Gathering the Money! Minor Accomplishment

"Enough. Who else could we turn to? He's the only person we know. Even if we wanted to find someone else, we wouldn't know where to start."

After taking a drag of his pipe tobacco, Li Fu grew resentful again and cursed, "I told you long ago to discipline Xiao Dong properly, but you wouldn't listen. Now look what happened. A doting mother ruins her son!"

"All you know is blaming me. If you're so capable, then go save our child!" his wife wailed.

The two quarreled for a while before finally wearing themselves out.

His wife sighed and sobbed, "If things are really as bad as that kid Zhang Lingshan said, then if there's no other way, we'll sell everything in the house. No matter what, we have to ransom Xiao Dong back. He's my only son. Even if we have to steal, we must scrape together twenty taels!"

"Mm. I'll go to Three Rivers Gambling House tomorrow and see what they have to say."

Li Fu said grimly, "If it isn't as terrifying as Zhang Lingshan made it sound, then rather than give those twenty taels to Zhang Lingshan, we might as well give them directly to Three Rivers Gambling House. As the saying goes, 'With no hair on his lips, he can't handle affairs steadily.' That kid even goes around butting his head into things—he can't be reliable."

That night, the husband and wife went to sleep in misery.

Early the next morning, Li Fu rushed to Three Rivers Gambling House to confirm it for himself. When he saw his son working in the Pile of Shit and Urine, old tears immediately streamed down his face.

The gambling house did not keep idle hands.

Not only did they make his son work, they gave him no food and beat and cursed him at the slightest provocation. He lived worse than a dog.

"Father! Take me home, quickly! I can't bear it anymore!"

Li Dong wailed through tears and snot.

A man from the gambling house sneered. "You've seen your son. Where's the money?"

"I'm still gathering it."

"Then what are you doing here? Come back when you've got it all. Get lost!" the gambling house man snapped without ceremony.

Li Fu forced himself to ask, "I want to know whether my son also signed some kind of promissory note with you."

"Oh? You know the trade."

The gambling house man broke into a grin. "Since you know that, why are you wasting our time with nonsense? Our gambling house is being merciful. We'll let you ransom your son back first for twenty taels, then give you a month to slowly repay the remaining debt. Isn't that wonderfully humane? Get lost!"

"Yes, yes, I'll get lost right away. Right away."

Driven off by their fierce snarls, Li Fu hurriedly fled with his tail between his legs. Yet his heart was both relieved and miserable.

He was relieved because Zhang Lingshan had actually been the right person to seek out. That half-grown kid was unexpectedly useful.

According to Zhang Lingshan, as long as they gave twenty taels of silver to Senior Brother Shi, he could help mediate and let Xiao Dong completely sever his ties with the gambling house, never to be hounded for debts again.

This was a blessing one could not find even with a lantern.

It was worth rejoicing over.

But what tormented him was that twenty taels was no small sum.

Had he known this calamity was coming, he might as well have smashed the pots and sold the iron to gather twenty taels sooner, then sent Xiao Dong to the Hong Clan Martial Hall just like Zhang Lingshan.

That way, not only would they not have been extorted by the gambling house, Xiao Dong could have risen to prominence as well.

Sigh.

He regretted it beyond measure.

But it was useless to think about all that now. Gathering the money was what mattered most.

While Li Fu's family was trying to scrape together the money, Zhang Lingshan had long since tossed their affairs to the back of his mind and continued wholeheartedly cultivating the Primal Chaos Righteous Yang Posture.

On this day.

Name: Zhang Lingshan

Martial Art: Primal Chaos Righteous Yang Posture (Entry Level+)

Energy: 6.6

"Eh, I can upgrade again."

Zhang Lingshan was both startled and delighted.

He had merely opened the Panel out of habit to check it, yet he unexpectedly saw the plus sign behind Entry Level.

But he only had 6.6 Energy Points.

There was both a fraction and a whole number.

What did that mean?

It meant all his diligent Standing Posture practice these days had been useful!

Although the Panel did not clearly record it in numerical terms, when he used Energy to add stat points and upgrade, it counted his own efforts as well, thereby saving Energy Points.

By his estimation, the Primal Chaos Righteous Yang Posture would likely require 10 Energy Points to advance from Entry Level to Minor Accomplishment.

Now, however, 3.4 Energy had been waived.

That was all thanks to his unrelenting hard work!

"Energy! Add stat points!"

Zhang Lingshan shouted excitedly in his heart and focused his intent on the "+" behind Entry Level.

Whoosh!

The words "Entry Level" flickered with yellow light, then transformed in a flash into the words "Minor Accomplishment."

Huff, huff, huff.

A sound like a bellows suddenly came from within his body.

It was as though someone were pumping him full of air from inside. Airflow surged wildly through his limbs, as if it were inflating his entire body until he swelled.

But that was only an illusion.

When Zhang Lingshan examined his limbs and palms, they had not actually inflated or swollen.

The only change was that his palms and the backs of his hands had turned slightly red. But that was within normal expectations—after holding the Primal Chaos Righteous Yang Posture for a long time, his body would heat up and redden too.

The difference was that this time, he could clearly feel the skin of his body becoming taut.

As the airflow coursed through him, his skin was stretched again and again. The muscles beneath trembled without pause, and even his bones seemed to have been stirred awake with vitality.

Zhang Lingshan had a Weird sensation. It felt as if he could sense the marrow within his bones moving along with the airflow inside him.

The sensation did not last long, yet he felt as though he had slept through a long, deep slumber.

Gradually, the airflow receded, and his body returned to calm.

If not for the lingering streams of warmth hidden within his body, he would have suspected that everything just now had been a dream.

"My height seems to have increased a little again."

Rising from the corner where he rested, Zhang Lingshan stretched and discovered that both his trousers and sleeves had grown a little shorter.

If he kept growing at this rate, he would probably need new clothes before long.

Fortunately, once he became a formal disciple, he could wear the martial hall's custom-made Training Uniform. That would save him quite a bit of money. Not bad at all.

"Hup! Ha!"

In the courtyard, the Registered Disciples were still each practicing their own Standing Postures. No one noticed Zhang Lingshan's changes.

Naturally, Zhang Lingshan did not announce them either. He simply began holding his posture again by himself.

As for Shi Lei, he was a lazy sort. Ever since Zhang Lingshan had more or less gotten the hang of it, Shi Lei had stopped giving him frequent guidance, instead lounging in the shade to rest and slack off from time to time.

Right now, he was enjoying the cool air and sleeping.

Unless Hall Master Hong Zhengdao suddenly appeared, he could sleep until the afternoon meal.

"Is Senior Brother Zhang Lingshan here? Someone outside is looking for you."

A trainee from the Front Courtyard suddenly called from the direction of the Main Hall.

Zhang Lingshan was mildly surprised. "Coming."

Passing through the Main Hall, entering the Front Courtyard, and turning around the screen, Zhang Lingshan saw who the visitor was.

His neighbor, Li Fu.

Li Fu stood hunched over at the entrance, looking around uneasily.

In these few short days, he seemed to have aged more than ten years. White hair had appeared at both temples, and he looked utterly decrepit.

When he saw Zhang Lingshan emerge, Li Fu was like a drowning man who had seized a lifeline. He hurriedly grabbed Zhang Lingshan. "Xiao Shan, I've gathered the money. I've gathered it all! Hurry and ask that Senior Brother Shi of yours to go to Three Rivers Gambling House and save my Xiao Dong.

"You don't know it, but Xiao Dong has been living neither like a man nor a ghost these past days. I can barely recognize him anymore.

"If his mother hadn't brought him food a few times, he would have starved to death!

"If we don't ransom him out soon, your Uncle Fu will be a white-haired man sending off a black-haired one.

"Xiao Shan, I'm begging you. Please, get Senior Brother Shi to step in."

Li Fu cried out as though he needed to vent all the pressure of these past days.