Breaking Through to the Mid-Stage Skin-Refining Realm and Escorting a Shipment

A timely snowfall promised a bountiful year.

On the first day of the first month, Qin Ming was awakened by the sound of firecrackers outside.

He and Embroiderer had fought a fierce battle until the early hours of the morning. Afterward, he had practiced his stake skill for another two hours before going to sleep.

"I'm almost out of Qi-Blood Powder."

Qin Ming dissolved and drank the last packet of Qi-Blood Powder, then assumed his stance and began stake training.

Before long, the Qi-Blood Powder turned into Qi and blood that circulated throughout his body. Qin Ming practiced the Eight Trigrams Palm while holding his stance, dividing the Qi and blood in two. At the same time, the points on his panel began to climb wildly.

One packet of Qi-Blood Powder was worth thirty points. Over the past few days, Qin Ming had spent nearly half his silver on it.

Each packet cost five taels of silver. He had bought four, spending a total of twenty taels. Together with the packet he had found on Duan Kun, the five packets had earned him a total of 150 points.

He looked at the panel again:

[Ninth-Rank Martial Art: Eight Trigrams Stake Skill (181/200), Beginner]

He was only 19 points away from Minor Mastery. A breakthrough was within sight!

Qin Ming unified his waist and stance, hollowed his chest and stretched his back, letting his Qi and blood circulate and surge through his limbs and bones.

Before long, the Qi and blood in his body circulated faster and faster. At a certain moment, they seemed to break through a boundary.

Boom—

Qin Ming felt refreshed from head to toe, his hearing and sight clear, as though he had shed his old body and been reborn.

He had broken through!

He looked at the panel again:

[Ninth-Rank Martial Art: Eight Trigrams Stake Skill (11/500), Minor Mastery]

[Realm: Mid-Stage Skin-Refining Realm (strength: 310 jin)]

[Pig-Slaying Saber Technique bonus: while wielding a pig-slaying saber, attack speed increased by 20%, force deflection 20%, fire poison damage 10%]

"Study is for the poor, martial arts for the rich. Those words were no lie!"

Qin Ming sighed.

It had taken him nearly half a month to break through to the Early Skin-Refining Realm, but only a few days to go from the early stage to the mid-stage.

Seven packets of Qi-Blood Powder, costing thirty-five taels of silver, could earn him 210 points. In other words, with thirty-five taels, he could quickly cross from the early stage to the mid-stage.

Now that he had reached the mid-stage, he was still 486 points short of the late stage. In theory, sixteen packets of Qi-Blood Powder would be about enough, costing a total of eighty taels of silver.

Eighty taels of silver was no small sum, even in Qingyang County.

To Qin Ming, silver meant panel points, which meant progress in his martial realm.

"Looks like I need to hurry and make money. The more, the better!"

Qin Ming turned the matter over in his mind as he ate breakfast.

He had little silver left. Besides buying New Year's goods yesterday, he had paid one tael to the academy a few days ago.

That was a rule of the inner courtyard. It counted as the cost of food and lodging for him and his wife.

Besides that, Qin Ming had paid a large sum of silver to the blacksmith shop.

"Going by the time, it should be ready today."

After breakfast, Qin Ming left the academy and came to an inconspicuous smithy in a corner of town.

"You're here. Wait a moment."

The smithy was small, with only a bare-chested middle-aged man inside. He gave Qin Ming a brief greeting and continued swinging his sledgehammer. Each blow landed with a tremendous crash, sending sparks flying.

When he finished, the man wiped away his sweat and went into the back room. Before long, he emerged carrying a square wooden box in both hands.

"What you wanted is in here. It took me a great deal of work."

Qin Ming took the box and opened it. Inside lay a suit of close-fitting Inner Armor.

The innermost layer was made of tough cowhide, while the outermost layer was assembled from purplish-black scales the size of fingernails. It was exceptionally exquisite.

"The monster's fangs are in there too. Be careful."

The man gave him a warning.

The man had been startled when Qin Ming brought him the centipede's corpse a few days ago. In all his life, he had never seen a centipede so large. If Qin Ming had not offered such a high price, he would never have taken the job.

After spending several days on it, he had finally stripped the scales from the centipede's corpse and made them into a suit of Inner Armor.

He had also removed the centipede's venomous fangs.

The centipede's venomous armor was exceptionally hard and could only be pierced by its fangs. That was why Qin Ming had kept them.

He had long since removed the Poison Sac and the Spirit Pearl from inside the centipede's head.

Qin Ming stripped off his upper garments and put the Inner Armor on against his skin.

It fit perfectly.

The centipede scales were concentrated mainly over his chest and back, serving a purpose similar to a breastplate.

With this Inner Armor, escorting shipments will be a good deal safer.

Qin Ming thought to himself.

To earn some silver, he had already taken a position with the Weiyuan Escort Agency, which belonged to Senior Sister Li's family.

An Early Skin-Refining Realm martial artist received five taels of silver a month for holding a position there. By the rules, he had to go on at least one escort assignment a month, with payment for each assignment calculated separately.

Quite a few people in town had extended olive branches to him one after another. Some even wanted to marry their female relatives to Qin Ming as concubines, while some families wanted him as a son-in-law. Qin Ming had turned them all down.

In the end, Qin Ming chose to take a position with the Weiyuan Escort Agency.

"Give me a few dozen bamboo arrows as well."

There were many kinds of arrows. Bamboo arrows were the lightest and flew extremely fast, but their drawback was their insufficient killing power. They were far less powerful than iron arrows.

Qin Ming slung the quiver over his back and went to the Weiyuan Escort Agency.

As agreed, the escort was setting out today.

"Junior Brother, you're here."

Li Shengnan happened to come out just then and greeted him with a smile.

"Senior Sister, I've reached the mid-stage."

Under the Weiyuan Escort Agency's rules, a position paid five taels of silver a month at the early stage of the Skin Refining Realm and ten taels at the mid-stage.

"Oh? That's good news. Try punching me. I'll verify it."

Li Shengnan held out a hand, her palm facing Qin Ming.

Qin Ming did not stand on ceremony. He casually threw a punch.

Bang—

Li Shengnan's body swayed slightly, and a flicker of surprise crossed her eyes.

"Junior Brother, there's something a little off about your strength."

Normally, someone at the Mid-Stage Skin-Refining Realm had a strength of 310 jin. Qin Ming's casual strike had already carried nearly 300 jin of force. If he unleashed his full strength, it would certainly be more than that.

Li Shengnan voiced her doubts, and Qin Ming was also puzzled for a moment.

Thinking it over, he realized that his strength was indeed considerably greater than that of martial artists at the same realm. Otherwise, even with a pig-slaying saber in hand, he would hardly have been able to face the yamen runner head-on in the Dungeon Battle.

Could it be because of the Pig-Slaying Saber Technique?

Qin Ming thought.

Each time his Pig-Slaying Saber Technique broke through, he could feel his strength increase, but it had not shown up on the panel, so he had unconsciously forgotten about it.

"Don't overthink it. This is a good thing."

Li Shengnan smiled and reached out to pat Qin Ming on the shoulder. "I'll tell my father later. When we get back from this escort, we'll give you another five taels of silver."

"Thank you, Senior Sister."

Qin Ming knew Li Shengnan was giving him special consideration. Under the rules, if he broke through this month, he would only start receiving ten taels of silver the following month.

"It's a small matter. All right, get ready. We'll be setting off soon. Father and I are both going on this escort, so it'll be very safe. Just follow along behind me. I've got you covered."

Meanwhile, at the Eight Trigrams Martial Arts Academy.

Yan Yangtian left the inner courtyard without a sound. Before long, he arrived in a secluded, dark alley.

"The Weiyuan Escort Agency is about to send out an escort. Li Kui is with them."

"Oh?"

A voice answered from deep in the alley.

"How many martial artists are in the escort party altogether? What are their levels of strength?"

"Seven, including my Second Junior Sister, Li Shengnan, and a Junior Brother, Qin Ming. They're all at the early or mid-stage of the Skin Refining Realm."

"Very good. This is the perfect chance to get rid of Li Kui!"

As the voice fell, a streak of red light shot toward Yan Yangtian.

Yan Yangtian caught the red light in one hand and opened his palm. A bright-red pill the size of a longan lay quietly in it.

"This... this is a Human Pill!"

Greed shone in Yan Yangtian's eyes. He immediately tossed the pill into his mouth. Before long, a series of crackling pops rang out from his body, and his presence grew considerably stronger than before.

"The boss said there will be an even greater reward once the deed is done!"

"Thank you for your reward, my lord. This humble one will not disappoint you!"

Yan Yangtian excitedly cupped his fists and bowed in thanks.

When he straightened up, the alley had fallen quiet again.

He turned around. Not far away, a young beggar was squatting on the ground, staring blankly at him.

"Did you see everything?"

Yan Yangtian walked over and squatted in front of the young beggar, a smile appearing on his face.

"N-no... I didn't see anything."

The young beggar was so frightened that his teeth chattered.

The man before him was excessively handsome, and his smile was gentle, but for some reason, the boy felt as though a venomous snake had fixed its gaze on him.

"Do you know? I hate liars most of all."

Yan Yangtian shook his head. Force burst from his palm, and he suddenly struck the young beggar dead.

"Don't blame me. Qingshan Town will be razed to the ground before long anyway. I'm only sending you down there ahead of time."

Yan Yangtian laughed as he left, leaving only the young beggar lying in a pool of blood in the alley.