Skin Tempering Achieved!

"Brother Yuan, what if that mother and son find themselves at the end of the road and sell the courtyard off cheaply ahead of time?" One of the underlings leaned in and reminded him in a low voice.

"Heh." Liu Yuan gave a dismissive sneer. "Old Sophora Street is under the Golden Tiger Gang's control. With just one word from me, who would dare take over that courtyard? In the end, it can only obediently fall into my hands."

"Brother Yuan is brilliant! Once you get the courtyard and sell it on, that's another dozen or so taels of silver coming in."

"Right, right, Brother Yuan's calculations are simply impeccable."

Several underlings crowded around him with a burst of praise. The corner of Liu Yuan's mouth lifted slightly as he narrowed his eyes. "In the end, that Cheng family brat was simply too useless.

"If he had truly become a Skin-Tempering martial artist, I wouldn't have dared push things too far. But there are no ifs."

He paused and looked toward the Cheng family in the distance, a vicious glint rising in his eyes.

"Brat Cheng, your skills are inferior. Don't blame me, Liu Yuan, for being ruthless."

The night grew deeper, and fragments of moonlight shimmered across the river.

Cheng Yang stood on one leg with the other bent and raised, its toes lightly touching the side of his supporting knee.

His arms spread naturally like slightly unfurled crane wings. His spine was straight, his head lifted, and beneath the moonlight, he looked like a Spirit Crane resting with folded wings, light and graceful.

Spirit Crane Stance.

He settled into the stance, sank his qi into his dantian, and slowly breathed in and out. Before long, dense insights flooded his mind, as though another version of himself in a parallel time and space had already practiced the stance for days on end. All that hard work, all those minute adjustments, and every detail of his qi and blood circulation poured into his consciousness at once.

Sweat quickly soaked through his clothes, dripping from his chin onto the dirt by his feet.

Lines of text appeared before his eyes—

[Spirit Crane Stance Entry Level (91/100)]

[Spirit Crane Stance Entry Level (92/100)]

[Spirit Crane Stance Entry Level (93/100)]

His proficiency surged upward like a lit fuse. Cheng Yang was completely immersed in the circulation of the stance. The chirping insects, the wind, and the low murmur of the river were all shut out. His mind was utterly clear, with only the qi and blood within him slowly flowing, swelling, and settling through the posture.

The sky gradually darkened. The moon's reflection slowly shifted across the river.

After an unknown length of time, a strange change suddenly rose from the depths of his body, as though something had quietly taken root, broken through the earth, and stretched within his limbs and bones. Cheng Yang snapped out of his selfless state and let out a long breath of turbid air. He first glanced at the panel.

[Spirit Crane Stance Minor Accomplishment (0/500)]

The Spirit Crane Stance had broken through.

He lowered his head and examined himself. His formerly smooth skin now carried a rough texture, as though it had been polished by fine sandpaper, slightly abrasive to the touch.

An unprecedented surge of power filled his entire body. It felt as if something deep within his marrow had been completely awakened.

Skin Tempering, one of Foundation Establishment's Three Gates, had been achieved.

The hurdle he had failed to cross after so many attempts had now been stepped over as easily as drinking water and eating a meal.

An indescribable feeling rose in Cheng Yang's heart—exhilarating and surreal all at once.

Grrr...

His stomach let out an embarrassing growl. Cheng Yang hurriedly took out dried meat from his clothes and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing and swallowing in huge mouthfuls. Only after devouring two-thirds of the dried meat he had just bought did that frantic hunger finally subside.

He threw several punches through the air. The wind from his fists whistled, and their force was clearly far greater than before.

"I really have become stronger."

But one problem lay right before him: it cost too much money.

The two taels of silver Haozi and Xiaoxue had given him were only enough to buy provisions for one day.

No, half a day.

Perhaps not even half a day.

His martial training consumed dozens of times more than an ordinary person's.

In martial arts, four parts lay in training, six parts in nourishment. Without plasters, pills, and food to replenish oneself, even the best talent was useless.

The reason Cheng Yang had bought dried meat in advance was because he feared that his qi and blood would run dry halfway through training and his body would be unable to endure it.

"The urgent task is making money. Only if my resources can keep up can I fully forge this foundation of peerless bearing."

He clenched his fists and thought of another problem. He still had no clue where to find the cultivation methods after Skin Tempering.

Spirit Crane Martial Hall had only taught the Spirit Crane Stance for the Skin Tempering Realm. The stance arts for Flesh Tempering and Bone Tempering had to be learned at the martial hall. With his current aptitude, becoming an official disciple—or even a core disciple—of Spirit Crane Martial Hall would be no problem. But the issue was that he would have to pay another five taels of silver in tuition.

Money.

Where would he get money?

Very quickly, a name surfaced in his mind.

Liu Yuan.

That gang member who sucked Old Sophora Street dry to the bone and oppressed its people should have accumulated quite a bit of silver, shouldn't he?

Since you were the first to act without mercy, don't blame me for acting without righteousness.

The bold starve no more; the timid starve to death.

A fierce glint flashed through Cheng Yang's eyes as he slowly clenched his fists.

That night, he slept especially deeply.

He even had a dream.

In the dream, he stood within an endless golden curtain. A colossal golden dragon floated in the air, majestic as a mountain range, its eyes like two blazing suns, its deep vertical pupils staring directly down at him.

Cheng Yang gazed at It for a long time. So long that even he could not tell how much time had passed.

At last, the giant dragon let out an earth-shaking roar. The sound pierced through the dream and violently dragged him out of sleep.

Cheng Yang opened his eyes, drenched in cold sweat, his heart pounding like a drum.

"Was that... really a dream?"

He took a moment to calm his breathing. No, that dragon might have been real.

Somewhere in the dark, he sensed a faint, elusive guidance. If he followed that direction, then one day, perhaps he truly would meet that golden dragon.

"This world truly isn't simple."

"I don't know whether that dragon is friend or foe... It's still too early to think about such things.

"When I have enough strength, I'll investigate it properly."

Cheng Yang turned over and closed his eyes again.

Over the next two days, he never had that dream again.

His mother, Lin Xia, on the other hand, was so busy her feet barely touched the ground. She searched all over Old Sophora Street for property brokers, hoping to sell the Cheng family's old residence as quickly as possible.

Even though she had lowered the price enough, no one dared take it. It was obvious someone was pulling strings behind the scenes.

Only one day remained until the three-day deadline Liu Yuan had set.

Liu Yuan's calculations were precise. Three days gave them both hope and despair, forcing the mother and son to crawl into the trap he had set.

That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high, without a single star in the sky.

Bright moonlight spilled down, draping Qinglin County in a thin veil of silver.

Liu Yuan was dead drunk and lay in bed, snoring like thunder.

A black-robed figure silently vaulted over the courtyard wall.

His footsteps were as light as a civet cat's, making not the slightest sound as he landed.

Yet just as he was about to push open the door, a burly figure suddenly emerged from the darkness and blocked the entrance. He chewed on a grass root, his tone teasing.

"Little bug, sneaking around in the middle of the night—who are you looking for?"

This man was Dong Hao, one of the Golden Tiger Gang's three Skin-Tempering Martial Masters.

Liu Yuan was a cautious man. He had hired Dong Hao to guard for three nights at the price of one tael of silver per day. Dong Hao had thought he could coast through those three days and earn money for nothing, but someone had actually dared come knocking.

This silver had not been spent in vain after all.

The black-robed figure was Cheng Yang. He had not expected Liu Yuan to be such a coward that he had even hired someone to stand guard at night.

Since he had been discovered, there was nothing left to say.

They would settle it with their hands.

He recognized Dong Hao, a Skin-Tempering Martial Master of the Golden Tiger Gang. They were both in the same realm, so there was nothing to fear.

"Tell me, little bug. How do you want to die?" Dong Hao grinned, wearing an expression that said he had already won.

According to Liu Yuan, the most likely person to launch a night attack was merely a brat who had not even broken through to the Skin Tempering Realm.

With an entire major realm between them, Dong Hao believed he could crush him with ease.

He stomped hard on the ground and lunged forward like a starving tiger pouncing on prey, both fists wrapped in fierce wind as they shot toward Cheng Yang's face.

Cheng Yang had already hidden his right hand behind his back. The instant Dong Hao rushed close, he suddenly swung his arm up and flung a palmful of lime powder directly over Dong Hao's head and face.

Dong Hao's heart sank as he inwardly cried out in alarm. He hurriedly shut his eyes, but a small amount of powder still got into them. The burning pain was like having hot oil splashed across his face.

He instinctively retreated, trying to open up some distance.

How could Cheng Yang possibly give him a chance to catch his breath? He tightened his fists, closed in, and launched a furious assault after Dong Hao.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Every punch struck flesh.

The two exchanged dozens of moves at high speed in the narrow courtyard. After his initial panic, Dong Hao steadied himself. Relying on the combat experience he had accumulated over many years, he gradually began to turn the tide.

But Cheng Yang was not panicked in the slightest.

Because his golden finger had activated.