"Moving?" Second Sister Wei Ying was sewing up a torn silk dress. When she heard Wei He mention buying a house, her hands paused, and she looked up at him in astonishment.
"Yeah. I bought a house nearby. We won't have to go back to our old hometown anymore." Wei He nodded seriously.
The room Wei Ying lived in was only a few square meters. Apart from a bed, a table, and a chair, there was nothing else.
Even the window had been sealed shut.
It really was nothing more than a place to sleep.
"But... where would we get that much money? Houses are so expensive." Wei Ying found it hard to believe.
"They aren't expensive anymore." Wei He fell silent for a moment before answering.
"...Really?" Wei Ying lowered her head, and for a while, the needle and thread in her hands barely moved.
But she quickly recovered, joy appearing on her face.
"Then we can finally live together. Being apart all this time, I was always worried about you.
"Before, you wouldn't let me come over to clean up, saying it was dangerous. But now everyone in the neighborhood is talking about you. Who doesn't know you're Old Zheng's disciple? They all say you're impressive, that you've done us proud!
"If Father, Mother, and Eldest Sister knew this..." At the mention of their parents and eldest sister, Wei Ying's voice broke apart as well. But after a pause, she did not dwell on it.
"So when are we moving?" Wei Ying asked.
"Now. It happens to be the midday break. I'll tell Senior Brother Cheng afterward," Wei He said.
"Alright. Oh, right—Old Zheng said that when you got back, you should go see him. He has something to tell you," Wei Ying suddenly said.
"Me? Just me?" Wei He was taken aback. At the academy, he was merely an ordinary disciple with nothing particularly outstanding about him. Old Zheng normally would not single him out.
"Not just you. Before you came back, several people had already been called over to talk," Wei Ying replied.
"Got it. I'll go once we've moved everything." Wei He nodded.
Wei Ying had wanted to ask what had happened on the caravan route, but Wei He muddled through it with a few casual words.
Fortunately, that caravan run had appeared quite safe, so Wei Ying did not suspect anything.
Both of them came from poor families and worked efficiently. Besides, Wei Ying did not have much luggage to begin with. Many things had already been in Old Zheng's house.
In less than half an hour, they had moved everything over.
After moving the belongings, Wei He returned to the Huishan Fist Academy. Before he even entered, he saw Xiao Ran being helped into a white carriage.
He shook his head inwardly, but his expression did not change as he pushed open the door and went in.
Several senior and junior disciples in the courtyard had already begun training hard. They were all newcomers.
New disciples were usually extremely diligent when they first entered. Once they settled in and learned that blindly training hard without proper rest did not produce good results, they would develop training habits of their own.
Wei He was not particularly familiar with anyone. The only one he knew somewhat was Li Jue.
He nodded to Li Jue from afar in greeting, then headed straight for the inner room.
The inner room was a rectangular space.
Old Zheng was reclining against one corner, seated in a redwood chair whose armrests had been polished bright from use. One fellow disciple was already waiting before him.
When Wei He approached, Old Zheng said nothing. He merely flicked his hand slightly and pointed to a spot.
Wei He walked over, stood there, and waited quietly.
After a while, two more disciples entered and stood to one side to wait as well.
Finally, Senior Disciple Brother Zhao Hong entered.
"Everyone's here." Old Zheng spoke blandly. "Hong, tell them the general situation. Since they've entered my school, they need to know what's what. The situation in this city is getting more and more wrong. Everyone needs to be careful."
"Yes." Zhao Hong lowered his head respectfully.
Only then did Old Zheng pick up a braised chicken claw from beside him and begin nibbling on it at an unhurried pace.
He seemed to intend to watch and add anything necessary.
Zhao Hong cleared his throat and looked at the four fellow disciples present.
"I've already explained this twice before. Today, I'll explain it once more for those of you who didn't hear it."
He paused and glanced at Old Zheng. Seeing no indication that he should elaborate, he continued.
"The other disciples who have not formally entered the school do not count as members of Huishan Fist. They can only be considered apprentices. Apprentices are apprentices—their lives and deaths are not within the scope of our protection. Even if they go out, no one will consider them people of Huishan Fist.
"But you are different. You have all formally entered the school, and you have all broken through your blood and vitality once. When you go out, you can represent Huishan Fist.
"So today, we'll lay down some rules here and make things clear."
The four of them, Wei He included, nodded to show they were listening carefully.
Zhao Hong nodded in satisfaction and continued, "Within this city, apart from those little gangs and minor sects that change hands every few days and need not concern you, what you truly need to watch out for are the three gangs among the Three Gangs and Two Sects.
"The three gangs are the Shanchuan Gang, the Blood Robe Gang, and the Tongcheng Gang. Though all three are large gangs with many members, you need not pay much attention to their outer members. Just be careful if you encounter core members. Do not provoke them lightly. In a moment, I'll tell you about the distinguishing marks of each gang's core members.
"Also, when passing houses where people are sick, do not linger. Stay as far away as possible. The plague in the city has been getting worse lately..."
He went on to explain various precautions concerning the plague.
Wei He listened quietly at the side until, at last, Zhao Hong had gone on at great length about the symptoms of plague infection.
Old Zheng, beside him, could not help but interrupt.
"Enough, enough. Get straight to the final point."
"Yes." Zhao Hong hurriedly nodded. "Feiye City has the Three Gangs and Two Sects, but those are all in the Outer City.
"The Inner City is completely different from where we are. Most of the businesses and land inside are occupied by seven lineages, collectively known as the Seven Families Alliance.
"The Seven Families Alliance and Hong Family Fort outside the city are the forces I'm talking about—the ones in Feiye City you must never provoke.
"When you are out and about, if you encounter people from the Seven Families Alliance of the Inner City or Hong Family Fort, avoid them whenever possible. Do not come into conflict with them."
The Seven Families Alliance. Wei He's heart stirred. He recalled that during the caravan run, Head Caravan Guard Cheng Kai had also mentioned the conflict between Hong Family Fort and the city governor's lineage.
Presumably, one of the Seven Families Alliance's seven lineages was the city governor's lineage.
After all that rambling, the others finally saw Senior Disciple Brother Zhao Hong's usual habit: he normally said nothing, but once he opened his mouth, he droned on endlessly.
In the end, Old Zheng could not bear it any longer and interrupted him, sending the four of them out to train.
As Wei He left, he looked back and saw Senior Disciple Brother Zhao Hong standing with his head lowered, being scolded by Old Zheng. He could not help finding it amusing.
Returning to a corner of his own courtyard, Wei He saw Cheng Shaojiu already waiting there ahead of time.
They each set out their equipment and prepared to begin Skin Grinding.
"I heard about what happened on this run. You worked hard," Cheng Shaojiu said quietly.
"It was nothing. Since I agreed to it, it was only right that I did it." Wei He shook his head.
He had been drawing wages from the Cheng Family for so long. He had long expected that danger might arise during a caravan run.
"In any case, when you're out there, be careful in all things." Cheng Shaojiu sighed. "I've wanted to go on a caravan run for a long time too, but my father won't allow it. Tell me, what's the use of me training Martial Arts Cultivation so hard every day?"
Wei He had no answer.
After a moment of silence, he recalled the monster he had encountered in the darkness and spoke softly.
"Senior Brother, do you know what the Black Madman we encountered during the caravan run was?"
"Black Madman is a general term for fierce beasts that hunt at night. I asked my father about the two people who died that day too. He didn't know either. It seemed to be a type of beast that had never appeared before." Cheng Shaojiu shook his head.
Wei He fell silent at that. He had originally thought the lands outside the city were not as dangerous as imagined, yet after one trip, two people had died.
Cheng Shaojiu lowered his head and pounded fiercely into the sand basin.
After a long while, he suddenly raised his head.
"Little He, how old are you?"
"Seventeen." Wei He did not understand why he was asking, but answered anyway.
"Seventeen... How about I find you a good girl?" Cheng Shaojiu suddenly blurted out.
Wei He could not quite keep up with his train of thought.
"Just listen to me. I guarantee I'll find you one who's absolutely virtuous and gentle!" Cheng Shaojiu patted his chest.
These days, plenty of people married and had children at seventeen or eighteen. Wei He had reached that age as well.
It was only that he had been busy training and had never made such plans.
Wei He had no answer. This Senior Brother Cheng seemed to have a cluttered mind lately. That was not good; it was detrimental to Viriya in the martial path.
After that, neither of them spoke again, focusing on their own training.
After practicing for a while, Wei He took the opportunity while wiping away sweat to pull open his collar and inspect the pattern of his Boundary-Breaking Pearl.
It had grown another stretch. After returning from that half-month caravan run, it had gone from half full to well over half full.
It had increased by roughly a quarter.
Without changing his expression, he continued training hard. According to the information in his mind, the Boundary-Breaking Pearl could only be used when he himself had reached a bottleneck, allowing him to break through it in one stroke.
So he also had to temper and strengthen his blood and vitality at the Ox Hide level to its utmost limit.
The day he reached the absolute limit of blood and vitality at the Ox Hide level would be the day he could use the Boundary-Breaking Pearl to break through.
With his thoughts settled, he continued focusing on Skin Grinding.
Simply strengthening one's blood and vitality was not enough. One also had to expand the capacity of the vessel that was one's own body, so it could hold more blood and vitality.
That was the purpose of Skin Grinding training.
But his aptitude was limited. He was far inferior to a genius like Xiao Ran and could only accumulate progress inch by inch.
Soon, time flowed quietly onward.
Wei He and Second Sister moved into their new home. He invited Third Senior Brother and Li Jue over for a meal, letting them familiarize themselves with the place.
After that, nothing unexpected happened.
Every day, he left early and returned late, training Martial Arts Cultivation hard and tempering himself. The days flowed by one after another like droplets falling from the bamboo water clock in the courtyard.
As for Cheng Shaojiu's suggestion of introducing him to a girl, Wei He did not take it to heart at all.
He did not even have time to change his own circumstances. How could he have the spare mind to think about such things?
Especially with the state of the world as it was now.
Prices on the streets changed every day, growing ever more chaotic. It was said that the influx of vast quantities of privately minted silver had made silver increasingly worthless.
Gradually, many shops and market stalls stopped accepting silver. They began using cloth, meat, and rice as standards of trade.
As prices rose too high, taking out silver sometimes meant carrying a whole sack of it just to make a slightly larger payment. More and more people began to dislike using it.
Thinking of how Wei Ying had worked so hard at first only to earn a few dozen taels, Wei He knew she must have lost out. He told her that if she worked again in the future, she should not accept silver, only rice and meat.
In the blink of an eye, another month passed.
"Almost there... almost there..." Wei He pulled his hands from the slightly scalding stone sand, then quickly immersed them in the basin of medicinal liquid beside him.
He felt his hands continually cooling, while the heated blood and vitality within his body rapidly came into balance, faintly showing signs of growing stronger.
A wave of comfort filled Wei He's heart.
He could feel that his blood and vitality had advanced another step. At the Ox Hide level, he had reached the middle stage.
This speed was neither good nor bad. There were plenty around him progressing at the same pace.
There were even quite a few faster than him.
Among the dozen or so Ox Hide disciples, his progress was ordinary.
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