Mastering Fate

"Teacher, you are too incredible! You snapped a wooden post as thick as a water bucket with just one punch."

Chen Han stood with his hands behind his back. "Practice well. That was merely my limit; in the near future, you will be even stronger than I am."

Chen Han fed Li Mubai this tall tale without a change in his expression or heartbeat.

"Understood, Teacher."

Chen Han observed Li Mubai, noting that his muscles were beginning to take shape, his skin was tanned, his eyes were bright and piercing, and he seemed to possess an inexhaustible supply of energy.

Over these past four months, Li Mubai had trained diligently, spending every day either in a horse stance or practicing standing meditation, laying a solid foundation for his martial arts.

"Hmm, not bad. Your qi and blood are abundant, and your spirit is full. Today, I shall officially begin teaching you the secret technique of the Chen Family—the Mountain Breaking Fist."

The long-awaited words finally left Chen Han's lips, and Li Mubai was instantly filled with fighting spirit, his eyes erupting with a sharp glint.

"Good!"

He had had enough of these months of standing meditation and horse stances!

"Mountain Breaking Fist, as the name implies, breaks mountains with a single punch!"

Chen Han gripped the ground with his feet, his gaze fierce, and delivered a steady, unadorned punch into the wooden post.

"Your stance must be stable! Your fist must be even more so!"

As he spoke, he threw several punches in succession, each one steady and firm. Suddenly, he took a half-step forward and exerted force abruptly; the power of this punch doubled!

Yet, Chen Han's form remained steady. After such a fierce strike, he could still advance or retreat with ease, capable of both offense and defense.

"Combat is about constantly searching for the opponent's flaws while doing your utmost to minimize your own."

Chen Han's offensive shifted between strong and weak, his form constantly changing—heavy punches, light punches, blocks, and dodges. In the blink of an eye, his combat techniques left Li Mubai dazzled.

Li Mubai watched with his heart pounding; he felt as though Chen Han were a mountain, his form so stable that he appeared like a pine tree that would never fall.

He finally understood why Chen Han had made him practice the horse stance on the very first day.

This was the foundation of the Mountain Breaking Fist.

As the set of techniques concluded, Chen Han panted slightly.

"My body has yet to fully recover; my stamina and qi and blood are still far from sufficient. This Mountain Breaking Fist is heavy and powerful with every move; it is truly not something I can practice at my current level."

"Watch closely and learn. I will perform it once slowly."

Following this, Chen Han guided Li Mubai through each movement one by one. By the time the sun set behind the mountains, Li Mubai had finally learned the entire set of techniques. His movements, though initially clumsy, were now beginning to resemble the real thing.

Chen Han couldn't help but sigh; Li Mubai's comprehension was nearly on par with Chen Lei's.

Returning home, Chen Han went to the small courtyard shared by the three households and began his practice of the Taiji Health Cultivation Technique as usual.

"Oh, it's Chen Han. I was wondering who it was."

Aunt Wang next door said with a mocking tone.

"If you ask me, you should stop fiddling with this strange martial art all day. It looks like a girl dancing. Why not let my Hu-zi teach you a few moves? It's not expensive—just five taels of silver."

Aunt Wang's son, Lu Xiaohu, was a martial apprentice at the local Formless Martial Hall, a Mingjin Martial Artist, though not particularly outstanding.

This family loved to show off their son to the neighbors, always lifting their heads with arrogant pride whenever they heard praise or flattery.

"Aunt, you jest. I'm just practicing casually for my health. Xiaohu is strong and sturdy; even I am intimidated just looking at his legs."

The Formless Martial Hall didn't practice fists; they practiced legs!

The Formless Leg Technique of that hall often caught opponents off guard and was considered quite famous in Black Lion City.

But in Chen Han's eyes, it was nothing of note.

"Hehe, that's true."

Aunt Wang agreed, baring her yellow teeth without a hint of shame.

"Stop drinking! We don't have much silver left at home~"

At that moment, crying sounds came from across the way—it was the young couple.

"Get lost! Who knows if Black Lion City will be trampled flat by those damn Red Spiders one day? So what if I drink? Better to drink myself to death or starve than to be swallowed whole by those Red Spiders."

Over this period, Chen Han had gained a rough understanding of this young couple.

The woman was gentle and virtuous, while the man was violent and temperamental, often beating his wife. Upon learning of the Red Spider incident and realizing he had no power to flee, he had simply given up on himself, spending his days drowning his sorrows in alcohol.

"Sigh, pathetic, truly pathetic."

Aunt Wang glanced at the alcohol-reeking room, seemingly reminded of something unpleasant, and sighed before returning inside.

Chen Han didn't pay much mind to it. There were people in this world far more wicked than this fat man; such matters didn't stir even a ripple in his heart. It wasn't that he was heartless, but rather that he was long accustomed to such things.

Ignoring them, he took a dried meat strip from his pocket and ate it. This was jerky he had made from the meat of an exotic beast.

Whenever his qi and blood were depleted after practicing the Taiji Health Cultivation Technique, he would eat one of these to replenish himself.

As Chen Han delved deeper into his practice, his mind became as clear as a mirror. Everything in the world seemed to vanish from his sight, and he fell into a state of selflessness.

It wasn't until a knock on the door startled him that he looked up to see a tall, burly man with a fierce gaze.

It was the Black Mountain Gang again.

The influence of the Black Mountain Gang was omnipresent within Black Lion City; aside from a few powerful elites and the ultra-wealthy, almost every household was required to pay a certain amount of protection money.

As long as they remained within Black Lion City, this protection money was an unavoidable obligation.

The families in the inner city were naturally no exception.

Chen Han instantly donned a beaming smile, bowing his waist as he stepped forward to open the door.

"The usual rules: half a tael of silver for protection money. If you don't pay... you won't be 'protected'."

The burly man said with a pointed implication.

"Hehe, you jest, sir. We can cut corners on anything, but protection is the one thing we absolutely cannot skimp on."

At this moment, people from the other two households emerged upon hearing the commotion, forcing smiles as they handed over their silver with humble, fawning expressions, looking as if they would have knelt on the spot if they could.

Aunt Wang, who usually looked down her nose at everyone, had also changed her tune; she was a completely different person from her usual arrogant and domineering self, offering solicitous greetings and smiling so broadly her face was practically blooming.

On the other side stood a frail woman, unremarkable in appearance, her eyes rimmed with red, clearly having just been crying.

The burly man did not leave after collecting the money; instead, he asked Chen Han, "What were you refining just now? You were so focused."

"Nothing much, just some cheap goods I bought at a stall to nourish my body."

"Heh, that's what I thought. With a physique like yours, I almost mistook you for a peasant trying to practice martial arts."

As the burly man spoke, he pinched Chen Han's cheek hard, letting out a wicked chuckle. "If you're short on silver, just tell your uncle. That wife of yours, Xiao Mei, could fetch quite a bit of coin. If you can't bear to part with her... selling her for just the nights is an option too."

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare..."

The muscles on Chen Han's face twitched, and he suppressed the murderous intent surging from the depths of his heart.

Just then, a cold late-autumn breeze blew past, causing the burly man to shiver. He wiped the disgusting, viscous mucus running from his nose and, with a look of disdain, wiped it directly onto Chen Han's clothes.

Afterward, he flashed a grin and walked away.

What he failed to notice was that despite the bitter cold, Chen Han was dressed even more lightly than he was, yet in that bone-chilling wind, he remained as if unaffected.

Chen Han glanced at the disgusting filth on his clothes, his expression blank. Only four words echoed in his mind: "Mastering one's fate!"