Payment for Precious Medicine!

Li Chuan knocked on the Inner Courtyard's gate.

A child wearing a tiger-head cap opened the door and asked, "Who are you looking for?"

Li Chuan said, "I'm looking for Senior Brother Luo, Luo Zheng."

The tiger-head-capped child shouted, "What do you want with my dad?"

Li Chuan froze for a moment, then took a closer look at the five- or six-year-old child.

This was Senior Brother Luo's son?!

He himself was only eighteen, and Senior Brother Luo was merely two or three years older than him. Yet his child was already this old?

Still, this truly differed from his previous life. In this world, girls were generally considered ready for marriage as soon as they had their first menstruation.

At eighteen, they were already considered "leftover women."

Thinking it over carefully, it was perfectly normal.

Li Chuan put on a smile.

"Tell him Li Chuan has come to discuss something with him."

The tiger-head-capped child gave an oh.

"My dad went home to handle something. Come back tonight!"

Li Chuan shut the Inner Courtyard's gate, though doubt stirred in his heart.

At this hour, Senior Brother Luo was usually in the Inner Courtyard.

For him to behave so unusually today, had something happened at home?

Li Chuan shook his head. He knew there was no use thinking about it; he would find out tonight anyway.

He decided to return to the Common Dormitory first and practice the Thunder Shadow Leg he had just acquired.

As he passed the Martial Arts Arena, Yu Sinian stopped what he was doing and smiled.

"Heading back this early today? Not going to practice a little longer?"

Li Chuan gave a bitter smile.

"Senior Brother Yu, I can't compare to a 'Martial Arts Maniac' like you. I have some matters to handle when I get back. I'll spar a couple moves with you next time."

Yu Sinian looked regretful and sighed mournfully.

"It's fine. I'm not important."

Li Chuan gave him a strange look.

Why had he never noticed before that Senior Brother Yu was such a green-tea schemer?

After leaving the Martial Arts Arena behind, Li Chuan returned to the Common Dormitory.

He shut the wooden door and barred it before taking the Thunder Shadow Leg manual from his clothes.

"When I used to read storybooks, I always liked to mock people for carrying secret manuals around with them. Only now do I understand that it's only reassuring when you keep it on your own person..."

Li Chuan shook his head and began reading the Thunder Shadow Leg.

After quickly skimming through it, the panel before his eyes changed as well.

[Skill: Thunder Shadow Leg (Not Initiated)]

[Proficiency: 0/1]

"The initiation method is simple enough. Just hold a horse stance. Nothing difficult about that."

"The only difference from an ordinary horse stance is that a large stone has to be placed on each leg."

Li Chuan thought it over and felt that was only natural.

It was a leg technique, after all. Holding a horse stance first stabilized the lower body.

Only once the lower body was steady could the subsequent training properly unfold.

Li Chuan found two square stone blocks weighing roughly fifty catties each in the dormitory.

He had used these to build his strength before he had reached Gate-Knocking.

Now, they were just right to place on his legs.

Li Chuan crouched down, positioning the stone blocks squarely in the middle of his thighs.

Following the Thunder Shadow Leg's unique method of exerting force, he coordinated it with a breathing rhythm of three inhalations and three exhalations.

Before long.

[Thunder Shadow Leg Proficiency +1]

[Thunder Shadow Leg has been Initiated]

[Skill: Thunder Shadow Leg]

[Proficiency: 1/500]

The instant the panel updated, Li Chuan felt a strange sensation course through his legs.

Pain mingled with a pleasantly sour ache.

After setting down the stone blocks, he gently lifted his right leg.

He could clearly sense that although his leg strength had not changed much, they seemed more nimble.

His hips, groin, and knees had all become more flexible.

Li Chuan gave it a try and found that he could even do the splits!

It had to be known that Bright Force martial artists like them, with their developed muscles and vigorous blood and qi, often had joints that were less flexible.

This also indirectly made many evasive movements difficult to execute in actual combat.

But after training the Thunder Shadow Leg, everything seemed to be changing.

I chose the right leg technique! Li Chuan thought with satisfaction.

He practiced for a while longer, only stopping once his thighs were sore, swollen, and aching.

"I'm hungry too. I'll eat some donkey meat first."

Li Chuan put the fresh donkey meat into a pot and cooked it for half an hour, then fished it out and devoured it with great relish.

Yet as he ate, his brows gradually furrowed.

"Though it still tastes pretty good, the blood and qi it provides always feels insufficient."

Li Chuan knew this was because he had grown accustomed to the fine venison, making the contrast with donkey meat all the more glaring.

But there was nothing to be done. Without silver, donkey meat was all he could afford.

"I'll keep training first and see just how great the difference is."

Li Chuan once again practiced the Mountain-Holding Stance and Through-Arm Fist in the open space.

Three hours later.

With a thought, Li Chuan summoned the panel.

[Skill: Mountain-Holding Stance (Minor Mastery)]

[Proficiency: 1508/2000]

[Skill: Through-Arm Fist (Minor Mastery)]

[Proficiency: 1412/2000]

[Skill: Thunder Shadow Leg (Initiation)]

[Proficiency: 10/500]

The proficiency was increasing far too slowly.

After eating venison for a month and a half, the Mountain-Holding Stance's proficiency had risen from over eight hundred to fifteen hundred.

That pace had been quite satisfying.

But now that he had switched back to donkey meat, it felt as though he had returned to that snail's pace from before.

"Only two and a half months remain until the Martial Exam. If I can only eat donkey meat, then at most I'll be able to bring the Mountain-Holding Stance and Through-Arm Fist to Major Mastery. The Thunder Shadow Leg will be out of the question. I don't know if that will be enough."

Just as he was mulling it over, a knock sounded at the door.

Li Chuan opened the wooden door and saw a familiar face.

"Senior Brother Luo?"

Luo Zheng looked somewhat weary, but he quickly concealed it and smiled.

"Junior Brother Li, I heard from my son that you came looking for me."

Li Chuan intended to voice the question in his heart.

"Senior Brother Luo, you should have taken the Martial Exam last year, right? What level was your strength, and what rank did you place?"

An awkward look flashed across Luo Zheng's face.

"I placed sixty-ninth last year and failed to become a Martial Scholar.

"As for my strength... at the time, I had only trained the Through-Arm Fist to Major Mastery. Among the many Dark Force martial artists, I was fairly average."

Li Chuan nodded, thoughts racing through his mind.

If he could only train the Through-Arm Fist to Major Mastery, then his ranking would probably be similar to Luo Zheng's last year.

That was still far from the top fifty.

If he wanted to reliably become a Martial Scholar, his strength had to at least rank in the top thirty, so that he could deal with all sorts of unexpected circumstances.

In that case... he could not keep eating only donkey meat.

But if he wanted venison, he would need a great deal of silver.

And after his Thunder Shadow Leg reached Minor Mastery, he would also need to buy medicinal ingredients to prepare an ointment, which would cost money too.

Why did everything, everywhere, require money!

Truly, the poor pursued learning while the rich pursued martial arts; the ancients had not deceived him...

Li Chuan thought for a moment, then made his decision.

He had to make money.

"Senior Brother Luo, you mentioned some time ago that tomorrow you'd be transporting a batch of precious medicine?" Li Chuan asked.

"What?" Luo Zheng was somewhat distracted, as though something weighed on his mind. "Oh, right. My uncle said there's a shipment of Tiger Heart Grass worth four hundred taels that needs to be delivered to Huangshi County tomorrow. He told me to ask whether you were interested."

"It has to take a special route, so it's a little dangerous. But if you can deliver it successfully, you can get at least seven or eight taels of silver. Any more than that will depend on your contribution," Luo Zheng added.

Li Chuan's eyes flickered.

The guaranteed seven or eight taels of silver was nearly enough for a month's worth of venison.

If he could contribute something like last time, then earning ten taels of silver was not impossible.

As for danger, there was no such thing as making money without danger.

He was not afraid of taking risks; he simply did not wish to take meaningless risks.

Once he finished this job, the money he earned would be enough to support him until the Martial Exam.

"Senior Brother Luo, tell Uncle Hou Ping that I'll take this delivery."