Tiger-Subduing Fist Mastery

Li Cheng was so hungry he could barely stand it. He was the first to ask Deng Qing for food, taking out a silver coin and saying he was willing to buy it.

Deng Qing was no fool. Making money this way would be no different from cutting himself off from their little group.

He had not offered it up on his own initiative; he had been waiting for them to ask, so he could earn their goodwill out in the open.

Now that Young Master Li had opened his mouth, he went with the flow and generously handed out the coarse-grain buns.

The three received the coarse-grain buns and hurriedly held them in their hands, taking huge bites.

After filling his stomach, Deng Qing began practicing the Violet Palace Method.

Once he had completed a full circulation, a thought stirred in his mind, and a clear glow appeared.

[Heaven Helps Those Who Help Themselves; No Effort Is Wasted]

[Realm: Skin Tempering First Layer]

[Tiger-Subduing Fist: 59% (Minor Mastery)]

[Violet Palace Method: 1% (Beginner)]

Unlike usual, the words "Minor Mastery" were flickering faintly, yet Deng Qing was not overly excited.

Because those two words had begun flashing the day before yesterday.

Based on his past experience, Deng Qing knew that the Tiger-Subduing Fist had reached the final step before a breakthrough.

What it lacked was likely a fierce surge of qi and blood.

But trapped in North Warehouse as he was now, with even their meals cut off, where could he find some great tonic to violently boost his qi and blood?

After another day passed, Li Cheng and the other two finally could no longer sit still.

Over the past two days, miserable howls and bursts of clamor had occasionally come from outside, making them increasingly worried.

"We can't keep waiting like this."

Li Cheng slapped the bed and rose. "We must send someone out to investigate. If we wait for Celebration Hall to remember us, who knows whether it'll be until the year of the monkey or the month of the horse?"

He glanced at Wang Wei and Zhou Tie, then finally let his gaze settle on Deng Qing. "Junior Brother Deng, you know the streets better than we do.

"How about this? You go out and take a look. You don't need to go far; safety comes first.

"Of course, we won't have you risk your life for nothing. The three of us will each pay one tael of silver."

Deng Qing was somewhat surprised.

He had assumed Li Cheng would either directly give an order or invoke majority rule. He had not expected him to offer a reason first, then benefits.

Who said rich young masters were brainless? They were born knowing how to handle people.

Deng Qing understood as clearly as a polished mirror that no matter how pleasant Li Cheng's words sounded, in the end, Deng Qing had the lowest status and was the most suitable person to be pushed out to take the risk.

Deng Qing did not immediately answer. His thoughts flashed like lightning as he began weighing the risks of going outside.

At the very least, judging by the sounds, it was not yet a situation of soldiers running amok and slaughtering indiscriminately.

If the troublemakers were merely refugees or rioters, he felt that with his current abilities, he might not be unable to make the trip.

Besides, his Tiger-Subduing Fist was currently stuck at a bottleneck, and Li Cheng's proposal had given him an opportunity as well.

After weighing everything, Deng Qing said, "I don't want the silver. I want a Ginseng Pill."

His Tiger-Subduing Fist had been stuck at fifty-nine for three days already.

Deng Qing had long wanted to forcefully unleash a surge of qi and blood. Li Cheng's Ginseng Pill was precisely the opportunity he needed.

Li Cheng's expression immediately darkened. "You want the Ginseng Pill too?"

Deng Qing said, "I'm risking my life out there. Naturally, the reward must be worthy of this life."

Li Cheng frowned deeply, neither agreeing nor refusing.

Zhou Tie coughed. "Senior Brother Li, give it to him. One Ginseng Pill is worth five taels of silver. Afterward, I'll contribute one tael and seven qian."

Wang Wei nodded as well. "I'll pay my share too."

Both of them understood that if they remained trapped like this, no good end awaited them.

Li Cheng did not care about a single Ginseng Pill. What he disliked was this feeling of being manipulated.

But since things had come to this, he could not be bothered to continue wrangling over the matter. "Fine."

As he spoke, he took a small porcelain bottle from his robes, poured out a Ginseng Pill, and handed it to Deng Qing.

Deng Qing accepted the Ginseng Pill and swallowed it on the spot.

Li Cheng frowned. "At a time like this, can't you wait?"

Deng Qing offered no explanation. He returned to his bed and sat cross-legged.

He had seen Li Cheng take Ginseng Pills before and knew that once the pill entered the stomach, one had to begin practicing immediately.

Sure enough, once the Ginseng Pill entered his stomach, a wave of heat quickly exploded from within it.

Deng Qing did not dare be negligent. He hurriedly circulated the Violet Palace Method, capturing that heat strand by strand and guiding it into his limbs and bones.

Very soon, he forcibly suppressed the wildly rampaging heat, and it finally began to slowly refine into his body.

Deng Qing then flipped off the bed, spread his feet apart, and assumed the stance of the Tiger-Subduing Fist.

He adopted the Crouching Body, Reaching Claw, and Sinking Shoulder postures.

He performed the Leaping Body, Scissoring Wrist, and Twisting Spine movements.

The moment the form moved, the skin and membranes across Deng Qing's body heated up, and his qi and blood began to churn.

Before Deng Qing had even completed half a set of the Tiger-Subduing Fist, the qi and blood throughout his body seemed to be threaded together by a single line.

Without his noticing, the dust beneath his feet was swept up by the fierce wind, circling endlessly through the room.

When he reached Tiger-Subduing Mountain Crusher, Deng Qing's shoulders and back suddenly sank. In an instant, from the soles of his feet to his spine, and from his spine to both shoulders, every muscle, tendon, and layer of skin across his body tightened at once.

Li Cheng and the others only heard his sleeves snap as though the air itself had been lashed by a fierce gale.

The next instant, his fist thrust forward. Though it struck nothing, the swirling dust before him was forcibly pushed back half a foot.

With a swift motion, Deng Qing withdrew his stance. The next moment, a thought stirred, and a clear glow flashed before his eyes.

\n[Heaven Helps Those Who Help Themselves, No Effort Is Wasted]

[Realm: Skin Tempering First Layer]

[Tiger-Subduing Fist: 60% (Grand Mastery)]

[Violet Palace Method: 1% (Beginner)]

Deng Qing secretly rejoiced and slowly exhaled.

Li Cheng and the other two stared at him, astonishment written across their faces. They only felt that Deng Qing's set of punches had been exceptionally heavy and fierce.

Especially that final push—it carried tremendous force.

But their cultivation was ultimately insufficient, and they could not see that Deng Qing had already pushed the Tiger-Subduing Fist into Grand Mastery.

Deng Qing nodded to the three of them, turned and returned to his bed. He took off his white robe and changed into old clothes, tousled his hair, then smeared his face with a couple of handfuls of dust.

After doing all that, he looked into the water basin.

Reflected on the surface was a young man with a grimy face and tattered clothes, looking every bit like a refugee fleeing through the streets.

Deng Qing clasped his hands to the three men, pushed open the side door, and slipped out without a sound.

Zhou Tie watched Deng Qing disappear into the distance and said softly, "What do you two think of Senior Brother Deng?"

Wang Wei said, "He looks like an honest fellow, but when he practiced that fist form, he had a savage air about him."

Zhou Tie shook his head. "A savage air is nothing unusual. Those who claw their way up from the bottom usually have some of it.

"What I find most frightening about him is that he can endure loneliness."

Wang Wei was startled.

Zhou Tie said in a low voice, "Over these past days, aside from eating and sleeping, all he does is practice.

"We feel as if we're sitting on pins and needles, trapped here, but he seems to have found a place where he can cultivate in peace."

Wang Wei nodded, then turned and asked, "What does Senior Brother Li think?"

Li Cheng said, "I've been observing Deng Qing. He's truly strange. When he looks at us, he has neither the respect nor fear that one shows to those above them.

"I've never seen that in any other child from a poor family."

After discussing Deng Qing for a while, the three began talking again about how to gain benefits from this chaotic situation.

While the three were deep in discussion, Deng Qing had already slipped onto the street along the base of the wall.

The streets were even more chaotic than he had imagined. Every shop along the road was shut tight.

Some shops had been smashed open, and all sorts of bloodstained objects lay scattered across the ground.

Deng Qing slipped into a narrow alley, pressed himself against the wall, and inched forward step by step.

After turning past two alley mouths, he saw from afar a group of refugees looting a grain shop.

Most of those refugees wore ragged clothing, their faces marked by hunger.

Some knelt on the ground, shoveling rice into their clothes. Others fought over half a sack of grain, tearing one another until their heads were bloodied.

Many rice sacks had been ripped open, spilling white rice all over the ground.

Several refugees, so emaciated their features had changed, even lay on the ground, scooping up grains of rice and stuffing them into their mouths.

Deng Qing swept his gaze over the scene and quickly sensed that something was wrong.

Among the crowd were several brawny men. Though they too wore rags and had smeared ash on their faces, they carried an imposing presence.

Those brawny men merely prowled around the edge of the crowd, like vicious dogs guarding a flock of sheep.

Suddenly, the doorboards of a shop were smashed apart, and more than a dozen shop hands burst out in formation, wielding blades and clubs.