The Petty Mind

He glanced over the Light Screen again. The changes were considerable.

Name: Lu Wangchuan.

Cultivation: Tendons and Membranes Realm.

Vitality: 179.

Techniques: Mountain Splitting Fist (Level 5), Eight Section Brocade (Level 6).

In two months, he had successfully broken through the second level of the Physical Body Realm—the Tendons and Membranes Realm.

Those in the Tendons and Membranes Realm possessed immense strength; a single punch carried several hundred pounds of force.

An inexplicable sense of security rose within his heart.

The stronger he became, the safer he would be in this world.

After adding his vitality points to the Eight Section Brocade again and raising it to the seventh level, Lu Wangchuan went to the Martial Hall for his daily lessons.

After class, Lu Wangchuan practiced the Eight Section Brocade in a corner when several martial apprentices approached with malicious grins.

"Wangchuan, you're practicing quite well."

Lu Wangchuan stopped cultivating and answered calmly.

"Not bad. What can I do for you all?"

"Nothing much. The brothers here want to buy some Body Strengthening Soup lately, but the money from home isn't enough. We wanted to borrow a little from you."

"Sorry, I don't have any money either."

Lu Wangchuan refused without hesitation.

Borrowing money was out of the question. Once money was lent out, getting it back was harder than climbing to heaven.

"Wangchuan, now that's no fun. We're classmates, after all. At least give us some face."

"I really don't have money."

Lu Wangchuan refused again, and the malicious smiles on their faces had already turned cold.

"What? Looking down on us? You won't even give us this little bit of face?"

The smell of gunpowder gradually spread through the air. The other classmates did not dare approach casually, afraid of getting dragged into the flames.

But just then, a sharp rebuke made the smiles on their faces freeze instantly.

"No causing trouble in the Martial Hall. Don't you know that?"

"Instructor Lu Lu. We weren't causing trouble. We were just joking with Wangchuan, weren't we, Wangchuan?"

After saying that, they winked and threatened Lu Wangchuan with their eyes. Lu Xianyuan glanced at Lu Wangchuan.

"Is that really so?"

Lu Wangchuan remained neither servile nor overbearing.

"They wanted to borrow money from me. I said I had none, so they wanted to attack me."

The few of them shuddered and immediately glared viciously at Lu Wangchuan. If eyes could kill, his body would have long been riddled with holes!

Lu Xianyuan said coldly,

"You insolent fools! Are you trying to ruin the Martial Hall's rules?"

The group hurriedly begged for mercy.

"Instructor Lu, we wouldn't dare."

"All of you, get lost and perform the Mountain Splitting Fist three hundred times. You are not permitted to leave the Martial Hall until you finish."

Their faces immediately fell, but they did not dare disobey.

"Yes."

Lu Wangchuan immediately clasped his hands in thanks to Lu Xianyuan.

"Thank you, Instructor Lu."

Lu Xianyuan did not say a word. He turned and left directly, as aloof as ever.

Lu Wangchuan was not angry either. Experts having a bit of temper was perfectly normal.

As long as he had helped him, that was enough. It seemed those three hundred taels of silver last time had not been wasted.

After glancing at the group miserably practicing their punches, Lu Wangchuan turned and left.

The group ground their teeth in hatred.

"Damn it, look how smug that brat is. Didn't he just get by because his sister sold herself? What's so impressive about that?"

"Exactly! Without his sister, he couldn't even afford the monthly fee to study martial arts!"

"There are only him and two servants in that house. His cultivation is nothing to speak of. He's trained for two and a half years and hasn't even broken through to the Blood Solidification Realm. How about tonight..."

The group exchanged looks, a savage grin surfacing in their eyes.

After leaving the Martial Hall, Lu Wangchuan went to the merchant guild to buy ingredients for more Body Strengthening Soup.

"Young Master Lu is here."

After nearly two months of business, Lu Wangchuan had become a regular customer of the Longtai Merchant Guild in Jianghai City. Every time he came, Lao Tan, the shopkeeper who looked like Liu Neng, personally received him.

"Shopkeeper Tan, prepare another two hundred taels' worth according to the previous ingredients."

"No problem. I'll have the attendants carry them to your carriage right away."

Shopkeeper Tan gave the order, and Lu Wangchuan paid.

"Count it."

"Young Master Lu, you must be joking. Who are you? Would you possibly short a small shop like mine such a trifling sum? I trust you!"

Smiling warmly, he tucked the banknotes into his robes before speaking again.

"Young Master Lu, in three months, Jianghai City will hold a large auction at Moon Gazing Pavilion. There will be quite a few good things then. Would you like to take a look?"

"An auction?"

"That's right. Everything being auctioned is related to cultivation—techniques, inner arts, medicinal pills."

"Fine. I'll go take a look."

"Then I'll reserve a place for you."

Lu Wangchuan thanked him, hurried home to brew the Body Strengthening Soup, and continued cultivating.

A day passed. Lu Wangchuan's vitality increased by a full twenty points. Only when the moon had climbed over the western window did he stop cultivating and prepare for bed.

The good thing about external body-tempering techniques was this: aside from one's mind eventually being unable to endure, they did no harm to the body at all. Instead, they continuously made it stronger. If his mind did not need sleep, Lu Wangchuan felt he could work around the clock, cultivating without stop.

But a domineering martial art like the Mountain Splitting Fist required practice for a while, then rest for a while. Otherwise, the body could not withstand the technique's fierce power!

Perhaps two hours of practicing the Mountain Splitting Fist could bring as much cultivation progress as ten hours of practicing the Eight Section Brocade, but as long as he was not sleepy, he could keep practicing the Eight Section Brocade, whereas the Mountain Splitting Fist could not!

In a sense, cultivating an external body-tempering technique increased one's cultivation faster than cultivating external techniques such as the Mountain Splitting Fist!

Its only flaw—and its most fatal flaw—was that it could not be used in combat. Moreover, cultivating it for long periods delayed the training of combat techniques, which was why martial artists disdained it. But to Lu Wangchuan, it was the finest divine technique!

However, at that moment, his gaze suddenly sharpened.

After breaking through to the Tendons and Membranes Realm, his five senses had improved considerably. He could promptly hear even the faintest sounds in the courtyard.

At that moment, several heavy footsteps had clearly appeared in the courtyard.

Xiao Wu and Xiao Yue had never practiced martial arts. They could not possibly make such footsteps.

Thieves? Or... those people from the daytime?

But no matter who they were, anyone breaking into his home in the dead of night could not be up to any good.

Lu Wangchuan quietly leaped out through the window. Using the darkness and his familiarity with the courtyard, he secretly circled behind them.

"Shh. Be careful. Don't alert his neighbors."

"Damn it, such a large courtyard for that brat to live in. What a waste of treasure."

"Isn't it because his sister slept with someone that he got this large courtyard?"

"I heard his brother-in-law's family is rich and powerful. Who knows how slutty his sister must be to have bewitched her brother-in-law so completely that he gives him so many good things."

"If you ask me, we should just break his arms and legs later and make him a cripple for life. Let's see if that little bastard dares act arrogant again."

"Hehe, then break his third leg too, so he'll be cut off without descendants forever... Anyway, no one will know it was us."

The instant the words fell, two blows carrying more than several hundred pounds of force suddenly struck from behind.

Lu Wangchuan had made his move!

The terrifying strength of the Tendons and Membranes Realm, combined with the fifth-level Mountain Splitting Fist and Lu Wangchuan's fury, instantly sent two of them flying.

Bang—!

The two flew more than ten meters away. When they hit the ground, their bodies folded backward at a ninety-degree angle. Their spines were completely shattered, and even their internal organs had been pulverized by that single punch.

"Not good, someone's here."

The remaining three broke out in cold sweat. Just as they tried to retaliate, Lu Wangchuan swept out with a whip kick, directly snapping the neck of the man on the left. With a stomp, his body shot forward. Borrowing the momentum, he unleashed another Mountain Splitting Fist, pinning the fourth man's head to a massive redwood pillar. His fist sank deep into the man's face, and with a crisp crack, every bone in his face shattered instantly, crushing his brain!