How Much Benevolence, Righteousness, Morality, and Backbone Do You Weigh?

"Fang Xuan, you dared lay hands on a scholar-official. Are you trying to rebel?!"

Instructor Xun gave a fierce shout, though his heart was weak.

"An old xiucai who had scraped together a little wealth and muddled his way into some reputation over the years by recommending decent people for the Prefectural Examination—and that makes you a scholar-official? Since when did scholar-officials become so cheap?"

Fang Xuan sneered and strode toward Instructor Xun.

He was already a tall, broad man. Coming at him with such menace now, he seemed all the more intimidating.

Instructor Xun was small and withered to begin with, and age had made him into a frail old man. He did not even reach Fang Xuan's chest. Seeing Fang Xuan close in step by step, he was terrified out of his wits and groaned inwardly:

This thug has always been audacious beyond measure. Once his blood gets up and he loses his head, he recognizes neither kin nor friend. If I fall into his hands, how can I possibly survive?

With a slap, he shoved the girl before him toward Fang Xuan and turned to flee.

"M-Master Fang..."

The girl stumbled into Fang Xuan's arms, her face deathly pale with fright, her words no longer clear.

A man's name was like a tree's shadow. Fang Xuan's ruthless deeds and brutal methods over the years had long sunk deep into the hearts of Pingjiang County's people.

"Of all people to sell yourself to, you had to choose some old bastard."

Fang Xuan tugged at the corner of his mouth, then flung the girl aside.

In no more than two or three steps, he caught up with Instructor Xun and clamped a hand onto his shoulder.

"Master, where are you off to?"

Instructor Xun stiffly turned his head. The moment he met Fang Xuan's grinning face, it felt as though two of his three souls had fled. His legs went limp beneath him.

"M-Master Fang, it's only about recommending your family's second son for the Prefectural Examination... I-I agree to it. Why resort to fighting and killing? It would harm our harmony..." Instructor Xun forced a trembling smile.

He could see it now.

Fang Xuan was an utterly lawless brute, a reckless lout who could not be reasoned with at all!

If he had fallen into someone else's hands, he could still appeal to sentiment and reason, or invoke scholarly honors and the imperial court's grand righteousness to suppress them.

But if he failed to read the situation with this brute, the man might truly hack him to death without regard for consequences!

"Who said this was about the recommendation?"

Fang Xuan seized Instructor Xun by the collar and lifted him one-handed, holding him straight out in the air.

Instructor Xun's face flushed red. His hands and feet flailed desperately in midair as his eyes darted about for help, cold sweat rolling down his forehead.

Could it be that this brute intended to kill him by smashing him to death?

"Look at me!"

Fang Xuan slapped Instructor Xun across the face.

Instructor Xun's head buzzed. He involuntarily stopped struggling and looked at Fang Xuan timidly.

"Old bastard, all these years you've taken bribes under the name of tuition fees. When recommending worthy candidates, you only look at whether their tuition is thick enough. You shut countless children of decent families outside the door, leaving who knows how many unable to take the Imperial Examination without anyone's recommendation, regrets that would follow them for life!"

"I lifted you up because I wanted to weigh just how many pounds of benevolence, righteousness, morality, and backbone you have!"

"But now that I've tested you, it seems your body is stuffed full of greasy guts and powdered flesh. Cowardly and filthy, without even a shred of benevolence, righteousness, or morality."

Fang Xuan let out a contemptuous laugh, grabbed Instructor Xun by the collar, and strode toward the dry latrine nearby.

"You said the tuition I gave you was filthy? Then Fang will stuff your mouth full of Golden Broth! Let's see whether my family's tuition is filthy, or whether that mouth of yours, so full of benevolence and righteousness, is filthy!"

Yet after those words fell, not another sound came from him.

Fang Xuan halted and looked back, immediately staring blankly.

At some point, Instructor Xun had been so terrified that he had lost control of his bowels and bladder, then fainted dead away.

"Tsk. I haven't even drawn my blade, and he's already fainted?"

Fang Xuan raised a brow, then snorted. "Spineless rat. You think passing out means you won't have to drink Golden Broth?"

With a single bound, Fang Xuan reached the latrine entrance, grabbed Instructor Xun by the head, and shoved it straight into the stinking cesspit!

Instructor Xun, who had been unconscious, suddenly snapped his eyes open. His expression changed drastically. "Fang—glug glug glug~~ Urgh! I was wrong—glug glug glug~~~! Urgh!"

A moment later, Fang Xuan casually flung Instructor Xun—this time truly unconscious—to one side like a piece of trash.

He drew a ledger from his sleeve, one recording the bribes Instructor Xun had accepted over the years, and tossed it onto him.

"Mm, you didn't even let me have my fun. How boring!"

Fang Xuan stretched lazily and strode out of Xun Residence.

Outside the Xun Residence estate.

Dozens of figures in coarse blue clothes, short axes hanging at their waists, had long been lined up on both sides beneath the night sky, waiting silently.

"Master Fang!!!"

When they saw Fang Xuan emerge, the dozens of thugs called out in unison. Their voices joined like a rushing flood, deafening enough to make the wind and snow tremble.

The nearby residents hurriedly shut their doors tight, not daring to make a sound.

"Let's go back."

Fang Xuan nodded his chin in acknowledgment and took the lead forward.

Rustle, rustle—!

The dozens of blue-clad thugs followed behind him through the night.

Dawn was just beginning to break, and roosters crowed the morning in.

Pingjiang County rested by the river. A thin mist over the water carried a trace of chill, blowing awake the lights of ten thousand homes.

"Big Brother, have a bun."

Fang Lan placed a freshly steamed bun into Fang Xuan's hand, then picked up a cloak and stood on tiptoe to drape it over his shoulders.

"Big Brother, it's terribly cold these days, and the chill is heavy. Dress warmly, or you'll catch cold."

"Got it."

Fang Xuan smiled and rubbed Fang Lan's head. Then he glanced sideways at Fang Li, who was diligently reciting from memory, nodded slightly, and walked out through the courtyard gate.

Martial Art: Whale Sand Palm (Entry Level)

Progress: 475/500

Method of Increase: Boil stones in an iron pot and temper both palms!

Description: A hundred refinements make steel; cleave gold and shatter stone!

A speck of black ink spread through Fang Xuan's vision, forming line after line of small words.

"At most, in another two days, my Whale Sand Palm will rise to another level."

Fang Xuan's eyes flickered.

At present, he could indeed be called unrivaled among ordinary men. Yet he knew that if he encountered an Entry Realm Martial Artist who had truly stepped onto the martial path, his little three-legged-cat skills would be utterly insufficient.

He had once seen from afar a man hailed as a martial arts expert. The man merely had to stand there to radiate an invisible pressure. With the slightest movement of hand or foot, his blood and qi rumbled like thunder. His flesh alone could slice iron like mud, and with a flick of his finger, he could shatter green rock.

If he fell into the hands of such an Entry Realm Martial Artist, his current strength would likely see him blasted to death in an instant.

"Ah, I wonder when I'll be able to obtain a genuine Entry Realm martial art."

After taking a deep breath, Fang Xuan gathered his thoughts and walked straight out of Tong'an Alley.

The Black Whale Gang had a rule: every ten days, it held a general assembly where each hall turned in its silver and reported on its business.

Put simply, it was the day the heads of every hall paid their dues upward.

Fang Xuan did not hurry to the Black Whale Gang. Instead, he first went to the docks.

At the docks, fishing families had already set up their stalls. Even from far away, the smell of fish rushed at him.

"Master Fang."

Seeing Fang Xuan arrive alone, Old Man Hu piled on a smile, bent at the waist, and approached him.

"Master, I played my part rather well last time, didn't I? This is my money of respect for you."

Old Man Hu slipped a money pouch from his sleeve, turned sideways to hide the motion, and tucked it into Fang Xuan's hand.

Fang Xuan did not refuse. He might look imposing now, but thugs like them were rich at the third watch and poor at the fifth; money simply could not stay in their hands.

All his possessions amounted to barely a dozen taels of silver.

"Master Fang, do you think you could put in a word with the authorities? It isn't easy for everyone to earn a little money on the river. The Black Whale Gang takes a cut, and then the government comes to take another. We really... can't bear it!" Old Man Hu put on a miserable expression.

Smack!

Fang Xuan slapped Old Man Hu hard across the face and cursed, "Well, well, Old Man Hu, crying poverty to me now? And you want me to speak to the yamen runners? What status do I have? Am I someone who can make them loosen their grip?

"The yamen runners brave wind and rain to protect the peace of our Pingjiang County. Life isn't easy for you, so you think it's easy for them?"

As his words fell.

Fang Xuan caught sight from the corner of his eye of several yamen runners approaching from one side, sabers at their waists, official caps on their heads, dressed in government uniforms. He blinked in surprise.

"Eh? What brings you yamen runners to this filthy place today?"