Li Youning's Letter

Red Cloud County, Li Family Bank.

At this moment, a crowd surged into the bank, clutching banknotes as they pressed against the tall counter and shouted:

"Withdraw money, we want to withdraw money."

"That's right, hurry up and give us back our money. Your bank is about to collapse, and you still won't let us withdraw? Are you trying to abscond with the funds?"

"Come out! Where are the Lis? Come out!"

The bank manager looked at these people, his face turning green. He hastily sent an apprentice to the back courtyard to report.

Back courtyard of the bank.

At this moment, nearly all the Li family members, young and old, were gathered here.

"What do we do? What can we do? Is the bank going to fail?" A dignified, elegant woman listened to the report, her beauty paling as she spoke in panic.

"Shut up! Don't talk nonsense!" Beside her, a burly, powerful man shot her a glare, stepped forward with his hand on his sword, and addressed a steady middle-aged man seated in the main seat:

"Father, let me take some men and drive them away."

The man in the main seat was Li Mingyuan, the Li family patriarch. Hearing his eldest son Li Yunfei's words, he frowned and said:

"Yunfei! Your martial arts talent is passable, but you act too rashly.

"If we drive everyone away today, the Li Family Bank will truly be erased from Red Cloud County."

Li Yunfei's face stiffened. "Then what should we do?"

"Does anyone know what to do?" Li Mingyuan looked at the gathered Li family disciples in the hall, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

His gaze passed over Li Yunfei and settled on his second son, Li Yunping. Li Yunping, with his fair-skinned face, guiltily lowered his head.

He then looked at his only daughter, Li Youning.

Li Youning frowned deeply and said:

"I think we should calm them down first, and quickly, or else if this escalates, the bank might collapse today.

"But Father, your daughter is dull-witted and doesn't know how to proceed."

Li Mingyuan nodded. "Your thinking is correct."

At the same time, he looked at the others and sighed inwardly.

The Li family had truly declined. After the old master passed away, the family's retainers had left one after another. Without the old master's connections and those fair-weather retainers, the Li family's mediocre descendants were immediately exposed.

Unable to handle even such a small matter, even if the Li family got through this crisis, they wouldn't last long.

Disheartened, he spoke: "I've been prepared for this. Just watch and don't panic."

Everyone was stunned. His second son, Li Yunping, brightened and said, "I knew Father would have a plan."

Sure enough, news soon came from outside. The manager, his face beaming with surprise, came to report:

"The Golden Tripod Bank from the prefectural city has come to our aid, sending several carts of silver and jewelry. Seeing this, those customers all backed off, and no one is clamoring to withdraw money anymore."

The eldest son, Li Yunfei, had been sullen, but upon hearing this, he looked at Li Mingyuan with admiration and said:

"So Father was prepared all along. The Golden Tripod Bank in the prefectural city does have ties with us. Since that's the case..."

"I lied to them." After dismissing the manager, Li Mingyuan cut off Li Yunfei's words.

Seeing the confused expressions on everyone's faces, he snorted coldly and said:

"The prefectural city is far from here. The men I sent are still on the road.

"The so-called silver sent by the Golden Tripod Bank was actually taken from our own bank vault.

"I just found a few unfamiliar faces and had them deliver it under the Golden Tripod Bank's banner. It's only a temporary measure."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the manager rushed back in panic, saying:

"Trouble, boss!

"Many martial artists say they no longer trust our bank to safeguard their money. They're building a challenge platform outside the bank right now, declaring that in three days, they'll challenge the bank's guards.

"Best of three matches!

"They say they'll challenge a Meat Refining Realm guard, a Peak Leather Refining guard, and a Leather Refining guard.

"If they win, it proves the bank can no longer protect their assets.

"Among those I saw coming were many promising martial arts seedlings from past years. The momentum is overwhelming.

"Boss, what do we do?"

The people in the hall were greatly alarmed.

Li Mingyuan took in everyone's expressions and sighed inwardly. This was the real challenge the Li family had to face.

He spoke: "The Li family alone absolutely cannot take on this fight.

"I've always told you to recruit promising martial artists. Now is your time to shine.

"Who can summon a martial artist of substance?"

The second son, Li Yunping, said: "Father, promising martial artists require a lot of silver to recruit. If Father would allow me to use the vault..."

"No!" Li Mingyuan's face changed color.

"The silver vault's money absolutely cannot be touched. Because we can't guarantee victory."

"If we lose, the customers who came to withdraw money will definitely trample the bank's threshold."

"By then, if we can't produce the money to repay them, it won't just be the bank closing down—it'll be our family ruined and dead!"

"The silver vault's money cannot be touched."

Upon hearing this, Li Yunping said gloomily:

"If we can't touch the silver vault's money, how much does our Li family have left?"

"Before, we had a sum of two hundred taels of silver. I said we should use it to win over a martial artist who'd achieved Skin Refining Perfection, but Third Sister took it to buy the Grass Gliding manual and gave it to who knows who."

"Now where is there any money left to win over martial artists?"

At these words, everyone's gaze turned to Li Youning.

Li Youning's face changed, and she said, "I was thinking of the family too. That Lu Ming truly has talent in lightness skills, but... but this day came too fast!"

Li Yunping snorted coldly, "I advised you several times back then, saying the family was in difficulty and we needed to be cautious, but you wouldn't listen. Now that we're at a life-or-death moment, where is the person you invested in?"

Feeling the family members around her casting reproachful looks, Li Youning felt deeply wronged. She bit her lip slightly and said:

"I'll write to him right now."

With that, she immediately fetched brush and ink, wrote a letter, and ordered someone to deliver it to the Military Service Bureau.

Li Mingyuan watched the servant leave with the letter and suddenly asked, "Ningning, has the person you invested in reached Skin Refining Perfection?"

Li Youning froze, and the brush in her hand fell to the floor.

Disciples of the Military Service Bureau had to pass the Stone Tablet Nine Palaces Stakes—that is, reach Skin Refining Perfection—before they could leave.

She had been so flustered just now that she'd forgotten this.

Seeing this, Li Yunping shook his head and said, "Third Sister, I'm not trying to criticize you..."

"Enough!" Li Mingyuan stopped him and glanced at Li Youning, a hint of disappointment in his heart.

But there was no use saying more now. At this critical moment of life and death, he didn't want to see family members blaming each other.

"Let's think carefully again. Is there any connection we can rely on..."

As Li Mingyuan's words trailed off, the hall fell into dead silence.

[Leg Dao Divine Ability evolving (90/100)...]

In Courtyard No. 74 of the Military Service Bureau's main compound.

Lu Ming finished his last round of Grass Gliding for the day and saw that his experience had reached 90, just 10 points short of evolving the Leg Dao Divine Ability. He looked forward to it with anticipation.

Dong dong dong!

Just then, a knock came at the door.

Lu Ming's heart stirred. It should be Wei Jinlin. He quickly walked to the door and opened it.

Outside stood a man in his thirties with an imposing air—it was indeed Wei Jinlin!

He welcomed Wei Jinlin inside, and Wei Jinlin casually closed the courtyard gate, leading him to the Stone Tablet Nine Palaces Stakes at the center of the front yard.

Just as Lu Ming thought Wei Jinlin was about to teach him the method for striking the stone tablets, Wei Jinlin suddenly pulled a letter from his bosom and handed it to him, saying:

"There's a letter for you."

Lu Ming took it curiously, seeing the signature: sent by Li Youning.

The corner of his mouth twitched as he glanced at Wei Jinlin's broad, sturdy back.

Wei Jinlin, Director of the Military Service Bureau, concurrently Martial Instructor, concurrently Utility Room Steward... concurrently mail courier.

Was he really that stingy?

Lu Ming grumbled inwardly, then tore open the letter and glanced at it. His gaze immediately sharpened.