Rescue, Green Snake Swordsman, Ma Zhankui

"Alright, thank you for the trouble."

Lin Changsheng took out ten taels of silver and handed them to He Jin.

He Jin recorded Lin Changsheng's age and date of entry in a register, then handed him a wooden token engraved with "Outer" on the front and an iron palm pattern on the back. "Take this identity token. You'll use it to enter the martial school's training grounds from now on. Come, I'll take you there."

Lin Changsheng followed He Jin into the Iron Hand Martial School.

Before his eyes lay a bluestone-paved square. Several hundred youths of varying ages trained the Iron Sand Palm before black iron sandbags, their shouts rising without end.

He Jin handed Lin Changsheng over to Instructor Zhang at the training grounds, then left.

"Now that you are a disciple of the martial school, I shall teach you the entry method for the Iron Sand Palm!"

"The so-called Iron Sand Palm requires qi to erupt from the dantian and all one's strength to gather in the center of the palm! Press firmly before exerting force, and when exhaling, you must make a sound..."

Instructor Zhang was over fifty, bald, with large hands covered in thick calluses. Pointing at the black iron sandbag atop the stone bench before them, he explained the cultivation methods and key points of the Iron Sand Palm to Lin Changsheng.

The Iron Hand Martial School was not afraid of disciples learning the Iron Sand Palm and passing it on.

That was because the Iron Sand Palm was a hard palm art for attack and defense, cultivated with iron sand and medicinal ingredients as training aids through specific methods. With long practice, it could split bricks and crack stones.

Its practice relied on medicinal power, and one also had to pay attention to circulating one's qi to gain the aid of internal strengthening.

After training, one had to wash one's hands with a secret formula, to disinfect and reduce swelling, strengthen tendons and bones. Without the secret hand-washing medicine formula, anyone practicing it in secret would ruin their hands. Thus, the Iron Hand Martial School was not afraid of the training method being leaked.

The true secret was the hand-washing prescription!

"Train hard. Strive to reach the Entry Stage within three months!"

Instructor Zhang patted Lin Changsheng on the shoulder, then went to instruct the other disciples.

Following Instructor Zhang's instructions, Lin Changsheng repeatedly slapped the sandbag before him while looking at his panel.

"It still hasn't shown Entry Stage..."

Lin Changsheng frowned and continued striking. Time passed. After a quarter of an hour, his hands gradually began to feel numb. Just as he was about to rest for a while, a prompt appeared on the panel in the corner of his eye.

"Martial art Iron Sand Palm discovered. Spend 1 tael of silver to simplify Iron Sand Palm?"

"I've finally reached the Entry Stage! Great!"

Seeing this, Lin Changsheng kept his expression unchanged. After informing Instructor Zhang, he went home.

In the small courtyard.

There was no one around.

Standing beneath a tree, Lin Changsheng willed it, and the panel appeared.

"Simplify Iron Sand Palm!"

With anticipation in his heart, Lin Changsheng tapped the button.

The prompt flashed.

"The Iron Sand Palm has been simplified into rubbing hands?!"

Seeing the prompt, Lin Changsheng's eyes lit up. He looked at the panel and tried rubbing his hands.

[Great Dao Made Simple: Level 1]

[Lin Changsheng: 16/55]

[Cultivation: Unranked Realm (99/100)]

[Technique: None]

[Martial Arts: Arrow Technique (Grand Perfection), Iron Sand Palm (Entry Stage 17/100)]

[Spend a certain amount of silver to simplify techniques, martial skills, and more.]

[Status: Yin Energy Invasion]

"It really has been simplified! One rub adds one point!"

"At this rate, won't it be long before the Iron Sand Palm reaches Grand Perfection?"

Watching the numbers on the panel leap continuously as he rubbed his hands, Lin Changsheng's heart brimmed with anticipation, and he kept rubbing without pause.

There were only eight days left until New Year's Eve.

During this time, Lin Changsheng worked at Zhen's Noodle Shop in the mornings and went to the Iron Hand Martial School as usual in the afternoons. Under his constant hand-rubbing, his Iron Sand Palm's displayed value had become: Iron Sand Palm (Perfect Stage 62389/62500).

One morning.

Lin Changsheng discovered that Zhen's Noodle Shop had not opened. He went to Yan Zhen's home and knocked, but there was no response from within the darkened house.

When daylight came, he went to the vegetable shop next to the noodle shop and asked, "Uncle Zhang, do you know why Sister Zhen hasn't opened today?"

"You don't know? I heard her mother-in-law was poisoned to death yesterday afternoon. The yamen sent people to investigate and said she had poisoned her mother-in-law to death, so they arrested her."

"Alas, it was already hard enough for a widow and her child..."

Old Zhang, the vegetable shop owner, sighed.

"That's impossible! Sister Zhen is a kind person. I don't think she would harm her mother-in-law."

Lin Changsheng frowned.

He had gone to the martial school yesterday afternoon and had not returned until dark. He had not expected something like this to happen to Sister Zhen's family.

Though Sister Zhen's mother-in-law had been vicious, Sister Zhen had treated her well. How could she have killed her?

"There is no end to trouble before a widow's door!"

Old Zhang sighed again and again.

Before reaching forty, Ma Zhankui had become one of Pasture City's wealthy men.

Because his younger sister Ma Qian was the concubine of Pasture County's magistrate, Ma Zhankui used that connection to secure many lucrative ventures. While earning until his bowls overflowed and his basins brimmed, he greased palms above and below, keeping over a hundred members of the Green Snake Gang under his command.

Five li behind East Street stood the grand residence Ma Zhankui had built, with pavilions, terraces, lotus ponds, and unmatched extravagance. His household alone employed more than ten male and female servants.

"Old Li, how did the matter go?"

By the lotus pond, Ma Zhankui looked at the old man before him and asked.

"Master, I conveyed your wishes to that widow. I told her that as long as she agreed to marry you as a concubine, you could pull strings for her and get her out. She refused." A gloomy gleam flashed through Old Li's eyes.

"She refused? Then tell her that if no one helps her, she will surely be beheaded, and her child will have no one to care for him!"

Ma Zhankui's gaze darkened as he gave the order.

"Yes, Master!"

Old Li turned and left.

"If you refuse, your child will suffer!"

"Hmph! I refuse to believe I cannot take down a mere little widow!"

"The more chaste and unyielding you are, the more excited I become!"

Ma Zhankui narrowed his eyes, revealing a scorching look.

Ever since he had seen Yan Zhen, the proprietress of Zhen's Noodle Shop, two months ago, he had been unable to forget her moist allure, graceful figure, and small-family-jade beauty. To possess her, he had even sent someone to poison her mother-in-law to death, then had her thrown into prison to force her into submission.

Pasture City.

Five li down East Street, beside a river running through Pasture City, the banks were lined with great rocks and woods.

A youth dressed in coarse clothes stood by the river.

It was Lin Changsheng.

Lin Changsheng looked around and saw no one nearby.

He immediately walked to a large rock and circulated his Iron Sand Palm at Grand Perfection. A scorching aura radiated from his palm, while a faint pale-green ghostly light flickered in and out of sight.

Lin Changsheng discovered that after the Iron Sand Palm reached Grand Perfection, his hands had become as hard as iron and much heavier!

Moreover.

His body had become far stronger as well. His appetite had greatly increased, his complexion had improved immensely, and his strength had surged. The cultivation progress bar on his panel now read: Third-Rate Realm (419/500).

Yet the Yin Energy Invasion status remained.

"Break!"

Lin Changsheng struck downward with his right palm.

Boom!

With a tremendous crash, the half-zhang boulder beneath his feet instantly shattered into four pieces. Where his palm had landed, all was reduced to stone dust!

"The Iron Sand Palm at Grand Perfection truly can split steles and crack stones!"

Lin Changsheng's eyes lit up. He walked before a large tree over a foot in diameter, gathered his force, and thrust out with his palm. His Iron Sand Palm was like a blade, piercing straight through the tree in an instant as wood chips flew everywhere!

"Sister Zhen has helped me greatly. I must find a way to save her."

Lin Changsheng muttered to himself, then turned and left.

Night.

The sky was pitch-black.

Pasture County Yamen.

In a courtyard five li away.

A lean middle-aged man lay sprawled on the bed in his room, letting out faint snores.

He was Li Zhen, the coroner of Pasture County.

At that moment, the door to the room slowly opened, and a black-clad figure wearing a ghost-face mask and holding a dagger in his right hand slipped inside.

The black-clad figure reached out and tapped the back of Li Zhen's head with a finger.

"Ah... you..."

Li Zhen jolted awake and was about to speak when a cold, hoarse voice came. "Li Zhen, if you shout, I will kill you immediately! This old man merely has a few questions for you!"

"Ah, alright! Please ask. I... I will tell you everything I know!"

Seeing the dagger's flashing cold light, terror filled Li Zhen's eyes, and even his voice trembled.

"What poison did widow Yan Zhen's mother-in-law suffer from? Do you know where the poison came from?"

The black-clad figure spoke in a deep voice, pressing the dagger close to Li Zhen's throat. A thin line of blood seeped out.

"Green... Green Snake Powder..."

"As... as far as I know, this Green Snake Powder is the exclusive poison... poison... of the Green Snake Swordsman, who vanished ten years ago..."

Li Zhen answered with trembling lips.

"The Green Snake Swordsman's exclusive poison? Then Yan Zhen could not have poisoned her mother-in-law. Why did you conclude that Yan Zhen was the murderer? Speak! Otherwise, I will kill you at once!"

Lin Changsheng frowned and chopped down on Li Zhen's right arm with his palm. With a crack, Li Zhen's right arm broke.

Sister Zhen could not possibly possess the Green Snake Swordsman's exclusive poison. There was definitely something deeply wrong here.

"Ah... it... it was Master Ma Zhankui... He told me to identify that widow as the culprit... I don't know anything else..."

Li Zhen trembled all over in pain. Before the threat of death, he could only confess.

"Ma Zhankui! Fine. Tomorrow, find a way to clear Yan Zhen of suspicion. If you cannot do it, I will kill your entire family!"

Lin Changsheng's voice was hoarse, his tone ice-cold.

"Yes, I will definitely do it, definitely!"

Li Zhen hurriedly agreed.

Bang!

With a palm strike, Lin Changsheng knocked Li Zhen unconscious.

"I never expected Ma Zhankui to be so vicious!"

Lin Changsheng muttered to himself, shut the door, and turned to leave.

Lin Changsheng learned that Ma Zhankui was the brother-in-law of the current county magistrate, Chen Ling. In less than ten years, he had risen to wealth and become one of Pasture City's notable rich men. Lin Changsheng remembered that nearly two months ago, Ma Zhankui had come to eat noodles at Zhen's Noodle Shop. At the time, he had even asked Sister Zhen to go to his home and make noodles for him, but Sister Zhen had refused.