Chapter 72: Fire and Medicine

Night, the Hai hour.

Inside the medical hall, everyone was sleeping soundly. Only the main hall still cast a beam of light.

The flame of the oil lamp on the counter flickered, illuminating only a small area.

Chen Ji, with sleeves rolled up, stood behind the vermillion wooden counter. His hair was tied up on top with a wooden hairpin. He was completely focused on grinding charcoal pieces into powder, then mixing them with the high-proof burning knife wine he had bought earlier. He spread the mixture on the counter.

He moved the oil lamp a little further away and quietly waited for the alcohol, hydride, and oxide to completely volatilize.

While waiting for the volatilization, he gently fanned himself while looking up at the house beam.

On the house beam, a small spider was slowly weaving its web. A moth flew into the web and struggled fiercely. The spider crawled towards the moth but didn't notice that at the edge of its web, a gecko was waiting.

At this moment, a voice came from behind him: "Why is there such a strong smell of alcohol in the room? Did you drink?"

Chen Ji stood up and turned around. He looked at the suddenly appearing Old Yao and said with a smile, "Master, you haven't slept yet."

"Did you divine that... "

Old Yao scoffed, "You're cooking for everyone again, and you look sentimental. I don't need to divine to guess that."

"Not only can I divine, I can also use my brain."

"Oh."

Old Yao stood opposite him, casually sizing up the charcoal powder on the counter. "Speak, where are you planning to go?"

Chen Ji shook his head. "I'm not leaving. This time you might have guessed wrong."

Old Yao was slightly startled. He took out six copper coins from his sleeve and threw them on the counter. While divining, he said, "It's indeed not leaving. Why aren't you leaving?"

Chen Ji laughed. "Heaven creates chaos, danger in movement, born towards death. Isn't this the divination image you divined for me? I am not suited for escape."

"You're suited for being sent to death. The Twelve Zodiacs of the Ning Dynasty's secret office in the south are monitoring you. Officer Cao of the Jing Dynasty's military intelligence office in the north wants to kill you. If you don't leave, what are you staying here for?"

Chen Ji didn't answer. He only looked up again at the spider and the gecko on the house beam, wanting to see if the gecko would eat the spider or not.

Old Yao followed his gaze. "Then this time, are you the spider, or the gecko, or are you the moth that has already fallen into the spider web?"

Chen Ji didn't answer. He only took the opportunity to gather the air-dried charcoal powder and picked up a brass scale to weigh it.

He took out the sulfur and saltpeter that he had previously purified and prepared, along with white sugar. He mixed them evenly and poured them into a bamboo tube. Then he mixed in a small amount of iron pieces.

At this moment, Hei Yun drilled in from the gap in the window. In this oppressive atmosphere, it first looked at Old Yao, then at Chen Ji, and meowed. "Just as you guessed, Jin Zhu has found clues from the Craftsmen Supervision."

Chen Ji didn't look up. He carefully sealed the bamboo tube, leaving a thin paper tube and gunpowder rubbed into a fuse.

Only then did Chen Ji put the bamboo tube on the counter. He looked up and answered with a smile, "Master, I am not a moth, nor a spider, let alone a gecko."

He looked at the oil lamp at the edge of the counter. "I am that group of fire, a group of fire that does not belong to this era."

Chen Ji took a piece of cloth and wrapped the three bamboo tubes inside, tying it on his back.

He waved to Hei Yun and turned to leave.

Old Yao stared at him for a long time. "How much Bing Liu do you have enough to absorb several branches of ginseng?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment. "Six branches."

Old Yao walked to the side of the medicine cabinet and pulled open a drawer. "Transform all the Bing Liu before you go."

Chen Ji's eyes lit up. It turned out that Master had stocked ten branches of ginseng this morning just for him. "Thank you, Master."

"One branch of ginseng is thirty taels of silver, or three pieces of gold melon seeds."

Chen Ji's expression paused. "I thought you were going to give it to me."

Old Yao snorted. "If I give it to you, my days will be over."

"Alright then, I'll only exchange five branches."

Chen Ji counted out twelve pieces of gold melon seeds from his sleeve and placed them on the counter. Then he took out thirty taels of silver from the apprentice dormitory.

At this moment, the family fortune he had worked hard to save up was only sixty-three taels of silver.

"Master, I'm leaving."

Chen Ji picked up the five branches of ginseng and transformed them into transparent crystal beads. He fed them to Hei Yun one by one.

He carried his bag and walked into the backyard, flipped onto the roof, and merged into the night.

Beside the apricot tree, Old Yao looked in the direction he left and casually threw down six copper coins. "Great ominous."

A black crow cawed.

Old Yao said impatiently, "You chose the path yourself, you walk it yourself. If you want to go, just go take a look. I won't stop you."

On Zhenghe Street at night, there was a charcoal cart pulled by two oxen, slowly moving towards the East Market.

As winter approached, charcoal became a necessary item. For example, the amount of charcoal distributed to officials in the capital city alone each year amounted to seven hundred and twenty thousand pieces.

The imperial palace used red basket charcoal, officials and nobles favored West Mountain silver silk charcoal, wealthy families burned paulownia wood charcoal, and ordinary families used black charcoal. Without charcoal, winter was particularly hard to endure.

This was the charcoal merchants' best time of business. Charcoal burned well from the mountain forests was transported by grain carts to Lu City's East Market, and then sold from the East Market to each family. Carts came and went continuously every day.

Charcoal carts were different from ordinary ox carts. They were sealed on four sides but open at the top.

The charcoal peddler drove the ox cart, humming a little tune all the way, presumably not noticing that in the shadow by the roadside, someone with a cat perched on their shoulder was just waiting for him to slowly pass by.

When the charcoal cart passed the shadow, Chen Ji quickly walked two steps and lightly flipped into the cart bucket without making a sound.

The charcoal peddler felt a slight shake in the cart body. He turned back doubtfully to look at the flagstone road on the ground, thinking he had run over a small stone.

He saw that the cart wheels were normal and continued to hum a little tune: "Step up another step, marriage is made in heaven.

Call out a guest, light a lamp and come upstairs. Late at night, the East Road must be settled."

Chen Ji recognized this as a little erotic tune circulating in Red Clothes Alley.

These peddlers earned money during the day and spent it in brothels at night, either gambling or whoring, always leaving nothing over.

He smiled, hugged Hei Yun and nestled in the dirty charcoal cart, closing his eyes. He let the charcoal cart take him towards Red Clothes Alley in the East Market.

The closer he got to the East Market, the more peaceful Chen Ji's heart became. He touched the short knife in his sleeve again and slowly closed his eyes.

Back to that battlefield in his dream.

"Brother Feng Huai, what was the style of your knife just now that followed your body as you turned?"

"Xing Yuan."

"Brother Feng Huai, what was the style of your knife just now where you used the edge of your knife to stick to the edge of mine and went against the momentum, forcing me to abandon my knife?"

"Xing Huo."

"Brother Feng Huai, what was the style of your knife just now where you chopped my knife back? This style made my wrist hurt a lot, but it didn't seem to have any effect."

Feng Huai laughed shyly. "That style is called Cuo Jin. Originally, it should have broken your knife, but because your knife is too good, it didn't break."

Every trajectory of General Pu Dao Feng Huai's knife wield, every step forward and backward, seemed artistically exquisite, without flaw.

The opposing party was like a heavy hammer, smashing heavily on his own piece of scrap steel, forging its shape.

Chen Ji used death time and time again in exchange for technique after technique.

Chen Ji had not yet used a knife to fight outsiders, so he didn't know if his skill was sufficient. He could only practice non-stop, to slowly approach Feng Huai's skill, and then surpass it.

In the beginning, Chen Ji would die twenty to thirty times an hour. Now, he probably only died three to four times an hour.

In the beginning, his whole body was full of flaws. Now, both sides saw moves and countered them. Often, neither side could find the other's flaws within a hundred moves.

Those knife techniques seemed to have been engraved on his bones ten thousand years ago, carved into complex and exquisite totems, and were gradually being awakened.

Chen Ji stood up straight again. "Again."

On the giant stone, Xuanyuan sat cross-legged, still wearing a black king's robe. Only the gold thread embroidered star image had changed, leaving only the Ziwei star section.

Xuanyuan opened his mouth and asked, "You seem to be in a hurry."

Chen Ji said, "Indeed, I am in a hurry."

Xuanyuan said puzzled, "Is there someone outside who wants to kill you?"

Chen Ji calmly replied, "No, it's I who have someone I want to kill."

Xuanyuan laughed loudly. "No wonder today's progress is faster than yesterday. This time, you are just suitable for practicing knife! The knife is the gall of a hundred soldiers. Without the heart to kill, you cannot practice the knife well! But I suggest you stop first, rest for a while, and then continue learning. Being tired will only make your heart float and your energy restless, and it won't help."

Chen Ji seemed lost in thought. He simply and decisively sat cross-legged on the ground. "Brother Feng Huai, you should also sit down and rest for a while."

Feng Huai sheathed his knife and sat down, his posture as upright as an apprentice.

Three people sat on the green mountain. Clouds surged and flowed by their side, as if in a fairyland, as if granted longevity by immortals.

Chen Ji sighed. "Brother Feng Huai, your knife technique is really good."

Feng Huai wore light armor, looking around twenty years old, handsome and a little green. Just by his appearance, no one would think he was a knife expert.

Hearing Chen Ji praise him, he laughed even more shyly. "It's all because you taught well that year. When we followed you to practice knife that year, we also suffered a lot."

Chen Ji was astonished. "I taught? How do I feel like you chopped me so happily?"

Feng Huai hesitated for a moment. "Who wouldn't be excited about this change?"

Chen Ji said calmly, "Be a little more polite to me when you're not practicing knife."

Feng Huai hurriedly replied, "Understood!"

Chen Ji suddenly asked, "Xuanyuan, if I die tonight, can you re-descend to the world through my body?"

Xuanyuan gazed at Chen Ji. "Yes."

"Then if you really re-descend to the world, can you help me kill a person?"

Xuanyuan snorted. "Kill them yourself."

"Alright then."

Chen Ji turned his head to look at Xuanyuan, who was overlooking him from the giant stone. "Then I want to discuss something. Can I borrow the 'Whale' tonight?"

"No."

Xuanyuan shook his head.

"But I want to kill someone tonight. Without 'Whale,' other knives are not very handy."

Xuanyuan snorted. "Will the enemy discuss with you? Can you discuss everything you encounter? As I said, cleverness is a good thing, but this world always has big mountains that you cannot go around. To take 'Whale,' you must first defeat Feng Huai."

"Understood."

At this moment, Chen Ji heard Hei Yun's low meow beside his ear. He propped himself up with his knife and looked at Xuanyuan. "There are still many things to do tonight. If everything goes smoothly, see you tomorrow."

Xuanyuan was silent for a moment. "See you tomorrow."

Chen Ji opened his eyes in the cart bucket. The charcoal cart had slowly stopped outside Red Clothes Alley. The cart driver hummed a little erotic tune and happily walked into Red Clothes Alley.

He and Hei Yun quietly poked their heads out of the cart bucket, but suddenly saw a familiar horse cart stopping beside them.

The next moment, the Prince's voice came: "How good is it to go through the medical hall? Chen Ji put up the ladder and everything was ready. Now it's good, the robes he flipped out from the backyard for me are all rotten!"

Princess Bai Li's voice immediately followed: "Is it not okay if I just don't want to walk through the medical hall?"

"Okay, okay, okay."

Chen Ji saw the two people jump out of the horse cart and walk into Red Clothes Alley. He had the urge to stop them and tell them it was dangerous here tonight, but how could he explain why he was here?

Watching the Prince and Princess Bai Li disappear into Red Clothes Alley, Chen Ji hesitated for a moment, reached into the cart bucket, and wiped charcoal powder on his face.

"Let's go, Hei Yun, climb onto the roof together."