How to Fleece a Martial Arts Gym!

Li Pingsheng neither laughed nor grew angry.

He glanced at the pill, pinched it between his fingers, and tucked it into his pocket.

He acted as if nothing had happened.

Zhao Ming's face was already prepped to enjoy the show, just waiting for this peasant to blow his top so Instructor Wu could stomp him into the dirt in front of everyone.

But Li Pingsheng didn't even let out a peep.

He turned and walked away.

Zhao Ming felt so stifled he couldn't help but snap at the people beside him.

"See that? The trash from the Wealthy District all have soft spines."

A few auditing disciples quickly chimed in.

"No kidding. If it were me, I would've exploded already."

"Flip out? With what? He's a loner with no roots or backing in the martial arts hall."

"Just a spineless coward."

The group burst into laughter.

Instructor Wu had already prepared several retorts, waiting for Li Pingsheng to push back, but his punch had landed on empty air.

This kid wasn't taking the bait.

Instructor Wu glanced over at Zhao Ming, and seeing he wasn't about to give him a pleasant look either, he felt annoyed, clutching the empty box and walking away without a word.

In the corner.

Li Pingsheng crouched down, back against a stone pillar at the edge of the training grounds, and pulled the Bone Strengthening Pill back out of his pocket.

The brown pill had a bitter, medicinal scent.

He opened his mouth and swallowed it.

As soon as the pill hit his throat, a ball of fire ignited in his gut.

This heat surged through his veins into his arms and legs; if it were an ordinary disciple, it would take at least the time it takes to burn an incense stick to digest it.

But the [Blood Strengthening] within his body moved on its own, its energy coiling up and devouring the medicinal power completely.

The panel before his eyes flickered.

[Talent Potential: 0.1]

It had gone up by 0.05.

Li Pingsheng did the mental math.

Lighting up [Light Body] required 1 point of potential, and at 0.1, he was still a long way off.

Relying on the one pill Instructor Wu gave out each month?

He'd be waiting until the end of time before he had enough.

Counting on pills was a dead end.

He had to find another way.

He stretched his limbs, not bothering to touch the Thunderbolt Fist manual.

He had tried it in his small courtyard last night; the fist technique was too fierce. A single move drained him, leaving him exhausted, and the potential on his panel only rose by a measly 0.01.

High effort, low return—a losing business.

At least, it was a losing business for now.

Li Pingsheng spread his feet, bent his knees slightly, and held his hands in a hollow embrace in front of his stomach.

Health Preservation Stance.

On the training grounds, everyone else was practicing their punches, their shouts and the whistling wind filling the air.

Only he stood in the corner, holding a Health Preservation Stance—the kind of thing even the little brats in the outer courtyard were too lazy to practice.

Zhao Ming was the first to notice.

He was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.

Zhao Ming had originally wanted to say something, but seeing Li Pingsheng's dead-eyed look, he lost interest.

"Fine, let him rot."

Zhao Ming turned his face away and continued practicing his Thunderbolt Fist.

The few auditing disciples chuckled and stopped looking as well.

What kind of trick could you pull with a Health Preservation Stance?

Li Pingsheng closed his eyes.

His breathing slowed, each inhale and exhale drawn out long and steady.

Inhaling caused his chest to swell, while exhaling made his stomach retract, compressing the blood and qi within his body until it grew increasingly solid.

Tiger Bone and Blood Strengthening activated simultaneously.

The speed at which his blood and qi coursed through his meridians was actually three times faster than normal.

Though his legs appeared steady, the muscles within his thighs were trembling incessantly, and the spaces between his tendons and bones were being ground back and forth.

While he appeared to be standing perfectly still on the surface, his entire skeletal frame was creaking, tormented repeatedly by a surge of force.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Sweat dripped from his forehead onto the blue bricks, leaving behind individual dark watermarks.

The back of his clothes soaked through first, followed by his chest.

Upon finishing the fourth repetition, Li Pingsheng opened his eyes.

Hunger.

A starving, desperate urge surged upward; his internal organs were screaming, and his mind held only one word: food.

He withdrew from his stance and headed straight for the dining hall.

The martial arts hall's dining room was located on the west side of the inner courtyard, a bright and spacious building.

True disciples and inner courtyard disciples ate for free, and the food was quite decent.

Large chunks of monster meat were stewed until tender with coarse salt, and the broth was infused with qi-replenishing herbs; while the taste was nothing to write home about, the portions of meat were generous and filling.

These monster meats were not cheap, as they contained far more blood qi than ordinary livestock, making them a daily necessity for those practicing martial arts.

Li Pingsheng sat down with a large basin of meat, shoveling it into his mouth with no regard for table manners.

After finishing one basin, he went to get more.

The second basin.

The third basin.

Fat Chef, who managed the dining hall, stood behind the stove holding a large ladle, his mouth hanging open wider and wider as he watched.

As the fourth basin was carried away, Fat Chef could no longer hold back.

"Little brother, didn't you eat breakfast?"

Li Pingsheng, his mouth stuffed with half a rib, replied vaguely.

"I did."

Fat Chef was stunned, falling silent as he silently tossed two more bones into the pot.

He had been in this line of work for over a decade and had seen plenty of martial artists with big appetites, but this was the first time he had seen someone eat like they held a grudge against the dining hall on their second day at the academy.

The fifth basin.

He didn't even spare the bones after eating the meat, crunching them up in his mouth before swallowing.

The sixth basin.

He had scraped the bottom of Fat Chef's pot clean.

"Uh... that's all there is for this morning."

Fat Chef rubbed his hands together, looking a bit embarrassed.

"If you're still hungry, why don't you come back later?"

Li Pingsheng finished the last of the broth, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and nodded with great seriousness.

"Alright, I'll come back at noon then."

With that, he stood up and left.

Behind him, Fat Chef stared blankly at the pile of empty basins for a long time before turning around and bellowing at his kitchen assistants.

"Go! Go to the storeroom and haul another side of meat over here. Today's supply isn't enough."

Six basins of monster meat were now in his stomach.

The numbers on his status panel flickered once more.

[Talent Potential: 0.15]

It had only increased by 0.05.

Li Pingsheng had a rough idea of the situation now.

With pills being scarce and boxing practice being too draining, it seemed he had no choice but to take this path—exhausting himself through stance training, then replenishing it all at the dining hall.

The more he consumed during stance training, the more aggressively his body absorbed the food, and the faster Blood Strengthening would circulate.

In this martial arts academy, the most valuable thing isn't those few lousy pills.

It's the cafeteria.

That afternoon, he stood through three rounds of the Health Preservation Stance on the training grounds, each round lasting an hour, and every time he finished, he was so hungry his eyes glowed green.

Then he would head to the canteen to eat.

After eating, he would return to continue standing.

Lunch was another six basins.

Fat Chef had learned his lesson this time and stewed an extra pot in advance.

Watching Li Pingsheng sit down and dive right in, Fat Chef leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, his expression as if he had seen a ghost.

"What was your name again?"

"Li Pingsheng."

"The new inner disciple?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah my ass, are you here to practice martial arts or to dismantle my stove?"

Li Pingsheng looked up while gnawing on a large bone and said with complete sincerity.

"Both."

Fat Chef was choked speechless, grumbling as he turned back behind the stove.

Though he was cursing, his hands didn't stop, and he tossed two more handfuls of medicinal herbs into the pot.

By evening, after Li Pingsheng finished his final round of the stance, his martial arts uniform was so soaked it could be wrung out, yet his energy was even higher than it had been in the morning.

The numbers on his panel flickered several times.

[Talent Potential: 0.4]

One day.

The foundation that others would need three to five days of hard training to accumulate, he had accomplished in just one.

The night grew deep.

Lights in the inner courtyard were sparse, as most disciples had long since fallen asleep.

In Li Pingsheng's small courtyard, the oil lamp was also extinguished.

But he wasn't asleep.

Li Pingsheng stood shirtless in the middle of the yard, once again assuming the posture of the Health Preservation Stance.

When people were watching during the day, he had to hold back a little.

Now that no one was around, he could go all out.

Just then, a shadow drifted slowly along the path outside the courtyard wall.

It was Instructor Wu's turn to patrol tonight.

He carried a lantern, wandering through the inner courtyard with little spirit, and had no intention of stopping when he passed Li Pingsheng's yard.

But he caught a scent.

A pungent mix of sweat and medicinal herbs wafted out through the cracks in the wall.

Instructor Wu stopped in his tracks.

He brought his lantern to the wall and peered through a finger-wide crack.

At this glance, his eyebrows shot up.

Li Pingsheng stood in the middle of the yard with his upper body bare, white steam rising from his skin, looking quite intimidating.

What was he practicing?

Instructor Wu squinted and looked closely for a few moments, his surprise turning into mockery.

Health Preservation Stance.

Not sleeping in the middle of the night, but out in the yard practicing the Health Preservation Stance?

Instructor Wu didn't take it seriously.

A foundation of superior bone structure is fine, but it depends on whether the person knows how to use it.

Everyone else was grinding away at the Thunderbolt Fist, but this kid was obsessed with that piece of junk from the outer courtyard.

Coming from a poor family, his perspective was just too shallow.

This kid probably couldn't grasp the Thunderbolt Fist and was too embarrassed to ask, so he was secretly practicing the only thing he knew to put on a show.

I must mention this to the Hall Master tomorrow, so he can understand just how wise it was of him to withhold that one Bone Strengthening Pill back then.

It would have been a waste of resources otherwise.

Instructor Wu turned and walked away, carrying his lantern.

The sound of his footsteps faded into the distance.

In the courtyard, Li Pingsheng remained completely focused.

He had no idea that Instructor Wu had even been there.

He had lost count of how many times he had practiced.

As he finished the final movement of the Health Preservation Stance, every bone in his body let out a sharp crack.

[Talent Potential: 0.8]

He looked down at his hands, where the veins on the back of his hands pulsed in perfect rhythm with his heartbeat.

He was still 0.2 away from Light Body.

At this rate, he would reach it by tomorrow.