Chapter 18: Harvest on a Snowy Night

"Nonsense! What kind of person is Qian Bao — is that someone you can handle?"

Li Lin glared, reaching out to snatch the silver.

Li Yuan didn't dodge, didn't use force either; he just held out his hand and let his second brother pry at it.

When the elders and children of a household want to take charge, it's often harder than dealing with outsiders — showing a hand or two is naturally unavoidable.

"You — when did you, third brother, get so strong?"

Li Lin's face was full of shock.

His natural talent was the worst among the three Li brothers, and he couldn't learn Wu Gong at all, but after years of chopping firewood his strength was naturally not small — yet he had used both hands to pry, and still couldn't pry open third brother's fingers?

"Otherwise, why would Chef Sun be willing to lend me silver?"

Li Yuan gave a light flick of his hand and had already broken free of his second brother's grip; he circulated his blood qi into his hand and pressed it down on the hardwood table, leaving two clear fingerprints.

Crude, but effective.

"You've — entered the door!"

Li Lin froze for a moment, then a smile immediately spread across his face; he couldn't be bothered to feel sorry for the table, and began examining his own third brother carefully from every angle.

The sky had already grown dim, and added to being scolded by his wife into not daring to lift his head, now taking a careful look, he couldn't help being startled.

Compared to two months ago, Li Yuan had grown a full half-head taller; his once well-fitting cotton clothes now looked tight, and the trouser legs were a section too short.

Moreover his complexion was no longer as dark as before, and his eyes were especially bright and spirited — he already had a few parts of a dashing, vigorous bearing.

"Good, good, good!"

Feeling his second brother's tightly gripping palm, Li Yuan couldn't help but smile: "Now, are you at ease?"

Li Lin was somewhat moved, and somewhat worried: "That Qian Bao has also trained in fist and foot — just give the money to him, don't go stirring up more trouble…"

"Eat before you go!"

While the two brothers were talking, second sister-in-law Wang Juan had already taken chicken, fish and meat to the kitchen, and called out at this moment.

Li Yuan glanced at the sky, intending to leave first, but couldn't withstand his brother and sister-in-law's urging, so he had to sit on the bed and wait to eat.

"You sit first, I'll go help your sister-in-law."

Li Lin went out, his back a bit straighter than usual; before long, Li Yuan was already hearing his second brother's resonant voice in the kitchen.

"From now on, things will get better and better."

By the dim oil lamp his second brother normally couldn't bear to light, Li Yuan felt very calm inside.

After knowing he couldn't go back, although he hadn't shown it, there had always been a feeling of unease and anxiety in his heart — this feeling of a settled mind, he hadn't had for a long time.

He placed the wolf pelt he was carrying at the head of the bed; in these times clothes were mostly made of hemp cloth and coarse cloth, and a wolf pelt was a top-grade thing — although this one was a bit torn, it was still more valuable than a finished cotton garment.

However, he thought for a moment, put down the wolf pelt, and tucked another piece of torn cloth into his bosom.

"Second brother has it hard."

Leaning against the head of the bed, looking at the room with almost no furnishings, Li Yuan sighed softly in his heart.

The former self was only a few years old when the Li family fell into ruin; in his memory he only recalled that one big house, so the decline didn't feel like much.

But Li Lin had endured a violent change — from a life of plenty without worry to being saddled with debts; past thirty, still sharing a room with others, and only willing to light the oil lamp for a little while when he himself came.

"Things will get better…"

Taking a deep breath, Li Yuan half-closed his eyes, feeling the subtle changes after mastering the 'Dao He Lian'.

The feeling of mastering the Dao He Lian was much more direct than the first time mastering the practice hammer — naturally this was because before his body had been too weak, and he hadn't learned any Wu Gong.

But now, he was already a Master-level martial artist, his blood qi was more than enough to fill one palm, and his physique was far stronger than before.

With the addition of a Great Completion-level Dao He Lian technique, he naturally perceived more things.

Stance arts, practice methods, combat methods, every move and form…

"Even if I hadn't learned the Dao He Lian technique, didn't understand breathing arts, just attaching it to hammer techniques would already far surpass mastering the practice hammer — if only I could get a long-handled hammer…"

Li Yuan was very pleased in his heart; this feeling of having a direction to go, of rising day by day, made him extremely satisfied.

The one flaw in an otherwise perfect thing was that, having practiced martial arts for so long, he still hadn't tested his hand…

"Qian Bao…"

…

After eating, Li Yuan took his leave of his brother and sister-in-law, and casually took a mulberry-wood stick from the courtyard.

He had always liked these long, straight wooden sticks in his previous life.

"Plenty of hardness!"

Walking out of the alley, the night was already deep; Li Yuan swung the stick, as tall as himself, and felt the feel was so good it surprised even him.

"So this is — Long Weapon Mastery? Well, who says a stick isn't a long weapon?"

Li Yuan was very satisfied.

The sky was fully dark, with only scattered lamps still lit; Li Yuan kept fiddling with the long stick, feeling the changes brought by the Long Weapon Mastery enhancement.

He hadn't learned any Gun Fa, but swinging it at will already had a smoothness like an extension of his arm; he reckoned that if he had a Gun Fa, he would certainly be able to pick it up extremely fast.

He didn't rush to leave, because Li Lin, who had said he was at ease, was quietly following behind him.

"The Bai Yuan stance still needs to train the ears — second brother really is…"

Li Yuan was helpless in his heart, but didn't expose it; he wandered around in circles, just continuously playing with the long stick, and by the time the footsteps of Li Lin behind him were gone, more than half a shi-chen had passed.

"Try fitting on a hammer head?"

Li Yuan was getting addicted to playing; once the thought arose he was somewhat tempted, so he found an empty alley, flipped his palm, and the practice hammer appeared out of thin air.

"What a fine thing!"

Even though he had tried it many times, Li Yuan was still somewhat awestruck, not knowing what kind of power this was.

Puh!

Li Yuan's strength was now great; he stepped on the hammer head with one foot, and with a slight exertion had pulled the entire hammer handle out; he then took out the bone-chopping knife and trimmed the mulberry-wood stick.

Crack! The hammerhead snapped into place.

"Huh? In the Martial Arts Register, the practice hammer has become a long-handled practice hammer? Interesting..."

Putting away the Bone-Cleaving Blade, Li Yuan picked up the newly assembled long-handled hammer, feeling an indescribable sense of ease; a casual lift felt perfectly harmonious.

Master of Long Weapons!

In the alley, Li Yuan fiddled for a long time; in this deserted night, he felt freer than in a weapon forge, even feeling an urge to perform a full drill.

"Handle business first, then try it later."

Reluctantly putting away the long-handled practice hammer, Li Yuan reached out to catch a falling snowflake, then hurried toward the front street.

"If these ruffians make the first move, then I'll have no choice but to retaliate helplessly..."

Flexing his five fingers, Li Yuan suddenly felt a sense of anticipation.

Qian Bao lived in a large courtyard on the front street; because of his bullying and unruly behavior, he had driven out the original tenants, and now all his cronies lived there.

From afar, he saw that lights were still on inside.

"An old, faded woman; I wonder what the boss is so fond of? If we want her, just kidnap her for fun; does that coward Li Lin dare report it to the authorities?"

"You don't know this, do you? Before the boss got rich, his whole family were long-term laborers for the Li family; back then, he already fancied the girl for a child betrothal..."

"Come to think of it, although that woman is fierce, she does have some beauty... Tsk, we should have kidnapped both husband and wife together, hehe..."

"Qian Bao is a long-term laborer in my family?"

Li Yuan slipped into the shadows, his eyes instantly growing cold.

He had thought Qian Bao just wanted to extort some money; how could he have imagined this beast's true goal was his sister-in-law?

Just then, he saw two ruffians stumbling out the door, dropping their waistbands and squatting by the snowbank on the roadside.

"..."

He had originally wanted to listen a bit longer, but one glance at those two white, bare buttocks made it impossible to hold back.

Instantly, he leaped forward, swinging both arms to smash down on the two squatting ruffians.

Between fists, feet, and weapons, there is often no obvious divide; the Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer is a hammer, but without the hammer, it becomes a fist; swinging both arms can certainly strike people too.

In fact, the difference between practice methods and combat methods lies solely in the movement and mobilization of blood and qi.

"Ugh..."

Those two, caught completely off guard, didn't even have time to turn their heads before Li Yuan knocked them down in one strike, smashing them into a snowdrift with a splat, causing them to lose control of their bowels and bladder.

Damn it!

Before Li Yuan could savor his first test, seeing this, he immediately retreated several steps, his face full of disgust.

"No wonder they are hated by men and despised by ghosts; the outhouse is only a few steps away, yet they insist on shitting on the street..."

Glancing disgustedly at those two buttocks, Li Yuan slightly clenched his fist, now having a clear sense of his own strength.

Over these few months of learning martial arts, although he hadn't fought anyone, he naturally knew his own strength well; in Sun Fatty's courtyard, he could overturn a half-man-high water vat even when it was full of water.

These two ruffians, hit by his two punches, would at least suffer a moderate concussion.

"Old Nine, Wang Niu? Where are they? Fell into a cesspit?"

Inside the courtyard, someone else stumbled out, but seeing no one in the snowdrift where the two had already been knocked down by Li Yuan's single punch, he used slightly less force this time.

The flying excrement and urine also took a toll on him.

"This feeling is totally different from striking the air..."

Casually tossing the person into the snowdrift, Li Yuan waited patiently; following the same method, after knocking down two more, the people inside the house finally noticed something was wrong.

"Still seven or eight left?"

Hearing the chaotic footsteps inside the courtyard, Li Yuan took a rag from his pocket and wrapped it around his head, exposing only his two eyes; when the footsteps inside slowed, he immediately exerted force with his feet and darted in like a nimble ape.

"Who?!"

Qian Bao, walking last, was the most alert; after shouting loudly, he retreated into the house, and with a glance from the corner of his eye, he saw a black shadow suddenly dart into the courtyard.

It plunged straight into the crowd.

"Damn! Dare to cause trouble in Laozi's place?!"

Enraged, Qian Bao took down two large cleavers from behind the door, but before he could rush out, he heard several 'bang-bang' sounds, followed by screams that abruptly ceased.

Incapable of resistance!

Inside the courtyard, Li Yuan himself felt bewildered; he hadn't even had time to take out his hammer, yet not a single one of these ruffians had practiced martial arts?

Is this the quality of ruffians?

"Who are you?!"

Inside the house, sweat beaded on Qian Bao's forehead as he leaned heavily against the door.

But Li Yuan clearly had no intention of speaking; taking three steps as one, he swung both arms and smashed the closed door like a steel whip or a great hammer.

Boom!

Behind the door, Qian Bao felt a pain in his chest; his fat body was instantly knocked over along with tables and chairs, splashing soup and water all over himself.

Beast, ambush!

Qian Bao, drunk out of his mind, felt bile rise in his throat, but before he could even curse, the wide door panel slammed completely onto his face, spraying blood everywhere.

"Damn..."

With just that one blow, Qian Bao saw stars, yet he stubbornly pushed the door panel over and rolled out, but all he saw was a face wrapped in ragged cloth,

before being knocked unconscious by two heavy punches!

"Dog thing!"

Li Yuan coldly glanced at Qian Bao, then added a heavy kick, sending this probably two-hundred-plus-pound Fatty rolling three or four times.

But he didn't waste time; glancing around with the corner of his eye, he rushed to the inner room; after rummaging through boxes and cabinets, his eyes lit up, and he grabbed two small boxes before hurrying away.

(End of this chapter.)