Apotheosis Begins with Tai Chi

「Three days ago.」

The silver he acquired alone amounted to over eight hundred taels.

Wang Chuang had paid him the one hundred taels for shooting the Snow Falcon on the very day he returned.

Additionally, Bai Fangshuo and Yu An had together provided five hundred-tael Silver Notes.

Worried the Silver Notes might be marked, Chen Cheng had specifically sought out Wang Peng to exchange them for silver. After bringing it back, he had gone to a bank and exchanged the silver for fresh notes.

As for how Wang Peng would handle those five Silver Notes, Chen Cheng didn’t ask. An old Jianghu veteran like him would have plenty of ways to deal with them.

Additionally, there were over two hundred taels in miscellaneous Golden Blade Coins and broken silver, which Chen Cheng also exchanged for two hundred-tael Silver Notes.

After emerging from the bathhouse, Chen Cheng went straight to the pharmacy.

After returning from his trip, he had specifically added a large lock to the pharmacy door.

It was an old-fashioned brass padlock with a shackle as thick as his little finger.

Although he conducted his daily cultivation in the inner courtyard, with the pharmacy right under his nose, he still decided to add an extra layer of security, mainly to prevent Madam Li from wandering in by mistake.

Upon entering the pharmacy, the first thing that met his eyes was a row of medicine cabinets. A faint medicinal aroma wafted out from them—bitter yet with a sweet, refreshing aftertaste that soothed the soul.

The shelves lining the walls on both sides were filled with mountain goods supplied by the Jiuan Hunting Manor, as well as the still-unfinished Dried Tiger Meat and Dried Venison he had received from the Dragon Mountain Upper Courtyard.

In the center was a wide, long table that Chen Cheng had bought later.

At the moment, the table was covered with the various Hidden Weapons he had brought back three days ago, along with packets of Poisonous Powder wrapped in oiled paper or stored in small leather pouches.

Chen Cheng had gone to a Weapon Forging Shop to get an estimate. All these miscellaneous Hidden Weapons, added together, had to be worth over a hundred taels of silver. A few types were not easy to buy and would require a special custom order.

This was especially true for Zhu Biao’s case of ’Poison Bee Needles’.

They looked no different from embroidery needles, but in reality, the front half of each was covered in fine barbs that were difficult to see with the naked eye.

Once they pierced the body, they were extremely difficult to pull out. If one were to lodge in a person’s muscles and bones, it could cripple them outright.

Chen Cheng had asked Wang Peng to examine them. The needles were not only coated in a potent poison, but had also been forged with Profound Iron, making them exceptionally hard and tough. Their penetration was also stronger, allowing them to pierce flesh and bone with ease.

Just this one case of ten needles, Wang Peng estimated, was worth at least a hundred taels of silver. In Zhao City, they were the kind of item that had a price but no market.

As for the Poisonous Powders, Chen Cheng had collected five different types in total.

He had asked Wang Peng to examine all of them as well.

The Jiuan Hunting Manor had participated in the Captain’s Mansion’s earlier campaign to exterminate the bandits on Grass Head Mountain, so Wang Peng was no stranger to these Poisonous Powders.

Three of them were incapacitating agents.

According to Wang Peng, this was a favorite tool of the Grass Head Mountain bandits. Whether raiding a camp at night or ambushing travelers on the road, they would scatter it into the wind. Anyone downwind would find their legs growing weak and their vision blurring before they knew it, and would soon fall unconscious.

The other two were lethal poisons.

Once inhaled, they could cause a person to die a sudden, violent death.

Even the slightest skin contact would cause the flesh to rot on the spot. Without an antidote, one would have to amputate immediately to survive. Otherwise, the poison would enter the bloodstream and circulate throughout the body, resulting in certain death.

At the time, Wang Peng had wanted to advise Chen Cheng to throw them away. But on second thought, he figured that since Chen Cheng had trained his own poison resistance, he must have a good handle on lethal poisons, so there was no need for him to stick his nose in.

As for the value of these Poisonous Powders, even Wang Peng wasn’t sure. Such things couldn’t be bought through legitimate channels; they were either custom-made by poison experts or purchased from the black market, and they were by no means cheap.

Beside these Poisonous Powders lay the small, translucent leather pouch Chen Cheng had acquired earlier.

Chen Cheng had also shown the white powder originally inside it to Wang Peng.

According to Wang Peng, he had never seen anything like it on the market in Zhao City. It was very likely the source of the colorless, odorless poisonous gas from the Ancient Forest three days prior.

After some careful thought, Chen Cheng came to agree with this conclusion.

The small pouch had, after all, been taken from the Cloud Platform Hall disciple connected to Yu An.

In other words, this Poisonous Powder was related to the Immortal Bone Sect.

People of the Jianghu from the Northern Territory might recognize it, but in Zhao City, almost no one did. An antidote was even harder to find on the market.

Three days ago, after Wang Peng and the others were brought back to the Jiuan Hunting Manor, they summoned several famous doctors from the Inner City, but all of them were helpless.

In the end, they had to request a military physician from the Captain’s Mansion, who was finally able to produce an antidote and cure them.

’This little thing isn’t bad to carry for self-defense.’

Chen Cheng picked up the small pouch and tucked it back into the Secret Pocket in his jacket sleeve.

Then, he turned, walked over to a shelf against the wall, and took down a wine jar.

The moment his hands touched it, his brow furrowed slightly.

This jar of Golden Ring Treasure Snake Medicinal Wine was finally hitting bottom.

He glanced down at it and muttered to himself,

”I got used to drinking it every day. It’s a hard habit to break...”

He removed the lid.

Holding the jar with both hands, he swirled it in wide circles a few times. The dregs at the bottom finally began to move, sloshing lazily against the inner wall until inertia gradually gathered them in one spot.

He tipped the jar to his lips.

And drained it.

There was very little of the wine left. It was cool as it entered his mouth, then slid down his throat carrying the last of its medicinal potency, which spread through him with a gentle warmth.

Chen Cheng didn’t throw the empty jar away. He found a cotton cloth and carefully wiped the inside clean.

’It’s an inconspicuous thing just sitting there, perfect for storing something important.’

He walked to a corner and, from beneath a messy pile of medicinal herbs, pulled out three leather sacks, one after another.

Two were brown, and one was white.

The sacks were sealed and bulging, and felt exceptionally heavy in his hands.

All the spoils he had inspected since leaving the bathhouse, including the silver, didn’t add up to the value of any single one of these three sacks.

That’s right!

These were the three sacks of Exotic Tiger Dried Meat.

Bai Fangshuo and his group had captured the Mutant Tiger several days beforehand. After the prime meat was made into jerky, each of them had taken a share.