The Golden Crow rose into the east, and the morning light was faintly visible.
The Xu Family Courtyard.
The two brothers, Xu Mingwei and Xu Mingyuan, were sparring with one another.
Xu Chuan, Li Er, Zhao Dalong, and the others stood around watching.
They saw Xu Mingyuan plant his feet on the Eight Trigrams Position, his arms looping around as though he were embracing a flood-dragon pillar.
This was the opening stance of the Dragon Coiling Fist—Dragon Sleeps in the Abyss.
"Big Brother, watch yourself."
"Just unleash your full strength."
Xu Mingwei was calm and composed, unhurried.
Cold came, heat goes.
Five springs and winters had already passed since Xu Mingyuan began practicing martial arts.
Xu Mingwei was also fifteen years old this year.
He had already grown to about Xu Chuan's height, and in a couple of years, he would definitely surpass him.
Xu Mingyuan was a head shorter, but these past few years of training through the three hottest days of summer and the three coldest days of winter had ground down his flighty temperament.
The divine light within his pupils was restrained, and he had become a martial artist.
He had not abandoned reading and writing either, though he simply didn't invest as much time in it as in martial arts.
As for commerce, he only ever went out with Chen Ergou once a year after the fruits and vegetables were harvested.
Nowadays, they transported all their fruits and vegetables to Qingjiang County to sell them, and gradually built up the fame of the Dongxi Village Xu Family fruits and vegetables.
The two families' farmland had increased quite a bit over the five-year period.
The Xu family purchased theirs directly, and currently owned one hundred and twenty mu of paddy fields, sixty mu of farmland, and eighty mu of mountain forests.
The eighty mu of mountain forest encompassed a pool of water called the Jade Cold Pond, which was freezing on top yet never iced over.
After going a hundred meters into the water and continuing downward, it gradually grew warm, which was quite peculiar.
Even a martial artist who jumped into this pond would be frozen to death if they stayed for the time it took to brew a cup of tea.
As for wanting to dive into the depths, it was unimaginably difficult.
It was precisely because of this peculiarity that Xu Chuan had figured out a way to take it over.
Xu Chuan had gone down into the Jade Cold Pond, but he had also come back up very quickly.
As his martial dao cultivation steadily advanced, with the blessing of his Destiny Talent, his vital blood grew increasingly surging.
Even though he was only a Second-rate Martial Artist, the vigor of his vital blood was more terrifying than that of many First-class Martial Artists.
Xu Mingwei was also a Second-rate Martial Artist, having opened up as many as two hundred and eighty-six acupoints—more than twenty more than Xu Chuan.
He was not far from the realm of a First-class Martial Artist.
Genins who could reach the level of a First-class Martial Artist before the age of sixteen could probably only be nurtured by lineages in the prefecture city with Grandmasters holding down the fort.
Xu Mingwei possessed the Destiny Talent [Innate Divine Strength], and he was still young, his physique not yet completely set, making it somewhat easier for him to open his acupoints.
Coupled with day-and-night diligence, he never slackened.
Furthermore, he had the nourishment of medicinal meals every day for five years.
Only thus did he have such progress.
Ever since he obtained the Innate Five Elements Creation Technique, Xu Chuan had decided that everyone practicing martial arts must consume medicinal meals every day for their cultivation.
Those with Destiny Talent blessings could manage without the assistance of medicinal meals.
However, ordinary people practicing the martial dao had to be aided by medicinal meals or corresponding vital blood-supplementing medicinal herbs; otherwise, it would cause a phenomenon of vital blood decay.
Whether it was medicinal meals or vital blood herbs, both required a considerable amount of silver to spend.
Fortunately, the Xu family's earning power was not weak now.
A few years ago, they acquired a windfall from Boss Xiong.
The Green Jade Pear could bring in a steady amount of silver every year, and the income from the rest of the melons, fruits, and vegetables was not bad either.
The Xu family was now the wealthiest household in the entire Dongxi Village, second only to the Xu Family.
Indeed, judging by the surplus after deducting all kinds of expenses every year, the Xu family was definitely number one in Dongxi Village.
However, apart from Xu Chuan, Bai Jing, and Zhou Ming, no one knew.
Even the Xu Mingwei brothers only knew roughly.
The Xu family was extremely low-key in Dongxi Village.
Every single direct descendant of the lineage treated others with humility and was never arrogant.
Even Zhou Ming, Zhao Dalong, Sun Fugui, and the others were the same.
Five years had passed.
They had all taken wives as well, and their child-rearing was quite diligent.
Every household had given birth to one or two children.
With wives and children, these people could finally be considered as having truly taken root in Dongxi Village with a sense of belonging.
In the future, they were no longer fighting solely for themselves, but also for their descendants.
Xu Mingyuan and Xu Mingwei sparred.
Their double palms formed claw shapes to cross and cleave, their waists exploding with a twist like a flood-dragon probing its claws and an angry dragon parting the water, the momentum extremely ferocious.
Li Er smiled and nodded from the side. "Second Young Master's execution of this Dragon Coiling Fist is already no less inferior to mine; I'm afraid it won't take him a year or a half to surpass me."
Zhao Dalong glanced sideways at the pleased-with-himself Li Er and sneered, "You have the nerve to compare yourself to the Second Young Master."
"How old are you, and how old is he?"
"By the time the Second Young Master reaches your age, he'll probably have already become a First-class Martial Artist."
The expression on Li Er's face became sheepish.
His Martial Arts Talent was ordinary to begin with, and he had no way to refute it.
However, he hailed from a prominent family after all, and his vision was not something Zhao Dalong and the others could compare to.
Xu Mingyuan was taught by him personally, and even with daily medicinal meal support, this cultivation speed was definitely not slow.
The medicinal meals he himself used to consume were far more precious than those provided by the Xu family, but when he reached Xu Mingyuan's level, he was already seventeen or eighteen years old.
However, it was also related to his own occasional slackness.
As for later on when he got married, he paid even less attention.
This was what led to him just barely becoming a Third-rate Martial Artist now.
Li Er felt that with his family lineage to back him up, at least he could live this life quite smoothly.
Who would have expected that the heavens are unpredictable.
Xu Mingyuan and Li Er were still figures he could see through, but Xu Mingwei was someone he couldn't see through at all.
A mere fifteen-year-old youth appeared unfathomable in his eyes, already possessing the bearing of a martial arts expert.
Might it be that the eldest young master quietly became a Second-class Martial Artist without a sound? A Second-class Martial Artist of this age is exceedingly rare among the families in the county city.
Thinking back to my Li family originally, those who became Second-class Martial Artists under the age of fifteen numbered at most one or two per generation.
Big Brother is so outstanding, and Second Young Master is not bad either; could this Xu family have a martial dao bloodline inheritance?!
Li Er pondered secretly.
He had once heard that some large families in the prefecture city carried bloodlines, which made it much easier for martial arts experts to emerge.
Faced with Xu Mingyuan's offensive, Xu Mingwei's expression remained unchanged as he crossed his arms to protect his chest, directly blocking his attack.
Immediately following that, he executed an outer-revolving collapse strike.
Under the burst of internal force, Xu Mingyuan went flying backward.
After a tumble, he knelt on one knee, sliding two or three meters before coming to a stop.
"Reverse Scale Surfing!"
Xu Mingyuan leaned forward to slide closely along the ground, his right fist spiraling upward from below in a sudden thrust.
This move specifically targeted the lower three roads.
Xu Mingwei smiled, flicked a corner of his long robe, and continuously raised his left and right legs as he retreated backward.
After a few steps, having seen through the opponent's move, he steadied himself on a single leg, as though his feet had grown roots, standing unshakeably still.
His right leg whipped out like an elephant trunk, directly colliding with Xu Mingyuan's right fist.
Xu Mingyuan turned several somersaults in a row, looking rather disheveled, while Xu Mingwei, receiving the counter-force, was as steady as Mount Tai and slowly put his leg down.
"Good!"
Zhao Dalong, Sun Fugui, and Qian Youcai all cheered loudly.
Looking at Xu Mingyuan's grimacing appearance, Xu Chuan smiled and said, "A Yuan, with your third-rate cat-and-dog kung fu, stop making a fool of yourself in front of Shitou."
"Zhao Dalong, exchange blows with Shitou. You don't need to hold back."
"Understood, Patriarch." Zhao Dalong stepped forward, cupped his fists toward Xu Chuan, then turned to look at Xu Mingwei, saying, "Big Brother, please offer your guidance."
Zhao Dalong had once served as an apprentice in a martial arts hall and frequently exchanged blows with people.
His combat experience was much more seasoned than Xu Mingyuan's, and he was no longer confined to the moves in the manuals, acting with flexibility instead.
Every single move attacked people's vital points, ruthless and decisive.
Even so, however, he completely failed to injure Xu Mingwei by even a fraction.
In public, Xu Mingwei only ever exerted the strength of a Third-rate Martial Artist, but his discernment and combat skills were richer than those of Zhao Dalong and the others.
In the past two years, every two or three days he would venture deep into the mountain forests to battle fierce beasts.
Every few days he would bring back the carcasses of fierce beasts.
Those wolf pelts, fox pelts, and the like alone added up to quite a lot of money.
Once, he even brought back an intact white fox.
The white fox was as swift as the wind, and even First-class Martial Artists would find it very difficult to catch one in the mountain forests.
A complete white fox pelt was worth several hundred taels of silver in Qingjiang County.
Xu Chuan let Xu Mingwei make his own decision, and without even thinking, he had it made into a fur coat and gave it to Bai Jing.
Bai Jing was extremely moved and couldn't even bring herself to wear it.
A moment later.
Zhao Dalong could no longer parry at all.
Xu Chuan spoke again, "Sun Fugui, Qian Youcai, the two of you join Zhao Dalong in a joint assault."
"Understood, Patriarch."
The two of them had been itching to join the fray as well, and now that the patriarch had given the word, they quickly dashed into the battlefield.
With three people attacking together, each of them being a martial artist who had opened twenty-some acupoints, Xu Mingwei finally began to feel pressure.
He slightly increased the might of his internal force.
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