His Trash, My Miracle Cure

At the end of the ninth month of martial training at the Martial Hall.

Early in the morning, Yu Yongnian and the other two instructors appeared at the Training Ground together.

All the trainees practicing their punches on the Training Ground stopped and turned their eyes toward the three instructors.

Other than during their first month at the Martial Hall, when all three instructors would appear at the Training Ground together, over the following months the instructors had shown up at different times, one after another.

Now that all three instructors had appeared at once again, was there some important matter to announce?

Instructor Liu, standing in the middle, swept his gaze across all the trainees and declared, "The Martial Arts Administration has issued a notice. To encourage everyone in their martial training, any trainee whose strength has reached four hundred jin and can increase it by fifty jin within the next month will receive a reward of three taels of silver. If you can increase it by one hundred jin, the reward will be ten taels of silver."

Instructor Liu's words immediately stirred discussion among the trainees.

Not excitement, but complaints.

"Is this a joke? Increase your strength by a hundred jin in one month?"

"After I reached three hundred jin, I spent nearly two taels of silver every month and still gained less than thirty jin. To maintain a fifty-jin increase after reaching four hundred jin, how much silver would that take?"

"To gain fifty jin, you'd at least need nourishing medicinal soup every day, plus beef. Without ten taels of silver, it simply can't be done. As for gaining a hundred jin, I wouldn't even dare dream of it."

After more than nine months of martial training at the Martial Hall, these trainees had come to deeply understand just how true it was that the more one pursued rapid success in martial arts, the greater the price one had to pay.

Before entering the Martial Hall, some of them had heard about it from village youths who had trained there before. But hearing was one thing; without experiencing it themselves, they had always harbored doubts.

Or, more accurately, they had clung to a stroke of luck, believing they would be different.

Young men were confident, their ambitions soaring into the clouds!

But nine months at the Martial Hall had given them a clear understanding of themselves. They had already abandoned all thoughts of rapid advancement.

"This reward was probably prepared for people like Senior Brother Lu. Only they can claim it."

"They can't claim it either. Senior Brother Lu and the others surpassed five hundred jin long ago. Maybe someone from the next class will get it."

The trainees' lack of enthusiasm did not surprise the three instructors. When they had seen the document, they had already been able to guess the trainees' reactions.

This did not count as encouragement. At most, it was icing on the cake.

Trainees from ordinary families could not make use of it, while people like Lu Yongfeng, who came from wealthy families, did not care about such a small reward.

"Which noble person came up with this? So wise and mighty! Wasn't this reward tailor-made for me?"

Among the crowd, Lin Chen's eyes shone. Gaining fifty jin in one month for a reward of three taels of silver—this was practically handing him money.

His strength had reached four hundred jin just yesterday.

System Panel.

Lin Chen murmured silently, and the System Panel appeared.

Name: Lin Chen

Profession: Martial Artist

Vitality and Blood: 2003/3000

Fate: [When the Water Flows, the Channel is Formed]: In the Martial Arts First Realm, persevere steadily, Progress Step by Step, Break Through Like Bamboo, with no bottleneck to trouble you.

At his current rate of gaining 10 points of Vitality and Blood per day, he would gain 300 points in a month—equivalent to sixty jin of strength. The reward of three taels of silver was absolutely his for the taking.

He might even be able to make a run at the ten-tael reward.

"Trainees whose strength has reached four hundred jin may come up for a strength test and registration."

While Lin Chen was thinking, Instructor Liu spoke again.

Instructor Liu did not care what the trainees thought. This was an official document issued by the Martial Arts Administration, and the Martial Hall naturally had to comply.

They first had to count the trainees whose strength had reached four hundred jin, then report the figures to the Martial Arts Administration.

A few breaths later, a trainee stepped out from the ranks, walked to the four-hundred-and-forty-jin Stone Weight, and lifted it with relative ease.

"Yang Lin, 440 jin."

Instructor Chen, standing nearby and responsible for registration, glanced at Yang Lin's condition and wrote down the number in the ledger.

Next, another trainee stepped forward and lifted the four-hundred-and-twenty-jin Stone Weight.

"Li Dong, 420 jin."

"Chu Dong, 410 jin."

"Zheng Kai, 440 jin."

Lin Chen listened to the weights Instructor Chen announced, then watched the way Yang Lin and the other four lifted their Stone Weights. He immediately understood that the instructors were giving them some leeway.

Take Yang Lin, for instance. He had not looked particularly strained when lifting the four-hundred-and-forty-jin Stone Weight. His strength definitely exceeded 440 jin and was close to 450 jin. The instructor had simply shaved off the remainder.

The instructors really were good people.

Still, there was a limit to their leeway. They only rounded down.

Earlier, Zheng Kai had clearly wanted to conceal his strength. He had gone to lift the four-hundred-and-twenty-jin Stone Weight and even put on a strained expression, fooling Lin Chen as well.

Yet Instructor Liu directly told Zheng Kai to switch to another Stone Weight. Only after seeing Zheng Kai lift the four-hundred-and-forty-jin Stone Weight did Lin Chen realize Zheng Kai had been hiding such a large reserve of strength.

So the three instructors would give some leeway, but they would not falsify anything.

As far as the three instructors were concerned, they had an explanation for rounding down. The Martial Hall's Stone Weights came in increments of ten, so naturally the registrations would use rounded figures. The Martial Arts Administration would not care about those small differences.

"Yan Dexing, what are you coming up here for? Your strength has already surpassed five hundred jin. Go back."

Instructor Liu glared at the approaching youth with annoyance.

Yan Dexing sheepishly walked back. He had not come up to lift a Stone Weight for the reward; he merely wanted to show off.

"And Lu Yongfeng, Cheng Ying, Zhao Jingchuan, Xu Botao—you lot don't need to test either."

Hearing Instructor Liu's words, every trainee present turned to look at those five, their eyes filled with envy. All five had broken past five hundred jin in strength.

"Any other trainees?"

Instructor Liu said this casually according to procedure. He did not expect anyone else to step forward. The trainees whose strength could reach four hundred jin were already second only to Lu Yongfeng and the others in the Martial Hall. As an instructor, he had long known exactly who they were.

Lin Chen pondered for a moment, then stepped out of the ranks.

"Chenzi, what are you doing?"

When Gu Fei saw Lin Chen heading forward, he froze. By the time he reacted and reached out to grab him, Lin Chen had already left the crowd.

Seeing Lin Chen walk toward the Stone Weights, all the trainees turned their eyes toward him.

"What's he doing?"

"Don't tell me his strength has reached four hundred jin?"

"If Lin Chen's strength can be four hundred jin, then I've already cultivated Essence Energy."

Some of the trainees were doubtful, some mocking, but not a single one believed Lin Chen's strength had reached four hundred jin.

Lu Yongfeng and the others, who had been denied the right to take the test, had been chatting among themselves. They had not even spared this direction a glance from the corners of their eyes, but upon hearing the discussion now, they all looked over.

"What is Lin Chen doing? Is he going to claim that he gained two hundred jin of strength in three months?" Cheng Ying asked in confusion.

"He can't even afford beef. He relies on working in the dining hall to waive his meal fees. If he can gain two hundred jin of strength, then what are we?"

Yan Dexing curled his lip. The five of them had all taken more than three months to go from two hundred jin to four hundred jin. Among everyone present, only Lu Yongfeng had managed to gain two hundred jin of strength within three months.

Each of them had spent nearly twenty taels over those three months, while Lu Yongfeng had definitely spent more than twenty taels.

If Lin Chen could catch up to them, would their money not have been spent for nothing?

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