The Black Tiger Gang, Stifling the Crisis

"Good!"

Lu Yuan nodded with a smile, then, without further hesitation, stepped directly up to the 170-jin stone lock.

"No way... is he going to lift the 170-jin stone lock too?"

"If I remember correctly, he's only been at Song Academy for three days, right? Can he already lift 170 jin?"

"Hard to say. Maybe his aptitude is about the same as ours, but who knows? Maybe he's naturally gifted with great strength?"

The crowd watched Lu Yuan with strange expressions, waiting for his next move.

"Setting everything else aside, just looking at his face, he easily outclasses us!"

"If you put it that way, there's no refuting it. I'll give him the win!"

A few other youths with dark skin and rather unique features couldn't help but say with envy.

Lu Yuan, naturally, paid no mind to the crowd's chatter. He bent down, gripped the stone lock with both hands, and exerted a sudden burst of force.

Under the incredulous gazes of the onlookers, although he appeared to struggle more than Chen Pi, he still managed to hoist the 170-jin stone lock above his head.

He even held it for a full three seconds before slamming the stone lock back onto the ground.

"A-Yuan, you're also at 170 jin—third place!"

Before Hong Lei could speak, Fang Chang stepped in first and quickly recorded the result.

Lu Yuan nodded with a smile. He had naturally noticed the change in how Fang Chang addressed him, but he didn't think there was any issue with it.

He was currently just an Outer Courtyard martial apprentice, while Fang Chang was already an Inner Courtyard direct disciple. It clearly wouldn't be appropriate for him to keep calling him "Brother Yuan" in front of so many people.

"He actually did it!"

"I've been training for over half a month and can only lift the 160-jin stone lock. He's only been training for three days and can already lift 170 jin. Is he actually a genius?"

"Master Song's bone-touching assessment can't be wrong. Maybe he's just naturally stronger?"

The gazes the crowd directed at Lu Yuan now were filled with hints of astonishment.

"A-Yuan, congratulations!"

Chen Pi said to Lu Yuan with a smile.

"Same to you!"

Lu Yuan replied with a smile.

Although neither of them had taken first place, ranking second and third was already enough.

"Damn it... my third place was actually snatched by this kid!"

On the other side, Chen Yong's expression turned ugly as he clenched his fists.

He had thought that once he secured third place, he would be able to eat a portion of meat every day. He never expected a dark horse like this to emerge and steal his spot.

"Wu Yu, Chen Pi, Lu Yuan, starting tomorrow, all three of you will receive a free portion of meat daily. We will test you again in ten days; I hope you can maintain your standing!"

Hong Lei cast a meaningful glance at Fang Chang before turning back to look at Wu Yu, Chen Pi, and Lu Yuan with a smile.

As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd, who had been feeling dejected, suddenly had their eyes light up.

Although the training progress of Wu Yu, Chen Pi, and Lu Yuan would inevitably be faster than theirs with the daily meat supplement, it was only for ten days—they might still have a chance.

If all else failed, they could grit their teeth, buy some meat privately, and train even harder, pouring out more sweat to make up the difference.

Even if they couldn't beat Wu Yu in first place or Chen Pi in second, they still had every hope of surpassing Lu Yuan in third.

"Lu Yuan, next time, I will definitely take back this third-place spot!"

Chen Yong, in particular, immediately marked Lu Yuan as the target he had to surpass in ten days.

Hong Lei didn't say anything more and turned to walk into the Inner Courtyard.

The others dispersed as well, continuing their respective training.

"A-Yuan, I didn't expect that even though your aptitude isn't as good as mine, your training progress doesn't seem much slower. I'm afraid it will take you at most two or three months to reach the introductory level of the Five Animals Fist, right?"

Fang Chang walked directly up to Lu Yuan and said with a smile.

"Just about!"

Lu Yuan smiled, noncommittal.

In two or three months, let alone reaching the introductory level of the Five Animals Fist, he reckoned that reaching the minor, major, or even perfect completion stage would be no problem at all.

"Good. In the future, I'll strive to suppress that guy Hong Lei in the Inner Courtyard as soon as possible. You just hold down these blind idiots in the Outer Courtyard for me. In half a year, this entire Song Academy will belong to us brothers!"

Fang Chang patted Lu Yuan on the shoulder and lowered his voice.

Lu Yuan nodded with a smile, saying nothing more.

In every respect, he would support Fang Chang in becoming the successor of Song Academy.

After a few more brief words, Fang Chang turned and entered the Inner Courtyard.

Without wasting any time, Lu Yuan continued his practice of the Five Animals Fist.

[Five Animals Fist Entry Level (50/200)]

As expected, once this training session concluded, the proficiency reached 50 directly.

Even if the progress remained at this rate, Lu Yuan would only need to train three more times at most to reach the Minor Accomplishment realm.

After greeting Chen Pi, Lu Yuan walked straight out of Song Academy.

Night fell, dark and windy.

After Lu Yuan finished eating vegetable pancakes and coarse grain porridge with Little Nannan, he tucked away the items he had prepared yesterday and headed out.

"Be careful with everything!"

"Brother, Nannan will wait for you to come back!"

Hearing the voices from behind, the look of determination in Lu Yuan's eyes grew even stronger; the crisis had to be nipped in the bud as soon as possible.

Before long, he arrived outside a house in Spring Water Alley.

"Two masters, are we doing it together again tonight?"

"That goes without saying, hurry up and get up here, your Master Diao is feeling quite fiery tonight!"

"Hehe... Brother Diao, I want to try from behind tonight!"

Outside the house, the cold wind was biting, but inside, it was filled with spring-like warmth.

"Hiss~"

"Hoo..."

After a burst of heavy panting, the room soon returned to silence.

"Brother Diao, should we deal with that woman, Madam Yang, tonight, or wait a few more days until the market improves?"

The shorter, stouter middle-aged man waved his hand to dismiss the naked woman, then turned to ask the tall, thin man beside him.

"In these times, the market gets worse by the day. There's no time to lose, let's do it tonight. As for that little girl, if we raise her for a while, perhaps some wealthy old master might take a fancy to her."

The tall, thin man pondered for a moment before saying, "As for that remaining sickly ghost, don't let him go to waste either; send him to Mother Sun's bun shop."

Once the two had finished their discussion, they stood up, put on their clothes, and walked straight toward the door.

But just as they opened the door, a large cloud of white powder was thrown into their faces.

"Screw your mother, how dare you try a sneak attack on your Master Diao!"

The tall, thin man cursed loudly while clutching his eyes tightly.

"Good man, don't strike, we're from the Black Tiger Gang!"

The short, stout man hurriedly rolled on the ground and shouted.

However, they received no response, only a rain of punches falling upon them in rapid succession.

Bang! Bang! Bang...

"Wait... wait, I surr..."

"Good man, Brother Diao has three taels of silver on him, take it all..."

Bang! Bang! Bang!