"...Yes."

Swish, swish, swish!

Shen Xiuhan stood atop the Plum Stakes.

He sank his waist and lowered his stance, his ten fingers hooked into claws. His arms alternately opened and closed, rising and falling one moment, seizing and grappling the next, his moves shifting sharply with every breath.

His footwork turned with them. His left foot stepped forward, his right followed by half a step, and his whole body continuously shifted between the wooden stakes like a great eagle circling overhead.

His thighs and abdominal muscles ached fiercely. Beads of sweat seeped from his temples and fell onto the snow beneath the Plum Stakes, spreading into small dark stains.

Shen Xiuhan gritted his teeth and endured it, drawing his breath inward and forcibly keeping his movements from losing shape.

After an entire morning of practice, Shen Xiuhan withdrew his stance and stood still, his chest rising and falling faintly.

He could now perform the first five stances of the Mystic Eagle Stance in one smooth, uninterrupted sequence!

Even Xu Chuan, who stood nearby with his hands behind his back, could not hide the surprise in his eyes at such progress.

Xu Chuan paced over and looked Shen Xiuhan up and down, clicking his tongue in wonder.

"Junior Brother Shen... your progress really is beyond expectations. I thought it would take four or five months before you could sense your blood and qi. But judging by this momentum... perhaps two or three months will suffice."

"You flatter me, Senior Brother!"

Shen Xiuhan wiped away his sweat and smiled. "I started martial training rather late, so I can only let the clumsy bird fly first. I merely hope diligence can make up for my shortcomings."

"Not bad, not bad..."

Xu Chuan patted him on the shoulder, his eyes full of approval.

"Keep it up. On the path of martial arts, what matters most is this kind of persistence. If you can endure hardship and are willing to put in the work, there is nothing you cannot master."

Xu Chuan's public praise drew several strange looks from nearby.

Among the thirty-odd disciples of the Mei Martial Hall outer court, the circles were as clearly divided as the Jing and Wei Rivers.

The inner-city disciples mostly wore brocade robes and swift boots, gathering in groups of three or five with proud, self-important expressions.

Those from the outer city, like Xiao Wen, wore patched old jackets and only dared to huddle in corners, practicing bitterly in silence. They did not even dare speak loudly.

Seeing an outer-city tenant farmer like Shen Xiuhan steal so much of the spotlight, several inner-city youths looked displeased and muttered mockingly.

"What's he pretending to be, some martial fanatic? Makes the rest of us look lazy."

"Coming from the outer city, he probably only knows how expensive tuition is. He trains like his life depends on it, yet he does not understand that martial arts require a balance between work and rest. If he keeps grinding away like that, he'll cripple his sinews and bones within days!"

"Say less. Is it wrong for someone to train diligently?"

Shen Xiuhan did not hear those discussions. Even if he had, he would have turned a deaf ear.

After receiving two large steamed buns, Shen Xiuhan found a corner by the wall and squatted down.

He had only taken two bites when a faded old cloth bag was extended before him.

Shen Xiuhan looked up and saw Xiao Wen.

"Senior Brother Shen, my elder brother asked me to bring this." Xiao Wen still smiled shyly. "He heard that you shared your flatbread with me, so he asked me to bring some pickled mustard greens from home for you..."

Shen Xiuhan took it and weighed it in his hand. Inside the cloth bag lay four or five chopped black mustard-green roots.

"Thanks."

Without standing on ceremony, he pulled out a meat-filled flatbread and shoved it into Xiao Wen's arms.

"Have a taste."

"Senior Brother, I can't accept this, I'm not..." Xiao Wen's little face flushed red as he hurriedly tried to refuse.

"Take it. Eat!"

Seeing his resolve, Xiao Wen did not dare refuse again and could only take a small bite.

The next instant, the boy's eyes flew wide open. "It has meat filling!"

"Mm."

"...Thank you, Senior Brother!"

Xiao Wen's eyes reddened. No longer caring about propriety, he began wolfing it down.

The boy's greedy expression reminded Shen Xiuhan of Shen Momo, and the corner of his mouth curled up imperceptibly.

After lunch, he walked to the water vat in the corner of the courtyard, scooped up a ladle of water, and tipped it back into his throat. He was just about to catch his breath before continuing his training.

At that moment, an outer-court disciple with excitement written all over his face suddenly darted in through the main gate and charged straight toward the crowd.

Within the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, the courtyard exploded with noise, startled cries and discussions rising one after another.

"Did you hear? The White Family and the Through-the-Back Martial Hall have gone at it!"

"Huh? Is that for real?"

"Absolutely true! The White Family smashed up the Through-the-Back Martial Hall's gambling house. Just now, Zhao Honggang and Feng Xiaobao took a group of outer-court disciples straight to the county yamen to demand an explanation!"

"Hiss... Did they actually fight?"

"They fought with real blades and real weapons. Zhao Honggang and Feng Xiaobao joined forces to besiege Bai Xi'an. The commotion got so huge that it even drew out the White Family's eldest young master, Bai Jing."

"Bai Jing! The foremost of the Four Heroes of Longcloud!?"

"That's right. Bai Jing truly deserves his reputation as a ruthless man with one foot already across the threshold of Hidden Force. He entered the fray barehanded and suppressed Zhao and Feng by himself!"

"Wonderful! They deserve it!"

The Mei Martial Hall and the Through-the-Back Martial Hall had always been at odds over competing for students.

A few days earlier, Zhao Honggang had even used his strength to bully the weak, defeating their senior sister Jiang Qinghong and taking away quite a few disciples.

Now that their mortal enemy had suffered a setback, the disciples all felt as though they had finally vented a vicious breath.

But while some laughed, others muttered.

"Has the Through-the-Back Martial Hall eaten a bear's heart and leopard's gall? They dare stir up trouble on the White Family's turf?"

"I was puzzled at first too, until... Wang Xuanyang of the Eastern Guard Martial Hall stepped forward and stopped Bai Jing..."

"Wang Xuanyang? The Wang Xuanyang said to have broken through to Hidden Force in his early twenties, and supposedly the Eastern Guard General's son?"

"That's right..."

"No wonder the Through-the-Back Martial Hall dared clash head-on with the White Family. So they have the Eastern Guard Martial Hall backing them!"

"Now that makes sense."

"..."

In the corner, Shen Xiuhan listened in silence, a trace of strangeness flashing through his eyes.

They had sunk their teeth into each other.

And they were biting harder and on a larger scale than he had expected.

Last night, Shen Xiuhan had only intended to make the White Family cause Feng Xiaobao a little trouble, delaying the time before they came looking for him.

Who would have thought...

Pulling up a radish had dragged out a whole clump of mud, directly drawing several major powers of Longcloud County into a chaotic brawl.

"The more chaotic it is, the better. The greater the chaos, the less anyone will spare a thought for me."

Shen Xiuhan rose to his feet, stepped back onto the wooden stakes, and continued practicing the Mystic Eagle Stance.

If the sky collapsed, there would be tall people to hold it up.

He only had one thing to do.

Endure these ten-odd days.

For three days straight, the wind and snow gradually subsided.

Shen Xiuhan spent every day immersed in the Martial Arts School, following the phantom figure in his mind as he trained day and night. His progress with the stances was rapid, changing almost by the day.

Martial training consumed a great deal, but fortunately, his family no longer lacked money.

Meat was served every day. The day before yesterday, he had even made a special trip to East Market to buy an old hen and bring it home for Madam Zheng to raise, so that once it began laying eggs, they could use them to replenish what his body had depleted.

After only three days, Shen Xiuhan's originally sallow face had visibly gained color, and his body had grown increasingly sturdy.

What put him even more at ease was that the two Golden Dragon Gang members assigned to watch him had vanished since the day before yesterday.

He heard that the conflict between the Through-the-Back Martial Hall and the White Family had intensified day by day, spreading to West Market Wharf.

Many gangs had begun entertaining designs on the Golden Dragon Gang's territory. Coveting it greedily, they started fighting for it both openly and in secret.

One gang in particular, called the Turbulent Wave Gang, was led by Zheng Dadao, a retired soldier. With more than a dozen trained fighters under him, he had beaten the Golden Dragon Gang into a rather sorry state.

The situation was too chaotic. Neither the Through-the-Back Martial Hall nor the Golden Dragon Gang had the attention to spare for him for now.

This brief peace allowed Shen Xiuhan to devote himself fully to cultivation.

In the blink of an eye, another five days passed, and it was time for the Martial Arts School's outer court's once-every-half-month assessment.