Early the next morning, Su Chen spent half an hour practicing his boxing routines in the air, every punch radiating a profound sense of power. After finishing, he was drenched in sweat, but he felt no fatigue whatsoever.
His Iron Wire Fist had finally caught up to his Iron Sand Palm, reaching the state of perfection. On his arm, Su Chen noticed that the blood line had turned a vibrant red, even showing faint signs of darkening to black. He was confident that with just one more activation of the Simple Mode, his Iron Wire Fist would truly achieve absolute perfection. When that time came, his strength would undoubtedly rise to the next level!
"If Senior Li Mo knew that my Iron Wire Fist has already reached perfection, his jaw would probably drop," Su Chen chuckled as he wiped the sweat from his cheek.
He had heard from the other disciples that Li Mo had practiced for two years, yet his Iron Wire Fist had barely reached the mastery level, and the blood line on his arm had not even fully deepened yet. In contrast, Su Chen had achieved two years’ worth of progress in just over ten days. It was incredibly fast.
"I wonder where this level of strength places me in White Stone City," Su Chen thought to himself, but he quickly stopped dwelling on it.
Regardless of where he stood, he was cultivating to become stronger, not to compare himself with others.
Returning inside, Su Chen ate breakfast. Before he could even head out, a knock sounded at the door. He opened it to find two men wearing red belts.
Seeing Su Chen, the two men said expressionlessly, "We are from the Blood Robe Gang. It’s the beginning of the month. Time to pay your protection money."
Blood Robe Gang? Su Chen had heard of this faction before. They were a relatively strong gang in the Outer City, far beyond what the Fierce Tiger Gang and the Black Water Gang could compare to.
Su Chen pursed his lips slightly and asked, "How much?"
"Ten coins!" one of them replied.
After a moment of silence, Su Chen took ten coins from his chest pocket and handed them over. Once they received the money, the men said nothing more, turning around and heading to the next house.
Su Chen stood in the doorway for a while and noticed his neighbor paying readily—also ten coins. Seeing this, he paid it no more mind. Weighing his nearly empty coin pouch, Su Chen closed the door and left.
He went straight to the teahouse to study, occasionally glancing at the Black Water Gang’s courtyard across the street.
It seemed last night’s clash had been intense. Since early morning, people had been going in and out of the courtyard, scrubbing bloodstains off the ground. In just half a day, the Black Water Gang was reduced to history, and a new gang was born.
This was largely in line with Su Chen’s expectations. This new group was likely one of the factions that had attacked the Black Water Gang last night. Without Liu Heishui, the entire Black Water Gang was scattered like loose sand. They couldn’t stir up any trouble and were naturally wiped out by their rivals. Su Chen noticed that aside from Liu Heishui’s two missing confidants, the rest of the gang members had immediately embraced this new faction, becoming its members.
Su Chen studied until evening before finally heading home. Over the next few days, he didn’t visit the teahouse again. Instead, he continued to deeply study the written language of Daqian while looking for ways to make money.
The reason for his studies was a faint suspicion in his mind. Although the panel could help him master martial arts quickly, it was not omnipotent. There was a prerequisite: he had to "practice" the martial art first.
For instance, when practicing the Iron Wire Fist, the skill only appeared on his panel after he watched Li Mo demonstrate it once. Similarly, when cultivating the Iron Sand Palm, he had to assemble the complete manual and practice it once before the panel registered it. This meant that if he wanted to learn a secret manual, he had to at least go through the motions of practicing it first.
But what if a future manual contained only text and no illustrations of stances? If he couldn’t even read it, how could he practice it? It was precisely for this reason that he was so determined to study and read.
Studying wasn’t too much of a problem, but making money proved to be far more difficult than he had anticipated. He originally thought that finding a way to earn money wouldn’t be hard given his status as a Martial Artist. However, reality proved that no matter which world one lived in, without connections, the truly easy paths to wealth would never open up to you.
The money-making methods available on the open market were fundamentally unsuitable for him. Not only were they a waste of his talents, but the pay was also pitifully low. After searching for several days in a row, Su Chen simply gave up.
As for relying on knowledge from his previous life to make money, that was wishful thinking. In his past life, he had merely been a truck driver; he knew absolutely nothing about making perfume, spices, or glass. Even if he did, others wouldn’t necessarily be willing to cooperate with him. He could force a partnership, of course, but that would inevitably invite trouble.
The lucrative industries were all monopolized by gangs or prominent families. If Su Chen tried to interfere, he would face retaliation from the powers backing them. White Stone City had its own operational system, and anyone who tried to break it would suffer a backlash. That is, unless Su Chen possessed absolute strength and feared no challenges. Unfortunately, he did not currently have that kind of power.
"Fortunately, it’s been nearly twenty days since I started learning boxing. It’s time to head to the Martial Arts Hall!" Su Chen thought to himself.
This day, the Hong Family Martial Arts Hall was exceptionally lively.
It turned out that today was the day Hong Ming was taking in a new disciple. Half a month ago, when Qin Hao had grasped the basics of the boxing technique and developed the iron line, Hong Ming promised to accept him as a disciple as long as he could stabilize it. Three days ago, Qin Hao had kept his end of the bargain and stabilized the blood line. Upon hearing this, Hong Ming was overjoyed and immediately announced Qin Hao as the eighth official disciple of the Hong Family Martial Arts Hall.
For this occasion, Hong Ming specially selected an auspicious date—set for three days later—to hold Qin Hao’s formal apprenticeship ceremony. At the same time, he notified the other disciples. Aside from those tied up with important matters, practically everyone who could come was present.
"Qin Hao, come here. Let me introduce you to your seniors," Hong Ming called out warmly. His face glowing with health, he beckoned Qin Hao, who was dressed noticeably differently than usual, with a remarkably friendly attitude.
He introduced them one by one. "Your eldest senior, Wei Ping, and fourth senior, Wu Hai, are out escorting goods. Your third senior, Liu Fang, is away on business. This is your second senior, Zhou Tao; fifth senior, Hu Zong; sixth senior, Fang Yanxun; and seventh senior, Li Mo."
"Qin Hao pays his respects to Second Senior, Fifth Senior, Sixth Senior, and Seventh Senior," Qin Hao said, cupping his hands toward the four men after the introductions.
"Hahaha, Master has been talking about our junior, Qin Hao, for a while now. Seeing you today, you truly are a fine-looking young man," Zhou Tao laughed as he cupped his hands in return. The others also chimed in with their greetings.
Hearing this, Qin Hao looked a bit restrained. He scratched his head and smiled, remaining noncommittal in the face of their compliments.
There was still some time before the meal, so after the introductions, Hong Ming left Qin Hao and the others to themselves. Seeing this, Zhou Tao and the rest stepped forward and began chatting with him.
Meanwhile, Su Chen looked at the long-unseen Martial Arts Hall with a sigh. Since he hadn’t been here for so many days, he wondered if the hall had completely forgotten about him as an apprentice.
Shaking his head to dispel his random thoughts, Su Chen stepped forward and walked toward the Martial Arts Hall.