Martial Arts: My talent multiplier increased

Day .

When Fang Shi entered the Grade A courtyard, his steps were heavier than usual.

He looked around to make sure Fang Yuan was the only person in the courtyard before quickly walking to the stone table.

He took a heavy cloth bag out of his pocket and placed it on the table.

The cloth bag was opened, revealing fifty taels of silver inside.

"A waiter from the teahouse in the east of the city contacted me," Fang Shi said in a low voice, his throat dry. "He said that as long as I tell him the layout of the workshop, the location of the wooden box, and your work schedule, these fifty taels will be mine."

Fang Shi swallowed hard.

Fifty taels of silver represented his entire hope for several months, for a member of a collateral branch of the family.

But without the slightest hesitation, he slammed the money onto the table.

Fang Yuan glanced at the silver on the table, then at Fang Shi.

Li Jue's actions were two days slower than expected, but he was also more cautious.

Instead of sending people in under cover of darkness, they first looked for a breakthrough from within.

Fang Shi is the branch of the family who has been closest to him these past few days, so it's normal that he's being targeted.

"Put it away." Fang Yuan pushed the cloth bag back.

Fang Shi froze, pulling his hand back. "Brother Fang Yuan, I'm not here to claim a reward, I'm here to deliver a message!"

"I know." Fang Yuan picked up his teacup and blew away the foam. "This fifty taels is what you deserve. Take the money, then go find that shopkeeper and tell him everything."

Fang Shi's eyes widened.

"Tell him?"

"Yes. Tell him the workshop door is usually locked from the inside, but the window latches are a bit loose. Tell him the wooden box is on the middle shelf, and the brass lock is a regular padlock. Tell him I go back to my bedroom to sleep at midnight every day, without fail."

Fang Yuan put down his teacup and looked calmly at Fang Shi.

"Remember, your current identity is that of a traitor swayed by fifty taels of silver. Don't waste your breath, don't try to appear too clever, take the money, do the job, and leave."

Fang Shi's mouth was agape, his mind racing.

He recalled the rumors that Fang Yuan had deliberately spread in the past few days.

So that's how that scheme was set up.

Fang Shi grabbed the cloth bag on the table, stuffed it into his pocket, and nodded vigorously.

He turned and left, even faster than he had come.

In the east of the city, at the Li family mansion.

Li Jue sat in his study, listening to the gray-robed old man's report.

"Fang Shi accepted the money. He explained everything readily." The old man handed over a sketch. "This is the internal structure of the workshop. The wooden box is on the middle shelf. Fang Yuan always rests at midnight every day."

Li Jue did not immediately accept the picture.

He hated things going too smoothly. It sounded reasonable that a distant relative would sell core information for fifty taels of silver, but something still felt missing.

"Have you sent your own people to check it?" Li Jue asked.

"We sent spies to guard the courtyard wall for two hours last night," the old man replied. "At dawn, during the Fang family's shift change, I peeked over the wall from afar. The windows were indeed old-fashioned, and the latches were loose. The position of the shelves inside matched the map, and I could vaguely see a wooden box on the middle shelf."

Li Jue tapped his fingers twice on the armrest of the armchair.

The intelligence matches.

The guard was relaxed, and an insider betrayed them.

Everything is ready.

"We'll make our move tonight." Li Jue stood up. "Send Li Qi. Make sure he's clean."

Li Qi was a skilled member of the Li family's secret guards, at the early stage of the Bone Refining Realm. Sending a Bone Refining Realm cultivator to steal from a Flesh Refining Realm workshop was like a lion hunting a rabbit.

Midnight.

The courtyard was so quiet that only the rustling of the wind through the old locust tree could be heard.

Fang Yuan lay on the bed in the bedroom, his breathing long and steady.

Suddenly, his ears twitched slightly.

The doubled root bone not only brings abundant qi and blood, but also five senses far exceeding those of the same realm.

Outside the courtyard wall, there was an extremely faint fluctuation of qi and blood.

Very stable, very heavy. Early stage of Bone Refining Realm.

Fang Yuan didn't open his eyes. He began to mentally reconstruct the other person's actions.

A slight thud. The other person had climbed over the courtyard wall.

Extremely light footsteps moved along the base of the wall and stopped outside the workshop window.

The peeling paint on the window made a slight scraping sound.

The hinge turned without making a sound—the other party had wrapped the hinge with their qi and blood.

Fang Yuan remained lying upright, his breathing perfectly steady.

Now, all he has to do is shout, and the Fang family's guards will arrive immediately.

A petty thief at the Bone Refinement Realm can't escape.

But what good would it do to catch them? The Li family could just throw out a scapegoat, or even turn around and accuse the Fang family of framing them.

He didn't want to catch the thief.

What he wanted was for this fake prescription to naturally end up on Li Jue's desk.

In the workshop next door.

A slight metallic clanging sound. That was the sound of a brass lock being opened.

The sound of paper rubbing together.

Then came the faint sound of the latch closing again.

The window was closed again.

The footsteps faded into the distance.

The area outside the courtyard wall returned to deathly silence.

Fang Yuan opened his eyes in the darkness.

A very faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

The fish has taken the bait.

Li Family Study.

Bright lights.

Li Jue looked at the yellowed page on the table, a rare glint of fervor appearing in his eyes.

Standing next to him was an elderly man with white hair and beard, the chief alchemist of the Li family.

The old man took a magnifying glass and read through every single word on the prescription.

"Wonderful... truly wonderful!" The old man slapped his thigh, his voice trembling. "No wonder we couldn't replicate the medicinal effects of that mud pill. The artemisia root had to be roasted until charred! And this red peony root, soaked for two hours, perfectly unleashed its full medicinal power. And that final slow simmer was a stroke of genius, locking all the medicinal properties inside!"

Seeing the old man's excited expression, Li Jue's last trace of doubt disappeared.

"Can it really be made?"

"With this formula, I can get it into mass production in less than three days!" the old man said confidently.

Li Jue smiled.

He put away the prescription and placed it in an exquisite jade box.

"Order the deputy alchemy workshop to halt all current work and focus all their efforts on mastering this formula." Li Jue's voice carried an undeniable ruthlessness. "Allocate two hundred taels of silver to clear out all available artemisia root and red peony root from the market. Don't leave Fang Yuan a single herb."

The old man in the gray robe bowed and accepted the order.

Two hundred taels. This wouldn't be a financial blow to the Li family, but it was a huge sum for a trial production.

Li Jue didn't want to win; he wanted to kill her with a single blow.

For the next two days, Fang Yuan acted as if nothing had happened.

The workshop door remained locked.

He sets up a stall at the martial arts training ground every morning to instruct students on stance training.

In the afternoon, I went to the Mercenary Guild and sold the last few of my stock for an exorbitant price of three taels.

Fang Shi watched anxiously from the side, his lips blistering, but he dared not ask anything.

After two days, Fang Yuan's brocade pouch had gained another hundred taels of silver.

The total savings reached seven hundred and twenty taels.

We are getting closer and closer to the threshold of one thousand taels.

A first-class courtyard.

night.

Fang Teng stood outside the workshop window, his brows furrowed.

He overheard gossip from his neighbors during the day, saying that there was noise in Fang Yuan's yard at night.

He used a razor blade to pry open the window latch and climbed inside.

Moonlight shone on the wooden box on the middle shelf.

Fang Teng walked over and unlocked the copper lock.

It was completely empty inside.

Fang Teng sneered.

They made it all so secretive, they couldn't even keep the recipe a secret.

No, it's also possible that Fang Yuan transferred it himself.

In either case, this is a weakness.

Fang Teng closed the wooden box and left.

He didn't plan to tell his grandfather about it.

Fang Yuan is a valuable target; this secret can be sold for a good price later.

Day three.

In the east of the city, at the Li family's secondary alchemy workshop.

Beneath the enormous bronze furnace, the earth fire roared.

The entire alchemy workshop was filled with a pungent medicinal smell.

Li Jue stood three steps away from the bronze furnace, dressed in a clean, moon-white long robe, standing out starkly from the smoky, fiery surroundings.

The chief alchemist, sweating profusely, directed his apprentices.

"Stir-fry the artemisia roots until they're charred, then add them to the pan!"

"The red peony root has been soaking for two hours, pour it in!"

"Turn to a simmer! Slow down! Keep the heat steady!"

All the steps were strictly followed as written on Fang Yuan's piece of paper.

Li Jue watched the medicinal liquid bubbling in the bronze furnace and listened to the sizzling sound of the liquid reducing.

In the past three days, he spent two hundred taels of silver on medicinal herbs and suspended other businesses in the side workshop.

Once this batch is finished, he can drive the price down to five qian of silver per piece.

Fang Yuan, that kid who made his fortune selling scraps, will be completely crushed in the mud.

"Young Master, it's time to start the furnace!" the alchemist shouted.

Two shirtless men stepped forward and used iron hooks to hang the pull ring on the stove lid.

Li Jue crossed his arms and slightly raised his chin.

"open."

The iron chains taut, and the heavy copper lid was slowly pulled up.