Winter had arrived.
Boat Village.
White steam hissed from the red-clay stove.
Once the water boiled, Aaron lifted the kettle and steeped himself a cup of clear tea.
At last, he no longer had to drink tea dust and could enjoy good tea with whole leaves.
A cold wind blew outside, carrying a light snowfall.
Holding the teacup, he blew away the heat rising from it and watched the tea leaves slowly unfurl in the hot water. His gaze went slightly distant as he looked toward the attribute panel:
[Name: Fang Yu (Aaron)] [Talent: Ageless Immortality] [Age: 20] [Realm: Visible Strength (Beginner)] [Martial Arts: Flowing Sand Palm (Mastery), Black Sand Palm, First Layer (Beginner)] [Skills: Fishing (Proficient), Incomplete Sea-Gathering Art (Beginner)]
"Without realizing it, I've already been in this world for four years... Four years—how many four years does a person get in a lifetime?"
After lamenting how swiftly youth slipped away, Aaron thought of his cultivation progress.
"With medicinal sand, the Black Sand Palm trains at a decent pace, but it's just too expensive... Using it every day would cost sixty taels of silver a month... Still, an Inner Strength martial artist counts as somebody wherever he goes. Joining a gang would get him promoted straight to a minor boss, and guarding homes and courtyards or escorting shipments are all ways to make money."
But such paths often came with trouble. Aaron did not want to stir up trouble, so he had not pursued them.
These days, fishing brought him over ten taels of silver a month. He used medicinal sand to train for five days each month, then relied on self-study for the rest of the time. It was manageable enough.
Even while remaining disciplined, Aaron had not turned into a cultivation fanatic. Instead, he