Chapter 4: Hall of Distant Aspirations, Master Lu

Not lingering long at the Earth God's Shrine, Fang Xu grabbed the wooden box and jumped down from the statue, taking advantage of the night to hurry home.

On the bed, the wooden box holding one hundred taels of silver was set aside; Fang Xu bent over, lifted the floorboards beneath the bed, and took out a smaller wooden box from the hidden compartment.

Inside the small wooden box lay the money he had saved over the years by living frugally—twenty-four taels and thirteen qian.

Adding the hundred taels of silver he had just obtained, his usable wealth totaled one hundred twenty-four taels and thirteen qian.

The Great Yu Dynasty founded the state on martial prowess; martial arts flourished, and at the dynasty's founding the imperial family had once spread three fundamental body-tempering methods for training flesh, sinew, and bone among the populace.

In theory, each of these three body-tempering methods could enable one to cultivate to the Martial Apprentice Realm, yet under these circumstances martial artists of the dynasty remain exceedingly rare for two fundamental reasons.

Talent, and wealth.

"The poor study, the rich practice martial arts"—ordinary people who wish to enter the Martial Apprentice Realm through cultivation need talent, but resources are even more crucial.

Frankly speaking, if sufficient resources are piled up, even a pig could easily step into the ranks of martial artists and become a warrior.

And when resources are scarce, the demands on talent for becoming a warrior rise considerably.

Wang Ergou's younger brother Wang Erhu could reach the Martial Apprentice Realm and become a soldier of Huangzhou Prefecture; the fundamental reason is his considerable talent, plus his father had once made a living by harvesting and selling medicinal herbs in Maple Forest Town, earning the family a decent fortune.

Even so, raising a warrior like Wang Erhu consumed ninety-nine percent of the Wang family's assets.

Fang Xu's family circumstances naturally cannot compare to the Wang family at its peak; the resources he hold amount at most to a little over one hundred taels of silver.

Good steel must be used on the blade's edge.

He practices one of the dynasty's three fundamental body-tempering arts, the Coiling Dragon Vigor; over these years, lacking an adept's guidance, he has taken many detours, stumbled forward, and now barely reached the bone-tempering stage—still one organ-tempering hurdle away from the Martial Apprentice Realm.

None of the three body-tempering arts contain any record of organ-tempering methods.

Yet organ-tempering is precisely the most crucial hurdle before becoming a warrior; if the five viscera and six bowels are not tempered properly, it directly affects a warrior's future achievements, but if overdone it damages the organs—lightly causing severe injury, heavily leading to death.

"Alas!"

Closing the wooden box, Fang Xu let out a sigh.

Maple Forest Town does have three Martial Masters capable of teaching organ-tempering, but these three are no saints; obtaining their guidance always requires a price.

With the money he has on hand, he could afford to hire a Martial Master for guidance, but if he also wanted to buy more medicinal pills and nourishing food, he would be stretched thin.

"Money!"

Rubbing the two wooden boxes before him, Fang Xu pondered a moment, then silently resolved: the matter of pills can wait; the system has awakened, and thereafter he need only make more friends, and wealth will not be lacking.

Finding a Martial Master to guide him and quickly settling the organ-tempering issue is urgent; he does not wish to end up like Old Man Liu's son, blindly experimenting and ruining himself into a cripple.

The next morning, on the streets of Maple Forest Town.

Because it borders the natural treasure house of Celadon Blue Mountain and it is early spring, many prospectors planning to enter the mountains to gather herbs and hunt fierce beasts have been arriving in Maple Forest Town one after another; from this season until the heavy snows block the mountains, the town bustles extraordinarily.

Weaving through the streets, one sees everywhere prospecting squads carrying plain blades and spears; these people, like Fang Xu, are mostly at the bone-tempering stage, hired by powerful clans to work for them.

Among the hired, those with outstanding talent have a chance to be valued by their patrons and then absorbed as peripheral members.

If fortunate, one might receive a few pointers from an adept among those powers, leap the dragon gate, cross the organ-tempering hurdle to become a Martial Apprentice, be heavily employed by the clans, and even marry into their families—none of it is impossible.

Such a path counts as a way for common folk to cross class barriers; the Great Yu Dynasty rules the world together with clan martial artists, and becoming a clan's in-law means entering high society's circle, breaking through class walls.

Fang Xu carried over a hundred taels of silver on his back and held two jars of his own brewed fine wine, dodging the reckless hunting squads, and soon arrived before a large estate.

"Little Fang, again?" At the gate, a burly middle-aged man with a full beard saw Fang Xu and greeted him familiarly.

"Big Brother Li," Fang Xu called out cheerfully, though his eyes swept past the middle-aged man to catch a flash of scarlet within the courtyard.

The middle-aged man followed his gaze into the courtyard, a faint smile appearing as he teased, "Kid, still thinking about her?"

Fang Xu, a little embarrassed, withdrew his gaze, scratched his head, and gave an embarrassed laugh: "I'm here to pay respects to Master Lu."

The "Master Lu" he referred to is Lu Zhiyuan, one of the three Martial Masters of Maple Forest Town and the owner of this Hall of Distant Aspirations, whose cultivation has reached the third stage of the Martial Master Realm.

The Martial Apprentice Realm has ten stages; crossing ten stages allows one to enter the Martial Master Realm, and a master's role is to impart the Way and dispel doubts.

Only by becoming a Martial Master can one be called an adept, and only Martial Masters and those of higher rank are qualified to instruct ordinary cultivators in organ-tempering; ordinary Martial Apprentices lack this ability.

"Paying respects to Master Lu?" The middle-aged man glanced at the two jars of wine in Fang Xu's hands, shook his head, and said, "Little Fang, you know Master Lu's rule: to enter this gate you need fifty taels of silver; your two jars of wine aren't worth that price."

Unlike the other two Martial Masters, Lu Zhiyuan only moved to Maple Forest Town a few years ago.

The sudden arrival of a Martial Master naturally drew the attention of the town's other two Martial Masters; the common folk of Maple Forest Town also did not know what agreement the Zhang family Martial Master and the patriarch of the Wu family had reached with Lu Zhiyuan, actually allowing him to settle in Maple Forest Town.

After establishing himself in Maple Forest Town, Lu Zhiyuan opened this Hall of Distant Aspirations and set the rule: he accepts no disciples, hires no one; anyone seeking his guidance must pay an entrance fee of fifty taels of silver, regardless of who they are.

Compared with the other two Martial Masters, the price for asking Lu Zhiyuan to guide organ-tempering is the smallest.

The middle-aged man before him, Li Yunshan, had come to Maple Forest Town together with Lu Zhiyuan back then; when the Hall of Distant Aspirations first opened, Li Yunshan had asked Fang Xu's grandfather to craft some furniture, and through those dealings he had become quite familiar with Fang Xu.

"I brought the money," Fang Xu said, quickly producing fifty taels of silver from the pack on his back and handing it to Li Yunshan.

Seeing that much of the silver he produced was in small pieces, Li Yunshan expressed surprise: "Little Fang, have you been saving these coins for a long time?"

Fang Xu gave a light smile: "Big Brother Li, is Master Lu inside?"

Li Yunshan quickly counted the silver, confirmed it was correct, then gestured with his hand: "Master Lu is inside; please go in."

Under his guidance, Fang Xu stepped into the Hall of Distant Aspirations' interior for the first time.

It is a three‑gate grand residence; the front courtyard holds a modest training field paved with hard blue stone, its surface marked with numerous shallow and deep footprints; to the left of the field stand two weapon racks, and to the right sit four scarred whetstones.

Whetstone is a very hard material; even a full‑force strike from an ordinary tenth‑stage martial artist struggles to crack it, so it is commonly used as a benchmark for measuring a warrior's strength.

Following Li Yunshan through the training field into the inner courtyard, Fang Xu once again caught sight of that scarlet figure.

(End of Chapter)