Provocation, the inner courtyard?

A thoroughly rude bark interrupted Li Xuan's rhythm.

He slowly eased out of his stance and looked up.

Four or five young people around his age stood nearby. Leading them was a youth in a short silk jacket, with a fair face and arrogant eyes. He was the one who had spoken.

The two young men and two young women beside him were also finely dressed, clearly the children of wealthy families in town. All of them were looking at Li Xuan with hostility.

"What are you staring at? I'm talking to you!"

When the fair-faced youth saw Li Xuan merely looking at him calmly instead of immediately moving aside, his anger flared. He stepped forward twice and pointed at the spot beneath the tree.

"That's where I always stand! Get out of the way if you know what's good for you!"

Li Xuan frowned, his tone level. "There's no name written on this spot. I got here first, so it's mine. The martial school doesn't have any rule saying a particular spot belongs to a particular person, either."

"Hah! You've got the nerve to talk back?"

A tall, thin youth beside him sneered. After looking Li Xuan over, he suddenly remembered something.

"Oh-I remember! You're that hunter from the mountains who came a few days ago, right? Li... something, wasn't it? You disappeared right after registering. I thought you'd realized you were out of your depth and backed off. Didn't expect you to pop up again today."

"So you're just some country hunter." The fair-faced youth's contempt deepened.

"No wonder you reek of dirt. Listen here, the martial school has its rules! This spot belongs to me, Du Mingxuan! Move it. Stop being an eyesore!"

The others joined in.

"Exactly! You dare take Young Master Du's spot?"

"Why isn't a hunter chasing rabbits in the mountains? What are you doing sticking your nose in here?"

"Look at that shabby wretch. Stance training? Don't dirty the ground!"

Li Xuan couldn't be bothered wasting words on them. He simply settled back into his stance and continued practicing, treating them as empty air.

"Dumbass."

Seeing Li Xuan insult him and then ignore him outright only made Du Mingxuan angrier.

"You..." Du Mingxuan's face flushed red, and his fists clenched. He was about to erupt.

"What are you all standing around arguing for?! Don't you have training to do?!"

A booming reprimand rang out. Zhao Meng, who supervised the outer courtyard's morning training, had arrived.

He approached with a stern face, sweeping his severe gaze across them.

Du Mingxuan and his companions immediately lost their swagger.

The martial school strictly forbade private fights between disciples. Violators faced harsh punishment and could even be expelled outright. They didn't dare openly break that rule.

Du Mingxuan shot Li Xuan a vicious glare and forced a sentence through clenched teeth.

"Just you wait, brat!"

"I should wait just because you tell me to? If you've got the guts, do it now! Come on, then! Hit me!"

Du Mingxuan froze. He had only meant to leave a threat behind, never expecting Li Xuan to put him on the spot like this.

But Zhao Meng was approaching now, his gaze turning their way.

He could only lead his companions to another open patch nearby in frustration, his face as red as if he had been forced to swallow a fly.

"Damn it, that brat's too arrogant! Just you wait!"

Zhao Meng didn't ask any further questions. Treating it as a minor disagreement, he began supervising the disciples' stance and fist training as usual.

The morning passed in dull, grueling stance training.

The sun rose steadily, its vicious rays baking the blue-brick paving as waves of heat shimmered upward.

Though Li Xuan was sweating beneath the tree, he was clearly far more comfortable than Du Mingxuan and the others, who stood fully exposed to the sun.

Naturally, Li Xuan was feeling pretty pleased with himself.

Morning practice came to an end, followed by a two-hour break for rest and lunch.

Li Xuan followed the crowd to the outer courtyard's dining hall.

It was a crude place, furnished with a dozen or so old wooden tables and benches. The food was self-serve: coarse rice, stir-fried wild greens, and vegetable soup dotted with specks of oil-the standard fare.

"Damn, this food's awful. With meals like this, I probably won't gain even a single point."

Li Xuan promptly decided not to eat and prepared to go out for something better.

Just then, the bench beside him sank as a stocky, dark-skinned youth in coarse cloth clothes sat down, carrying the same food.

"Brother, are you new? From a village too?" The youth grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

Li Xuan nodded. "Li Xuan, from Li Family Village."

"Hey! I'm Shi Lei, from Little River Gully Village."

Shi Lei made himself right at home and shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth.

"There aren't many village folk in our outer courtyard. Most are young masters and misses from town. They turn their noses up at this coarse rice, so they either go home for good food or eat at restaurants."

He gestured with his lips toward the empty tables farther away. "Only people like us, with nowhere to go and no money to spare, make do here."

"If only we could get into the inner courtyard. I hear they have fish and meat at every meal, and even ginseng soup to nourish their bodies."

"Food, drink, status, and girls to sleep with too. Makes you jealous!"

"Girls... the inner courtyard?" Li Xuan asked.

"Right!" Shi Lei lowered his voice. "I heard that once you enter the inner courtyard, dedicated instructors teach you real skills, and you get Blood-Strength Pills every month-even the worst ones are better than nothing! The food's good too. Meat and eggs at every meal, and all the white rice you can eat!"

He sighed. "But how could getting into the inner courtyard be easy? You have to train your stance all the way to the Stonehide Realm and break through at least one Blood Gate. Us country folk have average root bones, and our families can't afford tonics. With nothing but communal meals and sheer grinding effort, it's hard..."

Li Xuan listened thoughtfully.

As Shi Lei explained, his gaze drifted to the side of the dining hall.

There was a small service window there, with a rich medicinal fragrance wafting out.

The martial school's medicinal soup stall.

One bowl of Blood-Strength Soup cost a hundred copper coins.

Li Xuan took out his coin pouch and counted its contents.

"One bowl."

The attendant behind the window accepted the copper coins, ladled out a bowl of dark, steaming soup, and passed it over.

Bowl in hand, Li Xuan returned to the corner where he had been sitting.

Shi Lei hadn't left. He was squatting by the wall, shoveling down his food.

Seeing Li Xuan return with the bowl, he paused. "What's that...?"

"Bought some medicinal soup." Li Xuan sat down.

Shi Lei's eyes widened. "Blood-Strength Soup? The one that costs a hundred copper coins?"

"Yeah."

"You... where did you get the money?"

"Hunting." Li Xuan raised the bowl, tipped back his head, and drained it.

Bitter.

Scalding.

But worth it.

He lowered his gaze to the panel.

[Potential points: +10]

Sure enough, they had increased.

One bowl of Blood-Strength Soup, ten potential points.

That seemed pretty decent.

Beside him, Shi Lei stared, dumbfounded.

I thought you were as poor and down-and-out as me. I even felt we had something in common.

But after all that...

You just drank a hundred-copper bowl of medicinal soup without a second thought?

Which of them village folk didn't wish they could split every copper coin in two to stretch it further?

Shi Lei suddenly felt a thick barrier had risen between him and Li Xuan.

"You..." Shi Lei struggled to swallow his coarse steamed bun. "You make that much money hunting?"

Li Xuan didn't answer.

He was allocating points.

His blood and qi abruptly heated up.

It was as though someone had tossed a handful of firewood into a stove. The sluggish flames suddenly leaped up, burning along his meridians into every limb and bone.

His skin trembled, his muscles and bones ached and tingled, and a current of heat surged wildly through his body.

Li Xuan clenched his fists.

A sense of strength.

Real, tangible strength.

"You..." Shi Lei stared at him, feeling that something was off. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Li Xuan stood and rolled his shoulders. "More training this afternoon."

Shi Lei watched him walk away, then looked down at the coarse steamed bun in his hand.

After a long while, he let out a melancholy sigh.

They were both from villages.

The other fellow drank medicinal soup while he gnawed on coarse buns.

The other fellow practiced his fists, and so did he.

But why did it feel...

Like the gap between them kept getting wider?