Chapter 34: Undercurrent

Qingxi City, North City,

Inside the Blood Wolf Gang's heavily guarded and imposing headquarters,

The leader of the Blood Wolf Gang sat upright on a tiger-skin throne in the center of the main hall.

He was a man possessing a thick, imposing aura.

With hawk-like eyes, a sharp nose, and a handlebar mustache, he held two iron balls in his hand.

He stared gloomily at the group of dejected subordinates before him.

These people had just finished executing an important mission, but it had ended in a crushing defeat, causing the entire gang to fall into a passive position.

Cold light flickered in the eyes of the leader, Zhong He; he knew deeply that this failure was a matter that could not be ignored for the gang,

and it would also invite a counterattack from the Lin Family.

If the situation could not be salvaged in time, it would likely incite the covetousness and attacks of other factions.

The Lin Family, grain merchants of North City; as one of the largest grain suppliers in the city, the Lin Family controlled the lifeline of the daily rations for all the people in the city.

It was no easy task to make a move against the Lin Family. The Lin Family had operated for many years, had deep roots, and had intricate relationships with various factions.

Ordinarily, to successfully take down the Lin Family, one would have to formulate a detailed plan and dispatch elite forces to execute it, and one would certainly suffer heavy losses oneself.

Now, since the wind had leaked, it would depend on how the Head of the Family of the Lin Family played this move.

All things in the world have yin and yang, two directions; it is truly marvelous.

Zhong He gazed into the distance toward the direction of the Lin Family; if his guess was correct, the Head of the Family of the Lin Family must be quite heavily injured!

Lin Wan'er arrived home safely under the escort of the coachman Lin Hu and the others.

Seeing the sword marks and cuts on the carriage, the servants all showed expressions of shock.

Lin Wan'er paid no mind to that, first letting the servants take Lin Hu and the others to treat their wounds.

Then, she walked quickly toward the main hall herself.

Several people sat upright in the hall, dressed in luxurious clothing, discussing something with intense expressions.

Seeing that Lin Wan'er had returned, they all stopped speaking.

After Lin Wan'er offered a formal greeting, she asked directly, "Where is my father? How is he?"

A man in green robes, whose appearance was quite similar to Lin Wan'er, said, "Sister Wan'er, Uncle is still in a coma."

Hearing the situation of her own father, Lin Wan'er turned and left.

Behind her, she could vaguely hear words like "splitting the family," "giving up," and "holding firm."

Lin Wan'er did not care about those; she only wanted to see her own father.

That father who had doted on her from childhood to adulthood—was he now alive or dead?

Looking at the man on the bed with a pale complexion and weak breathing,

Lin Wan'er's tears fell like rain.

But she also knew that if her father were gone, the Lin Family would be gone too.

The uncles in the main hall wanted to split the family, and Lin Wan'er had no power to stop them.

In the Lin Family, only her father Lin Xiong was in the late stage of the Lian Blood Realm; the others were basically all in the Skin Refining Realm and the Strength Refining Realm.

Qingxi County City had three great families and four great gangs; the Lin Family managed grain, the Zhang Family managed cloth shops, and the Li Family managed restaurants, counting as the leaders among the local wealthy merchants.

The Blood Wolf Gang in the North City, the Black Snake Gang in the West City, the Red Star Gang in the East City, and the Green Bamboo Gang in the South City,

were the lackeys and money bags supported by the officials; they were involved in all sorts of industries, large and small, such as the Tooth Agency, trade routes, highway robbery, and brothels, with a quite broad scope.

A month ago, while the Lin Family was transporting grain, they received a piece of news: a Tiger Bone Pill had flowed out from the rebellious lands in the east, sold by a member of a great eastern clan for private gain.

They released word that they wanted to trade quickly, and the trading location was in Lianshan Prefecture City.

Lin Xiong heard the news and kept it quiet, quietly gathering funds to head to the Prefecture City to purchase it.

Don't look at Qingxi County City as small, but in terms of Martial Dao strength, Blood Refining Perfection was almost the ceiling; only the County Magistrate of the county city had the strength of the Bone Refining Realm.

Now that there was news, how could Lin Xiong, who had been stuck in the Blood Refining Realm for nearly ten years, not be tempted?

As it turned out, the Tiger Bone Pill was bought, but the news leaked, and he was ambushed by several people of the same realm.

No one knew if the Tiger Bone Pill was lost or if Lin Xiong had swallowed it and failed to break through.

Seven days ago, Lin Xiong, who had risked his life to escape back to the Lin Family, had remained in a coma until now.

Without martial strength, how could one hold onto such a large family business?

Lin Wan'er was clear on this, and the uncles in the family were also clear on it.

The Lin Family had almost reached a desperate situation.

But this news had been sealed by the Lin Family.

It was only recently that the opponents had begun to probe.

Lin Wan'er being attacked was clear proof of this.

Originally, Lin Wan'er had been meeting friends in the Prefecture City, and the news back and forth had delayed her time.

She had not expected to be ambushed on the road home.

The children of great families still had a high standard for looking at things.

Elite education was far superior to that of ordinary people; this was also the reason for the Great Zhou recommendation system.

Lin Wan'er dismissed the servants and wept alone in her room.

This situation was unsolvable.

After Cheng Feng returned from visiting relatives, he practiced martial arts steadily at the Martial Arts Hall.

Having taken twelve taels from Lin Wan'er, plus the one tael he had before,

his small treasury had returned to the amount of thirteen taels.

For the moment, there was nothing he needed to buy.

Having experienced a life-and-death struggle, Cheng Feng was very eager to improve his strength.

He assumed that if he had not entered the Strength Refining Realm, he might already be dead in that patch of grass by now.

When a person feels a sense of crisis, motivation arises.

Seeing the newly joined Cheng Feng practicing so desperately, the others at the Martial Arts Hall

also gradually increased their training and workload.

Name: Cheng Feng

Lifespan: 16 (62)

Talent: More Children More Blessings

Realm: Strength Refining Realm

Skills: Fishing (Proficient 90/100)

Archery (Beginner 2/100)

Horse Stance (Proficient 26/100)

Calligraphy (Beginner 4/100)

Fortune Point: 0

The new content learned upon entering the outer sect begins with practicing the Blade Frame based on the Horse Stance; once the Blade Frame is mastered, one then practices the Basic Blade Technique taught by the Martial Arts Hall.

Once the Basic Blade Technique has achieved some success, one can then practice the Three Great Blade Techniques of the Martial Arts Hall.

According to Qian Ming, a major realm is divided into four minor realms: early, middle, late, and perfection.

The Strength Refining Realm mainly involves tempering one's own strength through stance training plus medicinal soups.

At the perfection of Strength Refining, one's strength can move with the body; the feet, shoulders, elbows, and knees can all unleash one's full-force strike.

When strength flows through the whole body, at this stage, the body's strength and blood have a reaction similar to breathing; when strength is perfectly controlled, it can blend with the blood.

Further guiding it through the whole body, this is Skin Refining.

In Cheng Feng's view, this means he needs to continue improving his Horse Stance, then master the Blade Frame, learn a wave of Basic Blade Technique, and after that, learn the Three Great Blade Techniques.

Perfection in Strength Refining requires diligent practice; if one wants to speed it up, it is fine as long as the medicinal soups can keep up.

After the Skin Refining Realm, the Martial Arts Hall will require you to sign some agreements.

Either work for the Martial Arts Hall or directly take Wang Tieshan as your master to enter the Inner Sect.

Working for the Martial Arts Hall means receiving a salary and being allowed to flee when the Martial Arts Hall is in danger of collapse, but core martial arts techniques and the like will certainly not be provided.

However, there are other martial arts available for practice.

As for entering the Inner Sect and taking Wang Tieshan as your master,

that would certainly make one a Core Disciple.

But at this point, it depends on whether Wang Tieshan is willing to accept you.

If one's aptitude or the like does not pass, one certainly cannot enter the core layer.

However, one can be registered as a Registered Disciple under Wang Tieshan.

A Registered Disciple can also be promoted to an Inner Sect Disciple.

The standard for an Inner Sect Disciple is just one thing: reaching the Blood Refining Realm.

Disciples with insufficient aptitude can receive guidance during this period, but they must purchase their own resources.

Being directly promoted to an Inner Sect Disciple allows one to receive long-term personal instruction and resource allocation from Wang Tieshan.

For a disciple, the fact that Wang Tieshan provided a way out was already quite considerable.

Some people learn martial arts not for the peak of Martial Dao, but to support their families; this type of person is suited to work for the Martial Arts Hall.

There is another type of person who seeks power, to break through their own limits, and to see if there are even higher peaks in Martial Dao.

This type of person is suited to take Wang Tieshan as their master.

As long as their aptitude passes, Wang Tieshan will also instruct them with care.