The next day.
During a break from his martial arts training, Lin Yan studied the Earth Vein True Interpretation.
The book was incredibly obscure. Fortunately, he had great patience. After making it through the dense, difficult passages at the beginning, he became utterly absorbed in it.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Is Junior Brother Lin there?"
The knocking came from outside. Lin Yan slipped the book into his robe, got up, and opened the door.
"Senior Brother Zhang?"
Seeing Zhang Liang standing at the entrance, Lin Yan looked puzzled. What had brought him to his home?
Senior Brother Zhang Liang was a second-stage Skin Polishing expert. He and Lin Yan weren't particularly close at the martial arts school, so there was no way he'd come by just to pay a visit.
"Junior Brother Lin, which room do you live in?"
Zhang Liang's manner was calm and detached. Though Lin Yan didn't understand why he'd come, he answered honestly. "I live in the side room on the right."
"Sorry for the trouble, Junior Brother Lin, but take me inside for a look."
"Senior Brother Zhang, is something the matter?" Lin Yan didn't move. He wanted a reason.
"Early this morning, Junior Brother Ge Hui's body was found by the river. You had a conflict with him while he was alive, so Master sent the two of us to investigate."
Lin Yan froze. "I did have a conflict with Ge Hui, but we're fellow students at the same school. I wouldn't go so far as to kill him."
"Don't worry, Junior Brother Lin. You aren't the only one being investigated. Other disciples at the school who had conflicts with Junior Brother Ge are being questioned as well. This isn't aimed at you alone."
Zhang Liang explained, his expression a little strange.
If they hadn't investigated, they wouldn't have known. Once they did, they found that plenty of junior disciples at the school had been at odds with Ge Hui.
"Since this is Master's arrangement, I'll show you in."
Lin Yan didn't insist. Fortunately, there were no secrets in his room. He'd burned the clothes he'd worn after each of his previous killings long ago.
"I had no choice but to follow Master's orders. Don't take it amiss, Junior Brother Lin."
After they left the room, Zhang Liang's attitude had softened considerably. Ge Hui hadn't been well liked among the school's disciples, but no matter what, fellow students couldn't kill each other.
Now that Lin Yan had largely been ruled out as a suspect, Zhang Liang's attitude naturally changed too.
"Where were you last night, Junior Brother Lin?"
"At home."
"Can anyone verify that?"
"I went to visit the gentleman who taught me to read at You hour. Around the second quarter of Xu hour, he came to my home and stayed for about a quarter of an hour."
Zhang Liang nodded. If Junior Brother Lin was telling the truth, they could rule him out.
The coroner had determined that Junior Brother Ge died around Xu hour, too.
"Thank you for being honest, Junior Brother. But you'll still need to come with me to the school and see Master."
"All right."
Lin Yan agreed. He was full of questions himself and wanted to know who had killed Ge Hui.
The martial arts school's back courtyard.
By the time Lin Yan arrived with Zhang Liang, more than a dozen disciples had gathered in the courtyard. Their faces were grim, their anger plain to see. Whatever their relationship with Ge Hui had been, in front of Master, they had to present a united front as fellow disciples.
Lin Yan glanced over the crowd, spotted Senior Brother Li as he had before, and silently went over to him.
"Senior Brother Li, what exactly happened?"
"Last night, Ge Hui was drinking with someone on a pleasure boat in the river. He disembarked at Xu hour to head home, but someone ambushed him by the riverbank. They smashed his head in with an iron rod or some other blunt weapon and robbed him of all his money. According to his family, he had more than a hundred taels in banknotes on him. They've all vanished."
Lin Yan's heart ached at once. More than a hundred taels in banknotes! That should have been his.
"Did Ge Hui really have that much money?"
"Ge Hui lied to his family, saying he needed it to break through to the second stage of Skin Polishing. Ten days ago, his father sold a storefront in the south of the city and gave him the proceeds—one hundred and thirty taels. And according to Senior Brother Hao's investigation, Ge Hui went to the pleasure boats every night for the past ten days, spending fifty taels in all."
Li An lowered his voice. "Plenty of people at the school knew how Ge Hui had been throwing his money around these past few days."
Lin Yan understood. No wonder Master suspected a disciple at the school might have done it.
Ge Hui had been at odds with plenty of people at the school. In the past, they'd all been fellow disciples, and the school had its rules. No one would have gone so far as to come to blows.
But add money to the equation, and that could change.
A hundred taels might not seem like much. The senior disciples at the school all had that kind of wealth, but no martial artist was ever short of expenses.
The more silver you had, the more ways there were to spend it on cultivation. There was never enough money.
Soon, footsteps sounded behind the screen. The disciples, who had been murmuring among themselves, fell silent at once.
Yang Qingfeng emerged from behind the side hall's screen, followed by Zhang Liang and seven other senior disciples.
Seeing them, Lin Yan realized Senior Brother Zhang hadn't been lying. He wasn't the only one under suspicion. The other senior disciples must have investigated the other disciples who were suspects, then reported their findings to Master inside.
Yang Qingfeng's sharp gaze swept over the disciples, as if he meant to see into each of their hearts. Only after a long pause did he speak. "Ge Hui was murdered. You already know this. From now on, be more cautious when you're out and about."
"Yes!"
Lin Yan and the others answered in unison.
Looking at all the disciples with their heads bowed, Yang Qingfeng was consumed with anger. He was furious that one of his disciples had been murdered, but even more furious at Ge Hui's arrogance.
Among the school's first-stage Skin Polishing disciples, four had been at odds with him. And among those who hadn't yet completed Skin Polishing, as many as ten resented him.
As for people outside the school, after a full morning of investigation, Ge Hui Qingfeng had learned that Ge Hui had relied on being Master's disciple and a first-stage Skin Polishing martial artist to bully the weak on many occasions.
He had personally visited the place where Ge Hui had been murdered. The killer had left no clues, and the attack had taken place by the riverbank where the pleasure boats docked. So many martial artists passed through that it was extremely difficult to identify anyone suspicious.
In these circumstances, the only lead was to investigate Ge Hui's enemies. But he had too many.
Heaven's misfortunes might still be survived; the calamities people brought upon themselves could not.
Yang Qingfeng said sharply, "Before you cultivate martial arts, cultivate your character. If anyone uses their status as a martial artist or a disciple of this school to bully the weak, they will be severely punished if discovered."
At this, the disciples all shuddered. They knew Master was truly furious this time.
After admonishing the disciples, Yang Qingfeng left. Only then did everyone relax a little, though their faces remained grim.
Even those who had been at odds with Ge Hui wouldn't be foolish enough to voice their true feelings now. Even the worst of people had a few friends, and Ge Hui was no exception. If they mocked him for getting what he deserved and one of his friends carried their words to Master, they'd only be asking for trouble.
Li An gave Lin Yan a look, and the two of them headed out of the courtyard.
"Junior Brother Lin, I'm planning to take an outside post."
"Senior Brother, you're going to take a post?"
Lin Yan was surprised. Senior Brother Li had completed first-stage Skin Polishing two and a half years ago, but he'd stayed at the school to train and hadn't taken an outside post.
Lin Yan had thought Senior Brother Li planned to remain at the school and push straight through to the second stage of Skin Polishing before considering an outside post. Why had he changed his mind?
Li An smiled bitterly, his voice low. "I'd planned to wait until after I tried to break through to the second stage before considering an outside post. Unfortunately, I failed a few days ago. The earliest I can try again is three months from now, and I'll need to recover during that time. The expenses will only keep piling up."
His family was better off than most of the school's disciples, but after failing to break through to the second stage, even he had to start worrying about money.
When martial artists failed a breakthrough while tempering their skin, their qi and blood became disordered. They needed medicine to recover, and the expenses soared. And there was no guarantee they would succeed the next time.
Each of the four stages of Skin Polishing was harder than the last.
"Junior Brother Lin, as someone who's been through it, I can only offer you one piece of advice: don't rush into a breakthrough. Even spending a few more months tempering your qi and blood costs far less than recovering after a failure. If I want to get my body back to normal, it'll cost me this much."
Li An held up his hand to indicate an amount. Lin Yan's pupils contracted. That much?
"One failed attempt costs a hundred taels in medicine and care. A second failure costs two hundred. If you fail a third time... you might as well give up."
That was the cruelty of the martial path. Cultivation was hard, and breaking through was harder still.
Fortunately, he had the Martial Dao Tree. Once his qi and blood reached the required level, he would automatically break through into the next realm.
Otherwise, with his family's means, one failed attempt would be enough to leave him with no way back.