A Man Cannot Grow Rich Without a Windfall

"I'd heard that name too."

"Recently, there have been quite a few outsiders coming in. The city is crowded and full of loose tongues. I heard it from a group of outsiders back then, but I didn't pay much attention to it."

"Now that you mention it, I feel this Rebel Army has a lot to do with this so-called Azure Heaven Great Emperor." Xie Jiang pondered before speaking.

"You mean the Rebel Army may have begun plotting and laying the groundwork more than a decade ago?" Jia Yanyong asked.

"Isn't that obvious? Without ten or twenty years of planning, who'd have the nerve to rebel?" Xie Jiang curled his lip. Great Wei was extraordinarily powerful.

The contempt in his words made Jia Yanyong want to roll up his sleeves and have a fight.

Xie Jiang never spared anyone with his mouth and especially loved provoking Jia Yanyong. The two of them would always fight every so often.

Yet after fighting, they would get along like kindred spirits again.

"If the City Lord hadn't stepped in and wiped out those two families back then, wouldn't Songyi City have been in grave danger?" Ning Hui said, still shaken by the memory.

"If the City Lord truly did it, then his strength must have been terrifying beyond measure, right?"

Jia Yanyong spoke with shock filling his eyes.

As a mere Bone Forging Realm martial artist, he truly could not comprehend what kind of godlike methods it would take to silently wipe out two families with Qi and Blood Realm Experts overnight.

"Killing people doesn't rely solely on martial strength. Poison works too."

"Qi and Blood Realm martial artists are still human. Many poisons can kill them easily. Perhaps the City Lord used some lethal poison to kill them back then."

Xie Jiang analyzed the matter. He did not quite believe that the City Lord had personally made a move.

Unfortunately, more than a decade had passed. No records remained, nor were there bodies left to examine. Much of the truth had vanished into the river of time.

If Ning Hui had not mentioned it, they would all have thought it was some dreadful plague that had killed the members of two families overnight.

After all, over a thousand commoners had died as well.

At the time, panic had spread through the populace, with everyone fearing the plague would spread.

Later, the plague was brought under control. Several hundred more people died one after another, and then it subsided. There were no further reports of large-scale deaths.

Thinking back on it now, that upheaval from those years had concealed plenty of fishy dealings.

"Stop talking about this. If word gets out, be careful you don't get dragged off and beheaded."

"Drink, drink. Let's talk about women instead."

"Times are hard. Plenty of people have sold their daughters to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion. They're all virgins. Are any of you interested in buying one to take home as a maid?"

Xie Jiang said with a lewd chuckle.

The topic veered off to who knew where again.

After chatting idly with them for a while, Lin Zheyu left.

Those fellows could really talk. They could go from the girls at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion to the pretty widow next door and chatter for a day and a night.

He wandered around the city.

The marketplace was much quieter, yet it was still filled with the atmosphere of the New Year.

The bustle of Little New Year belonged to the people of Songyi City, not Lin Zheyu.

Senior Brother Han Mo had gone out to suppress bandits and had not returned.

Master Liang's whereabouts were unknown as well.

The only people he knew were Jia Yanyong and the others, along with Steward Wu, but they all had families of their own to keep company.

With nothing to do, Lin Zheyu stayed in the courtyard practicing his fist techniques and pondering the Fist Intent within the Wild Bull Fist. When he grew tired of practicing, he would go for a walk, listen to music, eat some good food, and brag with Jia Yanyong and the others. His days were quite comfortable.

"Hm?"

Lin Zheyu walked down Hundred Tastes Street, his brows furrowing.

Having reached the Qi and Blood Realm, especially after raising the Turtle Breathing Technique to the third level, his senses had greatly improved.

His perception far surpassed that of other Qi and Blood Realm martial artists. It was incredibly sharp, allowing him to vaguely sense those ill-intentioned gazes.

Along the way, Lin Zheyu noticed several people whose eyes would casually fall upon him, their gazes carrying faint ill intent.

One or two people would have been normal, but over the past dozen days, he had repeatedly noticed people watching him from time to time.

That was rather abnormal.

"Did Xing Jinglong arrange them?" Lin Zheyu guessed.

In Songyi City, the only people with whom he had grudges were Xing Jinglong and Xing Penghai.

This time, he did not pretend not to notice. Instead, he headed directly toward the man. Panic flashed across the man's face as he tried to flee.

Lin Zheyu's figure flashed. He was incredibly fast, reaching the man's side in a blur.

He stretched out his right hand, seized the other man by the collar, and lifted him up.

"Kid, why are you running?" Lin Zheyu asked coldly.

"Spare me, sir! I haven't done anything. I haven't stolen or robbed anything. I was only standing here in a daze," the man begged.

He could feel that the young man before him was tremendously strong. The grip on his collar tightened so hard that he could barely breathe.

"Hmph!"

"Zhou Dali, come here."

Lin Zheyu did not waste words with him. Instead, he beckoned toward a Flying Rainbow Gang underling not far away.

Hundred Tastes Street was Flying Rainbow Gang territory. Every day, Flying Rainbow Gang members patrolled the area and maintained order.

"Brother Yu, were you looking for me?"

Zhou Dali hurried over and spoke respectfully.

He was a fellow no smaller than Jia Yanyong, but he had never practiced martial arts. He only knew some rustic fighting moves and possessed brute strength.

"Take this fellow back and investigate him. Find out which family or faction he belongs to, and what he was doing here," Lin Zheyu said.

"Brother Yu, I know this man. He's from the Unfixed Gang. I've forgotten his name, but if you want to know, I can call Zhou Tuo over. He knows the Unfixed Gang people fairly well," Zhou Dali said.

"The Unfixed Gang?"

The moment Lin Zheyu heard Unfixed Gang, he immediately understood who was watching him. The only person connected to the Unfixed Gang who had a grudge against him was Xing Jinglong.

"Did Xing Jinglong tell you to keep watch on me?" Lin Zheyu asked.

"Sir, I only came here to stroll around. I haven't done anything. I've been wronged!"

"Brother Long didn't order me to do anything. I really was only here shopping. Although this is Flying Rainbow Gang territory, there's no rule saying people from other gangs can't come here to buy things, is there?"

The man explained, his face full of the aggrieved look of someone falsely accused.

"Brother Yu, shall I take him back and interrogate him?" Zhou Dali asked.

"No need."

Lin Zheyu shook his head and flung the man away. "Get lost. Don't look so shifty-eyed in the future."

"Yes, yes. I'll change when I get back."

The man nodded rapidly, got up, and hurried away.

"Go do your job. Patrol properly."

"Yes, sir."

Zhou Dali said excitedly, turning around to continue wandering about—no, patrolling.

Watching the man's retreating back, Lin Zheyu thought, I need to find a way to deal with that fellow. It's no solution to keep being watched like this.

After taking a lap around Hundred Tastes Street and buying some food, Lin Zheyu returned.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sounds of impacts rang out continuously from the courtyard.

There was no sunlight today. The sky was overcast, and the cold wind howled.

Bare-chested, Lin Zheyu was drenched in sweat, his Qi and blood roiling throughout his body.

Dense Blood Energy flowed into both arms under his control. As his fists struck the wooden post, his Qi and blood trembled with the impacts, tempering the muscles, tendons, skin, membranes, and bones of his arms.

After his strength reached the Qi and Blood Realm, his entire physique—muscles, bones, skin, and membranes—had been strengthened.

However, his legs had been the main focus of that strengthening; the changes elsewhere were not particularly pronounced.

Perhaps when his strength rose further, after his Qi and blood underwent five or six transformations, repeated rounds of strengthening would bring the rest of his body to the level of Bone Forging Like Iron as well.

But for now, apart from his legs having reached Bone Forging Like Iron, the bones in the rest of his body were only somewhat stronger than those of ordinary martial artists.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Lin Zheyu punched without pause, the aura around him growing several degrees denser than before.

After several days of hard practice, his understanding of the Wild Bull Fist had increased considerably.

When practicing the fist technique, he imagined himself as a wild bull, as a bull in an arena. Enraged, it gathered all its strength and launched an attack.

Bang!

Moo—

As he unleashed a Wild Bull Charge, Lin Zheyu coordinated it with the Wild Bull Fist breathing method, producing a sound that faintly resembled a bull's roar.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

His fists rained down like a violent storm, launching a frenzied assault upon the wooden post as the thudding blows rang without end.

Lin Zheyu sank into the madness of an enraged wild bull, a trace of crimson appearing in his eyes. He had immersed himself too deeply in his Fist Momentum and been affected by it.

Only two hours later, after venting all the strength in his body and breaking through his limits once more, did he finally collapse to the ground, panting heavily.

"I was actually affected by the Fist Momentum just now and lost some of my reason."

Lin Zheyu muttered, his mind somewhat dazed.

In order to better comprehend the Fist Momentum of the Wild Bull Fist, he had hypnotized himself and imagined himself as a wild bull. The results had indeed been excellent.

In just a few days, his Fist Momentum had advanced by leaps and bounds.

But because he had immersed himself too deeply in it, he had lost himself within that Fist Momentum.

"I took the wrong direction. If Fist Momentum makes someone descend into madness, then what does greater power matter? He would only be a mindless brute, not even as good as Jia Yanyong."

"Wild can mean reckless, but recklessness is not rashness or madness. It is courage with reason, a conviction—the conviction of the strong that I alone am invincible..."

"..."

Lying on the ground, Lin Zheyu muttered as the gleam in his eyes grew ever brighter.

That was right.

Wild could mean reckless, but it was not rashness. It was the conviction that I alone am invincible, the Will of the Strong that says you will die beneath this punch of mine!

The gleam in Lin Zheyu's eyes grew brighter and brighter, completely unaffected by the mental exhaustion caused by having just broken through his limits.

Struggling, he tried to rise again and test his idea by practicing the Wild Bull Fist once more.

It was not enough to simply understand Fist Momentum to possess it. During practice, one needed to firmly believe in one's conviction, blend one's will into the fist technique, and form one's own unique "Momentum"!

However, Lin Zheyu could not get back up.

When he had fallen into madness just now, he had exhausted his physical strength and broken through his body's limits again. Now his entire body ached and had no strength left.

"Forget it. There's no need to rush."

Lin Zheyu muttered. He stopped moving and rested on the cold ground.

Within his body, Blood Energy steamed out from his blood under his relentless extraction. It flowed through his entire body with the blood, restoring his fatigue.

Lying on the ground, Lin Zheyu gasped for breath.

He looked at the data in his consciousness. Having just broken through his limits, his Source Power had increased by another unit.

After several days of training, both his Six Harmonies Saber and Wild Bull Fist had improved significantly.

After the Golden Goose Skill reached the Qi and Blood Realm, its progress had slowed considerably. He needed to train day after day, continually refine and accumulate Qi and blood, until he reached the limit of his Qi and blood.

To accomplish that through his own efforts would take several years.

Heaven Rewards Diligence

Name: Lin Zheyu

Source Power: 3

Skills:

Wild Bull Fist (Mastery 68%)

Golden Goose Skill (Fourth Level 67%)

Turtle Breathing Technique (Third Level 1%)

Six Harmonies Saber (Mastery 35%)

"Source Power has accumulated to three units again. It's a pity I'm out of money. Otherwise, I could raise the Golden Goose Skill to the fifth level."

He could now accumulate one unit of Source Power every four days or so, but using one unit of Source Power to improve the Golden Goose Skill required around three portions of Blood Enriching Bone Strengthening Soup to ensure sufficient energy.

To raise the Golden Goose Skill to the fifth level, he still needed at least three units of Source Power.

In other words, he needed the medicinal ingredients for nine portions of Blood Enriching Bone Strengthening Soup as an energy source. At current prices, those nine portions cost over a hundred taels of silver—a far from insignificant sum.

"I'll rest first and raise the Wild Bull Fist."

"With my Qi and Blood Realm strength as a foundation, the Source Power and energy required to improve the Wild Bull Fist shouldn't be too much," Lin Zheyu thought.

Two days ago, he had received his monthly salary of five taels of silver from the Flying Rainbow Gang. Together with the silver given to him by the other storytellers, he had once again saved up over twenty taels.

For ordinary people, twenty-odd taels of silver, if spent frugally, would be enough to support a family for two or three years.

Yet Lin Zheyu had spent all of it after buying the ingredients for two portions of Blood Enriching Bone Strengthening Soup.

To achieve anything in the martial path truly meant spending money like water.

It was a pity that the story copyright plan had died before it could be put into effect. Otherwise, he likely could have earned two taels of silver a day.

"At present, there isn't any good way to increase my income. Once I raise the Wild Bull Fist, I'll find some time to take a look outside the city!"

"I'll see what things are like beyond the city these days," Lin Zheyu thought.

He had wanted to leave the city and take a look for a long time.

He wanted to see just how rampant the bandits outside had become.

He wanted to see the City Guard's true combat strength.

He wanted to see whether a Military Formation formed by a hundred elite soldiers could truly contend easily against a Qi and Blood Realm martial artist.

He wanted to see whether Demons truly existed in those deep mountains and old forests.

And so on.

Lin Zheyu was intensely curious about all of it.

But his strength had been insufficient before, so he had kept his head down, endured quietly, and developed in silence.

Now, his strength placed him among the very best in Songyi City. If he could still encounter life-threatening danger outside under those circumstances, then ordinary people might as well not live at all.

Most crucially, there were countless bandits outside the city.

A man could not grow rich without windfall wealth, nor could a horse grow fat without midnight fodder.

If bandits could rob others, then why could he not rob the bandits?

Those who robbed others would in turn be robbed!

"If those two brothers, Xing Jinglong and Xing Penghai, dare follow me this time, I'll finish them outside the city."

A trace of ruthlessness flashed through Lin Zheyu's eyes.

If Songyi City had not been so strictly governed, making it inconvenient to kill at will, he would have dealt with them in secret long ago.

He had no idea what was wrong with those two fellows, or why they had fixed their sights on a nobody like him.

Even if his talent for martial arts was somewhat outstanding, all Lin Zheyu had revealed so far was the strength of the Bone Forging Realm.

In Songyi City, the Bone Forging Realm merely made one a nobody. He could not understand why Xing Jinglong refused to let him go.