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The two of them found a nearby tavern with good food at reasonable prices.

On the table sat a large basin of millet rice, two plates of beef, a bowl of pork knuckle glistening with rich sauce, and a dish of spiced fava beans.

There was also a special chicken backside, Chicken Brother's favorite thing to gnaw on.

Both boys were seventeen or eighteen, right at the age when they were growing fast.

That much food was nothing to them, especially Li Yuan, who had martial arts to rely on. He could polish it all off by himself.

Li Yuan was wolfing down his food, while Chicken Brother quietly gnawed on his chicken backside first.

"Ow, ow, that hurts!"

Chicken Brother stared at his hands, grimacing and yelping.

"What's wrong?" Li Yuan asked.

"Ah, don't get me started, Brother Yuan. I used to watch you practice martial arts and get so fierce, I thought I'd be able to do the same one day.

"Only after I started training myself did I realize how hard it is." Chicken Brother shook his head.

Li Yuan tipped half a plate of beef and some pork knuckle into his bowl, stirred it together with the rice, and said with a laugh, "You've only been training a few days, and you can't stick with it already?"

He had to admit, the food at this tavern was far tastier than anything he could make himself.

Though it might also have been because their ingredients were better than his.

Chicken Brother gnawed his chicken backside clean, then picked up his rice and said with bitter anguish, "It hurts. It hurts so much!

"Brother Yuan, you have no idea how we train in Iron Sand Palm.

"Not only do we have to practice stance work every day, we also have to plunge our hands into scalding sand.

"We keep scraping the skin until we can strike a wooden ox-hide post and leave a white mark on it.

"Only then have we reached minor mastery and stepped into the Ox Skin Realm."

Chicken Brother stuffed himself, speaking indistinctly as he talked between mouthfuls.

"Every day, a whole bunch of people pack their things and leave our courtyard. Some have even crippled both their hands."

"Even with people crippling their hands, there are still that many who sign up?" Li Yuan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The tuition's cheap! Apprentices only have to pay two taels of silver a month at most, and they can study for as long as they keep paying.

"Heh, even if you pay just one tael, you can study for half a month. Doesn't that tell you how many people there are?

"Applying medicinal wine after training can reduce the risk, but that costs extra."

They turned away no one. As long as you paid, you could learn.

Actually, Li Yuan had initially wanted to sign up for Iron Sand Palm too, but he had grown up as a hunter and often came into contact with animals.

Five Animals Fist happened to require you to imitate animals and envision their essence.

After weighing it over, he had ultimately chosen to sign up for Five Animals Fist.

"Then how are you managing to stick with it?" Li Yuan and Chicken Brother had played together since they were little. As far as Li Yuan could remember, Chicken Brother wasn't the sort who could endure hardship day after day.

Li Yuan finished off the last of his rice, poured two cups of rough tea, and the two of them took a few sips.

Then he brought the spiced fava beans over and chewed them slowly.

At that, Chicken Brother scratched his head and said, "Whenever I feel like I can't keep going, I think of how you looked that day, Brother Yuan.

"You took on ten people by yourself. You were so mighty!"

Li Yuan felt a little speechless. So that was why this kid had taken up martial arts...

"If I can break through to the Ox Skin or Stone Skin Realm in this life, that'll be enough for me. I'll work as a guard for some wealthy family.

"Then I'll buy a house in the county town, so I won't have to live in the village every day.

"After that, I'll marry a wife. Living a good, peaceful life matters more than anything."

Li Yuan could tell that Chicken Brother didn't have any other ambitions. He just wanted to live a simple, peaceful life.

But Li Yuan understood. There was war on the border, and the taxes were crushing.

For many people, simply having enough to eat was already a fine wish.

"By the way, what came of the matter you discussed last time with your father and my uncle? Did you find anything?"

The matter was, of course, the two of them looking for news of a beast's appearance.

Chicken Brother blew on his hot tea and patted his belly before continuing, "Oh, now that you mention it, I remember. My father came back yesterday and told me that, out west in the mountains, near the outer edge of the stretch divided up by the Wang Family and the Lin Family, he heard some escaped herb gatherers shouting that a Black Lump had appeared in there. It was vicious and had already eaten two people.

"One of them was lucky enough to get away and has been spreading the news everywhere."

Li Yuan furrowed his brow at that.

In name, the entire Five Hundred Mile Great Mountain belonged to the imperial court.

But the court was now fighting a war on the border and could barely look after itself.

The four great families in the county town had seized the opportunity to claim many productive mountain forests as private property.

Though they had never said so outright, they had quietly spread the word.

Neither farmers nor hunters were allowed to set foot in the forested lands they had claimed.

If anyone was shot dead and mistaken for a wild beast, it had nothing to do with them.

Even if the court found out, it would turn a blind eye.

After all, the various trades and businesses in Wuxi County were all sustained by the four great families.

The great families might fight among themselves, but when the court put pressure on them, they would cling together like a fist.

The place where the Black Lump had appeared this time lay right beside the boundary between the Zhou and Lin families' territory. The situation was a little delicate.

"Is the news reliable? Are you sure it was outside their claimed land, not inside?" Li Yuan asked to confirm.

With Li Yuan's current strength, hunting a bear and getting tangled up with the great families would be far more troublesome than dealing with a wild beast.

Chicken Brother nodded firmly. "My father made sure to ask. The herb gatherer who got away ran into it outside the boundary.

"The Black Lump came out from inside. No one dares go near there now.

"The great families probably know about it too, but they haven't done anything yet. Maybe they think it's no big deal that a bear wandered out."

Li Yuan nodded, already starting to plan in his mind.

There was definitely risk, but that was where the opportunity lay.

The great families couldn't be bothered to act, and ordinary hunters didn't dare go. That left the Black Lump as a beast nobody was watching.

It was the perfect time to strike.

An adult black bear's hide, gallbladder, and paws were all valuable.

The Bear Gallbladder was especially valuable. He could sell it to an apothecary in the county town and get a good sum of silver.

That would be enough to cover his martial arts expenses for a long time.

And Li Yuan remembered that the Lin Family's steward needed bear meat too.

He could keep half for himself and sell the other half.

After the two of them had eaten and drunk their fill, they called over a waiter to settle the bill.

The meal had cost a little over three hundred copper coins.

Chicken Brother clicked his tongue and said enviously, "Brother Yuan, you really know how to spend!

"You can just pull out a few hundred coins like it's nothing. Becoming a formal disciple of the Martial Arts Hall really makes a difference. You pay so much less in tuition, and you can even take on odd jobs to earn money."

Chicken Brother was downright envious.

Li Yuan smiled and didn't explain much.

Becoming a formal disciple did come with some benefits, but most of his money had come from hunting and delivering letters each week.

Though he ate a lot now, he kept his own expenses pretty tight. He could still afford to eat out every now and then.

Looking at Chicken Brother, he encouraged him, "Train hard. Once you've mastered Iron Sand Palm and reached the Ox Skin Realm, you'll have real skill in your hands and be able to find ways to earn money. Then saving up to marry a wife won't be difficult."

Chicken Brother's spirits immediately lifted. "Right! I've got to break through to the Ox Skin Realm soon.

"Once I've made some money, I'll buy a little house first, then marry a wife in grand style."

He waved his still-swollen fists and shouted, his eyes brimming with longing.

The two of them left the city together and headed back to their village.