Martial Arts Crossover: My master tricked Huang Rong into becoming my wife!

Night falls in the backyard of the Beggars' Sect branch.

A large iron pot was placed in the center of the courtyard, with firewood burning brightly underneath.

The dark, bubbling medicinal soup in the pot emitted a pungent, spicy aroma mixed with the smell of herbs, which wafted out and made the birds in the trees flutter their wings and fly away.

Chen Yanzhou stood shirtless by the pot, stirring it with a wooden stick in his hand.

"This tastes...it's like Chongqing hot pot broth."

He sniffed, then choked and sneezed.

This pot of "poor man's version of body tempering soup" costs only a few hundred coins. If it is truly effective, then the Beggar Clan disciples will have a benefit from now on.

"Let's give it our all!"

Chen Yanzhou took a deep breath, and after the water temperature dropped slightly and stopped boiling, he gritted his teeth and jumped into the large wooden tub that had been prepared next to him.

Immediately afterwards, a bucket of boiling hot medicinal soup was poured over his head.

"hiss--!"

Chen Yanzhou gasped, his whole body tensing instantly.

Pain! Excruciating pain!

The feeling was like countless ants pricking his pores with red-hot needles; the medicinal properties of Aconitum carmichaelii and Aconitum kusnezoffii were extremely potent, relentlessly drilling into his open pores.

The spiciness of the wild chili peppers only added fuel to the fire, turning his skin and flesh bright red, making him look like a boiled shrimp.

"Damn it... Old Liao really went all out!"

Chen Yanzhou gritted his teeth, not daring to move rashly, and quickly activated the Hundred Gathering Return to Origin Technique.

His inner strength rose from his dantian, attempting to soothe the violent medicinal effects.

However, the medicine was too potent, and when it collided with internal energy, it caused a tingling sensation in the meridians.

Immediately afterwards, a surge of heat penetrated from the surface of the skin into the depths of the bone marrow.

The feeling was strange, both painful and pleasurable. Chen Yanzhou dared not be negligent and quickly coordinated his breathing to guide the heat flow throughout his body.

Half an hour later.

As the water cooled, the originally pitch-black medicinal soup became much clearer, because the medicinal power was being absorbed.

Chen Yanzhou climbed out of the bucket, but his legs gave way and he almost fell flat on his face.

He leaned against the wall, panting heavily, and looked down.

Chen Yanzhou clenched his fist, his knuckles cracking.

At that moment, the courtyard gate was pushed open.

Lu Youjiao walked in humming a little tune.

As soon as you enter, the lingering pungent smell of medicine hits you right in the head.

"Cough cough cough! What's that smell?"

Lu Youjiao covered his nose and looked up to see a large black pot still steaming, a wooden bucket next to it dripping with water, and Chen Yanzhou standing shirtless in the wind, his whole body red and wisps of white steam rising from his body.

"Yanzhou? What's this...?"

Lu Youjiao stared wide-eyed, circling Chen Yanzhou twice with a horrified expression. "Are you trying to kill yourself?"

Chen Yanzhou rolled his eyes, grabbed his clothes, and put them on.

"Grandpa Lu, it's a shame you don't use your imagination for storytelling. I'm practicing martial arts here, do you understand?"

"Practice martial arts?" Lu Youjiao pointed suspiciously at the pot. "Practice with chili water?"

"This is called 'Forging a Golden Body in the Fire'," Chen Yanzhou said with a straight face, "This is an improvement on the formula left by my master. It is specially used to treat various muscle and bone weakness, rheumatism and bone pain, and can also strengthen the body."

Upon hearing the words "rheumatism and bone pain," Lu Youjiao's eyes lit up.

The Beggars' Sect disciples often live a life of hardship, sleeping in dilapidated temples and under bridges. Nine out of ten of them suffer from rheumatism, and even he himself experiences severe knee pain on rainy days.

"Does it really work?" Lu Youjiao rubbed his knee, somewhat tempted.

"Why don't you try it and see?"

Chen Yanzhou pointed to the remaining dregs in the pot, "These dregs can be boiled again, but the potency will be a little weaker."

Lu Youjiao was a straightforward man, and laughed.

"What's there to be afraid of! I slept in the snow for three days and three nights back in the day and didn't die, so why would I be afraid of this pot of bathwater?"

……

Fifteen minutes later.

A piercing scream tore through the night sky above the Xiangyang branch.

"Ah—! It's scalding hot! Chen Yanzhou, you little brat, did you put a knife in the water?!"

Chen Yanzhou sat on the wall, swinging his legs, listening to the howling and wailing coming from below, laughing like a fox that had just stolen some fish.

"Grandpa Lu, bear with it! The more it hurts, the more effective it will be! Think of your old leg pain, think of the future of our Beggars' Sect!"

Half an hour later.

Lu Youjiao slumped in the chair like a dead dog, drenched in sweat as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

But his eyes were frighteningly bright.

He tried moving his legs and feet, and the usual stiffness and soreness had mostly disappeared, replaced by a warm and refreshing feeling.

"Amazing..."

Lu Youjiao sat bolt upright, his face filled with disbelief. "This thing is deadly, but it fucking works! I feel like my legs are ten years younger!"

Chen Yanzhou jumped down from the wall and approached with a smile.

"That's for sure. If this recipe becomes widely available, our brothers from the 'Yiyun Division' will be full of energy again the next day after a long journey by taking a bath."

Lu Youjiao nodded repeatedly, his eyes filled with admiration as he looked at Chen Yanzhou.

"Yanzhou, what's wrong with your brain? You can even come up with this kind of folk remedy."

"This isn't a folk remedy, this is science... Never mind, I can't explain it to you."

Chen Yanzhou waved his hand and took out a piece of paper from his pocket. It was covered with the names and dosages of medicinal herbs, which was his improved prescription.

"Grandpa Lu, this is something you need to handle."

Chen Yanzhou's expression became more serious. "Arrange for reliable people to purchase these medicinal herbs. Remember, don't buy them from just one place in Xiangyang. Distribute them to surrounding counties and towns to avoid being targeted and having prices inflated. Especially for Sichuan aconite and aconitum carmichaelii, make sure to find someone knowledgeable to check them. Don't buy fakes, or someone could die."

Lu Youjiao solemnly accepted the prescription and carefully tucked it into his bosom.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of this. With this recipe, our Dirty Clothes Faction brothers will have an easier time in the winter from now on."

Chen Yanzhou nodded, as if he had remembered something.

"By the way, we can divide this medicinal bath recipe into three grades."

"Third class?" Lu Youjiao asked, puzzled.

"The best quality soup, with tiger bone and deer antler, is for wealthy merchants and tycoons. It's called 'Emperor's Rejuvenation Soup.' Charging him fifty taels of silver a bucket isn't unreasonable, is it?"

Chen Yanzhou counted on his fingers, "The medium-grade one, with added angelica and astragalus, is for our elders and meritorious disciples. As for the lower-grade one..."

He pointed to the big black pot, "Add chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, it's cheap and plentiful, enough to fill you up... oh no, enough to satisfy you."

Lu Youjiao was dumbfounded.

"Are you going to sell it?"

"Why not sell?" Chen Yanzhou said matter-of-factly. "These days, which wealthy family in Xiangyang City doesn't value their life? Our 'Yiyun Division' will not only protect their goods, but also their lives. This business is extremely profitable."

Looking at the child in front of him who was only a little over ten years old, Lu Youjiao felt a chill run down his spine.

This isn't some Beggar Clan disciple; he's clearly a cunning merchant in human skin!

but……

Lu Youjiao touched the prescription in his arms, and a smile involuntarily crept onto his face.

It feels so good to be counting money with unscrupulous merchants.

……

In the days that followed, the Xiangyang branch became even busier.

In addition to the daily handling of goods, dozens of large pots have been added to the backyard.

Every evening, a suffocatingly pungent medicinal smell permeates the air above the branch headquarters.

At first, the surrounding residents thought that the beggars from the Beggars' Gang had gone crazy with poverty and were cooking some kind of bizarre dish.

Until one day, Wang, the notoriously stingy man from the east of the city, was tricked by Lu Youjiao into taking a "royal rejuvenation bath".

The next day, Master Wang was radiant and walked with a brisk pace. He praised the Beggars' Sect's medicinal bath to everyone he met, saying it was a miraculous treatment that had even cured most of his years-long lumbar muscle strain.

In no time, the name "Beggars' Gang Hot Spring" spread like wildfire.

Taking advantage of the momentum, Chen Yanzhou had Lu Youjiao rent a bathhouse next to the "Yiyun Division" and put up the sign "Yiyun Health Center".

The bathhouse was incredibly popular as soon as it opened.

The first floor has a large pool, which is for laborers and ordinary people. It is the "chili water" invented by Chen Yanzhou. It costs ten coins per person. After soaking in it, you will feel warm all over, relieve fatigue and remove dampness.

The second floor has private rooms, exclusively for wealthy merchants and gentlemen. They use mid-to-high-end formulas and offer professional back-rubbing services provided by Beggar Clan disciples—of course, the back-rubbing technique was developed by Chen Yanzhou by combining modern massage and martial arts meridian theory.

"Ah—! Gently, gently! Ouch...that feels so good!"

From the private room on the second floor came cries of pain mixed with pleasure.

Chen Yanzhou sat behind the counter, listening to the crisp clatter of the abacus beads, and the smile on his face never faded.

"Manager, today's turnover is another five hundred taels!"

The accountant handed over the ledger, his hands trembling.

This isn't running a bathhouse, it's practically printing money!

Chen Yanzhou took the ledger, glanced at it, and nodded in satisfaction.

With this money, the plan to establish an intelligence network and secret outposts in the north can be greatly accelerated.