After finishing the New Year's Eve dinner, Li Chuan returned to his room.
The quilt on the bed was still that old reed-catkin quilt, though perhaps because his mother had had time to tend to it and often taken it out to air.
The reed-catkin quilt no longer carried that unpleasant damp, moldy smell, but no matter what, it still had a bit of an odor.
Lying beneath it, Li Chuan's thoughts drifted.
Once he made his second Gate-Knocking and earned some money, he would definitely replace his family's bedding with snow-white, fluffy cotton quilts.
Early the next morning.
Li Chuan did not linger at home, instead hurrying without pause to Pine Wind Martial Hall.
He knew full well that he was not yet entitled to rest.
Cao Yan's "Brother Zhou" would return in a few months.
The Martial Exam would also be held before long.
He had to reach Dark Force as soon as possible!
Li Chuan touched the heavy ten taels of silver in his robes and strode into the market.
Donkey meat was barely sufficient, but it simply was not good enough.
If he wanted to cultivate faster, he had to buy better meat.
Li Chuan looked over the meat stalls for a while before finally deciding on venison.
Venison cost one hundred and fifty copper coins per jin, and he needed to eat two jin a day.
That meant three hundred copper coins a day, or nine taels of silver a month.
If not for the ten taels Cao Yan had "given" him, he would never have dared spend so lavishly.
It could also be said that if he had not fought Cao Yan and learned just how vast the gap was between himself and someone truly at the peak of Bright Force, Li Chuan would have been reluctant to buy such expensive venison.
But having exhausted every ounce of his strength just to barely kill the severely wounded Cao Yan had made Li Chuan realize how weak he still was.
If Cao Yan had possessed one more trick, if Cao Yan had not been so badly hurt, then everything would have been different!
Li Chuan made up his mind and bought six jin of venison in one go, enough for three days.
Nine hundred copper coins—enough to buy more than ten jin of donkey meat—vanished like flowing water.
Yet there was not the slightest trace of regret in Li Chuan's eyes.
This was a necessary expense on the road to becoming stronger.
The times were far from peaceful.
Rather than clutch his money like a miser while waiting for unknown danger, he would rather invest it in himself!
Carrying the six jin of venison, Li Chuan returned to Pine Wind Martial Hall.
It was the first day of the New Year, and all the disciples had gone home.
The vast martial hall appeared empty and deserted.
Li Chuan returned to his Common Dormitory and set up a large pot.
"This weather really has turned cold. Even the water has frozen." Li Chuan looked at the ice in the bucket with a bitter smile.
He shook his head, smashed the ice into several pieces with one palm, then took the larger chunk and tossed it into the pot.
He placed dry grass beneath it to start the fire, then added dry firewood.
Before long, crackling sounds rose from below.
Once the water boiled, Li Chuan tossed in the venison to cook.
After cooking it for roughly half an hour, Li Chuan scooped out the steaming venison.
While it was still hot, he took huge bites of the fragrant meat.
As the venison entered his stomach, waves of warmth rose within his body.
They first gathered in his abdomen, then slowly spread through his limbs.
"So hot!" In the depths of winter, Li Chuan felt heat steaming from his entire body!
"With nourishment like this, I ought to practice my fistwork!"
Taking advantage of his surging blood and qi, Li Chuan braved the freezing cold and headed straight for the Martial Arts Arena.
Amid the vast expanse of white, Li Chuan first raised both hands, palms upward. Then he placed his left foot against his knee and lowered his body until his buttocks rested against his heel.
After holding the posture for only a few breaths, Li Chuan could feel every muscle in his body being activated.
The blood and qi that had previously drifted loosely through his abdomen seemed to be drawn by an invisible force, rushing into his tendons, meridians, and fascia to nourish them.
In an instant, steaming heat rose from his body.
"At first it hurts, then it turns numb and tingling, and in the end it is nothing but pure exhilaration!"
The more Li Chuan practiced, the more energized he became.
He finally understood why people in his previous life could become addicted to working out.
When he felt every muscle in his body growing stronger through training—
That feeling was addictive!
At the same time, the proficiency of his Mountain-Holding Stance was increasing as well.
Li Chuan counted carefully. It was much faster than when he had eaten donkey meat!
"This silver was well spent!" Li Chuan marveled inwardly.
Sure enough, having money was wonderful.
He had heard that those noble families who feasted to the sound of bells and ate from tripods, those aristocratic houses crowned with hairpins and decorated with honors, ate Beast Meat, consumed medicinal meals, and soaked in medicinal baths from the very beginning of their martial training.
If they also possessed a High-Grade Bone Constitution, their progress was simply beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
One could catch a glimpse of it from Qin Feng reaching Bright Force in two months and Dark Force in six.
After standing for more than half an hour, Li Chuan began to feel somewhat tired.
After resting briefly, he began striking the wooden post with Through-Arm Fist.
"It can be swift as rushing thunder, yet it can also come to a halt in an instant. When you strike, your opponent must never be able to fathom you." Li Chuan muttered the words Luo Zheng had taught him.
Facing the hard wooden post, he first curled his palm into a fist and smashed it down fiercely.
He even punched a shallow dent into the post's surface.
Then he pressed his fingers together like a sword, his attacks sinister and vicious.
He unleashed the various forms of Through-Arm Fist.
If someone had been watching nearby, they would have noticed that although his attacks seemed ordinary, his movements had no fixed form.
After throwing a punch, he instantly changed to finger-sword, then shifted again into a sweeping elbow strike.
This was the essence of Through-Arm Fist: make the opponent impossible to read.
"It's the first day of the New Year. Why haven't you gone home yet?"
Liang Hangzhou emerged from the Inner Courtyard with his hands clasped behind his back.
Li Chuan stopped his movements and cupped his fist in salute.
"Master, this disciple is dull-witted. Naturally, I must put in more effort than my fellow disciples before I can have even a sliver of hope of Gate-Knocking."
Liang Hangzhou fixed his gaze on Li Chuan.
He had not expected the Outer Courtyard to contain someone as diligent as Li Chuan.
At his position, he rarely concerned himself with matters of the Outer Courtyard.
All his thoughts were devoted to how he could nurture the disciples of the Inner Courtyard.
After all, those people were the true successors with hope of carrying on the torch.
Especially someone like Qin Feng, with a High-Grade Bone Constitution—he was the highest priority of all.
Thus, Liang Hangzhou was somewhat surprised.
"I have some impression of you. A Low-Grade Bone Constitution, with only a faint hope of Gate-Knocking, yet even so, you possess a sincere heart devoted to the martial path."
"Not bad. Not bad."
Liang Hangzhou stepped forward and casually offered Li Chuan a few pointers.
Just those few words caused the proficiency of Through-Arm Fist to rise slightly before Li Chuan's eyes.
It was comparable to several hours of practice!
"Cultivate diligently, and you may not be unable to make your Gate-Knocking," Liang Hangzhou encouraged him before turning to leave.
The moment he stepped beyond the courtyard gate, Liang Hangzhou turned back to look at the figure practicing bitterly amid the snow and sighed inwardly.
"To possess such perseverance—if only he had a Medium-Grade Bone Constitution. For someone with a Low-Grade Bone Constitution to succeed in a second Gate-Knocking is harder than climbing to the heavens."
"What a pity. What a pity."
After Liang Hangzhou left, the entire Martial Arts Arena returned to silence.
Li Chuan practiced alone until deep into the night before returning to the Common Dormitory.
"Hah, only by practicing for so long can I truly discover how good venison is!"
Li Chuan looked at the increased progress of his Mountain-Holding Stance and Through-Arm Fist, feeling a wave of comfort.
Three hundred copper coins a day—thankfully, it had not been wasted!
But Li Chuan also knew that the luxury of eating two jin of venison every day could not last.
The ten taels of silver he had gotten from Cao Yan, together with his own monthly stipend, would only be enough for a month or so.
After that, he would probably have to return to donkey meat.
Yu Sinian returned on the third day of the New Year and practiced martial arts alongside Li Chuan.
The two often sparred in pairs, causing Li Chuan's Through-Arm Fist proficiency to rise even faster.
Days passed one after another. Winter gave way to spring, and the disciples gradually all returned.
A month and a half later, the ten taels of silver from Cao Yan, together with his own monthly stipend, had nearly run out.
Li Chuan looked at the donkey meat before him, yet felt unable to take a bite no matter what.
If he had never experienced the benefits of venison, he could have accepted donkey meat with a clear conscience.
But it was easy to go from frugality to luxury, and hard to return from luxury to frugality!
"I need to find a way to earn more silver... Senior Brother Luo said a batch of precious medicinal herbs is due for delivery tomorrow. I'll go ask him what's going on!"
Li Chuan thought this to himself.
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