Chapter Thirty-Four: The Sacred Text of Gynecology

Afternoon.

Su Yang directly boiled the Blood Ganoderma. Others might consider the herb too precious to use except at a critical bottleneck, believing that only then could it unleash its full value. But since Su Yang had no bottlenecks to overcome—he needed only enough incense merit to break through—it made more sense to use the Blood Ganoderma now, lessening the incense value required for his next advancement.

“Doukou, I’m going to cultivate. Don’t let anyone disturb me,” Su Yang said, carrying the decoction made from the Blood Ganoderma.

“You go ahead, young master. I’ll guard the door for you,” Li Doukou replied, moving lightly to place a chair before the door to the practice room and sitting down. Her graceful figure was exquisitely curved, her features delicate; though clothed in simple garments, she could not hide her natural elegance and the dignified poise of a lady from a noble household. Tender and fragile, such a woman could not withstand much hardship—Su Yang thought that a mere fraction of his strength would be enough to make her yield, her voice hoarse with defeat.

He steadied his heart—he was here to cultivate, after all.

He sat cross-legged inside the room and drank down the Blood Ganoderma decoction, immediately circulating his qi and blood to refine his sinews and meridians, striving to reach the level where his tendons would strike like dragons and his strength burst forth like a powerful bow.

Time flew by.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye.

At this moment, Su Yang felt his qi and blood more abundant than ever before; he had taken a great step toward the seventh rank, but with the current 170 points of incense merit, it was still not enough to break through. Yet, this single Blood Ganoderma had propelled him forward significantly—if he could obtain another, and combine it with those 170 incense points, he would surely break into the seventh rank.

Night fell.

The darkness was deep and silent, faint moonlight spilling across the ground. Two constables from the county office, dressed in black and armed with long knives, stealthily approached the Wang estate.

“Clink, clink, clink...!”

One of the constables accidentally tripped a rope, setting off a bell that rang out sharply and piercingly from a treetop.

“Be careful!”

“I know.”

The constable who had tripped the rope scowled, slashing the cord with his knife. The bell tumbled to the ground. But after just a few more steps, he stepped into a mousetrap. Not being an eighth-rank martial artist, his skin was not as tough as iron; he let out a pained scream and, face contorted in agony, pried the trap off his foot.

“How many traps does this Wang family set?” he grumbled.

“Damn it, that hurt like hell... Tonight, I swear I’ll make the women of this house suffer for it!” he snarled.

“Keep your voice down, don’t let anyone hear us,” the other constable said, his face tight with displeasure.

“What are you afraid of? We’ll kill them anyway.”

“Fool. If we’re discovered, there’ll be chaos. Even if we kill them, the commotion could let someone escape. If we do it quietly and kill them in their sleep, there’ll be much less trouble—and fewer unexpected complications.”

The first constable, chastised, nodded impatiently, thinking his partner overly cautious. The two of them crept toward the nearest courtyard, their eyes glinting coldly in the dark.

In the night.

Su Yang, draped in a black cloak, fixed his gaze on the two constables. Though they wore black, the standard-issue blades in their hands made it easy for Su Yang to recognize their identity.

County constables.

Their faces were masked, so he could not see their features, but anyone arriving at this hour, weapons drawn, could not be up to anything good. What arrogance or carelessness, he thought, that they hadn’t even bothered to switch out their official blades.

The two figures drew closer and closer.

Wild Ox Long Fist!

Bang!

Su Yang’s blood and qi surged as he struck without hesitation, sending a fist like a bear’s crashing through the air. One of the constables barely had time to react before being hurled away by the blow. The second let out a cry of alarm, but the fist, as large as a sandbag, was already upon him. There was no time to draw his blade; he could only cross his arms over his chest in defense.

The Wild Ox Long Fist nurtured an inner force akin to a wild ox, capable of explosive power and devastating injury.

Bang!

A dull thud sounded as the constable’s arm bones shattered, sending him flying as well, crippled and unable to rise.

Their swords confiscated, hands and feet bound and mouths gagged, the two were dragged to a woodshed and secured.

Su Yang recognized them: the same two men who had been present at the county office when he went to claim the inheritance, and again yesterday during the conscription—both subordinates of Liu, the county magistrate’s brother-in-law.

He could not fathom what grudge he might have incurred with Liu.

“Why did you come to kill me?” Su Yang asked, getting straight to the point.

The two exchanged a glance, their eyes full of malice as one spat, “Scholar Su, do you know whose men we are?”

“Whose?”

“We’re Liu’s men. He’s the county magistrate’s brother-in-law. If you dare harm us, Liu will never let you go.”

“The whole Wang family will die with you.”

“Then why are you trying to kill me?”

“Kill you? Who said anything about killing you?”

“Oh? Then what are you doing here at the Wang estate?” Su Yang asked with a bemused smile.

“We just came to steal the deed to the Wang family’s main house. We had no intention of killing anyone. Don’t frame us—we would never break the law knowingly,” the constable with broken arms declared righteously.

“You’d never break the law knowingly?”

“If you’d only said the first part, I might have believed you,” Su Yang said, “but with the rest, it’s hard to trust.”

“If you won’t talk, that’s fine.”

With that, Su Yang dragged one constable into another room and said, “You have half a stick of incense to think it over. When time’s up, I’ll visit your partner. If he tells the truth, it’ll be your death.”

He repeated the same words to the other constable.

After a stick of incense had burned.

Su Yang entered the room of the constable with broken arms and said, “Sorry, your partner has already confessed. You must die.”

With that, he picked up a long knife, watching the constable’s expression as he raised it to the man’s throat. But the constable showed neither tension nor fear. “Scholar Su, we’ve used that trick countless times in the prison,” he said coolly. “Trying to fool us with that? It’s like trying to show off your sword skills before Guan Yu himself.”

The knife stopped at the man’s throat.

In that moment, Su Yang felt a deep sense of defeat. These old hands were truly hard to deal with.

He tried the same with the other constable—same result.

It was clear he would need harsher measures.

If he couldn’t get answers, he might as well kill them both.

Su Yang dragged them back into the same room, opened a porcelain vial holding the Mind-Control Bug, pried open one constable’s mouth, and shoved it inside. “What you just swallowed is a parasitic bug called the Mind-Control Bug. At my signal, it will tear into your body and devour your heart. The pain will be excruciating—far worse than death. But if you tell me the truth now, I may spare your life.”

“Scholar Su, I’ve already told you the truth—why won’t you believe me?” the constable with broken arms protested.

“You’re out of chances.”

Su Yang’s tone was icy as he gagged the man, then took out a jade whistle the size of a finger and blew an eerie note.

Woooo… woooo…!

The constable, gagged, let out muffled screams of agony, writhing on the ground, his face white as a sheet, eyes bulging, veins standing out. The Mind-Control Bug gnawed its way through his esophagus, inching toward his heart, tearing through flesh and organs in its path—the pain was beyond words.

The constable, tormented by the parasite, writhed desperately toward Su Yang, his bulging eyes pleading for mercy.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” Su Yang said coldly. “Sorry—it’s too late.”

He had revealed his true nature.

You’re a constable, your boss is the county magistrate’s brother-in-law, and I still dare kill you...

His gaze, filled with murderous intent, swung to the other constable, who shivered uncontrollably, terror written in his eyes—especially as he watched his companion writhing in agony on the floor.

Half a stick of incense later, the constable died from the pain.

A golden beetle crawled out of his nostrils. Su Yang picked it up, then forced it into the mouth of the other constable, who, panic-stricken, struggled in vain.

“You saw what happened. I’ll count to three.”

Su Yang raised his fingers, staring at the constable whose eyes were wide with fear and indecision. “Three, two, one...!”

He reached for a scrap of cloth from the dead man’s mouth, ready to gag the second constable to muffle his screams.

“No, no, wait...!”

“I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!” the bearded constable begged, terrified. “It was all under Liu’s orders—he’s the one...!”

...

The bearded constable had never expected Su Yang to be so ruthless, killing without hesitation. If he didn’t talk now, he’d surely die. Compared to death, nothing else mattered.

He was bitterly frustrated—how had he and his partner, both ninth-rank, been so thoroughly defeated by this man?

With nothing left to lose, the bearded constable confessed everything in detail. Su Yang’s heart burned with anger and hatred.

So Liu truly intended to wipe out his whole family—what a venomous heart.

It all started because Su Yang had claimed the inheritance of the main branch. But all the valuables had been handed over to the magistrate; he himself had only kept the ancestral home—wasn’t that enough for them? Their greed was insatiable.

At this moment, Su Yang was resolved to kill, once again witnessing the depths of human avarice. If there’s a profit of ten thousand taels of silver, even if the weak take only what little is rightfully theirs, the strong will still subject them to ruthless oppression.

When a wealthy master pays his servants their monthly wages, even though it’s what they’re due, he still feels the pain as if cut by a knife, wishing he could slap them and take the silver back.

Now that things had reached this point, there was no peaceful resolution. A ninth-rank constable was dead.

Liu must die.

And it had to be done quickly, without implicating himself.

“Does the magistrate know what you’re doing?”

“The magistrate has bigger worries—he’s exhausted by the rebel army outside the city. He wouldn’t trouble himself with this.”

“Who else knows about this?”

“Just me, Liu, and the one lying dead over there—only three of us. We wanted to keep the deed for ourselves, so we told no one else.”

Next, Su Yang questioned the bearded constable about Liu’s habits, daily routine, preferences, the layout of his house, and his strength.

A plan began to form.

With the Mind-Control Bug inside him, the bearded constable would be obedient. Su Yang made it clear—so long as he didn’t send the signal, the bug would remain dormant, but if Su Yang died, the bug would attack its host.

Su Yang considered using the bug on Liu himself, but shook his head and dismissed the idea.

The bearded constable had no powerful backing—only Liu. But Liu’s backer was the magistrate. If he realized he’d been parasitized, he might go straight to his brother-in-law, certain that the magistrate’s strength could deal with the parasite. If that happened, both Su Yang and the Wang family would be doomed.

That risk could not be taken.

Su Yang also considered assassination—Liu was only ninth-rank. But the bearded constable revealed that Liu’s colleague, Bai, an eighth-rank, was also living in his house since the rebel siege began. Out of respect for Liu’s status as the magistrate’s brother-in-law, Bai had moved in; the adjoining wall had even been knocked through.

If Bai were alerted, things could go badly wrong. Whenever Liu went to the office or returned home, Bai usually accompanied him.

Waiting for Liu to be alone was already too late.

Su Yang let the bearded constable go, disposed of the body in the room, returned to the courtyard, and asked Li Doukou for a personal belonging before heading out.

Name: Su Yang (Prospective Immortal)
Incense Merit: 250
Rank: Eighth—Refined Skin
Techniques: Incense Division, Qi-Observing Art, Mind-Control Bug
Manuals: Wild Ox Long Fist
Lifespan: 83+
Family Descendants: 1
Family Progress: The family prospers. You have a loyal servant, but in these troubled times, only a ninth-rank warrior can truly ensure the safety of your wife and child. Recruit a ninth-rank martial servant for 50 incense points (completed).
Family Progress: The family prospers. You now have a loyal servant to protect your wife and child. As your heir grows, you’ll need an experienced woman to care for your pregnant wife. Recruit a wet nurse for 20 incense points and the medical book, Sacred Book of Gynecology.
Daily Reminder: One month into pregnancy, your heir will begin to provide incense merit each day!
A new family progress appeared on his panel. The previous task was to recruit a loyal servant, worth 30 incense points.

The new task was to recruit a ninth-rank martial servant—the bearded constable fit the bill, so the task was complete and he gained 50 incense points.

The next task was to recruit a wet nurse to tend to Plum Blossom and Peach Blossom—a simple matter, so the incense reward was less.

There was also the Sacred Book of Gynecology, which contained information on preconception, pregnancy care, postpartum recovery, delivery, gynecological diseases, infertility treatment, and more.

Such a book—he might as well study it. If he mastered it, he could bring benefit to women throughout the world.

...