“That’s the Xiangqu Sect, a religious group that’s only recently started spreading in the city. Whenever they find someone suitable, they demand incense offerings and silver as tribute.

At first, they gathered quite a few poor folks, gained some momentum, and then used semi-coercive means to get a lot of silver, which they distributed among everyone. After that, they just kept growing bigger. Who knows why the authorities aren’t doing anything about it.”

Mr. Price spoke helplessly.

“If you run into them and don’t hand over some silver, this group will block your door every day and refuse to leave. You can forget about doing any business.”

“……” Henry Webb had no response.

He bought the medicinal herbs he wanted from the shopkeeper, calculated the silver, packed everything up, and left the shop again.

On his way back, he saw the Xiangqu Sect procession from afar once more.

A dense crowd—at least two hundred people at a glance—lined up in a long queue like a snake.

At that moment, these people were confronting several officers who had stepped forward to shout at them.

The leading sect members were being shoved back and forth, and it looked like they were about to be arrested and taken away.

Within the rest of the Xiangqu Sect’s ranks, there was a faint sense of something amiss brewing.

Henry Webb glanced from a distance, didn’t dare look any longer, and hurriedly quickened his pace toward the courtyard of Huishan Fist Grant.

He hadn’t gone far when he suddenly heard a scream behind him.

“Murder!”

Then came a burst of angry shouts, yelling, and screams of pain.

Henry Webb sped up, breaking into a jog as he rushed home.

He had only been practicing Huishan Fist for three months, barely familiar with the basic routines, and hadn’t even fought in a real match yet.

If he got caught up in this, who knew what might happen.

He ran all the way back to the courtyard, delivered the herbs to the inner room, settled the silver, and when Henry Webb came back out, he realized his back was covered in a thin layer of sweat.

He wasn’t sure if it was from fear or from running.

Having lived an extra lifetime, he knew better than anyone just how destructive these kinds of sects could be in times like these.

“What’s wrong?” Third senior brother Samuel Hayes glanced at him, a bit puzzled as to why a simple trip to buy medicine had left him so hot.

“Maybe I just got overheated from running.” Henry Webb replied in a low voice. “Let’s continue.”

He went to his spot and joined in lifting stones for training.

By evening.

After finishing his exercises, Henry Webb drank his medicinal soup, put on his clothes, and got ready to go collect homework.

Collecting homework for money every so often was one of his long-term side gigs.

But today, he felt especially uneasy.

His mind kept replaying the scene he’d witnessed earlier—the long procession of the Xiangqu Sect.

“I have to get stronger as soon as possible.” He subconsciously touched the Breaking Realm Pearl mark on his chest.

After all this time, the pearl was only halfway black; the other half was still its original color.

Leaving the scripture hall, he happened to pass by a pharmacy on his way home.

Remembering how he’d made medicine for his master before, Henry Webb had an idea and turned into the shop.

The air inside was thick with the smell of medicine, almost choking.

A woman in her forties, dressed in a long black-and-gray dress, was grinding something hard with a pestle.

Nearby, a lazy-looking assistant was wiping down the counter with a rag.

“Shopkeeper, do you have any ready-made formulas for daily nourishment?” Henry Webb asked.

“Ready-made formulas for nourishment?” The middle-aged woman paused, tidied her hair, and put down what she was holding.

“Just hearing you ask that, I can tell you’re an amateur. People usually get formulas from a doctor or have a pharmacist mix them. Who comes to a shop like ours and asks directly?”

Her voice was a bit hoarse, not sounding like a woman at all—more like an old man.

Henry Webb was momentarily taken aback by her voice, but quickly recovered.

“Lately, I feel like what I eat doesn’t keep me full, so I thought I’d see if there’s anything that can keep me satisfied for a long time after just one meal.”

“Meat, then. Meat is the most filling. I do have some fresh wild game here, but it’s a bit pricey. Take a look if you want.”

The shopkeeper turned and had the assistant fetch a stick-shaped piece of black, lean meat from the back room.

Thud.

She slapped the strip of meat onto the table.

“White-spotted black snake meat, ten taels per jin, no bargaining.”

Ten taels…

Henry Webb felt a pang—pretty expensive. He didn’t have enough money to buy much of it.

“This is fresh snake meat. I also have wild boar, wild ox, yellow-haired monkey, golden beetles, centipedes, scorpions…” The middle-aged shopkeeper rattled off a list of various meats.

Some were dried, some were fresh.

Henry Webb pondered for a moment.

He bought a little of each, and together it made quite a pile.

He spent all the money he’d saved up for so long in one go.

When he came out, he was carrying a bundle the size of a human head, filled with all kinds of dried and fresh meats.

With his haul, he returned to his home near Rat Alley.

Alone, he started figuring out how to cook everything. Second sister Emily Webb lived long-term in the neighboring room at Huishan Fist.

So at the old house, he was the only one living there, which was rather peaceful.

After some tinkering, Henry Webb turned each type of meat into minced meat, cooked them, and packed them into different bamboo tubes to use as bowls.

A total of twelve kinds.

He began tasting them one by one, observing the Breaking Realm Pearl on his chest to determine which meat offered the best value.