Healing Injuries

By the time he returned to the county town, dawn had broken.

There wasn't a clean spot on Zhou Yan's body. His clothes were stained with blood and mud.

Keeping his head down, he passed through the city gate and went straight to Mountain-Suppressing Martial Hall.

He returned to the residence behind the tea stall.

He casually tore off his filthy clothes, sat bare-chested on the edge of the bed, and applied medicine to his shoulder and lower back.

The medicine burned fiercely. The wound on his lower back was no longer bleeding and had formed a thin scab.

After applying the medicine, he lay down and stared blankly at the ceiling beams.

The events at Blackwind Ridge kept replaying in his mind.

All seven Azure Cloud Gang members had been killed. Their search party would not be returning.

But this matter couldn't be concealed forever. Sooner or later, Zhao Xiong would realize that an entire group had vanished without a trace.

Their leader had been at Qi Gathering Greater Achievement, accompanied by two Qi Gathering martial artists and four Body Tempering fighters. All of them had died, leaving not even bones behind.

Now, Zhou Yan actually had to thank those three fox demons. They had conveniently disposed of the bodies for him.

In any case, Zhao Xiong would never connect someone at Lesser Qi Gathering like him to this matter, so that was not too concerning.

But Mountain-Breaking Fist was a hidden danger.

Song Tou'er had recognized it before he died. Though Song Tou'er was dead, Zhao Xiong's side had always been investigating the person who had stolen the martial art.

As long as anyone saw him use Mountain-Breaking Fist in public, the investigation would immediately lead back to him.

And then there was that woman in black.

She had slain three demons with three sword strikes, as effortlessly as chopping vegetables.

The Demon-Slaying Hall only accepted Martial Adepts at the minimum!

In a small place like Qingyun County, one could train for a lifetime without ever touching the threshold of the Martial Practitioner Realm, much less anything beyond it.

Yet anyone casually sent out by the Demon-Slaying Hall was at least a Martial Adept, and it was an organization directly under the royal capital.

If he could establish a connection through that route, it would be enormously beneficial to him.

But she came and went like the wind, not even leaving her name behind. For the time being, there was nowhere to look for her.

After thinking for a while, Zhou Yan closed his eyes.

Healing came first.

He spent a full month recovering from his injuries.

For the first half of the month, he barely left the house. He applied medicine to his left shoulder every day and kept it suspended in a cloth sling without moving it.

The scab on his lower back fell off and formed again. It took three cycles before the wound finally healed.

His right arm recovered the fastest. After around ten days, he could move it normally.

Other than eating and sleeping, he spent every day sitting cross-legged and practicing the Mountain-Settling Stance.

During the second half of the month, he began moving around again.

He held the Mountain-Settling Stance for incense stick after incense stick, until the blue bricks in the courtyard had been polished bright beneath his feet.

At night, he lay in bed and watched the progress numbers in his vision rise, feeling much more at ease.

When his injuries had healed seventy or eighty percent, he went to the martial hall to end his leave.

Ma Tou'er told him not to rush into intense training and to begin by rebuilding his Stake Stance.

Zhou Yan returned to Class B and found two unfamiliar faces in the class.

Liu Tiehe told him that while he had been gone for more than a month, the martial hall had not been idle. Han Zongyuan from Class A had entered secluded training, Shen Qingshan had broken through again last month, and Gu Changsong and Feng Jiping were close as well.

"Only a few familiar faces are left in our Class B." Liu Tiehe spat on the ground. "Those with no prospects found work as guards for major families early on. I heard those two newcomers transferred from White Cloud Martial Hall because their instructors there didn't put any effort into teaching."

The Azure Cloud Gang had not been idle either, especially Zhao Xiong.

When Song Tou'er failed to return, Zhao Xiong immediately sent a second group into the mountains to search for three full days.

They turned Blackwind Ridge upside down and found nothing.

There were no signs of fighting, no corpses, not even bloodstains.

The entire pine forest was spotless, as though no one had ever been there.

Seven living men had entered Blackwind Ridge and never emerged again. Neither dead nor alive could they be found.

After hearing the report, Zhao Xiong sat silently in his study for an entire afternoon.

He vaguely sensed that someone was targeting him from behind the scenes, yet he could never find a single clue.

His son's martial art had been stolen, and the men sent to search the mountain had all disappeared. The two matters pointed in the same direction, but he could not find the thread linking them.

He could only summon several senior gang members and have them keep a close watch on Qingyun County's martial halls to see whether anyone had suddenly risen to prominence recently.

After recovering, Zhou Yan did not relax.

The battle at Blackwind Ridge had left him seriously injured, but it had also tempered his resolve.

The experience of fighting desperately head-on against someone at Qi Gathering Greater Achievement was more useful than practicing punches in the martial hall for several months.

With ample Qi Gathering Pills and silver, his training was almost never interrupted.

The foundation of his Mountain-Settling Stance grew steadier and steadier. Even after Mountain-Breaking Fist reached Perfection, it continued advancing, while Mountain-Suppressing Fist at Greater Achievement was repeatedly refined.

Half a year later, he broke through in Qi Gathering and reached Qi Gathering Greater Achievement.

His inner qi was nearly twice as abundant as it had been at Lesser Qi Gathering, and his dantian had expanded by a third.

The force of Mountain-Breaking Fist after reaching Perfection had become even heavier.

When he punched a sandbag, its surface only caved in slightly, but a fist-sized hole exploded through its back.

Mountain-Suppressing Fist still had the same old problem. It could not advance beyond Greater Achievement.

But now he focused on refining his techniques, trying his best to compensate for the martial art's inherent shortcomings.

One day, as the twelfth lunar month approached, Liu Tiehe found Zhou Yan beneath the martial hall's corridor.

"Brother Zhou, there'll be a Martial Meet at the end of the year." Liu Tiehe squatted under the corridor, holding a bowl of hot water to warm his hands. "Qingyun County's three major martial halls are organizing it—our Mountain-Suppressing Martial Hall, White Cloud Martial Hall, and Heavenly Peak Martial Arts Hall. The Lesser Martial Academies in the surrounding towns will also send people. It's held once every three years, with the various martial halls taking turns hosting. This year, it's the newly opened Heavenly Peak Martial Arts Hall's turn."

"A Martial Meet? When?" Zhou Yan was taken aback. He usually focused on cultivation and had not paid much attention to such matters.

"Less than a month from now, in the middle of the twelfth lunar month. Ma Tou'er asked me to tell you that your strength ranks among the best in Class B, so you may be sent up then. But don't worry, Martial Adepts won't participate this time, so no one from Class A will come."

Zhou Yan nodded.

Liu Tiehe went on to explain that the format was simple. Only those in the Qi-Gathering Realm could participate, and each martial hall would send three to five people.

There was prize silver for winning, and martial halls with higher rankings would receive more County Examination slots the following year.

The top five would receive additional rewards, ranging from one hundred taels of silver to several dozen taels, along with several Qi Gathering Pills.

Zhou Yan casually asked, "What about first place?"

"First place?" Liu Tiehe took a sip of hot water, his eyes lighting up. "A Qi-Condensing Pill. Ever heard of it? It's an incredible treasure. If someone in the Qi-Gathering Realm takes it, they can directly cross a minor realm. You're at Qi Gathering Greater Achievement now, so taking it would send you straight to Qi Gathering Perfection. This stuff is only available in the county government's martial treasury. You can't buy it even with money, and for years it's been the grand prize of the Martial Meet."

The hand holding Zhou Yan's bowl paused.

He had not taken the Martial Meet too seriously before.

He could go up and fight a couple of matches. It did not matter whether he won or lost; the main thing was not to reveal too much of his strength.

But the Qi-Condensing Pill was different. From Greater Achievement to Perfection, it would take at least half a year of grinding.

Next spring would be the Martial Examination. Only by breaking through to the Martial Practitioner Realm before then would he have a chance to compete for official status.

The Martial Examination was held once every three years. If he missed this one, he would have to wait another three years.

Zhao Xiong was still investigating the person who had stolen the martial art from the Azure Cloud Gang. The sooner his strength rose, the more confidence he would have.

What he lacked most was time!

"Do you know how many people have their eyes on first place?" Liu Tiehe counted on his fingers. "Luo Chengyuan from Heavenly Peak Martial Arts Hall, Shi Meng from White Cloud Martial Hall, and those from the Lesser Martial Academies—who isn't here for that thing? But..."

He glanced at Zhou Yan. "With your Stake Stance and your fist techniques, it really won't be easy for anyone at the same realm to knock you off the stage."

Zhou Yan set his bowl beneath the corridor. He already knew what he wanted to do.

He casually asked, "Are Sun Zhiyuan and Meng Lei participating too?"

Those two were also capable fighters in Class B.

"Meng Lei is. Sun Zhiyuan, probably not. Even if he goes, he'll only be there to make up the numbers. That kid gets whacked with a bamboo rod by the instructor every day."

Liu Tiehe grinned, chatted for a few more moments, then drank another mouthful of water, stood up, and brushed the dust from his trousers.

"Fine. Ma Tou'er is still waiting for us to bring honor to the martial hall."

With that, he turned and left.

Zhou Yan stood beneath the corridor and watched several Class C apprentices practicing their stances in the courtyard.

Ding Yong wandered through the crowd with a bamboo rod, striking anyone whose knees bent.

He could not use Mountain-Breaking Fist in the Martial Meet. He had decided that long ago.

Mountain-Suppressing Fist was the martial hall's fist technique. Using it was perfectly justified, and no one could say anything about it.

Although the martial art had flaws, the power of Greater Achievement was already sufficient within the Qi-Gathering Realm.

He was now at Qi Gathering Greater Achievement, placing him above a large number of people in terms of realm alone.

Combined with the foundation of his Mountain-Settling Stance at Perfection, which was nearly Limit-Breaking, it truly would not be easy for someone at the same realm to knock him off the stage.

Zhou Yan let out a breath, walked to the center of the courtyard, and assumed the stance of Mountain-Suppressing Fist.