Seven Injuries Fist, Outstanding!

Another month passed before he knew it.

Su Que had already bought all the medicines from the martial arts schools in the city.

He found that the medicine from Poshhan Martial Arts School was still the most effective.

Poshhan Martial Arts School truly deserved to be called the largest martial arts school in the city.

One evening, after Su Que drank a bowl of medicine he had bought from Poshhan Martial Arts School, he immediately used the medicinal power to practice the Seven Injuries Fist outside the city.

Whenever he practiced the Seven Injuries Fist, he was also tempering his five viscera.

When the force of the Seven Injuries Fist was unleashed, the five viscera within him became pleasantly warm, as though a power were massaging them. It was immensely comfortable.

The five viscera were where spirit, blood, qi, soul, and essence were stored.

The toughness of the five viscera would also improve his physical constitution.

After practicing the Seven Injuries Fist, it was not merely his punching power that improved. His footwork, stamina, and everything else improved along with it.

Though he had never learned lightness skill, his stamina was excellent and his steps were swift. Once he started running, even wild deer famed for their speed would soon be caught by him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Su Que's fists struck the air again and again. Rings of ripples spread outward, accompanied by resounding booms.

He felt a power on the verge of bursting forth from within his body.

"I'm about to break through..."

Su Que continued throwing punches. Fist shadows filled the sky, while fierce gusts of fist wind swirled around him.

Then, just as he had expected, that power suddenly burst forth from within him!

In that instant, his entire body felt wonderfully at ease, as though a stream of scalding hot spring water had flowed through every corner of him in a single moment.

Within his body, his five viscera trembled, and his sinews and bones rang in unison!

With a thought, he summoned his Attributes. Four lines of small text appeared before his eyes.

Name: Su Que (17 years old)
Lifespan: 62
Talent Value: 10
Martial Arts: Seven Injuries Fist (4th Realm Outstanding 1%), Five Animal Frolics (1st Realm Initial Glimpse 1%)

After rising a realm, his Lifespan had increased by twelve years compared to the beginning of the third realm. Having passed the thresholds of fifty-five and sixty years, his Talent Value had risen by two points.

After the Seven Injuries Fist broke through, Su Que practiced a while longer and discovered that the medicinal power was being consumed far faster than before.

After roughly another two hours of practice, the medicinal power inside him had already been completely exhausted.

If he practiced again tomorrow morning without the enhancement of medicinal power, his progress would certainly be much slower.

Moreover, because he had needed to buy medicine so often over the past month, his purse was basically empty. He was only barely managing to balance income and expenses.

If he took medicine even more frequently, he estimated that in another seven or eight days, he would have no money left to buy medicine.

"Where can I get some money?"

Su Que sank into thought.

Join a gang? Work as a thug? Fight in underground matches? Become a bodyguard...

Quite a few fast ways to make money surfaced in his mind.

But if he concealed his face while doing such work, people would not know his background and would be very unlikely to hire him.

In this turbulent world, there was no way he could expose his identity.

"I'll look around the city again tomorrow and see if there's a safer way to make money..."

Thinking this, Su Que put on his shirt and ran back home.

Early the next morning, Su Que left home carrying a bundle. Finding an empty corner, he disguised himself as a burly man nearly nine feet tall and headed toward the martial arts schools in the east of the city.

He had already bought medicinal soup from Poshhan Martial Arts School yesterday afternoon. If he bought more again this morning, it would arouse the suspicions of Poshhan Martial Arts School's disciples.

He had considered using the excuse that he was buying it for a friend.

But that might still draw the suspicions and attention of Poshhan Martial Arts School's disciples. It was somewhat risky.

So, he found another martial arts school whose medicine was slightly less effective than Poshhan Martial Arts School's and bought a bowl of medicinal soup.

After drinking it, Su Que took advantage of the medicinal power and hurried out of the city to practice the Seven Injuries Fist.

After practicing for over an hour, he felt his sinews, bones, skin, flesh, and internal organs all grow warm. It was comfortable beyond measure.

The medicinal power in his body was once again completely refined away.

"Now I need to drink two bowls of medicine a day just to sustain my cultivation!"

Seeing that the medicinal power was gone and that further practice brought painfully slow progress, Su Que went to the Jade Water River to wash himself. He washed his dirty clothes and changed into clean ones.

After returning home and hanging up his clothes to dry, he ate breakfast and then headed for School.

Another four days passed without him noticing. While buying medicine, Su Que also wandered around the city, hoping to find work that could earn him money.

After making the rounds, however, he found no work that did not require him to reveal his identity.

Within the city, he again saw White Lotus Sect disciples scattering money in the streets, preaching their doctrine and enticing others to join the sect.

He watched a White Lotus Disciple reach into a sack, grab a handful of copper coins, and fling them into the air like a heavenly maiden scattering blossoms.

At that moment, he thought that the White Lotus Sect must have quite a great deal of silver.

The idea of secretly following those White Lotus Disciples and robbing them of their money immediately arose in his heart.

But he had never seen those disciples make a move. He did not know how their strength compared to his, nor did he know how strong the White Lotus Disciples at their stronghold might be, so he suppressed the thought.

As he pondered this, Su Que walked toward Poshhan Martial Arts School, intending to buy a bowl of medicine and begin his training for the night.

"Master, give me a bowl of medicinal soup."

Su Que came to Poshhan Martial Arts School once every four days, and that disciple of Poshhan Martial Arts School already recognized this burly man wearing a hood.

Because Su Que came only once every four days, a normal frequency, they merely assumed he was an ordinary martial artist taking temporary refuge in Jade Water City due to some feud elsewhere.

"Friend, something has happened. The medicinal soup has gone up in price. It's three taels a bowl now."

After stepping forward and clasping his hands to Su Que, the disciple of Poshhan Martial Arts School spoke.

"How could this be?"

Beneath his hood, Su Que frowned.

He only had two taels left in his pocket, not even enough to pay for a bowl of medicinal soup.

The disciple of Poshhan Martial Arts School said, "I trust that since you have been in Jade Water City for so long, you have seen the White Lotus Sect."

Su Que nodded slightly.

"After the White Lotus Sect came to Jade Water City, they successively took over several local gangs, large and small."

"They first took over the Caobang Gang, and yesterday, they took over the Medicine Gang as well."

"Originally, we bought all our medicinal herbs from the Medicine Gang, and their prices were fairly reasonable."

"But now that the White Lotus Sect has taken over the Medicine Gang, I reckon their military expenses on the front lines are tight. They need support from strongholds across the land, so they have raised prices right where they stand."

"We spent a great deal of silver buying medicine, so naturally the price of medicinal soup has to rise as well."

The disciple of Poshhan Martial Arts School explained to Su Que.

"The White Lotus Sect again..."

Under his hood, Su Que let out a soft breath.

Though the price had risen, he still needed to buy medicine.

He turned and left the martial arts school, planning to hunt first and then use the silver earned from selling pelts to buy medicine.

Su Que moved swiftly and soon arrived at White Tiger Forest, thirty li beyond Jade Water City.

White Tiger Forest was a rather vast woodland and also the crossroads of routes connecting several county towns.

Traveling from one county town to another through White Tiger Forest would shorten the journey considerably.

But because wild beasts within White Tiger Forest injured people, only martial artists dared to take this route.

For safety's sake, ordinary people would detour around White Tiger Forest.

Su Que raced through the forest. In little more than the time it took to burn an incense stick, he had killed three wolves.

He tied the three wolves together with hemp rope, dragged them behind him, and continued deeper into White Tiger Forest.

After another incense stick's time, the setting sun sank low and darkness fell completely.

The Seven Injuries Fist Su Que practiced nourished the five viscera.

Among the five viscera was the liver.

In traditional medicine, the liver corresponded to the eyes. When the liver was sound, the eyes saw clearly.

Su Que had already cultivated the Seven Injuries Fist to the 4th Realm, Outstanding.

For another person, the liver meridians would have been severely damaged.

But Su Que's liver had been nourished so well that even some masters of health preservation likely could not compare.

Even in the darkness of night, he could still see things clearly.

After walking a little farther, he saw a nimble figure leap out in the distance.

It was a wild deer.

Delighted, Su Que immediately kicked off the muddy ground. His figure suddenly blurred as he swept toward the wild deer.

The wild deer quickly noticed Su Que as well. It kicked off with its hind legs and darted away to one side.

"Trying to run?"

Su Que's feet flew. In only an instant, he had closed much of the distance between himself and the wild deer.

He reckoned he would catch it within ten breaths.

Two breaths later, suddenly!

He saw the wild deer run past a patch of bushes, let out a miserable cry, stiffen, and fall straight to the ground.

Su Que narrowed his eyes.

Just now, he had seen a flash of cold light in the darkness.

It seemed someone was hidden in the bushes and had stabbed the wild deer dead with a weapon as it ran past.

Within the bushes, a black-clad man wearing fitted clothes and a hood over his head and face pulled his blade from the wild deer's belly.

Then he swiftly struck again, chopping off the deer's head.

The wild deer, which had still been twitching moments earlier, instantly stopped moving.

"Damn it, good thing this wild deer didn't show up when the White Lotus Sect's medicine convoy was passing by, or we'd have been exposed!"

The man in black kicked the deer's corpse aside and sheathed his blade as he spoke.

More than a dozen people were lying in ambush in the bushes with the black-clad man.

Every one of them wore fitted clothes and had their heads and faces covered.

"What if more beasts come later?" another black-clad man said.

"Yeah, damn it! If I'd known, we would've prepared some Animal Traps and set them nearby!" another man in black muttered.

"We have no experience with this! If not for the White Lotus Sect, why would we ever take up banditry on the roads!"

These black-clad men came from three martial arts schools in Jade Water City, specializing respectively in sabers, spears, and hooks.

Seeing the White Lotus Sect sell medicinal herbs at exorbitant prices, they were indignant. They had arranged to meet here, intending to rob the White Lotus Sect's convoy.

Outside Jade Water City, there were only a few places suitable for growing medicinal herbs used in martial arts training.

They had calculated that if the White Lotus Sect wanted to transport the medicinal herbs back to Jade Water City by the shortest route, they would have to pass through here.

Previously, the Medicine Gang had feared highway robbers, so they generally did not pass through here and would also split up their medicine shipments.

But the White Lotus Sect was arrogant and believed no one would dare provoke them, so they would very likely come through this place.

"Master Luo, should we buy some Animal Traps first, then come back here to lie in wait?" one black-clad man asked.

The black-clad man called "Master Luo" immediately replied:

"No need! Have someone stand guard five zhang behind us. If any beast comes charging forward, kill it directly."