Martial Sage from the Vajra Skill

Xu Yang and Wu Yongfeng looked at each other’s clothes, both thinking the other looked much more spirited.

"Come over, I’ll introduce you to the other brothers."

Zhang Bo called them over and began to introduce the others present.

Like them, the others had also just been recruited by the Liu Family from the Martial Arts Hall. They had all basically succeeded in Qi Gathering within the past ten days or so.

Xu Yang couldn’t help but wonder, ’What about the ones before us?’

For Tributors like them, who weren’t marrying into the family or bound by a marriage alliance, they were theoretically free to come and go. It was normal for people to leave at any time, so being short-staffed was to be expected.

But for so many people to leave at once, that wasn’t normal.

Either the Liu Family had done something to wrong the Tributors, causing them to leave en masse in a fit of anger, or... the previous batch were all dead, which was why the Liu Family had suddenly hired so many new people.

Sun Tao hadn’t mentioned this. It was unclear if he was deliberately hiding something, simply didn’t know, or just didn’t think it was necessary to say.

’I’ll have to ask around privately,’ Xu Yang thought. ’If it’s dangerous, I’m getting out of here immediately.’

He’d barely settled in, so of course he had no loyalty to the Liu Family. If there was real danger, he wasn’t about to risk his life for them.

The two of them didn’t stay long at the Liu Family residence, as another group arrived to relieve them.

Although the Liu Family provided them with rooms, they were only for resting during duty and they were not permitted to live in the residence.

The two of them left the Liu Family residence and returned to Weiyuan Hall to continue their training.

Seven days passed in a flash, and Xu Yang gradually settled back into the rhythm of this life.

Mornings at the Liu Family’s estate, and afternoons training at Weiyuan Hall.

In those seven days, he never met the head of the Liu Family, nor did he go out on any guard duty. It was as if the job involved nothing at all, other than showing up at the Liu residence for a meal each day.

As for his inquiries, he hadn’t managed to learn anything.

On this day, Zhou Yang sensed an opportunity to break through. He attempted it, but failed at Qi Gathering. Suffering a backlash from his True Qi, he was carried out of Weiyuan Hall.

Two days later, his younger cousin Zhou Yuan also failed to break through. The two brothers met a disheartening end.

The very same brothers who had once been so bossy and arrogant were now failures.

Another day later, Xu Yang was sparring with Wu Yongfeng when he heard that Luo Dehu was attempting to break through.

After a quick word with Wu Yongfeng, he rushed to the Outer Courtyard. By the time he arrived, Luo Dehu was already sitting on the ground, his face deathly pale, as though he were gravely ill.

Zhang Hong, Zhang Yong, and Qian Jiaxing stood to the side, looking at one another wordlessly.

"I’m out of the game!" Luo Dehu was completely crestfallen, all of his Essence, Qi, and Spirit seemingly drained away.

It wasn’t until Lu Ren appeared that a flicker of life returned to his eyes.

Though he had failed, he believed that as long as he followed Lu Ren, he could still make a living and wouldn’t have to go back to scraping a living from the dirt.

"Lu Ren..."

He struggled to stand, but couldn’t make it.

Qian Jiaxing made no move to help him, and Lu Ren remained rooted to the spot.

"Go back and live as a common man."

Lu Ren stared at him for a moment, then turned and strode away.

’What good is someone who failed to break through?’ Lu Ren thought. ’He can’t fight, can’t take a punch, and I’d have to spend money to support him.’

He wasn’t some rich young master; he couldn’t afford to keep hangers-on.

"Looks like those two-plus months of bootlicking were a complete waste," Xu Yang said with a smile.

He wasn’t the type to repay grievances with virtue; he found Luo Dehu’s downfall deeply satisfying.

Luo Dehu’s face grew even paler.

In the past, if Xu Yang had mocked him, he would have retaliated on the spot. But now, he didn’t even have the courage to look Xu Yang in the eye.

After resting for a moment, he staggered to his feet and disappeared from Weiyuan Hall for good.

Qian Jiaxing stared at his retreating back, his own thoughts a mystery. Perhaps he was wondering if Lu Ren would kick him to the curb just as easily should he fail to break through in a few days.

Zhang Hong and Zhang Yong rarely got to see Xu Yang, so they quickly forgot about Luo Dehu’s matter and struck up a conversation with him in a corner, asking for tips on breaking through.

Xu Yang wasn’t stingy, telling them everything he knew. He advised the two not to rush their breakthrough, and that it was best to spend more time tempering their bodies and building up their qi and blood with the Turtle and Snake Grand Posture.

"Xu Yang, I was wrong!" 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Qian Jiaxing mustered up his courage, walked over to Xu Yang, and gave him a deep bow.

Today, he had finally seen Lu Ren for who he truly was.

Xu Yang paused his conversation with Zhang Hong and Zhang Yong, turned to look, and said with a smile, "No, you don’t realize you were wrong. You just realize you’re probably going to fail. You’re scared of having no backer in the future, so you want to get back on my good side."

Luo Dehu had failed to break through even with a Lower C-class Root Bone. Qian Jiaxing’s Root Bone was even worse than Luo Dehu’s, making his own chances of failure very high.

The color drained from Qian Jiaxing’s face in an instant.

He was indeed trying to leave himself a fallback plan. Even if he failed, he would at least have a Martial Artist for a friend, who could serve as a backer in the future.

"I’ll be waiting for you in the Inner Courtyard."

After saying goodbye to Zhang Yong and Zhang Hong, Xu Yang returned to the Inner Courtyard to continue his cultivation.

[Cultivation Technique: Turtle and Snake Grand Posture·Minor Achievement (4/300), Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist·Minor Achievement (6/500)]

"This is too difficult!"

It had been nearly ten days since he had succeeded in Qi Gathering, but his True Qi was increasing at a snail’s pace. Of course, this was mainly because he had no money for medicinal supplements, relying solely on arduous cultivation and nutrients from his food.

Things like Strengthening Soup were no longer very effective for a Qi Gathering Martial Artist. He should be taking Qi Blood Powder, or the even better Qi-Replenishing Powder.

A single dose of Qi Blood Powder cost two silver.

Qi-Replenishing Powder was even more outrageous: five silver per dose.

A single dose was equivalent to seven days of arduous cultivation. For someone with a good Root Bone who could absorb the medicinal effects well, it could even be worth ten-some days of training.

Sometimes he wondered if he should just find a wealthy woman to sponge off of. Then he wouldn’t have to struggle so much.

’Comprehension, increase!’

After a moment of thought, he allocated all the points he had accumulated over the past few days to Comprehension.

[Comprehension: 27]

’In another ten days, my Comprehension can reach the next level.’

The slow growth of his True Qi was mainly because his nutritional intake, both from food and medicine, couldn’t keep up.

The slow progress in his Turtle and Snake Grand Posture and Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist, however, was mainly due to his Comprehension.

There was actually a large gap between his Comprehension and Lu Ren’s. He had only been able to keep up with Lu Ren in the past by relying on his panel for upgrades. Now that he wasn’t using the panel to improve his Cultivation Techniques, his progress had slowed considerably.

After practicing his fist techniques for a while longer, an Outer Courtyard Disciple came to find him, saying someone was looking for him outside.

"Cousin!"

Xu Yang went outside Weiyuan Hall and saw it was his cousin, Zhou Xia.

He had thought something was wrong, but it was just his uncle, Zhou Shunchang, inviting him over for a meal.

Seeing that it was getting late, Xu Yang left with Zhou Xia. By the time they arrived at Zhou Shunchang’s home, his uncle had already prepared a meal.

"Ah Yang, you’re not a young boy anymore. Now that you’ve found success in your martial arts, it’s about time you started a family."

After they ate, Zhou Shunchang revealed the reason he had invited Xu Yang over.

"Are you trying to set me up with someone, Uncle?" Xu Yang asked with a smile.

He was at the prime age for marriage, so it was perfectly normal for Zhou Shunchang, as his uncle, to be concerned about such matters.

Zhou Shunchang nodded. "Indeed. It’s a young lady from the Huang Family. They entrusted me to ask what you think."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yang understood after a moment’s thought. He raised an eyebrow and said, "The Huang Family certainly has a clever plan. They don’t want to hire me as a Tributor, but they still want me to work for them."

Zhou Shunchang’s eyes widened. "What nonsense is that? The Huang Family is willing to marry their daughter to you out of respect for me, your uncle!"

Xu Yang paid no mind to Zhou Shunchang’s words.

Although his uncle was a bookkeeper for the Huang Family, he was an ordinary person and didn’t understand the intricacies of the world of Martial Artists.

He thought that a young lady from a great family taking an interest in a poor boy like Xu Yang was a blessing one could only dream of, completely unaware of the machinations behind it.