"I was fortunate to break through to Minor Accomplishment."
As Su Yan answered, Xu Guan reached out. His aura immediately changed, his muscles bulging, and his strong hand reaching out toward Su Yan like an eagle's claw. Su Yan's expression hardened. He activated his Stance Skill, his arm swinging out, force converging in his palm, meeting the attack with the Old Ape Supporting the Peak stance.
The claw and the palm collided. He immediately felt a massive force, which shattered the power in his arms like rotten wood. His stance broke, and he staggered back two steps before successfully neutralizing the force. His arms were vibrating and numb.
Xu Guan pulled back his martial momentum and laughed heartily: "Indeed, Minor Accomplishment in Skin Refining! Tax Official Fang, Su Yan's head tax is waived."
Fang Xueyun smiled and agreed: "It is as it should be. Truly a heroic young man."
"Thank you, Chief Constable Xu."
Su Yan, now exempt from tax, returned to the crowd, but his mind was extremely confused. 'This Xu Guan's move was merely a test; he didn't intend to harm me. But how does a mere Minor Accomplishment in Skin Refining catch his eye? Why?'
As he pondered, a crying voice reached his ears: "Tax Official, my... My husband, Guo Yun, was injured collecting Cinnabar Ganoderma a few days ago. We only managed to gather six qian of silver. Please... please give us a few more days."
The crying broke Su Yan's concentration. He looked over and saw that the person crying was Guo Yun's wife. The woman was frantic, tears streaming down her face. The junior clerk coldly replied: "Under the Dali Law, failure to pay the head tax results in forced labor. If I give you leniency, what about everyone else? Wouldn't everyone do the same?" The clerk had seen this situation countless times and would not show mercy.
The Village Head opened his mouth but couldn't speak. Soon after the Summer Tax, the Lin Family would collect the Mountain Fee. Adding the money needed for daily living, who could cover the shortfall for Guo Yun's family? Even if the Summer Tax was covered, what about the Mountain Fee? Guo Yun wasn't temporarily short of money; he was injured.
"I will pay the remaining four Qian."
Su Yan's voice rang out, surprising everyone. That's right, Brother Yan hunted a tiger yesterday and has silver! But wasn't he training in martial arts?
Everyone watched as Su Yan stepped forward and dropped the one tael of silver he had just held onto into the wooden box. The clerk was startled but marked Guo Yun's name as paid.
"Hurry up and thank him!" Someone urged. Guo Yun's wife immediately dropped to her knees, kowtowing heavily, her forehead hitting the dirt. The people around, including Su Yan, rushed to help her up: "Auntie, Uncle Guo Yun once helped me. There's no need for this."
"Thank you, Brother Yan. I will pay you back, even if I have to sell everything we own."
Others might not know, but she, Guo Yun's wife, Zheng Xiu, knew the truth. Guo Yun had indeed helped Su Yan before, but Su Yan had already repaid that kindness by giving them several Cinnabar Ganoderma nests, from which they had profited greatly. If Guo Yun hadn't been severely injured, requiring their savings for urgent medical care, they wouldn't have been in this desperate situation. Su Yan's willingness to help now was an immense kindness.
With the matter of Guo Yun's family settled, the other households, who were all prepared, finished paying their taxes, though tightly budgeting the silver. Tax Official Fang Xueyun and the clerks packed and sealed the silver, preparing to transport it back to the yamen. Chief Constable Xu Guan and the yamen runners were also ready to depart.
However, just before leaving, Chief Constable Xu suddenly said: "The Inner Door body-tempering supplementary arts at the Golden Ape Martial Academy are excellent. If you enter the Inner Door and have no plans afterward, come and try out for the yamen." With that, Xu Guan strode away, leaving Su Yan stunned.
After Chief Constable Xu and his men were out of sight of the village, one of the yamen runners finally couldn't hold back: "Chief, that Su Yan is only at Minor Accomplishment in Skin Refining. There are many of us here at that level. Why the special offer?"
"Why?" Xu Guan smiled, glancing at the runner. He knew many of his hundred-plus runners—forty or fifty officially listed as constables—where indeed Skin Refining stage martial artists. But Su Yan was different.
He merely raised an eyebrow: "Do any of your Minor Accomplishments in Skin Refining fighters dare to fight a tiger?" The yamen runner was speechless.
"Can you enter the threshold in ten days and then break through to Minor Accomplishment through mortal combat?"
"How is that possible?!" The yamen runner's eyes widened. Xu Guan did not reply but spurred his horse forward, taking the lead. The runner didn't know the full story, but the Chief Constable had more comprehensive information. He had informants in the martial academy who knew about Su Yan's victory over Wei Kang. He also had runners at the Mountain Market Town who knew when Su Yan returned to the market and when he fought the fierce mountain tiger. These three events had occurred within three or four days, and Su Yan's progress from Initiate to Minor Accomplishment also happened during that time.
If this young man was given proper resources, he would certainly reach the Tendon-Bone stage, and perhaps even the Blood Circulation stage. If someone hadn't personally seen Su Yan at the market, Xu Guan might have suspected he was the one who killed Niu Han. The descent of an exotic bug to slaughter several people was a situation unseen for many years. However, perhaps it was Pang Tianfeng (the wanted man) who did it after all.
On the other side, after Chief Constable Xu and his group left, the villagers returned to their homes to prepare for the next day's work, either mountain-trekking or farming.
Su Yan was about to leave when Guo Yun's wife, Zheng Xiu, grabbed his sleeve and pressed six qian of silver into his hand.
"Brother Yan, I only have six Qian now. When... when my husband is well, we will find a way to pay you back."
"No need for this." Su Yan pushed the six Qian back, but a question arose: "Uncle Guo Yun was collecting Cinnabar Ganoderma, wasn't he? How did he get hurt?"
The Cinnabar Ganoderma nests Su Yan had seen were in places with old stumps and undergrowth—not dangerous areas. If they were just collecting those tree-stump and fallen-wood fungi, there shouldn't have been an accident.
Guo Yun's wife said: "I don't know how, but when they went to collect the Cinnabar Ganoderma that day, they were burned by a bug that spit fire. Not only him, but a few others who went with him also got their hands burned, though not as severely."
Su Yan's eyes narrowed: "A bug?"
"Doctor Du said it might be an exotic bug. If they hadn't run away in time, they might have died."
"Auntie, please take me to see Uncle Guo Yun."
Guo Yun's wife paused, then nodded: "You are thoughtful, Brother Yan."
She led Su Yan to her house. Her son was in the courtyard, sun-drying the mountain goods. "Mother," the child called out. Seeing Su Yan, he immediately looked a little afraid.
"Quickly call him Brother Yan," she prompted.
"Brother Yan," the child mumbled.
She led Su Yan inside the simple house. A bamboo bed was set near the window, and Guo Yun lay on it under a blanket, his right arm exposed and wrapped in medicinal herbs. Where the herbs met his arm, faint scorched skin was visible.
"Ah Xiu (his wife's nickname), the Summer Tax... Brother Yan..." Guo Yun looked worried and tried to sit up.
"Don't move." Zheng Xiu quickly rushed to support him. "Brother Yan helped us out and lent us one tael of silver."
"Thank you, thank you, Brother Yan." Guo Yun was stunned, quickly offering his thanks. If he couldn't pay the tax in his current state, forced labor would be a death sentence, and even if his wife went instead, she wouldn't survive it easily.
"Uncle Guo Yun, I want to look at your injury." Su Yan greeted him and walked to his side.
"Brother Yan is capable. Please take a look." He offered his arm reluctantly. Su Yan examined the arm. It was charred black, as if burned by fire, with signs of festering.
'Fire poison, not just ordinary flame.' Su Yan's eyes flickered. His Herbology skill had been at Minor Accomplishment for a while, and he had handled countless poisons with the Dark Water Centipede. The moment he touched it, he felt something was wrong.
'It really is an exotic bug.'
He carefully placed the arm back down, then took out ten taels of silver: "Auntie, this is a fire poison injury. Simple wound-healing herbs won't be enough; it will leave lasting damage. Go to the Hundred Herb Hall and buy some Plague Clearing Powder. That will neutralize the fire poison. Send some to the other families that were injured as well."
"This... how can we accept this?" Ten taels of silver was a significant amount.
"If Uncle Xie hadn't been injured, he might have suffered the same. Everyone shared the misfortune. Consider this my thanks to everyone."
"Ah Xiu, do as Brother Yan says. Go now." Guo Yun suddenly spoke. Zheng Xiu finally nodded: "Please wait, Brother Yan. I'll find Brother Zheng (Zheng Penggang) to take me to the city." Zheng Xiu rushed out, desperate to save her husband.
Once she was gone, Guo Yun said: "Guo Yun thanks Brother Yan for saving my life. That bug must be an exotic bug. It might be helpful to you. It's located near the border of the Inner Mountain at the Cinnabar Ganoderma nest."