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At 4 a.m., Lu Li woke up.

His mind had grown stronger. Even though he'd slept for less than five hours, he was full of energy, with boundless vitality coursing through him.

Lu Li took the pistol from under his pillow, tucked it into his waistband, and stepped outside.

Two faint pools of blood in the courtyard hinted at what had happened the day before.

At that moment, Lu Li suddenly felt that the two worlds were very much alike.

Of course, he meant Mexico and the Great Jin Dynasty.

The same unrest, the same disregard for human life.

"And... the same opium epidemic."

Lu Li took a deep breath, assumed the Dragon Unwinding Stance, and began swinging his arms in circles.

His movements were practiced, but his body remained stiff, which meant he hadn't stretched his sinews at all.

"For me, martial arts really are a lot of effort for little reward."

Lu Li frowned, but his hands never slowed. At the same time, he focused his thoughts and entered the Spirit Concentration State.

Everything around him slowed down, as if even the morning breeze had frozen.

Lu Li continued swinging his arms in the Dragon Unwinding Stance until he reached his limit. The Spirit Concentration State ended, and time returned to its normal pace.

"I can keep it up for two minutes now! In three days, my mental strength has doubled!"

Thanks to the Benign Internal Cycle, his Spirit Refinement training was going unbelievably smoothly!

He was on the verge of reaching the limit of the Spirit Refining Realm, with the qualifications to break through into Meditative Entry.

But Lu Li had never figured out what "conviction" meant.

"Conviction... is it a wish? I want to send my father home to rest in peace; I want to change my fate and make something of myself..."

Finding one's conviction was no easy thing. Plenty of people went to their graves without ever figuring out how to live.

After mulling it over for a while, Lu Li still had no clue.

His left knee throbbed faintly, so Lu Li stopped training, sat in the courtyard, and gazed up at the sky.

Just then, the east wing door opened, and Xiao Cha came out, looking bright and lovely.

"Well, look at you, so diligent, training first thing in the morning~"

"More or less."

Lu Li sat on the ground, lost in thought, a pistol tucked at his waist. Its bulge was hard to miss.

Xiao Cha's eyes lit up, and she pleaded sweetly, "Hey, let me see your gun~ I've never even touched one~"

The M1911 in Lu Li's hand had first been developed in 1896, then adopted by the military as its standard-issue weapon in 1911.

It was a weapon of this era. Lu Li took it out without hesitation and even asked, "Don't the constables carry guns?"

"Only the chief constable gets a Mauser. I don't qualify. Come on, let me try it~"

"This thing is dangerous. I'll teach you how to use it first. Hold it like this, and this is the safety..."

Lu Li gave her a hands-on lesson. Xiao Cha paid close attention and picked it up quickly. Then she pushed her luck and said,

"Let me fire a couple of shots to try it out~"

"Sure, but remember—the muzzle must never point at anything you don't want to shoot!"

Xiao Cha nodded again and again, then raised the gun, aimed at the ivy climbing the courtyard wall, and pulled the trigger. She emptied the seven-round magazine.

"Awesome! I've wanted to try this for ages!"

Her cheeks flushed with excitement. She was obviously fascinated by firearms—a woman who preferred weapons to finery.

Lu Li took the empty gun back, pulled out a fresh magazine, and clicked it into place. Then, out of nowhere, he asked,

"Xiao Cha, do you have a conviction?"

"Huh? Of course!" Xiao Cha lifted her chin and puffed out her chest proudly.

"My conviction is to become a great hero with the heart and ambition to protect the realm and root out injustice~"

Lu Li nodded. "That's a good conviction. I hope you succeed."

Xiao Cha asked in turn, "What about you? What's your conviction?"

Lu Li was silent for a long while before he said, "I'm still looking for it..."

"Looking?" Xiao Cha asked in confusion. "Where would you go to find your own conviction?"

At that, Lu Li froze. "Right. Your own ideals and aspirations, the path you'd follow even unto death—how could you say you were looking for them? You had to build them."

"But what exactly is my conviction?"

Lu Li kept thinking about the question, even while training and eating.

But some things couldn't be figured out just by thinking.

In the blink of an eye, two days passed, and Lu Li still had no clue.

The Tooth Brokerage hadn't come looking for revenge, either.

Perhaps they didn't care about the deaths of the Wang brothers, or perhaps Chief Constable Chen's influence had done the trick. Either way, things had been peaceful for days.

Everyone let their guard down a little. There was a more pressing problem now—the Calming Incense was almost gone.

That evening, the three of them gathered in the main room as usual, ready to burn incense.

Lu Li lit a stick and looked in the box. Only three remained.

Three hundred Ocean Dollars wouldn't even last ten days. Cultivation really was a test of one's finances.

As the incense began to work, Lu Li said, "I need to leave for a few days to take care of something."

Wan Qing guessed that he was going to find a way to get money, and said gently,

"Young Master Lu, burning one stick of Calming Incense every day is too extravagant. We could use it once every three days, or even once a week, and save quite a bit."

Lu Li replied warmly, "Don't worry. A little money means nothing to me. Just wait until I get back."

Xiao Cha asked curiously, "Where are you going?"

"Home," Lu Li answered casually. Just then, the Calming Incense filled the room and began to take effect.

No one spoke again. They focused on their cultivation.

In truth, even though Lu Li had made it sound easy, he had no idea how to get money.

And there was another problem—the Decapitation Gang had probably already found out that something had happened to Toby. He'd have to be ready in case they came after him.

Meanwhile, in Tijuana, inside a nightclub called "Light"...

Deafening music pounded as countless young men and women danced freely on the floor, letting their youth run wild.

But they had no idea that in the basement beneath their feet, several large dog cages stood, filled with young women chained inside.

The nightclub was a major asset of the Decapitation Gang.

Like every other gang, they made a significant portion of their income from the sex trade.

But not every girl would obediently do as she was told. That was why they needed specialists and a place to break in the "wild horses."

At that moment, Heidi—the middle-aged woman who had caused trouble at the hospital—was in the basement.

She held a lit cigar and, with a sharp hiss, pressed it into a girl's eye.

As the girl screamed in agony, Heidi's expression looked almost deranged.

Just then, someone called out, "Whoa, my dear sister, what are you doing~"

A handsome man dressed in what looked like a silver suit came downstairs. He surveyed the scene with a look of regret.

"You shouldn't have burned out her eye. Now... all we can do is sell her organs."

As soon as he finished speaking, several burly men dragged the screaming girl away.

Heidi was distracted and distraught. "Antonio, help me! Something must have happened to my son. I can feel it..."

Antonio gently patted Heidi on the back and said softly,

"Don't worry. He may just be off somewhere having a good time. He'll be back with you in a few days. Come upstairs and have a drink. Relax~"

Heidi gradually calmed down and left the basement.

Antonio took out a handkerchief and wiped his suit, then addressed the girls in the cages.

"As you can see, your trainer is a little unstable. You'd better make up your minds soon. And, by the way, to cut costs, we don't use anesthesia when removing organs~"

Before long, one girl broke down and screamed, "I'll do whatever you want! Just get me out of here!"

"Excellent. Take her to orientation~" Antonio said with a smile.

"Anyone else change their mind... especially you, little angel Jessica~"

Antonio crouched in front of an iron cage. Inside, a girl was curled up into a tiny ball. It was Jessica.

"Ah~ a delicate, fair-skinned virgin. I'm sure you could earn ten thousand dollars in a week!"