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After seeing off the enthusiastic and honest Senior Brother Shi Long, Wang Yuan returned to his humble, dilapidated home.

Under the dim oil lamp, his parents and elder sister were still immersed in the shock and daze from earlier, their gazes fixed on him with disbelief.

Wang Yuan knew it was time to tell his family part of the truth.

He walked to the center of the room, looked at his three beloved family members, and spoke calmly, yet with a reassuring strength:

"Dad, Mom, Sis, there's something I need to tell you."

"I went to Panshi Fist Academy today and luckily passed the bone root test."

"Academy Master Zheng Shan... has accepted me as his personal disciple."

"Pan... Panshi Fist Academy?"

Wang Gui suddenly stood up, his voice cracking with excitement, his eyes wide.

"Is... is it that Panshi Fist Academy in the South City? Academy Master Zheng Shan?"

Madam Zhou dropped the rag in her hand without noticing, her lips trembling:

"Per... personal disciple? Yuan'er, you... you're not lying to Mom, are you? That's Academy Master Zheng!"

In her and all the common folk of the outer city's perception.

Panshi Fist Academy was the undisputed overlord of the outer city.

And Academy Master Zheng Shan was like a figure from the heavens, someone they would need to look up to their entire lives.

But now, their own son had become the disciple of such a powerful figure?

A personal disciple at that?

Wang Yu also covered her mouth, her delicate eyes filled with shock and joy as she looked at her brother, as if seeing him for the first time.

"It's true."

Wang Yuan nodded affirmatively, taking out the warm Pure Heart Pendant from his waist and the bottle of Qi and Blood Pills from his chest to show his family.

"These are gifts from Senior Brother and Second Senior Sister."

"That Brother Shi Long from just now is Academy Master Zheng's eldest disciple, my Senior Brother."

Looking at the jade pendant and medicine bottle, which were clearly not ordinary items, and recalling Shi Long's terrifying strength and his protection of their family just now.

Wang Gui, Madam Zhou, and Wang Yu finally completely believed this unbelievable fact.

The immense joy and shock left them speechless for a moment.

Wang Gui slapped his thigh, his eyes instantly turning red, his voice choked with emotion: "Good! Good! My son has made something of himself! Heaven has opened its eyes!"

He held Wang Yuan's hand, too excited to know what to do.

Madam Zhou wept tears of joy, wiping her eyes as she murmured, "That's wonderful... wonderful... We won't have to be afraid of those thugs bullying us anymore..."

Wang Yu looked at her brother, tears also welling up in her eyes, a mixture of relief and the glimmer of hope.

Becoming Zheng Shan's personal disciple meant their family had completely escaped their fate as bottom-dwellers, bullied by anyone, and truly had a reliance and something to look forward to.

Meanwhile, in the chaotic narrow alley of the outer city, inside the "Interest Upon Interest" money shop.

Scarface was drinking and bragging with his subordinates around a table.

A subordinate responsible for gathering information outside scrambled in, panting, and shouted:

"Sca... Scarface Bro, B-bad news!"

Scarface frowned and cursed:

"What's the panic? Did the sky fall?"

The subordinate swallowed, his face still showing lingering fear:

"It's... it's about that kid who came to borrow money yesterday, Wang Yuan from Qing Shi Alley!"

"Wang Yuan?"

Scarface paused.

"What happened to that poor kid? Lost at gambling and had his legs broken?"

He instinctively assumed the other person was bringing bad news.

After all, what usually happened to poor kids in the outer city who got into gambling.

They'd ruin their family, get their legs broken, and then wait to die.

"N-no!"

The subordinate waved his hands repeatedly, his voice even sharper.

"He... he went to Panshi Fist Academy today."

"And... and Academy Master Zheng Shan personally accepted him as a personal disciple!"

"Clang!"

The wine bowl in Scarface's hand clattered onto the table, splashing wine all over him.

He ignored it, suddenly standing up and grabbing the lackey by his collar, his eyes bulging like bronze bells.

"What the hell did you just say? Say it again?"

"It's absolutely true, Brother Scarface! The news is all over town now."

"Panshi Fist Academy has accepted a new true disciple named Wang Yuan, the one from Qing Shi Alley."

"They say he has excellent innate talent, and Headmaster Zheng personally took him on as a disciple!"

The lackey's face turned pale with fear as he quickly spilled out all the information he had gathered.

Scarface let go, stumbling back a step, and plopped onto a stool. The color drained from his face as he muttered, "Top-tier innate talent... Zheng Shan's true disciple... It's over... We're finished..."

He understood instantly.

Wang Yuan's borrowing money wasn't for gambling, but to gather the two taels of silver for the disciple acceptance fee.

His own bunch of idiots thought they had caught a fat sheep to be squeezed dry.

And the result?

The result was that he was a dragon in hiding, soaring to the heavens.

Beside him, a stunned young man hadn't quite caught on yet. He leaned in and asked, "Brother Scarface, then... that five taels of silver we lent him, plus the interest, how are we supposed to get it back?"

"It's almost doubled..."

"Get your mother's head back!"

Scarface, consumed by anger and fear, exploded at the question. He backhanded the man, hitting him on the back of the head and making him stagger.

"Are you f***ing brainless? You're still thinking about collecting money."

"It's time we beg him not to come after us for settling the score!"

He panted, pointing outside, and roared at all his subordinates, "Listen up, all of you. Hurry and find that IOU Wang Yuan signed yesterday."

"Immediately! Bring it to the Wang family in Qing Shi Alley right now, and return it to him respectfully."

"Just say... just say it was a misunderstanding before. We don't want this money, and here are an extra ten taels of silver as a gift for Young Master Wang..."

"No, for Brother Wang!"

The man who was hit rubbed the back of his head, his face full of pain.

"B-Brother Scarface, that's five taels of silver... with interest, it's almost ten taels... just like that... we're not taking it back?"

"Idiot! Short-sighted fool!"

Scarface was so angry he almost choked, pointing at his nose and cursing.

"Five taels of silver? Five hundred taels would be worth it to get in good with Zheng Shan's true disciple.

"It's us who were blind and almost offended someone we shouldn't have! Hurry and send the IOU back, and be respectful."

"If we can get Brother Wang to calm down and not hold a grudge against us, it'll be like our ancestors' graves are smoking with good fortune! Go now!"

Seeing Scarface's panicked and serious demeanor, the subordinates finally realized the gravity of the situation. They didn't dare to waste any more time and frantically searched through boxes and cupboards to find the still-wet IOU.

Finally, a quick-witted one took it and ran towards Qing Shi Alley.

Scarface watched his subordinate leave, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, his heart still pounding.

Having spent years in the underworld, he knew that once some people rose up, crushing them would be as easy as crushing ants.

He just hoped that his attempt to make amends now would be enough.