Trouble

Wei He did not concern himself with any of that.

After focusing on helping Second Sister open a bun shop, he returned to his original rhythm of bitter martial training.

In the blink of an eye, winter had arrived.

Yet there was still no rain. Drought cracks spread everywhere.

Inside the Wei family's small courtyard.

Bare-chested, Wei He held both fists up to guard his head as he faced a sandbag hanging from a thick tree trunk, punching it again and again.

Every punch was like a heavy hammer, one after another without pause. In a single breath, he threw a full thirty punches.

None of the punches were particularly fast, but each was exceptionally steady and heavy.

After that full-force burst, deep fist marks stood out all over the sandbag.

Wei He picked up the waterskin beside him and slowly took a sip of warm water, holding it in his mouth before swallowing it bit by bit.

As he rested, he lowered his head and glanced at the Boundary-Breaking Pearl pattern on his chest.

When he had checked it that morning, there had still been the tiniest gap. Now, it had completely filled in.

It's finally full.

A weight lifted from Wei He's heart. He had feared that the Boundary-Breaking Pearl could be filled only the first time, but not the second.

After all, its rate of accumulation was slower than a snail's crawl. It was truly unbearable.

But it was all right now. It had finally filled up.

With a thought, he tried the same method as last time, using his mind to pierce the balloon-like Boundary-Breaking Pearl at his heart.

But it did not work.

The Boundary-Breaking Pearl remained as immovable as a mountain.

As expected. I have to wait until my blood and qi are completely full as well. Wei He sighed inwardly and did not try again.

His blood and qi had only just passed the middle stage. Though it felt substantial within him, it had not yet reached the point of being completely full.

Under normal circumstances, among the Huishan Fist Academy's disciples, ninety-nine out of a hundred could only accumulate blood and qi through slow, painstaking grinding no matter how fast they were.

He had broken through Ox Hide at the beginning of the year, and only a little over half a year had passed. How could he have polished himself to the peak so quickly?

Only someone like Xiao Ran, born strong and blessed with extraordinary talent, could make rapid breakthroughs in one go.

For everyone else, this period of accumulating blood and qi never took less than a year and a half.

Thinking of this, Wei He suppressed the restlessness in his heart and calmed down.

"I've only spent a little over half a year, yet I've already accumulated more than half my blood and qi. That is actually quite fast. Judging by aptitude, most people in the academy are progressing at about the same rate as I am."

Among his peers who had broken through Ox Hide alongside him, some accumulated blood and qi slower than he did, while some were faster. But the differences were not great.

That showed his pace was normal.

Wei He was usually taciturn and observant. Now that he recalled and compared matters, his heart settled.

After completing his daily training, Wei He put on his clothes. In a rare good mood, he planned to head out and see how Second Sister's business was doing.

The bun shop had been open for around ten days. It was now morning, precisely the best time for selling buns and the like.

Wei He left the house and followed the riverside street toward Huishan Fist Academy.

Wei Family Bun Shop stood between Huishan Fist Academy and the Wei family's small courtyard, making it convenient to look after.

At that moment, Wei Ying was bustling back and forth before the shop, selling buns while busy loading fresh batches into the steamers.

Groups of people stood in a long line outside the bun shop, waiting for their turn.

Wei Ying wore a simple face mask custom-made by Wei He. Seeing her younger brother arrive, she had no time to greet him and could only nod to him from afar before throwing herself back into her work.

Wei He was in no rush. He stood quietly to one side, noticing that most of the people in line held tiny pieces of dried meat, or a little coarse grain, rice, and flour. Their clothes and bearing mostly marked them as impoverished people or ordinary commoners.

He sighed inwardly, knowing that his sister must have lowered the prices again. Otherwise, business would not be this good.

After all, how much flavor could steamed bread made from coarse grain flour have, or buns filled with just a little pickled vegetables and minced meat?

Still, now that he was at Huishan Fist Academy, he lacked no food. He did not care how much Wei Ying earned; he only felt sorry seeing her work herself so hard.

As he stood outside the shop, several people in line saw his strong build and indifferent expression and immediately became wary, seemingly afraid that he had come to cut in line.

Wei He could not help but laugh. He moved a little farther away and settled beneath an eave.

The weather had been scorching lately, with no rain at all. Even the river had become muddy and shallow.

Time slowly passed. The sunlight grew brighter and brighter, heat waves rose from the ground, and even the air twisted slightly.

Under the oppressive heat, the line finally began to thin. Wei Ying gradually became less busy as well.

Wei He stepped up to help deal with the last few customers. Earlier, there had been too many people and too much to do; even if he had gone over, he would not have known what to do and might instead have delayed things.

Now that he came over, Wei Ying had a little breathing room and could tell him what to do.

After seeing off the last few customers, Wei Ying wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve. Though she was exhausted, satisfaction showed on her face.

"All right, all right, they're finally sold out. We'll make more tomorrow night." She turned around and saw Wei He drawing water to wash his hands inside the shop.

She went over to wash up as well.

After washing his hands, Wei He raised them and gave them a shake, ready to call it done.

"Here, use this to dry them. Be good." Wei Ying hurriedly handed him a new gray cloth hand towel.

Wei He took it and looked it over. The towel was quite clean and new, as though it had just been bought.

He used it to carefully dry his hands.

"We didn't have this hand towel before, did we? Did you make it?" He knew that Second Sister liked handicrafts. The towels they had used at home before had also been made by her, stitched together from scraps of clothes too worn to mend.

"No, someone gave it to me. It even smells nice. I didn't want to take it, really, but I couldn't stand up to their enthusiasm," Wei Ying replied.

"That really is generous." Wei He nodded, thoughtful. "Was it a woman who gave it to you?"

"Mm."

"Did you boil it?"

"I did, just as you said."

"All right." Wei He suddenly recalled how Cheng Shaojiu had previously tried to introduce him to a wife, and Second Sister immediately came to mind as well.

"Come to think of it, Second Sister, have you considered finding a good family to marry into?" he asked softly.

"What? You're already thinking of marrying your sister off?" Wei Ying teased with a smile.

"Yes. Otherwise, you can't take care of me for the rest of your life, can you?" Wei He smiled.

"I haven't thought about it yet. There's no rush. I'll talk about it when I meet someone suitable." Wei Ying shook her head.

The siblings chatted for a while longer about their recent lives, lamenting that the situation outside was becoming increasingly troublesome.

Fortunately, Huishan Fist Academy seemed detached from all those troubles. Or rather, many martial masters' academies carried an air of standing apart from the world, lacking neither food nor clothing, with every expense and necessity fully provided for.

Wei He guessed that Old Zheng must have businesses supporting him behind the scenes. Otherwise, he could not have managed this.

Only after becoming a formal disciple and entering the sect had Wei He learned, through contact with the circle of martial masters and disciples, that—

Among the more than ten districts of Feiye City's Outer City, every district had a renowned martial master whose status stood as steady as Mount Tai, impossible to shake.

Yet the martial masters of those academies had all, more or less, been affected by recent changes in prices. Only a very few, academies like Old Zheng's, remained completely unmoved.

The siblings chatted for a while. Wei He no longer mentioned their parents or eldest sister, and Wei Ying did not ask about them either.

Not mentioning or asking did not mean they had stopped searching.

Wei He had been making inquiries everywhere in his spare time. Unfortunately, he had spent quite a bit of money on wages and still gained nothing. It was not even as useful as the information he had obtained during that first trip to Mingde Temple.

After staying for roughly an hour and helping Second Sister knead the coarse grain flour into dough, Wei He left the bun shop and continued home to train.

Today happened to be a rest day, which was why he had so much free time to arrange as he pleased.

Not long after Wei He left.

Two people slowly approached the front of the bun shop.

They were two tall, thin figures dressed in grayish-white cloth robes and broad-brimmed straw hats.

Both carried an obvious air unlike ordinary people. Anyone who drew close would catch the faint scent of incense sticks on them.

Only those who regularly came into contact with incense sticks would retain such a scent on their clothes for so long.

The two looked up at the bun shop, then walked one after the other to its entrance.

The person in front raised her face, revealing the kind features of a middle-aged woman.

"Little Sister Yingying, I've come to see you again," she greeted warmly.

"Big Sister Xu Chun? What brings you here? Come in and sit first. I'll be done here shortly." Wei Ying had been about to knead yeast into the prepared dough for fermentation. Seeing the visitor, she had no choice but to pause for the moment.

Xu Chun was a neighbor living nearby. Since her name shared the character Chun with Wei Ying's eldest sister's name, and since she had a gentle nature, she and Wei Ying had become quite familiar after meeting only a few times.

Xu Chun brought the other person inside to sit down. Looking at Wei Ying, who sat down as well, she smiled and said, "Actually, Little Sister Yingying, I came because yesterday I saw how much you missed your family and how distressed you were, so I came to have a heart-to-heart with you."

"You take such good care of me, Big Sister." Wei Ying was somewhat moved. Yesterday, during a brief rest, she had merely stared blankly at the carving knife left behind by her parents. She had not expected Xu Chun to notice.

"We're neighbors. What's this talk of taking care of each other?" Xu Chun sighed.

"When family members go missing, there's often nothing to be done about it. When my eldest son disappeared back then, I was just like you—I hurt so badly I wanted to smash my head against a wall.

"But later, as time slowly passed, I met a benefactor who helped me find something for my heart to cling to. Then it did not hurt quite so much."

"A benefactor?" Wei Ying asked curiously. "What kind of benefactor?"

"This benefactor is the one behind me." Xu Chun warmly invited the person behind her forward.

"Mengjin Female Cultivator. This is the Wei Ying I told you about before.

"She is a girl from a good family, gentle and kind-hearted. Every time I see her grieving, my heart feels as though needles are pricking it. It makes me think of my eldest son as well.

"So this time, I invited you here in hopes that, just as you helped me back then, you might also help this kind-hearted little sister."

The second person stepped forward. She was, startlingly, a gaunt old woman with a red mole between her brows.

Her expression was solemn. She stretched out a withered, chicken-claw-like arm and lifted the brim of her straw hat a little higher.

"What a pity." The Mengjin Female Cultivator looked at Wei Ying and sighed. "With those features of yours, no wonder. No wonder."

She shook her head as she studied Wei Ying.

"May I ask, Female Cultivator, is there something wrong with my features?" Wei Ying grew a little flustered beneath her gaze.

She could not read and had never attended school. She was merely an ordinary girl who knew some household chores and handicrafts. Being stared at like this immediately made her panic.

"Do you know that you were born..." The Mengjin Female Cultivator's expression was solemn as she slowly began.

Suddenly, a tall shadow at the entrance enveloped her.

That shadow blocked the doorway, neither entering nor retreating, simply standing there.