Joining the Sect

" so fast!" Zhang Yong stared at Lu Ren in shock.

His Bone Root ranked second. These past few days, he had been training so hard because he wanted to be the first to master the Turtle-Snake Great Stance.

But he figured it would still take him three or four days to master it, while Lu Ren had already done so.

"Congratulations, Brother Lu! You're amazing!"

Luo Dehu, the bootlicker, hurried over to Lu Ren with a fawning smile, showering him with flattery. In just a few days, he had become Lu Ren's devoted lackey.

No matter how exhausting his training was, he still dragged his weary body off to get Lu Ren's meals.

Everyone looked down on him and sneered behind his back, but Xu Yang understood that if Lu Ren was the only one who could become a martial artist, then Luo Dehu would probably be the most successful among them in the future.

If Lu Ren succeeded, Luo Dehu would be the earliest to follow him.

"Mastering the basics is nothing. How could it stop me?" Lu Ren said with a smile.

He had changed more than anyone else over the past few days. His every movement now brimmed with youthful spirit, and he had grown steadily more confident. A heroic air had begun to show in his features.

"Wait for me. I'm going to find Master and learn some boxing. I want to see the mysteries of the art for myself."

Having mastered the Turtle-Snake Great Stance, he could hardly wait. He turned and ran straight toward the Inner Courtyard.

"I'm almost there, too!"

Now that Lu Ren had mastered it, Xu Yang mastering it next wouldn't seem out of place.

Xu Yang looked at the Status Panel!

[Turtle-Snake Great Stance: 4/5]

[Martial Dao Longevity Points: 9]

Other than the first time, he had used the Status Panel to increase his progress in the Turtle-Snake Great Stance only once over the past few days. He could already feel that even without the panel, he would master it by tomorrow at the latest.

In other words, without using the panel, it would take him about eight days to master the Turtle-Snake Great Stance. That was slower than Lu Ren, but still faster than most people.

He had earned three Martial Dao Longevity Points each day over the past few days. If he kept lying low, his talent would surpass Lu Ren's sooner or later.

"When Brother Lu gets back, I'll ask him to show me how to master it. Back then, you thought I was holding you back when I asked everyone to stick together. Regretting it now, aren't you?"

Luo Dehu looked smug, hoping to see Xu Yang, Zhang Hong, and Zhang Yong regret their decision.

The ten of them had already split into small cliques. Luo Dehu and the five others with Grade D Superior Bone Structure were all on Lu Ren's side.

Xu Yang and the other two had never talked about forming an alliance, but they had still ended up loosely banding together against Luo Dehu's group.

"Can he show you how to master it when he's only just done so himself? If it's really that easy, wouldn't the senior brothers who mastered it before him be even better teachers?" Zhang Yong shot back without holding back.

Luo Dehu grinned. "Keep talking tough. When Brother Lu becomes a martial artist and you're sent packing in disgrace, I hope you can still say that."

Zhang Yong fell silent and resumed his stance, training once more. He really had no answer to that.

He trained harder than ever, pushing himself to the limit until he collapsed to the ground.

Half an hour later, Lu Ren returned, looking exhilarated and carrying several things in his hands.

"Brother Lu, how did it go?" Luo Dehu hurried over and offered to take the things from him.

But Lu Ren shifted aside instead of handing them over. "The boxing art really is profound. It's much harder than the Turtle-Snake Great Stance."

"What are those things you're carrying? Did Master Lin give them to you?" Luo Dehu asked curiously. Why had Lu Ren come back with things after going to learn boxing?

Lu Ren shook his head. "No. A senior brother and a senior sister from the Inner Courtyard gave them to me. A wild ginseng root that's five years old, and a packet of medicine for cleansing the body."

Luo Dehu was stunned. "The senior brothers and sisters from the Inner Courtyard are so generous?"

He didn't know how much the medicinal bath packet was worth, but a five-year-old wild ginseng root was worth at least two or three taels of silver. Once he mastered the Turtle-Snake Great Stance, could he get one too?

"Generous? It's not as if Senior Sister Gu Fang and Senior Brother Jiang Ping give congratulatory gifts to everyone who masters the Turtle-Snake Great Stance and enters the Inner Courtyard. They only give them to true geniuses."

The Zhou Brothers arrived with several older disciples and cupped their hands toward Lu Ren. "Congratulations on mastering the Turtle-Snake Great Stance, Junior Brother Lu. Now we can all practice boxing together and learn from each other through sparring."

"Of course!"

By the afternoon, news that Lu Ren had mastered the Turtle-Snake Great Stance had even reached the Huang Family. Huang Jin came by, not only to encourage Lu Ren, but also to increase the funds for his training from eight taels to ten. Everyone envied him.

The day passed quickly. It was the fifth day since Xu Yang and the others had joined Wei Yuan Hall. He had added one tael of silver to buy Body-Strengthening Soup, so today was once again a day to drink it.

After eating, the ten people who were united in appearance but divided at heart went to the Medicine Hall as usual. To their surprise, Zhang Hong's family had also given him one tael of silver to buy Body-Strengthening Soup, just like Luo Dehu's. That meant all five of them could drink it, just as they had last time.

Of course, Lu Ren was different from them. He got one bowl of Body-Strengthening Soup every two days, fifteen bowls a month.

After drinking the Body-Strengthening Soup, they headed out.

"Brother Lu mastering the basics is a happy occasion. How about we all chip in and celebrate?" Luo Dehu suddenly suggested, looking around at the others.

"Can you even eat another bite?"

"How many coins have you got in your pocket?"

Zhang Hong and Zhang Yong spoke almost at the same time, leaving Luo Dehu speechless.

Before this, none of them had even had enough to eat. They were young, too, with pockets emptier than their faces.

"Forget it. Maybe another time."

Lu Ren sighed. It was a major occasion and deserved a celebration, but he didn't have a single coin on him either. The ten of them probably couldn't even scrape together a hundred copper coins, not enough to pay for a pot of wine.

The next day, in the afternoon!

Beneath the blazing sun, Xu Yang's skin had taken on a bronze hue. His complexion, once fair, had turned dark.

Sweat soaked his trouser legs and dampened his hair. Beads as large as peas kept rolling down his cheeks and dripping onto the ground.

He was utterly focused, his chest and abdomen rising and falling as he exhaled clouds of hot breath.

"It's happening!"

Suddenly, delight spread across his face. In that last run-through, he had finally connected all the movements of the Turtle-Snake Great Stance without making the mistakes he had before.

That meant he had mastered the Turtle-Snake Great Stance. He only needed a little more practice to feel what it meant for strength to rise from the ground.

Xu Yang didn't continue training. Instead, he went to sit in the shade and carefully recalled everything that had happened, fixing that state in his memory. At the same time, he rested his body and prepared to master the Turtle-Snake Great Stance.

"What's Xu Yang up to? Has he given up and started slacking off?"

Zhang Yong glanced at Xu Yang.

He wanted to be the second to master the Turtle-Snake Great Stance. His only rivals were Xu Yang and Zhang Hong. As for Luo Dehu, the bootlicker, he had never taken him seriously.

When they got tired, they usually rested for no more than a quarter of an hour. But this time, Xu Yang had been resting for over a quarter of an hour. His eyes were closed, too, as if he were asleep.

He had never acted like this before. The only explanation Zhang Yong could think of was that Xu Yang had seen how difficult the martial path was and had started giving up.

"Maybe it's for the best. Better that than pushing himself until he's battered and bleeding."

After two quarters of an hour, Xu Yang felt that his body had fully recovered. He returned to the Martial Arts Arena and resumed his stance.

This time was different from all the others. As soon as the Turtle-Snake Great Stance began to flow, he felt the tendons and bones throughout his body move in rhythm with his breathing. His blood grew hotter and hotter.

At one moment, he felt a faint current of air rising from the ground, climbing up through his feet and over his shoulders before shooting to the top of his head. Then it slowly sank back down into his dantian.

Strength rose from the ground!

"Boom!"

In an instant, something seemed to explode. A surging tide burst out from his dantian and swept through his entire body. Xu Yang felt his blood boil like water in a pot. His whole body seemed to inflate as his muscles swelled.

It was as if a longstanding ailment had been swept away and he had been reborn. Under the wash of his boiling blood and qi, his tendons and bones tightened like bowstrings, growing stronger with every repeated tempering.

"I've mastered the Turtle-Snake Great Stance!"

Xu Yang was overjoyed. He finally understood why Lu Ren had been so excited when he broke through that day. It wasn't that he wanted to show off; the feeling of being reborn was simply that wonderful.

Being able to clearly feel his blood flowing and his tendons and bones growing stronger was indescribably marvelous, like a seedling pushing through the soil and greeting the warm spring breeze.

"Y-you've mastered the Turtle-Snake Great Stance?"

"That's right!"

When he opened his eyes, the first person he saw was Zhang Yong, lying exhausted on the ground, his face full of disbelief.