Chapter 56

"Alright, go write."

After saying this, Xu Yang returned to his room, took out the ginseng sent by the Qiu family, and ate it bite by bite.

"The Martial Examination is an important means for major martial arts sects to select disciples, so I must not miss it. According to what Zhang Hong and the others said, only by succeeding in the Martial Examination can one obtain subsequent cultivation techniques."

"Therefore, I must also participate in the Martial Examination."

Soon, the whole ginseng was eaten, and Xu Yang began to circulate the Vajra Technique to absorb it.

In the following time, he used the twenty taels sent by the Qiu family and the money he had to buy exotic beast meat and purchased Qi-Benefiting Powder at the Weiyuan Hall for cultivation.

With this kind of open-ended spending, the thirty-plus taels of silver were all spent in less than a month.

"It really burns money!"

Xu Yang felt that even if he had another thirty taels, he could spend it all.

Of course, the results were also gratifying.

After using more than thirty taels of silver, the true qi in his body had almost doubled and was becoming more and more refined.

At this moment, the progress of his Vajra Technique had long since surpassed that of the original Jade Butterfly.

[Comprehension: 50]

[Aptitude: 50]

[Cultivation Base: Small Success of Qi Refining]

[Techniques: Turtle-Snake Great Stance · Small Success (114/300), Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist · Small Success (321/500), Vajra Technique · Entry (108/1000)]

[Skills: Mining lv.3 (283/400)]

[Remaining Lifespan: 61]

[Martial Dao Longevity Points: 24]

In nearly a month, both aptitude and comprehension had broken through the fifty-point barrier.

However, unlike what he had expected before, "50" did not reach Grade B-Upper aptitude.

"I'm afraid it needs to be raised to sixty to reach Grade B-Upper aptitude!"

He finally understood how powerful Lu Ren's Grade B-Upper aptitude was. With such good aptitude, plus resources far exceeding his own, Lu Ren's cultivation base must be much higher than his at this moment.

Of course, if they really had to fight, he had mastered the Wind-Thunder Force, so it would likely be Lu Ren who died.

Lu Ren had neither grasped the Wind-Thunder Force nor reached the Great Success of Qi Refining.

And the Wind-Thunder Force could even contend with the Great Success of Qi Refining.

Among the techniques, the one with the most progress was the Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist, and the slowest was still the Vajra Technique.

"There are still about seven months until the Martial Examination; reaching the Great Success of Qi Refining should not be a problem."

Even with aptitude like Lu Ren's, plus massive resources, he still hadn't reached the Great Success of Qi Refining, so one could imagine the difficulty of reaching it.

"Brother, are you up yet!"

Xu Qing was wearing a floral dress and knocking on the door outside.

Tomorrow was New Year's Eve, and Xu Yang had promised to accompany her into the city to buy New Year goods today. She had woken up excitedly early in the morning; this was already the second time she had come to knock on the door.

"I'm up!"

After eating, he took Xu Qing and walked toward the city.

The city was very lively, full of people who had come into the city to buy New Year goods, and all kinds of vendors were everywhere.

It was rare for Xu Qing to enter the city, and she found everything novel. After walking for a while, her hands were full of things: candied haws, ghost masks, windmills...

Xu Yang bought her everything she wanted, and only when both her hands were full did the two of them start to purchase New Year goods.

Ham, peanuts, melon seeds, glutinous rice...

In the end, they really couldn't carry it all, so they found a flatbed cart to pull it home.

In the blink of an eye, it was New Year's Eve. Today, the Liu family had let them, these retainers, return home, and they would go back on the third day.

Xu Yang got up early, ate, and took Xu Qing up the mountain to pay respects to their mother.

When they returned, they saw three people standing at his door, two of whom were carrying shoulder poles, and one standing empty-handed.

Seeing Xu Yang return, the person standing empty-handed hurriedly stepped forward and cupped his hands: "Greetings, Master Xu."

He had also become a person of the 'Master' generation.

This person was none other than Wang Xinggui, a small leader sent by the Three Harmonies Gang to manage the collection of money in White Stone Ward.

Xu Yang nodded lightly, his gaze sweeping over the shoulder poles of the two people behind Wang Xinggui, seeing that the baskets contained some fruits, cloth, yellow wine, as well as rice and meat, etc.

"Master Xu, the Gang Leader is worried that you are busy with martial arts practice and have no time to prepare New Year goods, so he asked me to send some over." Wang Xinggui bent his waist, his face full of fawning flattery.

Xu Yang had reached the Small Success of Qi Refining, and the news of him beating Hong Feng to death had spread. Li Sanhe had already come once and sent gifts.

He didn't expect him to specifically ask Wang Xinggui to send New Year goods again today; he really knew how to do things.

"Thank Gang Leader Li for me!" Xu Yang smiled.

It used to be him who needed to fawn over the people of the Three Harmonies Gang, but now the roles were reversed.

"Good, this little one will definitely convey it."

Wang Xinggui said, hurriedly asking his two subordinates to send the things into the house, and then bid farewell and left.

Xu Yang did not try to keep them, watching the three of them leave, his gaze gradually turning gloomy: "Sooner or later, I will slaughter you all."

The day he reached the Great Success of Qi Refining would be the day Li Sanhe lost his life.

He would not truly reconcile with Li Sanhe just because of his few gestures of goodwill; he hadn't made a move only because his strength was insufficient.

On the first day of the New Year, Xu Yang accompanied Xu Qing into the city to listen to plays and watch juggling.

On the second day of the New Year, he took Xu Qing to his eldest uncle's house to pay New Year calls. After staying for a while, he left Xu Qing at Zhou Shunchang's house, then bought gifts on the street and came to the Weiyuan Hall to pay New Year calls to Lin Cheng.

It was the first time Xu Yang had seen Lin Cheng's family: one legal wife and three concubines.

The three concubines looked to be only in their twenties, with cherry mouths and willow-leaf eyebrows, all looking very exquisite.

There was also a girl of seventeen or eighteen, full of heroic spirit and a capable temperament. Sun Tao introduced her as Lin Cheng's youngest daughter, named Lin Wei, who practiced martial arts at the Su Nu Hall and rarely came to the Weiyuan Hall.

As for Lin Cheng's other children, they were not here, so Sun Tao did not introduce them.

Many senior and junior brothers came today; besides the inner and outer court disciples, there were many who had long since left the Weiyuan Hall.

The Weiyuan Hall was simply like a marketplace, with people coming and going.

Xu Yang only had the opportunity to say "Happy New Year, Master; this disciple pays his respects," before others came forward to take his place.

He went to pay his respects to the several Mistresses one by one and left after staying for a while.

Then he went to the Qiu family to pay his respects.

Qiu Wenjie had a good relationship with him, and Qiu Yongqiang had supported him before he reached the Small Success of Qi Refining. He regarded Qiu Yongqiang as an elder, so naturally, he had to pay his respects.

Half a day passed just like that. He took Xu Qing back to White Stone Ward and went to his eldest uncle's house to pay his respects.

During the years when Second Uncle ignored him and Xu Qing, only his eldest uncle's family would give them a bite to eat. Several times, if it hadn't been for his eldest uncle's help, he would probably have starved to death.

Xu Yang brought many gifts—tea, fruit, rice, meat, and cloth—which made Second Uncle, who was living in the cow shed, feel a wave of jealousy.

He came over to talk, but Xu Yang ignored him, and Xu Qing did not take the initiative to speak to him either.

The current Second Uncle looked full of vicissitudes, with many more wrinkles on his face and much darker skin.

Having been snubbed, he had no choice but to sigh and return to the cow shed.

It was said that the woman Zhang Cuiting was still thinking about him and wanted him to go back, but Yang Jun simply wouldn't agree.

Time passed quietly, and the weather gradually warmed up. Before he knew it, it was March.

The Martial Examination was in July; there were four months left until the biennial Martial Examination.

In the room, Xu Yang's muscles and bones made crisp crackling sounds, like popping beans.

His skin was crimson, his whole body was sweating, and an uncomfortable numbness and itchiness penetrated deep into his bone marrow, but his face was full of smiles.

"My aptitude has finally entered the Grade B-Upper level, the same as Lu Ren's."

Xu Yang felt his whole body was light, as if he had shed a layer of shackles.

[Aptitude: 60]

[Comprehension: 60]

[Cultivation Base: Small Success of Qi Refining]

[Techniques: Turtle-Snake Great Stance · Small Success (205/300), Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist · Small Success (452/500), Vajra Technique · Entry (197/1000)]

[Skills: Mining lv.3 (283/400)]

[Remaining Lifespan: 62]

[Martial Dao Longevity Points: 33]