Around 6:30 in the morning, Ye Xiao exhaled a breath of turbid air. The Nine Yang True Qi inside his body had increased significantly compared to last night. He looked up at the four Heart Cleansing Pills on the table and couldn't help but crack a slight smile. However, at this moment, not a single ingredient for those Heart Cleansing Pills was left.

"Hehe, another four Heart Cleansing Pills, but the consumption of medicinal materials is really too fast. It seems I need to find someone to buy more," Ye Xiao thought to himself as he stood up, walked to the table, and carefully stored the four Heart Cleansing Pills, wrapping them in half a piece of waste paper before tossing them into the bedside drawer.

These were Heart Cleansing Pills—such rare pills. If any Martial Artist were present, they would surely think that Ye Xiao was squandering a precious resource. Such rare pills should, at the very least, be stored in a decent container, not just thrown aside.

There were now a total of six Heart Cleansing Pills in the bedside drawer, but in Ye Xiao's eyes, this was far from enough. His three disciples were bound to become his capable lieutenants, so it was essential for each of them to have a Heart Cleansing Pill. Only with perfected meridians would the path of Martial Arts be smoother for them in the future.

At the same time, there were others like Song Jiamin and Zhou Hao, who were close to him. Before, he didn't know about Alchemy, so he hadn't thought much about it. But now that he could refine pills, he wanted to share the benefits with them. As the saying goes, when one man achieves enlightenment, even his pets ascend to heaven.

Coming out of his room, he found the living room silent. Evidently, they hadn't gone to bed early last night and were still sleeping. Moreover, Su Yun, the homeroom teacher, had not yet woken up, so there was no rush for the students.

At this moment, Ye Xiao suddenly felt hungry and thought to himself, "Why not go to Qin Yulu's food stall for a bite?" So, he immediately left the villa.

Since he had a destination in mind, upon leaving Sunshine District, he headed straight for Qin Yulu's place.

Last evening, Ye Xiao had encountered Qin Yulu here, and from her conversation, her family's stall seemed to be near the Sunshine District.

He jogged all the way and soon arrived at the area with the food stalls, but as Ye Xiao approached, he sensed something was amiss. Curses and shouts were coming from over there, where around ten uniformed market regulators stood by the Qin family's food stall, yelling loudly at Qin Erzhu and his wife.

"Who authorized you to set up a stall here? Do you have a health permit? Pack up and leave, or I'll have everything removed right now," a young market regulator pointed at Qin Erzhu's nose and shouted loudly.

It's said that commoners should not contend with officials, and while it was clear these market regulators were causing trouble specifically for Qin's family, Qin Erzhu was furious but dared not openly object. After all, they represented the authorities.

"Brother, we've been here for a long time and have never needed a permit. We're just trying to make a living. Please, brother, help us out; consider it a treat for you guys to get some drinks," Qin Erzhu said, trying to stuff fifty yuan into the market regulator's pocket.

Usually, the market regulator would be secretly pleased and utter a few bureaucratic platitudes, but today, as soon as he saw Qin Erzhu offering money, he immediately grabbed Qin Erzhu's hand and shouted, "You dare to bribe a public servant in broad daylight? Overturn his stall, and take him away."

At the market regulator's command, the others were poised to topple Qin Erzhu's stall. This stall was their livelihood, and if it were destroyed, they would lose their means of survival. Typically submissive to the regulators, Qin Erzhu today refused to comply and instead clung fiercely to his stall. When several market regulators came over and saw that Qin Erzhu wouldn't budge, they started to pull him away.

However, though Qin Erzhu was not tall, he was strong. The regulators struggled to pull him away, and, becoming frustrated, they began to beat and kick him. That wasn't the end of it. One taller regulator fetched a wooden stick and, rather than hitting Qin Erzhu, started to smash the wares and coal stove on the stall.

Qin Erzhu could defend one side but not the other. Seeing his dear utensils, which he'd be pained to see even slightly damaged before, smashed to pieces, he charged toward the regulator, intent on wrestling away the stick. Seeing Qin Erzhu still resisting, the tall regulator kicked him hard. But Qin Erzhu was solidly built, and instead of going down, he grabbed the man's leg and pulled, sending the tall regulator crashing to the ground.

Seeing their colleague falter, the other market regulators rushed at Qin Erzhu. He may have been strong, but age takes its toll, and several regulators quickly had him pinned down, beating him mercilessly.

"Fuck, hit him! He dares to resist? If he gets injured or killed, I'll take the blame," shouted the most vociferous regulator, who had been loudly ordering around but remained on the sidelines.

Meanwhile, Qin Yulu's mother, who had been pushed aside by Qin Erzhu, cried out and ran forward when she saw her husband being beaten. But how could a woman defend against so many? She was shoved away by the regulators and stumbled, falling to the ground.

"There's no justice, no law!" Qin Yulu's mother cried helplessly, seated on the ground.

"Haha, justice, law? I am the justice, I am the law. I'm not afraid to tell you, you've offended someone you shouldn't have. Don't just stand there beating him; some of you go smash that stall to smithereens," yelled the market regulator to his subordinates.

The arrogance was so overbearing that bystanders could no longer turn a blind eye, especially those who used to have a good relationship with Qin Erzhu's family. But these were market administrators—who would dare to provoke them?

However, there always seems to be someone willing to take a stand.

Just as the head market administrator was swaggering and shouting, someone suddenly tapped his shoulder. The market administrator turned instinctively to look behind him, but as he did, a fist came flying towards his face. The market administrator had no time to react before the punch landed on his cheek.

Ah—

A scream; the market administrator spun in place and then crashed to the ground with a smack. As he landed, two bloodied teeth were ejected from his mouth.

This sudden turn of events had almost everyone frozen in shock. Good heavens, who would dare to hit a market administrator?

Even the struck market administrator was sweating coldly in shock. After being hit, he immediately looked up at the person who struck him. It was a young man, not very old, with fair skin and a thin build.

"Fuck, you dare to hit me?" the market administrator yelled loudly.

But as soon as the market administrator had cursed, the young man stepped firmly on the administrator's face, a cold smile on his lips as he said, "Only the officials of Xingzhou are allowed to set fires and the commoners can't even light a lamp? You hit others, but others can't hit you?"

"You motherfucker, do you know who I am? My cousin is a squadron leader in the Guard Bureau. If you don't want to die, you'd better kneel down and apologize now," the market administrator said, still very arrogant despite having his face stepped on.

Originally, the market administrator had intended to intimidate Ye Xiao with the name of his cousin. However, to his surprise, Ye Xiao was unafraid and exerted even more force.

The feeling of his head about to be crushed by the foot made the market administrator's previous arrogance dissipate in an instant, and he began to cry out, "Stop... Don't step on me anymore, I was wrong, I was wrong."

At this moment, the market administrators who had originally been beating Qin Erzhu immediately turned their attention to Ye Xiao and rushed over to surround him.

"You punk, do you want to die? Do you know who our boss is? The Guard Bureau's squadron leader Feng is our boss's cousin. If you don't want to rot in jail, apologize now," another market administrator said. Seeing their boss under someone's foot, they did not dare rashly approach, fearing their boss might be harmed.

The name of squadron leader Feng was usually very effective; they believed it would certainly intimidate Ye Xiao. However, Ye Xiao looked at the man and said, "Call that piece of shit, squadron leader Feng, and tell him that if he doesn't show up within twenty minutes, I'll kill his cousin."

Ah—

At this point, everyone was shocked, hardly believing what they were witnessing. Who on earth was this person who dared to provoke even someone from the Guard Bureau?

"What... What are you standing there for? Hurry up and call him," the market administrator yelled upon hearing Ye Xiao's words, shouting at his subordinates.

It was clear to him that only the arrival of his cousin could save him, and he was beginning to suspect that this young man might be insane.

On hearing their boss's words, the market administrators frantically began to call squadron leader Feng.

Ye Xiao, on the other hand, picked up a long bench from the side, using one of the bench legs to trap the market administrator's head, rendering him unable to move forward or backwards.

It was at this moment that Qin Yulu, carrying her schoolbag, walked leisurely by. She would come here for breakfast every morning but, upon approaching, she noticed that her family's stall had run into trouble.

"Dad, Mom," Qin Yulu rushed over to her parents who were sitting on the ground, her father's face covered in blood, and she ran to them in alarm.

"Yulu, take your mom and dad to the city hospital," came a voice from behind Qin Yulu. She immediately turned to find Ye Xiao seated next to a group of market administrators, and beneath him was one of them. Qin Yulu knew full well about the prowess of the market administrators, so she looked at Ye Xiao in surprise, clearly unsure of what Ye Xiao was intending to do.

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