Leaps and Bounds, Peaceful Years

By the time Fang Xuan returned to the house, Fang Li was earnestly studying his books, while the meal set beside him had long since gone cold.

Fang Lan sat in the front yard enclosed by a bamboo fence, her two little hands propping up her cheeks and squashing her round little face. Bored out of her mind, she watched the people coming and going through the alley.

From the teahouse by the street came a familiar cry again, following the sharp crack of a storyteller's clapper.

She had already heard that storyteller's tales eight hundred times. It was always the same old wine in a new bottle—either some poor boy winning the heart of a rich young lady, or falling off a cliff and finding a martial arts manual.

No matter how he told it, it was always those same two old tricks. Utterly boring.

The tofu peddler passed through this alley at this time every day, stretching out his voice as he called to both sides, "Sell~ing~to~fu~~!"

His accent was strange and peculiar, neither the official tongue nor the dialect of Pingjiang City, carrying the winding lilt of a Nine Twists and Eighteen Bends country accent. Who knew where he had come from.

Auntie Wang next door had started cooking again, and the fragrance of the food made her sniff involuntarily.

Mmm, Auntie Wang's cooking was getting better and better!

Fang Lan stared blankly outside the yard. She always felt that tomorrow would look just like today, and the day after tomorrow would probably look just like tomorrow. On and on it would go, until at last, with one closing and opening of her eyes, it would be a matter for her next life.

"Alas."

The little girl let out a soft sigh. She looked once more at Fang Li, who was writing furiously, then at Fang Xuan in the backyard, preparing to practice. Her little brows drooped, and a hint of sorrow appeared on her face.

"Big Brother became a hall master, and after the New Year, Second Brother will have to set off for the prefectural city to take the exams..."

"In this whole family, I'm the most useless!"

The little girl lowered her head, twisting the faded hem of her clothes between her hands, her expression unspeakably downcast.

Smack!

A broad, rough hand ruffled her hair, followed by laughter ringing in her ear.

"Who said Xiao Lan is useless? Xiao Lan is the most useful one in this family! If it weren't for Xiao Lan, how would your Second Brother have time to study in peace? And who would stay awake every night waiting for me to return, then bandage my wounds with tears running down her face?"

Fang Lan raised her head blankly. Golden sunlight poured down, and Fang Xuan stood within it. Backlit by the sun, his features were unclear, but he was smiling faintly at her.

The fierceness he usually showed outsiders was gone from those eyes. There was only gentleness.

"That's right! I can't carry loads on my shoulders or lift anything in my hands. If it weren't for you, Xiao Lan, I'd have starved to death long ago! Hehe!"

Fang Li put down his brush and hurried over as well, grinning foolishly at Fang Lan.

"Really? Am I that important?"

Hearing those words, Fang Lan felt as though she had a piece of honey in her mouth. Her eyes immediately curved into crescent moons with her smile.

"Of course it's true! Xiao Lan is the head of this household. If Xiao Lan hadn't kept the home in such perfect order, how could we do our work with peace of mind?" Fang Xuan said with a smile.

"I-I'm really the head of the household?"

Upon hearing that, Fang Lan, who had been feeling so low moments ago, immediately perked up and became spirited. Planting her hands on her hips, she imperiously ordered Fang Li, "Then, Xiao Li Zi, go wash the clothes for me today, mop the floor, and while you're at it, pound my legs and massage my shoulders. This young lady is closing up shop and taking the day off!"

Fang Li froze at those words, then angrily tucked Fang Lan under his arm and vigorously ruffled her hair.

"You little brat with no sense of seniority! You were pretending to be all deep and gloomy earlier just so you could dig a pit and wait for me to fall into it?"

"Ah! Big Brother, come save me! Xiao Li Zi has turned heaven and earth upside down!"

The laughter of the two siblings playing and tussling drifted through the little fenced yard.

The sunlight was tranquil, and the years were peaceful.

People came and went beyond the alley, with a few cries of peddlers occasionally drifting over.

An old ginger cat lay drowsily atop the yellow-mud wall.

Fang Xuan watched the scene with a smile, and for some reason, all the weariness and urgency seemed to become a little lighter.

"Xiao Lan, your Brother now has a residence in the city. How about we move into the city, and I hire two servants for you?" Fang Xuan suddenly asked.

"Ah?"

The siblings, who had still been fooling around, gradually stopped moving.

Then they exchanged a glance, and Fang Lan shook her head like a rattledrum.

"Big Brother, can we not go? I don't like the city, and I don't like the people in it either."

"Why don't you like it?"

"I can't explain it. The way they look at people just makes me uncomfortable. And hiring servants... Big Brother, I think the three of us are just fine at home. I wouldn't feel comfortable with outsiders around," Fang Lan muttered softly.

Fang Xuan fell silent for a moment, then broke into a grin. "Alright. Brother will listen to Xiao Lan!"

With that, Fang Xuan rubbed Fang Lan's head and strode into the backyard.

Fang Xuan set up an iron pot, then lifted the jar of whale blood and poured it into the pot until it submerged both his palms before stopping.

"Register."

At Fang Xuan's soft call.

Lines of tiny words immediately spread before his eyes like a drop of ink dispersing through clear water.

Martial Art: Whale Sand Palm (Mastery)

Progress: 0/1000

Growth Method: Soak palms in whale blood, warm the tendons and nourish the veins, shatter green rock with fingers, press refined iron with palms!

Description: A weapon of the mortal world, able to slice through iron like mud!

"First soak my palms in whale blood, then strike green stone with my fingers, and press refined iron with my palms?"

A thoughtful gleam flashed through Fang Xuan's eyes. Then, he placed both hands into the iron pot.

The whale blood was warm and scorching against his palms, yet its texture felt cool and silky.

As Fang Xuan's palms fully submerged in the concentrated blood within the iron pot—

In an instant!

A sudden change occurred!

A black Jiao Mark on the skin of Fang Xuan's right arm lit up at once, and the whale blood in the iron pot abruptly began to boil!

Countless densely packed red threads, as fine as hairs, peeled away within the whale blood. Like tiny serpents possessed of spirit, they swiftly burrowed through Fang Xuan's countless pores and into both his arms!

Crack, crack, crack!

A series of sounds like growing bones rang out from within Fang Xuan's arms!

Immediately afterward, an incomparably swollen sensation surged through both his arms.

"This is...?" A sharp light burst from Fang Xuan's eyes.

He could feel it with absolute clarity: as his arms absorbed the whale blood, his bones, flesh, tendons, and membranes were becoming tougher and stronger at a rate visible to the naked eye!

In merely three breaths, that swelling sensation felt as if it would burst his arms apart!

Splash—!

Fang Xuan abruptly pulled his hands from the whale blood, spun around, and flicked a finger toward a thick slab of green stone as tall as a man!

Bang!!!

In an instant, the green stone weighing several thousand jin shook violently. A conspicuous finger-sized pit three inches deep appeared on its surface!

Without the slightest hesitation, Fang Xuan turned again and slammed his palm down on a prepared iron disc!

Another dull explosion, like muffled thunder, rang out. A palm print had been deeply pressed into the iron disc, which had originally been a palm's thickness!

You used whale blood to nourish your tendons and veins, completing Finger Shattering Green Rock and Palm Pressing Refined Iron. Whale Sand Palm progress +1

A line of small black text scattered apart before Fang Xuan's eyes.

"It worked? Keep going!"

Fang Xuan drew a deep breath, then once again immersed his hands in the whale blood, whose color had faded slightly, and began tempering them without pause!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Dull explosions continuously rang out through the rear courtyard, unceasing and endless!