Planning

That night, Yang Jing lay on the bed at home, facing the smoke-blackened beams overhead. Beneath him was a hard wooden bed layered with two coarse-cloth mattresses.

Though they had rarely managed to eat meat that night, no one in the family could truly be happy. At most, they forced out a smile.

The pressure from Feng Lei and Master Ning behind him weighed upon the Yang Family like a mountain.

Though his aunt's husband's family had some connection with the steward of Ning Mansion, Master Ning was famously miserly. No matter how wealthy the Ning Family was, there was little hope of making them part with a few extra taels of silver.

Thinking of this, Yang Jing's brows furrowed slightly.

Aside from this matter, when Yang Jing returned home this time, he felt the closeness shown by his eldest aunt and his cousin Yang An.

In truth, his eldest uncle's family were all honest people.

It was only that the former Yang Jing had thought highly of himself and rarely associated with his eldest uncle's relatively poor family, so he had not known much about them.

After Yang Jing slightly changed his attitude last time, his eldest aunt immediately responded. After Heizi was kicked to death, she had kept the dog meat aside, waiting for Yang Jing to return before eating it. If Yang Jing did not return, no one was allowed to eat it.

Furthermore, Yang Jing guessed that his cousin Yang An likely had a talent for martial arts as well. In just half a month, Yang An had become sturdier than before, showing that Tempering Qi and Blood was indeed highly effective.

With these thoughts turning in his mind, Yang Jing's eyelids gradually grew heavy, and he slowly fell asleep.

The next morning, early.

Yang Jing took one tael of silver and one hundred and thirty copper coins from home, bid farewell to his family, and returned to the county town.

He understood clearly that the most important thing right now was martial arts training.

Whether for the family or for his own long-term development, martial arts training was the most important thing.

In these troubled times, when chaos was beginning to rise, only one's own strength was the foundation of everything.

Only by possessing great ability could he protect himself, protect his loved ones, and protect everything he wished to protect.

This principle held true both in this world and on the Earth of Yang Jing's previous life.

In order not to delay his martial arts training, Yang Jing walked quickly along the road.

This return home had filled him with a deep sense of urgency upon seeing his family's circumstances.

Along the way, he saw refugees dressed in rags. Some villages had even specifically arranged for people to stop those refugees from entering.

The world was chaotic now, and the harvest had been poor. Many people could not even fill their own stomachs, much less spare food to give these refugees.

As he hurried along, Yang Jing rapidly considered countermeasures in his mind.

The market price for two mu of prime farmland was between twelve and fifteen taels of silver. In the past, prime farmland had even sold for ten taels per mu.

Yet even though land prices had fallen now, Master Ning wanted to buy the Yang Family's two mu of prime farmland for only six taels of silver. That was truly bullying them beyond all measure.

Moreover, the Yang Family had only those last two mu of prime farmland remaining.

If they sold it just like that, they could barely hold on through this year. But if next year's harvest remained as poor as this year's, starving to death would be far from a simple matter.

As far as Yang Jing knew, some villages in Yuhe County had already seen people starve to death. As for refugees who had starved or died of illness, there were even more.

I can't drag this out any longer.

Yang Jing narrowed his eyes, and a cold glint flashed through them.

Thinking of everything his family had suffered during this time, a surge of rage rose fiercely in his chest.

By the time Yang Jing arrived at the martial arts school in Chengping Ward, more than ten disciples were already Tempering Qi and Blood and practicing their forms.

He did not greet anyone. He simply took off his shirt, bared his upper body, and found a spacious spot in the courtyard to lift the Stone Lock.

School Master Sun Yong had said that if one tempered Qi and Blood before formally practicing martial arts, progress would be faster.

After Tempering Qi and Blood, Yang Jing began practicing Mountain Collapse Fist.

His martial arts talent was ordinary, so his cultivation speed naturally would not be fast. Yet thinking of the powerful effects of the System Panel, he trained with full commitment. Unlike some disciples who had lost confidence in breaking through to Bright Strength, he did not go through the motions or slack off.

During that time, Fourth Senior Brother Liu Maolin came over and instructed Yang Jing for a while, even personally sparring with him.

Yang Jing also had a good impression of this senior brother, who had such a pleasant temperament.

After Fourth Senior Brother left, Yang Jing continued practicing Mountain Collapse Fist alone until noon, when it was time to eat, before leaving the martial arts school.

He went straight to West Market and spent one hundred and four copper coins at a butcher's shop to buy two jin of Horse Meat. Horse Meat at noon cost two copper coins more per jin than in the evening.

Yang Jing then brought the two jin of Horse Meat back to his residence in Datong Ward.

Martial arts training was, to a large extent, training one's Qi and Blood, and dietary nourishment was an extremely important means of nourishing it.

Several wealthy young disciples at the martial arts school reportedly ate meat different from ordinary meat, which was enormously beneficial for replenishing Qi and Blood.

After returning to his room, Yang Jing began stewing the meat, and its fragrance quickly filled the air.

Yang Jing ate half of it, leaving the other half of the Horse Meat in the pot for dinner.

Feeling threads of warmth radiating from within his body, Yang Jing did not delay and immediately began practicing Mountain Collapse Fist in his room.

During a break, he ran all the way back to the martial arts school in Chengping Ward in one go.

Cultivating at the martial arts school was far better than cultivating in that cramped room. First, it was spacious. Second, it had an atmosphere. Third, and most importantly, there were people there to offer guidance.

After all, they had paid money, and once they cultivated Inner Force, they could truly enter Sun Yong's tutelage and become formal disciples.

According to School Master Sun Yong's instructions, whenever they encountered something they did not understand in training, they were to ask Eldest Senior Brother Xu Hong first. Only if Eldest Senior Brother did not understand could they ask him.

However, whenever Yang Jing encountered confusion during training, he usually asked Fourth Senior Brother Liu Maolin. Compared to the unsmiling Eldest Senior Brother Xu Hong, Liu Maolin's mild temperament made him much easier to approach.

During his afternoon training, Yang Jing could vaguely feel that his progress was somewhat faster than in the morning. He understood that it was because of the jin of Horse Meat he had eaten at noon.

He trained like that until Shen Hour Three Quarters—four-thirty in the afternoon by Earth's time—before slowly finishing his practice and calming his breathing.

After adjusting himself, Yang Jing walked to the courtyard wall, picked up his shirt there, and was about to put it on and leave.

"Junior Brother Yang, why are you leaving so early today?"

At that moment, Fourth Senior Brother Liu Maolin, who was not far away, saw Yang Jing preparing to leave and asked in confusion.

He had witnessed all the changes that had happened to Yang Jing during this period.

Though he did not know why Yang Jing had suddenly become so focused on martial arts training, to the point of seeming almost crazed, Liu Maolin was very happy about this change.

Having spent many years at the Sun Clan Martial Arts School, Liu Maolin had seen far too many disciples, including quite a few rural farmers' sons like Yang Jing, whose families had paid an unknown price just to scrape together the fee to study under a master.

Though cultivating Inner Force was incredibly difficult, if one trained diligently, there would eventually be a sliver of hope. But if one's energy was divided by other matters, then even that sliver of hope would be gone.

In Liu Maolin's eyes, the former Yang Jing had been exactly like that. His energy had been scattered by petty, grubby trifles, and he had not devoted all of it to martial arts training.

Some days ago, Yang Jing had fallen out with Lu Yang, Zhang Kehan, and Zhou Lin, then thrown himself wholeheartedly into martial arts training. Liu Maolin had seen it all.

"Fourth Senior Brother, there's something going on at home. I need to go back," Yang Jing said as he put on his shirt.

"I see." Liu Maolin nodded slightly. "There are quite a few refugees outside the city now, and trouble keeps breaking out. Be careful on the road."

"I understand. Thank you, Fourth Senior Brother." Yang Jing nodded in reply, then left the Sun Clan Martial Arts School.

Yang Jing did not return to his residence in Datong Ward. Instead, he followed Vermilion Bird Avenue south all the way out of the city, heading toward Wazi Township.

The sun hung low in the western sky, stretching Yang Jing's shadow long behind him and coating the official road in a pale gold sheen.

As Yang Jing walked toward Wazi Township, he summoned the System Panel and looked at his cultivation progress—

[Mountain Collapse Fist Initiation (83/200)]

Yang Jing nodded slightly.

Though limited by his martial arts talent, his martial arts progress was somewhat slow, it was steadily moving forward.

Most importantly, unlike others, Yang Jing did not face perilous, near-impossible bottlenecks.

He only needed to cultivate to the limit, and he would naturally complete the breakthrough.

Thinking as he traveled, he continued on his way.

An hour later, Yang Jing arrived at Fenglou Village, Wazi Township.