Bear Form Fist Mastery

After walking a bit further, Li Yuan saw a small crowd gathered in front of a gray, flat-roofed house.

"Kind sir, have mercy! He is the only man in my family; if he is taken, how are we supposed to survive?"

Several government soldiers were dragging a young man out, while a woman clung desperately to a soldier's leg, weeping and wailing.

A man who appeared to be a squad leader lashed out with his whip, striking the woman with a sharp "crack" as he barked, "This is the time for the people to contribute to the Great Yan Dynasty. Your household has two men, so we are only forcibly conscripting one."

"The frontier is short on men; if not now, when? Let go!"

The woman let go in pain, watching helplessly as her son was dragged away, collapsing onto the ground in a fit of hysterical sobbing.

Li Yuan watched this scene from a short distance away, shaking his head and sighing to himself.

He turned and left, continuing to walk along the street.

Eventually, he reached a quieter area where a few people had set up small stalls to sell miscellaneous goods.

There were fewer people here and it was much less noisy, as they weren't selling food.

Li Yuan walked down the middle, looking left and right; the items on these stalls were a motley collection of everything imaginable.

Pots, pans, farm tools, second-hand clothes, wooden items, and even some strange-shaped rocks picked up from who knows where.

A thought occurred to Li Yuan: he could buy some books to take back and improve his skills.

Although it was unlikely he would find any secret martial arts manuals on these stalls, reading more books never hurt, and he might find some useful knowledge.

He walked past stall after stall, finally stopping in front of a vendor who looked rather impoverished.

The vendor had a tattered cloth spread out before him, piled high with a stack of books, most of which were yellowed, with some even showing signs of mold.

Li Yuan squatted down and rummaged through them, looking for the cleaner ones.

He found a few: Wuxi County Annals, Travels of Nanshan, and Distinguishing Hundred Herbs—all ordinary local records and travelogues.

"These books are sold by weight. How about a catty of grain flour for a catty of books?" the vendor asked, his eyes darting around.

With the prices of rice, grain, and meat all rising, the money that used to buy a catty of flour might not even buy half a catty now, so bartering was naturally more valuable.

The vendor didn't really want to sell these books, but if he didn't trade them for food now, they might soon be worth nothing at all.

Li Yuan continued to browse, picking out Great Yan Statutes, Comprehensive Examination of Agriculture, and Atlas of Mountains and Rivers.

Although these books were a bit old, they were relatively well-preserved, with no signs of being gnawed by insects or mice.

"Half a catty of dried meat for these."

Li Yuan piled the seven or eight books he had chosen together and spoke to the vendor.

The vendor's eyes lit up, but he still tried to haggle: "Kind sir, these books weigh at least a few catties. Half a catty of dried meat is too little; at least one catty?"

Li Yuan shook his head and made a move to put the books back: "Then forget it."

"No, no, no!"

The vendor waved his hands hurriedly, "Half a catty it is!"

If he was careful, half a catty of dried meat could last him quite a while.

Li Yuan took the half catty of dried meat from his person and exchanged it with the vendor.

It just so happened that this was exactly the half catty of dried meat he had on him, which he usually ate as a snack.

The vendor took the meat, sniffed it cautiously, and a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.

"Many thanks, sir!" the vendor said gratefully.

Li Yuan took the books he had traded for back to his dwelling, put them away, and without further delay, headed straight out of the city.

He walked toward the depths of the mountain forest he was familiar with.

His goal for the day was clear: to break through his Bear Form Fist to the Great Success realm.

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

Low, rumbling roars echoed from within.

A black bear, as sturdy as a small hill, stood on its hind legs, using its thick front paws to claw at the trunk of an old pine tree, sending bark raining down.

"Come on, little bear, this is our final battle today."

Li Yuan stepped out and assumed his stance.

The black bear immediately spotted the two-legged creature that harassed it every day. It dropped its front paws to the ground, let out a threatening growl, and charged at Li Yuan with its massive body.

Li Yuan did not dodge or retreat; he took a deep breath, his internal blood and qi surging, and clenched his right fist, meeting the charge with the "Black Bear Crashes into Mountain" technique from the Bear Form Fist.

"Boom!"

Fist and claw collided with a dull thud.

Li Yuan felt a massive force hit him, but this time, he did not retreat as he usually did.

His arm went numb, but the immense recoil made the black bear uncomfortable as well.

The black bear paused, letting out an even more furious roar.

He surged forward once again, unfolding the techniques of the Five Animals Bear Form Fist to engage the black bear in combat.

Treating the black bear as a living training dummy, he continuously honed his fist techniques.

Amidst the mountain forest, human and ursine shadows danced, accompanied by the whistling of roars and fist winds.

The struggle lasted for nearly half an hour, and Li Yuan's insights into the Five Animals Bear Form Fist grew deeper, as if he were about to break through some kind of barrier.

Sensing the moment had arrived, Li Yuan abruptly sidestepped to avoid the black bear's pounce and bite, then unified his waist and stance, channeling his entire body's strength through every joint and gathering it into his right arm.

"ROAR!!"

A low growl, sounding like a genuine bear's roar, erupted from Li Yuan's throat; his momentum soared instantly as he smashed fiercely into the black bear's flank.

This punch contained every ounce of his understanding of the Five Animals Bear Form Fist, along with the peak of his accumulated blood energy!

[Skill: Five Animals Bear Form Fist (Great Success)]

[Progress: 40/2000 points]

[Effect: Body like a boulder, bear's momentum like a mountain]

"CRACK!" The sound of bone fracturing rang out.

The black bear let out a shrill, miserable howl as its massive body was sent flying by the punch, snapping a small tree before it struggled a few times and fell silent.

Li Yuan stood where he was, slowly retracting his fist, and as he felt the surging power within his body, he let out a long, stale breath.

Five Animals Bear Form Fist, Great Success!

One more fist technique to go, and once his blood energy accumulated sufficiently, he would be able to attempt the breakthrough to Iron Skin.

Inner City, Huang Family.

Due to days of rushing about and the pressure from creditors at their door, Huang Wei's father had been overcome by anxiety and fallen bedridden with a sudden illness.

The collapse of the family's pillar made their already difficult situation even worse.

Huang Wei looked at her father's pale face on the bed, then at the few loyal servants remaining in the household, and sighed inwardly.

With the restaurant sealed and their assets seized, the relatives and business partners who used to fawn over them now avoided them like the plague.

Even most of the servants had left; it was truly a case of people scattering as soon as the tea went cold.

"Still short one thousand three hundred taels..."

Huang Wei calculated carefully; she was still one thousand three hundred taels short of the money that needed to be repaid.

She forced herself to stay strong, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and headed out once more.

She could not give up; as long as there was a glimmer of hope, she could not abandon the effort to pay back what was owed.

Huang Wei went from house to house, pleading with friends she had once been close to.

However, most of what Huang Wei received were perfunctory excuses, evasions, or doors slammed in her face.

Occasionally, one or two families, out of consideration for past ties, would symbolically lend her a few dozen taels of silver, which was merely a drop in the bucket compared to the Huang Family's massive deficit.

Borrowing money, at any time, was a sensitive topic.

Especially when one was down on their luck.