The borderlands were treacherous, a well-known fact. Even if one were to exhaust their entire fortune, no one would willingly go to the border to fight with the barbarians.

Chen Yuan chuckled softly.

"What's your name?"

"This humble one... Liu Yishou," the man said quickly.

"Who are you with?"

There were many gangs in Ping An County. Not only pickpockets but even beggars were generally organized. Without someone to protect them, they couldn't survive.

"Song Laoliu of the south of the city..." Liu Yishou didn't dare to hide anything.

He even hoped that this officer would spare him for Song Laoliu's sake.

Theft wasn't a major crime, but it would inevitably lead to some suffering. If his name was crossed out and he was sent to the border, he would be truly unlucky.

"Song Laoliu... the one who runs the gambling den?"

"Yes... yes, that's him. Song Laoliu started as a thief leader, but even after the gambling den became successful, he didn't give up that line of work."

"Most of the people in Ping An County who are in this line of work have some connection with him."

Chen Yuan's eyes flickered slightly, and the strength in his hand loosened a little. "What relationship does Song Laoliu have with the people in the yamen?"

"This... this humble one doesn't know."

"How much silver are you willing to pay to save your life?"

"This humble one... this humble one only has one tael of silver... and is willing to offer it all to the officer." Liu Yishou hurriedly took out a piece of broken silver from his sleeve, his face showing a lot of pain.

One tael of silver was worth a string of coins, equivalent to a thousand copper coins, and yet he had to sacrifice one tael of silver for a mere hundred copper coins.

A big loss!

Chen Yuan accepted the broken silver. Even a mosquito is meat, and besides, one tael of silver was not a small amount. His monthly salary plus some side income didn't exceed two taels.

Strictly speaking, this was also a type of side income.

"Alright, get lost..." Chen Yuan waved his hand.

"Thank you, Officer, for your kindness..." Liu Yishou quickly bowed and then turned and quickly disappeared into the crowd.

......

As dusk approached, most of the bustling people in the county town began to return home, but Chen Yuan had just finished a hundred swings of his knife.

Every day, at least two hundred swings of the knife, was what Chen Yuan had decided after discovering his golden finger.

He had maintained this for several days now, and his arms had gone from being sore at the beginning to being accustomed to it now. Of course, Chen Yuan's progress in refining his skin also contributed to this.

Changing into a set of ordinary clothes and letting a few strands of hair fall loose, Chen Yuan expressionlessly stepped out of the small courtyard.

From the moment he decided to embark on the path of the villain, Chen Yuan had already had the resolve to kill. The last time he killed Tie Shou at close range with a single strike, Chen Yuan recalled it and not only did he not feel disgusted, but he actually felt a sense of exhilaration!

Inside a small building.

Hall Master Wang, with a solemn expression, handed a locked small wooden box to Wang Er, instructing:

"This trip is related to whether I can sit on the position of hall master, so you must be careful." Then Hall Master Wang paused and continued,

"When I sit on the position of hall master, I can ask for a body refining technique for you, and I will also promote you well."

Wang Er was his trusted subordinate. The gang leader had been summoning them for meetings every night for the past two days and couldn't leave. Otherwise, such an important matter would never be handed over to someone else.

"Hall Master, rest assured, this subordinate can find the Huang family's entrance. Besides, Butler Huang will also send someone to meet me. This little one will definitely handle this matter properly for the Hall Master."

"Don't forget the words I told you."

"Hall Master, rest assured," Wang Er patted his chest and said confidently.

To make Wang Er work hard, Hall Master Wang said in a low voice:

"If I can become the hall master, I will be qualified to meet Head Constable Huang. At that time, suppressing that kid named Chen won't be impossible."

Wang Er looked excited. He had been coveting the little vixen of Zhou's Bun Shop for a long time.

Chen Yuan put on a black scarf and hid on a rooftop not far from the back door of the Huang family, staring closely at whether anyone was passing by below.

Giving gifts and bribes was unlikely to happen through the main entrance. After all, the target of Hall Master Wang's gift was the Huang family's butler, and he definitely couldn't let the Huang family know.

Chen Yuan's eyes shone with green light, observing the surrounding area for anything unusual.

After waiting for a long time, a drizzle started falling again. This kind of weather had been going on for several days. The clouds half-covered the moon, making the night even darker.

Just as Chen Yuan was getting impatient, a faint sound of footsteps entered his ears. Chen Yuan fixed his eyes and saw a thin figure in the distance alley cautiously moving forward, looking around.

Silently descending from the rooftop, Chen Yuan slowly crept over...

Wang Er took a deep breath, hugging his chest and lowering his head. If one didn't observe carefully, no one would be able to tell the bulge in his chest.

"Sasha..."

A figure also walking with his head down appeared in front of Wang Er. As the two gradually approached, Wang Er moved to the side, not wanting to cause any trouble.

But the man suddenly stopped and a flash of white light appeared, revealing a pair of deep eyes.

"Poof."

Before Wang Er could recognize who those familiar eyes belonged to, a long knife suddenly advanced, directly chopping off his head, leaving him no chance to scream.

At the final end of his life, Wang Er only saw a figure with his back to him, seemingly searching for something on his body.

"The matter has been exposed... Did the other deputy hall masters make a move? Little vixen..." Wang Er only had this thought flashed through his mind.

......

......

Light the candle.

Chen Yuan expressionlessly took out the wooden box he had searched from Wang Er, and after examining it, Chen Yuan drew his knife and chopped down, scattering wood chips.

Revealing the three small silver ingots and a piece of high-quality cyan jade pendant inside.

"Thirty taels of silver, and this jade pendant is worth at least five taels of silver," Chen Yuan's eyes sparkled with light. This trip was not in vain.

Thirty taels of silver was not a small sum. Even if he made contributions to the county yamen, he would only be rewarded with twenty taels of silver, which showed the value of silver.

With Hall Master Wang's status as a head, it would take at least two years to save up, and now, for his own future, he was willing to part with his wealth to ask the Huang family's butler to say a few words.

However... better a dead Daoist than a dead friend. Chen Yuan didn't have any psychological burden to intercept the silver. Not to mention that the Bei Hai Gang had oppressed Chen Yuan's family in the past.

Even just now, Hall Master Wang's silver was probably squeezed from the hands of the common people.

"With this silver, I can still exchange for three Tiger Bone Pills, so... entering the Blood Refining stage will be faster..." Chen Yuan thought to himself.

He was already twenty-one years old this year, and he was considered an old martial artist. If he didn't improve his realm as soon as possible, wanting to embark on a stronger martial path would be a fool's dream.

Ignoring everything else, as far as Chen Yuan knew, the Huang family's most outstanding disciple was only sixteen years old and was already at the Blood Refining stage. And this was just a family in a small county town.

By analogy, the strength of the young talents in the martial world was definitely beyond his imagination.

One step ahead, step by step ahead...

Since he was unwilling to be ordinary and decided to embark on the martial path, then he must work hard in this direction.

That night, Hall Master Wang waited very late...

—————

Thank you to book friend Wanli Canghai You Shi Jin, Feng Jiu Donghua for the reward of one hundred points.