Beginner Specialization: Light Body!

Instructor Wu's face darkened. He stared fixedly at Li Pingsheng, then glanced at the cracked ground beneath his feet, his heart full of shock.

How could a sickly weakling have so much strength?

Impossible. Absolutely impossible.

He grabbed Li Pingsheng by the wrist, placing his fingers on his pulse.

Li Pingsheng secretly activated [Blood Strengthening]. The qi and blood inside his body were completely out of control, rampaging through his meridians like mad.

Instructor Wu's brows knitted into a tight knot.

The pulse beneath his fingers had felt quite robust at first touch.

But on closer examination, the qi and blood were in complete disarray, utterly beyond his control.

They crashed around inside meridians so narrow they could barely be called passages, as if they might burst at any moment.

"So that's how it is..."

Instructor Wu released his hand. The shock on his face vanished, replaced by contempt.

He shook his head.

"You've got good bones, that's true. What a shame. Your meridians were born narrow and brittle. They simply can't withstand such overbearing qi and blood."

"You forced it just now. When the qi and blood surged, they damaged the very roots of your meridians."

"From now on, every time you use that brute strength, your meridians will be injured again. In the end, you'll be a cripple with completely severed meridians."

"Forget about skin tempering for the rest of your life."

"Just be a guard and behave yourself. You might even live a few more years."

The newcomers who had crowded around Li Pingsheng yesterday, calling him "Senior Brother Li," now looked at him entirely differently.

"I knew it. There's no way superior bone structure comes that easily. Turns out he was all show."

"What a waste. All that strength, and he's still a short-lived ghost."

"Talents like Senior Brother Zhao and the others are the real deal."

Li Pingsheng couldn't be bothered with their idle gossip. He went back to his little courtyard on his own.

The next morning was resource-distribution day.

With his hands behind his back, Instructor Wu watched as the disciples lined up to collect their pills and monthly allowances.

When Li Pingsheng's turn came, Instructor Wu couldn't even be bothered to raise his eyes. He casually grabbed a shabby gray sack from beside him and tossed it on the ground.

A few grains of rice mixed with sand spilled from its opening with a slap.

"The martial arts school doesn't support useless people."

"Your meridians are ruined. Giving you more resources would be a waste. This is your allotment for the month. Take it."

The disciples around him watched with mocking eyes.

Li Pingsheng picked up the sack without saying a word, turned, and left. His retreating figure looked somewhat bereft.

Instructor Wu watched him go, the corner of his mouth twitching as he let out a cold laugh.

Li Pingsheng returned to his little courtyard, set down the sack of coarse grain mixed with sand, and headed straight for the Mission Hall deep inside the martial arts school.

The Mission Hall was bustling, with disciples picking out tasks in groups of three or five.

Ignoring the strange looks people gave him, Li Pingsheng walked straight to the board where the tasks were posted.

His eyes passed over the better-paying tasks one by one before finally settling on a wooden tag.

It read: Patrol the Outer City slums, seven days, reward: two taels of silver.

The Outer City had always been chaotic. Gangsters often clashed there, and there were even sightings of demons. It was a dangerous place.

Two taels of silver was nothing to Inner Courtyard disciples.

Ignoring the way those around him looked at him like an idiot, Li Pingsheng reached out and took the wooden tag down.

The Mission Hall clerk handling registrations was a middle-aged man who had seen better days. He was startled when he saw what Li Pingsheng had done and hurried to dissuade him.

"Junior Brother Li!"

"W-what are you doing? With your condition, patrolling the Outer City would be a death sentence!"

Li Pingsheng cupped his fists toward him, forcing a bitter smile onto his face.

"Deacon Zhang."

"I know the martial arts school's rules. I have to keep living, and my family is counting on me."

"There's no hope for me in martial arts, so I might as well use what strength I have left to do something for the school and earn a little more for my family."

Deacon Zhang looked at him and sighed. In the end, he said nothing more and wrote down his name.

The news soon reached Instructor Wu's ears.

Instructor Wu was teaching Zhao Ming and a few of his lackeys how to punch when he heard about it. He let out a cold laugh.

"Patrolling the Outer City?"

"That fool doesn't know when to quit. He wants to go die out there. Let him."

He waved his hand, not wanting to think about Li Pingsheng anymore.

Li Pingsheng changed into a coarse-cloth outfit and left the Inner City without a hitch.

He passed through the tall, thick city wall and stepped into the Outer City. Air carrying every imaginable stench rushed at him.

Avoiding everyone from the martial arts school, he returned to the mouth of the alley leading to his family's old house. He paused briefly, seeming to casually glance around.

The peddler at the alley entrance still hadn't packed up, even though night was falling. His eyes kept darting this way.

The man drinking tea across the street had been nursing the same cup for an hour. His eyes were practically glued to my family's gate.

Black Water Gang spies.

Li Pingsheng pretended not to notice and pushed open the door.

After reassuring his worried family, he lied and told them things were going well at the martial arts school. He was just going out on patrol, nothing difficult, so they shouldn't worry.

Afterward, he tucked the last of his loose silver into his clothes and slipped into the chaotic Black Market in the Outer City under cover of darkness.

He stopped in front of a butcher's stall, where heaps of blood-smeared meat gave off a foul stench. It was the lowest-grade wilderness beast meat, full of impurities.

Li Pingsheng slapped all his loose silver onto the counter.

"I'll take all of it."

Midnight.

In the cellar of the Li Family's old house, Li Pingsheng sat cross-legged with a mountain of stinking meat piled in front of him.

He grabbed a piece and stuffed it into his mouth. Activating [Blood Strengthening] with all his might, he forced his stomach to grind up flesh that ordinary people couldn't digest, squeezing out wisps of pure qi and blood to feed his whole body.

Over the next few days.

By day, he was just another cripple from the martial arts school on the streets of the Outer City.

He deliberately acted especially frail under the watchful eyes of the Black Water Gang spies, so they wouldn't grow suspicious.

A Black Water Gang branch hall.

A martial artist reported to Master Scar.

"Master Scar, that kid really is crippled. I watched him on patrol myself. He was panting after walking a few steps, and a strong breeze could've knocked him over."

"The news from the martial arts school was right. His meridians are completely shattered. He's a cripple now."

Master Scar stroked the scar on his face and grinned viciously.

"Good!"

"Very good!"

"A cripple dares to lay a hand on someone from my Black Water Gang."

"When the time comes, we'll make our move."

"Bind his whole family, every last one of them."

"I want him on his knees before me, watching his family die one by one!"

In the middle of the night on the seventh day of his patrol, a torrential downpour began.

On the outskirts of the city, inside a ruined temple.

Bare-chested, Li Pingsheng frantically held the Health Preservation Stance under the icy rain. Sweat and rain mingled on his body as visible white steam rose from him.

The qi and blood inside him had long since boiled, washing through his entire body again and again.

[Talent Potential: 0.99]

Just a little more.

Li Pingsheng's eyes were bloodshot. He let out a low growl, and his legs sank sharply. The ground beneath his feet immediately caved in a little.

Success!

[Talent Potential: 1.0]

He didn't hesitate for a moment. He chose it.

[Slaughter—Beginner Specialization: Light Body]

A low hum rang out.

[Light Body] lit up, and a dark line connected it to another specialization.

[Beginner Talent—Wind Treading: Ride the wind as if walking on level ground. Move at lightning speed when walking fast.]

Li Pingsheng felt all the bones in his body shudder. A chill shot up from his tailbone, raced along his spine into his limbs, then poured into the meridians in both his legs.

His whole body felt much lighter.

He raised one foot and gently set it down again.

The water pooled beneath him didn't even splash.

A gleam flashed in Li Pingsheng's eyes, and he vanished from where he stood.

In the dark alley on that rainy night, a shadow leaped rapidly from wall to rooftop, making not a sound.

No sound when he landed, no trace when he took off.

At that moment, on the roof of the Li Family's old house, a Black Water Gang martial artist was crouching there, bored.

Suddenly, he felt a gust of wind pass behind him.

He turned around instinctively. There was nothing but rain.

"Damn this weather..."