Second Meridian

Several more days passed. It was the afternoon of December twenty-fourth.

In the quiet room of the Training Ground, Zhuang Jin silently circulated his Quiet Cultivation, condensing the Inner Breath he had just refined from the Black Essence Powder. Feeling a faint swelling within his meridians, he knew that he had completed the accumulation for the One Meridian Realm.

If it were anyone else, they would have felt the Second Meridian Bottleneck at this point. But me? It was time to confirm my Golden Finger once again.

Zhuang Jin drew a deep breath and mobilized his Inner Breath, carefully guiding it toward the second meridian, the Hand Shaoyin Meridian. Just as when he had broken through the One Meridian Realm, he encountered not the slightest restraint. His Inner Breath flowed in without obstruction, completing its repeated circulation through both meridians.

The Second Meridian Realm... was achieved!

Sure enough, does my Golden Finger simply have no bottlenecks?

Zhuang Jin was exhilarated inside, but he suppressed the joy and secretly calculated: Now that I've broken through to the Second Meridian Realm, I'm a Two-Striped Servant in the Shen Family. And a Two-Striped Servant receives three taels of silver as a basic Monthly Stipend every month!

I broke through the One Meridian Realm midway through last month, yet I still received a full month's basic stipend for a One-Striped Servant. Since I've now broken through to the Second Meridian Realm, can I receive another basic stipend for a Two-Striped Servant this month? Or at least have them make up the difference between the One-Striped and Two-Striped Servants' stipends? That would work too!

His rapid breakthroughs naturally came with rapid consumption of provisions and money. From the eighteenth of last month until today, he had swallowed a solid fourteen packets of Black Essence Powder. That was seven taels of silver, leaving him with only nine taels now.

And that was only because, during the latter twelve days of last month, he had gotten one bowl of Qi Channel Opening Soup every day—last month, Zhuang Jin had gone to drink it with the Martial Students because he knew he was drinking his own share, one he had paid for. But this month, no matter how thick his skin was, he could not bring himself to keep going to Ping Yongfeng's place for it.

Now that I've broken through to the Second Meridian Realm, I'll refine Black Essence Powder faster too. One packet was enough for three days of cultivation at the One Meridian Realm, but at the Second Meridian Realm, it'll only last two. That means fifteen packets a month, or seven taels and five mace of silver. It really is a gold-swallowing beast!

Thus, Zhuang Jin had no choice but to calculate carefully. When he went out, Tang Wentao had not yet left, since the incense stick's worth of time that afternoon was not up. Zhuang Jin told him about his breakthrough and asked about the Monthly Stipend.

"You broke through to the Second Meridian Realm?" Tang Wentao took Zhuang Jin's pulse. Once he confirmed it, he immediately clapped his hands and burst into laughter. "Haha, excellent!"

The month was nearly over, yet of the eight people under him, not one had broken through to the Second Meridian Realm or gained entry into the Black Fiend Palm. He had been worrying over his quota, so how could he not be delighted when Zhuang Jin brought him such good news?

Tang Wentao then explained the matter of the Monthly Stipend. One could only receive one basic stipend per month, and there was no such thing as making up the difference.

Moreover, a servant's rank was not something that could be promoted immediately by running to the General Affairs Department the day one broke through.

After becoming a One-Striped Servant, every subsequent rank promotion had to wait until the first day of the month, when the Glazed Realm-Testing Puppet would be brought out for unified verification before the promotion could be completed.

This was easy enough to understand. After breaking through to the One Meridian Realm and studying Martial Skills for another month, they would all be assigned duties. Those duties lasted one month. It was impossible for someone who broke through at the beginning or middle of the month to put down their assignment and run back to register for promotion. Handling them one by one like that would waste far too much manpower and resources.

As for why they had been allowed to immediately register as One-Striped Servants upon becoming Formal Martial Artists, that had been a special exception, made to let them recoup their losses as quickly as possible. Besides, breaking through to the One Meridian Realm was easy to verify—one merely had to leave an imprint on a wooden board. After the One Meridian Realm, verification was no longer so straightforward. To prevent fraud, pulse-taking was not suitable either, so they had to bring out the Glazed Realm-Testing Puppet. Naturally, it was different.

In other words, Zhuang Jin would have to wait until the first day of next month—no, the end-of-month assessment this month also counted as a special exception, and he could complete his servant rank promotion then.

In any case, he could only officially receive the Monthly Stipend of a Two-Striped Servant beginning next month.

"That Glazed Realm-Testing Puppet is quite miraculous. Place your palm against its back and circulate your Inner Breath, and the meridians on its body will light up accordingly, displaying your current realm."

After explaining this, Tang Wentao thoughtfully asked whether Zhuang Jin had any difficulties with the Black Fiend Palm. He answered every question, then repeatedly reminded him not to focus on his Cultivation Realm over the next few days. Instead, he was to intensify his practice of the Black Fiend Palm and see whether he could gain entry before the end of the month. Only then did Tang Wentao leave.

Once Tang Wentao left, the Training Ground immediately erupted.

Xiong Lei, Jiao Kun, Lin Hong, and the others practicing Martial Skills had already been outside, so they naturally heard the news that Zhuang Jin had broken through to the Second Meridian Realm. They crowded around him at once, offering congratulations and asking how the breakthrough had felt.

At that moment, Xiang Qichen also emerged from the quiet room after cultivating Quiet Cultivation and was told the news of the breakthrough.

Xiang Qichen had been stuck at the Second Meridian Bottleneck these past few days, trapped so badly he felt neither alive nor dead, without the faintest clue what to do. He had even been considering whether he should start practicing Martial Skills in hopes of drawing inferences from one instance to another. But upon suddenly hearing that Zhuang Jin had broken through to the Second Meridian Realm, his head buzzed as though it had exploded. He instinctively asked, "Really? Jinzi isn't just spouting nonsense to fool us, is he?"

"Brother Xiang, listen to yourself. Teacher Tang already verified it. How could it be false?"

After Qian Wende said that, he abandoned Xiang Qichen and eagerly turned to Zhuang Jin, flattering him, "Brother Zhuang, you're amazing! You're the first in our dormitory to break through to the Second Meridian Realm!"

He was thick-skinned, yet quite socially perceptive. He knew Zhuang Jin ranked fifth in the dormitory, and calling him Fifth Boss did not sound very pleasant, so at times like this, he called him Brother Zhuang.

Xiong Lei stood to the side, his expression complicated. He had clearly become a Formal Martial Artist before Zhuang Jin, so why had Zhuang Jin now broken through to the Second Meridian Realm first?

He even wondered whether he should have focused solely on his Cultivation Realm. Perhaps he would have broken through by now as well. But then he remembered that even Xiang Qichen had yet to break through. Even if he had enough money to buy Black Essence Powder, he probably still could not have succeeded at this point. He could only suppress his tangled feelings and sincerely congratulate Zhuang Jin.

Lin Hong, Jiao Kun, Wu Hao, and the others were all gathered around him, so there was no need to say more.

"Brother Zhuang's breakthrough to the Second Meridian Realm is such a joyous occasion. I propose that the rest of us each chip in some money. Tonight, let's go out to a restaurant and celebrate for Brother Zhuang!" Qian Wende said.

The moment those words came out, everyone else looked over, finding it hard to believe. That such words had come from Qian Wende made them wonder whether they had misheard.

—They all lived in the same dormitory. Who did not know who? After more than a month together, who did not know that Qian Wende loved taking petty advantages more than anyone in the dormitory? He mooched blotting paper from Xiong Lei, food from Jiao Kun, and yes, even firecrackers... To put it bluntly, if Qian Wende saw someone taking a bite of shit, he would go over and ask for some just to taste how salty it was!

And yet, this very person was saying he was taking the initiative to chip in and treat everyone? They had not remembered wrong, had they? At the gathering on the last day of last month, you had freeloaded the whole damn meal!

Seeing everyone stare at him strangely, Qian Wende smiled. "Why are you all looking at me like that? Brother Zhuang broke through today. I'm genuinely happy, and I just want to celebrate for my Brother Zhuang!"

"No need. There's no need for everyone to spend money. Besides, the end-of-month assessment is almost here, so these next two days are not a good time to be distracted."

Zhuang Jin politely declined. As he spoke, he gave Qian Wende a deep look. At that moment, he suddenly recalled certain small details from before, and saw through Qian Wende more thoroughly.

Qian Wende likes taking petty advantages, but he is by no means a short-sighted fool who disregards consequences for small gains. He also has an extremely shrewd side—he knows that to take, one must first give!

Back when they were Martial Students, Qian Wende had seen the potential in Zhuang Jin and Xiong Lei's little group, so he had shared news about the special meals to invest in befriending them. That alone showed his initiative!

After becoming Formal Martial Artists, Xiang Qichen was generous with money, yet Qian Wende rarely took advantage of him. Instead, he only kept shearing Xiong Lei like a sheep. Zhuang Jin had not quite understood it before, but now he did: Qian Wende did not take advantage of Xiang Qichen because he valued Xiang Qichen's potential and disdained such petty gains. What he sought was far greater!

The same goes for me now. Treating me to a meal is an investment, a way to build a good relationship so he can gain even greater benefits from me in the future. Zhuang Jin thought, seeing Qian Wende's character as clearly as the palm of his hand.