txolops Chapter 9: The Poor Scholar, the Rich Warrior; Iron Flakes Melt into Molten Plaster
Chapter 9: The Poor Scholar, the Rich Warrior; Iron Flakes Melt into Molten Plaster
The snow stopped the next morning.
The snow was ankle-deep, completely covering the muddy streets that had been trampled underfoot.
Gu Yan got up very early.
He changed into an inconspicuous gray cotton-padded jacket, and went out with the hundred-tael silver note that Shen Youwei had given him in his pocket.
Closing a paper-making shop for a day is like sharpening your axe before chopping wood; having money in your hands, if you don't turn it into real power, it's just paper money on the dead, meaningless.
Gu Yan first went to Huichuntang, the largest pharmacy in the city.
In times of chaos, medicine prices skyrocketed, sometimes even exceeding the price of food.
"I want safflower, clematis root, aconite root, and a ten-year-old tiger bone wine."
Gu Yan rattled off a long list of names.
These are all auxiliary potent medicines recorded in the "Iron Palm" manual, used to promote blood circulation, remove blood stasis, and strengthen muscles and bones.
Without these medications to nourish it, just grinding it in that scorching sand would ruin your hands sooner or later.
The shopkeeper was a shrewd old man with a goatee. He looked Gu Yan up and down, his eyes filled with suspicion.
"Young man, these herbs aren't cheap; they'll cost thirty taels of silver in total."
Without wasting any words, Gu Yan directly presented a fifty-tael silver note.
"No need to look anymore. Replace the rest with the best wound medicine and a pound of realgar powder."
Upon seeing the silver note, the shopkeeper's face lit up with joy. He nodded and bowed repeatedly, quickly wrapping up the medicinal herbs.
After leaving the pharmacy, Gu Yan went to the blacksmith shop.
He didn't buy any swords or knives; those things were too conspicuous, he wouldn't know how to use them, and they would easily attract the attention of the authorities.
Gu Yan bought a large bag of the finest iron filings, scraps that fall off during blacksmithing and are usually unwanted. Gu Yan only spent a few hundred coins to carry back a full fifty pounds of them.
Back at the paper shop, Gu Yan locked the doors and windows and dragged the oilcloth bag containing the "Iron Demon" to the backyard.
The ancients were right: "The poor are learned in literature, the rich in martial arts."
Looking at the pile of priceless medicinal herbs on the table, Gu Yan sighed.
Without Shen Youwei's hundred taels, he would have had to struggle at the bottom of society for at least a year to gather those resources.
Gu Yan set up a large pot, poured in tiger bone wine and various herbs, and began to brew the secret medicine.
As it bubbled and boiled, a pungent yet strong medicinal aroma filled the air.
Once the medicinal liquid had been boiled down to a dark red paste, Gu Yan took a deep breath and slowly immersed his hands, which had developed calluses, into the scalding liquid.
"laugh."
After the excruciating pain comes the ultimate comfort.
The domineering medicinal power penetrated the skin through the pores and seeped into the bones. The muscle tissue, which had become stiff and necrotic due to forced cultivation, greedily absorbed the medicinal power at this moment, like a parched land receiving sweet rain.
Gu Yan closed his eyes and began practicing his breathing technique.
The proficiency level on the panel started jumping wildly.
[Under the medicinal bath for body tempering, Iron Palm experience +5]
[Under the medicinal bath for body tempering, Iron Palm experience +5]
……
In just half an hour, he achieved what he had done in the past three days of arduous training.
When the medicine cooled, Gu Yan withdrew his hands.
The palms, which had been somewhat blackened and necrotic, had regained some of their rosy color. Although the skin was still as rough as cowhide, it had gained a metallic sheen.
He clenched his fist lightly, and his knuckles cracked.
This feeling of power is intoxicating.
After resting for a while, Gu Yan turned his gaze to the pile of iron filings in the yard.
Time to get down to business.
When paper-making skills reached a high level, one would comprehend a new craft: the art of metal melting.
Its core principle lies in using blood as a catalyst and iron as a bone.
Gu Yan mixed the metal scraps into the specially made pulp, then poured the fifty catties of iron scraps into a large vat, along with a large amount of glutinous rice paste and tung oil.
Finally, he painfully cut his wrist and put in a fingernail-sized amount of his semen.
He rolled up his sleeves, and his iron hands, which had just been strengthened by the medicinal bath, plunged directly into the vat and began to stir it frantically.
The iron filings were so sharp that an ordinary person would be cut and bleeding profusely in no time.
But Gu Yan possessed the properties of copper skin at this moment. When the iron filings grazed his skin, they left only white marks and made a grinding sound that made one's teeth ache.
While making the paste, they were also practicing their hand techniques.
An hour later, a vat of thick, dark red paste, gleaming with a metallic sheen, was ready.
Gu Yan disassembled the original paper figure "Iron Demon".
He used this new paste to reapply it layer by layer to the bamboo frame, and with each layer, he used the heat of his iron filings to dry it, so that the iron filings and paper fibers would blend perfectly.
This time, he did it with even more meticulousness and even more madness.
He was no longer content with simply being a big thug.
He left a cavity in the chest and abdomen of the paper figure, which he filled with dried grass soaked in realgar wine and sharp barbs.
Once the paper figure is broken, it becomes a trap where everyone perishes.
Night falls.
When the final step was completed, the brand-new paper figure stood before Gu Yan.
It's a size smaller than before, no longer so bulky and burly, but instead looks more lean and muscular.
It has a deep black iron color throughout, with a faint metallic sheen on the surface.
Remodeling successful.
Paper Puppet: Iron-Willed Ferocious God (Upgraded Version)
[Quality: Rare]
【Characteristic 1: Iron Skin (Mixed with refined iron filings and a secret medicine, impervious to swords and spears, and difficult to be harmed by ordinary iron)】
【Characteristic 2: Heat Poison (Attacks inflict fire poison, with additional damage against evil and malevolent entities)】
[Combat strength assessment: Equivalent to a peak "Skin Refinement" level martial artist in human martial arts.]
Peak of skin training.
Gu Yan looked at the evaluation on the panel, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.
In this world, martial arts are divided into several levels, such as skin training, flesh training, tendon strengthening, and bone forging.
Ma San's kind of guy hasn't even mastered basic skin-training; he's just a second-rate brute.
Now, this paper doll, which is completely obedient to him, has surpassed the strength of most gang thugs.
This is the real trump card.
Just as Gu Yan was admiring his masterpiece, a commotion suddenly broke out outside.
Even from several streets away, you could hear the deafening gongs and drums, as well as the terrified screams of the crowd.
Gu Yan frowned.
He immediately controlled the little paper figure that had been lurking on the roof to run towards the source of the sound.
Switching perspectives.
In the scene, flames can be seen shooting into the sky from the south of the city.
A group of people dressed in black and wearing ferocious masks were carrying a large red sedan chair, parading through the city.
The sedan chair had no bottom; four strange legs covered in black hair stretched out from underneath, crawling on the snow.
At the very front of the procession, two pale, human-skin lanterns were hung on two bamboo poles, with two bloody characters written on them: "Welcoming the Bride".
That's the direction leading to the Shen family's house.
Gu Yan withdrew his gaze, his expression becoming somewhat solemn.
So fast?
Shen Youwei came to ask for help last night, and tonight this "Master Yin" sent people to forcibly marry her?
Moreover, the fact that they were so blatant and didn't even try to avoid the authorities suggests that what was behind this was even more brazen than he had imagined.
Gu Yan touched the silver notes in his pocket.
Having taken someone's money, the karmic consequences are already settled.
Logically, he should be asleep now, pretending he knows nothing.
But the intense yin energy emanating from the wedding procession caused his control panel to keep displaying warnings, and his heart to pound uncontrollably.
That's not fear.
That was longing.
The panel seemed eager to devour that yin energy.
Gu Yan glanced at the newly upgraded "Iron-Bone Fierce God" beside him, and then at his own hands, which gleamed with a metallic sheen.
I've made up my mind to go and take a look.
Don't take action unless absolutely necessary; just see if you can find a bargain.
Gu Yan put on a newly made paper mask of a demon, put the Iron-Bone Ferocious God into the specially made huge basket, carried it on his back, and disappeared into the vast night.