Chapter 12: Inner Courtyard

Xu Yang... had initiated the Turtle-Snake Great Stance, only a day or so later than the genius Lu Ren. And he himself still needed a day or two to initiate it.

For a moment, Zhang Yong couldn't accept it.

His goal was to surpass Lu Ren, but as it turned out, he wasn't even as good as Xu Yang. His hard work over the past few days seemed to have become a joke.

"Congratulations!"

He said sourly, insincerely.

"He really initiated it!"

Zhang Hong, Qian Jiaxing, Luo Dehu, and others heard Zhang Yong's words and ran over in surprise, just in time to see the crimson skin on Xu Yang's body, and they were all dumbfounded.

"Congratulations!"

Zhang Yong struggled to stand up from the ground, his smile somewhat forced. Xu Yang initiating the Turtle-Snake Great Stance made him the most uncomfortable one.

Clearly, he had practiced so hard, every time exhausting himself to the point of collapse, so why wasn't he the first to break through?

"Congratulations, from now on the Martial Dao is a smooth path."

Luo Dehu, Zhang Hong, and the others also offered their congratulations one after another, hiding the jealousy in the depths of their eyes.

"A smooth path for the Martial Dao? It's just the initiation of the Turtle-Snake Great Stance; it's still a long way from the Martial Dao." Zhou Yang's voice sounded.

He and a group of old disciples had also been alarmed by the commotion here and stopped their practice to walk over.

He swept his gaze over the handsome youth, secretly shocked by the other's talent. It had taken him eight days to initiate the Turtle-Snake Great Stance.

Xu Yang had been practicing until now, and it had only been a little over six days in total.

"Senior Brother Zhou Yang, Xu Yang's initiation time was only a day or so later than mine. His talent shouldn't be bad, right? Why do you still say that?"

Lu Ren also walked over with Zhou Yang and the others, and couldn't help but frown upon hearing this.

In a few days, he had matured quite a bit. He understood what kind of person Luo Dehu was and knew that as he grew up in the future, he would inevitably need people like Luo Dehu to do things for him.

But he also needed some followers with potential who could become martial artists. Although Zhou Yang and these people associated with him, their backgrounds were not bad, so naturally, they couldn't follow him.

Xu Yang and Zhang Yong, who had struggled in the mud with him, were undoubtedly the best choices.

And Xu Yang had only initiated it a day later than him. If he could be subdued, perhaps he could follow behind him for a longer distance in the future.

But Zhou Yang's attitude toward Xu Yang was still the same as ever, not believing that Xu Yang could become a martial artist.

"Right, Xu Yang was only a day later than Lu Ren. Do you still think he can't become a martial artist?"

Zhang Yong suppressed his jealousy toward Xu Yang and spoke up for him, feeling that Zhou Yang and these people were rotten to the core. In order to buy their resources at a low price, they were actually telling such barefaced lies.

"Initiating the Turtle-Snake Great Stance a few days earlier or later doesn't represent anything. In fact, the difference isn't big. His chance of becoming a martial artist is still one in ten. If you don't believe me, go ask Master Lin." ===== CHAPTER 23 =====

"Why is it like this?" Lu Ren stared at Zhou Yang.

Since Zhou Yang dared to bring up Lin Cheng, he basically wasn't lying.

"Because he's poor. Still the same saying: the most important thing in practicing martial arts is money, money! The reason everyone thinks you can become a martial artist, although it's because of your root bone, is mainly because the Huang family is willing to spend ten silver taels on you every month."

Once these words were spoken, even Lu Ren fell silent.

"Is money really that important? Are talent and hard work useless..."

Xu Yang was only a day later than Lu Ren in initiating it, but Zhang Yang and the others still thought Xu Yang couldn't become a martial artist. Zhang Yong and the others couldn't help but feel a bit desperate.

If this was the case for Xu Yang, it would only be harder for them.

"It's not that they're useless, just that they're not very useful. You have to rush the barrier in at most three months, and whether you succeed in rushing the barrier depends on your Martial Dao foundation. The firmer the foundation, the greater the possibility of success."

"Others eat big fish and meat every day, taking turns drinking Body-Strengthening Soup and Health-Nourishing Soup to store up blood and Qi, while you eat white rice every day. How much blood and Qi can you store up?"

"Furthermore, when it comes to tempering the body, your three days of hard stance training can't even catch up to the effect of someone else's medicinal bath for refining the body. While they are taking medicinal baths, they are also doing stance training. In three months, you can't even imagine the gap between you."

Zhou Yuan shook his head.

His family's conditions weren't actually very good, which was why he had set his sights on the things in the hands of Xu Yang's group.

"Senior Brother Zhou Yang, you forgot that we are being cultivated by the Huang family. Since Xu Yang was able to initiate stance training so quickly, the Huang family will definitely increase their cultivation investment in him."

Once Lu Ren said this, Zhang Yong and the others couldn't help but be invigorated. They didn't have money, but the Huang family did.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Yang still shook his head: "The Huang family might indeed increase their cultivation investment in him, but I guarantee it won't exceed two taels at most. What use can two taels be?"

"Why are you so sure?" Lu Ren was curious.

"Because the Huang family has you, and that's enough!"

Zhou Yang's tone was categorical because he understood the Huang family.

"Eh... where's Xu Yang?"

Suddenly someone noticed that Xu Yang was gone. Everyone looked up and found that Xu Yang had already left, his back disappearing into the inner courtyard. He hadn't been listening to Zhou Yang's blathering here at all.

Zhou Yang looked at Xu Yang's back and said: "You watch. If my judgment is wrong, when he comes back in a while, there will be senior brothers and sisters from the inner courtyard giving him gifts. If he comes back empty-handed, then my judgment is correct."

……

【Turtle-Snake Great Stance · Initiated (1/100)】

Xu Yang looked at the panel and felt somewhat helpless for a moment. He hadn't expected that after initiating the Turtle-Snake Great Stance, the proficiency required to reach the next stage would jump from the previous "5" to "100". The span was frighteningly large.

He didn't want to listen to Zhou Yang's toxic chicken soup and negative energy at all, and he wouldn't be affected either.

Stepping into the inner courtyard for the first time, the scene here was completely different from the outer courtyard. There were pavilions specifically for cooling off, unlike the outer courtyard where one could only hide in the corners of walls.

This place didn't look like a place for practicing martial arts at all, but rather like a gathering place. A group of inner courtyard disciples gathered in a pavilion, drinking tea and eating pastries, and some were even playing the zither.

Sun Tao discovered Xu Yang and walked over from the pavilion with long strides.

Xu Yang bowed: "Greetings, Senior Brother Sun!"

Sun Tao nodded and said: "Junior Brother Xu, what brings you here?"

Xu Yang said: "Returning to Senior Brother, I have already initiated the Turtle-Snake Great Stance and have come here to find Master to learn fist techniques."

Sun Tao showed a look of surprise: "You have already initiated it?"

He had thought that the second one to initiate it would be Zhang Yong, but he hadn't expected it to be Xu Yang.

"Come, I'll take you to find Master."

Sun Tao didn't say much more and soon took Xu Yang to find Lin Cheng in a courtyard, then excused himself and returned to the pavilion.

"Junior Brother Sun, among the people cultivated by the Huang family, has someone else initiated the Turtle-Snake Great Stance?"

As soon as Sun Tao sat down, someone asked.

Sun Tao nodded: "Yes. This batch of people sent by the Huang family is actually not bad. I didn't even expect that besides Lu Ren, someone else would be able to initiate the Turtle-Snake Great Stance so quickly."

"Initiating the Turtle-Snake Great Stance in six days is indeed not bad."

In the pavilion, the group of inner courtyard disciples reacted indifferently.

Those who could be here were true martial artists who had successfully rushed the barrier.

Although initiating the Turtle-Snake Great Stance in six days was rare, it wasn't an extraordinary achievement among their group. Several of them had initiated the Turtle-Snake Great Stance in five or six days.

"Senior Sister Gu Fang, Senior Brother Jiang Ping, Xu Yang initiated the Turtle-Snake Great Stance in six days. He should be able to gain your 'friendship', right?"

Sun Tao looked curiously at the man and woman opposite him. The so-called friendship was actually gift-giving.

Both of them had impressive family backgrounds and liked to associate with talented people. When they encountered people with true talent, they would directly use money to pave the way for friendship. Yesterday, they had both given Lu Ren a valuable gift.

"What is this Xu Yang's root bone?" Jiang Ping asked.

"Grade C-Lower!"

Jiang Ping shook his head: "Grade C-Lower root bone. Even if the Huang family increases his cultivation investment to the same level as Lu Ren's, the success rate is only thirty percent."

"Wait until he can enter the inner courtyard and stand before us before talking." Gu Fang said finally. ===== CHAPTER 24 =====