Qinghe

Zhou Yan stayed in the Qin Residence's secluded courtyard for three days.

The courtyard was not large. There were two pomegranate trees, a stone table with four stone stools beneath them, and a well in one corner by the wall.

Several walls separated it from the front courtyard, and not a sound could be heard from there.

Every day, someone delivered meals and medicine on time. The meals consisted of three dishes and a soup, while the medicine was Bone-Replenishing Paste for external use.

On the first day, he spent most of his time sleeping.

Several blisters on the soles of his feet had burst, and when he tore them away, they took a layer of skin with them.

The muscles in his shoulders and back were stiff as stone. Even turning over hurt.

He had carried Sun Wenyao over mountains and through valleys this entire journey, fighting battle after battle along the way. His body had been forcing itself to hold on.

Now that he had finally relaxed, all the pain came crashing back.

After two days of sleep, the injuries on his body had scabbed over, and he had recovered more than half his energy.

On the third day, he began loosening up in the courtyard. He held the Mountain-Settling Stance for the time it took two incense sticks to burn, then went through his fist techniques several times.

During that time, the young maid delivering his meals came by a few times. She did not say much, merely setting things down before leaving.

Zhou Yan did not ask any questions either. The courtyard was excessively quiet. Sometimes, he could faintly hear voices from the front courtyard, but he could not make out what they were saying.

He had grown used to the noisy alley behind the tea stall in Qingyun County. This sudden silence left him somewhat unaccustomed.

At dusk, Sun Wenyue came.

He had changed into a dark blue silk robe. His complexion looked better than when they came down the mountain, though there were still dark circles beneath his eyes.

After entering the courtyard, he did not sit. He merely stood beneath the pomegranate tree and looked Zhou Yan over for a few moments.

"How are your injuries?"

"More or less healed. Brother Sun, you look pretty well yourself," Zhou Yan said with a smile.

"My grandfather recovered after taking the precious medicine," Sun Wenyue said with a faint smile. Then he fell silent for several breaths.

"Do you remember the brothers from before? Wu Yong died. After his spear broke, he held on for the time it took an incense stick to burn before three Qi-Gathering Realm fighters surrounded and killed him. Ge Qing died too. His twin blades were chipped dull, and in the end, he could not even hold them anymore. All eight members of the guard team died. Not one survived."

Hearing this, Zhou Yan sighed inwardly.

"Zheng Tong from your martial academy died too," Sun Wenyue said. "No matter how tough his external cultivation was, he could not withstand four Qi-Gathering Realm fighters attacking together."

Countless thoughts ran through Zhou Yan's mind. He remembered the day they had left Qingyun County, when Zheng Tong had sat on horseback chewing on a dry flatbread and grinned at him.

"What a pity," Zhou Yan said.

Sun Wenyue said, "I'll have someone send silver to his family."

"Mm."

Sun Wenyue went on to speak about the traitor, Feng Ping.

He had fled amidst the chaos. He had served as a Sun Family guard for four years and had always been honest and dependable.

No one knew why the Han Family had managed to turn him.

If Feng Ping had not turned on them at the critical moment and shot the old steward and Meng Gang dead, the guard team's formation would not have collapsed so quickly.

"My mother is Old Master Qin's youngest daughter. The Han Family and the Qin Family have been fighting for decades; they have long been mortal enemies. The moment Old Master Qin was poisoned, the Han Family made its move. They wanted to swallow the Qin Family whole, so intercepting us was the same as cutting off the Qin Family's reinforcements. Killing two birds with one stone."

"Afterward, the Han Family sent people to Qingyun County to find the Black Tiger Hall master and name a price," Sun Wenyue said. "Black Tiger Hall has a deep grudge against the Sun Family. Last year, Black Tiger Hall wanted to open a gambling house on West Street in Qingyun County, but my father led men to smash up their place. When the Han Family came to them with money and manpower, asking them to intercept and kill us on the road, the two sides hit it off immediately. The Han Family wanted the precious medicine and our lives, while Black Tiger Hall wanted revenge by killing Sun Family members. Each side got what it wanted."

"Black Tiger Hall lost quite a few men this time."

"That's right. They gambled everything they had this time. They sent no fewer than ten Qi-Gathering Realm fighters alone, and all the Body-Tempering Realm fighters in the mountain search party died on the mountain as well. They thought the Han Family would send experts to back them up, but the Han Family's people never went up the mountain. The Han Family was only responsible for the ambush in the valley. Searching the mountain and hunting us down was Black Tiger Hall's business. I asked Old Shen, and the methods of those two gray-robed Martial Adepts were indeed from the Han Family of Qinghe City. They withdrew immediately after the battle and did not care in the slightest whether Black Tiger Hall lived or died."

"Looks like the Han Family set them up," Zhou Yan said with a cold laugh.

"Not exactly," Sun Wenyue said. "The Han Family already paid them, and they paid quite a lot. Black Tiger Hall failed to get the job done themselves, so they have no one else to blame. Still, after this battle, Black Tiger Hall has been badly weakened. They will not be able to stir up much trouble in Qingyun County from now on. I have already sent a letter to my father, telling him to seize this chance and uproot Black Tiger Hall completely."

After chatting for a while, Sun Wenyue placed the things he had brought onto the stone table.

"Two hundred taels of silver, three bottles of Qi Gathering Pills, and two boxes of Bone-Replenishing Paste. Use them for now."

Then he handed over a bronze waist token.

"A Qin Residence Guest Retainer Token. With this, you'll be welcome at the Qin Family's pharmacies, restaurants, and inns in Qinghe City. No need to announce yourself at the door."

Zhou Yan took the token and turned it over in his hand.

It was the size of his palm. The front bore the character "Qin," while the back was engraved with "Guest Retainer." The bronze was not thick, but it felt heavy in his hand, and its edges had been polished smooth.

This was far more than they had agreed upon before. Back then, they had only discussed a few extra taels in monthly pay and buying pills at cost.

Now there were three bottles of Qi Gathering Pills, with ten pills in each bottle. In Qingyun County, one bottle alone cost thirty or forty taels of silver, and they were scarce even at that price.

The three bottles, together with two hundred taels of silver, were enough to feed an ordinary family of five for decades.

"Brother Sun, you're generous. This is much more than what we agreed on," Zhou Yan said with a smile as he accepted them.

He had only just broken through to the Qi-Gathering Realm, so this was exactly when he needed silver.

Sun Wenyue waved a hand. "You saved Wen Yao and preserved the Scarlet Blood Lingzhi. If the Scarlet Blood Lingzhi had been lost, my grandfather's poison could not have been cured. Who knows what state the Qin Family would be in now? Such a debt cannot be measured in silver. Take these first. If you need anything, just speak up."

Zhou Yan did not refuse again and tucked the token into his robe.

"Wen Yao has not fully recovered from her injuries yet. Once she does, she said she would come thank you in person." Sun Wenyue stood and patted the dust from his robe. "Rest here in peace. Stay as long as you like. If you want to return to Qingyun County, tell me, and I'll arrange for someone to escort you."

When he reached the courtyard gate, he remembered something and turned back. "Oh, right. The Scarlet Blood Lingzhi has already been sent to Old Master Qin. Its effects are quite good. The old man has been much more lucid these past two days. Once his condition stabilizes, he said he wants to meet you."

With that, he left.

Zhou Yan carried the wooden chest into the room and shoved it beneath the bed, leaving the pills on the table.

He poured out a Qi Gathering Pill and examined it. It was the size of a soybean, dark brown in color, and smelled faintly bitter with a hint of vegetation.

From that day on, Zhou Yan never left the courtyard.

He took two Qi Gathering Pills a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

The medicinal power drove his inner qi through his meridians, making his fist training twice as effective with half the effort.

The Mountain-Breaking Fist had already been on the verge of the Greater Mastery stage.

The successive battles in the mountains had been genuine tempering. Every punch had been hard-earned, every fight a struggle for life and death. Under that kind of pressure, his proficiency with the fist technique had risen much faster than during ordinary training.

With the Qi Gathering Pills pushing him along, his progress was almost visibly leaping forward.

After completing a set, numbers flashed in his vision.

[Mountain-Breaking Fist: Greater Mastery 290/300]

After another two days of training, his final punch at nightfall sent a humming tremor through every bone in his arm at once.

[Mountain-Breaking Fist: Perfection 1/500]

Zhou Yan shook his swollen arm.

The Mountain-Breaking Fist at the Perfection Stage was far heavier than it had been at Greater Mastery. The crushing force of its inner power had increased by more than several times.

When he threw a punch, he could clearly sense every inch of the qi force's path from his dantian to his fist. It struck wherever he intended, without the slightest obstruction.

He did not stop. He swallowed another Qi Gathering Pill and began practicing the Mountain-Suppressing Fist.

The stance of the Mountain-Suppressing Fist was heavier than that of the Mountain-Breaking Fist. It focused on explosive power born from stability, broad and forceful in its movements.

He had accumulated enough at the Lesser Mastery stage of this fist technique. After several rounds of real combat, he had only been one final step away.

At noon the next day.

[Mountain-Suppressing Fist: Greater Mastery 1/300]

Zhou Yan walked to the well, drew a bucket of water, and poured it over his head. The well water was so cold that it made him shudder, draining away much of the heat in his body.

He sat on a stone stool and dried his hair with a cloth.

He had used twelve Qi Gathering Pills. Eighteen remained.

One fist technique had reached Perfection, and the other Greater Mastery. The progress was decent, but he knew it was not enough.

The Qin Residence alone had more than just Old Shen and Lu Yuanxing as Martial Adepts. The Qin Family head was a Martial Adept as well.

It could be said that unless one became a Martial Adept, there was simply no way to protect oneself.

If he had not broken through to the Qi-Gathering Realm at the last minute during this mission, he would have died on the mountain several times over.

Yet even at the Qi-Gathering Realm, Zheng Tong's external cultivation had been tough enough, and he had still died on the mountain.

If one was not strong enough, death could come at any moment. It was the same everywhere.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Yan draped the cloth over the back of the chair, stood up, and assumed the opening stance of the Mountain-Breaking Fist once more.