Bones as Hard as Iron

The two of them headed for No. 33, Jin Dong Street.

This had been Liang Song's courtyard, but now it belonged to Lin Zheyu.

Master Liang liked peace and quiet. No one lived nearby, so the noise from martial arts practice wouldn't disturb anyone.

Once inside, Lin Zheyu took off his jacket.

"Junior Brother Lin, make your move."

Han Mo held a blunt saber and assumed the stance of the Six Harmonies Saber Technique.

"Sure!"

Lin Zheyu's muscles swelled, and with a snap, he shot toward Han Mo.

He moved so fast that, in the blink of an eye, he was right in front of Han Mo.

Whoosh~

The blade howled past the tip of Lin Zheyu's nose. Pivoting around his waist, Lin Zheyu spun his upper body in a full circle and dodged Han Mo's blunt saber.

He drove power through his waist and unleashed Bull Charge, sending both fists toward Han Mo's face and abdomen.

Han Mo stepped back, quickly putting distance between them.

His blunt saber swept across, forcing Lin Zheyu back.

They traded blows at incredible speed, exchanging more than a dozen moves in the span of a few breaths.

Thud—

After more than forty exchanges, Lin Zheyu dodged the blade, but Han Mo seized the opening and kicked him flying.

"Again!"

Lin Zheyu sprang up from the ground like a carp leaping from water and attacked again.

The two fought continuously for over two hours before finally collapsing to the ground, panting.

After working off all that energy, Lin Zheyu felt completely refreshed.

"With Master Liang gone, it feels like something's missing."

Lin Zheyu looked at the empty courtyard, feeling a little forlorn.

"Don't worry. Master's incredibly powerful. He'll be fine, and maybe he'll come back someday."

Han Mo said it to comfort Lin Zheyu—and himself.

"Do you know where Master's hometown is?" Lin Zheyu asked curiously.

"No idea."

"Master never talks about it. Even if you ask, he won't tell you."

"And every so often, he disappears for a while. No idea what he's off doing. He's a real mystery," Han Mo complained.

Master Liang was so mysterious that, if they ever wanted to look for him, they wouldn't even know where to start.

"Yeah, Master Liang's too mysterious."

"Think he could be a secret assassin for some faction? Maybe those times he disappears, he's off carrying out missions."

Lin Zheyu shared his guess.

"I wondered that myself, but in all these years, I've hardly heard of anyone being assassinated. Probably not."

The two of them chatted on and off.

"Bitter."

"I'll add some sugar next time to improve the taste."

Lin Zheyu muttered to himself in the courtyard.

The medicine in the Blood-Nourishing Bone-Strengthening Soup was bitter—especially when three doses were boiled together.

After Liang Song left, Han Mo was only at the Organ Refining stage and couldn't see anything unusual.

Lin Zheyu planned to raise his strength. In these chaotic times, every bit of security counted.

Two large bowls filled with medicinal soup sat on the table.

Each bowl held the soup made from three doses of the Blood-Nourishing Bone-Strengthening Soup.

After a moment's thought, Lin Zheyu downed both bowls.

As the medicine entered his stomach, an intense heat surged through his body.

He closed his eyes and sent out a thought: "Use three units of Source Power to improve the Golden Goose Technique."

In an instant, mysterious energy poured forth, drawing the medicinal power from the soup and sending it through his limbs and bones.

Lin Zheyu's mind entered that familiar, peculiar state. He began to cultivate the Golden Goose Technique frantically, while the bones in his body crackled without pause.

In that state, he neither slept nor rested, continuing without end.

Having used three units of Source Power at once, he felt as if he had spent years in that state. It had lasted so long that his mind was a little weary.

He had never felt this way before.

Beneath the moonlight,

Lin Zheyu's chest rose and fell. Along with the Golden Goose Technique's distinctive breathing method, his internal organs gradually grew stronger.

The resonance of his muscles and bones grew more and more frequent.

Gradually, the sound of his muscles and bones ringing together came from all over his body.

Bone Forging complete!

Lin Zheyu opened his eyes. They were heavy with fatigue, yet a glint of light shone within them.

"Just as I estimated. Almost all the medicinal soup I drank was used up. There's only a little left."

Lin Zheyu sensed the condition of his body and murmured to himself.

He stood and darted through the courtyard like a phantom, moving incredibly fast.

As he dodged and weaved, his bones gave off faint cracking sounds.

It was because Lin Zheyu had only just completed Bone Forging and hadn't yet had time to get used to it.

As he adjusted, the cracking sounds gradually faded and disappeared.

Thud!

Smack—

His figure blurred, and he appeared before the wooden post he used for practicing punches. His right leg lashed out like a whip, and the post exploded with a crack.

"Bones forged hard as iron—this is what it means to forge bones as hard as iron!"

Lin Zheyu patted his right leg. He couldn't feel a thing where it had struck the post.

His leg bones were astonishingly hard, as tough as metal.

Lin Zheyu lashed out with his leg, leaped, and threw punches, the force of his strikes whistling through the air.

[Heaven Rewards Diligence]

Name: Lin Zheyu

Source Power: 1

Skills:

Bull Fist (Proficient 5%)

Golden Goose Technique (Third Layer 23%)

Turtle Breathing Technique (Third Layer 0%)

"The Golden Goose Technique's third layer—the Organ Refining stage."

Lin Zheyu adjusted to his current strength, feeling more powerful than ever.

Compared to before, his strength and speed had increased by at least fifty percent.

More importantly, now that he had completed Bone Forging, his muscles and bones were incredibly tough, allowing him to withstand even greater bursts of force.

His hardened bones made his body stronger. Even if he was struck by a weapon, he was less likely to suffer a fracture.

"I've only got one unit of Source Power left, and there are only six doses of the Blood-Nourishing Bone-Strengthening Soup left in the house."

"Martial arts training really burns through money."

Lin Zheyu muttered, marveling at how expensive martial arts practice was.

In the blink of an eye, nine days passed.

As Lin Zheyu strolled through Songyi City, he saw far fewer people on the streets.

The shops were nowhere near as busy as before, either.

The end of the year was approaching, and today was also a festival for worshipping the gods.

The people no longer wore the smiles they once had. Everyone's face was clouded with sorrow.

Life was getting harder and harder.

After wandering over to the teahouse, Lin Zheyu saw that business there had grown even worse.

"Mr. Lin, the owner asked me to discuss the fee with you. He wants to lower the price for each storytelling session to three hundred copper coins."

Steward Wu came over, looking a little embarrassed.

"Sure."

Lin Zheyu nodded.

Jia Yanming had already come to discuss the price with him yesterday, and he had lowered it to three hundred copper coins as well.

Lin Zheyu's income kept shrinking. Now he earned less than one tael of silver a day.

Still, he was much better off than ordinary people.

Lin Zheyu accepted the money from Steward Wu. Starting tomorrow, he would receive three hundred copper coins per session.

"Brother Lin, over here!"

Not far away, Jia Yanyong waved to Lin Zheyu.

Lin Zheyu went over and sat across from Jia Yanyong. Xie Jiang was there too.

"Have you heard? The authorities are posting a notice to recruit soldiers," Xie Jiang said.

"A notice?"

"I just came back from the city gate. How come I didn't see anything?" Lin Zheyu asked, puzzled.

"It hasn't been posted yet."

"Lord Qiu told me. Someone in his family works for the authorities," Xie Jiang said. "The bandits outside the city are growing more numerous, and the City Guard doesn't have enough men to handle them."

"Are they going to conscript people from the Flying Rainbow Gang?" Lin Zheyu asked.

"No, they're recruiting ordinary residents."

"But something's happened at the Flying Rainbow Gang's iron mine on White Stone Mountain. I don't know if they'll send us there to help," Jia Yanyong said.

"What happened?"

"Was it haunted?" Lin Zheyu asked.

The last time they'd chatted, they'd talked about the haunting on Qinghe Mountain. So when he heard of trouble at a mine outside the city, his first thought was that it was haunted.

"No."

"A powerful band of bandits has shown up near White Stone Mountain. They're strong and completely brazen, and they've set their sights on the iron mine and the weapons forged there," Xie Jiang said.

"Oh..."

Lin Zheyu felt a little disappointed.

He'd thought he might get to see the ghosts of this world and experience what it was like to blow one up with a stick of dynamite.

"You're not interested in those spirits, are you?"

"Thinking that, like in your stories, a female ghost might fall in love with a scholar and they'd write a beautiful tale together?"

Xie Jiang laughed. "You'd better give up on that idea. Those spirits have no intelligence, and they look absolutely terrifying."

After chatting for a while, Jia Yanyong suggested they go have some fun at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.

Lin Zheyu didn't go with them to carouse at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.

He returned to his courtyard to practice martial arts.