Becoming a Saint From the Iron Armor Skill-Chapter 36: The Tooth-Grating Bun

"I’m not joking." Qian Bin straightened up and said seriously, "There’s something you don’t know. This Brown Bear is a powerful Demon Beast. They are rare and only appear in the deep mountains and old forests far from the city, making them extremely difficult to find.

Furthermore, a Brown Bear is incredibly strong. Its body is covered in a tough, armored hide that’s difficult to pierce with blades, and its power rivals that of a Perfect Martial Artist of the Muscle Strengthening Realm.

In all of Linji City, with its population of over a million and countless experts, only a few Brown Bears are successfully hunted each year.

Pizzly Bear Blood is a Body Tempering Treasure Medicine for Martial Artists, so naturally, it’s extremely precious. The majority of such Medicinal Materials are in the hands of the Four Great Clans of the Inner City.

We at Luo’s Shop had to go through various channels and great difficulty just to obtain a small amount. We don’t have much in stock.

Fifty taels of silver is already the cheapest price you’ll find on the market."

After a moment of thought, Chen Cheng asked, "Aside from the main ingredient, how much do the other Medicinal Materials cost?"

Qian Bin carefully reviewed the list of Medicinal Materials. After a quick estimate, he smiled. "Every Body Tempering formula can only have one main ingredient to prevent the effects from conflicting. The rest are supplementary ingredients, which normally aren’t expensive.

However, this is clearly a formula for a top-tier Skin Grinding Technique, so even the supplementary ingredients are valuable Medicinal Materials. Buying one portion of each would cost about ten taels of silver."

A single Cultivation session of the Bear Skin Grinding Technique would cost sixty taels of silver just for the Medicinal Materials needed for the Herbal Decoction.

The Secret Manual says that even a Martial Artist with exceptional talent needs half a month to fully absorb the medicinal effects. Thus, you only soak in the Herbal Decoction once every half-month.

That’s soaking twice a month. It would take one year of Cultivation to reach Small Success, two years for Great Success, and three years to achieve Perfection.

For someone with lesser talent, the Cultivation time would be even longer.

In other words, even for someone with exceptional talent, cultivating the Bear Skin Grinding Technique to Perfection would require at least seventy-two sets of Medicinal Materials, costing a staggering sum of over four thousand taels of silver.

For Chen Cheng, such a vast amount of silver was an astronomical figure.

Chen Cheng had previously wondered why the Secret Manual specifically noted that a Martial Artist could cultivate several Skin Grinding Techniques simultaneously.

’It seems that the "great figure" Liu Yunfeng mentioned never expected me to successfully cultivate the Bear Skin Grinding Technique at all.’

’Are Liu Yunfeng or that great figure deliberately messing with me?’

But Chen Cheng felt that something wasn’t quite right.

’Liu Yunfeng has always treated me well; he wouldn’t deliberately mess with me. As for that great figure, it’s even more unlikely. I’m just a Preparatory Constable, not even an official one. The gap between a lofty personage like that and me is as vast as the one between heaven and earth.’

Chen Cheng frowned, pondering for a long time, but couldn’t make any sense of it.

Seeing him lost in thought, Qian Bin wasn’t in any hurry and waited patiently by his side.

In Qian Bin’s eyes, for Chen Cheng to successfully transfer from being a mere Prison Guard to the City Guard Department as a Preparatory Constable was no easy feat. He must have some connections.

Furthermore, the fact that Chen Cheng could produce a list of Medicinal Materials for a top-tier Skin Grinding Technique was in itself unusual. He must have a powerful benefactor, and the technique he was cultivating had to be top-tier.

If Chen Cheng were to actually purchase these Medicinal Materials from Luo’s Shop, he, Qian Bin, would make another handsome profit.

At this thought, the smile on Qian Bin’s face grew even wider.

’I made a hefty commission from that Red Sun Root Technique manual last time, and I’ll probably earn a lot from this too. Little Brother Chen is truly my personal god of wealth. It was a wise move to get on his good side.’

Unable to sort out his thoughts, Chen Cheng decided to stop worrying about the Medicinal Materials for the Bear Skin Grinding Technique for now. He turned and asked, "Brother Qian, how much silver would one set of Medicinal Materials for the Herbal Decoction of an ordinary Skin Grinding Technique cost?"

Qian Bin chuckled. "Those aren’t expensive. Take the Iron Sand Skin Grinding Technique, for instance. The corresponding Medicinal Materials for the Herbal Decoction only cost five taels of silver per set.

If you have exceptional talent, about a hundred sets of the Herbal Decoction would be enough to cultivate to Skin Grinding Realm Perfection."

Cultivating the Iron Sand Skin Grinding Technique would mean fifty taels of silver for the Secret Manual and five hundred taels for a hundred sets of the Herbal Decoction’s Medicinal Materials. The total of five hundred and fifty taels was close to what Chen Cheng had estimated.

"In that case, the Medicinal Materials for an ordinary Skin Grinding Technique’s Herbal Decoction aren’t too expensive," Chen Cheng voiced his thoughts. Of course, that was only in comparison to the Bear Skin Grinding Technique. To him, five hundred taels of silver was still an unimaginable sum.

’Not too expensive? Has Little Brother Chen really met a powerful patron and struck it rich?’ Qian Bin’s eyes flashed with excitement as he smiled and said,

"You have to understand, when cultivating an ordinary Skin Grinding Technique, the Body Tempering effect is weaker. It causes some damage to the body that an ordinary Herbal Decoction can’t fully heal. If latent injuries remain, they will flare up in your old age and cause immense suffering.

On the other hand, cultivating a top-tier Skin Grinding Technique provides an excellent Body Tempering effect with minimal damage to the body. Supplemented by a high-quality Herbal Decoction, you’ll heal completely without having to worry about any latent injuries.

Little Brother Chen, I still recommend you cultivate a top-tier Skin Grinding Technique. As for the Pizzly Bear Blood, if you buy it exclusively from our shop, I can talk to the Shopkeeper about giving you a ten-percent discount."

"I’ll think about it," Chen Cheng said, his face unreadable. He was only just realizing that Qian Bin had mistaken him for a big shot with deep pockets, and he couldn’t help but sweat inwardly.

...

After leaving Luo’s Shop, Chen Cheng strolled leisurely down the street.

The surrounding streets comprised the most prosperous section of Ruyi District. Even in the dead of winter, they were still bustling with people, full of life.

There were street vendors hawking their wares, Jianghu wanderers who had traveled far and wide carrying all sorts of weapons, and common folk weaving in and out of the shops.

People from every walk of life filled the streets, bustling to and fro, creating a lively scene brimming with the essence of the mortal world. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Amidst the bustling city, everything he saw and heard was a portrait of the common masses, and a thousand thoughts ran through Chen Cheng’s mind.

He, too, was just one of them—a face in the crowd, his life firmly in the grip of an unseen hand. Like rootless duckweed, he was unable to control his own destiny.

The only way to change his circumstances was by Cultivating the Martial Dao and becoming a powerful expert.

But Cultivating the Martial Dao was incredibly difficult! The Skin Grinding Realm alone was a barrier that had stopped countless Martial Artists in their tracks.

’Fortunately, I have the Iron Armor Skill, an Inner Breath Technique. Even without the money to practice a Body Tempering Technique, I can still cultivate the Skin Grinding Realm to Perfection.’

With this silent affirmation, Chen Cheng suddenly quickened his pace.

In the crowd behind him, a man in a gray, padded coat who had been tailing him from a distance, quickened his pace, worried he was about to lose his target.

Chen Cheng hurried along and rounded a street corner.

The man in gray also hurried around the corner, only to find Chen Cheng standing in front of a steamed bun shop. After a moment’s hesitation, the man stopped by an old peddler’s cart nearby, feigning interest in the wares.

The bun shop was small, a little storefront about a hundred square feet, run by a young couple in their twenties.

The husband was out front with a five- or six-year-old girl, calling for customers, while his wife worked in the back, kneading dough and steaming buns with a baby strapped to her back.

"Lord Officer! Care for some buns or steamed bread? Everything in our shop is fresh out of the steamer, piping hot and delicious," the young owner greeted him warmly.

"I’ll try two of the meat buns."

Chen Cheng announced casually, his gaze flicking nonchalantly toward the man in gray.

"Here you are, Lord Officer. Your buns."

Chen Cheng took the buns the young owner pulled from the steamer. He took one bite, and his expression suddenly soured. He started cursing,

"What is this garbage? These buns are hard as rocks! I could break a tooth on this!"