Chapter 16: The Barrier

Li Fei walked out of the office building with the prescription Hao Yi had given him.

He "looked" at the Ten Thousand Blood Bead inside his body:

【Level: Level 1, 71%

Blood Soul: 9 beads + 23%】

The two bursts of heat in his body just now had reduced his Blood Soul a little, but his level data had jumped up by 20%!

"It seems that heat contains very powerful energy."

Li Fei was lost in thought.

It was the height of summer, the cicadas were chirping incessantly, and the blinding sunlight made it hard for people to keep their eyes open.

"Junior Li!"

A voice suddenly came from nearby.

Li Fei turned his head to look and saw someone standing under the shade of a tree not far away.

The other person also looked very young, with a burly build, wearing a black short-sleeved shirt from the Martial Arts Hall, and was waving at Li Fei with a smile on his face.

Li Fei recognized this person; he also lived in that family residential compound of the Inspectorate, and the two had met a few times before.

He walked over toward him.

"Junior Li, my name is Lu Changwu, and I am also a Grade A student at the Martial Arts Hall, two years ahead of you."

Lu Changwu took the initiative to cup his hands toward Li Fei.

Li Fei cupped his hands: "Hello, Senior Lu."

"Junior Li, my father is Lu Sheng, the Captain of the First Brigade of the Inspectorate, and he is also very familiar with your father. We are all children of the Inspectorate, so we should be closer to each other here at the Martial Arts Hall."

Lu Changwu said to Li Fei with a smile.

The Inspectorate had three brigades in total; Li Lei was a Squadron Leader in the Second Brigade, and the other's father was a Brigade Captain, one rank higher than Li Lei. Moreover, according to the tradition of the Inspectorate, the Chief Inspector was always promoted from the Captain of the First Brigade, so Lu Sheng's status in the Inspectorate was second only to a few people.

"So that's how it is. You are right, Brother Lu, we should indeed be closer."

Li Fei also said with a smile, changing his form of address quite naturally.

"Hahaha, then I will be bold and call you Xiao Fei."

Lu Changwu patted Li Fei on the shoulder, "Come, Xiao Fei, let me take you to meet some friends."

Li Fei agreed to Lu Changwu's invitation.

Both of them had bicycles, and they soon rode out of the Martial Arts Hall together; Lu Changwu brought Li Fei to a nearby restaurant.

After walking into the restaurant, Li Fei saw a dinner party with several tables pushed together, where more than a dozen people, both men and women, were sitting.

Upon seeing the two walk in, they all stood up one after another.

"Brother Lu."

"Boss Lu."

Everyone spoke up to greet him.

Li Fei could tell that Lu Changwu had a lot of prestige among this group of people.

"Come, let me introduce everyone."

Lu Changwu put his arm around Li Fei, who was beside him, and said loudly:

"This junior is named Li Fei, the son of Squadron Leader Li Lei of the Fourth Squadron of the Second Brigade of the Inspectorate. He was taken in as a student by Special Lecturer Mr. Hao Yi as soon as he enrolled, and he is already a Grade A student now."

Because Li Lei had always publicly claimed that Li Fei was his son, outsiders all believed it to be so.

If it were the original body, he might have corrected them in public, but Li Fei would not be so awkward after enjoying the benefits the other party had brought him, so he tacitly accepted Lu Changwu's introduction of him.

Next, Lu Changwu introduced the people present to Li Fei.

These people were all children of the Inspectorate; among them, four were sons of Squadron Leaders, some were children of Team Leaders, and the rest were children of ordinary staff members.

"Everyone here practices martial arts, so we shouldn't drink too much. Today, to welcome Junior Li Fei, let's just have this one cup of wine. Come!"

Lu Changwu picked up the wine glass on the table and said.

"Welcome, Junior Li!"

"Welcome!"

"Thank you, everyone."

"."

Everyone finished the wine in their cups together, then sat down to start eating and chatting.

In terms of family background, Li Fei was second only to Lu Changwu among this group, and the other four children of Squadron Leaders were on par with him, but he had a Special Lecturer as a teacher, which was very impressive.

Among this group, only Lu Changwu had been taken in as a student by a Special Lecturer; Li Fei was the second.

Therefore, these people were all very enthusiastic toward Li Fei.

One of the boys, who was clearly older than him, even addressed him as "Brother Xiao Fei" every other sentence, frequently taking the initiative to toast him with tea instead of wine, simply because his father happened to be a Team Leader in Li Lei's squadron, and Li Lei was his father's direct superior.

Li Fei had attended many business dinners in his past life and handled such situations with ease.

Seeing that Li Fei handled himself appropriately, Lu Changwu was actually a bit surprised:

"Is this person really only seventeen? To be able to be taken in as a student by Hao Yi, he is indeed no ordinary person."

Seeing that the atmosphere had been built up enough, Lu Changwu spoke up:

"Xiao Fei, now that you have become Mr. Hao's student, you will surely achieve great things. Do you have any plans for the future?"

Everyone present quieted down upon hearing this and looked at Li Fei together.

Li Fei knew that the key point of this dinner party had arrived, and he smiled:

"I came to the Martial Arts Hall just to learn some skills. I didn't expect to be lucky enough to be taken in as a student by Mr. Hao. As for the future, I'll just take it one step at a time."

"Oh?"

Lu Changwu looked at Li Fei deeply and nodded:

"Xiao Fei, you are new here and don't understand the situation, so let me give you a brief overview."

"Please enlighten me, Brother Lu."

"Do you know who most of the people who come to this Martial Arts Hall are, besides the children of ordinary families?"

Lu Changwu laughed at himself when he said this, "If you want to go further on the path of martial arts, the Stop-Conflict Departments of the twelve universities are the first choice, but those who can get in are either those with excellent aptitude or top-tier dignitaries from various places who can directly obtain admission quotas without exams. Only people like us, whose aptitude is not that good and whose families don't have the ability to obtain admission quotas without exams, will come to the Martial Arts Hall to give it a shot."

Li Fei just looked at him without speaking, and Lu Changwu continued:

"The Xingcheng Martial Arts Hall only has two or three quotas for the university Stop-Conflict Departments each year, as well as some resources for cultivation. And whether it's the quotas or the cultivation resources, they are almost all monopolized by the people of the Tiger Blade Gang!"

Li Fei was startled, and he recalled the state of the noodle shop owner's death back then.

"Xiao Fei, since you are a child of the Inspectorate, you should know something about the Tiger Blade Gang, right?"

Lu Changwu asked.

Li Fei nodded: "I only know that it is the largest gang in the local area, and it is said to have three thousand members."

"Hmph, three thousand members is just a gimmick they shout to the outside world. However, the Tiger Blade Gang has dozens of official martial artists and several powerful Martial Masters. Plus, they have connections and relationships in every aspect of Xingcheng. Such a force is enough for them to run rampant here in the Xingcheng Martial Arts Hall."

Lu Changwu said coldly.

Li Fei understood what the other party meant.

As the largest local gang, the Tiger Blade Gang's power was already very strong; both their martial force and their connections were at the top level. And since the children of the top dignitaries in Xingcheng were not in the Martial Arts Hall, the Tiger Blade Gang was not afraid of offending the remaining people, like the children of the Inspectorate present here.

Li Fei did not find it strange that a local gang could be so powerful; if the imperial court had strong control over the local areas, it wouldn't have been beaten all the way to the Imperial Capital seventeen years ago.

In such a feudal era, "imperial power not reaching the county level" was the characteristic of the times, and local tyrants acting as emperors everywhere was the norm.

Noble families, local powerhouses, martial arts sects, and court infighting—the problems accumulated by a feudal empire that had stood for over five hundred years could not all be solved by a single Mingxin Reform.

"The Martial Arts Hall has monthly exams. Students of the three grades—A, B, and C—take separate exams. The top ten in the monthly exam for each grade can receive rewards, which include some resources needed for martial arts cultivation. Besides that, the annual quotas for the university Stop-Conflict Departments have assessment indicators, and one important indicator is the ranking in each monthly exam.

The people of the Tiger Blade Gang almost control the monthly exams, using various means to ensure that the top ten in each grade's monthly exam are their own people. In this way, it is equivalent to controlling the cultivation resources and the quotas for the university Stop-Conflict Departments of this Xingcheng Martial Arts Hall."

Lu Changwu looked at Li Fei, "Xiao Fei, if you want to achieve something in this Martial Arts Hall in the future, it is only a matter of time before you clash with the Tiger Blade Gang."

Li Fei met his gaze: "Brother Lu invited me over today because you want to pull me in to fight against the Tiger Blade Gang together?"

"That's right!"

Lu Changwu admitted it quite straightforwardly, "You are Mr. Hao's student, and your strength will surely be extraordinary in the future. With your addition, we will have a better chance to break the barrier formed by the Tiger Blade Gang and snatch food from the tiger's mouth together."

"Brother Lu, and everyone, I am new here and don't want to cause trouble. However, we are all children of the Inspectorate, so if there is anything you need my help with in the future, I will certainly do my best."

Li Fei picked up his teacup to signal to everyone.

He had always been cautious and did not agree directly, but he did not explicitly refuse either, leaving himself some room.

Although this attitude was not what Lu Changwu wanted, he still smiled and raised his teacup:

"Hahaha, good, let's all have another drink!"

(End of chapter)