Sparring Partner

"Breathe in, breathe out..."

As Gu Yang kept drawing deep breaths, great gulps of fresh air flooded into his lungs, and his violently pounding heart quickly began to settle.

Streams of vitality continuously surged forth within his body, swiftly pulling Gu Yang out of his exhausted state.

The soreness in his muscles rapidly faded, and his legs, which had gone weak, became strong and powerful once more.

Straightening his back, Gu Yang interlocked his hands, raised them above his head, and pulled back hard.

"Crack, crack~"

A burst of cracking bones sounded out. Gu Yang immediately felt as though a heavy burden had been cast off, leaving his entire body light and relaxed.

"Whew..."

Letting out a soft breath, Gu Yang raised his eyes to the setting sun that was about to vanish beyond the horizon. He had no plans to continue cultivating.

By the usual routine, the Martial Academy's evening bell should have rung by now. It was time for him to head home for dinner as well.

But just then, a voice sounded beside him.

"Hello, my name is Li Zhiwu. I saw you last night. That man should have been your father, right? Spar with me tomorrow. I'll give you one qian of silver a day. How about it?"

"Li Zhiwu?"

He had not even gone looking for the other party yet, but this fellow had come to him on his own. What a coincidence.

Gu Yang turned and sized him up. His face was still youthful, and he stood no more than four chi tall, but his body was exceptionally sturdy. He was definitely no weaker than the disciple who had taken him to the dining hall on his first day.

His strength should not have been bad.

After quietly assessing Li Zhiwu, Gu Yang was tempted, but he still refused. "Sorry, I've already heard about you. I can't take two punches from you."

He retreated in order to advance, wanting to see whether the other man would raise his price.

"..." Li Zhiwu had thought that as long as he was willing to pay, Gu Yang would readily agree. Who would have thought he would be refused? And the reason for the refusal was enough to drive him mad.

Recently, his family had found him a rare body-refining formula. It had caused his strength to increase too quickly, leaving him unable to control his force properly. The disciple who had previously sparred with him had actually had an arm broken by one of his accidental blows.

Afterward, he had found several other disciples. Yet after trading blows with him, they too were repeatedly injured, and all of them had refused to spar with him again.

More importantly, he had become famous...

Not because his strength surpassed everyone else's, but because someone had spread rumors behind his back, saying that whenever he disliked someone, he would challenge them to spar, injure them, and make them place at the bottom in the Minor Competition.

Once that news spread, no one was willing to spar with him now, even if he paid them.

Compared to the Minor Competition that was right around the corner, what did this little bit of money amount to?

If they were truly beaten into serious injury and ended up at the bottom of the Minor Competition, they would not even have tears enough to cry.

If he had not been utterly out of options, he would not have come to invite a newcomer like Gu Yang. When sparring, he would even have to deliberately hold back his strength.

Yet now, he realized that with his reputation, forget about him looking down on others—Gu Yang not looking down on him was already good enough...

After hesitating for a moment, Li Zhiwu gritted his teeth and said fiercely, "Two qian of silver a day. This is all I can offer. You should know that an ordinary person might not earn two qian of silver even by working themselves to the bone for a whole month!"

"Two qian of silver..." Gu Yang's heart could not help but skip faster.

Li Zhiwu was right. Throughout Cangzhou, the exchange rate between gold, silver, and copper was one to one thousand. Two qian of silver was equivalent to two hundred copper coins.

The people of Wan City earned only several dozen, at most a hundred copper coins a month. Even Gu Dashan, a highly skilled carpenter, had seen his income rise greatly after entering the city, but he still earned only ten copper coins a day—amounting to merely three qian of silver per month.

And living in a great city was no easy matter. After monthly expenses were deducted from those three qian of silver, there was practically nothing left.

"Alright, I agree!" Gu Yang glanced at Li Zhiwu and agreed at once.

"A deal!" Seemingly afraid that Gu Yang would go back on his word, Li Zhiwu immediately took a piece of broken silver from his robes and handed it to him.

"This is your payment for tomorrow. Even if you can't spar with me for the entire day tomorrow, it's fine. If you get hurt, the extra will count as your medical expenses..."

"Good, straightforward." Without the slightest hesitation, Gu Yang accepted the silver and tucked it into his clothes. Then he replied with a grin, "See you tomorrow!"

With the deal struck, Li Zhiwu left.

Watching his back disappear from the Training Ground, the smile on Gu Yang's face faded as he rolled up the sleeve on his arm.

A faint bluish mark was exposed on his left arm.

This was an injury he had inflicted on himself during the day to test how quickly wounds healed.

He had used considerable force in that blow. When he had first been injured, the bruise on his arm had been extremely obvious.

Yet after only one day, the bruise had nearly vanished.

This was the second effect of the talent, 'Vitality Surge.'

What Li Zhiwu did not know was that Gu Yang had genuinely intended to refuse at first.

If he had not manifested the talent 'Vitality Surge,' then even if Li Zhiwu had offered one tael of silver, he would never have agreed.

But now, it was simply his fortune to earn this money.

Skill: Blood Nourishing Stance Mastery (11/200); Azure Dragon Dance (57/500)

Talent: Vitality Surge.

"Breathe, breathe..."

At midnight, in the small courtyard of Nine Bends Ward, Gu Yang lay on the ground with his eyes closed, arms and legs spread wide, continuously taking deep breaths.

Brilliant starlight filled his vision, and two lines of text emerged once again.

Looking at the proficiency of the Blood Nourishing Stance, a satisfied smile could not help appearing on Gu Yang's face.

After more than half a day and an entire night of continuous practice, the proficiency of the Blood Nourishing Stance Art had increased by a full ten points compared to when it had just broken through.

It could only be said that as long as one put in the effort, there would be rewards. This feeling was simply wonderful!

Feeling his stamina rapidly recovering, Gu Yang was in no hurry to get up. He opened his eyes and turned his gaze toward the night sky above.

In this world, the thing that Gu Yang found most inconceivable was the thirteen moons overhead.

As everyone knew, the moon was a natural satellite that revolved around Earth Star. Yet outside this planet, there were actually thirteen satellites orbiting it.

The thirteen moons were scattered across different positions in the sky, some near, some far.

The farthest moon looked only the size of a fist, while the others varied in size, like leather balls, meditation cushions... each one different.

Three of those moons were especially large and especially bright. They hung directly above Gu Yang's head, illuminating the night sky so brightly that all other starlight was hidden from view.

As he quietly watched those rounds of bright, spotless moons in the night sky, Gu Yang's heart was tranquil.

It was not until Gu Dashan called from inside the house that Gu Yang patted the dust off himself and rose to his feet.

Yet he did not immediately return indoors. Instead, he scooped up cool well water to wash his face and brush his teeth, then wiped down his body.

Only after wiping away all the sweat and dust on his body did he turn around and head back inside.

He did not tell his parents that he had earned money, afraid that he would frighten Gu Dashan and Gu Mother, leading them to stop his deal with Li Zhiwu.

It would not be too late to tell them after tomorrow's sparring session, once the money was truly in his hands.