A Month

Bang!

Li Hu's body went limp and collapsed to the ground. Xu Yang began gasping for breath.

He had killed three people in less than half a minute, but it was his first time killing anyone—and Li Hu was a vicious man. How could he not be nervous?

He had also been holding his breath the whole time. Now that he finally let it out, his hands and feet felt weak, and his heart pounded like a war drum. He could even hear it going "thump, thump, thump," as if it were about to leap right out of his chest.

"Too bloody!"

Looking at the blood covering the ground and the white brain matter, he couldn't help feeling sick.

He hadn't wanted to make such a mess. It would make the murder scene easier to discover and the corpses harder to dispose of. But with all three of them showing up together, he couldn't afford to worry about that if he wanted to kill them all.

Fortunately, it was night, and they were outside the village. The chances of anyone coming across them were practically nil, so he could take his time dealing with everything.

He dragged Li Liang and Li Jian over to a field ridge, drained their blood, and searched their bodies while he was at it.

After rummaging around for a while, Xu Yang discovered that the three of them had less than two taels of silver between them—just one tael and a few dozen copper coins. They were even poorer than he was.

There was also a dagger, but it wasn't worth much.

After a while longer, he had mostly recovered, and Li Jian and Li Liang had been drained of most of their blood.

He immediately hid Li Hu's corpse in the nearby woods, then picked up Li Liang and Li Jian's bodies and headed into the mountains.

Over the past few days, he hadn't just been lying in wait here. He had also dug a place to bury the bodies in advance.

Each corpse weighed around a hundred and thirty pounds, and they were a little heavy to carry. It took him half an hour, but at last he buried all three bodies in the mountains several kilometers away.

He returned to the scene and used branches to sweep away the bloodstains, then covered them with some dirt.

He knew he hadn't done a very good job, but as long as he covered up some of the evidence and no one could tell who had died there, that was enough.

Even if someone from Big Tree Village passed by tomorrow and realized there might have been a killing there the previous night, no one would bother to investigate.

He Shicai's family hadn't even reported it to the authorities when he was forced to his death, let alone over a scene where no one knew who had died. Anyone who came across it would just keep their distance, afraid of inviting trouble.

When he got home, Xu Qing hadn't noticed he'd gone out. After cleaning the blood off his hands, he climbed into bed and went to sleep.

The first thing Xu Yang did when he opened his eyes the next day was look at the Status Panel:

[Martial Dao Longevity Points: 43]

"Killing people gives rewards, too?"

During this time, he had spent all his points on adding one point to Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist each day, and hadn't touched the rest.

When Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist reached the entry level, he had received ten points. He remembered having thirty-three points yesterday, which meant the Status Panel had awarded him ten points for the previous night.

That's right. Li Hu and the other two wanted to kill me. Killing them is good for Martial Dao Longevity, too.

Xu Yang quickly figured it out, then put all his points into Bone Root, raising it to "34."

That day, no one realized Li Hu and the others were dead. Neither their families nor the Tri-Union Gang had any idea.

They thought Li Hu and the others were still in hiding, and figured they were doing a fine job of it—that they could hold their own under pressure.

That day, the Outer Courtyard disciples of Wei Yuan Hall noticed Xu Yang had stopped slacking off and sleeping. He had started working hard again.

The next day, Li Hu and the other two still hadn't shown up. The Tri-Union Gang and their families all figured they ought to be back by now.

After all, five days had passed, and He Shicai's family still hadn't reported them to the authorities. They could come out now.

"Why's Li Hu gotten so cowardly? Why hasn't he come out yet?"

On the sixth day, Li Hu and the others still hadn't appeared, and someone from the Tri-Union Gang started making fun of them.

"I'm afraid something happened to Li Hu!"

On the seventh day, someone from the Tri-Union Gang finally realized that Li Hu and the others might have met with trouble. They sent people out to search everywhere, and soon everyone knew the three had disappeared.

"Good riddance! Heaven has finally taken those three beasts!"

He Shicai's family clapped and cheered, and the neighbors in White Stone Ward called it satisfying, though they didn't dare show their joy openly.

A few more days passed, and Li Hu and the others still hadn't appeared. The Tri-Union Gang sent someone else to take over Li Hu's duties, and no one cared about the three men's fate anymore.

In the blink of an eye, Xu Yang and the others had been at Wei Yuan Hall for a month.

On the Plum Blossom Stakes, Xu Yang's qi and blood settled. He slowly withdrew from the Turtle-Snake Great Stance.

[Turtle-Snake Great Stance · Entry Level (30/100)]

[Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist · Entry Level (61/150)]

Xu Yang exhaled a breath of stale air. His progress in Turtle-Snake Great Stance was now only half that of his Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist.

At this point, he was confident that his progress in Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist was at least as good as Lu Ren's—perhaps even better.

It had only been half a month since he reached the entry level in Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist. Aside from adding one point of progress each day with the Status Panel, he had done all the training himself. In other words, he was advancing by an average of three points a day.

At this rate, even if he stopped using the Status Panel to add points, he would reach the threshold of the First Martial Barrier in Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist by next month at the latest.

"Xu Yang, come down and trade a few moves with me!" Zhang Hong called.

By now, everyone in their batch had long since reached the entry level in Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist.

Wei Yuan Hall required its disciples to spar often and gain real combat experience while practicing Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist. Zhang Hong lost every time, but he still sparred with Xu Yang often.

"Sure!"

Xu Yang leaped down from the Plum Blossom Stakes and threw a punch in midair. Zhang Hong was sent stumbling backward.

"Your strength is downright frightening."

Zhang Hong shook out his numb arm, then charged over with a Bear Pounce. The two quickly grappled with each other.

"I'm done, I'm done! I give up!"

After twenty moves, Zhang Hong shouted his surrender and lay on the ground, panting.

"Haha... Senior Brother Zhang Hong, sparring with Senior Brother Xu Yang again?" a voice called. A young man in a blue training uniform walked over with a smile.

His name was Qiu Wenjie, a new disciple of Wei Yuan Hall.

After a month, Xu Yang and the others had long since become old hands in the Outer Courtyard.

When Qiu Wenjie had first arrived, Xu Yang had been sleeping every day. Seeing how idle he was, Qiu Wenjie came to ask him about the Turtle-Snake Great Stance. After a while, the two of them grew familiar with Xu Yang and Zhang Hong.

The three chatted for a while, then Zhang Hong got up to practice his fists. Xu Yang also stood, but Qiu Wenjie grabbed him.

"Is something wrong?" Xu Yang asked, puzzled.

Qiu Wenjie nodded. "My father heard that Senior Brother Xu has been looking out for me lately. He's planning to host a dinner tonight to thank you. I hope you'll do us the honor."

Xu Yang furrowed his brow. He had given Qiu Wenjie a few pointers, but surely that wasn't worth his father hosting a dinner to thank him.

A dinner like that would cost at least one or two taels of silver. He didn't think those few pointers he'd given Qiu Wenjie were worth that much.

What could the other party be hoping to get from him?

The only thing Xu Yang could think of was the Tri-Union Gang. After all, he had killed some of their people. But when he thought it over, there weren't any high-ranking members of the Tri-Union Gang surnamed Qiu. Besides, if they wanted to deal with him, there was no need to go to so much trouble.

"Just tell me what's really going on!" Unable to figure it out, Xu Yang asked outright.

Qiu Wenjie answered honestly, "All right. After hearing about you, my father wanted to discuss something with you. He's probably hoping to help you with your martial arts training."

The afternoon came quickly. Xu Yang hadn't wanted to waste time; he planned to eat his bowl of meat before going to the dinner. But Qiu Wenjie said his father had already prepared food and wine, then pulled Xu Yang along.