Chapter 42: Bilin Soft Armor
Zhou Chen didn't think about getting any benefit from saving Xia Rong, but if he didn't mention it, Zhao Kuo might feel bad.

Zhou Chen thought for a while and said, "Well, I'm a martial artist. I wonder if there are any martial arts skills in the county government that I can practice?"
"There are quite a few martial arts, but these are things from the empire. The empire has regulations that they can only be practiced by people belonging to the empire. You are not from the government, so even Lord Xia does not have the power to give them to you at will."

Zhou Chen just said this casually, and he had no intention of joining the county government. "In that case, forget it."

Zhao Kuo pondered for a while and said, "I will discuss this matter with Lord Xia."

"Don't they say that the person must be from the government? Why do you want Lord Xia to turn a blind eye?"
"To be honest, it is not impossible for outsiders to learn martial arts from the yamen."

Hearing this, Zhou Chen was delighted and thought, "It looks like there is hope." Zhou Chen was just worried that he had no martial arts to improve his strength.

"I don't know what the solution is?"
"I can apply to let you hold a nominal position in the yamen. You don't have to do anything on a regular basis, and you don't have to stay in the yamen. You will not be bound by the yamen's rules in doing anything."

The reason why he didn't want to join the government was that he was afraid of too many restrictions, which he couldn't accept. Since it was just an honorary position, it didn't matter to him.

"Then I'll trouble you, Brother Zhao."

Seeing that Xia Rong was fine, the two masters Zhou Chen and Zhao Kuo felt it was inconvenient for them to stay here any longer. They left Leng Yiyao to take care of Xia Rong, and the two of them left the room.

"By the way, has any baby been stolen in the city during the days I was away?"
"That's strange. Ever since you ambushed them last time, Badao Martial Arts School has been quiet for a few days, and no babies have been stolen in these days."

"What about those people I caught last time?"
Hearing Zhou Chen's words, Zhao Kuo sighed and said, "Don't mention it. They were inexplicably poisoned to death the day after you left. Now there is no evidence, and we can't do anything to the Badao Martial Arts School."

Now the clue of this matter is lost again, but Zhou Chen doesn’t care. This is not something he should worry about.

Then Zhou Chen asked, "Brother Zhao, I wonder where in Qinghua County I can cast soft armor?"
"Why are you asking this? Although civilians can forge weapons, armor has always been controlled by the empire. If civilians forge weapons, they will be beheaded."

Zhou Chen told Zhao Kuo his idea and showed Zhao Kuo the Bilin snake scales he had collected. Zhao Kuo said, "It is actually simple to cast soft armor. Although it is controlled by the empire, as long as you are willing to spend money, you can still legally own armor."

"For example, the Wang family in the city has the right to cast armor, but they also have to report to the government. They will not cast armor for outsiders. If you want to cast soft armor, I can help you."

If ordinary people got these scales, they would basically sell them, and the price was not low. Looking at the scales in the bag, Zhao Kuo said, "These scales should be able to make three sets of soft armor."

"Just make one according to Yiyao's body shape, I don't know if the county government will accept the rest."
"Of course I will charge for this. How about this: I will pay one thousand taels for these and I won't charge for the manufacturing costs."
Zhou Chen didn't know the price of the phosphorus armor, but after hearing it was one thousand taels, it didn't matter and he agreed immediately.

“I wonder when soft armor can be produced?”
"Three days are enough."

Inside the secret room of Badao Martial Arts School late at night, a white-haired old man was concentrating with his eyes closed. Beside him was a large bowl filled with bright red blood. As the old man breathed in and out, the bright red blood slowly turned into a blood mist and went into the old man's nose.

After about ten minutes, the blood in the bowl had evaporated completely. At the same time, the old man's white hair was slowly turning black.

At this moment, the old man suddenly opened his eyes, and his hair, which had not yet turned black, instantly turned black. The big bowl beside him also exploded at this moment. "Hahaha, I finally did it."

The door of the secret room slowly opened, and Li Ba walked in from outside, "Father, are you done?"
This person is Li Long, the former owner of Badao Martial Arts School. "Haha, that's right. Now I have reached the seventh level of bone training. No one in Qinghua County can be my opponent."

If Zhou Chen were here, he would definitely be shocked, because at this moment the old man's strength had reached 400. Without the blessing of the demon pattern, Zhou Chen's strength would only be 160, which was more than a little bit less than the old man's.

Three days later, in the early morning, Xia Rong, who had been in a coma for who knows how many days, finally woke up. Leng Yiyao ran out excitedly and called Zhao Kuo and Zhou Chen. After the two of them arrived, especially Zhao Kuo, grabbed Xia Rong's hand and couldn't help crying again.

"Uncle Zhao, why are you crying? What's wrong with me?"
Xia Rong was still very weak at this time, and spoke weakly, "It's okay, everything is over, you have a good rest and I will come to see you later," she said while wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes.

Leng Yiyao had worked hard for several days and had not had a good rest. Seeing that he was fine, she went back to her room to rest.

It was not until the evening that Leng Yiyao woke up rubbing her eyes. After waking up, she saw Zhou Chen staring at her. Leng Yiyao asked curiously, "Brother Chen, why are you looking at me like that?"
Zhou Chen took out a piece of soft armor from behind and handed it to Leng Yiyao, "Try it on and see if it fits you."

"Wow, what is this thing? It's so ugly." Although he said it was ugly, he still put it on obediently.

This soft armor fits his body shape perfectly. "Yiyao, don't wear this soft armor except when taking a bath."

Later, Zhou Chen explained the reason to Leng Yiyao. When Zhao Kuo gave this soft armor to Zhou Chen, he told him that this armor could not be broken by a ninth-grade warrior. Even an eighth-grade warrior would have to use all his strength to break the armor.

If Xia Rong had had this armor, she would not have ended up like this. The two stayed in the county government office for a few more days. During this period, there had been no more baby thefts in the city. It seemed that the six people Zhou Chen arrested last time were the culprits. Qinghua County fell into peace again.

Xia Rong also took medicine for several days in a row. Although she has not recovered all her injuries yet, she is basically fine now. The first thing she did after getting out of bed was to run to thank Zhou Chen, because if it weren't for Zhou Chen, her nickname might have been lost one night.

That day, Zhou Chen sat on a recliner watching Xia Rong and Leng Yiyao sparring. Yes, it was Xia Rong. After a few days of getting along with each other, and with Leng Yiyao's care for him before, Xia Rong now treated Leng Yiyao as her own sister.

The two of them had been practicing swords together these past few days, which gave Zhou Chen some free time. Sitting on a recliner, Zhou Chen was wondering when to go back. Now that the clues in the baby theft case had been cut off, it was not a good idea for him to stay in the county government office all the time.

The night before he made up his mind to say goodbye to Zhao Kuo, the baby theft case happened again. Needless to say, it was definitely done by Badao Martial Arts School.

So Zhou Chen and Zhao Kuo teamed up and hid in Badao Martial Arts School again. After being treated by Doctor Hua, Zhao Kuo recovered.

Late at night, Zhou Chen and Zhao Kuo sat on a roof and looked at the Badao Martial Arts School below. The weather was bad tonight, with heavy snow falling from the sky.

This government office is just not efficient in doing things. They know who did it, but they just can't catch him because they have no evidence. Zhou Chen thought that why not sneak into Badao Martial Arts School and kill Li Ba while Zhao Kuo isn't paying attention, so that he won't be unable to return home.

(End of this chapter)