Kryptonian Warrior

Knock, knock!

The old servant of Hengshan Martial Arts Hall opened the small window at the sound of knocking. Seeing that the visitor was the probationary disciple who had taken a master not long ago, he finally opened the door at a snail's pace.

"Where's Master?"

The moment he entered the boxing gym, He Zhao immediately asked.

"Master is having his dinner." As the old servant spoke, he led the way toward the main hall.

Before long, the two arrived.

"Master, your disciple has come to visit."

"Let him come in alone." Old Jin, who had eaten half of the raw flesh, casually picked up the white cloth on the dining table and wiped his mouth before replying unhurriedly.

At his words, the old servant gently pushed open a corner of the door and gestured for the guest to enter.

He Zhao thanked him and stepped into the main hall.

Inside, his Cheap Master sat in a chair directly facing the doorway, blood still staining the corner of his mouth. Flickering candlelight fell across his face, casting it alternately into light and shadow.

At his left lay a blood-soaked white cloth. On the Eight Immortals Table sat a porcelain plate holding half a chunk of bloody meat, covered in tooth marks where it had been torn apart.

The sight gave him an inexplicable chill.

"Sit."

Old Jin calmly pointed to the chair beside him.

He Zhao's eyelid twitched, but he forced himself to step forward and sit down.

Hm?

What was that smell? Why was it so fragrant?

His eyes instinctively turned toward the source of the aroma. It was the raw meat on the porcelain plate.

Fortunately, he had seen great winds and great waves before. Otherwise, he would have been drooling by now.

It smelled absurdly good!

"What are you afraid of? I'm an old man—am I going to swallow you whole?" Old Jin paused, then added, "Speak. What brings you to this old man's door so late at night?"

"Master, the consumption from my stake training is simply too great. Tonight, I ate dozens of pounds of mutton. If this keeps up, before long I'll be begging along the streets." He Zhao stared at the raw meat as he poured out his woes. When I took you as my master, you never said the consumption would be this enormous.

Old Jin looked the disciple he had accepted yesterday up and down, as though wondering whether this old man had misjudged him. Could this brat actually be a genius?

"I've always had a big appetite. Now that I'm learning boxing and practicing the stake, I can eat even more." In order to keep a low profile, hide his capabilities, live longer, and earn a higher rating, Ruthless He Zhao did not hesitate to disparage himself.

"Oh, I understand. Why not just say you're a Rice Bucket?" Old Jin nodded in agreement, taking the opportunity to mock the probationary disciple he had accepted for the sake of thirty taels of loose silver.

"From now on, eat raw meat before practicing your stake, until you can't swallow another bite. On the one hand, it can extend the time you practice the stake. On the other, it will reduce the burden on your own body during cultivation.

"That way, the amount you consume at every meal will be greatly reduced. Don't worry that raw meat is hard to digest. We martial artists are different from ordinary people."

He Zhao: "..."

Why hadn't you said that when I became your disciple?

"Wondering why I didn't mention it yesterday? Thirty taels of silver, that's all. Did you expect this old man to instruct you word by word, face to face? You're clever enough, brat. At least you knew to ask me when you ran into trouble. Taking your thirty taels was a losing deal."

In response to Old Jin's hint, Ruthless He Zhao's stomach rumbled.

The trip from the Inn to the boxing gym took ten minutes at most. After his hungry body digested thirty pounds of mutton, it once again sent out a signal that it needed nourishment.

"Mas—"

Before He Zhao could finish, Old Jin raised a hand to stop him.

"Pay up. Ten taels of silver per pound."

"What?"

"Hmph. If you have no money, don't set your sights on the meat on this old man's plate. This stuff is expensive, but it works wonders for martial artists like us." With that, Old Jin picked up the raw meat and began gnawing on it again.

Gulp!

He Zhao swallowed hard. If he had not died hundreds of times in the Simulation Scenario, mastered every conceivable fancy method of dying, and tempered his will to an exceptional degree, he would have pulled out his money and slammed it on the table long ago.

"This meat isn't ordinary meat. It is the flesh of something different from ordinary livestock and ferocious beasts."

At that, Ruthless He Zhao rolled his eyes. Why not just say it was an Aberration?

Did you really think I knew nothing?

Old Jin failed to notice his cheap disciple's expression and continued explaining to himself.

"Though this old man is a bit old, I can eat at least half a cow in one meal."

"???"

He Zhao was utterly dumbfounded. Cows in Great Xuan generally weighed over fifteen hundred pounds. You really were the most unparalleled shit-producing machine under heaven.

It was fortunate that Old Jin could not hear his thoughts. Otherwise, he would have slapped him to death.

"But ten pounds of this meat per meal is enough to fill this old man's stomach."

Three hundred taels of silver a day?

Holy shit!

Poor scholars, rich martial artists. The ancestors had not deceived us.

Food alone would cost a full nine thousand taels of silver a month.

Old Huang's coffin savings were really too shabby.

The memories He Zhao inherited had not told him that Unusual Scholars consumed even more silver.

For an old man to save over three thousand taels was already a model of thrift and household management.

Wait a minute, something was wrong!

If he relied on taking disciples alone, thirty taels per person, how many disciples would he need to take in every year just to eat?

On average, he would need to accept at least ten probationary disciples every day.

Old Jin seemed to see what He Zhao was thinking and immediately interrupted his wild speculation.

"This old man is in a good mood today, so I'll give you a few pointers. Wancheng isn't large, with only a population of a little over a hundred thousand. Among these people, the first group you must never provoke is Hetu Dao. Perhaps you don't understand the meaning of those three words, but if you get the chance, you will understand what your master says today.

"Second is our Hengshan Boxing Gym. This old man has occupied Wancheng for more than thirty years, and my disciples are spread throughout the city. Below us are the gentry and powerful local clans—the Zhang, Sun, Li, and Wang Families, the Four Great Families. They possess vast amounts of land, command countless Private Soldiers, and have businesses throughout the city and beyond.

"Below them are the government offices and those of the public gate.

"Think carefully. Which people has your master left out?"

"Wealthy merchants and gangs!"

He Zhao grasped the point at once and blurted it out.

"Exactly! In any dynasty, the bigger your fist, the louder your voice. If wealthy merchants don't want the foundations they painstakingly built to be seized, they must attach themselves to one of those four forces, handing over the larger share every year and every month while keeping the smaller share for themselves.

"The gangs of the Three Religions and Nine Streams, if they want to preserve their status and wealth, must also attach themselves to one of those powers, find a master, and be someone's dog. Otherwise, once they grow fat, sooner or later someone will kill them and carve them up for meat.

"Besides those two, there are also some crooked businesses, large and small. Without exception, if they want to keep operating, either their fists must be big enough to make all four powers remain silent, or they must attach themselves and pay up."

He understood.

If you were strong enough, countless people would rush to attach themselves to you, bringing money and people, giving you whatever you wanted.

"The land for Hengshan Boxing Gym was gifted by the Four Great Families. The government officials paid to build the house. The maids and servants were brought by the gang members. The food is delivered every day by dedicated men from the trading firms."

So none of it was yours!

Jealousy.JPG.

Of course, He Zhao understood Old Jin's meaning.

His Cheap Master had said all that to give him a hint.

No matter how much money he spent now, once his fists became hard enough, he could recover it all with interest.

"Are you buying the meat or not? This old man finds you pleasing to the eye. Otherwise, I wouldn't sell it even for twenty taels."

Smack!

He Zhao pulled out a Bearer Banknote and slapped it onto the Eight Immortals Table.

"Oh? I underestimated you. You actually dare to buy ten pounds at once!" Old Jin smiled as he tucked the hundred-tael banknote into his robes, only for Ruthless He Zhao to say—

"Give me fifty taels in change!"

"..."

"Fine. There will come a day when you regret this, brat."

A moment later, He Zhao hurriedly left Hengshan Boxing Gym with forty taels of loose silver tucked into his robes and six pounds of Aberration Meat in hand.

"That old man sure knows how to hold a grudge. He had so many banknotes in his pocket, yet he insisted he had no loose silver."

After returning to the Inn, he shut the doors and windows tight.

He cut off a pound of meat from some unknown Aberration and swallowed it raw in one bite.

Though it looked bloody, it did not actually smell very fishy.

The meat had a texture similar to jelly. With a slurp, it slid down his throat.

He Zhao did not dare delay for even a moment. He assumed the stance of the Bronze Man Stance, his breathing alternately long and short, rapid and slow.

After half an hour, he did not feel tired in the slightest.

After an hour, his abdomen felt warm, as though streams of heat were flowing toward his limbs and bones, easing the fatigue throughout his body.

After an hour and a half, yesterday's limit had passed, yet he remained full of spirit and had not fallen into a state of exhaustion.

After two hours, the warm currents in his abdomen rapidly shrank over the course of half an hour. By now, they had been completely consumed, and a faint weariness rose in his heart.

[Bronze Man Stance: 91/100 (Roughly Understand)]

[Unknown Breathing Technique: 91/100 (Roughly Understand)]

"This meat's effect was actually this good?"

With the extended stake-training time, his proficiency had increased by a full ten points compared with before.

So He Zhao stood up, cut off another pound of meat, and swallowed it raw.

Stake training! Stake training! Still fucking stake training!!

Before dawn, He Zhao digested the last pound of Aberration Meat. He let out a soft breath, withdrew his stance, and lay down on the bed.

[Bronze Man Stance: 141/500 (Proficient)]

[Unknown Breathing Technique: 141/500 (Proficient)]

Tonight's cultivation progress was three times that of last night!

"It wasn't only the astonishing increase in stake method and breathing technique proficiency. I could keenly sense that this body had also imperceptibly strengthened by roughly one-tenth."

Terrifying!

Just six pounds of meat, combined with stake training and breathing, had brought about an advancement that could only be called mad.

Of course, perhaps it was because this was his first time eating it, making the effect especially potent. It might not be this powerful in the future.

"I bought too little!"

"I'll buy more after I wake up this afternoon—wait a second. Last night, I went to ask my Cheap Master how to reduce my silver expenditure. How had I ended up spending at least sixty taels of silver a night after asking him?"

Ruthless He Zhao calculated the money he had left and discovered that in less than two months—fifty days at most—he would have to go to Wancheng's docks to carry heavy loads, changing careers from martial artist to Great Xuan laborer.

This was bad. He had been tricked.

That old man had no martial virtue. He had launched a sneak attack and swindled this young man who had barely entered the world.

Elsewhere, the moment the sleepy soldiers opened the city gates, they saw a man in tattered clothes, with at least one broken arm and one broken leg, covered in blood as he collapsed before them with a thud.

Someone was staging a scam first thing in the morning. It truly left them scrambling.

"?"

"This guy is wearing the uniform of Hengshan Boxing Gym!"

"Quick, help him up! Someone come with me and carry him to the Medical Hall. Xiao Wuzi, hurry and notify Old Jin. Tell them this man's situation."

The city gate swiftly returned to tranquility, leaving only a few small fry lazily guarding the entrance.

As He Zhao slept, his brows unconsciously drew together. The hairs all over his body inexplicably stood on end, as though some danger was drawing near.