Bear Form Fist Mastery

After walking a little farther, Li Yuan saw a small crowd gathered in front of a gray prefab building.

"Please, sir, have mercy! There's only one man in my family. If he's taken away, how will the rest of us survive?"

Several government soldiers were dragging a young man away. A woman clung desperately to one soldier's leg, crying out.

A man who looked like a squad leader lashed the woman with his whip. "Now is the time for the people to contribute to the Great Yan Dynasty. Your family happens to have two able-bodied men, so one of them is being conscripted by force.

"The borderlands are short of manpower. If you don't go now, when will you? Let go!"

The woman released her grip in pain and watched helplessly as her son was dragged away. Then she slumped to the ground and wailed.

Watching the scene unfold in the distance, Li Yuan could only shake his head and sigh inwardly.

He turned away and continued down the street.

At last, he reached a less crowded area, where people had set up little stalls to sell assorted odds and ends.

There weren't as many people here, and it wasn't as noisy. After all, they weren't selling food.

Li Yuan walked down the middle, looking from side to side. The stalls were stocked with all kinds of miscellaneous goods, a little bit of everything.

Pots, bowls, ladles, farm tools, secondhand clothes, wooden goods, and even strange-shaped stones that someone had picked up somewhere.

A thought struck Li Yuan. He could buy some books to take home and read, improving his skills.

It was unlikely these stalls would have any martial arts manuals, but there was no harm in reading more. He might even find something useful.

He passed one stall after another, finally stopping in front of a seller dressed rather shabbily.

A worn-out cloth lay spread before the stallholder, piled high with books. Most of them had yellowed, and some were even moldy.

Li Yuan crouched and rummaged around, picking out a few of the cleaner ones.

He found several books: Gazetteer of Wuxi County, Travels of Nanshan, and Distinguishing Hundred Herbs. They were all ordinary local gazetteers and travel accounts.

"These books are sold by the catty. How about one catty of books for one catty of grain?" the stallholder asked, his eyes darting nervously.

Rice, grain, and meat had all gone up in price. Money that used to buy a catty of grain might not even buy half a catty now, so bartering was naturally a better deal.

The stallholder didn't want to sell the books, but if he didn't trade them for food soon, they might not be worth a single copper coin later.

Li Yuan kept looking and found several more books, including Great Yan Statutes, Comprehensive Examination of Agriculture, and Atlas of Mountains and Rivers.

The books were a little old, but they were still in relatively good condition, with no signs of being chewed by bugs or mice.

"Half a catty of dried meat for these."

Li Yuan stacked the seven or eight books he had chosen and spoke to the stallholder.

The stallholder's eyes lit up, but he still tried to bargain. "Sir, these books weigh at least a few catties. Half a catty of dried meat is too little. At least give me one catty."

Li Yuan shook his head and started to put a few books back. "Then I don't want them."

"Wait, wait!"

The stallholder hurriedly waved his hands. "Half a catty it is!"

If he rationed half a catty of dried meat, it could keep him going for quite a while.

Li Yuan took half a catty of dried meat from his belongings and traded it to the stallholder.

That was all the dried meat he had on him. He usually ate it as a snack.

The stallholder accepted the dried meat and sniffed it carefully, a satisfied look crossing his face.

"Thank you, sir!" the stallholder said gratefully.

Li Yuan took the books he had traded for back to his lodgings and put them away, then set out of the city without delay.

He headed toward the familiar depths of the mountains and forests.

His goal for today was clear: break through to mastery in Bear Form Fist.

About an hour later, Li Yuan stopped outside a valley.

Low growls rumbled from within.

A burly black bear, as big as a small mountain, stood upright, scratching the trunk of an old pine with its thick forepaws. Flakes of bark pattered down.

"Come on, little bear. One last fight today."

Li Yuan stepped forward and took his stance.

The black bear immediately spotted the two-legged creature that came to harass it every day. It lowered its forepaws, dropped to all fours, and charged at Li Yuan with a threatening growl rumbling in its throat.

Li Yuan didn't dodge. He took a deep breath, and his qi and blood surged through his body. Clenching his right fist, he met the charge with Black Bear Crashes into Mountain, a move from Bear Form Fist.

"Bang!"

Fist and claw collided with a dull thud.

Li Yuan felt tremendous force slam into him, but this time, he didn't retreat as he usually did.

His arm went numb, but the powerful rebound also left the black bear reeling.

The bear's body jolted to a stop, and it let out an even more furious roar.

He rushed forward again, unleashing the moves of Bear Form Fist as he battled the black bear.

He treated it like a living practice post, constantly honing his fist technique.

In the mountain forest, the human and bear blurred back and forth, their roars and the rush of fists filling the air.

The fight lasted nearly half an hour. Li Yuan's understanding of Bear Form Fist grew deeper and deeper, as though he were about to break through some unseen barrier.

Li Yuan felt the moment had come. He abruptly twisted aside to evade the black bear's snapping jaws, then brought his stance and waist together, channeling strength through his entire body and gathering it in his right arm.

"Roar!"

A low growl like the genuine roar of a bear burst from Li Yuan's throat. His aura rose sharply as he slammed his fist into the black bear's ribs.

This punch held all his understanding of Bear Form Fist, along with the qi and blood he had accumulated to the limit!

[Skill: Five Animals Bear Form Fist (Mastery)]

[Progress: 40/2000 points]

[Effect: Body like bedrock, bear's might like a mountain]

"Crack!" The sound of breaking bones rang out.

The black bear let out a piercing howl of pain. The punch sent its massive body flying sideways into a small tree, snapping it in half. It struggled a few times, then fell silent.

Li Yuan stood where he was and slowly lowered his fist. Feeling the strength coursing through his body, he let out a long breath of stale air.

Bear Form Fist, mastered!

He only needed one more fist technique. Once he had accumulated enough qi and blood, he could break through to Iron Skin.

The Inner City, the Huang Family.

After days of running around, and with creditors pressing at the door, Huang Wei's father had worked himself into such a state of panic that he fell ill and took to his bed.

With the family's mainstay down, their already difficult situation had become even worse.

Huang Wei looked at her father's pale face on the bed, then at the few loyal servants remaining in the house, and could only sigh inwardly.

The restaurant had been sealed, their businesses investigated, and the friends and business partners who had once fawned over them now wanted nothing to do with them.

Even most of the servants had left. It was truly a case of people disappearing as the tea cooled.

"We're still short thirteen hundred taels..."

Huang Wei carefully calculated the amount. They were still thirteen hundred taels short of what they owed.

She forced herself to keep going, wiped the tears from the corner of her eye, and went out again.

She couldn't give up. Until the debt was paid, she couldn't abandon even the smallest glimmer of hope.

Huang Wei went from door to door, begging the friends she had once been close with.

However, most of the people she approached gave her evasive answers, made excuses, or simply shut their doors in her face.

One or two families occasionally lent her a few dozen taels out of regard for their past friendship, but compared to the Huang Family's enormous shortfall, it was like a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood.

Borrowing money was always a sensitive matter.

Especially when someone had fallen on hard times.