Root bone

Zhao Feng turned sideways, blocking Qiao'er from view. "Leopard Lord, my sister is still young. She can't go out to play yet."

Leopard Lord had been treating him as thin air. Only then did he look him up and down properly, saying coldly, "And who the hell are you? Since when did you get a say here?" His expression turned vicious, but Zhao Feng did not retreat. He remained firmly in front of Qiao'er, seemingly by accident revealing the training uniform he wore underneath.

Leopard Lord's eyes immediately landed on the large character for "Huo." His expression shifted slightly, then he snorted coldly and walked straight off.

Watching him leave, Zhao Feng felt a shadow settle over his heart. He entered this Leopard Lord into the little ledger he kept in his mind.

After returning to the martial arts school, he worked even harder at his Stance Training.

Several days later, he managed to hold his position on the Plum Blossom Stakes for nearly twenty minutes. A warm current spread from his tailbone up his spine and throughout his body.

A line of small text appeared before his eyes.

[Eight Extremes Stake Skill: beginner (185/500]

A few days ago, it had still been at 130. Besides the improvement from eating meat every day, his progress clearly also depended closely on how long he held his stance.

As he extended his stance-holding time, the gain in progress also improved noticeably.

Having identified these two important factors, Zhao Feng finally put the anxiety of the past two days to rest.

From now on, he only needed to eat enough meat every day and hold his stance for as long as possible to speed up his progress effectively.

Just then, Huo Shan came over from the rear courtyard, and the disciples all bowed in greeting.

"You've spent some time tempering your blood and qi, and you've established a certain foundation. You can begin learning fist techniques now," he told Zhao Feng, Wu Tiezhu, and Chu Fan.

Before teaching them, however, Huo Shan wanted to examine their bones to assess their root bone aptitude.

After a lengthy examination, Zhao Feng and Wu Tiezhu both proved to have fifth-grade root bones, only a little better than the worst, sixth grade. Huo Shan showed neither surprise nor any other expression.

After examining Chu Fan's bones, however, disbelief crossed his face, followed by wild delight.

"Second-grade root bone! It's actually second-grade root bone!"

Second-grade root bone might not have amounted to much in the Prefecture City, but finding it in a small county town was exceptionally rare. Huo Shan immediately realized Chu Fan's value.

"From today onward, you are my formal disciple. I will personally teach you fist techniques," Huo Shan said evenly, suppressing his delight.

As soon as he finished speaking, the disciples in the courtyard cast envious looks at Chu Fan. The four formal disciples also looked surprised, their gazes growing serious as they regarded him.

Only those four were their master's formal Inner Disciples. Even the other disciples who had broken through to bright strength were merely Registered Disciples, yet Chu Fan had become a formal disciple before even attempting the Gate Breakthrough. Huo Shan's favor was plain to see, and it all stemmed from his excellent root bone.

As for Wu Tiezhu and Zhao Feng, Huo Shan gave them a fist manual and personally demonstrated the techniques.

"I told you before what distinguishes our Eight Extremes Lineage: ferocity and speed, gathering the power of the six openings, striking in all eight directions, and overwhelming the opponent with sheer momentum! Watch carefully. I'll demonstrate only once." He suddenly stamped his foot, shaking the ground like an earthquake and striking terror into their hearts.

Huo Shan launched into a fist routine with the momentum of racing thunder. The sounds of wind and thunder in the air gripped their souls.

Thrusting, embracing, single strikes, lifting, carrying, and coiling Cross Force-there were both close-quarters strikes and Long-Range Pigua.

Bang, bang, bang! Huo Shan's fists produced three successive explosive cracks, leaving the newly admitted disciples both terrified to their very cores and utterly enthralled.

After completing the routine, he drew back his fists and stood still.

"Wei Yuan, guide these two," Huo Shan told Wei Yuan.

"The rest of you, disperse. No slacking. Those who should be holding stances, hold your stances. Those who should be practicing fists, practice your fists."

"Yes, Master!" Watching Huo Shan lead Chu Fan into the rear courtyard, Wu Tiezhu looked bewildered. Zhao Feng's expression remained unchanged. He had already expected this outcome, but with the panel, he had something to rely on.

"Eight Extremes Fist has three routines in total. First, study the manual for the first routine, which focuses on rapid close-quarters strikes. Then I'll explain what you need to watch out for before you practice the forms," Wei Yuan said.

His gaze passed over Wu Tiezhu, then lingered briefly on Zhao Feng. Over the past month, this junior brother had struck him as diligent and hardworking. He never joined little cliques or went out eating and drinking with others, and his temperament was steady.

Unfortunately, his root bone was ordinary. The Gate Breakthrough would likely be difficult.

After two days of studying the fist manual, practicing the forms, and working through the moves, a flash of white light appeared in his mind.

[Eight Extremes Fist: beginner (1/500)]

Over the next two months, he needed to develop bright strength through Stance Training while improving his mastery of Eight Extremes Fist as much as possible, strengthening himself.

Inside the row house, steam rose from the stove as meat bubbled away. Its fragrance drifted outside, making the neighbors on both sides crane their necks and drool. Getting enough meat every evening had now become an essential part of Zhao Feng's daily routine. To save money, he bought it and cooked it himself, even if the taste was nothing special.

After taking up martial arts, Zhao Feng's appetite had soared. He needed seven or eight large flatbreads per meal, and the more meat, the better.

At first, some neighbors in the neighborhood, including a few idle loafers, had come looking for trouble whenever Zhao Feng stewed meat. But once he showed them his Huo Family Martial Arts School training uniform, they never dared bother him again.

Outside the Treasure Brocade Workshop, after Zhao Feng chatted for a while with Little Aunt and his cousin, Qiao'er walked him out.

Several dark figures at the street corner watched Zhao Feng's departing back from afar.

"Find anything?" Leopard Lord asked his subordinate.

"Yes, Incense Master. His name is Zhao Feng. He joined the Huo Family Martial Arts School just over a month ago and is only an Apprentice," the subordinate replied.

"Just over a month? Then we'll wait another two months," Leopard Lord said with a nod.

"Incense Master, he's just an Apprentice. Why be afraid of him? A little girl like that has pretty features and would sell easily. Sell her to one of those gentlemen with special tastes, and we might even get twenty taels of silver," the subordinate said.

"Like hell you understand," Leopard Lord snapped.

The gang leader had long since instructed them to avoid provoking disciples of the city's martial arts schools whenever possible. The masters of those schools were all transformation force experts, people even their gang leader absolutely could not afford to offend. Even an Apprentice mattered. These transformation force masters placed enormous importance on their dignity; as long as an Apprentice remained in their school, he could not be bullied at will.

Of course, once the three months were up, if Zhao Feng failed to break through and had no money to keep paying tuition, he would be thrown out of the school. Then there would be no need to worry. This mud-legged peasant looked so shabby that paying tuition once had probably already taken everything he had.

Gate Breakthrough? How could it be that easy? Leopard Lord gave a faint, cold sneer.

In their Black Tiger Gang, apart from the gang leader at bright strength peak, only the deputy gang leader had attained bright strength. They had just two bright strength martial artists.

The weather gradually warmed, and the accumulated snow began to melt.

Something neither big nor small happened in Greenhouse Township. Several starving wild dogs dug up an unrecognizable corpse in the woods. By the time someone discovered it, they had gnawed it into pieces. Only the remaining clothes identified it as Huang Biao, who had been missing for months, and his money pouch was gone.

With that, it was confirmed that Huang Biao had been robbed and murdered. Across the villages of Greenhouse Township, many people secretly clapped their hands in delight. That thug ringleader was finally dead.

One day, Zhao Feng ran into Old Ding at the county town gate and heard about it from him. Though he showed no reaction, he felt faintly uneasy inside. He had not expected wild dogs to dig up the corpse.

He carefully reviewed the entire sequence of events and confirmed that he had left no loose ends. Besides, he was betting that the authorities these days would not investigate the case closely.

In fact, things went just as he hoped. The county office did not even bother with the case, and nothing more came of it. Too many people died these days. Who had the spare attention to worry about whether some thug lived or died?

At Li the Landowner's residence in town.

"Master, there's no way to investigate this. There are so many refugees and bandits these days, and Huang Biao offended far too many people," the steward said.

Li the Landowner's face was gloomy. The missing IOUs had left him seething. Besides, he kept thinking that if refugees or bandits had merely stolen the silver, why had the IOUs disappeared too?

"Where's the list I told you to put together last time?"