The stone lock lifted off the ground with a creak. It seemed to weigh nothing at all as he raised it over his head with ease.
A moment later,
Fang Shuwen set down the fifty-pound stone lock. His gaze fell on the hundred-pound one.
"Thud~"
The hundred-pound stone lock crashed to the ground.
"Phew, a hundred and fifty pounds is a bit much. My one-arm strength is probably around a hundred and twenty pounds."
Fang Shuwen looked down at his hand, then at the stone lock.
In his previous life, he had struggled to lift a fifty-pound dumbbell with both hands at the gym. Now he could raise a hundred pounds with one hand and still have strength to spare.
That was the change brought by entering the martial path.
His strength had nearly doubled!
"Let's try the wooden dummy!"
He walked over to the wooden dummy and assumed the opening stance of the Body Strengthening Fist.
The images of thirty-six figures practicing surged into his mind. His body moved naturally, almost without needing to think.
Fists, palms, elbows, shoulder strikes.
Every blow landed precisely on the wooden dummy's pressure points, each one producing a muffled thud.
At the final move, Fang Shuwen twisted at the waist and hips, then punched.
"Bam!"
The wooden dummy lurched. Its base scraped against the flagstones, rocking several times.
"Hmm?"
"At least half the force dispersed when it hit the wooden dummy."
Fang Shuwen drew back his fist and stood still, looking down at it.
With a one-arm strength of a hundred and twenty pounds, the impact of his punch should have been even greater.
He had expected to snap even a thick wooden pole.
But against the wooden dummy, the results were underwhelming.
The reason was that his force was too scattered. He hadn't brought it together.
"So this is what Master Chen at the martial arts school meant when he told someone that having the realm without mastering whole-body force made it difficult to bring out one's full strength."
Fang Shuwen stood where he was, frowning in thought for a moment.
Master Chen had been teaching a wealthy young master who had forcibly raised his abilities with drugs.
Fang Shuwen had overheard a few words at the time, but hadn't understood them.
Now that he had tried it himself,
he saw that it was true.
The Martial Dao Panel's improvement had only granted him the corresponding realm and strength.
It had merely brought him to the threshold.
There was still a long road ahead beyond that door.
"Good thing I didn't rush out today. If I'd actually faced those two thugs, I might not have beaten them."
Those two thugs weren't ordinary street loafers. They were members of the Wild Wolf Gang from the west side of town.
Gang members might not have trained in martial arts,
but street brawls were part of everyday life for them. They'd surely picked up all sorts of dirty tricks.
If it came to a fight, his Body Strengthening Fist, with its unrefined force and lack of real technique, could easily have left him blindsided.
"So the Martial Dao Panel only saves me the hard work of tempering my body. If I want real skill, I still have to practice diligently!"
Fang Shuwen understood the principle at once.
He wanted to keep practicing, but when he looked up, night had already fallen.
The courtyards would soon be locked, so he had no choice but to head back.
Not long after he left,
a figure arrived, carrying a lantern.
"Ahem, the young lady will be back in a month. I'll have someone clean this place up tomorrow."
"Huh? Someone's been practicing punches here?"
Chen Zhong, the old steward of the Zhao Estate, walked past the wooden dummy and noticed obvious scuff marks on the ground.
The servants cleaned the area from time to time, but they certainly wouldn't move these heavy wooden dummies.
Besides, he was a Bright Force martial artist himself. He could tell at a glance that someone had struck the dummy with their fists.
"Well, well. I didn't expect someone in the estate to have entered the martial path."
"Judging by the marks, it was a young fellow."
Chen Zhong thought it over, several faces passing through his mind.
But he couldn't figure out who it was.
In the end, he shook his head. The fellow had only just entered the martial path and was still a long way from Bright Force.
Besides, the young men in the estate were all getting on in years.
They'd likely never reach Bright Force in their lifetimes. He stopped thinking about it, locked the courtyard gate, and headed back to his quarters with his lantern.
The next day.
Before dawn had fully broken, Fang Shuwen woke up.
He hadn't woken naturally. The noise in the courtyard had roused him.
Mother Wang was shouting at the top of her lungs for her daughter, Cuicui, to get up. Her voice carried so powerfully that it sounded like an explosion right beside his ear, even through the brick wall.
"Cuicui! The sun's already shining on your bottom! Get up and study! If you don't make it into the Elite Class, I'll marry you off!"
Fang Shuwen rubbed his eyes and sat up.
Old Fang was already gone. His blanket had been folded neatly and placed at the foot of the bed.
The gatekeeper had to get up before dawn. By the time the master of the house rose, he had to be at his post.
Fang Shuwen washed his face and went to the kitchen. Hu Da had already set aside breakfast for him.
An egg, two steamed buns, and a dish of pickled vegetables.
It couldn't compare to the spicy soup and tofu pudding he'd had in his previous life, but for someone of Fang Shuwen and his father's station in this era, eating this much meant Old Fang had really gone out of his way.
"Where exactly do the skill points needed by the Martial Dao Panel come from?"
As he ate breakfast, Fang Shuwen pondered the question.
Yesterday, he had touched that piece of mixed jade in the bookstore, and then his golden finger had awakened.
If he found another similar piece of jade, could he get another skill point?
Once the thought occurred to him, he couldn't shake it.
But where was he supposed to find another piece of mixed jade?
Should he go look for that easy mark again?
It was obvious the old man in green wasn't an ordinary person.
Even if Fang Shuwen beat him at chess again, the other man would probably just give him money instead of letting him stumble upon another bargain.
Fang Shuwen stuffed the last bite of his steamed bun into his mouth, slung his cloth bookbag over his shoulder, and left.
Today, he planned to wander the streets again.
Not to play chess, but to see if he could run into another easy mark.
After leaving the back gate of the Zhao Estate,
he passed through two alleys and reached Xikou East Street.
East Street looked completely different in the early morning than it did at dusk.
Steam rose from the breakfast stalls. The aroma of soy milk and fried dough sticks mingled with the smoky warmth of coal stoves, bringing the whole street to life.
Fang Shuwen walked along the street, his eyes continually sweeping over the stalls on either side.
Some sold vegetables, some sold fish, and some sold sundries.
An old man was squatting in a corner, a scrap of cloth spread before him with several stones arranged on it. He claimed they were jade stones dug out of the mountains.
Fang Shuwen squatted down to look and picked one up to feel it.
Nothing happened.
The Panel remained silent. No prompts appeared.
"Little brother, this is old-pit material. Look at that luster—so rich!"
The old man's eyes lit up when he saw Fang Shuwen pick up a stone. He nearly spat in his face as he spoke.
"I'm just looking."
Fang Shuwen put the stone down, stood, and walked away.
Old-pit material? More like a pit to swindle people with.
If it were genuinely good, it would be in Treasure Gathering Pavilion or somewhere in the foreign concessions.
At any rate, it certainly wouldn't be sitting out on the street.
He wandered through more than half the street, touching over twenty stones, roof tiles, and scraps of rusty metal. The Panel didn't so much as twitch.
It seemed not every kind of jade would do.
It had to contain that kind of "exotic energy."
So what exactly was an exotic species?
And how was he supposed to find one?
As he was pondering this, a commotion suddenly rose ahead.
"Make way! Make way!"
"Clear the way!"
"Our very own Young Master Lu of Xikou spent the night in Big Willow Village yesterday, where he happened upon an Exotic Snake Demon causing trouble."
"In the spirit of chivalry, Young Master Lu nobly stepped in and slew the exotic creature. He is hereby commended!"
Seven or eight patrolmen in black, modern uniforms, holding black-and-white batons, streamed in from the end of the street.
They pasted a notice onto the bulletin board beside the road.
An Exotic Snake Demon?
An exotic creature!
Fang Shuwen's eyes widened abruptly, and he couldn't help staring at the notice they had just put up.