Steady

With a medicine bundle on his back and a bucket of ice in his hand, Shi Feizhe headed back to the courtyard.

As he passed the bustling Eighth Grade Street, he saw a monk with a tobacco pipe dangling from his lips pitching a Buddha statue to a well-dressed old man.

"I can tell, benefactor, that you are blessed with deep fortune and share a bond with Buddha. This golden Buddha statue was consecrated by a venerable monk of Golden Buddha Temple. Would you like to take it home?" The monk pulled a half-foot-tall bronze statue from his robe and showed it to the old man.

"Isn't this made of bronze? How is it a golden Buddha statue?" The old man knew his stuff. One look at the gleaming statue told him it was brass.

"Ah, benefactor! That's not quite right!" said the monk. "This is the golden Buddha we worship in our temple. As the saying goes, 'Sincerity can split stone and turn it to gold.' The 'gold' represents a sincere heart!"

"As for the 'Buddha,' we worship Sakyamuni and Mahavairocana. Reciting their names can lift you from hardship and save you from danger. How much more so if you take a statue home and enshrine it there? It will surely protect your household and bring you many sons and grandsons!"

"And this statue was consecrated by a venerable monk of our temple, too! Take it home, and it'll work even greater wonders!"

The old man had been getting impatient listening to the monk's bluster, but the words "protect your household and bring you many sons and grandsons" caught his interest. "How much are you selling this statue for?"

"Benefactor, that's not quite right! How can Buddha be bought and sold? You should say 'take it home.' For just ten taels of gold, you can take this golden Buddha home!" said the monk.

"Ten taels of gold? That's far too expensive!" The old man immediately shook his head. "Ten taels of gold would be enough for me to marry several lovely young wives. That'd give me a better chance of having lots of sons and grandsons!"

"..."

The monk's face darkened. What was with the people of Qiu Yang City? They had such wild ideas!

"Benefactor! Please watch your words! If you see a golden Buddha and refuse to take it home, you're showing disrespect to Buddha. Take care, or you'll fall into hell after death and suffer in the Hell of Tongue Removal!" Seeing that persuasion wasn't working, the monk resorted to threats.

"You monk, you dare try to scare me? You should know that I, Old Man Chen, wasn't raised to be frightened!" The old man's expression changed, and he snapped angrily.

He was old and held death in deep taboo. How could he not be furious at the monk's threats?

Just then, a tall Confucian scholar approached from the distance. The old man spotted him and immediately called out, "Cunren! Hurry over! This monk is being outrageous, trying to force me to buy his statue!"

"You've got some nerve, Blessing Monk, pestering my uncle! You should know that no matter what happens in the martial world, you don't drag someone's family into it!" Bu Cunren leaped over to the old man and stood between him and the monk, shielding him from the harassment.

Blessing Monk looked at Bu Cunren. He hadn't expected to run into his old nemesis on his turn to spread blessings today. He hadn't even spread a few before crossing paths with Bu Cunren.

As expected, fate was truly marvelous.

He hadn't wanted to clash with Bu Cunren; he was afraid it would delay his blessing quota for the day. With the expenses they had in Qiu Yang City, fulfilling the daily blessing quota was no easy task.

But so many people on the street were watching. If he backed down, wouldn't he tarnish Golden Buddha Temple's reputation?

"This venerable benefactor shares a bond with Buddha. I ask you, you brute, not to interfere!"

"What bond? You mean he's got money?" Bu Cunren said with a cold laugh.

"Money lets us spread Buddhist teachings more effectively. How can people believe in Buddha without money? That's why all the kind men and women who donate money are sure to receive Buddha's protection. So the rich are all people who share a bond with Buddha!" Blessing Monk recited a Buddhist prayer and laid out Golden Buddha Temple's principles.

"Nothing but a load of nonsense. You're asking for a beating!"

"This humble monk fears no Confucian brute like you!"

Shi Feizhe hadn't expected to run into the two men he'd seen at Three Talents Manor the other day again in Qiu Yang City. It looked like they were evenly matched; neither had won yet, and they were still fighting.

He didn't stick around to watch the rest. If he stayed any longer, the ice would melt!

Back at the courtyard, he poured the ice into a wooden basin and added clean water. As long as the ice in the basin hadn't all melted, the water would stay at least at zero degrees. He put the medicinal ingredients he'd bought to soak in another wooden basin.

After that, he began practicing Punish Evil Leg.

Punish Evil Leg was different from Reward Good Fist. It was brutally forceful, even damaging the muscles and sinews of the body. By letting those muscles and sinews grow back stronger, it trained one's Blood Qi. After one set, Shi Feizhe's skin had reddened and his head was drenched with sweat. He stripped off his clothes and stepped into the wooden basin, slowly immersing himself in the ice water.

It was only the beginning of May, and the weather wasn't too hot yet. Shi Feizhe's whole body ached and swelled as he gritted his teeth, feeling the ice bite against his skin.

It was cold, freezing, and painful!

Pain was normal.

Getting stronger wasn't something you could achieve just by shouting about it. You had to put in effort, endure pain, and persevere before you could reap the rewards!

After soaking for a quarter of an hour, Shi Feizhe got up. He took the soaked medicinal ingredients to the pot and began preparing a medicinal bath.

Once the medicinal bath was ready, he let it cool slightly. Then he practiced Punish Evil Leg again and, aching all over, soaked himself in hot water close to sixty or seventy degrees.

After soaking for about another quarter of an hour, he felt like he was nearly cooked. Only then did he climb out of the medicinal tub. Following the method in the Nether Springs Divine Shadow Record, he rubbed his whole body, working the medicinal properties on his skin into it.

If Hua Xiaomei hadn't explained it so thoroughly, Shi Feizhe would have thought this step was just rubbing off dirt!

Every day, he soaked once in cold water and once in hot. Money flowed away like water, but in just seven or eight days, Shi Feizhe could clearly feel that his physical condition had reached a new level.

All that exercise and a good diet gradually turned his once-skinny frame solid. He'd even grown a little taller, and his whole body looked much stronger.

He could even feel himself getting stronger every day!

As his body grew stronger bit by bit, something called "confidence" took root in Shi Feizhe's heart.

Only strength built up little by little gave a person a sense of solidity and reliability.

The feedback from his body filled him with vital essence. Meanwhile, his visualization of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven and the divine sword grew clearer and stronger by the day, bolstering his "spirit."

Blood Qi and spirit grew together!

His True Origin True Qi was also gradually growing within him, stronger each day than it had been the day before!

It felt amazing!

Apart from his daily martial practice, Shi Feizhe was occasionally dragged by Fan Jianqiang to watch the commotion and scavenge for junk.

Fan Jianqiang was such a character—he loved watching the commotion far too much.

So whenever something happened in the city or at Sun Moon Radiance Sect, he would rush over to watch right away.

Shi Feizhe didn't like watching the commotion, but one thing Fan Jianqiang said convinced him.

"Watching them fight more often will broaden your knowledge of the martial world. If you travel the martial world someday, you can't go around without knowing even the basics, can you?"

As for scavenging, that was even simpler.

"Once Sun Moon Radiance Sect finishes tearing itself apart, won't the two of us reserve disciples naturally inherit it?"

"Then I'll be sect leader, and you can be an elder. Wouldn't that be grand?" Fan Jianqiang said with a grin.

Shi Feizhe: Huh? You can do that?