Cold sweat streamed down the forehead of Li Guanyi, the young master of the Rejuvenation Hall.
Instinctively, he withdrew his right hand and took a step back, forcing a smile as he said, "This, this, Miss Xue, it's a misunderstanding, haha, it's a misunderstanding."
The Old Shopkeeper's face trembled with fat.
The eldest daughter of the Xue family looked gentle and spoke elegantly, "According to the rules of the pawnshop, if the item has not been exchanged for money and has not left this door, the living buyer can redeem it at the original price with a bit more interest."
"Does the shopkeeper still recognize this rule?"
The shopkeeper chuckled awkwardly a few times and without hesitation said to Dai Ziyao, "Indeed, Young Master Dai, it is as such. You are not being clever today; this Mr. Li..." He originally wanted to say 'Li Xiao Ge,' but swallowed the words, his expression becoming three parts polite as he continued, "Mr. Li arrived early, and the item must be returned to him."
Dai Ziyao suddenly came to his senses, realizing the reason for his discontent. Clearly, the person who worked at his own Rejuvenation Hall had transformed into a guest of the eldest daughter of the Xue family. Jealousy surged within him, and he felt that the eldest daughter of the Xue family was actually quite easy to deceive.
Grinding his teeth, he stepped forward gracefully and said, "Miss Xue, I was rude today."
"It has been a long time since we last met; your elegance remains unchanged, Miss."
Xue Shuangtao turned to look at him, puzzled, "Who?"
Dai Ziyao's composed smile froze.
Stammering, he said, "I am the son of the Dai family from the Rejuvenation Hall in the southern part of the city. I met the young lady at a banquet at the Xue family some time ago."
Xue Shuangtao recalled slightly, "The Rejuvenation Hall, my family gets some medicine from your place every year."
A hint of a smile appeared on Dai Ziyao's face.
Xue Shuangtao remembered that she had asked Li Guanyi about his past experiences in the carriage. She had just noticed that Li Guanyi was being bullied, which prompted her to come down to help. Seeing Dai Ziyao's previous arrogant demeanor, she lowered her gaze slightly and spoke gently, "Well, from now on, you need not deliver anymore."
Dai Ziyao's smile froze.
In an instant, his face turned pale.
Xue Shuangtao then looked at the plain-clothed youth and said, "Mr. Li, please..."
Once the two left, the Old Shopkeeper took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
His hair was already sparse, and his forehead was damp with sweat, resembling a peeled salted egg.
"Almost caused trouble, truly..."
He glanced at the dazed Dai Ziyao, shook his head, and instead felt a bit of amusement.
There were many pharmacies in the city, not just the Rejuvenation Hall. Young Master Dai did not know how he had offended this young lady. Tsk tsk, the Rejuvenation Hall's business would not be greatly affected; it would still open its doors to the common people, unrelated to these big families. However, the Dai family would lose their fortune at this moment.
Returning home, he would probably face a good beating.
Li Guanyi sat in the carriage, his palm caressing the jade pendant that his aunt had regained. His expression was calm and gentle. Besides the jade pendant, there were also nineteen taels of silver, enough for him to rent a better place. He was eager to return and find his aunt.
However, he still needed to go to the Xue family to get familiar with the route and collect a set of clothes.
Li Guanyi inquired, and the Xue family could help him and his aunt convert their status from scattered households to registered households. The coachman asked Li Guanyi where he came from, and the young man recounted the reason his aunt had fabricated: "I originally hail from the eighteen states of Jiangnan. My father was a wandering scholar, and my uncle was a traveling merchant."
"With my family in tow, unfortunately, my father passed away two years ago from a severe illness, and my uncle was harmed by mountain bandits during his travels. In the end, my father's wish was for me to return to my roots. My aunt brought me along the way to Jiangzhou, hoping to return to our hometown."
"After settling down in Guan Yi City, we still remained scattered households."
After ten years of fleeing, Li Guanyi recounted this set of lies as naturally as breathing.
The coachman laughed, "Being a scattered household has many inconveniences, but it’s alright. Young Master has been hired as a teacher for the Xue family, so naturally, you can be registered as a household."
Li Guanyi was curious, "Isn't that supposed to take three years?"
The coachman laughed heartily, "Young Master, we are from the Xue family."
"Things like scattered households, we have seen plenty. Rest assured, rest assured."
"In three months, we can finalize it for you, Young Master."
Li Guanyi's eyes brightened slightly.
Three months' time... a hundred days, gather a hundred taels of silver, and practice martial arts to reach the entry level.
Obtaining the household registration in Guan Yi City, if he could have the experience of being hired as a teacher for the Xue family, getting the passage permit would not be difficult. This way, he could leave the Chen Kingdom, how wonderful.
However, now the entry-level method had become the most challenging thing...
Yue Qianfeng had directly left, and Li Guanyi's Twelve Layers of the Breaking Formation Song was already close to meeting the entry requirements, yet he could not find the way in.
Li Guanyi looked at the roads on both sides, lost in thought.
The Xue family was a prominent family in Guan Yi City; he wondered if there were any entry-level methods available.
The carriage passed through the main road and finally arrived at the Xue family. The main gate of the Xue family was quite imposing, with stone lions on either side baring their teeth. The carriage turned to the side gate, where the lacquered wooden door opened, and there were two ruts on the bluestone path ahead, perfectly allowing the wheels to roll into the tracks.
The carriage sped up, becoming increasingly stable.
Walls within walls, courtyards within courtyards.
Li Guanyi's gaze lowered slightly.
The internal energy of the Breaking Formation Song flowed slowly within him; a better life was right before his eyes.
Each time the internal energy of the Breaking Formation Song circulated, it gave him a clear feeling that his body was gradually becoming stronger. Yue Qianfeng had previously said that both the internal energy and the body must reach a certain level to converge and transform into true qi, which was the entry-level.
After entering the realm, he could leave the Chen Kingdom with his aunt, and only then would he feel relatively at ease.
However, Li Guanyi's root bone was indeed quite poor, and the speed of his internal energy circulation was slow. He could faintly sense that whenever the internal energy flowed past his heart, the speed would significantly decrease, and the meridians within his body would contract, causing the flow of internal energy to slow down even more.
This feeling had gradually emerged after the Breaking Formation Song reached great success.
It seemed that the cold poison in his heart was suppressing the speed of Li Guanyi's internal energy circulation, making it extremely slow. Each time it circulated, the speed would be reduced layer by layer.
Li Guanyi raised his hand to press against his heart, his gaze slightly lowered.
Night Rider Cavalry, deadly poison.
The young man couldn't help but curse in his heart.
The feeling of blocked internal energy was like a once super-fast internet connection that had reached ninety-nine percent while downloading a game, then froze completely, dropping to a few kilobytes per second, driving him mad.
What kind of poison did these bastards give me?
Where did they take my original root bone?
Not to mention the torment I endured, they even dulled my root bone?
When I find out who poisoned me, I will definitely return the favor tenfold.
Li Guanyi gritted his teeth, jotting down another note in his mental ledger about the Night Rider Cavalry that had pursued him ten years ago. With the internal energy ultimately difficult to progress, he opened his eyes and looked at the vast courtyard.
Rather than a residence, it could almost be considered a city within a city, divided into several smaller courtyards.
The walls were extremely high, at least ten meters, separating the inside from the outside.
The people coming and going included refined scholars and robust men.
Their complexions were rosy, their eyes bright, and there was no trace of worry in their brows.
Even the servants' attire was far superior to Li Guanyi's.
This was the Xue family...
Li Guanyi recalled that he only knew the Xue family was an old family in Guan Yi City, but they never involved themselves in officialdom. Most of the family’s younger generation engaged in business. Just as he was curious, the carriage suddenly came to a halt.
Li Guanyi's body trembled slightly.
The bronze cauldron in his heart hummed.
Suddenly, jade liquid began to gather.
The young man's pupils constricted, and a qi aura rose within his eyes, as if he had pierced through the wall before him. The air in the void twisted, transforming into white fur, with blue pupils cold and indifferent, and black patterns like a long night, imprinted on the white fur, the tail swirling slowly in the void like a long whip.
A tiger, as tall as a three-story building, slowly paced, lowering its head.
And among the tiger, an ordinary-looking old man leaned on a cane, his hair and beard all white.
His aura was like a prison, with the white tiger behind him.
Xue Shuangtao let out a light laugh, "Grandfather!!"
She lifted the curtain of the carriage, lightly leaped down, and quickly walked towards the old man.
Like a fluttering butterfly, she reached out to embrace the old man's arm, her smile radiant. At this moment, she resembled a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl, rather than the gentle and poised young lady from before.
The coachman helped Li Guanyi down from the carriage and whispered, "This is the old family head of the Xue family."
"He is indeed the Xue General, who, five hundred years ago, unified the world with three arrows at the border, topping the list of the Divine Generals."
The old man's gaze was calm as it descended.
The white tiger bowed its head behind him.
Within Li Guanyi, the bronze cauldron was wildly accumulating jade liquid.
(End of Chapter)