The sun sank in the west and rose in the east; dawn broke.
Another day had passed.
Hong Ming opened his eyes and checked his progress, as he did without fail:
[Coiling Dragon Stake (444/500)]
"I've got just over fifty experience points left. I won't go rowing today. I'll try to master it as soon as possible!"
Hong Ming quickly made up his mind.
The money he'd earned over the past two days was enough to cover his daily expenses. His most pressing task was to make progress.
After a hasty breakfast, Hong Ming headed to the shore to explain the situation to Chen Yao and ask for leave.
To his surprise, Chen Yao brought it up first. "Hong Ming, I've broken through. You don't need to come anymore."
Qin Hao's breakthrough hadn't just spurred Hong Ming and the others on. Even Chen Yao and the other children of wealthy families had been greatly encouraged.
But unlike those poor folk, their hard work really paid off!
"Congratulations, Miss Chen."
Hong Ming offered his congratulations, not particularly surprised.
Judging by the rhythms he'd sensed while rowing each day, Chen Yao had been on the verge of a breakthrough for the past few days.
With her family's resources, she could probably have broken through even sooner if they'd invested a little more in her.
"I was able to break through so quickly thanks to your rowing. You've worked hard these past few days."
Chen Yao seemed to have something in her mouth, making her words a little unclear.
She clapped her hands and beckoned a maid over. At her glance, the maid handed Hong Ming ten taels of silver.
"Keep this. It's a token of my thanks. I heard you're a soldier in our Training Camp too. I hope to see you at the Preparatory Camp before long."
Chen Yao was generous when she gave rewards, and this one was a fortune.
Her lavishness left Hong Ming momentarily rooted to the spot.
"Is that not enough? Bring Hong Ming another ten taels!"
Seeing him unmoved, Chen Yao assumed he wasn't satisfied and called out.
Hong Ming snapped back to his senses and shook his head. "It's enough, Miss Chen. Thank you for your generosity!"
Ten taels of silver was fair payment for rowing the boat. Asking for more would be pushing his luck.
"Then would you like some of these pastries?"
Chen Yao seemed to think it wasn't enough and politely asked again, though her face was full of reluctance.
She looked as if she found the pastries more tempting than ten taels of silver.
Hong Ming watched her greedy-cat expression, amused, but politely declined.
He noticed that after he turned her down, Chen Yao's eyes lit up and the corners of her mouth curled almost imperceptibly.
Hong Ming looked away and took his leave.
"Chen Yao, who was that guy?"
Hong Ming had barely left when a graceful figure, quite unlike Chen Yao, came up behind her and asked.
She was Chen Yao's close friend, Wen Xin.
Watching Hong Ming's retreating figure, Wen Xin asked curiously, "Is he a soldier in our Training Camp too?"
Chen Yao nodded lightly and gave a brief introduction to Hong Ming.
"Then I'm afraid you won't be seeing him again." Wen Xin shook her head when she heard.
Chen Yao paused in surprise. "Why do you say that?"
"Look at the way he's dressed. He's clearly a commoner, so his talent probably isn't much to speak of. He rows for you every day to earn money, leaving him little time to train. And then there's the issue of resources. How could someone like that master Bright Force so easily?"
Wen Xin laid out her reasoning in detail.
Bright Force was no simple matter.
It took a combination of talent, resources, time, and many other factors.
Someone like Hong Ming, with neither money nor talent, would need to stumble into the same kind of dog luck as Qin Hao and catch a Treasure Fish to master Bright Force.
Otherwise, his chances were slim.
"Enough. Don't worry about him. Let's hurry and report in."
Rather than waste more breath talking about Hong Ming, Wen Xin urged Chen Yao toward the Preparatory Camp.
"Now I've got enough to pay back the owner."
Hong Ming felt the warmth of the money in his pocket.
But he wasn't in a hurry to repay the debt. He put the money away safely first.
Finding a secluded spot, he calmed his mind, took his stance, and slowly pushed through the Coiling Dragon Stake.
The Breathing and Exhalation trait took effect at once. As he moved through the forms, it gradually roused the Treasure Fish's dormant energy inside him.
He was like a steadfast embroiderer, using sweat as his thread and perseverance as his shuttle, stitching together the road that would lead him to Bright Force.
Every shift of his stance and every breath added a faint but firm mark toward that goal.
He didn't seek speed or force. His movements were slow but never slack, deep but never rigid, each form drawing strength from his sinews and bones.
With this posture carved into his very bones, he sorted through his past experience, layer by layer, and turned it into progress on the panel.
[Coiling Dragon Stake (Beginner 466/500)]
[Coiling Dragon Stake (Beginner 488/500)]
[Coiling Dragon Stake (Beginner 499/500)]
[...]
The voice in his mind faded into nothingness, becoming instinct.
Hong Ming was like a tireless machine, repeating the same movements over and over without complaint.
With every repetition, a subtle sensation stirred in the flesh, sinew, and bone throughout his body.
Then, at a certain moment, he reached his limit. A strange change sprang to life in an instant, like a spark catching flame.
It swept through Hong Ming's five organs and six bowels, took root in every limb and bone, and transformed his marrow and blood.
Like floodwaters bursting through a dam, like a volcano erupting beneath a gloomy sky, a transcendent force seemed to awaken in the depths of his body.
Without any deliberate effort to control it, the force coursed rapidly through his meridians, washing over his body again and again and sweeping away every chronic ailment and hidden injury left by his years of martial arts training.
As his body became clear and unburdened, the barrier that had long clogged his path in the martial world shattered completely, though no one could see it happen.
The instant it broke, Hong Ming's senses blazed bright, sharpening beyond anything he'd ever experienced.
The patterns on insects crawling across the distant beach became crystal clear; he could even faintly make out the fine hairs on their bodies.
The noisy sounds of martial arts practice around him and the faint rustle of wind stirring the leaves seemed to recede in an instant, leaving only the steady, powerful beat of his own heart.
Like a drumbeat, once, twice... each pulse rang through his chest, clear as a rising tide.
His feet seemed to take root, joining him to the solid earth.
The stance that had once taken all his concentration to maintain now felt as effortless as strolling through a courtyard.
With every exertion, he could keenly feel the pleasant rush of strength reaching all the way to his extremities.
The gloom that had weighed on him for so long finally lifted, like clouds parting to reveal the sun, and the path ahead opened wide.
[Coiling Dragon Stake (Minor Accomplishment 1/1000)]
The panel's feedback stamped the result of his training into place, firm as a nail driven into a board.
Hong Ming had successfully broken through.
He had mastered Bright Force!
Hong Ming slowly opened his eyes, his gaze clear and excited. "So this is what it's like to be a Bright Force warrior?"
As he curled his fingers into a fist, an indescribable surging power seemed to spill through the gaps between them.
He felt stronger than ever!
Just as an ordinary fish was different from a Treasure Fish, an ordinary person was different from a martial artist.
Only now did Hong Ming truly understand the meaning of those words.
"Right, the Fate Grid!"
Even as he felt the powerful force within him, Hong Ming didn't forget the most important thing.
He quickly focused a wisp of his attention on the panel.
The panel changed at once:
[As the Child of Luck, you successfully stabilized your Fate Grid within the allotted time and obtained a fortuitous opportunity!]
[Fate Grid Opportunity: A hundred zhang deep, where the mountains and waters meet in the fourth water zone of the Huang Family Water Field, a precious medicinal fruit known as the Stone Crystal Fruit has grown.]
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