Early morning.
The mist was like thin gauze, and white frost had settled on the grass.
Before the courtyard gate, an ox cart slowly rolled forward. Yang Laosan, a peddler from Yang Family Village, sat on the plank between the two shafts, flicking the reins in his hand to drive the cart. In the cart bed behind him were two bulging hemp sacks, and beside the sacks sat Yang Jing and Yang Laosan’s son—another youth about Yang Jing’s age.
“Grandpa, Grandma, Mother, Aunt, Brother An, I’m leaving. You should go back,” Yang Jing said, waving.
Yang An stood before the courtyard gate, watching Yang Jing on the ox cart gradually recede into the distance. His eyes held a complicated look, both envious and emotional.
Compared to the others, this was Yang An’s first time seeing Yang Jing off.
As for Yang Jing, he had once felt some hostility toward him, feeling that their grandparents were biased.
But now, toward this younger cousin, he felt for the first time what it meant for blood to be thicker than water, what it meant for broken bones to still be joined by tendons. No matter how much he had once envied, resented, or been hostile toward him, once Yang Jing showed him goodwill, an uncontrollable sense of closeness rose in his heart as well.
“Grandpa, Grandma, Auntie, I’ll head back first.” After saying this, Yang An ran home in a flash.
“That boy must be going off to train again according to the method Jing’er set for him,” Madam Xue said with a smile.
Yang Jing leaned against the hemp sacks, thinking about the training arrangement he had made for Yang An.
Although he could not teach Yang An the Mountain-Shattering Fist, after training at the martial hall for so long, he did know some methods for tempering qi and blood. The most direct, crude, and effective among them was—lifting stones.
Starting from light to heavy, continually increasing the weight of the stones lifted to temper qi and blood, laying a foundation for formal martial training in the future.
“Yang Laosan, heading into the city again?”
At that moment, a somewhat sharp voice rang out, and immediately afterward, the ox cart came to a swift stop.
Hearing that voice, Yang Jing found it somewhat familiar. Then he remembered. He turned to look toward the front of the ox cart and saw a group of people blocking the way. The one at their head was none other than the big thug Feng Lei, whom he had seen yesterday.
“So it’s Boss Feng. What leisure brings you here to rest today?” Yang Laosan jumped down from the cart shaft and greeted Feng Lei with a chuckle. Then he fished out a palm-sized cloth pouch from one of the hemp sacks, tossed it to Feng Lei, and said with a smile, “These are mung bean cakes from Suxin Zhai, which the Fei family’s eldest madam loves most. Every month she has me go into the city to buy a good many of them. They taste excellent. Boss Feng, have a try, and let the brothers have a bite too.”
The Fei family was a famous wealthy gentry family in Wazi Township, not inferior to the Ning family behind Feng Lei.
Yang Laosan was only a small peddler. How could he have any real connection with the Fei family’s eldest madam? It was merely that the Fei family’s eldest madam had once bought mung bean cakes from him. At this moment, he was only using the Fei family’s eldest madam’s name as a tiger skin to frighten Feng Lei.
Feng Lei caught the little cloth pouch and stuffed it into his robes, smiling. “Many thanks, Laosan.”
With that, he gave a light wave of his hand, telling his men to move aside. He himself walked over to the side of the cart bed, his gaze falling on Yang Jing. “So it’s Little Jing. Are you off to the martial hall to train again? If you ask me, you might as well stop. In the end, what can you possibly train yourself into? Can you block a fist as big as my clay pot?”
As he spoke, Feng Lei raised his fist in a threatening show of force.
“Whether I can block Boss Feng’s fist, I don’t know,” Yang Jing said, shaking his head. Then his eyes lit up, and he said with some anticipation, “But I’ve arranged with a few senior brothers from the same school to go drink at Hundred Flowers Tower tonight. Why doesn’t Boss Feng come with me and see whether that senior brother of mine who has developed force can block Boss Feng’s clay-pot-sized fist?”
The corner of Feng Lei’s mouth twitched slightly when he heard this.
Although he was not a martial practitioner, he knew of the famed experts who had developed force.
Not to mention him, even Master Ning behind him would not dare easily offend an expert who had developed force.
The reason he dared bully the Yang family was because he was certain Yang Jing could not develop force. According to some rumors he had heard, on average, only one person out of twenty or thirty with the aptitude for martial training would become a force-entering expert.
“That won’t be necessary. I still prefer staying in the countryside. You lot go on,” Feng Lei said with a chuckle. The lumps of flesh on his face twitched, making him look even more vicious, causing Yang Laosan’s son in the cart bed to tremble in fear.
“Since Boss Feng won’t be entering the city with us, we’ll be going first. Until we meet again.” After Yang Laosan said this with a smile, he whipped the reins in his hand and drove the ox cart forward.
“Wait.” After the ox cart had gone six or seven zhang, Feng Lei spoke again.
His gaze landed on Yang Jing, and he grinned. “Little Jing, when you have time, advise your grandfather. Wouldn’t it be better to sell those two mu of fields to the north and exchange them for silver? You need silver to practice martial arts, and gathering with your senior brothers from the same school must also require silver for socializing. Don’t you think so?”
Yang Jing pressed his lips tightly together, his expression cold and heavy. He did not respond to Feng Lei.
“In a month, I’ll visit your home again. When the time comes, I hope everyone will be well. Hahahaha, go on, go on.” Feng Lei waved his hand with a light laugh.
The ox cart gradually went farther and farther away.
Soon, it left Yang Family Village.
Sitting in the cart bed, Yang Jing frowned slightly, a sense of urgency rising in his heart.
Feng Lei and that Master Ning behind him had now fixed their eyes on the Yang family’s two mu of superior fields north of the village.
Those were the Yang family’s last two mu of superior fields. The Yang family could still maintain itself now, and those two mu of superior fields played a major role in that. Moreover, the price Master Ning offered was not even one-third of the market price.
If they did not sell those two mu of superior fields to Master Ning, then the consequences...
Time slowly passed.
At noon, the ox cart finally entered the county seat of Yuhe County.
The county seat of Yuhe was roughly divided into the inner city and the outer city, each of which was further composed of many wards.
After entering the county seat, Yang Jing parted ways with Yang Laosan and his son, heading alone toward Chengping Ward.
Yang Jing arrived at Chengping Ward and followed the road past one courtyard after another, finally stopping before two vermilion gates.
Above the gate hung a rectangular plaque, upon which were written four large characters—Sun Martial Hall.
Yang Jing walked up to the gate and familiarly pushed it open and went inside.
Within the gate was a rather spacious courtyard. On both sides of the courtyard were rows of weapon racks, holding sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, poleaxes, hooks, forks—everything one could want.
There were also stone weights in the courtyard resembling the barbells of Yang Jing’s previous life, made of a long wooden pole with round stones fixed to both ends. Aside from these, there were stone locks, stone stools, wooden dummies, plum blossom stakes, sandbags, and other apparatuses for tempering qi and blood as well as skill.
At this moment, more than a dozen bare-chested men were training in the courtyard.
“Junior Brother Yang, you’re back?”
At that moment, a somewhat rough voice rang out.
Yang Jing turned his head and saw a tall, dark-skinned man walking over.
Information about this tall man also surfaced in Yang Jing’s mind.
This man was named Liu Maolin. He came from a family that ran a medical clinic, and he was warmhearted and honest by nature. He had already been apprenticed under the hall master for many years and ranked fourth among the hall master’s formal disciples.
“Greetings, Fourth Senior Brother,” Yang Jing hurriedly cupped his hands and said.
“Mm. You were gone a bit long this time. Don’t delay tempering your qi and blood. Go practice your fist technique. If there’s anything you don’t understand, come ask me,” Liu Maolin said.
“Yes, Fourth Senior Brother.” Yang Jing nodded.
Liu Maolin nodded with a faint smile, then walked over to another disciple to give him pointers.
Yang Jing took off his upper garment, baring his torso, and walked over to a pair of stone locks, preparing to first train his qi and blood and warm up.
Huff!
Yang Jing slowly exhaled. Looking at the two dull gray stone locks before him, his bronze back instantly tensed. Following the method in his memory, he bent his knees and leaned down. His rough palms clasped the stone locks, which were half a calf high, his fingertips turning pale from exertion. The veins on his forearms instantly bulged like coiling horned dragons.
“Hah!”
Amid a low shout, the stone locks were lifted steadily. The muscles of his waist and abdomen abruptly contracted into defined blocks, as if every inch of muscle was exerting force.
Time slowly passed.
As he continued training, sweat rolled down Yang Jing’s jawline. His skin flushed red as heat steamed off it, as if an invisible current of qi were surging through his body, rushing toward his limbs and bones with every exertion. Even his gaze grew increasingly clear and sharp.
“Junior Brother Yang, you’re finally back?!”
Hearing a sound from behind him, Yang Jing set down the stone locks in his hands and turned to look.
Two men and one woman walked over. Their complexions were all somewhat pale, and compared to others, the two men’s steps were obviously rather unsteady.
“So it’s Senior Brother Lü, Senior Brother Zhang, and Senior Sister Zhou.” Yang Jing frowned slightly, then a smile appeared on his face as he politely went up to greet them.
These three all belonged to the sort of martial hall disciples who had poor aptitude and did not work hard at cultivation. In half a year, if they still had not developed force, they would be expelled from the martial hall by the hall master, and in the future, they would not be allowed to go about outside under the banner of Sun Martial Hall.
Within Sun Martial Hall, there were also many small circles. Some were high-quality circles, while others were low-quality circles.
The original owner and the three before him were in the same circle. They spent their days neglecting martial practice, and every now and then they would go drink flower wine with these fair-weather friends.
What left Yang Jing most speechless was that the original owner was clearly poor to the point of death, yet he still repeatedly slapped his own face to pretend to be fat, taking the initiative to pay the bill for these senior brothers and senior sisters, all just to draw closer to them and gain some care from them in the future.
“Junior Brother Yang, your body looks much sturdier than before.” Senior Sister Zhou’s gaze fell on Yang Jing’s firm, full muscles and their smooth lines. Her eyes could not help but brighten as she said in surprise.
In the past, although Yang Jing had also had muscles, they had not been filled with explosive power like this, nor had they exuded such a sense of strength. Though he was still far inferior to some of the burly disciples in the courtyard, he was indeed much stronger than before.
“Maybe the tempering I did at home during this period had some effect,” Yang Jing said with a smile.
He was indeed not wrong. During the past half month at home, he had not been idle.
According to the ability described by the panel, he only needed to cultivate a martial art to its peak to break through without any bottleneck.
So his most important task right now was to cultivate the Mountain-Shattering Fist to its peak.
“Tempering at home?” Senior Sister Zhou was somewhat surprised.
Even when they were usually in the martial hall, they did not devote themselves fully to martial practice. Yang Jing would temper himself at home on his own?
Senior Brother Lü, however, did not care about what Yang Jing said. As long as one had not developed force through martial practice, at most one would only be somewhat stronger than an ordinary person. With Yang Jing’s aptitude, never mind that he was usually lax in his training—even if he trained with all his life on the line, his hopes of developing force would still be extremely slim.
“Junior Brother Yang, there’s a gathering at Drunken Immortal Tower tonight. Senior Sister Qi might attend. Come along,” Senior Brother Lü instructed out of habit, as if allowing Yang Jing to follow them to the gathering was a tremendous honor bestowed upon him.
“Senior Brother Lü, I have something to do tonight, so I won’t go. You all drink more and enjoy yourselves.”
Yang Jing said this with a smile on his face, though he felt somewhat speechless inside. On the way here, he had told Feng Lei that there would be a gathering with fellow disciples tonight, never expecting it to actually come true. But given the habits of the original owner and these people, gathering to drink was indeed a common occurrence.
In the small circle of the original owner and these few people, this Senior Brother Lü Yang was the leader. It was not only because Lü Yang came from a wealthy family, but also because Lü Yang was close to Senior Sister Qi.
Senior Sister Qi was named Qi Yun. She was a formal disciple of Sun Yong, the hall master of Sun Martial Hall, and ranked second.
From the memories Yang Jing had obtained from the original owner, Yang Jing knew that Lü Yang, Zhang Kehan, Zhou Lin, and the original owner had all curried favor with Qi Yun, wanting to follow her. It was just that Qi Yun did not value the original owner or Zhang Kehan.
Lü Yang and Zhou Lin came from wealthy families and could bring Qi Yun some benefits, but Zhang Kehan, who came from a commoner family, and Yang Jing, who came from a farming household, were of no benefit to Qi Yun at all.
In the memories Yang Jing had received, the original owner had, in order to make Qi Yun look upon him more favorably, taken the initiative to pay the bill after gatherings several times, incurring quite a bit of debt because of it. Yet he could not even get a polite word from Qi Yun.
Many times, Yang Jing wanted to curse the original owner. Everyone else had no hopes for him, yet he himself was also so utterly lacking in spirit!
“Mm?” Senior Brother Lü frowned, not expecting that this peasant boy Yang Jing would actually refuse after hearing that Senior Sister Qi might attend the gathering.