"My, what a handsome and dapper young master you are."
"You'd look good in anything."
Inside the Brocade Shop, the proprietress was personally helping Su Qing get dressed, laying on the flattery thick and fast.
If the proprietress hadn't been quite attractive, Su Qing would have definitely pushed her away.
Once dressed, Su Qing looked at his reflection in the bronze mirror and nodded in satisfaction.
"I'll take two of these fitted outfits, and two sets of training clothes."
"Right away, young master."
...
A few taels of silver lighter, Su Qing emerged from the Brocade Shop.
The proprietress had styled his hair, tying it back into a high ponytail.
Dressed in a black fitted outfit, Su Qing had been startled when he'd looked in the mirror just moments ago.
His face was chiseled with well-defined features. Most striking of all were his slender, upswept phoenix eyes. Paired with his lustrous, jet-black hair, who wouldn't find him attractive? On top of that, thanks to the Dandelion Grass Cake and his subsequent skin-shedding, his complexion was unbelievably fair and smooth.
He hadn't even been this handsome in his past life.
Dressed in the well-fitting attire that was snug enough to accentuate his physique, Su Qing looked just like a young master from a noble family.
The only thing that cheapened the look was the saber hanging at his waist.
After his purchases, Su Qing realized he had twenty-five taels of silver left.
'Let's see how much the ingredients for the Great Replenishing Pill cost.'
He arrived at an apothecary.
Su Qing found the clerk responsible for gathering herbs.
"What herbs can I get for you, young master?"
"I need Angelica, Poria... all these herbs. Pack each one separately."
"Nine different herbs? These are all powerful tonics."
The clerk glanced at Su Qing. "And how much of each would you like? A few taels' worth? Or just a few mace?"
"Twenty-five taels of silver. I want to spend it all. Divide the amount evenly among the nine herbs," Su Qing said, placing all his silver on the counter.
Seeing the silver, the clerk nodded. "Please wait here a moment, young master. I'll gather the herbs for you right away."
"And how should I address you, young master?"
"You don't need to know," Su Qing responded coldly.
'Besides, I'm not a real young master anyway.'
The clerk immediately fell silent.
After the herbs were gathered, Su Qing carefully inspected each portion.
Only after confirming they were the correct herbs did Su Qing take them and leave, satisfied.
...
With nowhere else to go, Su Qing had no choice but to return to his previous spot.
Relatively speaking, the deserted spot was free from danger and quite comfortable.
[Synthesis Failed]
[Synthesis Failed]
...
[Synthesis Successful: Great Replenishing Pill...]
[Synthesis Successful]
Su Qing synthesized all the herbs at once. His initial attempts failed, likely due to incorrect portion sizes.
After a few tries, however, Su Qing succeeded.
He ended up with eight Great Replenishing Pills.
'I didn't expect the Great Replenishing Pills to be so expensive. Accounting for the five failed attempts, twenty-five taels only yielded about twelve pills.'
'That's more than two taels of silver per pill. So expensive.'
Su Qing made a quick mental calculation. The top-class quality clothes he'd bought had only cost a few taels of silver.
That was equivalent to over a thousand copper coins.
But the Great Replenishing Pills were on another level: twenty-five taels for just twelve pills.
'Time to test its effects.'
Su Qing picked one up and swallowed it. Soon, he felt a warmth ignite in his abdomen before spreading throughout his entire body.
Perhaps it was because his body had grown stronger, but he felt fine. The pill's description claimed that even an elephant would go into a frenzy after taking one.
He began to practice the Cyan Snake Posture.
The qi and blood in his body surged, and his Skill Level for the Cyan Snake Posture actually increased by an additional two points.
He used to gain only two points per hour, but now he was gaining four.
After cultivating for a full ten hours, Su Qing finally felt hungry.
But despite the hunger, he felt invigorated.
The Great Replenishing Pill worked wonders.
Ten hours had earned him forty Skill Level points.
'At one pill a day, I'll definitely be able to break through to the next layer of the Cyan Snake Posture in just over twenty days.'
'But Great Replenishing Pills cost silver.'
And Su Qing had no silver left.
'I'll train for another eight days and use up these Great Replenishing Pills first.'
Su Qing recalled that there were notice boards at the Government Office and outside the gates of the major families in the County City. Many of them listed jobs that paid in silver.
The Government Office, in particular, had a dedicated bounty board.
...
「Eight days later.」
---
Host: Su Qing.
Realm: Seventh Layer of Body Tempering [Second Layer Cyan Snake Posture (Evolution): Mastery (516/1000)]
Synthesis Level 3 (26/400) [Synthesis Success Rate +3%, Mutated +1%, Evolution +1%, Divinization +1%]
The Synthesizer had leveled up, and Su Qing had chosen the Divinity Transformation Talent.
His Realm was now classified as the Seventh Layer of Body Tempering.
To be honest, aside from his senses feeling sharper and his strength increasing, Su Qing didn't really understand the specifics of these Realm divisions.
'Should I synthesize the Cyan Snake Posture today?'
Su Qing pondered for a moment.
He had only just recovered from the strain of mastering the Second Layer Cyan Snake Posture.
'Synthesize.'
With a mental command, Su Qing placed nine instances of the Second Layer Cyan Snake Posture into the Synthesizer.
[Synthesis Failed]
"Damn it..."
Disappointment washed over Su Qing's face.
This wasn't the first time a synthesis had failed, but because it was one of his Martial Arts, it still soured his mood.
'Forget it. In another nine days, the Cyan Snake Posture will reach the Minor Achievement stage. I refuse to believe I'll fail to synthesize it then.'
Su Qing wished his Synthesizer was Level One Hundred; then his synthesis would have a 100% success rate.
Even without triggering a special Talent, the effects of the Third Layer should be at least double that of the Second Layer. And his current Second Layer Cyan Snake Posture had been enhanced by the Evolution Talent.
The original Cyan Snake Posture had a baseline effect of 1.
The First Layer Cyan Snake Posture was 2.
That meant his Second Layer Cyan Snake Posture (Evolution) was at 40.
Therefore, a Third Layer version, even without triggering another Talent, would be 80 times as effective as the original Cyan Snake Posture.
Su Qing couldn't even imagine how powerful he would become.
'If I keep triggering Evolution until I reach the Ninth Layer, could I be like the legendary Emperor Huang? At the peak of the Blood Movement Realm Extreme, he could generate a force of one hundred thousand jin with a mere flick of his arm.'
The thought alone excited Su Qing, making him consider whether he should focus on increasing the probability of triggering Evolution during synthesis.
'A 1% chance is just too low.'
But then again, the other Synthesis Talents were useful too.
For instance, the Mutated talent had directly granted him the Chaotic Life Body—a Talent he had come to love and rely on.
If it weren't for that Talent...
...Su Qing wouldn't dare to spend all his waking hours in Cultivation.
His body would never be able to handle the strain otherwise.
Crucially, the Synthesizer held many other powerful Talents that required a large number of Talent Points to unlock.
'They're surely no worse than the Evolution Talent.'
---
---
In the Inner City, Su Qing walked with his hair tied in a high ponytail, dressed in his black fitted outfit. His expression was much colder now.
He paid no mind to the many women on the street who turned to look at him.
「Outside the Government Office.」
Su Qing saw that he himself was on the bounty board.
[WANTED FOR MURDER: Subject attacked the Murong Family's human trafficking market stall, killing more than ten people with a blade. Whereabouts unknown. A reward of 1 tael of silver for any information leading to his discovery. A reward of 100 taels of silver for his capture and delivery to the authorities.]
Above the notice was a portrait of him from back then, his hair disheveled. It looked nothing like the current Su Qing.
'Even I'm tempted by that reward.'
'100 taels... I could synthesize almost fifty Great Replenishing Pills with that.'
As Su Qing stared, his eyes drifted to another notice on the board.
[The Wang Family is plagued by a Demon Fiend. Capable individuals are needed. For guarding the Wang Family estate for one day, the reward is five taels of silver. For helping the Wang Family eliminate the Demon Fiend, the reward is 500 taels of silver, plus gold, jewels, and other treasures.]
'Five taels a day... that's one hundred and fifty taels a month. And that's not even counting the 500 tael reward for clearing it out.'
Su Qing stood there silently, hesitating as he weighed the risks and rewards.
...