Take Care of Yourself

Fang Han slept like the dead.

Leaning against the wall, his head lolled to one side, a glistening thread of drool hanging from the corner of his mouth as he breathed evenly and deeply.

His whole body was slumped crookedly in the corner of the training ground, utterly motionless.

He had gone two nights without sleep, desperately grinding his fist technique proficiency.

No matter how potent the Solomon's Seal root's medicinal effects were, they could not withstand Fang Han's relentless grinding.

Lin Rou emerged from the Inner Court and happened to pass the corner of the training ground. Seeing Fang Han snoring evenly, she stopped short, her pretty face instantly going blank.

Instead of training, Fang Han was actually hiding here to sleep?

She stood before Fang Han and looked down at him, her brows knitting tighter and tighter.

Then a sharp glint flashed through Lin Rou's eyes as she coldly shouted:

"Fang Han!"

The surrounding apprentices sensed some drama brewing and stopped practicing their punches, turning curious gazes in this direction.

Startled by the shout in his sleep, Fang Han jolted awake and abruptly opened his eyes.

He looked up in confusion and saw Lin Rou's frosty face. Instinctively, he wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth.

"Senior Sister Lin?"

"You certainly sleep soundly."

Lin Rou looked down at him from above, her tone cold enough to freeze ice.

"Do you know what time it is? Do you know what everyone else is doing?"

Following the direction of her finger, Fang Han saw dozens of apprentices practicing their fists on the training ground, sweating like rain.

He opened his mouth, wanting to explain.

However, Lin Rou gave him no chance. Enunciating every word, she said, "It wasn't easy for your family to scrape together the tuition. Your whole family tightened their belts to send you here to learn martial arts.

"And this is how you repay them? Sleeping away your days at the martial hall and wasting your time for nothing?"

Lin Rou's words left Fang Han speechless.

Seeing him like this, Lin Rou grew even more furious at his refusal to improve and disappointed beyond measure. After leaving behind a "Take care of yourself," she flicked her ponytail and turned to leave.

Fang Han watched her receding figure, shook his head, and could not be bothered to explain further.

Senior Sister Lin had misunderstood him, but she meant well.

Still, some things did not need to be explained in detail to outsiders.

He got to his feet and stretched his arms, stiff from sleeping.

After sleeping the entire afternoon, more than half the exhaustion in his body had faded.

Just as he was preparing to wash his face and clear his head, a fat figure hurried over.

"Junior Brother Fang!"

Wei Zixiong's fat face was heaped with smiles. Seeing that no other apprentices were looking over, he swiftly pulled a porcelain bottle from his robes.

"Three Blood-Qi Pills. They're all inside."

Fang Han accepted the bottle and pulled out the stopper. A rich medicinal fragrance rushed into his nostrils.

Looking into the mouth of the bottle, he saw three brown pills lying at the bottom.

The richness of that medicinal scent truly marked them as good stuff!

Fang Han silently praised them, then wasted no words and directly took out one tael of silver to hand Wei Zixiong.

Seeing Fang Han complete the transaction so readily, Wei Zixiong beamed as he took the silver.

"Junior Brother Fang is as straightforward as ever! If you need Blood-Qi Pills in the future, just come find me. I won't boast about anything else, but you can count on me for this business."

"Naturally, Senior Brother Wei."

Fang Han put away the porcelain bottle and casually echoed him.

It was only because he urgently needed the nourishment of medicines like Blood-Qi Pills and wanted to practice his fists efficiently.

Once he passed the martial hall's assessment and became an Inner-Court Direct Disciple, he would naturally get a note from the hall master and purchase medicine himself.

One tael of silver for five Blood-Qi Pills—wouldn't that be more worthwhile than his three Blood-Qi Pills?

Seeing that it was already late, Fang Han did not intend to continue practicing at the martial hall.

After changing clothes, he hid the porcelain bottle close to his body and left the martial hall.

He did not leave with Li Daniu, lest Zhou Dabao's men spot them.

After leaving the martial hall, he headed toward Mud Bay Alley. When he reached its entrance, his steps halted.

A figure stood at the alley entrance—it was one of Zhou Dabao's bald-headed lackeys!

That fellow had failed to follow him once this morning, yet he was now squatting at the alley entrance waiting for him!

Fang Han's gaze turned cold.

At this moment, the bald man also spotted Fang Han appearing in the distance. He hurriedly turned his head aside, pretending not to have seen him.

Yet anyone could tell from his furtive manner that something was wrong.

Fang Han withdrew his gaze and continued forward.

The bald man followed behind him, neither too near nor too far.

The closer Fang Han got to home, the stronger the killing intent quietly rising in his heart became.

With someone watching him like this all day long, he could do nothing, much less go to the martial hall.

Every movement he made after leaving home was under Zhou Dabao's watchful eye.

If this continued, Zhou Dabao would sooner or later discover that he had money to join the martial hall, bringing even more trouble.

Zhou Dabao... had already set foot on the road to death!

He had to deal with him!

Fang Han kept walking as he thought, never slowing his pace.

Just then, the sky suddenly darkened.

He looked up and saw that, at some unknown time, great swathes of dark clouds had rolled in. Faint thunder rumbled from the clouds.

It was going to rain.

Fang Han quickened his pace, and the bald man tailing him quickened his as well.

Before he reached his front door, a booming clap of thunder rang out, and raindrops as large as beans suddenly came pelting down with a crackling patter.

The rain grew fiercer and denser, soon joining into a curtain of rain.

Fang Han rushed into his courtyard, then looked back. The bald man had vanished.

With the rain suddenly falling so heavily, the other man had probably gone somewhere to take shelter as well.

Fang Han narrowed his eyes, and a cold, eerie gleam flashed through them.

Rain was good!

This rainy night was perfect for ambushing Zhou Dabao.

Just as Fang Han had expected, the rain outside showed no sign of weakening even after his family had gone to sleep.

Inside the room, he rolled over and sat up, then pulled a bundle from beneath his bed.

He opened it and checked its contents one by one by the dim yellow light of a fish-oil lamp.

Inside was a set of half-worn black coarse-cloth clothes and trousers, barely passable as night clothes, which he had bought on the way back yesterday;

A cloth pouch that could hang from his waist, heavy with fine river sand;

Since he could not get lime, he would make do with fine sand first;

A woodcutter's blade sharpened to a keen edge;

Lastly, two wooden boards that could be tied close against the front and back of his body, capable of blocking blades and dispersing force at a critical moment.

I originally planned to wait until the Gale-Breaking Fist reached Minor Accomplishment before acting, but now that I've condensed two strands of Blood Qi...

The strength enhanced by two strands of Blood Qi is enough to give me the power to ambush Zhou Dabao.

It would be best if I could wipe out him and all his lackeys in one sweep!

Fang Han stretched his limbs and thought to himself.

Listening to the faint snores coming from next door, he took off his clothes, firmly bound the two wooden boards to his chest and back, and then put on the coarse black clothes.

He strapped the woodcutter's blade to his back, where he could draw it at any time.

The pouch of fine river sand hung at his waist. Its knot was easy to untie; with a reach of his hand, he could grab a fistful and scatter it into someone's eyes.

Once everything was ready.

Fang Han stepped out of the room. Rain lashed his face and instantly soaked his clothes.

Standing in the rain, he looked up at the pitch-black night sky, then turned his gaze toward Four Waters Ward.

By an unfortunate coincidence for Zhou Dabao, Fang Han knew where his residence was!

"On a moonless night with high winds, it is the time for murder and arson. A rainy night truly is fine weather for killing."

Fang Han took a deep breath and stepped into the curtain of rain, his figure swiftly vanishing into the night.