Gaining Fame

When Lu Zhen carried that heavy rosewood chest and pushed open the dilapidated gate of his home in Pig Cage Alley.

Inside the house, the stove fire was burning bright.

Shen Yun was sitting at the table with Lu Wan, huddled near the light to paste paper onto firewood. Hearing the gate creak and steady footsteps entering the main room, both of them looked up instinctively.

"Brother?"

Lu Wan's eyes widened as she looked at Lu Zhen, who was covered in the frost of travel and even had patches of dark red blood on his clothes. Her face was full of astonishment: "Didn't you say the water route would take four days? How are you back in half a day?"

Lu Zhen dumped the rosewood chest off his shoulder with a heavy "thud" in the corner, pulled off his sheepskin vest stained with river water and the stench of blood, and spoke in a flat tone:

"Ran into Black Dragon Water Bandits. We fought on the river, the boat couldn't go any further, so the job was cut short and I came back."

"Water Bandits?!"

Upon hearing those two words, the needle and thread in Shen Yun's hand stopped abruptly.

She stood up with a start, the worry in her eyes surging like a tide.

"You ran into water bandits? Are you hurt anywhere? Did you see any blood? Quick, take off your inner shirt and let me see..."

Her voice was frantic, and her fair hands were already reaching toward Lu Zhen, ready to check if he was hiding any knife wounds.

But just as her hands reached mid-air, Shen Yun's body suddenly stiffened.

She caught a glimpse of Lu Wan, who was still sitting in her original spot out of the corner of her eye.

Although the little girl also looked concerned, she was currently staring straight at her with a slightly stunned and strange expression.

A "buzz" went off in Shen Yun's brain.

She suddenly realized—the man's own sister was still sitting there calmly, and she, a widow merely staying in their home, had reacted with such burning anxiety that she was about to strip a man's clothes off. It was far too much, far too over the line!

This didn't look like a neighborly big sister; it looked exactly like a young wife terrified that her husband had met with an accident, losing all sense of propriety in her panic!

"I... I..."

Shen Yun's hands, suspended in mid-air, retracted as if electrocuted and twisted together tightly.

She lowered her head in a panic, biting her lower lip hard, feeling so awkward she wished she could find a crack in the blue-brick floor to crawl into, not even knowing where to put her hands or feet.

The atmosphere in the room became extremely awkward, leaving only the "crackling" sound of coal burning in the stove.

Seeing Shen Yun's bashful and embarrassed appearance, as if she wanted to bury her head in her chest, a trace of warmth flickered in Lu Zhen's heart, and the murderous aura he had accumulated on the river dissipated completely.

He didn't point out the awkwardness, but simply smiled gently:

"Sister Shen, Wan'er, don't worry. I'm fine, not even a scratch."

He stretched his limbs, causing his bones to pop with crisp sounds: "Those water bandits were dealt with before they could even get close. With this Copper Skin Iron Bone of mine, ordinary blades can't hurt me in the slightest."

Hearing Lu Zhen's calm and resonant voice, Shen Yun's pounding heart finally settled back into her chest, though the blush on her face had yet to fade. She responded in a voice as soft as a mosquito: "That's good... it's good that you're fine. I'll go get you some hot water to wash your face..."

With that, she turned and scurried into the kitchen as if fleeing.

Deep in the night.

The battle at Soul-Falling Gorge, that great terror between life and death, not only allowed Lu Zhen to break through to the late stage of Lianli, but his blood, energy, and martial arts were also honed to the extreme in the crucible of life-and-death combat.

[Daily Settlement Panel Activated]

[Today's Settlement: Half-day river escort, one life-and-death struggle, dozens of enemies killed!]

[Basic Rewards: Ocean Dollars +100, one crate of Red Scale Treasure Fish, one Century-Old Mountain Ginseng. Profession EXP +5, Martial Arts EXP +50, Physique EXP +30, General EXP +50]

[Level Bonus Triggered: Daily Settlement Lv.3 (Daily rewards multiplied by 3)]

[Final Gains: Ocean Dollars +300, three crates of Red Scale Treasure Fish, three Century-Old Mountain Ginsengs. Profession EXP +15, Martial Arts EXP +150, Physique EXP +90, General EXP +150!]

[Lu Zhen (30 years old)]

Wealth: 346 Ocean Dollars (plus three crates of Red Scale Treasure Fish, three Century-Old Mountain Ginsengs)

Current Profession: River Guard

Level: Daily Settlement Lv.3 (155/800)

Skills:

Cart Pulling Lv.3 (50/800)

Boat Piloting Lv.2 (15/20)

Coiling Dragon Stake Lv.4 (150/3000)

Iron Wire Fist Lv.4 (150/3000)

Physique: Copper Skin Iron Bone Lv.4 (270/3000)

General EXP: 255 points

Lu Zhen took out a coarse earthenware pot, sliced half a piece of dried Red Scale Treasure Fish, and very carefully cut a thin whisker from the Century-Old Mountain Ginseng, boiling them over a high flame with well water.

In less than half an hour, the pot was bubbling with a dark red, thick soup, and a highly potent medicinal aroma, mixed with a strong earthy scent and an exotic fragrance, rushed straight to his nose.

The fish is for alienating blood and energy, while the ginseng is for sustaining life and fortifying the foundation. When these two are combined, they form the supreme "Dragon-Tiger Great Medicine" of the saying that "the poor study, the rich practice martial arts."

Lu Zhen did not hesitate; he picked up the clay pot and drank the scalding, thick soup—meat and broth alike—in one continuous gulp.

"BOOM!"

As the liquid hit his stomach, it felt as if he had swallowed a piece of burning charcoal.

An unprecedented, violent surge of heat exploded from his stomach, like a wild horse breaking its reins, rushing madly through his extraordinary meridians and into every limb and bone.

Lu Zhen's skin, which had already taken on a dark, greenish sheen, turned as bright red as a boiled shrimp.

What tyrannical medicinal power!

Lu Zhen dared not show the slightest negligence; he immediately stomped his feet in the cramped inner room.

Lv.4 Coiling Dragon Stake!

His body sank, his spine—the Great Dragon—straightened instantly, and accompanied by a dense, popping sound like frying beans, a low "humming" vibration emanated from his chest and abdomen, resembling the Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound.

Under the extreme pressure and circulation of the Lv.4 Coiling Dragon Stake, that violent medicinal power was absorbed thread by thread, forcibly fused into his bone marrow and internal organs.

Sweat poured out like paste, evaporating into white mist from the terrifying heat on his skin before it could even hit the ground.

For two full hours, until the sky outside turned a pale, fish-belly white, Lu Zhen finally slowed his breathing and ended his practice.

He exhaled a breath of turbid air that shot out over three feet, lingering for a long time.

He summoned his panel for a glance; under the combined effects of the treasure fish, old ginseng, and the triple settlement, his physique experience had surged by another significant margin.

Not only that, but as Lu Zhen closed his eyes, he could clearly feel the surging blood and energy that had previously only roamed between his skin, flesh, tendons, and bones now beginning to permeate his internal organs.

He had taken a solid, major step closer to the threshold of "Internal practice of a breath, external release like steel"—the Bright Force.

Early morning, Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall inner courtyard.

When Lu Zhen, dressed in his black silk, gold-trimmed Inner Sect martial attire, stepped over the high threshold, the atmosphere in the courtyard was vastly different from usual.

Although the Gu Family Chamber of Commerce had suffered losses during the battle at Soul-Falling Gorge, Lu Zhen's breakthrough to the late stage of Lianli before the battle and his reputation for holding his ground with a single iron staff, smashing several fierce bandits into pulp, had already spread throughout the martial arts hall.

The moment he appeared, the several Inner Sect senior brothers who had been tempering their strength immediately stopped what they were doing and simultaneously put on warm, welcoming smiles.

"Junior Brother Lu, morning!"

"Junior Brother Lu, that water route trip really showed off the prestige of our Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall! I heard you smashed that water bandit leader into meat paste with a single strike? What a brilliant skill!"

The pugilistic world is just this realistic.

A thirty-year-old at the middle stage of Lianli is just an old soldier wasting his days; but a thirty-year-old at the late stage of Lianli, combined with that unreasonable, monstrous strength, is a genuine expert capable of holding down the fort. Who would dare show the slightest disrespect?

Only Zhang Lei, shirtless in a corner of the Training Ground, had a face as gloomy as water. "BANG!" He slammed a heavy punch into the iron-clad Wooden Dummy, causing it to shake violently.

Gu Yanzhi waved his folding fan, strode over, and patted Lu Zhen on the shoulder affectionately.

But unlike usual, the smile on his face carried a hint of heaviness.

Yan Shanshan also leaned in from the side and whispered, "Junior Brother Lu, you've certainly stolen the spotlight, but... Zhao Peng and Song Shi have run into trouble."

"Trouble?" Lu Zhen was startled upon hearing this.

Gu Yanzhi sighed softly and lowered his voice: "Just last night, the Four Seas Escort Agency was on an outer route escort mission when they encountered fierce bandits drifting in from the south. The team was scattered.

That stuttering Junior Brother Song Shi, who had just entered the Inner Sect, was hacked to death by a flurry of blades while trying to cover the employer."

He paused, his eyes complex. "Senior Brother Zhao Peng, who was so slick and worldly, had his heel tendons severed. His life was saved, but his martial arts and that leg are completely ruined."

Lu Zhen remained silent.

Song Shi. That low-level apprentice who had hysterically struck three sounds in the arena just to beg for a way to survive, thinking he had finally leaped over the dragon gate, only to find a bottomless abyss behind it.

Even someone as calculating and self-preserving as Zhao Peng could only end up a cripple in the face of absolute violence.

Indeed.

This martial arts life, licking blood from the edge of a blade, is bought with one's life.

Lu Zhen sighed inwardly. It was fortunate he hadn't chosen to go to a place like the Four Seas Escort Agency, where internal strife was severe and the hostility was extreme.

Taking the water route with the Gu Family Chamber of Commerce was not exactly peaceful, but Gu Yanzhi was a righteous man who was generous with his rewards. In this world, since one is gambling with their life anyway, one might as well follow a decent employer.

This man-eating chaotic world has no room for even a shred of luck.

"Creak—"

The door to the main hall opened.

Xiong Yue walked out, headed straight for the crowd, and cupped her hands toward Lu Zhen:

"Junior Brother Lu, Master is drinking tea in the back hall and wants you to come in alone."

The laughter in the courtyard ceased instantly.

Being summoned to the back hall alone by the Hall Master was a privilege reserved only for disciples truly valued by the Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall.

Lu Zhen nodded to the group, straightened his collar, and strode into the main hall.