Unless that kid was hiding something from him.
And whatever it was had something to do with both him and Guo Ziming.
Fang Shuwen quickly pieced it together.
"There's another suspicious thing. That kid actually had ten silver dollars to pay someone to attack me!"
Fang Shuwen leaned against the alley wall, his thoughts racing.
Ten silver dollars.
That was no small sum.
Ordinary families spent only three to five silver dollars a month on living expenses.
Liu Mang might have been Guo Ziming's lackey and received a few coins in reward from Young Master Guo every month.
But there was no way he could casually pull out ten silver dollars to hire someone to hurt a man.
Unless...
The money hadn't been Liu Mang's in the first place.
A cold smile curled Fang Shuwen's lips.
He didn't hurry to leave the tavern.
Instead, he called to the counter, ordered a dish of fennel beans, and leisurely ate a couple while keeping the corner table in the corner of his eye.
Liu Mang and the man each drank two more bowls of rice wine.
Soon, the jug was empty.
Neither of them ordered another.
They left the tavern one after the other, one heading left and the other right, going their separate ways.
Fang Shuwen waited a little longer, making sure no one was watching him, then picked up the wine jug and roast chicken and headed out.
He didn't go straight back to Zhao Estate.
Instead, he turned into a narrow alley beside the tavern.
The alley ran deep between high walls, with only a strip of sky overhead.
Night had fully fallen. The alley was pitch-black, with only a faint, yellowish light filtering in from the distant street.
Fang Shuwen walked to the middle of the alley and looked both ways, making sure no one was there.
He leaned against a sheltered wall and took the Ghost Jade from his schoolbag.
This piece of Ghost Jade was much better quality, and a faint, eerie light glimmered in his palm.
"I wonder how many skill points this one will yield."
He took a deep breath and gripped the Ghost Jade with both hands.
A chill seeped into his palms, like he was holding a stone just pulled from the bottom of a deep well.
[Abnormal energy detected. Absorb?]
Fang Shuwen's heart jumped. He quickly focused his thoughts. "Absorb!"
The light screen rippled like water.
The two pieces of Ghost Jade in his palms gave off a faint crackling sound, like ice splitting.
Fang Shuwen looked down and saw fine cracks spreading across the surface of the Ghost Jade. Pale green light shone through them.
The glow crawled from his palm up his arm, like tiny snakes burrowing beneath his skin.
In an instant,
the Ghost Jade crumbled to dust.
The light screen before his eyes flickered again.
[Abnormal energy absorption complete.]
[Skill points gained: 5]
Five!
A full five points!
Fang Shuwen couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath.
Yesterday, that piece of scrap jade had only given him one point. Today, this one had yielded five.
Though perhaps the first piece had lost some of its energy when it activated his golden finger.
But then again,
today's piece was better quality.
After all, Old Master Zheng had looked noticeably more pained when he lost the game of chess.
He took a deep breath, steadied himself, and brought up the Martial Dao Panel again.
[Name: Fang Shuwen]
[Attack: 3; Defense: 3; Vitality: 2; Spirit: 2]
[Technique: First Set of Body-Strengthening Fists (Beginner)]
[Special Effects: None]
[Skill Points: 5]
Five skill points.
At the same time, plus signs had appeared beside the four attributes on the panel, as well as beside the Body Strengthening Fist.
Staring at the plus signs, Fang Shuwen quickly ran through his options.
He understood at once.
Skill points could not only raise the level of a technique, but also directly improve his four attributes.
There hadn't been plus signs beside the attributes last time because he'd had too few skill points.
Now, with five skill points,
he had enough to raise them directly, so plus signs had appeared beside the attributes too.
Fang Shuwen thought it over, then focused on the plus sign beside the four attributes.
Information immediately came to him.
"I need five skill points to increase one attribute by one point?"
Fang Shuwen couldn't help frowning.
Five points for one attribute. Two attribute points would cost ten skill points.
Compared to directly improving a technique, that didn't seem like a good deal.
After all, when the Body Strengthening Fist had leveled up last time, it had raised his attributes by two points for just one skill point.
So the safest bet was to keep improving his technique.
He focused on the plus sign beside the Body Strengthening Fist.
This upgrade also required exactly five points.
[Improve technique "First Set of Body-Strengthening Fists"?]
Yes.
[5 skill points consumed. Improving technique...]
This time, it was even more violent than before, as if a bomb had gone off inside him.
A wave of heat surged up his spine and rushed over his head.
Then it flowed down from the front, completing a full circuit through his body.
His muscles, bones, and sinews all shook violently, every inch of him trembling.
Fang Shuwen grunted as his back slammed into the wall. Veins bulged across his forehead.
He could feel his body changing.
It wasn't a gradual, subtle transformation, but a violent, tearing remaking.
His muscle fibers snapped, then began to grow anew.
His bones cracked sharply, like firecrackers going off.
He counted silently.
One.
Two.
After the second crack, the sound stopped.
There was no third.
Two bone cracks.
He was one step closer to Bright Force!
The text on the panel flickered.
[First Set of Body-Strengthening Fists (Proficient)]
His technique had indeed advanced another step.
And his four attributes had changed along with it.
[Attack: 3→4; Defense: 3→4; Vitality: 2→2; Spirit: 2→2]
Just as before, his attack and defense had each increased by one.
He dismissed the panel.
Fang Shuwen panted heavily, sweat covering his forehead.
He could feel that he was at least twice as strong as before.
The change was so obvious that even standing there felt unreal.
He lowered his head and looked at his hands.
His palms were another size larger, his knuckles thick and powerful, the muscles at the base of his thumbs bulging—the kind of features only someone who had trained in martial arts for years would have.
He clenched his fists.
Crack, crack!
His joints snapped crisply, in a steady, forceful rhythm.
He could clearly feel the muscles working together perfectly with every clench, from his fingertips to his wrists, from his forearms to his upper arms.
It was as if his body had changed from a rusty iron lock into a precision machine.
Every part fit perfectly, every movement smooth and effortless.
"My strength has increased a lot."
Fang Shuwen murmured, his gaze settling on a loose blue brick by his feet.
This brick was bigger than the last one, weighing at least seven or eight pounds.
He bent down, picked it up, and gripped it in one hand without using any technique—just raw strength.
The surface of the brick began to crumble.
First, fine powder sifted through his fingers. Then cracks spread across its surface.
Crack!
The blue brick broke into several pieces in his hand.
Fang Shuwen opened his hand, and the fragments fell to the ground with a dull thud.
"One-armed strength, at least two hundred and fifty pounds."
He estimated it, a hard-to-name feeling welling in his chest.
And that was just raw strength.
If he added the techniques he'd learned after becoming proficient in the Body Strengthening Fist, along with the force generated by twisting his spine and lowering his center of gravity,
the impact of one punch would easily exceed seven or eight hundred pounds.
Two bone cracks, one step away from Bright Force.
That single step seemed close, but the difference was vast.
Even so, someone with two bone cracks would count as an elite disciple in any of the major martial arts schools in Xikou County.
At that level, even the major gangs wouldn't dare offend him lightly.
So,
even if he crippled the thug and the hired thug he'd brought along, he wouldn't have to fear retaliation.
"So, now it's time to go find those two bastards and give them a taste of their own medicine!"