A Complete Break

On the other side of the courtyard.

Zheng Ziqiao clutched his agonizing shoulder. Fine beads of cold sweat seeped across his forehead, and his face had gone slightly pale.

A cold smile curled at Qin Lie's lips as he said disdainfully, "Senior Brother Zheng, it seems your kung fu still needs more tempering. I only used seventy percent of my strength, and you already couldn't take it?"

Luo Qian frowned tightly. "A sparring match between fellow disciples should stop at the right point. Why did you have to strike so heavily?"

Qin Lie replied blandly, "Some things should be said. Some things should not."

Luo Qian froze for a moment, then pressed, "What do you mean by that?"

"It's nothing! Nothing!"

Enduring both pain and humiliation, Zheng Ziqiao rushed ahead to Qin Lie's side. He forced a somewhat stiff smile onto his face and reached out to pat Qin Lie's shoulder as a gesture of reconciliation. "It was only a joke. Junior Brother Qin, don't take it to heart. This evening, I'll host a feast at Linjiang Tower as an apology. What do you say?"

He tried desperately to preserve his last shred of dignity, hoping Qin Lie would take the offered step down.

"A joke?"

Qin Lie slapped Zheng Ziqiao's arm aside and said without mercy, "I don't find your joke funny. If you make up stories about me like that again, don't blame me for turning ruthless."

Before his words had even faded, he turned around and strode out of the courtyard.

The smile on Zheng Ziqiao's face instantly froze, then turned ashen.

He had never imagined that Qin Lie would so publicly strip him of face, trampling his final sliver of dignity beneath his feet.

A blaze of fury shot straight to the crown of his head. He took several deep breaths before barely forcing it down.

Times had changed!

Qin Lie was not only Zhou Liang's Closed-Door Disciple, but he also seemed to have climbed into the Commander's Mansion's good graces. That former mud-legged peasant had truly risen to prominence.

A profound sense of powerlessness surged through Zheng Ziqiao.

Beside him, Luo Qian was so furious that her entire face had flushed red, shame and rage churning together.

She swept her gaze over the curious looks around them and snapped, "What are you looking at? Are your hides itching? Get back to training!"

With that, she stamped her foot and hurried out of the courtyard as well.

The surrounding disciples immediately scattered like startled birds, rushing back to their places.

Yet in private, whispers spread like ripples from a stone tossed into a pond.

The small circle formed by Zheng Ziqiao, Luo Qian, and Qin Lie had been one countless disciples in the courtyard had fought tooth and nail to join.

"They broke apart?"

"Senior Brother Zheng and Senior Brother Qin's little circle is finished?"

"What happened for things to blow up this badly?"

This sudden juicy scandal left many disciples itching with curiosity.

Song Yufeng sidled up to Chen Qing, lowered his voice, and asked with a gossip-hungry look, "Senior Brother Chen, you're well informed. Do you know what happened?"

"I don't."

Chen Qing did not even raise his head. He continued arranging the training equipment, his tone flat.

It was as though a cat's claws were scratching at Song Yufeng's heart. Unable to bear it, he turned to ask the other senior and junior disciples.

Zhou Academy was not large to begin with, and the relationships between its disciples were tangled as intertwined roots. Before long, Zheng Ziqiao's usual followers revealed the matter in half-concealed hints.

Having learned the "truth," Song Yufeng waited until Chen Qing finished a set of punches and paused to rest, then immediately rushed over and said eagerly, "Senior Brother Chen, guess what? Senior Brother Zheng made a joke, saying that since the Luo Family was supporting Senior Brother Qin so wholeheartedly, Senior Brother Qin might as well marry into the Luo Family! The moment Senior Brother Qin heard it, his face went dark with a swish, black as the bottom of a pot! Then, when they sparred, Senior Brother Qin struck hard—"

He mysteriously glanced left and right, lowering his voice even further. "And some people say Senior Brother Qin doesn't like Senior Sister Luo at all. He... he has feelings for Senior Sister Zhou."

As he said this, Song Yufeng subconsciously glanced toward the graceful figure in the corner, and his cheeks actually reddened slightly.

Within Zhou Academy, which young disciple had not once harbored a little fantasy about the gentle and beautiful Zhou Yu?

It was only later that most of them had recognized reality.

Smack!

Chen Qing gave the back of Song Yufeng's head a neither-light-nor-heavy slap and rebuked him quietly, "Stop wagging your tongue and focus on your punches! In less than a month, if you still can't touch the threshold of Bright Strength, you'll have to roll up your bedding and leave."

"Understood, Senior Brother."

The last trace of excitement vanished from Song Yufeng's face, replaced by deep anxiety.

Counting the days, he had already been at Zhou Academy for nearly two months.

Thinking of that, Song Yufeng no longer had the mood for gossip and began practicing punches behind Chen Qing.

Because of the sudden disturbance, the courtyard's atmosphere became somewhat strange. Many disciples seemed absentminded while training.

Chen Qing, however, remained unaffected and continued drilling his fist techniques diligently.

Not until evening, after he completed a full set of Tongbei Fist as smoothly as flowing clouds and running water and drew it to a close, did an indescribable sense of clarity suddenly spread through his limbs and bones.

At the same time, a flash of golden light abruptly appeared in his mind:

[Heaven Rewards Diligence, and achievement is inevitable]

[Tongbei Fist Mastery (1/2000)]

Chen Qing slowly exhaled a long breath of stale air, a sharp glint flashing through his eyes.

Tongbei Fist had finally reached Mastery.

At that moment, his breathing and the movements of his fist technique had merged into one. When he exerted force, he "used qi to guide strength"; Internal Force flowed unimpeded throughout his body, and he had truly reached the realm of "inner and outer as one."

Fighting techniques were exceedingly difficult to train. They required not only comprehension, but years upon years of grinding effort.

Looking across all of Zhou Academy, only Zhou Liang had currently reached Mastery in fist techniques.

My confidence in getting into Martial Arts High School has increased by a few more points, Chen Qing thought to himself.

Over the following days, Chen Qing continuously consolidated his Mastery of the fist technique while focusing even more intently on understanding the methods of tempering Hidden Strength.

Hidden Strength was entirely different from Bright Strength. Its subtleties lay in three points.

Force penetrating inward: the strength did not show outwardly, yet it could pierce through an opponent's flesh and directly injure the internal organs.

Relaxed, supple exertion: it appeared effortless, but immense force was actually released through the joints, passing through them section by section.

Extremely strong control: one could freely adjust the depth, hardness, softness, speed, and slowness of the force. One could even strike a person as though hanging a painting, sending an opponent flying without damaging their surface.

Yet over these days, the atmosphere at Zhou Academy was deeply peculiar.

Zheng Ziqiao seemed to have lowered his stance, frequently taking the initiative to speak with Qin Lie in an attempt to repair their relationship.

The two appeared to have reached some kind of reconciliation on the surface, but anyone with eyes could see that their former relationship—sparring together, exchanging insights, talking and laughing freely—had vanished without a trace. An invisible barrier hung in the air.

Luo Qian, meanwhile, had not shown her face in the courtyard for several days in a row.

That core little circle once envied by countless disciples had fallen apart in merely a few days, leaving people sighing with regret.

Having participated in the bandit suppression and earned some military merit, Qin Lie had been extremely busy during this period.

Wealthy merchants came to visit Zhou Academy in an endless stream. Even stewards from the five great families frequently called upon them, all hoping to recruit this young talent of boundless promise before Qin Lie became completely famous throughout High Forest.

Zhou Academy's doorstep was bustling like a marketplace, far livelier than before.

No one was happier than Zhou Liang. Every day, he grinned from ear to ear, filled with unprecedented anticipation for the coming Martial Arts Examination.

After daily training ended, he also unfailingly gave Qin Lie extra lessons, carefully pointing out the latter's shortcomings.

Seeing all this, the other disciples in the courtyard were so envious it nearly overflowed from their eyes.

That day, after finishing his punches, Chen Qing returned to Yazi Bay beneath the lingering glow of the sunset.

The usually quiet Lian Boat District was unexpectedly boiling with voices. Its narrow waterways were packed so tightly that not even water could pass through.

The air was filled with an uneasy fishy smell and hushed discussions.

Chen Qing's heart sank slightly. He hurried forward and saw Uncle Gao, his neighbor, huddled at the edge of the crowd with a deathly pale face, his entire body trembling faintly.

"Uncle Gao, what happened?" Chen Qing squeezed over and asked.

Uncle Gao seemed to have been terribly frightened, his lips trembling as he said, "For the Floating Houses' Chuan Shu, he borrowed loan-shark money! The lenders brought four burly thugs. They said a debt of five taels of silver had rolled into twenty taels in just three months! Xiao Chun couldn't pay, so they smashed Da Chun's rice jar, tore apart his cabinets, and even snatched the silver hairpin Da Chun's wife had brought as dowry..."

His words came out in a jumble, his eyes filled with lingering terror.

"What?"

Uncle Wang, the fish seller, staggered two steps with his fish basket in hand. "That child came to me just the day before yesterday to buy half a catty of river shrimp. He said he wanted to make soup for his father to nourish him. He seemed so thoughtful..."

"Thoughtful, my foot!" Aunt Cui Hua, who sold tofu, spat. "Last month, I saw him squatting in the back alley of the Floating Houses, stuffing osmanthus cakes into a boat."

The surrounding fishermen were also packed together, murmuring among themselves, their faces filled more with disbelief.

Who could have imagined that Xiao Chun, who usually seemed clever and quick-witted and worked as an apprentice at Wanbao Hall, would become infatuated with a Chuan Shu and cause such a sky-collapsing disaster?

Chen Qing listened silently. He was not particularly surprised, merely shaking his head heavily.

The day he had seen Xiao Chun's wretched figure after being thrown out, it was not as if he had not warned him. Unfortunately, the other man had long since sunk into the mire and turned a deaf ear to his words.

Among sex, gambling, and drugs, lust was poison that pierced the intestines. But obsession for a beauty was the thorn embedded in flesh that could not be pulled free—a thorn that tore one bloody and mangled, yet was still mistaken for honey.

Just then, amid the shifting sea of heads, he caught sight of a familiar figure: Er Ya.

She worked as a menial maid in a wealthy merchant's household and usually lived at her employer's residence, rarely returning.

Chen Qing himself spent every day training at Zhou Academy, only occasionally going on patrol duty. Since their last brief gathering, the two had scarcely met again.

Er Ya saw Chen Qing too. As if she had seized a lifeline, she squeezed through the crowd and grabbed his arm.

Her fingers were icy cold, and her voice shook uncontrollably. "A-A Qing, did you see? Xiao Chun was beaten so horribly just now. Those people... those people simply aren't human. They were terrifying..."

As she spoke, she looked around in terror, as though those vicious men might still be nearby.

Chen Qing patted the back of her hand, doing his best to keep his voice steady. "It's all right. Those people have already left."

Only then did Er Ya's taut body relax slightly. She let out a long breath, but her eyes remained frightened and uneasy as she warily scanned the surroundings.

The two stood at the edge of the chaotic crowd and briefly caught up on each other's circumstances.

From Er Ya, he learned that Liang Badou was now working at the County Yamen under his Third Master. He was thriving, riding high on the spring breeze, and was said to be about to take over his Third Master's position as a clerical assistant. He had become, by all appearances, the most respectable person to come out of Yazi Bay.

Er Ya's tone was filled with undisguised envy and yearning.

As for Li Hu, he had vanished without a trace after their last gathering, as though he had evaporated from the face of the earth.

There was even less need to mention Xu Fang. She had long since become someone from another world, and Er Ya had no further contact with her.

"I should head back,"

Er Ya suddenly said, a trace of barely perceptible exhaustion in her voice. "Tomorrow I have to get up early and return to the master's household for work. I can't delay."

As she spoke, she subconsciously straightened the collar of her coarse cloth garment. Her tone carried habitual caution and worry. "If I'm late, I'm afraid the master will punish me again."

Before her words had faded, she hurriedly turned and walked toward her family's worn-out Lian Boat. Her back looked somewhat stooped in the dim light.

Chen Qing stood where he was, watching Er Ya disappear among the disorderly shadows of boats. His brows furrowed as he fell into thought.

That brief conversation had allowed him to clearly sense Er Ya's changes.

The formerly forthright, even somewhat reckless girl was gone. In her place was an Er Ya who spoke with excessive caution, submissively and timidly, whose every word seemed to carry a hint of ingratiation.

Her bearing and gestures had already been stained with the marks of serving as a slave in deep courtyards and grand residences, revealing the lowliness of someone whose edges had been worn smooth by rules and punishment.

Chen Qing understood.

Behind the high walls and deep courtyards of wealthy households, the rules were harsh, and beatings and scoldings came at the slightest provocation.

Er Ya must have suffered greatly and endured many punishments in there to have been ground into her current form.

In this world, even staying alive was difficult. How much less could one hope to preserve that little bit of edge that came with being human?