Something Was Amiss

By the time Lu Cheng left Feng Zhan's courtyard, it was already past the middle of the Yin hour.

Less than an hour remained until dawn.

Unless he planned to skip his morning training, going back now would be pointless. If he couldn't sleep, that was one thing, but if he did fall asleep, waking up would only feel worse.

So Lu Cheng decided not to go back. He went straight to the plaza and began practicing the Mystic Eagle Stance.

Feng Zhan's attitude hadn't put Lu Cheng completely at ease, but he was no longer quite so worried.

The Long Wind Escort Agency might not be among the strongest in Yangcheng County, but compared to the Fish Gang, the difference was like heaven and earth.

No martial arts hall or sect would be willing to fall out with the Long Wind Escort Agency over a mere Fish Gang.

Not even the Vermilion Bird Martial Arts Hall, despite having a Body Refining Martial Artist of its own.

But Feng Zhan's words had also been perfectly clear.

The Long Wind Escort Agency was willing to shelter Lu Cheng, but that didn't mean it would take the initiative to help him deal with the Fish Gang.

In the end, Lu Cheng would still have to settle things with the Fish Gang himself.

So, when all was said and done, he still needed to improve his strength as quickly as possible.

If tonight Lu Cheng hadn't merely killed the Fish Gang's Young Gang Leader and Liu Daozi and the others from Cold Willow Town, but had wiped out all the Fish Gang's bullies, then none of this would have been a problem.

With that thought, Lu Cheng wasted no more time. He summoned the black figure in his Consciousness Sea and practiced the stance forms against it.

Before long, Zhuang Xing and the other two arrived at the plaza.

When they saw Lu Cheng, all three were stunned.

Zhuang Xing in particular was taken aback. Lu Cheng was drenched from head to toe. It was clear he'd been practicing for who knew how long; he was soaked as if he'd been dunked in water.

It felt as though seven or eight mice had crawled into Zhuang Xing's heart, scratching and clawing at him until he was uncomfortable from head to toe.

Ever since he'd lost face in front of Lu Cheng that day, he'd started his morning training half a quarter-hour earlier.

He'd sworn he would refine his strength before Lu Cheng and become the best among the new disciples.

To get pointers from the senior disciples who had already reached Minor Accomplishment in Strength Refining, he'd even gone out of his way to curry favor with them.

In just three or four days, he'd spent six or seven taels of silver.

Now that he'd discovered Lu Cheng was here even earlier than he was, an endless tide of worry surged through him.

He kept turning to look at Lu Cheng, his thoughts written all over his face. Even the other two noticed that something was off today.

But Lu Cheng paid no attention to him and remained absorbed in practicing the stance forms.

Feng Zhan's test had raised Lu Cheng's proficiency with the [Twelve Forms of the Black Hawk Stance] by another seven points.

That was far short of the twenty-five proficiency points he'd gained from fighting Shi Da, but it was still worth nearly half a day of practice.

It would be best to have a test like that every day.

Of course, that was just wishful thinking on Lu Cheng's part.

The reason he'd gained so much from these two encounters was that the experience he'd accumulated through four days of practice had been consolidated through combat.

Practice was practice, and fighting was fighting.

Proficiency gained from "fighting" rose quickly, but it was built on a foundation of "practice."

Before long, the rooster crowed three times, and people began arriving at the plaza one after another.

"Lu Cheng? When did you get back?"

Fatty was still the last to arrive. After greeting Lu Cheng, he began leisurely striking poses, trying to find his rhythm.

The truth was, he didn't get up late. But after waking, he spent a full half quarter-hour eating.

With that much time, everyone else had already started training, even if they'd gotten up later than him.

Not far away, Zhuang Xing's heart stirred when he heard that.

Back?

Had Lu Cheng gotten up early this morning?

He hadn't practiced beforehand!

He edged a few steps toward Lu Cheng, pricking up his ears and listening intently.

Lu Cheng continued practicing the stance forms as he replied,

"After paying my respects to my teacher, I ran into a few fellow disciples. We got to talking and lost track of time, so I came straight here to practice the stance."

So that was it. Zhuang Xing's heart finally settled.

But just as his tension eased, his vision suddenly went black, and his body began to sway.

Fatty shook his head and said to Lu Cheng,

"You really are hardworking. But I have to remind you, you can't train by pushing yourself to the limit all the time. Otherwise, you'll wreck your body before you get anywhere with your martial arts."

Just then, Zhuang Xing finally couldn't hold on any longer. He collapsed to the ground with a thump.

Fatty jumped in fright, then pointed at Zhuang Xing and said to Lu Cheng,

"See? See? What did I tell you?"

"That guy never gets any sleep and spends all day practicing his stance. It's only been a few days, and he's already wrecked his body. Lu Cheng, don't you go copying him."

As he spoke, something else came to mind. He turned to advise the two who got up early and stayed late to train alongside Zhuang Xing.

"I remember you two push yourselves just as hard, don't you? Hey, listen to your brother's advice. You still have to put your health first."

The two hadn't wanted to listen to Fatty's rambling, but Zhuang Xing had truly fainted right in front of them. They couldn't help worrying, and even stopped their stance practice.

They didn't know that although Zhuang Xing had indeed collapsed partly because of his early mornings and late nights of training,

it was mostly because his conversation with Fatty and Lu Cheng had suddenly released the tension he'd been carrying. The abrupt shift from anxiety to relief had been too much for him.

But he was unconscious now, and no one was going to dwell on the exact reason.

Just then,

a loud announcement rang out from the gate:

"Master Zhang of the Vermilion Bird Martial Arts Hall has come to pay his respects to the three escort leaders!"

They'd come so quickly!

Lu Cheng paused in the middle of his stance practice, ended the form, and turned to look toward the gate.

But the announcer didn't stop there.

After announcing the Vermilion Bird Martial Arts Hall, he continued with a long string of names:

"Master Zhou of the White Tiger Martial Hall has come to pay his respects to the three escort leaders!"

"Master Li of the Azure Dragon Martial Hall and Master Xun of the Black Tortoise Martial Hall have come to pay their respects to the three escort leaders!"

"Lord Sihai of the Xu Family and Lord Bingqian of the Huang Family have come to pay their respects to the three escort leaders!"

"Sect Master Wu of the Three Suns Sect, Sect Leader Zhang of the Cloud Billow Sect, Gang Leader Xing of the Joyful Longevity Gang, Elder Wei of the Mountain Crushing Fist, Society Leader Zhao of the Flying Roc Society..."

After announcing the Xu and Huang Families, the announcer followed with the names of eleven sects and martial arts halls in a row.

The commotion made every disciple in the plaza stop what they were doing and look toward the gate.

"Everyone, line up on both sides and clear the plaza."

Feng Zhan's voice rang out.

Lu Cheng turned to look. At some point, Feng Qi and the other two had appeared in front of the main hall.

Feng Qi led the three of them. They stood on the steps, their expressions grave as they watched the gate.

Feng Ji's lips moved a few times. Two of the older disciples standing nearby immediately hurried away.

Soon, a crowd poured in through the gate.

At the front were four gray-haired elders, each over fifty.

All four had white hair and beards, and wore robes in red, green, black, and white.

Embroidered on them were the four divine beasts: the Vermilion Bird, the Azure Dragon, and the others, all baring their claws and fangs.

Beside the four were two wealthy-looking elders in splendid clothes, bedecked in gold and jade. Each had a man with a deep, powerful aura standing at his side.

Behind them came more than a dozen men and women dressed in distinctive clothing that clearly marked their various sects.

In their midst, surrounded by the others, was a short old man with a sorrowful expression.

Though he stood among the crowd, his gait and aura made him seem utterly out of place.

As Lu Cheng studied him, the old man suddenly turned to look his way. It was as if he'd sensed something, and he stared at Lu Cheng without blinking.

Lu Cheng had a feeling that this old man was probably the Fish Gang's leader.

But then he noticed something was wrong.

The Fish Gang was just a bunch of local thugs and bullies who made their living by extorting and exploiting the fishermen.

How could they possibly have enough influence to summon so many martial arts forces?

The only explanation was that these people hadn't come to stand up for the Fish Gang at all.