Eldest Uncle as Matchmaker

Xu Yang and Wu Yongfeng looked at each other's clothes, both feeling that the other looked much more spirited.

"Come over here, I'll introduce you to the brothers."

Zhang Bo called the two over and began introducing the people present.

Like them, these few had all been recruited by the Liu Family from the martial arts hall, and basically all of them had succeeded in gathering Qi within the last ten to fifteen days.

A thought couldn't help but rise in Xu Yang's mind: what about the people from before?

As retainers who did not marry into the family and had no marital ties, it was reasonable for them to come and go as they pleased; it was normal for people to leave and for there to be vacancies.

But it wasn't normal for so many people to leave all at once.

Either the Liu Family had done something to wrong these retainers, causing everyone to leave in a fit of anger, or... the previous batch of people had all died, which was why the Liu Family had recruited so many people at once.

Sun Tao didn't mention this matter, whether intentionally concealing it, being unaware, or simply feeling it was unnecessary.

It seems I need to inquire about this privately. If there is danger, I will retreat and leave immediately.

Xu Yang thought to himself.

He hadn't even warmed his seat yet, so naturally, he couldn't have any loyalty to the Liu Family. If there were real danger, he wouldn't risk his life for them.

The two didn't stay at the Liu Family for long, as another shift came to relieve them.

Although the Liu Family provided them with rooms, they were only for resting during their shifts and they were not allowed to live at the Liu Family estate.

The two left the Liu Family and returned to Wei Yuan Hall to continue their training.

In the blink of an eye, seven days passed, and Xu Yang gradually adapted to this rhythm of life.

He spent his mornings at the Liu Family and his afternoons training at Wei Yuan Hall.

In those seven days, he hadn't seen the master of the Huang Family, nor had he gone out to serve as a guard; it was as if this job had nothing to do, other than running to the Liu Family every day for a meal.

As for his inquiries, he hadn't learned anything either.

On this day, Zhou Yang sensed the opportunity to break through his bottleneck, but failed to gather his Qi. Under the backlash of his internal energy, he was carried out of Wei Yuan Hall.

Two days later, his cousin Zhou Yuan also failed his breakthrough, and the brothers ended up in a dismal state.

The brothers who once bossed them around had become losers.

Another day later, while Xu Yang was sparring with Wu Yongfeng, he heard the news that Luo Dehu was attempting his breakthrough.

After greeting Wu Yongfeng, he ran to the Outer Courtyard, only to find Luo Dehu sitting on the ground with a pale face, looking as if he were suffering from a severe illness.

Zhang Hong, Zhang Yong, and Qian Jiaxing stood to the side, silent.

"I'm out!" Luo Dehu was distraught, his entire spirit and energy drained away.

It wasn't until Lu Ren appeared that a glimmer of life returned to his eyes.

Although he had failed, as long as he followed Lu Ren, he would still have a meal to eat in the future and wouldn't have to return to the fields to scrape for food.

"Brother Lu Ren..."

He struggled to stand up, but failed.

Qian Jiaxing didn't reach out to help him, and Lu Ren didn't move from his spot.

"Go back and be an ordinary person!"

Lu Ren stared at him for a while, then turned and strode away.

What use was someone who failed his breakthrough to him? He couldn't fight, couldn't carry, and still needed to be fed.

He wasn't the son of a wealthy family; he couldn't afford to support a lackey.

"It seems your two months of flattery were in vain," Xu Yang laughed.

He wasn't someone who returned evil with kindness; seeing Luo Dehu's end, he only felt satisfied.

Luo Dehu's face turned even whiter.

If Xu Yang had mocked him before, he would have retaliated on the spot, but now, he didn't even have the courage to look at Xu Yang.

After resting for a while, he stumbled to his feet and disappeared from Wei Yuan Hall forever.

Qian Jiaxing kept staring at his retreating back, wondering what he was thinking—perhaps he was wondering if Lu Ren would kick him away just as easily if he failed his breakthrough in a few days.

Zhang Hong and Zhang Yong rarely saw Xu Yang, so they quickly forgot about Luo Dehu's situation. They huddled in a corner, asking Xu Yang for tips on breaking through.

Xu Yang was not stingy; he shared what he knew and advised the two not to rush their breakthroughs, suggesting they focus more on tempering their bodies and nourishing their blood and Qi through the Turtle-Snake Great Stance.

"Xu Yang, I was wrong!"

Qian Jiaxing gathered his courage, walked up to Xu Yang, and bowed deeply to him.

Today, he had finally seen Lu Ren's true colors.

Xu Yang stopped his conversation with Zhang Hong and the other, looked back, and smiled: "No, you don't know you were wrong. You just realized that you are going to fail, that you won't have a backer in the future, and you are afraid, so you want to reconnect with me."

Luo Dehu had a Grade C aptitude and still failed his breakthrough; Qian Jiaxing's aptitude was even worse than Luo Dehu's, so the probability of failure was very high.

Qian Jiaxing's face turned pale in an instant.

He was indeed trying to leave himself a way out, hoping that even if he failed, he would still have a martial artist friend who could serve as a backer in the future.

"I'll be waiting for you in the Inner Courtyard."

After exchanging greetings with Zhang Yong and Zhang Hong, Xu Yang returned to the Inner Courtyard to continue his cultivation.

Technique: Turtle-Snake Great Stance · Minor Success (4/300), Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist · Minor Success (6/500)

"This is too hard!"

It had been nearly ten days since he successfully gathered Qi, yet the growth of his true Qi was as slow as a snail. Of course, this was mainly because he lacked the money for medicinal supplements, relying solely on grueling training and the nutrients absorbed from his food.

Things like Body-Strengthening Soup were already useless for a Qi-gathering martial artist; what he should be taking was Blood-Qi Powder, or the even more effective Qi-Boosting Powder.

Blood-Qi Powder cost two taels of silver per dose.

Qi-Boosting Powder was even more outrageous, at five taels of silver per dose.

A single dose could equal seven days of grueling training, and for those with good aptitude and strong absorption, it could equal over ten days.

Sometimes he even wondered if he should just find a woman to support him so he wouldn't have to suffer like this.

"Comprehension, upgrade!"

After a moment's thought, he added all the points he had accumulated over the past few days into Comprehension.

[Comprehension: 27]

"Wait another ten days, and my Comprehension will reach the next level."

The slow increase in true Qi was primarily due to his inability to keep up with food and medicinal supplementation.

The slow progress of the Turtle-Snake Great Stance and the Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist, however, was mainly due to his Comprehension.

His Comprehension was actually far inferior to Lu Ren's. The reason he had been able to keep up with Lu Ren in the past was mainly due to the panel's boosts; now that he wasn't using the panel to upgrade his techniques, their progress had slowed down.

After practicing his fist techniques for a while longer, an Outer Courtyard disciple came to find him, saying someone was looking for him outside.

"Cousin!"

When Xu Yang arrived outside Wei Yuan Hall, he saw it was his cousin, Zhou Xia.

He had thought something had happened, but it turned out his uncle, Zhou Shunchang, wanted him to come over for a meal.

Seeing that the day was drawing to a close, Xu Yang immediately left with Zhou Xia. By the time they arrived at Zhou Shunchang's house, the meal was already prepared.

"A-Yang, you're not young anymore. Now that you've achieved some success in martial arts, it's time to settle down."

After the meal, Zhou Shunchang brought up the reason he had invited Xu Yang over.

"Uncle, are you trying to introduce a girl to me?" Xu Yang laughed.

At his age, it was the right time to get married, and it was perfectly normal for Zhou Shunchang, as his uncle, to worry about his marriage prospects.

Zhou Shunchang nodded. "That's right. It's a young lady from the Huang Family. They entrusted me to ask what you think."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yang pondered for a moment and understood. He raised an eyebrow and said, "The Huang Family certainly has a clever scheme. They don't want to hire me as a retainer, yet they want me to be at their disposal."

Zhou Shunchang glared at him. "What kind of nonsense are you spouting? The Huang Family is willing to marry their daughter to you out of respect for your uncle."

Xu Yang didn't take Zhou Shunchang's words to heart.

Although he worked as an accountant for the Huang Family, he was just an ordinary person and didn't understand many of the intricacies between martial artists.

He thought that a young lady from a wealthy family taking a fancy to a poor boy like him was a blessing earned over eight lifetimes, unaware of the hidden agendas involved.