Immortal Martial: Sweeping Across the Two Worlds from Reality

Like three towering mountains, they bore down heavily on the ordinary people of Pingling County. No commoner could avoid them; before a market stall was even set up, exploitation came crashing down layer upon layer.

To change one's fate, there was only one way... practice martial arts.

The County Office had the most martial arts manuals, but without connections, who could get in? One could also learn martial arts through wealthy households or gangs, but without exception, they had to sell their lives for it.

The only path that required neither connections nor one's life was joining a martial arts school.

Ten taels of silver for one month of instruction!

For ordinary people, who could not save even a single tael of silver after doing business for a year under all that exploitation, this was wealth they would struggle to accumulate in an entire lifetime.

Even if two generations scrimped and saved, working bitterly and hiding away ten taels by every possible means, and managed to enter a martial arts school—

That money would only cover one month of martial arts training.

And after that month? Wouldn't they simply return to where they had come from?

Practicing martial arts was hard—harder than climbing to the heavens.

Jiang Shu was glad he had not been born entirely in that world.

Mystic Star also had gold and silver. Though silver was nowhere near as valuable as gold, its price remained fairly stable at around five yuan per gram.

Ten taels, five hundred grams—two thousand five hundred yuan.

As an ordinary high school senior, he naturally could not come up with that kind of money. But didn't he have parents? Thinking of what they had promised him during the New Year, Jiang Shu could not help drifting off, while Jiang Yanyue's bright, excited eyes gradually turned despairing.

Only after standing did she realize that this seemingly simple Horse Stance was actually some devilish movement.

Her brother even stood in it for an entire day on a regular basis. He even ate while half-sitting on a stool, keeping the stance. Was he a demon?

I, Jiang Yanyue, am a genius at studying.

He, Jiang Shu, is a martial arts genius.

Was that fair?

Very fair.

Self-doubt, self-persuasion, then proactively giving up.

Worthy of being a top student girl, Jiang Yanyue adjusted her mindset at the fastest speed possible, gave up struggling, and collapsed limply onto the sofa.

Geniuses could not be measured.

Geniuses could not be compared.

Jiang Shu could hold a stance for an entire day because he was a martial arts genius. I, Jiang Yanyue, am not!

She did not want to practice martial arts for even one more minute.

As for preserving her looks, if martial arts could do it—

Then skincare products surely could too.

In the future, she could become President Jiang and spend money to have research institutes study it exclusively.

That was far more reliable than practicing martial arts.

Yes, that was it!

Seeing Jiang Yanyue sprawled out like Ge You, Jiang Shu restrained the urge to draw her. He casually picked up the remote, selected a movie at random, and sat down on the sofa, ready to rest properly for a while.

When the movie had only ten minutes left—

Father Jiang and Mother Jiang returned together. Seeing the siblings, one sitting and the other sprawled on the sofa, neither of the couple said anything. Carrying the groceries they had bought, they went into the kitchen to wash and chop vegetables.

Unlike some families, Xu Lizhi had opened a shop in her early years and worked from dawn to dusk. The great responsibility of cooking at home had basically been handed over to Father Jiang, Jiang Yongyi.

"Dad, do we have ribs? I want sweet-and-sour ribs today!"

At the sound of activity in the kitchen, Jiang Yanyue immediately perked up and raised her head.

"Your brother practices martial arts. I'm making rib and radish soup—it's nutritious and helps digestion."

Jiang Yongyi answered at once. After his son decided to practice martial arts, he had specifically looked up what supplements martial artists should have afterward.

As long as his son was home, he wanted to cook something different every day.

Something that would help with martial arts training and that his son would enjoy.

"Got it. You don't love me anymore. Don't ask—if you ask, it means you used to love me."

"I'll make it for you later."

"Great!"

After bustling about for nearly an hour, Jiang Yongyi placed the final dish, the rib and radish soup, on the table and called out.

"Coming." Jiang Yanyue was always the first to sit at the table. The sweet-and-sour ribs were right in front of her. "Dad, I knew you loved me the most, most, most!"

"No, I only used to love you."

"Pah, pah, pah! I was talking nonsense. You're a grown man, don't hold a child's mistakes against her. Hehe, I'll satisfy my craving first."

Jiang Yanyue's hands were quick. She picked up a piece of sweet-and-sour rib, put it in her mouth, and chewed slowly. At that moment, her bright eyes narrowed into crescents.

"Eat slower, Lychee. Dinner's ready."

"Coming."

By the time Xu Lizhi finished tidying the room and came out, one adult and two children were already seated at the table waiting for her. She took out her phone and transferred money to Jiang Shu through Weixin. "Mom needs some money to keep the business running recently too, and that bank deposit hasn't matured yet. I'll send you five thousand yuan for now. Is that enough?"

Though her son's grades had never been particularly good, he had basically never made the two of them angry from childhood to now.

After he began practicing martial arts, he seemed to possess an indescribable maturity, as though he had suddenly grown up quite a bit.

So when he asked for money, as his mother, she naturally had to support him with everything she had.

Even though, to this day, his parents still did not know what he needed the money for.

Even though their son was still a high school senior.

"It's enough. Thanks, Dad and Mom."

Without looking at his phone, he ladled each of his parents a bowl of rib soup, then got up and served himself a heaping bowl of rice. Picking up a rib, he immediately began eating.

A transfer of five thousand yuan, yet the three of them acted as if nothing had happened.

Only Jiang Yanyue at the side was left staring dumbly.

How much?

Five thousand?

The sweet-and-sour rib in her mouth instantly lost its flavor.

Sure enough, they had only loved her before.

Her allowance had never exceeded fifty yuan!

Baby was suffering, but Baby wouldn't say it. Baby needed another bite of sweet-and-sour ribs.

Jiang Yanyue transformed her grief and indignation into motivation and ate two pieces in a row.

Flavorless or not, she was eating them!

And she was going to eat a whole lot.

She could not leave even one piece for that bastard Jiang Shu!

He already had five thousand yuan, yet he still had the nerve to take her eight-hundred-yuan red envelope.

He even tricked his own little sister!

He truly deserved to die.

"Lychee, have you noticed? Meat prices have risen again." Jiang Yongyi took a sip of rib soup. "And I took a look—some decent white liquor on the market has gone up a little too."

For ordinary people, food, clothing, housing, and transportation were always what concerned them most.

"What about it?"

"I think it has something to do with martial arts. As long as it's meat, it has basically gone up in price. Chicken and duck are a little better, but pork, lamb, beef, and fish have all risen by around ten percent. So I'm increasingly convinced by Little Shu's judgment. Our country will definitely promote martial arts vigorously in the future. Martial arts right now are a pig standing in the wind—whoever can hold their ground will be the first to take flight."

Jiang Yongyi glanced at his son. Ever since his son said he wanted to switch to becoming a Martial Arts Student and practice martial arts, he, as a father, had been paying close attention to changes in the country's martial arts environment.

"But, Little Shu, don't put too much pressure on yourself. Your dad knows that practicing martial arts requires connections, and some kind of cultivation method. We have neither, so we'll just catch the tailwind. If you can get into a regular university through this, that would be best. But if you don't perform well and end up at a junior college, that's fine too."

"Your mother and I have saved up quite a bit of money over the years. Your life won't be hard in the future."

"Dad, I'll work hard."

He did not mention that his Horse Stance had already reached Minor Mastery. Jiang Shu served himself a large bowl of rib soup.

Plans succeeded through secrecy; surprises had to wait until the final moment to be revealed.

As the family chatted, lunch came to an end. Jiang Shu got up and voluntarily cleared the table. While he washed dishes in the kitchen wearing an apron, Jiang Yanyue saw their parents return to their room and crept closer. Her lowered voice carried a hint of ingratiation. "Brother."

"What is it?"

"Hehe, Mom and Dad already gave you five thousand yuan. So when do you think you can return those eight hundred yuan to your cutest, sweetest little sister?"

She had originally planned to put on a big show before her brother—deliver help in the snow, move him to tears and streaming snot.

She had not expected her brother's composure to be so strong. It was one thing that he was barely moved.

Then their parents hit her with a royal flush—five thousand yuan.