Martial Art Reaches Minor Accomplishment, Black Market Seeks a Way Out

Hu Jiudao and his men dragged the half-dead Wang Laosan with them, their figures vanishing around the corner of the alley, but that piercing laughter seemed to still swirl in the damp air.

In the alley, for a moment, there was dead silence.

With a "thud," Wei Datong leaned back against the mottled wall and slid all the way down to sit on the ground. Cold sweat mixed with dust on his forehead, tracing two muddy streaks. The little bit of official authority he had mustered earlier was now completely gone.

He gasped for breath, his chest heaving violently. Lifting his head to look at Ye Qingxuan, his lips trembled a few times before he squeezed out the words: "You... you're crazy! Why provoke him? That's Hu Jiudao! The maddest dog under Duan Tianbao!"

Xiong Tiezhu also came closer, his honest face full of worry. He tightened and loosened his grip on the big blade he carried. "Qingxuan, Brother Wei's right. These people... we... we'd better steer clear of them."

Ye Qingxuan didn't speak. He just lowered his head and looked at his own hand, the one that had just been resting on the knife handle. That hand was very steady, without a trace of a tremor.

He turned and started walking.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Wei Datong struggled to his feet from the ground, caught up a few steps, and grabbed him. "Don't be an idiot, kid! Listen to your big brother's advice—don't go home for a few days. Come crash at my place. It's a dump, but Hu Jiudao and his men won't know about it. Wait until the heat dies down!"

He rambled on, his voice pressed very low: "That fourteen taels of silver... that's a lot of money. If you really can't scrape it together, then... then just go lie low for a while! Don't throw your life away for the sake of face! Your little sister is still young..."

Ye Qingxuan's steps paused. He turned back and looked at him.

Wei Datong was usually a gossipy braggart who got scared easily, but these words came straight from the heart. In this muddy world, this little spark of warmth between bottom-feeders actually stirred a wave of warmth in his chest.

"Brother Wei, I know what I'm doing."

With that, he didn't linger any longer and walked straight toward the mouth of the alley.

Wei Datong stared at his back, opened his mouth, but in the end only let out a long sigh. He punched the wall, shaking off a patch of plaster.

After his shift ended, Ye Qingxuan didn't linger on the streets. He hurried back to the Southern District.

Pushing open the courtyard gate, Ye Caiwei was sitting on a small stool, using the last rays of the setting sun to stitch a needle and thread through one of his old clothes, mending it. Hearing the door, she looked up and gave a sweet smile.

"Big brother, you're back."

For the sake of that smile, he absolutely could not back down an inch.

Hu Jiudao's threat was like a poisoned thorn, lodged in his heart. He would never allow anyone to set their sights on Nannan.

Dinner passed in a somewhat silent meal between brother and sister.

Ye Qingxuan's appetite was still astonishing. Ye Caiwei just quietly watched him eat, constantly refilling his bowl.

When night had deepened and he could hear his sister's steady breathing from the inner room, Ye Qingxuan quietly got up, went to the outer room, and slid the door bolt into place.

He took off his shirt, revealing a lean, solid body. These past few days of hard training had given him a thin layer of muscle, smooth lines full of strength.

He sat down cross-legged and began the night's cultivation.

[Merit: 14/15]

Just one more point.

He wrapped the cloth bundle around his hand, his movements steady, and began a new round of grinding and rubbing.

The pain came as expected, drilling through his skin straight to the bone.

He gritted his teeth. In his mind surfaced Hu Jiudao's face, full of contempt and malice, and his sister's clear, innocent eyes.

His hands moved faster, heavier.

Sweat fell like rain, quickly soaking the bedboard beneath him. When he had finished the entire set of techniques for the Indestructible Vajra Body, all his strength was drained. His left arm was numb and swollen, as if it no longer belonged to him.

Just then, the scroll in his mind unfurled with a bang, and a point of light infused into it.

[Merit: +1]

[Merit: 15/15]

Done!

Before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, the golden characters on the scroll blazed with sudden intensity!

[Merit complete, Heavenly Mechanism stirred, Realm connected!]

A torrent, far more vast and scorching than the last breakthrough, surged from the depths of his cerebral palace, instantly smashing through every barrier in his body!

This time, it wasn't the agony of tearing and reassembly, but a feeling of being repeatedly hammered and tempered by raging fire, a sensation of thorough refinement. The qi and blood in his body were no longer a river, but had turned into a surging river of magma, wrapping around every inch of his skin, every sinew and bone, even every drop of marrow, burning and forging them!

His entire body turned fiery red. Beneath his skin, countless threads of fire seemed to be racing. His joints crackled and popped, louder and denser than before.

All the mysteries of the Minor Accomplishment realm of the Indestructible Vajra Body—how to condense qi and blood into inner force, how to let power penetrate inch by inch—every essence poured into his soul like a mountain flood bursting a dam, merging with his body's instincts.

This commotion lasted for the time it takes an incense stick to burn.

When that torrent of magma-like qi and blood gradually calmed and settled back into his meridians and dantian, Ye Qingxuan felt his entire body lighten. An unprecedented sense of fullness came from every corner of his limbs and bones.

He slowly opened his eyes. Two sharp glints flashed and vanished in the darkness.

He looked down. That left arm, which had been so cruelly battered, had now returned to normal, but beneath the skin, it showed a warm, jade-like luster. He reached out his right hand, fingers together like a blade, and chopped down hard on his arm.

"Clang!"

A dull sound, as if he had struck a plank of iron wrapped in thick leather. Only a faint white mark was left on his arm, and the pain was negligible.

He focused his mind again, and the scroll in his sea of consciousness had already updated.

[Name: Ye Qingxuan]

[Realm: Body Tempering First Layer Perfection]

[Martial Art: Indestructible Vajra Body (Realm: Minor Accomplishment, Scale: Two Inches, Merit: 0/45)]

Body Tempering First Layer Perfection!

Indestructible Vajra Body, Minor Accomplishment!

From Initiation to Minor Accomplishment, the Scale had advanced from one inch to two inches, and it had taken him only nine short days. But the Merit required for the next breakthrough had skyrocketed to forty-five points.

Ye Qingxuan stood up from the wooden bed, casually stretching his limbs. His figure hadn't changed, yet every move he made carried a weighty, oppressive steadiness. He walked to the corner of the room, where two wooden buckets filled with water sat, each weighing over a hundred jin.

He extended his left hand and, using only three fingers, effortlessly lifted one of the buckets, his arm as steady as a rock.

He took a deep breath, then slowly threw a punch into the empty air.

His fist split the air, producing a dull thump, like tearing cloth.

This was power.

Tomorrow would be the tenth day.

He walked to the worn wooden chest in the corner and opened it. At the bottom lay a small string of copper coins—the entire savings he and his sister had scrimped and saved, amounting to no more than a hundred coppers.

Fourteen taels of silver was still an astronomical sum to them.

But on Ye Qingxuan's face, there was no trace of anxiety.

From the very bottom of the chest, he pulled out a neatly folded piece of black cloth, then fished out a few copper coins and tucked them into his bosom.

"Everything's ready," he murmured to himself.

He draped the black cloth over his face, leaving only his eyes exposed. Those eyes gleamed with startling brightness in the darkness.

He silently opened the courtyard gate, and with a flicker of his figure, he melted into the deep night of the Southern District.

Tonight, he was going to a certain place.

Linyuan Prefecture City had its bright side, and its dark side.

By day, the streets bustled with traffic; by night, a different set of rules festered in the shadows. The "Ghost Market" in the west of the city was the deepest part of those shadows.

There, there was no government, no law. The only currency that passed was silver and strength.

Ye Qingxuan moved swiftly, weaving through winding alleys, avoiding the patrol routes of the Fengtian Division. His footwork was more than twice as fast as before; his entire body was like a shadow gliding close to the ground.

After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he arrived at a dead-end alley.

At the end of the alley was a high wall, but set into it was an unremarkable small door. Two burly men stood guard at the entrance, their bodies reeking of blood.

Ye Qingxuan stepped forward. Without a word, he handed over a single copper coin.

One of the burly men took the coin, weighed it in his hand, and stepped aside to let him pass.

Ye Qingxuan pushed the door open and entered.

Behind the door was an entirely different world.

It was a vast underground space, converted from several natural caverns. The air was thick with the smell of damp earth and cheap lamp oil. Torches lined the walls, casting a dim, yellow light that stretched people's shadows into twisted, grotesque shapes.

Countless stalls lined the cave walls, selling all manner of goods. There were weapons of dubious origin, antiques of uncertain authenticity, rare herbs, and even slaves chained with iron locks.

Most of the people coming and going, like Ye Qingxuan, wore black cloth masks, walked with hurried steps, and kept a wary distance from one another.

This was a paradise for fencing stolen goods, a haven for desperadoes, and a dangerous place where those at the bottom fought for a sliver of hope.

Ye Qingxuan's goal was clear.

He walked straight through the noisy market, heading for a stone platform deep in the cavern that bore a wooden sign reading "Bounties."

Behind the platform sat a withered old man, his eyes half-open, half-closed, deaf to the clamor around him.

Ye Qingxuan approached the platform, his voice deliberately hoarse.

"I'm taking a bounty."

The old man lifted his eyelids a crack and pointed to a row of bamboo slips hanging on the wall beside him.

"Look for yourself."

Ye Qingxuan's gaze swept over the bamboo slips one by one.

"Retrieve Steward Zhang's lost Persian cat from the east of the city. Reward: five taels of silver."

"Escort a shipment out of the city. Payment: ten taels. No liability for life or death."

"Take the head of the Third Chief of Black Wind Stronghold. Reward: fifty taels of silver."

His eyes finally stopped on the bottommost slip, which was stained a dark color.

[Wanted: Remnants of Green Fish Gang. Capture alive, one person. Reward: five taels of silver.]

[Issuer: Fengtian Division.]