"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Each impact came with heart-piercing, bone-drilling agony and a hum that rose from the depths of his bones.
Wang Yuan's body trembled violently as fine beads of murky black blood seeped from the surface of his skin.
Those were impurities from deep within his marrow being forcibly expelled.
At this moment, Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone displayed its heaven-defying power.
His tendons and bones, far stronger and more resilient than those of ordinary people, allowed his meridians and skeleton to withstand the onslaught of that violent qi and blood without collapsing.
Meanwhile, his vast, ocean-like foundation of qi and blood provided an unending source of power for this Blood Exchange.
The medicinal liquid's energy was continuously drawn into his body and transformed into strength to break through the barrier.
Wang Yuan guarded the last point of clarity in his mind, pouring all his focus into guiding his qi and blood.
Rock-Solid Qi and Blood took the lead in assaulting, while Chasing Wind Qi and Blood supported it. The two complemented each other perfectly.
Time crawled by amid the extreme pain.
He did not know how long had passed—perhaps one hour, perhaps several.
Just as Wang Yuan felt his will was about to be ground away by the agony.
"Crack!"
It was as if an invisible, unyielding barrier inside his body had been violently shattered by the flood of qi and blood that had gathered all its strength.
Rumble!
A brand-new stream of qi and blood, purer, fiercer, and brimming with vigorous life and immense power, surged through his entire body like a river bursting through a broken dam.
All the pain from before vanished like smoke in the wind, replaced by an indescribable sense of ease and strength.
The bones throughout his body rang out in unison, like the low growls of tigers and leopards, with the faint echoes of a dragon's roar.
The foul blood on the surface of his skin was shaken away by the newly born qi and blood, revealing skin beneath that was smoother and more lustrous, faintly gleaming with a metallic sheen.
His muscles became denser, his great tendons taut as bowstrings, containing terrifying power.
The dark green medicinal liquid in the wooden tub had already faded considerably, its essence and energy nearly completely absorbed.
Wang Yuan abruptly opened his eyes. A sharp glint flashed through them like lightning in the dark of night.
He slowly clenched his fist, feeling the vigorous qi and blood surging endlessly within him, several times more powerful than before.
Panshi Fist had reached Minor Accomplishment!
The first level of Chasing Wind Leg had reached Major Accomplishment!
The First Blood Change had succeeded!
He had officially stepped into the ranks of martial artists!
Outside the Quiet Room, Zheng Shan, who had been guarding it all along, sensed the formidable aura of a First Blood Change martial artist emanating from within.
At last, a gratified smile appeared on his face. Stroking his beard, he gave a slight nod.
This child had exchanged his blood in seven days. His future was boundless!
One day later.
Autumn had deepened.
Early that morning, outside the laundry room in the rear courtyard of Zhang Manor in the Inner City, the cold had already become somewhat bone-chilling.
Wang Yu pulled her pair of purpled, frostbitten hands, covered in tiny cracks, from the icy soapnut water.
Unable to help herself, she breathed a puff of white mist into them, trying to draw out even a trace of warmth.
She wore an old padded jacket covered in patches, yet it was still not enough to completely ward off the autumn chill.
Before her lay a mountain of silks and satins belonging to the masters of Zhang Manor.
She had to wash and hang all of them before dawn.
If she moved even slightly too slowly, or occasionally went blank for a moment from exhaustion and cold.
The sharp, mean scolding of the female steward beside her, dressed in a thick padded skirt with her hands on her hips, would immediately come crashing down on her head:
"Dead girl! What are you staring blankly at? Slacking off, are you?"
"This is the Eldest Miss's favorite Brocade Skirt. If you ruin even a little of it, selling you off would not be enough to compensate for it!"
"Move faster! Didn't you eat?"
"Dawdling around like this—if these clothes are not washed by today, nobody gets to eat!"
Wang Yu could only grit her teeth, lower her head further, and scrub even harder.
The icy water mixed with soapnut liquid seeped into the cracks on her hands, bringing waves of heart-piercing pain, but she had long since grown used to it.
Still, in the gaps between the pain, her thoughts would occasionally drift away of their own accord.
The changes at home over the past week had been far too great.
Her younger brother, Wang Yuan, seemed to have grown up overnight. He had also... become somewhat unfamiliar to her, though what she felt more than anything was pride and reassurance.
He had brought back gleaming silver, dozens of taels in all!
He had told their parents and her not to go out and work themselves to the bone anymore, saying that the family had him from now on.
Their parents had naturally been delighted and comforted, but like her, how could they be willing to stay home with peace of mind and rely entirely on their son and younger brother to support them?
They still took on odd jobs, only no longer working as desperately as before.
And Wang Yu still rose early every day, walked the long road, and came to Zhang Manor in the Inner City to do this grueling laundry work.
She thought that earning a little more was still better than nothing.
Her brother practiced martial arts, and she had heard it cost a great deal. She could not become a burden to him.
"Ah..."
A nearly inaudible sigh had only just risen from the bottom of her heart.
"Wang Yu, you dead girl! Slacking off again?"
The acerbic female steward had somehow paced up behind her again. Seeing that her movements had slowed slightly, she flew into a rage.
She raised the thin bamboo rod in her hand, used to measure cloth and also often used to whip laundry women like them, and without another word viciously swung it at Wang Yu's back.
"Smack!"
The bamboo rod fell with a whistle through the air.
Wang Yu shut her eyes tightly in fright, hunching her shoulders as she prepared to endure that familiar burning pain.
Yet the pain she expected never came.
A distinct-knuckled hand wearing a white jade thumb ring firmly caught the descending bamboo rod.
"Stop."
A gentle yet commanding voice sounded.
Wang Yu opened her eyes in shock and looked up.
A young gentleman in a brocade-blue silk robe stood beside her at some unknown point. He was handsome, refined, and carried an elegant temperament.
He was none other than Zhang Manor's Eldest Young Master, Zhang Mingyuan.
Several servants with respectful expressions stood behind him.
The moment the female steward saw it was the Eldest Young Master, she was scared out of her wits.
The bamboo rod in her hand clattered to the ground. Her face instantly turned pale, and with a thump, she fell to her knees and began knocking her head against the floor like a pounding pestle.
"E-Eldest Young Master, please forgive me!"
"This servant... this servant only saw her slacking off and wanted to... wanted to teach her a lesson..."
Zhang Mingyuan did not even glance at her.
His gaze fell on Wang Yu's purpled hands, covered in cracks and red swelling, and his brows faintly drew together.
Then he looked at Wang Yu's face, thin from years of labor and malnutrition, yet unable to conceal her delicate features.
He turned to the female steward kneeling and begging for mercy. His tone was calm, but it carried a chill.
"Bullying the weak, beating and scolding people at every turn—when did Zhang Manor acquire such rules?"
"You. Go collect this month's wages from the accounts room. You need not come back after today."
The female steward seemed to have been struck by lightning. She collapsed limply to the ground, unable even to form words to beg for mercy.
Only then did Zhang Mingyuan look at Wang Yu, who was still dazed and at a loss. A smile as gentle as a spring breeze appeared on his face.
"Your name is Wang Yu, correct?"
"From now on, you will be the steward of this laundry room."
"Your wages will be doubled. You will no longer need to do this heavy laundry work. You need only supervise and manage the others."
"Ah?"
Wang Yu was completely stunned, her mind utterly blank.
"Steward... her?"
"Her wages are even doubled? H-how is that possible?"
Zhang Mingyuan seemed to see her panic and confusion. His smile grew gentler, and he lowered his voice somewhat, with just the right degree of respect.
"Miss Wang, there is no need to be alarmed."
"I heard that your younger brother Wang Yuan is a heaven-sent genius. He mastered the entry level of Panshi Fist in merely seven days and has already been accepted by Head Zheng Shan as a True Disciple. His future is beyond measure."
"I have long admired your younger brother and wished to make his acquaintance, but I have never had the opportunity."
"Today, by a fortunate coincidence, I have done this small service. I hope Miss Wang will not refuse."
"If there is an opportunity, I would ask Miss Wang to introduce me to your younger brother so that I may pay him a visit."
After saying this, he did not wait for Wang Yu's response. He gave her a slight nod, then turned and left with his servants, graceful and composed.
Even after Zhang Mingyuan's figure disappeared beyond the moon gate, Wang Yu remained as though in a dream, unable to come back to herself.
She... had become a steward just like that?
All because... of her younger brother, Wang Yuan?
At this moment, the laundry room had already erupted into an uproar.
The women who usually labored with their heads down alongside Wang Yu, occasionally quarreling with her over trivial matters, all stopped what they were doing and looked at her with complicated, indescribable expressions.
Envy, jealousy, disbelief...
"Wang Yu... how did she become the steward?"
"Who knows? She is usually like a mute gourd, only knowing how to keep her head down and wash clothes..."
Those who were a little better informed lowered their voices and revealed sourly:
"What do you know? She has a good younger brother!"
"I heard her younger brother, that Wang Yuan, is now Head Zheng's True Disciple at Panshi Fist Academy. He is an incredible figure!"
"Head Zheng of Panshi Fist Academy? Heavens... he is one of the foremost great figures in the Outer City!"
"No wonder... no wonder even the Eldest Young Master Zhang treated her so politely and made her a steward... He clearly wants to use her to curry favor with her younger brother!"
"Tsk, tsk. If her younger brother came to our Zhang Manor in person, even the master would probably go out himself to welcome him, right?"
"We had better be more polite to Steward Yu from now on..."
Listening to those hushed discussions that nevertheless clearly reached her ears, feeling those gazes of either envy or awe.
Wang Yu slowly lowered her head, her heart filled with a hundred tangled emotions.
For the first time, through the earth-shaking reversal of her own circumstances, she truly felt the influence and status her younger brother Wang Yuan now possessed.
Her younger brother... really was different now.
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