it’s the Spring Festival. Why don’t you come to the clinic and spend it with us?"

"Hmm, the more people, the merrier during the festival, and the clinic has plenty of rooms."

The doctor also extended an invitation.

"Alright, then I’ll take the liberty to accept your invitation and come bother the Pharmacist and Little Doctor in a few days."

After Su Mu left, the Pharmacist watched his delighted apprentice quietly set down the osmanthus cake, sighing faintly.

Leaving the clinic, Su Mu didn’t return to his residence but headed towards the market in the east of the city.

"Renxin Pharmacy."

Su Mu glanced at the signboard, suddenly recalling the time Zhou Sun scammed him. That ’Ren’ character seemed somewhat glaring.

"Are you looking for some winter tonic herbs, sir?"

Su Mu took out the token Zhou Sun had given him from his lapel. The person took the token, looked it over, then returned it, "Sir, let’s step aside and talk."

The two moved to the inner courtyard, and the fifty-something shopkeeper’s smile grew wider, but to Su Mu, it seemed like the smile of a swindler.

"How should I address you, sir?"

"Zhao Li... Could the shopkeeper take a look at this list and see if you can procure the herbs on it?"

"Please wait a moment."

After looking at it for a while, the shopkeeper frowned slightly, his gaze landing on the Three-leaf Summer Flower. Su Mu noticed this, knowing the shopkeeper was an expert.

"The Three-leaf Summer Flower and Dihuang Root both need some time. Give me five days. The whole set is about ten taels of silver, with a deposit of half."

"Alright, but this time I don’t want to see any damp or defective items trying to fool me."

"Of course, of course. Our humble shop conducts business with integrity and has a stellar reputation."

Su Mu left the ’Black Heart’ pharmacy and soon returned to his residence. By evening, the last box of White Jade Barbarian Bone Ointment was completely used up. Closing his eyes, Su Mu felt the bones within his body.

After using a total of six boxes of White Jade Barbarian Bone Ointment from the Hundred Elixir Tower, Su Mu felt his bones were far more robust than before, at least twice as much as before Bone Forging, with a faint premonition of advancing to the Eighth Grade half a month ago.

"Maybe with a couple more boxes, I’ll complete the first Bone Forging."

Right away, Su Mu counted the remaining silver coins, and after a round of tallying, he realized he only had a little over two hundred taels left. The expenses on herbs over these months had taken a significant portion.

"Curing the Gu poison requires trial and error, the clinic’s herbs cannot be interrupted, and Bone Forging also needs silver... Next spring, I must earn money quickly."

The young man resolved quietly that next spring, he must work hard to earn money.

Late at night, a scout from the Cyan Cloud Army quietly arrived at a grand mansion in the south of the city, entering through the back door and knocking on the study door.

"Sir, your subordinate requests an audience."

"Come in."

The scout reported the gathered intelligence in detail, causing the pen of the middle-aged man writing at the desk to pause briefly, "I understand. You may withdraw."

After the scout left, the middle-aged man furrowed his brows, exuding a sense of authority with every move. It was reported that forces in the city might be colluding with the Black Mountain Rebel Army, but the spies were hard to root out for now.

"The Cyan Cloud Army has too large a target and is watched constantly... Let the Demon Slayer Bureau recruit a batch of freelance assassins from the commoners."

The pen, dipped in cinnabar, fell upon the document.

Like a steel blade.

...