Is This the Value of a Top-Tier Spiritual Root?

Master Qin's smile was uglier than a cry.

"Oh my, Master Li, Master Li, you are right. Absolutely right."

"It's just that my underlings were blind and failed to recognize a superior, offending your family. They deserve to die, they truly deserve to die."

As soon as he finished speaking, Master Qin raised his hand and slapped himself across the face.

Smack.

Half his face swelled up instantly.

"Master Li, you are a magnanimous man; please don't lower yourself to the level of small fries like us."

"This two taels of silver... you are slapping my face by offering this."

Master Qin extended his hand, not daring to take it, and pushed it back toward Li Pingsheng.

"That ten taels of silver, just take it as a token of my respect for you and your entire family. From now on... no, there won't be an 'after this'."

"The Li Family's debt is wiped clean. Principal and interest, all waived."

Li Pingsheng didn't speak, merely watching him.

Master Qin felt his skin crawl under that gaze, knowing that simply playing the coward wouldn't get him through today.

"Come here, what are you all standing around for?"

"Drag these two blind fools away. Deal with them by family law: break their legs and throw them outside the city to feed the wild dogs."

Several subordinates scrambled into the courtyard, each grabbing a leg and dragging them out like two dead dogs.

Two glaring trails of blood were left on the ground.

Master Qin and his group retreated from the courtyard and vanished around the street corner.

The neighbors watching from the sidelines immediately burst into discussion.

"Good heavens, Master Qin actually slapped himself?"

"Didn't you hear? The debt is completely waived. Ten taels of silver, just given up like that."

"This is the prestige of a superior bone structure. We can't afford to provoke him; we truly can't afford it."

Li Pingsheng ignored the commotion outside and reinstalled the half-door that was still usable, blocking the view from the outside.

He walked over to his unconscious second uncle and checked him carefully.

The back of his head was split open and bleeding quite a bit, but his breathing was steady.

Li Pingsheng tore off a piece of his own clean clothing, dampened it with some water to clean the wound, and then wrapped it tightly with cloth strips.

Only after finishing did he let out a sigh of relief; it seemed there was no danger to his life.

"Pingsheng..."

Li's mother and the second aunt came over, wiping away their tears.

They pulled Li Pingsheng over, checking him from head to toe over and over again, terrified that he might have been injured as well.

"Mother, Second Aunt, it's fine. I'm really fine."

Li's mother pulled the still-sobbing Yunmei into her arms, then hugged Li Pingsheng tightly, tears streaming down her face.

"Heaven protect us, the ancestors protect us..."

The second aunt looked at her unconscious husband, her legs giving way, and she nearly collapsed to the ground, but was luckily caught by Li Pingsheng.

Old Master Li had remained silent the entire time.

He looked at his grandson before him, his gaze steady and his temperament vastly changed—he was like a different person compared to before.

His eyes were full of relief, yet his brows were knitted into a knot.

"Pingsheng, come with me."

The old man walked into the innermost shack.

Li Pingsheng followed him inside.

In the dim shack, the old man sat on the edge of the bed and patted the spot beside him.

"Today, you did the right thing."

"When dealing with these animals, you cannot be soft-hearted."

"However."

"You must also remember that a man like Master Qin is merely a dog raised by the Black Water Gang."

"Today you beat the dog, and the dog's master will not let this rest."

"The Black Water Gang has been entrenched in the outer city of Qingyun County for many years. Their influence is vast, and their leader is a practitioner who keeps several martial artists under his command. They are ruthless and vicious."

"Master Qin backed down today because he fears your reputation as a true disciple of the Azure Cloud Martial Hall."

"But you have to go to the martial arts hall to train; you can't stay home every day. Once you're gone, I'm afraid they'll seek revenge in the shadows."

"Grandfather, I understand."

Li Pingsheng looked at the old man's worried face and said in a deep voice.

"Rest assured, I know what I'm doing. I will find a way as soon as possible to move our whole family into the inner city."

"Good, good..."

The old man nodded, said nothing more, and simply patted his grandson's shoulder heavily.

The night deepened.

The second uncle was carried back into the house, and after drinking some rice porridge, he slowly woke up, though he still felt a bit dizzy.

Having experienced such a scare, the whole family went to sleep early.

Li Pingsheng sat alone on his dilapidated wooden bed, closed his eyes, and sank his consciousness inward.

[Li Pingsheng]

[Martial Arts: None]

[Talent Specialties: Primary · Blood Strengthening (Vitality), Primary · Tiger Bone (Constitution)]

[Talent Potential: 0.05]

The potential accumulated from taking seven doses of Blood Strengthening Powder and practicing boxing for days had been almost entirely exhausted when he lit up [Tiger Bone].

The fight just now, despite his burning rage and surging blood, had only brought him 0.05 points of potential.

With this little potential, he couldn't do anything.

[Slaughter], [Vitality], [Divine Sense], [Mystic Gate].

The physique brought by Blood Strengthening and Tiger Bone was enough for him to crush ordinary thugs.

But the old man's words reminded him.

The leader of the Black Water Gang was a martial artist.

He also kept martial artists under his command.

Facing a real martial artist, defense and physique alone were not enough.

He had to possess greater lethality and faster speed.

[Slaughter -- Primary Specialty: Light Body]

To light it up, he needed a full 1 point of talent potential.

The next day, just as dawn broke.

Li Pingsheng changed into clean clothes, preparing to head to the martial arts hall.

"Brother."

Yunmei poked her little head out from behind the door, holding two golden-brown toasted bran cakes in her hands.

"Mother told me to give these to you for the road."

Li Pingsheng took the cakes, patted his sister's head, and turned to step out of the courtyard gate.

Overnight, the Wealthy District had changed completely.

Passing the street corner, the neighbors who usually didn't bother with him now took the initiative to greet him with smiles.

"Pingsheng, heading to the martial arts hall?"

"Li Family's nephew, you've really made something of yourself."

Even a fairly wealthy cloth merchant from the neighborhood insisted on taking two meat buns from his shop and stuffing them into his hands, smiling broadly as he urged him to have a taste.

At the same time, outside Qingyun County, at the Black Water Gang's branch.

The hall was spacious, and Master Qin was kneeling on the ground.

Standing before him was a middle-aged man, tall and burly, with a face full of thick flesh.

The man was shirtless, his muscles knotted. A hideous scar stretched from his left shoulder all the way to his right abdomen.

He was toying with two iron balls the size of walnuts in his hands.

He was the branch leader of the Black Water Gang in the outer city, known as "Master Scar".

"...That is how it happened."

Master Qin embellished the story, painting his failed attempt to extort money and subsequent beating as Li Pingsheng bullying others and humiliating the Black Water Gang.

"A brat who just started bone-tempering, relying on his status as a true disciple, dares to look down on our Black Water Gang."

"Master Scar, if we swallow this insult, how will we ever stand tall in the outer city again?"

Master Scar stopped the iron balls in his hands, picked up the teacup on the table, and took a sip.

Crack.

The porcelain cup was crushed into shards in his grip.

"A true disciple of the Azure Cloud Martial Hall..."

"So what if he's a true disciple? A genius who hasn't fully grown yet isn't a genius; he's just a piece of fat meat."

"Still, since that old thing Pei Guang stepped in personally, now is not the time to move against him."

"However, anyone who breaks the rules of my Black Water Gang must pay a price."

He gave his orders.

"Send someone sharp to the Wealthy District and have them keep a death grip on the Li Family. Don't make a move; just watch."

"I want to see how much time a true disciple can afford to waste at home."

"Once he heads back to the martial hall, find an opportunity to invite his old, dying grandfather and that little brat..."

"...over to the headquarters for a cup of tea."