The Bold Get Fat

It was still the same dilapidated courtyard where Lin Yan had first arrived in this world.

The martial artist who had appeared at the teahouse sat in the seat of honor, draped in fine robes.

Anyone with their wits about them would have sensed that something was wrong. A dignified martial artist would never set foot in such a crumbling, wretched hovel.

However, Lin Yan was currently playing the part of a boy blinded by the joyous news of martial arts training, so he naturally wouldn't point out the absurdity.

"My lord, these are pastries I bought specifically from the Orchid Fragrance Pavilion. Please, do me the honor of accepting them."

Seeing Lin Yan open the paper parcel, Zhao Chuan and Zhang Dahai exchanged a glance, a flicker of disdain crossing their eyes.

How foolishly naive; to think a few bags of pastries were worth "doing the honor" of accepting. But such stupidity made him all the easier to swindle.

"You have a good heart."

Zhao Chuan picked up a pastry and took a bite.

"My lord, how does it taste?"

Zhao Chuan froze. What a greenhorn. Only a superior or an elder would ask a junior if the pastries they bestowed were good; for a junior to ask such a thing was absurd. Still, Zhao Chuan subconsciously took another bite and said indifferently, "Not bad."

"My lord, Lin Yan is single-mindedly devoted to learning martial arts. Since you checked his bone structure last time, he has been using medicinal soups to nourish his blood and qi. He wishes to take you as his master."

Zhang Dahai, standing to the side, could no longer hold back; he didn't want to watch Lin Yan play the fool any longer and wanted to get to the point.

"Is that so? I have some recollection of this. Come forward, and I shall examine your bone structure once more."

Lin Yan stepped forward as instructed. Zhao Chuan placed his palm on Lin Yan's body, patting him down in a practiced manner. When he finally pulled his hand away, he sighed, "Your blood and qi are much fuller than before, but you are still some distance away from practicing martial arts. It will be difficult."

"Ah, how can this be?"

Lin Yan's face turned anxious. Seeing this, Zhang Dahai quickly chimed in, "My lord, Lin Yan has a heart of gold. Is there any way to help him?"

"There is a method, though it is not easy. There is a medicine called the Blood Refining Pill. Taking it can compensate for the deficiency in your blood and qi, but the price is not low—thirty taels for a single pill."

Good heavens. They weren't just after his ancestral home; they wanted the house he and his aunt were currently living in as well. A thirty-tael pill, added to the debts he already owed for the medicinal soups, totaled over fifty taels.

Lin Yan wore a look of panic. Beside him, Zhang Dahai gritted his teeth, "Brother Lin has the potential for martial arts. I am willing to pay this sum for him. May I ask, my lord... where can one purchase this Blood Refining Pill?"

"The pharmacies in the city carry it."

Listening to the two of them perform this double act, Lin Yan felt a flicker of doubt. If he went to a pharmacy, surely they wouldn't be in on this charade, would they?

"Brother Lin, wait here for a moment. I shall make a trip to the pharmacy."

"Brother Zhang."

Lin Yan looked moved, though in his heart, he understood clearly: Zhang Dahai would likely just return with some random pill to swindle him.

Zhang Dahai left, even thoughtfully closing the courtyard gate behind him.

"My lord, could you have made a mistake just now? Could you check again?"

Lin Yan looked unwilling to give up. Zhao Chuan gave a cold hum, "This Seat does not make mistakes. But since you refuse to accept it, come forward and let me check once more."

Zhao Chuan placed his palm on Lin Yan's body. This time, Lin Yan immediately focused on the Martial Dao Tree within his mind.

In his consciousness, the gray branches of the Martial Dao Tree had separated from the green ones, settling on the side as an independent gray tree, though it stood a head shorter than the green one. At the same time, a leaf had sprouted on the gray branches, revealing the words: Wild Bull Stake.

Just moments ago, this scene had already appeared in his mind, accompanied by information regarding Martial Dao Mountain. As long as someone made physical contact with him while off-guard, the gray Martial Dao Tree could sense their martial realm and reveal their strongest technique. The height of the gray tree represented their realm, and the leaves represented their techniques.

He had already discovered that this man's Martial Dao Tree was shorter than his own, but he had let the man check again just to be certain. Now that he confirmed the man's strength was inferior to his own, there was no need to keep up the charade.

"This Seat told you there would be no mistake. You—"

As Zhao Chuan's hand touched Lin Yan's waist, the bones in Lin Yan's waist vibrated. With a flick of his arm, he exploded into a punch, slamming it directly into Zhao Chuan's face.

At such close range, the Stone Waist Savage Spine was unleashed at full power.

The blow landed, and Zhao Chuan didn't even have time to grunt before his temple caved in and he collapsed to the ground.

Lin Yan didn't stop to check if the punch had knocked him out or killed him. He drew a dagger from his robes and plunged it into Zhao Chuan's chest, twisting it with force. Only when he was certain Zhao Chuan was dead did he pull the blade out.

"If I had known he couldn't even handle a basic strike, I wouldn't have wasted the pastries."

Looking at the pastries on the table, a pang of regret flashed in Lin Yan's eyes. These few bags had cost him thirty wen, and since he had laced them with sleeping powder, they were no longer edible.

For the past two months, besides practicing martial arts, he had been thinking of how to deal with Zhang Dahai's gang. Reporting to the authorities was useless; the Patrol Bureau didn't even care about gang fights, let alone such trivial matters.

The escorts of the Might-Vast Escort Agency traveled far and wide, possessing all manner of self-defense techniques, and were particularly well-versed in knock-out drugs. Lin Yan sought out Zhang Wei and had him ask a master at the agency to prepare a dose of the drug.

At the same time, drawing on the wisdom of his predecessors, he sewed two inner pockets into the cuffs of his loose-fitting clothes. He filled the left with lime powder and the right with pepper. He specifically had his aunt sew the openings with slipknots, designed just like the drawstrings on a sack, so that a single tug on the thread would open them instantly.

It was a pity that none of these preparations had been needed just now.

Lin Yan did not rush to loot the bodies. Instead, he walked to the side of the courtyard gate, gripping the pepper in his left hand, and waited with bated breath.

Zhang Dahai had never practiced martial arts; otherwise, the strange tree would not have remained indifferent during their several physical contacts.

Even so, he dared not let his guard down.

Waiting was a long process, but Lin Yan had the patience for it.

When the sound of footsteps finally arrived, Lin Yan crouched low. The moment the gate was pushed open, he flung the pepper from his left hand without hesitation, his right fist following up immediately behind.

"Damn it, I..."

Thud, thud, thud!

With a few faint sounds, the courtyard returned to silence.

When he killed Zhao Chuan, his heart had still raced, but when he killed Zhang Dahai, he felt completely calm.

After bolting the courtyard gate shut, Lin Yan began to loot the bodies.

Zhang Dahai was very poor; he truly only had a few dozen copper coins on him. However, there were also quite a few papers. Lin Yan took a look and found the IOU he had signed, but besides his own, there were others—scattered notes totaling fifty taels.

Good grief, this guy borrows even more than I do. So, was Zhang Dahai actually bled dry by this person?

Lin Yan pulled a fire-starter from his robes, burned all the IOUs, turned, and walked over to Zhao Chuan's body to search him as well.

Jackpot!

Looking at the silver note in his hand, Lin Yan was overjoyed.

Fifty taels!

With this much money, he could have been drinking Qi-Nurturing Soup like water and reached the foundation stage by now. Was the man a miser?

Lin Yan naturally did not know that this money was the tuition fee Zhao Chuan had prepared to enter a martial arts school; now, it had all gone to him.

In addition to the silver note, there was some loose silver and copper, totaling seven or eight taels, which Lin Yan collected as well.

Looking at the two corpses on the ground, he felt not a hint of fear.

"Martial arts embolden the heart"—it truly wasn't just an empty saying.

His current concern was how to dispose of the bodies and erase all traces.

Since Zhang Dahai and his companion were involved in such shady business, they certainly wouldn't have told anyone about their plans. As long as he disposed of the bodies, no one would suspect him in the short term.

A moment later, Lin Yan climbed over the wall to leave. Half an hour later, he climbed back in, opened the gate, and pushed in a four-wheeled cart. He threw the bodies of Zhang Dahai and his companion onto the cart, covered them with a white linen cloth, and pushed them out the gate as bold as you please, heading toward the city gates.

Along the way, many pedestrians he encountered stepped aside with looks of disgust.

Even at the city gate, the guards only glanced at the cart, neither stopping him nor asking questions.

Once Lin Yan had walked far away, the guards began to chat.

"Another gang fight in the city, I suppose. People are dying again."

"These gang members enjoy the high life, but when they die, they're just wrapped in linen and tossed into the mass grave. They don't even get a tombstone."

"The gangs have been fighting hard lately. I heard a new gang is trying to seize territory."

Lin Yan had gambled on the "darkness under the lamp"!

After all, no one would believe that a murderer would dare to push two corpses out of the West City gate in broad daylight.

Upon reaching the mass grave outside the city, Lin Yan discarded Zhao Chuan's body. However, he kept Zhang Dahai's. He found a separate spot, dug a pit, and buried Zhang Dahai. He found a wooden plank, stuck it in the ground, and carved into it with his dagger: Tomb of Second Uncle Zhuang Hai, left by nephew Zhuang Zheng!

After finishing this, Lin Yan entered the city through a different gate and returned home.

He bathed, burned his clothes, and hid the money.

Once everything was done, Lin Yan returned to his room, took out a notebook, and began to recall everything that had happened today.

"Still a bit reckless."

After a long while, Lin Yan wrote the word "reckless" heavily on the paper.

Although he had planned it out, looking back, he had been a bit impulsive.

Zhang Dahai had taken him out today to trick him into signing a large debt, but he hadn't needed to act so quickly.

The other party wouldn't have pressed for payment for another month or two.

He could have continued practicing the Rock Stance to increase his strength and investigated the backgrounds of Zhang Dahai and his companion more thoroughly before making a move.

"What one learns from books is always superficial; one must practice it to truly understand."

Lin Yan whispered to himself. He had read so many novels in his past life, but when it came to his own situation, he inevitably suffered from being too close to the action to see it clearly, failing to consider everything perfectly.

Next time, he would avoid such situations.

After reflecting, Lin Yan began to look inward at his own mind, but at that sight, he was left completely stunned.

The gray tree returned to its original appearance, once again entwined with the green tree, except the gray leaf from before had somehow transformed into a gray fruit.

The next moment, a piece of information appeared in Lin Yan's mind.

[Martial Fruit: Formed by taking the life of a martial artist, contains the duration of the martial artist's cultivation, can increase the proficiency of cultivation techniques.]

"Martial Fruit, reaping a fruit by killing—what a fine thing."

A gleam shone in Lin Yan's eyes. With this Martial Fruit, every martial artist in the world was nothing more than a human-shaped medicinal herb to him.

Kill someone, plunder their martial cultivation duration, and infuse it into himself.

This was no longer just a cheat; this was a full-blown hack.

[Zhao Chuan Martial Fruit: Five months and four days.]

Lin Yan stared at the gray fruit, his mind stirring as he prepared to consume it to cultivate the Rock Stance.

However, the fruit remained motionless.

The next moment, another message appeared in his mind.

Lin Yan: ???

Reviewing the information again, Lin Yan suddenly understood.

The time within the Martial Fruit could only be used for technique proficiency.

The Rock Stance was only used to increase blood-qi, and it had already reached its limit; it could not be improved further.

Thinking about it, it made perfect sense. If it could be used to cultivate the Rock Stance, wouldn't that be equivalent to conjuring blood-qi out of thin air?

This meant that if he wanted to progress further, he had to learn a skin-refining technique.