Plan (Please Keep Reading)

A new month began.

As usual, Wang's Ginseng Shop handed out monthly wages.

Early in the morning, a line had already formed outside the accounting room.

The guards stood beneath the corridor in twos and threes. Some leaned against pillars and yawned, some quietly calculated this month's expenses, while others felt the empty purses at their waists and could not help sighing.

"Silver really doesn't last."

Rubbing his shoulder, Zhou Li said with a bitter face, "Last month, I only bought two bottles of Qujiang Red, and in the blink of an eye, I was down to just a few coins."

A guard beside him laughed and cursed, "You drank it all away. Who else can you blame?"

Qian Ming leaned against the wall and said lazily, "Old Zhou, if you drank two fewer rounds a month, the money you saved would be enough to buy a house in the county town."

Zhou Li replied dismissively, "You don't touch a drop of alcohol every month. So where's the house you bought in the county town?"

Standing amid the crowd and listening to their conversation, Lu Chen could not help but smile.

Before long, it was his turn.

Mr. Meng, the accountant, wore a pair of spectacles and was slowly marking the ledger. He looked up at Lu Chen, his expression serious.

"Guard Lu."

He took a small pouch of silver from a drawer, then pushed a sealed porcelain bottle across the table.

"This month's wages are six taels, plus one Blood-Qi Powder. As instructed by Manager Wang, it has already been prepared for you."

Lu Chen reached out and took them. "Thank you, Mr. Meng."

The guards waiting in line beside him heard this and all turned to look.

Someone said enviously, "Six taels a month—twice my wages—and a Blood-Qi Powder on top of that. Tsk, Manager Wang really plays favorites with Lu Chen."

But Zhou Li, who had witnessed Lu Chen's strength, said, "Lu Chen is only sixteen. The moment he joined Wang Firm, he knocked Liu Heng flat. If you had that kind of ability, Manager Wang would play favorites with you too!"

Clearly, after a month of getting along, everyone had witnessed Lu Chen's progress and strength firsthand. They had begun to acknowledge this young man who had suddenly risen to prominence.

That man smiled awkwardly and said no more.

Lu Chen put away the silver and Blood-Qi Powder, then left the accounting room.

After returning to his quarters, he shut the door and took out every possession he had, laying them out one by one on the table.

This month's wages from Wang's Ginseng Shop: six taels and one Blood-Qi Powder.

Four taels of silver provided by the Chen Family.

The five taels of silver he had won from Liu Heng at the medicinal garden last time.

One extra tael of silver rewarded by Wang Shouyi for his merit in escorting medicinal materials.

Altogether, exactly sixteen taels of silver.

On the tabletop, the silver ingots and loose silver gleamed faintly in the morning light.

Lu Chen's eyes lit up at the sight as well.

"Having money really does feel good."

He stroked the bright white silver, his fingertips feeling the cold hardness unique to precious metals, and sighed inwardly.

However, Lu Chen had no plans to save it.

Wealth was merely something outside the body. Converting it into his own qi and blood made Lu Chen feel far more secure.

Lu Chen reached out and divided the silver into several piles.

"The monthly medicinal baths cannot stop."

"Without medicinal baths to cleanse and temper my body, fatigue and hidden injuries will pile up and slow my cultivation instead."

"I can't skimp on meat either. There's more and more muscle on my body now. Even if I lay still all day and did nothing, I'd still consume plenty of energy. With my daily stance training and fist practice, if I don't eat enough, my body will easily be drained."

"And finally..."

Lu Chen looked at the last pile of silver. "All the remaining money will be exchanged for Blood-Qi Powder!"

"This month, I'll go all out to reach minor success in Blood Moving."

He had roughly nine taels left. A Blood-Qi Powder cost two taels at market price, but he received a thirty percent discount when buying from Wang Firm. By his calculations, he could buy six Blood-Qi Powders.

Together with the one additionally supplied by Wang Firm, that made seven in total.

Now that his Coiling Dragon Stance Art had reached mastery, and his Azure Dragon Through-the-Arms Fist was only a little short of mastery as well, the two complemented each other and greatly increased his efficiency in refining and absorbing the medicinal power of Blood-Qi Powder.

At the fastest, three days; at the slowest, five days. He could completely digest one Blood-Qi Powder.

Seven Blood-Qi Powders were just right for him.

Having planned everything out, Lu Chen wasted no more time and immediately entered cultivation mode.

He picked up the porcelain bottle containing the Blood-Qi Powder from the table.

The moment he pulled out the stopper, a faint medicinal fragrance spread through the air. The pill was only the size of a thumb, dark red all over, its surface seeming to be covered in fine blood-vein patterns. When it landed in his palm, it even seemed to carry a trace of warmth.

Lu Chen gave it a glance, then tipped back his head and swallowed it.

Within mere breaths of the pill entering his throat, its medicinal power burst forth from his stomach like banked coals that had long been smothered suddenly fanned into flame.

A scorching heat exploded through his chest and abdomen, rapidly surging into his limbs and bones.

Lu Chen did not dare delay. He immediately went into the courtyard, spread his feet apart, sank his knees and hips slightly, and assumed the Coiling Dragon Stance Art.

His breathing sank.

His mind followed suit, drawing inward.

After the Coiling Dragon Stance Art reached mastery, his control over the circulation of qi and blood in his body was clearly far stronger than before, making it easier for him to control the flow of the medicinal power.

In the past, after taking Blood-Qi Powder, its medicinal power would rampage through his body like wild horses that had slipped their reins. Now, once he assumed the stance, his flesh, blood, and meridians seemed to transform into an invisible net, coiling around the scattered medicinal power layer by layer.

Hot currents churned through his entire body. Every circulation of qi and blood carrying the medicinal power felt as though warm spring water were washing through him, leaving him immensely comfortable.

Half an hour later, his clothes were already soaked through with sweat, his skin faintly flushed, and even the breath he exhaled carried heat.

After finishing the stance, he did not rest. Instead, he seized the lingering heat and began practicing his fist techniques.

The Coiling Dragon Stance Art and Azure Dragon Through-the-Arms Fist complemented one another. When the two were linked properly, refining the medicinal power took half the effort for twice the result.

Lu Chen took a deep breath, stamped his foot, and opened with Azure Dragon Claw.

His right arm shot out, shoulder driving elbow, elbow driving wrist, his fist force like a dragon's claw tearing through the sea.

The hot current within him surged into his arm with that punch. His muscles and sinews instantly tightened, and the air gave a faint howl where his fist passed.

Next, he twisted his waist and back, linking into Azure Dragon Coiling Body, then into Piercing Clouds, Entering the Sea.

His fist force suddenly surged forward.

Lu Chen was like an azure dragon lurking in the abyss, suddenly breaking through the water. His fist force rose from the soles of his feet, passing through his calves, waist and hips, and spine, driving through section by section to his shoulder and arm before crashing onto the edge of his fist.

Bang!

The air erupted with a sharp blast.

Lu Chen's eyes lit up.

"So that's how it is..."

Then a transparent light screen abruptly appeared before his eyes:

[Azure Dragon Through-the-Arms Fist: Mastery]

[Progress: 0/1000]

Lu Chen looked at the light screen, his heart trembling slightly.

It had finally reached mastery.

As the light screen changed, countless scenes of fist practice flashed through his mind.

From the first time he watched Qin Wuhe practice in Hidden Dragon Martial Hall, to later gaining entry, reaching minor success, fighting Liu Xiaolou at the martial hall, and knocking Liu Heng flat with one punch in the ginseng garden... scene after scene of experience with the fist art flowed into his heart like streams converging.

The details of exerting force that had once been hazy all became crystal clear.

Lu Chen closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, a sharp gleam overflowed from them.

At minor success, he had merely become proficient in the variations of the Azure Dragon Through-the-Arms Fist.

But after reaching mastery, this fist art had truly fused into his body and become his instinct.

Without even a thought, he could make his fists emerge like dragons, his strength shatter a thousand jun!