Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Mastery of the Nine Skills

"Breakthrough!"Boom!

Shen Qing, holding his hands in a circular embrace, was suddenly invigorated.

The moment he broke through, he felt a warm current rising from his Dantian, rushing through his meridians.

Each time this warm current completed a Grand Circulation within his body, it grew stronger by a degree.

In the blink of an eye, the warm current grew from the size of a thumb to a ceaselessly flowing stream.

Shen Qing felt his Qi-Blood rapidly strengthening. His muscles swelled as if being inflated, every inch of skin filled with explosive power.

Until it reached a certain equilibrium, the phenomenon gradually subsided.

[Skill: Nine Skills (Mastered)]

[Progress: 3/300 points]

[Status: Cannot be upgraded]

Shen Qing found a stone bar in the room, grasped it with one hand, and with a sudden effort, the stone bar shattered into pieces that fell to the ground.

He somewhat incredulously looked at his own right hand, a feeling of ecstasy surging in his heart.

"I did it!"

With such strength, even Chen Yuan could be easily handled.

Although there was still a gap from true Martial Arts, he could not yet be compared to a real martial master.

But now, having surpassed Chen Yuan, within Hongshan Village, there was no one who could match him in terms of strength.

In such a chaotic environment, possessing such power made him feel reassured.

In the afternoon, Hongshan Village was thrown into chaos.

Outside the Chen Family's home.

Chen Youguang summoned many of the village's folks to his doorstep.

Seeing that most had arrived, he no longer delayed. He and his son Chen Yuan stood to the left and right of a carriage and loudly announced, "Listen up, everyone!"

"Starting today, all the hunters in Hongshan Village will be trading with me on behalf of the Boss. This year, all the villages had excellent harvests. The Boss said the purchasing price would be thirty percent lower than before." Sёarᴄh the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

As soon as these words were said, the crowd that had gathered erupted, their hearts ignited, causing a collective uproar.

"What? Thirty percent lower? Isn't this bullying!" a burly hunter said incredibly dissatisfied, his face full of hostility.

"Exactly, the game has been selling well this winter! The Boss is trying to take advantage of us!"

"Lowering it by thirty percent, wouldn't we have worked for nothing all year, unable to even pay our taxes!" a hunter from the Zhang Family said, waving his fists indignantly.

Shen Qing, hiding among the crowd, opened his mouth but ultimately chose not to speak.

He looked toward his uncle Shen Er, who was frowning, clearly dissatisfied and surprised by this decision: "How could the Boss do this, last time the prices were fine, how can they suddenly drop them so much!"

The villagers were all talking at once, filled with dissatisfaction and complaints, the atmosphere suddenly becoming tense.

Chen Youguang observed the villagers' reactions expressionlessly, as if he had anticipated this uproar. He quietly waited for their voices to gradually subside.

Then he slowly spoke, his voice steady and forceful: "Everyone, please listen to me. I understand your dissatisfaction, as this affects everyone's personal interests, but please also understand the Boss's predicament. With more people selling, the price will inevitably drop."

He paused, looked around to make sure everyone was listening, sighed and said: "However, considering everyone's hard work, I don't plan on profiting from you all. So altogether we need to decrease it by ten percent, which is the biggest concession I can offer."

Chen Youguang's words somewhat calmed the people in the village.

Although lowering the purchasing price was still displeasing, it seemed that Chen Youguang at least made some compromise.

The hunters of Hongshan Village began to whisper to each other, discussing the new proposal.

"A ten percent decrease, though still somewhat disappointing, is much better compared to thirty percent," Uncle Shen Er said with a sigh.

"Yes, what we can do next is to try to hunt more game to increase our income."

Another hunter from the Zhang Family had no choice but to lower his head as well.

In fact, facing the powerful Chen Youguang's family, they had no other options.

Shen Qing observed these people closely.

Having lived through two lifetimes, he saw clearly the small schemes of Chen Youguang who played the trick of lifting at first to knock down later.

He could hear the calculations being made from a great distance away.

If he was not mistaken, Boss in the city didn't actually intend to lower the price for purchasing game, and it was Chen Youguang's own initiative to reduce it by such a significant amount.

The difference in margin went entirely into the pockets of him and his father.

What was more terrifying was that two of their sons had just died by his own hand.

These past few days, their family had acted as if nothing had happened and had briskly started the purchasing business.

All they saw was money.

Their family was indeed somewhat cold-hearted and frightening.

"Right, there's another thing I need to mention," Chen Youguang looked around at everyone, patted the pushcart beside him, and said, "My family's cart is quite small, so it can't carry people when hauling goods in the future, I hope everyone can bear with this."

Compared to the issue of lowering purchase prices, not taking people into the city seemed trivial.

However, some of the smart hunters in the village had already figured out the implication.

From now on, only valuable and easy-to-carry game like delicacies, foxes, or minks would be worth making a trip.

The rest of the game, if just usual price, was not worth the half-day walk to the county town on their own anymore.

Chen Youguang had indirectly increased the cost of selling on their own, thereby coercing the hunters to turn over their game for him to purchase.

It was an outright blatant scheme.

At this time, Shen Qing couldn't help but frown deeply.

The way this father and son from the Chen Family ate was quite unsightly.

"Alright, everyone knows now, right? If anyone has suitable game, come exchange it for money with me. If the weather is good tomorrow, I will make a trip to the city."

Chen Youguang's face bore a slight smile as he took a heavy bag of large coins from his sleeve, held it in his hand, and shook it in front of everyone, making the sound of copper coins clinking.

"I'll go."

Chen Family's fifth son, beaming with joy, carried a colorful pheasant, feathers and all, placed it on the cart, and happily took one hundred wen.

After him, a few other Chen family members sold several pieces of game.

"Anyone else?"

"I didn't bring it with me; I'll fetch it from home."

"I need to discuss with my wife back home."

"…"

All the men present, old and young alike, were not fools. This matter involved a family's livelihood and was a significant issue, one that couldn't be decided immediately.

"Alright then, I'll wait for you all until tomorrow morning. After tomorrow morning, when I'll go to the county again is uncertain,"

"Everyone in the village knows now, right? Is there any family not yet informed?"

"Not a single member from the Tian Family is here!"

At that moment, Chen Yuan suddenly interjected.

"Hmm?" Chen Youguang glanced at the crowd, looking puzzled at Chen Yuan, "What's the meaning of the Tian Family? Chen Yuan, go check it out."

"Yes, Grandfather."

After saying this, Chen Yuan, accompanied by the Old fifth and several other Chen family members, squeezed through the crowd, and headed straight towards the Tian Family's location.

In the crowd, Shen Qing suddenly had a bad premonition.