Chapter 16: A Thousand Gold Cannot Buy a Single Sound!

Clearly, because of the death of Baturu, Lu Yuan had already been marked by this so-called Young Master Kundu.

"What an arrogant thing!"

Watching the other party walk away, Xu Dahu was the first who could not hold back, cursing:

"What is this brat being arrogant about? So what if he is a noble of the Upper Three Banners? Isn't he still beaten like a dog by the Holy Roman Powers? Does he still think it's the old days?"

After the Great Jin was founded and seized the country, the Golden Clan, whose population was less than one-tenth of the Han, completely became the upper class.

Especially the nobles and descendants from the Upper Three Banners were people above others; even if they ran rampant, no one dared to interfere.

At the beginning of the founding of the country, even if a Golden Clan member of the Upper Three Banners beat a Han person to death in the street, they only needed to pay a sum of money to the government to be exempt from punishment; their status can be seen from this.

However, in the current era, times have changed. The Western Holy Roman Powers, with their strong ships and powerful guns, have wiped out the dignity of the Great Jin through several wars. With the imperial court facing internal and external troubles and its rule in turmoil, the so-called Golden Clan nobles have long since lost their former glory and majesty.

Like this so-called Feng'en General Mansion, although they have a title, they have no soldiers or power in their hands, merely occupying a name. As one of the top gangs in Fengyang Prefecture, the Qinglong Gang truly does not fear them.

"This person is merely desperate and frustrated; let him be."

Lu Yuan also roughly understood the situation and did not take it to heart at all, then came before Li Junxian and offered the large bag of Silver Yuan he had won with both hands:

"Master, this is the prize money I won. Your disciple has nothing else to offer as a token of respect, please accept it."

Li Junxian was both gratified and amused, waving his hand to say:

"You brat, I have dividends from the Boxiyuan every year; why would I want this prize money you earned through hard fighting in the ring?"

Lu Yuan, deeply aware of human relationships and worldly wisdom, continued:

"Your disciple was originally just a refugee fleeing famine, and I was fortunate enough to be favored by Master and taken in as a disciple. How could I not offer a token of respect after winning this prize money?"

Xu Dahu and Xu Erhu, however, laughed:

"Junior Brother, just rest assured and keep it. Master, the old man, doesn't look down on this little bit of money."

"When my elder brother and I first won first place, the prize money we received was also kept by me. You can just buy Master some gifts to show your heart when you have time later."

Li Junxian laughed: "Did you hear that? You brat, hurry up and keep it yourself. You can buy some medicinal soups and prescriptions on weekdays to make up for your body. Otherwise, I'll have you face family discipline when you get back!"

Only then did Lu Yuan lower his hands:

"Then this disciple thanks Master."

After this day.

The news of Lu Yuan's initial success and taking first place spread throughout the back garden. From senior Wrestlers to the cooks and grooms who did not ask about outside affairs, everyone knew this news.

Winning first place in the wrestling tournament in half a month made everyone marvel. The jealousy and envy originally felt because Li Junxian took Lu Yuan as a disciple completely turned into admiration.

Especially those companions who entered the garden with Lu Yuan all regarded him as a role model and felt honored by his success.

Lu Yuan did not feel much about this. After participating in the tournament, his life quickly returned to the state it was in when he first entered the garden.

He still got up early every day to do morning lessons with Xu Dahu and Xu Erhu, practicing the Divine Intent Stake. The rest of the time was spent tempering his strength, tendons, and bones, and then practicing wrestling techniques, which was extremely fulfilling.

According to Li Junxian, the foundation of all Martial Arts in the Shenquan Sect lies in the Divine Intent Stake. Only by completely mastering this Stance Technique and developing internal force can one practice the next step of Martial Arts.

He faintly felt that, thanks to the physique and Qi and blood strengthened by the Ingestion Technique, developing internal force would not be far off.

In addition, after becoming Li Junxian's disciple, there were no more restrictions on entering and leaving the back garden. The next evening, Lu Yuan chose a time to go out with Xu Erhu and used the prize money to carefully select and buy an exquisite jade snuff bottle on the antique street as a gift.

Originally, he had taken a fancy to a Western pocket watch from the Holy Roman Powers at that antique shop, but the thing actually cost five hundred Silver Yuan. He had to settle for the next best thing and chose this jade snuff bottle worth fifty Silver Yuan.

And after returning and giving it to Li Junxian, although the other party blamed him with his words, he could not put it down and was extremely satisfied.

Although he spent half of his prize money, Lu Yuan, who had successfully gained a wave of favor, did not feel much heartache. Anyway, there would be plenty of opportunities to earn it back by fighting in the ring in the future.

As for the remaining money, after making inquiries, he went to a pharmacy and secretly bought some medicinal herbs for nourishing Qi and blood, such as astragalus, atractylodes, angelica, and yam.

After buying these medicinal herbs, he returned and immediately tried eating them raw, then digesting them with the Ingestion Technique.

The result was just as expected.

After the Ingestion Technique digested the medicinal herbs, his Qi and blood were directly and slightly strengthened, with effects far better than food and meat!

A slight estimate showed that just one or two Silver Yuan worth of medicinal herbs, after being digested, was comparable to the essence and energy he gained from eating and drinking heavily for two or three meals.

Moreover, what he bought were all relatively common and cheap medicinal herbs. If he used precious medicinal herbs like aged ginseng or fleeceflower root, the effect would surely be even stronger.

However, Silver Yuan were limited, and ordinary medicinal herbs were already enough for Lu Yuan.

After being taken as a disciple, his daily food supply had become three meals, plus this extra medicinal supplementation. The essence and energy extracted by the Ingestion Technique every day reached a very astonishing level, so much so that his Qi, blood, and strength were clearly growing almost every day!

Therefore, under the feedback of the Heavenly Book, that invisible Qi Luck in the dark also accelerated its growth, changing from increasing by one quarter every three days to increasing by one quarter in less than three days!

Just like this, time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, nearly a month later.

This evening, in Li Junxian's small, solitary courtyard.

At this moment, Lu Yuan stood proudly in the courtyard.

On the side, the master and his two disciples, Li Junxian, Xu Dahu, and Xu Erhu, had solemn expressions.

Bang!

The next moment, Lu Yuan, who was in the center of the courtyard, suddenly stepped forward and threw a punch. The air where his fist was directed seemed to be squeezed and exploded, emitting a crisp, cracking sound.

Feeling the release of his power, his eyes were calm. As his Qi and blood surged, he stored power in his fists and feet, striking out with the dynamic posture of the Divine Intent Stake.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The cracking sounds were continuous; this was the sound produced by the immense Great Strength contained in his fists and feet as they fiercely squeezed and exploded the air.

Every heavy and powerful movement caused a gale to sweep through, making it seem as if a whirlwind had blown up in the small courtyard; every step he took to exert force caused the ground to tremble, with dust and sand splashing everywhere!

Causing all this, Lu Yuan barely used any technique, relying solely on his pure physique and strength; he was simply like a fierce beast wearing a human skin.

Seeing this scene, whether it was the knowledgeable Li Junxian or the two brothers Xu Dahu and Xu Erhu, their eyelids twitched, and their expressions were extremely spectacular:

"A thousand gold cannot buy a single sound; this is the Divine Intent Stake reaching minor success, having developed internal force..."

"This brat has actually developed internal force already? How long has it been!?"

"Developing force to strike, it's just a crisp sound in the air, but how come this brat's punches sound like firecrackers? Just how much strength must he have?"

That's right, they saw clearly at this moment that the explosive sounds of force between Lu Yuan's punches and kicks were clearly the sign of initial success in tempering strength.

Yet today, it had been less than a month since Li Junxian took Lu Yuan as his disciple and taught him the Divine Intent Stake.

On the path of Martial Arts, no matter how gifted one is, a beginner still needs a year or half a year to lay the foundation and get started.

For a relatively advanced strength-training Stance Technique like the Divine Intent Stake, Xu Dahu and Xu Erhu spent a full year or more under the personal instruction of Li Junxian before they could strengthen and refine their Qi and blood to cultivate force.

But at this moment, before them appeared a monster who had cultivated force after only one month of learning the Divine Intent Stake!

(End of this chapter)