Departure

Beneath a thin layer of silt, the target Lu Cheng was searching for finally revealed itself.

It was a square wooden box, a foot in size, fitted with handles on both sides and clamped shut by a two-inch-long heavy-duty lock.

This was it!

The Fish Gang's money box.

Having confirmed his target, Lu Cheng grabbed the handles and turned to surface without a moment's hesitation.

Splash!

Lu Cheng burst through the surface, gasping for air, his face flushed deep red from holding his breath.

The struggle with You Lanchuang had been perilous and exhausting, and the frantic search underwater had drained his remaining breath; he had nearly lost all strength during the ascent.

Yet, Lu Cheng was overcome with joy, slamming his free right hand against the water in triumph.

"Hahahaha, truly, destiny is on my side!"

Even with the buoyancy of the water, Lu Cheng could still feel the weight of the box.

This meant there was no small amount of silver and copper inside!

This made Lu Cheng even happier.

After catching his breath, Lu Cheng used the water's momentum to heave the money box onto the boat.

The box landed with a dull thud, followed by a crisp, melodic clinking sound.

To his ears, it was like heavenly music.

Lu Cheng didn't delay; he vaulted onto the boat and grabbed the smallest key to pick the lock.

With a sharp click, the final barrier fell away.

Lu Cheng couldn't wait to flip the lid open. A golden glow met his eyes—the box was half-filled with copper coins of various denominations.

He scanned the river in all directions; seeing no sign of other boats, Lu Cheng dumped all the coins out to count them.

The majority were single-cash coins, with a fair number of ten-cash and five-cash pieces mixed in.

Finding some netting twine, Lu Cheng began stringing the coins together as he counted.

The final tally: fifteen thousand four hundred and seventy-six cash, equivalent to fifteen taels and four mace of silver.

If he added the one tael from You Lanchuang and his own savings from nearly two months of fishing, that would make...

"Eighteen taels!"

A fortune!

Truly a massive fortune!

Even with the memories of Lu Cheng's fishing life, it would have taken nearly two years to save this much money.

Before this, Lu Cheng had never imagined he could possess so much wealth in such a short time.

He thanked You Lanchuang for delivering both his life and his wealth.

However, the excitement lasted only a short while. Looking at the pile of copper coins, Lu Cheng took a deep breath.

He reached out and stirred them, the clatter-clatter sound instantly calming his mind.

Fishermen risked their lives in the wind and waves, only for their blood and sweat to flow into a box like this.

And finally, through the hands of a villain like You Lanchuang, it had ended up in his own.

"When fishermen face You Lanchuang, they are the weak, the power gap is vast, and thus they are oppressed and exploited by You Lanchuang and the officials."

"But here on the river, You Lanchuang became the weak one, and this box of copper naturally belongs to me."

"The weak stay weak, the strong stay strong; this has been the way of the world since ancient times, especially in these lawless, chaotic days."

"The more lawless the world, the more I need strength to protect my own path!"

"Fortunately, You Lanchuang is dead, the spring flood won't be affected, and with this much money, practicing martial arts is no longer a problem."

After these reflections, Lu Cheng sat back in the cabin, a sudden sense of alarm rising from the depths of his heart.

"No, I cannot wait for the spring flood!"

"Behind the Cold Willow Town fish stall is the entire Yangcheng County Fish Gang; they are the ones with deep roots in Yangcheng County."

"You Lanchuang was merely a small leader. In these chaotic times where human life is as cheap as grass, the death of one or two such men wouldn't matter."

"But the disappearance of such a large sum of money is different. Within three days, the Fish Gang will surely come to investigate."

"Nothing of note happens on these mudflats all year round; my dispute with You Lanchuang over the Silver Sturgeon cannot be overlooked."

"Those people are unreasonable thugs. Once they grow suspicious, they won't care about evidence—they will come knocking directly."

"There is no time to lose. I will go to Yangcheng today. The sooner I become an apprentice, the sooner I will have a backer."

"No matter how powerful the Fish Gang is, would they dare to act recklessly against a martial arts sect?"

"With [Heavenly Mandate] in my hands, as long as I am granted a little time, stepping onto the path of martial arts will be no problem."

"When that day comes, it will be fine if the Fish Gang leaves me be, but if they dare to come, I shall send them to keep You Lanchuang company!"

Thinking of this, Lu Cheng felt a surge of excitement and gripped his fish spear tightly.

The moment he did, he felt something unusual. A flash of surprise crossed his face, and he hurriedly turned his consciousness into his sea of consciousness.

Deep within the sea of consciousness, the golden light of [Heavenly Mandate] stood magnificent like a pillar.

It stretched upward to an unknown destination and downward to an unknown origin.

Vast and boundless laws of the Great Dao appeared one after another, flickering in and out of existence.

As Lu Cheng focused his attention on it, a black silhouette suddenly emerged.

The figure's proportions were identical to Lu Cheng's.

Although its face was a blur of black, the shadows of its features still bore traces of Lu Cheng.

In its hand was a black weapon, and upon closer inspection, it was exactly a three-pronged fish spear.

Without Lu Cheng needing to exert his will, the moment the figure appeared, it began to dance with the spear in its hands.

"Probe," "Lead," "Pierce," "Intercept," "Flip"—the moves were executed in quick succession, each one natural and seamless. Anyone who saw it would have to exclaim in perfection.

As the set of movements concluded, the figure exploded with a "bang."

However, the fragments did not dissipate; instead, like black snowflakes caught in a gale, they drifted rapidly across Lu Cheng's entire sea of consciousness before slowly fading away.

The figure had appeared after Lu Cheng learned [Fish Spearing Technique], and now that it had fully integrated into his sea of consciousness, it meant that [Fish Spearing Technique] had finally pierced through the final layer of the window paper and reached perfection in one fell swoop.

Yet, the pleasant surprise did not come from the perfection of [Fish Spearing Technique].

It came from Lu Cheng's sudden new realization regarding [Heavenly Mandate].

[Fishing] and [Swimming] were both honed through constant practice, relying on time to grind toward perfection.

In contrast, [Fish Spearing Technique] had come through two "sudden enlightenments."

Last night, it was the indomitable spirit of accumulated resolve.

Today, it was the life-or-death struggle of burning the bridges behind him.

Both times, he had highly concentrated his essence, energy, and spirit.

Thus, in a short time, his realm had made astonishing progress.

Although it was extremely draining, it was far more efficient at breaking through bottlenecks.

The bully had been executed, and the path ahead was clear.

The gloom and oppression of the past two months vanished in an instant, and Lu Cheng felt an unprecedented sense of refreshment and ease.

He packed the copper coins and sank the box into the river.

Confirming that all obvious traces—save for the folding fan—had been eliminated, Lu Cheng rowed his boat back, returning to the mudflats before long.

It had been less than an hour since Lu Cheng set sail; the day was still young, and there were few fishermen on the mudflats.

After tying up the boat, he shouldered his pack and headed home.

The weight of over sixty catties would have left the Lu Cheng of his past life exhausted after walking less than three miles.

Yet, whether it was because this world was different or because the body of a fisherman's son was simply sturdier, he could not say.

Lu Cheng walked the entire way home without stopping once, still retaining strength to spare.

Two quarters of an hour later, everything was packed and ready.

Lu Cheng, carrying his bundle, knocked on the door of Old Man Ge.

Before leaving, he needed to give this old uncle, who had saved his life, some sort of explanation.

He did not have to wait long. With a creak, the face of Old Man Ge appeared behind the door.

Before the hesitant Lu Cheng could figure out how to start, Old Man Ge spoke first:

"Why are you back so early today? Did something happen?"

Lu Cheng was stunned. Although all his actions had been aimed at dealing with You Lanchuang, to Old Man Ge, who knew nothing, the separation had indeed been caused by the Silver Sturgeon.

In all honesty, if he were in the other party's shoes, he would never give the person a kind look again.

Lu Cheng had already prepared himself to be turned away or even scolded.

"Don't be anxious, come inside first." Before Lu Cheng could speak, Old Man Ge continued, "I didn't see smoke from your place this morning; you probably haven't eaten yet. There's still some food inside; I'll have your aunt heat it up for you."

As the words fell, the voice of Old Woman Ge came from inside, full of complaint:

"Where is there any food? We finished it long ago. It's this late, do you really want to light the stove again?"

Old Man Ge frowned and turned, about to flare up, but Lu Cheng hurriedly stopped him and called out toward the house:

"Aunt, don't trouble yourself. I'm not hungry; I just need to have a word with Uncle."

With this brief interlude behind him, Lu Cheng had quickly adjusted his mindset.

Turning to Old Man Ge, he said:

"Uncle, I have a classmate who is from a wealthy family in Yangcheng County. A few days ago, they invited a juren scholar to stay as a guest."

"He has invited me to go and study under him, which is a rare opportunity. I need to head over now, and I'll likely be staying for quite some time, so I wanted to trouble you to keep an eye on my house."

"Oh dear," Old Man Ge frowned. "Ah Cheng, it's not that I'm being suspicious, but those high-and-mighty families are rarely kind-hearted. Why would your classmate be so generous?"

Lu Cheng hadn't considered this, but he quickly came up with a retort:

"Perhaps he sees how hard I study and wants to invest in me while I have yet to earn a title, hoping to recruit me as a private secretary in the future?"

Old Man Ge replied:

"Hmm, that makes sense. But why the rush? You could at least leave tomorrow."

Lu Cheng shook his head:

"I can't wait. That scholar began his lectures today; waiting until tomorrow would mean missing out on too much."

As he spoke, he handed over a sack:

"This is the leftover grain and vegetables from my house. Please remember to clear them out later so they don't go moldy."

Old Man Ge did not refuse the grain. After taking it, he turned and headed toward his house:

"You wait here a moment. I'll go get you some money. Yangcheng County isn't like our small village or town; you can't afford to be without money anywhere."

Lu Cheng hurried forward to stop him:

"There's no need, Uncle. My classmate has already prepared everything. I won't have to spend a single copper once I get there."

He had over ten taels of silver on his back; even after paying the tuition for his martial arts training, he wouldn't have to worry about food.

But no matter what Lu Cheng said, Old Man Ge insisted on going inside to get the money.

Helpless, Lu Cheng had to take advantage of the moment Old Man Ge was inside to slip away.

By the time Old Man Ge came back out, there was no sign of Lu Cheng anywhere.

He could only sigh and head to the kitchen to sort through the grain.

But when he opened the grain bag, he froze.

Buried within the brown millet was a money pouch.

Opening it, he found a neat string of one thousand copper coins.

Old Man Ge first shook his head, then broke into a wide grin:

"Heh, good lad. Then this old man will just consider himself to have gained another fine son."

Old Man Ge's own son was in his twenties, but he was a good-for-nothing gambler and drunkard who hadn't been home in over a month.

Leaving the kitchen for the main room, he called out to Old Woman Ge, who was sulking nearby:

"Old woman, go to the village entrance and get two jiao of wine for dinner."

Old Woman Ge was about to snap back, but she caught sight of the string of copper coins in Old Man Ge's hand.

She stood up immediately, glanced outside the courtyard, and asked in a low voice:

"Did Lu Cheng give you that? Has he left? I'll go heat up some food."

She wasn't stupid, nor was she cruel at heart; otherwise, Old Man Ge would never have been able to save Lu Cheng in the first place.

She had only been resentful because she saw Lu Cheng catching Silver Sturgeon but failing to offer any to their family first, leading her to believe she had rescued an ungrateful wretch.

Old Man Ge proudly slapped the money onto the table:

"If I waited for you to heat the food, we'd have starved to death. Just like a woman—long hair and short insight."

As noon approached, the fishing boats returned to the shore one after another, and the beach gradually grew lively.

In the wooden shed, several thugs watched the fishermen gathering in increasing numbers, beginning to feel uneasy:

"Why hasn't Master You shown up yet? Is he still collecting fish today?"

"I don't know. We've checked his house and Widow Xu's place, but haven't seen him. Hey, you don't think he went to the gang to pay the tribute, do you?"

An older thug shook his head:

"How could that be? The tribute isn't due until the day after tomorrow. Enough, stop guessing. Let's start collecting the fish first; we can check the gang headquarters when we deliver the fish this afternoon."

The bookkeeper asked:

"But all the money is with Master You. What are we supposed to use to pay for the fish?"

"What to use? Hmph, put it on credit!"