Bright Force, Achieved!

Evening.

Lin Tian returned home once more.

As his Mountain-Shaking Fist reached the fifth ring, Lin Tian felt a little more confidence in his heart regarding the threat of the Shark Gang.

He would not say it was as certain as ten grabs and nine sure catches.

But at the very least, he had around a sixty percent chance of entering Bright Force!

If the Shark Gang suddenly made trouble, he would not be completely without the power to fight back.

Especially now that his Mountain-Shaking Fist could reach a realm close to great accomplishment.

In terms of technique, he even dared say he had long surpassed the level of ordinary Bright Force.

Of course, this was only in terms of technique.

His true practical combat strength was still somewhat lacking.

After all, someone at Bright Force could use far fiercer force.

When that kind of force smashed down, it was like a heavy hammer striking the body.

It was simply not something an ordinary person could withstand.

And at this moment, he already had sixty percent certainty.

If he could accumulate another day's worth of progress tomorrow, then he would be able to step into Bright Force with one hundred percent certainty!

Completely opening the great gate to his martial path!

From then on, there would be hope for his martial way!

Unfortunately, things now were not as wonderful as Lin Tian imagined.

Lin Tian's family was still eating dinner.

A massive object smashed down hard at their feet, and a huge muffled boom came from the black-awning boat.

"Everyone inside, get the hell out here for your daddy!"

A voice carrying an overbearing arrogance immediately came into the boat from outside.

After hearing that voice, the expressions of the four members of Lin Tian's family inside the boat each changed.

His elder sister, Lin Wan, instantly went deathly pale, her whole body trembling as she hugged their mother, the Zhao Clan.

As for Lin Tian and Father Lin, solemnity appeared on their faces.

Because they knew who that voice belonged to...

Zhuang Qiang.

That small leader from the Shark Gang who had come to propose marriage to Lin Wan.

Father Lin was the first to stand and said, "You all stay inside and don't go out. I'll go outside and take a look."

But at that moment, Lin Tian also stood. "Father, I'll go too."

"No! You're just a chil..."

Father Lin had just been about to say that excuse, when he immediately saw the resolve and confidence in his son Lin Tian's eyes.

That look made even him freeze.

Especially at this moment, although Lin Tian's eyes also held solemnity, there was still more of a... confidence?

And not the slightest trace of fear?

This...

Although Father Lin was surprised by the change in his son, as a father, he still subconsciously lumped Lin Tian into the category of a child.

In his heart, he further summed up Lin Tian's current change as this:

after practicing martial arts during this period, or perhaps after seeing himself practice martial arts, he had become conscious that his status was extraordinary.

This was the hot-blooded spirit of youth.

But at times like this, it was easiest for hot blood to rush to the head and make one do something impulsive.

So it became even more impossible for him to let Lin Tian go out.

Otherwise, once a conflict arose, the consequences were simply not something they could bear.

Seeing that his father was still hesitating.

Lin Tian immediately said, "Father, don't worry. I won't act rashly when I go out. Besides, I'm a disciple of the Martial Academy now. Even if they want to make a move, they'll probably restrain themselves somewhat out of consideration for the Martial Academy."

Those words, together with the calm look in Lin Tian's eyes, immediately shocked Father Lin once again.

But at this moment, he also knew that what Lin Tian said made sense.

His son's status as a disciple of the Martial Academy might truly be of some use.

"All right, then. But later, you must stand behind me, and don't speak lightly."

As he spoke, the two of them walked straight out of the black-awning boat.

What met his eyes—

Lin Tian saw Zhuang Qiang's short, squat build, as well as an extremely wretched face.

Especially the gloom in the man's triangular eyes—it made Lin Tian feel exceedingly uncomfortable.

And at this moment, the other party had not come alone.

Behind him stood five young men of varying builds.

Among them, two were the tallest and largest.

Their arms were thick, their cheekbones protruding.

Clearly, they were also martial practitioners...

After seeing those two, Lin Tian's heart sank slightly.

It seemed the other side had come prepared.

Just as Father Lin and Lin Tian walked out of the black-awning boat, Zhuang Qiang below waved his large hand.

Three chunks of meat, soaked by the river water until they were bloated, and carrying an incomparably fishy stench, were immediately brought out by the other side as he said, "Heh heh, Lin family, I imagine you've been living quite comfortably these past few days, eh?"

"Four days ago, my Dragon King delivered you a Dragon King Letter. After receiving the letter, don't tell me you didn't know the rules?"

"If I didn't come looking for you, did you not know to bring the money to me yourselves?"

"What? Are you looking down on my Shark Gang?"

Zhuang Qiang said, a furious expression appearing on his face.

His face had been flushed crimson from anger.

"T-this... Lord Zhuang, this... you also know that my household is small and humble."

"I truly don't have the money. How about this—I'll buy this Dragon King Meat, but do you think I can pay in installments..."

After hearing those words, Father Lin immediately began to explain.

But in the next instant, Zhuang Qiang immediately smashed a stone hard onto the black-awning boat, producing a heavy, violent thud.

"What do you take my Shark Gang for? This is the Dragon King's reward! You're giving money to the Dragon King! Do you think this money is for my Shark Gang? And you still want installments?"

"When the Dragon King flies into a rage, can you bear the consequences?"

Hearing that roar, Father Lin's expression changed drastically once more.

And while they were speaking, another lump of rotten meat was thrown out by Zhuang Qiang and the others.

At this moment, there were a total of four lumps of rotten meat.

"Lord Zhuang, what are you..."

Father Lin looked at it in disbelief, and at this moment, a trace of panic appeared on his face.

"Heh heh. You delayed and did not hand over the money to the Dragon King, provoking the Dragon King's wrath. This is your punishment."

As he spoke, Zhuang Qiang immediately threw another grass ring onto the black-awning boat.

Four grass rings.

That meant their family had to pay four shares of reward money!

According to the old rules, one single Dragon King Letter cost five taels of silver.

Now there were four Dragon King Letters, making a total of twenty taels of silver!

Seeing this, a trace of icy coldness flashed through Lin Tian's eyes.

One had to know that he had only paid three or four taels of silver to practice martial arts for three months.

Now this Zhuang Qiang wanted to make his family hand over twenty taels of silver outright.

This was clearly trying to force his family onto a dead-end road!

"This... this, Master Zhuang, I... I really can't come up with that much money."

Father Lin's voice turned weak and pale once more.

"Oh? No money? Heh, that's simple too. If you don't have money, you can use something else as collateral."

As he spoke, Zhuang Qiang's vulgar triangular eyes turned toward the inside of the black-awning boat.

Hearing his words, Father Lin and Lin Tian naturally knew what he was talking about.

Father Lin immediately clenched his fists tightly.

His eyes were filled with anger and unwillingness.

But before Father Lin could say another word, the next moment, Lin Tian immediately stepped forward.

At this moment, there was not the slightest trace of fear in his eyes.

Even though, beside Zhuang Qiang, two martial artists stood before him, both half a head taller than him and a full size larger in build.

The improvements he had gained from practicing martial arts these past few days gave him enough confidence to face the two of them.

Against these two, Lin Tian was confident he would not lose.

But he also knew that openly going against the Shark Gang at this moment was not a wise move.

If the other side retaliated afterward, there would be no way to guard against it.

And he was only one day away from Bright Force.

He could afford to wait that much longer!

"Master Zhuang, please forgive us. We truly cannot take out this money. This month, I just went out and entered the Zhao Family Martial Academy."

"But please rest assured, Master Zhuang, we will not default on this debt. We only ask that you give us three days."

"Three days from now, we will definitely gather the money for the Dragon King. Do you think this can be discussed?"

With these three sentences, Lin Tian immediately made his identity as a martial academy disciple clear.

And he had also offered a reasonable solution.

He thought that no matter how aggressive Zhuang Qiang was, at the very least, for the sake of Zhao Cang, a Transformation Force expert, he would give them one or two days.

As long as the other side gave him that much time, when that time came, he could resolve everything!

"Oh? You went to learn martial arts?"

Zhuang Qiang asked, his voice carrying a hint of doubt.

"Replying to Master Zhuang, I only started recently."

Another stone smashed viciously onto the black-awning boat, letting out a heavy, muffled boom.

The next moment, Zhuang Qiang's furious voice rang out again. "You bunch of mud-legged peasants have money to learn martial arts, but now you have no money to pay the tribute! What, you think that someone like you can learn martial arts and then resist my Shark Gang?"

"A piece of trash like you is actually imitating others and learning martial arts?"

"And you still want me to give you three days? I'll tell you today, either you hand over that slut of a sister of yours today,"

"or you bring me those twenty taels of tribute money today!!"

"Otherwise, heh, you'd better be careful when you go out in the future. If some accident happens,"

"mud-legged peasants like you die, then you die. No one will help collect your corpses!!"

A threat! This was an undisguised threat!

After hearing these words, a cold glint also flashed through Lin Tian's eyes.

Clearly, Zhuang Qiang had no intention of letting this matter rest.

Since that was the case...

But just as Lin Tian was about to make a move, one of the martial artists beside Zhuang Qiang

immediately bent down and said something to Zhuang Qiang.

Zhuang Qiang's expression changed drastically at once!!!

Then he looked in a certain direction as well.

But that place was already empty, without a single person in sight.

But even so, Zhuang Qiang's face went white at that moment.

Still, that flash of ghastly pallor was immediately forced back down by him.

Then he looked straight at Lin Tian before him, his tone easing considerably as he said, "Heh, don't say I didn't give you a chance. One day! I'll only give you one day!"

"I'll come again at this time tomorrow night. When the time comes, I want to see those twenty taels of silver. If you don't have them, heh!"

Seeing this, the chill in Lin Tian's eyes faded on the spot.

On his face, he deliberately put on a look of relief and joy as he said, "Yes, Master Zhuang, don't worry. When the time comes, I'll definitely give Master Zhuang a satisfactory answer!"

"We're leaving!"

After Zhuang Qiang finished speaking, he paid no further attention to whatever Lin Tian said.

After all, in his eyes, Lin Tian was nothing more than a mud-legged peasant.

Even if he had taken a master to learn martial arts, he was still only a mud-legged peasant deluding himself that he could change his fate through training.

Someone like that simply could not enter his eyes!

The few of them quickly withdrew.

Clearly, it was as if they were afraid of something.

Lin Tian also quickly returned inside the black-awning boat.

Head-on, he saw his elder sister's face, which had already turned completely deathly pale.

Clearly, Lin Wan, who had been inside the black-awning boat, had also heard the conversation just now.

"Father... Little Brother, I... I..."

At this moment, Lin Wan's face was already covered in tears from fear.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. Father won't let those beasts take you away."

Seeing his daughter's terrified expression, Father Lin immediately spoke to comfort her.

"But... but what can you do? They... they're the Shark Gang..."

Lin Wan still spoke in a trembling voice.

After Father Lin sighed, he immediately said again, "At worst, tomorrow we'll sail the boat out!"

Hearing Father Lin's words, everyone inside the black-awning boat immediately understood what Father Lin wanted to say.

He wanted them to leave.

This was not as simple as just going out to hide for a while.

It meant leaving Jinghe Bend completely.

Leaving the place they relied on to make a living.

This was not a decision that could be made easily.

After all, there were many problems to consider.

Just the simplest one alone—where would they go?

The Shark Gang's territory was extremely vast.

It was not something they could simply leave just because they wanted to.

But very clearly, at this moment, this was already the only way...

Of course, that was only in their eyes...

The family soon finished this dinner in silence.

When night fell, the family still went to sleep early.

Father Lin had already made his plans.

Tomorrow, Lin Tian still needed to make a trip to the Martial Academy.

Of course, it was not to have Lin Tian go train in martial arts.

It was to see whether they could get the tuition returned. Even if they could only get part of it back, that would do.

After all, they were going on a long journey, and they had to carry some money on them.

Naturally, Lin Tian did not refuse this.

After all, this just happened to save him the effort of explaining why he wanted his family to stay.

On the black-awning boat, Lin Wan's sobs tonight seemed utterly impossible to suppress.

Even if he had not practiced martial arts before, he would still have been able to detect the sound she made.

However, Lin Tian did not say much.

After all, his current situation was very difficult to explain to them.

Even if he said it himself, they most likely would not believe him.

A night passed quickly.

Lin Tian set out for the Martial Academy once more.

Because Lin Tian's Mountain-Shaking Fist was already about to reach the greater mastery level, his punches now flowed with increasing skill and speed.

In the blink of an eye, time had arrived near dusk.

At that moment, after Lin Tian finished practicing the Mountain-Shaking Fist one final time, the fate within his mind shone once more.

Fate · Learning Leads to Success

Mountain-Shaking Fist (Perfected) 2/2000

Lin Tian's body once again felt the same sensation as when he had reached minor mastery before.

Countless images and experiences continuously poured into his mind.

His Mountain-Shaking Fist had reached greater mastery!

At the same time, a feeling of incomparably abundant qi and blood immediately surged through his body.

And after sensing that qi and blood, Lin Tian immediately stopped hesitating.

He instantly mobilized the aura within his body, causing it to roil.

At this moment, within his body, there was none of that so-called difficulty of stormy waves surging to the heavens.

There was only the natural ease of water flowing into a channel.

Inside Lin Tian's body, a strand of force suddenly traveled through every inch of flesh and blood from head to toe.

Five days of practicing martial arts.

Feeling that force coming from within his body, strange lights flickered in Lin Tian's eyes.

No wonder only after reaching Bright Force could one be called a martial artist, could one be considered to have opened the gate to the martial path.

Between ordinary people and Bright Force martial artists, the difference was truly like clouds and mud!