Young Lady, Run Slower—Wait for This Officer!

Bang!

You nurtured your sinews and veins with whale blood, completing Finger Shattering Green Rock and Palm Pressing Refined Iron. Whale Sand Palm progress +1.

Bang!

You nurtured your sinews and veins with whale blood, completing Finger Shattering Green Rock and Palm Pressing Refined Iron. Whale Sand Palm progress +1.

Bang!

You nurtured your sinews and veins with whale blood—

Time slowly passed. Fang Xuan's proficiency in Whale Sand Palm began to soar ahead at an astonishing pace!

This differed from the Dragon Whale Technique. To increase the Dragon Whale Technique's cultivation progress, he had to seize the waves. If the waves were too small to temper the body, they would not count toward his cultivation progress; yet if the waves were too large, then he simply lacked the conditions to wrestle against them.

Thus, when Fang Xuan cultivated the Dragon Whale Technique, he had to rely on luck and wait!

This often led to half an hour passing without a suitable wave appearing, or several waves arriving one after another.

Cultivating the Whale Sand Palm, however, was different.

As long as Fang Xuan could focus wholeheartedly, maintain an intense level of concentration, and achieve Finger Shattering Green Rock and Palm Pressing Refined Iron, it would become valid progress!

An afternoon passed.

Golden-red afterglow sank over the eight hundred li of Ping River. The gloomy night gradually swallowed the last trace of light, while a vast chill rose across the wilderness.

Fang Xuan withdrew his reddened, aching arms, a trace of exhaustion welling up in his eyes.

This exhaustion was not merely physical; it was also the utter weariness of the mind after such intense concentration.

"Talismans."

Fang Xuan slowly exhaled.

A jet-black ancient talisman immediately condensed before his eyes.

Martial Art: Whale Sand Palm (Mastery)

Progress: 80/1000

Method of Growth: Soak the palms in whale blood, warm the sinews 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!

"A thousand progress points is still a long road ahead!"

Fang Xuan sighed. After resting briefly, he planned to head to Ping River and cultivate the Dragon Whale Technique.

Knock knock knock!

A rapid knocking rang out. It was so loud that it even reached Fang Xuan in the rear courtyard.

"Hmm?"

Fang Xuan frowned, took the sweat towel beside him to wipe the whale blood from his hands, and strode toward the front courtyard.

The two shabby wooden doors had already been opened.

A young man wearing a long saber at his waist and a red yamen runner's uniform stood sideways at the entrance, frowning.

"A Xuan, we couldn't find you at the hall either. What have you been doing at home? Why were you dawdling so much?" Yang Zheng said with a frown.

"Xiao Li, Xiao Lan, go inside first."

Only after sending the two inside did Fang Xuan look at Yang Zheng, raising a brow. "Brother Zheng, did you need something?"

Yang Zheng glanced to either side before speaking. "It's nothing major. It's just that matter I told you about last night—why haven't you set out yet?"

Fang Xuan replied blandly, "Those Water Bandits are hiding deep in the mountains and old forests. Doesn't it take time to determine their location?"

Yang Zheng frowned at this, vaguely feeling that Fang Xuan was somewhat strange today, not as eager as usual.

Shaking his head, Yang Zheng could not be bothered with such minor details at this crucial juncture. A hint of impatience entered his voice. "Then when will you be able to determine those Water Bandits' location?"

Fang Xuan glanced at the sky. Layer upon layer of dark clouds pressed in from every direction, and the entire night sky seemed to have become a black curtain, heavy and ready to fall.

"Probably tonight." Fang Xuan withdrew his gaze and chuckled.

Hearing this, Yang Zheng's expression eased somewhat. He reached out and patted Fang Xuan on the shoulder.

"Work hard. My father has already spoken to the County Magistrate. When spring comes, he'll help me into the county commandant's post. Then, after another year or so, once the County Magistrate is transferred away, all I need is to earn a little merit, and I'll be the next county magistrate!"

"When that time comes... perhaps I'll arrange some official position for you too. Strip off those clothes of a lowborn thug and put on the red robes of a yamen runner. That would count as truly crossing the class divide!"

At those words, Fang Xuan could not help but sneer inwardly.

He knew Yang Zheng's nature better than anyone.

This was a ravenous, insatiable wolf!

Once he became county magistrate, the first thing he would likely do would be to pin every filthy deed from the past onto Fang Xuan, then use Fang Xuan's head to vent the people's fury!

And with only a little staging, he could transform himself before those commoners, who had never possessed the ability to think independently, into a great and upright incorruptible official—one who had endured humiliation beneath dark forces before finally eliminating evil for the people!

Kill the donkey once it has left the mill; preserve himself with wisdom!

The first sword swing after making it ashore—cut down the one in your heart first!

And that one in your heart was everything from your dark past.

In his previous life, Fang Xuan had been a small-town exam grinder; he had seen far too many such despicable tactics.

"Fine. Then I truly can't wait." Fang Xuan gathered his thoughts and gave a faint smile.

"Mhm. I'll await your good news." A flicker of disdain passed through Yang Zheng's eyes before he strode away, surrounded by a group of Yamen Runners.

A hoodlum with no worldly experience like this was truly easy to deceive.

Just a few words would be enough to spin him round and round, making him work himself to death for them.

Rumble—!

Pale bolts of lightning darted and flashed through the oppressive black clouds, their brief light casting all of Pingjiang City in an eerie, sinister glow.

In the alleys, big yellow dogs barked madly in restless agitation, while pedestrians on the streets hurried back indoors.

Fine rain began to fall, growing from a drizzle into a downpour that shrouded heaven and earth. It pattered softly against the bluestone paving.

A satisfyingly torrential rain thus came pouring down.

Fang Xuan looked up at the sky, held out a hand to catch a palmful of rain, and murmured to himself, "It's time to wash Pingjiang City clean as well."

Pingjiang City, East of the City.

Before a wonton stall not far from the City God Temple.

Yang Zheng set his saber on the table and sat down with an imposing sprawl.

"Shopkeeper! Are you blind? Can't you see Brother Zheng has arrived?"

The Yamen Runners and constables shouted at the stall owner, who had been preparing to close up.

Left with no choice, the owner relit the charcoal fire and set up a pot of hot water.

Before long, several bowls of fragrant wontons were brought to the table by the owner with painstaking care.

Yang Zheng lowered his head to glance at the bland, watery wontons in his bowl and could not help frowning.

East City truly was a dump. Aside from endless fishing, countless fisherfolk, and fish-meat wontons one could eat forever, there was nothing else worth mentioning.

"Brother Zheng, are we still going into the city later? I heard Spring Breeze Pavilion has a new top courtesan. She's skilled at singing, dancing, playing instruments—everything. And that little tongue of hers is especially nimble and soft. Ah, it's more than merely soul-melting!"

One of the Yamen Runners was speaking with a leering grin.

But Yang Zheng was already staring fixedly at a certain spot, utterly entranced.

Beneath the eaves of a building, a woman in a yellow long dress stood drenched to the skin. She gritted her teeth as though she had made up her mind, shielding her forehead with one hand while lifting the hem of her dress with the other, then quickly jogged out into the rain.

Her already form-fitting, cinched-waist dress clung even tighter to her skin in the rain, outlining the incomparably graceful curves of her waist and hips.

"Since when did a yellow phoenix land in this dirt-chicken coop of East City?" The Yamen Runners stared until their eyes went straight, their throats bobbing as they swallowed saliva.

"Zhang San, Wang Wu, come with me! The rest of you wait here!"

Smack!

Yang Zheng snatched up the saber on the table and strode after her.

"Little miss, slow those steps of yours. Wait for this officer."

A new month—please vote with your monthly tickets! Our monthly ticket count looks far too shabby right now~~

/(ㄒoㄒ)/