Privileges

The following morning.

The shouts and strikes echoing across the courtyard of the Outer Hall were sparser than usual.

Quite a few disciples spontaneously stopped their fist forms and boxing stances, gathering toward the front gates of the Martial Hall to see off a departing fellow disciple.

Chen Cheng watched from afar. The man was named Zhou Heng, in his early twenties and having spent two or three years in the Outer Hall. He was also a super workaholic on par with Lin Fengxiao.

Whenever Chen Cheng practiced late into the night, he always saw this man sweating profusely with a tireless silhouette.

Things were going well enough; why leave?

Doubt lingered in Chen Cheng's heart until he heard the low murmurs of the disciples returning from the farewell, finally finding an answer.

Senior Brother Zhou is truly to be pitied. His bone-structure and comprehension are not bad at all, and he works so hard. Yet that third strand of Blood Qi—no matter how many times he charges the barrier, again and again, it simply refuses to condense...

I heard it is because his family is nearly being dragged down to ruin by him... He has to leave.

Sigh... There is no helping it either. Not everyone can be like Xiao Yi, who was recruited into the Inner Hall as an exception... Ordinary disciples like us who want to enter the Inner Hall have no choice but to condense the third strand of Blood Qi.

Indeed. Without entering the Inner Hall, one has no qualification to participate in the Martial Selection... Without being able to participate in the Martial Selection, what is the point of practicing martial arts? Truly, it is better to cut off such delusions early and go out to earn more money while you are young. Life might become a little easier in the future...

Do not think so far ahead just yet... Among the hundred-odd disciples here in the Outer Hall, many cannot even condense the second strand of Blood Qi...

That is true... Hurry up and practice. Condensing the second strand of Blood Qi will also bring different treatment... If one never makes progress, sooner or later their drive will be ground away to nothing...

Sigh... Back to training...

The whispers drifted away low in the morning wind, stirring a chill of the rabbit grieving for the fox within everyone's body and mind.

The path of martial arts had always been brutal; those who could truly step up level by level, marching forward without turning back, were forever an extreme minority.

Who could say whether the next one to leave would be themselves?

Yet even such worries were privileges belonging only to the Black-Badge disciples. As for the White-Badge disciples carrying death-pledge contracts, whether they stayed or left was never up to them.

The Outer Hall examinations were drawing closer and closer. Those whose strength had shown no progress for a long time and who were judged to have exhausted their potential would be sent away directly without exception, fulfilling their death-pledge to pay off their debts.

Chen Cheng glanced toward the direction of the Inner Hall; this goal was no longer too far away for him.

Yet right at that moment, amidst the shadows beneath the eaves in the distance, several gazes clung to Chen Cheng as if nothing or something were there, carrying scrutiny and malice.

They were precisely the few people who had recently grown extremely close to Xiao Yi and were renowned in the Outer Hall for their well-to-do family backgrounds.

Tch... Why do I feel that today... something smells a bit off about that brat?

Sun An possessed a slightly chubby physique and narrow, slender eye-slits, habitually fond of squinting his eyes when looking at people.

That vigor and spirit, that fist momentum... Could it be that he has condensed the second strand of Blood Qi?

Impossible!

The one taking up the conversation was Dong Li. He was tall and robust, his face always carrying a trace of arrogance. Hearing this without even thinking, the corners of his mouth curled into an undisguised sneer.

A cheap, spineless wretch who crawled out of the slums, and I heard his bone-structure is of the lowest grade. The day he arrived, Master Ye could not even be bothered to take a single glance at him... Just by relying on him? Without three to five years, I am afraid he cannot even touch the shadow of a second strand of Blood Qi!

Whether it is possible or not, what is the use of just standing here guessing? Why not test it and find out?

The last person to speak was named Luo Boqing, whose features appeared somewhat delicate and feminine, his gaze often carrying the shrewdness of scheming.

In any case, this brat used to be close to that unlucky bastard Qian Baolu, and Senior Brother Xiao has long found him an eyesore... Why don't we go and probe his depth first?

The few exchanged glances and were about to move when their footsteps suddenly froze.

They saw the vermilion-lacquered small door of the Inner Hall slowly open, and a slender, graceful cyan figure step out.

It was none other than the sixth senior sister of the Inner Hall, Zhuang Zhuang.

Judging by her hurried pace, she seemed to have matters requiring her to go out.

Yet precisely at that moment, Chen Cheng, who had been quietly practicing his punches in the distance, abruptly ended his stance, casually wiped the sweat from his forehead, and walked straight toward Zhuang Zhuang.

When Luo Boqing and his companions saw this posture, every single one of them shrank back.

In front of an Inner Hall disciple, where was there any room for them to act presumptuously?

They could only stay planted in place, staring with wide eyes.

On the other side.

Chen Cheng had already reached her vicinity, cupping his fists in a salute: "Senior Sister Zhuang, disciple Chen Cheng, I have a matter to report."

"...Junior Brother Chen, speak."

Zhuang Zhuang stopped her steps and slightly lowered her chin.

"When practicing yesterday, this disciple fortuitously condensed the second strand of Blood Qi. I heard... the treatment will be different?"

"You? You managed it?"

A trace of astonishment flashed across the depths of Zhuang Zhuang's eyes.

She did not hold a shallow impression of Chen Cheng.

For one, Chen Cheng was the only person in the past half-year and more to crawl up from that ghost place of the Lower Academy.

For another, Master Ye had spared even the routine meeting back then; no one in the hall could fail to understand what that meant.

Such a youth who emerged from the slums, with no resources to speak of and no bone-structure to rely on, could actually condense a second strand of blood within such a short time?

This speed was even faster than Xiao Yi, who had newly squeezed into the Inner Hall!

Zhuang Zhuang was genuinely stunned for a moment before steadying her state of mind.

"Talk is cheap, I must test you with my own hands."

"Please go ahead, Senior Sister."

Chen Cheng's expression was calm as he moved half a step forward.

Zhuang Zhuang raised her hand and placed it on Chen Cheng's shoulder. A wisp of tingling internal force instantly penetrated into his body, coursing through his entire frame in an instant.

Chen Cheng only felt his bones and tendons slightly vibrate, even the tips of his hair trembling gently as if struck by electricity.

"Re... really managed it!"

Zhuang Zhuang's pair of beautiful eyes abruptly widened, yet the expression on her face was somewhat complicated.

She withdrew her hand, her fingertips curling unconsciously.

"Your bone-structure is clearly of the lowest grade, how could you succeed so quickly... Moreover... your Blood Qi seems even more solid and thick than an ordinary person's..."

Chen Cheng did not pick up the thread, merely shaking his head slightly to indicate that he himself was not clear either.

"Regardless, you have indeed succeeded..."

Zhuang Zhuang steadied herself and said.

"Go to the General Affairs Room to register, change to a Silver-Letter Waist Badge, and henceforth you may obtain a complimentary portion of Venison Medicinal Meal daily, receive guidance from Master Ye once a month, and the Martial Hall can also recommend you to take up a post in some large-scale establishments or wealthy households..."

She paused for a moment, then added another sentence.

"As for how much you can earn and how high you can climb outside the hall, that depends entirely on your own ability."

Chen Cheng nodded, cupping his fists in gratitude.

Zhuang Zhuang did not linger further, turning and walking swiftly toward the exterior of the hall.

Chen Cheng continued to set up his posture, tempering the Crouching Dragon Fist, his mood experiencing no excessive fluctuations.

In his view, Master Ye's guidance and the recommendation opportunities held little significance.

The sole tangible and real benefit was the free Venison Medicinal Meal.

A daily portion was worth five qian of silver, and calculated at thirty days a month, it could save him a full fifteen taels of ready cash.

This sum could purchase three bottles of Blood-Boosting Powder, enough for him to use for ten or twenty days.

The inside and outside forming a virtuous cycle could indeed greatly alleviate his financial pressure.

One does not know the cost of firewood and rice until running a household.

One does not know the expense of the literary-poor and martial-rich until practicing martial arts—this was by no means an empty saying.

The windfall wealth just acquired that night had already been mostly spent by today, and the remaining small fraction would quickly be used up. Not to mention anything else, the Blood-Boosting Powder was already exhausted, and he would have to go purchase more.

In the distance.

Luo Boqing and the others were still glancing intentionally or unintentionally at Chen Cheng, only the scrutiny and malice within their gazes had clearly converged.

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