Martial Arts Sainthood Begins with the Tiger-Taming Fist

Chen Mo did not take the bottle and the brocade box, but waited for the other party's reply.

Yin Shanshan's eyes flickered, and she withdrew her hand first. "You saved me that night, didn't you?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Mo did not deny it and nodded.

Seeing Chen Mo admit it, Yin Shanshan felt a weight lifted from her heart and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Then she said, "Don't worry, I don't care what you did at the brothel, and I won't ask."

She paused slightly at this point, then said, "But you saved me, and I must repay this kindness."

Repaying a debt of gratitude?

Chen Mo had already guessed some of it.

"I just happened to be passing by, you don't need to take it to heart."

In ancient times, women valued their reputation most, and if a man protected their reputation, they would often repay him with their bodies.

At the very least, they would repay the kindness with something.

Yin Shanshan should be the latter.

She was the daughter of a highly talented gym owner, and this arrogance was ingrained in her bones. Even if she had some feelings for Chen Mo, she would never show them to his face.

Perhaps in her view, Chen Mo was not outstanding enough for her to do such a thing.

"This bottle contains Qi Gathering Pills."

Yin Shanshan pointed to one of the bottles.

Chen Mo knew about the Qi Gathering Pill, which had similar effects to the Qi-Boosting Powder, but was more expensive and better.

"This other bottle contains hemostatic pills, used to stop bleeding from external injuries."

Both bottles contained top-quality elixirs, and were quite expensive.

Then, she opened the wooden brocade box, inside which lay a half-withered herb. "This is a ten-year-old Tianxin sunflower, which I have treasured for a long time."

After speaking, he handed over three items.

Chen Mo accepted the two bottles, but after hesitating for a moment, he decided not to accept the Heavenly Heart Sunflower.

It wasn't that he was being pretentious, but rather that a ten-year-old Tianxin Kui was simply too precious. He had heard Ji Chang say that even a three-year-old ordinary herb cost more than ten taels of silver, let alone Tianxin Kui, which had the effect of strengthening bones and muscles.

But Yin Shanshan insisted on putting it in his hand, saying, "You're going to take the martial arts exam, and this will be helpful for you to break through to the Dark Force realm. My father hopes that one of the three of you can become a martial arts scholar, and Senior Brother Yue and Senior Brother Li don't lack these medicines."

Upon hearing this, Chen Mo no longer hesitated and accepted it.

With this Heavenly Heart Sunflower, breaking through to the Dark Force realm will be much safer.

After accepting the gift, he immediately clasped his hands in thanks and said, "Thank you for your gift, Senior Sister!"

Yin Shanshan smiled brightly, "Junior brother, please accept it with peace of mind!"

After they finished speaking, the two walked out of the inner room side by side.

Chen Mo continued practicing his stances and boxing, while Yin Shanshan found a quiet spot to practice her Soft Cloud Hands.

……

After noon.

After finishing his practice, Chen Mo leaned against the boxing post, wrung out his sweat-soaked martial arts clothes, and then went to the iron furnace room.

After a short walk, we arrived at the iron furnace. It had been a long time since we'd been there, and while it hadn't changed much, it…

He discovered that Zhang Cai was missing.

So Chen Mo asked Master Wu, who was standing nearby, and learned that Zhang Cai was on the list of those to be sacrificed alive the next day.

"Live sacrifices have been happening more and more frequently lately. I don't know what the Black Tiger Hall is up to. It's making everyone feel uneasy."

Master Wu sighed softly.

Chen Mo was startled, and some memories flooded his mind...

He still remembered when he and Chen Lan were desperate and hadn't eaten for two days. It was Zhang Cai who stole two dry biscuits from his home, which kept them alive.

Several years have passed since then.

But Chen Mo never forgot, and later often gave Zhang Cai some copper coins to help him through difficult times. Although each time it was only a few, it was money to survive for people like them.

only……

Since Chen Mo embarked on the path of martial arts, his contact with Zhang Cai has not been as frequent as before.

He secretly blamed himself, then said, "Master Wu, I'm going out for a bit."

A moment of effort.

When he arrived at Zhang Cai's house, it was a dilapidated house that was not much better than his own.

At that moment, he seemed to hear sobbing coming from inside the house.

"Knock knock knock—"

After a moment, the door was opened, revealing the face of a trembling old woman.

Upon seeing that it was Chen Mo, the tension on the other person's face immediately eased.

"It's Amo..."

Chen Mo said, "Hello, Aunt Shen, Zhang Cai, he..."

Aunt Shen suddenly realized something, burst into tears, and knelt down in front of Chen Mo with a thud. "Amo, I beg you, please save Xiao Cai, please save Xiao Cai..."

Chen Mo was taken aback and immediately helped her up. "Aunt Shen, let's go inside and talk."

Aunt Shen wiped away her tears and, with Chen Mo's help, went into the house. She wanted to get Chen Mo a stool, but found that all the items in the house had already been pawned.

Chen Mo could tell that Aunt Shen seemed to have aged a lot overnight.

At this moment, Zhang Cai squatted in the corner, staring blankly into space.

Aunt Shen's tears flowed again. "We've pawned everything we could, but we still can't scrape together three hundred coins. What are we going to do now, Ah Mo..."

"Three hundred characters?"

Chen Mo was surprised, "It used to be 150 copper coins, and it has doubled so quickly. The Black Tiger Hall really treats human life like dirt."

He walked up to Zhang Cai, took out a silver ingot from his pocket, and stuffed it into the other man's hand.

When Zhang Cai's blank eyes caught a glimpse of light on the silver ingot, a little bit of life suddenly returned.

He turned to look at Chen Mo.

"Ah Cai, take this," Chen Mo said. "After exchanging it for copper coins, three hundred copper coins will be enough to give to the Black Tiger Hall."

Zhang Cai held up the silver ingot, his hands trembling uncontrollably.

For him, this silver ingot was a new life.

"Yes! Amo, thank you!"

He nodded emphatically and burst into tears.

Chen Mo stood silently, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

At present, he can only help Zhang Cai raise enough money for the tribute grain; as for his status as a Ming Jin martial artist, he has no say in it at all.

For these impoverished people at the bottom of society, class distinctions are an inescapable constraint imposed upon them!

Seeing this, Aunt Shen also came over and bowed deeply. Chen Mo immediately reached out his hands to help her up.

Aunt Shen sobbed, "Ah Mo, you are truly our family's greatest benefactor! Our greatest benefactor! How can we ever repay you!"

Chen Mo immediately said, "Aunt Shen, please don't say that. Ah Cai and I have been close since childhood, and we've always helped each other along the way."

In today's world, under immense pressure, most people are cynical and self-serving. People like Zhang Cai and Chen Mo, who sincerely support each other, are few and far between.

At this moment, Zhang Cai suddenly remembered something, walked over and whispered in Chen Mo's ear, "Amo, there's something I need to tell you."

"When I was feeling down yesterday, I went to a pavilion about two miles from the iron furnace and lay behind a rock in a daze. Suddenly, two people went into the pavilion to talk in secret. It seemed like... it seemed like one was the leader of the Black Tiger Hall and the other was the head of the Zhao family."

"Zhao Huayuan?"

Chen Mo's expression hardened slightly. "Did you hear their conversation?"

Zhang Cai recalled a few fragments and said, "It was windy at the time, so I didn't hear the whole thing. I only heard bits and pieces of what the Black Tiger Hall Master asked the Zhao family head to cooperate on something. The Zhao family head initially refused, but later he must have reluctantly agreed."

Upon hearing this, Chen Mo pondered for a moment, and then his expression suddenly changed.