Actively Advancing

"Moving?" Second Sister Wei Ying, who was mending a torn silk garment, paused her work and looked up at Wei He with surprise when he mentioned buying a house.

"Mm, I bought a place nearby, so we don't have to go back to our old home," Wei He replied earnestly.

The room Wei Ying lived in was only a few square meters. Besides a bed, there was just a table and chair, nothing else.

Even the window was sealed shut.

It was truly just a place to sleep.

"But... where would we get that much money? Houses are so expensive," Wei Ying said, sounding disbelieving.

"They aren't expensive anymore," Wei He replied after a moment of silence.

"...Really?" Wei Ying lowered her head, her needlework still for a moment.

However, she quickly recovered, a happy expression on her face.

"Then we can finally live together! I've always worried about you when we were living apart. You wouldn't let me come over to tidy up before, saying it was dangerous. But now, everyone in the neighborhood knows you're Old Zheng's disciple. They all say you're very capable and bring honor to us! If Father, Mother, and Eldest Sister knew this news..." Speaking of her parents and eldest sister, Wei Ying's voice trailed off, but she paused and didn't dwell on it.

"When do we move?" Wei Ying asked.

"Now. It's lunchtime break. I'll tell Senior Brother Cheng later," Wei He said.

"Okay. Oh, right. Old Zheng said you were back and wanted you to visit him. He has something to tell you," Wei Ying suddenly remembered.

"Me? Just me?" Wei He was taken aback. He was just an ordinary disciple in the courtyard, with no outstanding achievements. Old Zheng wouldn't usually summon him specifically.

"Not just you. Before you returned, several people were already called in for a talk," Wei Ying replied.

"Got it. I'll head over after we move the stuff," Wei He nodded.

Wei Ying wanted to ask what happened on the caravan route, but Wei He brushed it off with a few words. Fortunately, the previous caravan trip had been very safe, so Wei Ying didn't suspect anything.

Both came from poor families, and they moved quickly. Moreover, Wei Ying didn't have much luggage; many things were already in Old Zheng's room.

In less than half an hour, everything was moved.

After moving, Wei He returned to the Huishan Fist courtyard. Before he even entered, he saw Xiao Ran being helped into a white carriage. He shook his head inwardly but showed no change in expression, continuing to push the door open.

In the courtyard, several junior brothers were already practicing diligently. They were all newcomers. New disciples were usually quite diligent. Once they settled in and realized that pure hard training without proper rest wouldn't yield good results, they would develop their own training habits.

Wei He wasn't very familiar with anyone; the only one he knew reasonably well was Li Jue. He nodded to Li Jue from a distance as a greeting and walked directly into the inner room.

The inner room was a rectangular space. Old Zheng was leaning in a corner, sitting in a red wooden chair with its armrests polished to a shine. One of the junior brothers was already waiting in front of him. Wei He walked over, and Old Zheng didn't speak, merely gesturing with his hand to indicate a spot. Wei He walked over and stood there, waiting quietly.

After a while, two more disciples entered and also stood waiting on the side. Finally, the eldest senior brother, Zhao Hong, walked in.

"Everyone's here," Old Zheng said calmly. "Hong'er, tell them the general situation. Since you've entered my sect, you need to be clear about things. The situation in this city is becoming increasingly unstable; everyone needs to be careful."

"Yes," Zhao Hong replied respectfully, lowering his head.

Old Zheng then picked up a side dish of braised chicken feet and began to nibble on them slowly, seemingly intending to observe and supplement.

Zhao Hong cleared his throat and looked at the four junior brothers present. "I've already said this twice before, but today I'm repeating it for those of you who didn't hear. He paused, glancing at Old Zheng. Seeing that he had no intention of giving instructions, he continued, "The other disciples who haven't formally joined, not counting us in Huishan Fist, are merely apprentices. Apprentices, apprentices—their lives and deaths are not within our care. Even if they go out, no one will consider them part of Huishan Fist. But you are different. You have all formally joined and have all broken through Blood Essence once. When you go out, you can represent Huishan Fist. Therefore, today, we will establish some rules here and make things clear."

Wei He and the other three nodded, indicating they were listening carefully. Zhao Hong nodded slightly with satisfaction and continued, "Within this city, apart from those small gangs and sects that change every few days and don't need to be bothered with, what you truly need to pay attention to are the three major gangs among the three gangs and two sects. The three gangs are Shanchuan Gang, Blood Robe Gang, and Tongcheng Gang. Although these three major gangs have many members, you don't need to pay too much attention to the peripheral members. Just be mindful of the core members and don't provoke them lightly. I will tell you the identifying characteristics of the core members of the three gangs later. Also, when you pass by houses with sick people in the future, don't linger and stay as far away as possible. The plague in the city has been getting worse recently..." He went on to mention some precautions regarding the plague. Wei He listened quietly until the end. Zhao Hong had said a lot about the characteristics of those infected with the plague.

Old Zheng, standing by, couldn't help but interrupt.

"Alright, alright, just get to the main point."

"Yes." Zhao Hong nodded quickly. "Feiye City has three gangs and two sects, but these are all located in the outer city area. The inner city is completely different from where we are. Most of the businesses and land there are occupied by seven families, so it's generally called the Seven Families Alliance. This Seven Families Alliance and Hong Family Fort outside the city are what I'm talking about – the forces in Feiye City that you absolutely cannot provoke. When you're out and about, if you encounter people from the inner city's Seven Families Alliance or Hong Family Fort, try to avoid them and don't get into any conflicts."

The Seven Families Alliance. Wei He's heart skipped a beat. He recalled that during a previous escort mission, Head Caravan Guard Cheng Kai had also mentioned the conflict between Hong Family Fort and the City Guard family. He figured one of the families in the Seven Families Alliance must be the City Guard family.

After a lot of rambling, the group realized that Senior Brother Zhao Hong, who was usually quiet, had a tendency to be long-winded once he started speaking. In the end, Old Zheng couldn't stand it and interrupted him, telling the four of them to go practice their martial arts. As Wei He left, he glanced back and saw the Senior Brother lowering his head, being lectured by Old Zheng. It made him chuckle.

Returning to a corner of his own courtyard, Wei He saw Cheng Shaojiu already waiting there. They each set up their own training equipment, preparing to practice skin tempering.

"I heard about what happened on this trip. You worked hard," Cheng Shaojiu said in a low voice.

"It's nothing. Since I promised, it's what I should do," Wei He replied, shaking his head. He had been earning Cheng family wages for so long, and he had already anticipated encountering danger on the escort mission.

"In any case, be careful with everything when you're out," Cheng Shaojiu sighed. "Actually, I've wanted to go on an escort mission for a long time, but my father wouldn't allow it. What's the point of me practicing martial arts so diligently every day?"

Wei He was speechless.

After a moment of silence, he recalled the monster he encountered in the darkness and spoke in a low voice. "Senior Brother, do you know what the Black Madman we encountered on the escort mission was?"

"Black Madman is a general term for beasts that hunt at night. I asked my father about the two people who died that day, and he wasn't sure either. They seemed to be a type of beast that hadn't appeared before," Cheng Shaojiu shook his head.

Wei He fell silent upon hearing this. He had originally thought that outside the city wasn't as dangerous as he imagined, but after just one trip, two people were gone.

Cheng Shaojiu lowered his head and repeatedly smashed the sand basin. After a while, he suddenly looked up.

"Xiao He, how old are you?"

"Seventeen," Wei He replied, confused.

"Seventeen... How about I find you a nice girl?" Cheng Shaojiu blurted out suddenly.

Wei He couldn't keep up with his train of thought.

"Just listen to me. I promise I'll find you someone absolutely virtuous and gentle!" Cheng Shaojiu patted his chest. In those days, it was common for people to get married and have children at seventeen or eighteen, and Wei He was at that age. However, he had been too busy practicing martial arts to consider it.

Wei He was speechless. This Senior Brother Cheng seemed to be troubled by many things lately, which wasn't good and wouldn't help his martial arts progress.

After that, neither of them spoke and focused on their training.

After training for a while, Wei He casually pulled open his collar while wiping sweat and looked at the pattern on his Boundary-Breaking Pearl. It had grown longer. After this half-month escort mission, the progress had gone from half to more than half, increasing by about a quarter. He continued his rigorous training as if nothing had happened. According to the information in his mind, the Boundary-Breaking Pearl could only be used to break through when one reached a certain bottleneck. Therefore, he also had to temper and strengthen his Blood Essence to the peak of the Ox Hide level. When his Blood Essence reached the extreme of the Ox Hide level, that would be the day he could use the Boundary-Breaking Pearl to break through.

He calmed his mind and continued to focus on skin tempering. Blood Essence not only needed to grow stronger, but the container itself also needed to expand in volume to hold more Blood Essence. This was the purpose of skin tempering. However, his aptitude was limited, far inferior to geniuses like Xiao Ran, so he could only accumulate progress bit by bit.

Soon, time slowly passed. Wei He and Second Sister moved into their new home and invited Third Senior Brother and Li Jue over for a meal, as a way to get acquainted. After that, no unexpected events occurred. Every day, he woke up early and returned late, diligently practicing martial arts and tempering himself. His days flowed by like water dripping from a bamboo tube in the courtyard. As for Cheng Shaojiu's offer to introduce him to a girl, Wei He completely ignored it. He didn't even have time to change his current living situation, let alone think about such things. Moreover, considering the current state of the world...

The prices on the street changed daily, becoming increasingly chaotic. It was rumored that the influx of privately minted silver coins had made silver less and less valuable.

Gradually, many shops and stalls stopped accepting silver, opting instead to use cloth, meat, and rice as their units of exchange.

With prices rising so sharply, carrying large amounts of silver meant bringing a sackful, and it was increasingly inconvenient.

Recalling how Wei Ying had worked so hard for just a few dozen taels, Wei He was sure she had lost out. He told her not to accept silver for her work anymore, only rice and meat.

Another month passed in the blink of an eye.

"Almost there, almost there," Wei He said, pulling his hands out of the slightly hot stone sand and quickly immersing them in the nearby basin of medicinal liquid.

He felt his hands cooling down while the heat within his Blood Essence was rapidly harmonized, subtly growing stronger.

Wei He felt a wave of comfort.

He could feel his Blood Essence had advanced further. In the Ox Hide stage, he had reached the middle.

This speed wasn't particularly good or bad. Many people around him were at the same pace.

There were even quite a few who were faster than him.

Among the dozen or so Ox Hide disciples, his progress was considered mediocre.