Chapter 4: Zhiyuan Hall, Land Master

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Zhiyuan Hall, Land Master

Without lingering at the Land God Temple, Fang Xu hopped down from the stone statue with the wooden box in his arms. Under the cover of night, he hurried home.

Setting the wooden box containing a hundred taels of silver aside on the bed, Fang Xu bent down, lifted a wooden floorboard beneath the bed, and took out a slightly smaller wooden box from a hidden compartment. Inside this smaller box were his life savings, accumulated over years of frugal living: twenty-four silver taels and thirteen mace. Adding the hundred taels of silver he had just obtained, his total disposable wealth now amounted to one hundred twenty-four taels and thirteen mace.

The Great Yu Dynasty was founded on martial prowess, and the Martial Dao flourished. In the early days of the empire’s founding, the royal family disseminated three basic Body Refining Techniques among the common people for tempering flesh and bones. In theory, all three techniques could allow someone to cultivate to the Martial Disciple realm. Yet, despite this, Martial Artists in the dynasty remained exceedingly rare. Ultimately, it boiled down to two reasons: talent and wealth.

As the saying goes, scholars can be poor, but warriors must be rich. For an ordinary person relying on cultivation to step into the Martial Disciple realm, talent was one factor, but resources were far more critical. Frankly speaking, with an abundant pile of resources, even a pig could easily step into the ranks of Martial Disciples and become a Martial Artist. However, when resources were scarce, the talent requirements for becoming a Martial Artist were raised significantly.

Wang Ergou’s younger brother, Wang Erhu, had managed to break into the Martial Disciple realm and become a Government Soldier of Huangzhou Prefecture. The fundamental reason for this was his rather high talent, combined with the fact that their father had made a living off the mountains in Fenglin Town back in the day, amassing a considerable family fortune by reselling medicinal herbs. Even so, nurturing a Martial Artist like Wang Erhu had exhausted ninety-nine percent of the Wang family’s assets.

Fang Xu’s family circumstances naturally couldn’t compare to the Wang family at their peak. Calculating everything he had, his total resources amounted to no more than these hundred-odd taels of silver. Good steel had to be used on the blade’s edge—his money had to be spent where it mattered most.

He cultivated the *Coiling Dragon Force*, one of the three basic Body Refining Techniques passed down by the dynasty. Over the years, without an Expert to guide him, he had taken many detours. Stumbling along to his current point, he had only barely reached the Bone Refining stage. To reach the Martial Disciple realm, he still needed to cross the threshold of Refining Viscera.

None of the three Body Refining Techniques contained any records of a Refining Viscera Technique. Yet, Refining Viscera was precisely the most crucial hurdle before becoming a Martial Artist. If the internal organs were insufficiently refined, it would directly impact the Martial Artist’s future achievements; but if they were over-refined, it would damage the organs, resulting in severe injuries at best and death at worst.

"Sigh!" Fang Xu let out a breath and closed the wooden box.

There were three Martial Masters in Fenglin Town capable of guiding others in the Refining Viscera Technique, but none of them were bleeding-heart philanthropists. To obtain their guidance, one had to pay a price. The little bit of money he had on hand was enough to hire a Martial Master for guidance, but if he wanted to buy extra Elixirs and Blood Food, he would be stretched thin.

He thought, "Money!"

Stroking the two wooden boxes in front of him, Fang Xu pondered for a moment and secretly made a decision. The matter of Elixirs could be put on hold for now. Since his system had awakened, as long as he made more friends in the future, he wouldn’t be short on money. Finding a Martial Master for guidance to resolve the matter of Refining Viscera as quickly as possible was his top priority. He didn’t want to end up like Old Liu’s son, blindly experimenting on his own until he crippled himself.

The next morning, on the streets of Fenglin Town.

Because it bordered the natural treasure trove of Tilan Mountain, and being right in the middle of early spring, many gold-diggers planning to enter the mountains to forage for herbs and hunt fierce beasts had arrived in Fenglin Town one after another. From this season on, right until heavy snows sealed off the mountains, the town would be exceptionally bustling.

Weaving through the streets, one could see small gold-digging squads carrying Broadswords and spears everywhere. Most of these people were like Fang Xu, stuck in the Bone Refining Realm, hired by Noble Families and powerful factions to risk their lives. Among the hired hands, those with outstanding talent had a chance to be favored by their employers and absorbed as peripheral members.

If they were lucky enough to receive a few pointers from the Experts within these factions, they could leap over the dragon gate. By crossing the Refining Viscera Realm to become a Martial Disciple and gaining the heavy reliance of a Noble Family, they might even marry a woman from the clan. This path was considered one of the few ways for the common people to cross class lines. The Great Yu Dynasty co-ruled the world alongside the Noble Family Martial Artists. By marrying into a Noble Family, one effectively stepped into upper-class society and shattered the class barrier.

Carrying over a hundred taels of silver on his back and two jugs of home-brewed wine in his hands, Fang Xu dodged the rampaging hunting squads and soon arrived at a large compound.

"Fang the Kid, here again?" At the courtyard gates, a burly middle-aged man with a full beard smiled familiarly when he saw him.

"Li," Fang Xu called out with a chuckle. His eyes, however, bypassed the middle-aged man to look at a fleeting bright red silhouette inside the courtyard.

The middle-aged man followed his gaze into the courtyard, a teasing smile appearing on his face. "Kid, still thinking about it?"

Fang Xu retracted his gaze in slight embarrassment. Scratching his head, he chuckled sheepishly. "I’m here to pay my respects to Land Master."

The "Land Master" he spoke of was named Lu Zhiyuan, one of the three Martial Masters in Fenglin Town and the owner of this Zhiyuan Hall. His cultivation had already reached the Third Realm of the Martial Master stage. There were ten realms for a Martial Disciple. Once one crossed the tenth realm, they could step into the Martial Master stage. As a master, their role was to impart the Martial Dao and resolve doubts. Only those who became Martial Masters could be called Experts, and only Martial Artists at or above the Martial Master realm had the qualifications to guide ordinary Cultivators in the Refining Viscera Technique. Ordinary Martial Disciples lacked this ability.

"Pay respects to Land Master?" The middle-aged man glanced at the two jugs of wine in Fang Xu’s hands and shook his head. "Fang the Kid, you know Land Master’s rules. If you want to enter this door, it costs fifty silver taels. These two jugs of wine aren’t worth that price."

Unlike the other two Martial Masters, Lu Zhiyuan had only moved to Fenglin Town a few years ago. His sudden arrival naturally caught the attention of the other two Martial Masters. The common people of Fenglin Town didn’t know what kind of agreement the Zhang family’s Martial Master and the old Patriarch of the Wu family had reached with Lu Zhiyuan to actually allow him to settle down.

After establishing a firm foothold, Lu Zhiyuan opened this Zhiyuan Hall and set down rules: he took no disciples and recruited no subordinates. Whoever wished to enter Zhiyuan Hall to seek guidance, regardless of who they were, had to pay an entrance fee of fifty silver taels. Compared to the other two, the price of asking Lu Zhiyuan for guidance on the Refining Viscera Technique was considered the lowest.

The middle-aged man before him, Li Yushan, had accompanied Lu Zhiyuan to Fenglin Town back in the day. When Zhiyuan Hall was first established, Li Yushan had commissioned Fang Xu’s grandfather to make some furniture. Over time, he had become quite familiar with Fang Xu.

"I brought the money," Fang Xu said, hurriedly taking out fifty silver taels from the bundle on his back and handing them to Li Yushan.

Seeing that many of the silver taels he took out were fragmented pieces of silver, Li Yushan was a bit surprised. "Fang the Kid, you’ve been saving this silver for quite a few days, haven’t you?"

Fang Xu smiled faintly. "Li, is Land Master inside?"

Li Yushan quickly counted the silver taels. After confirming the amount was correct, he extended a hand in invitation. "Land Master is in. Go on ahead."

Under his guidance, Fang Xu stepped into the inner courtyard of Zhiyuan Hall for the first time. This was a large, three-courtyard mansion. The front yard featured a modestly sized Martial Arts Arena. On the ground paved with hard bluestone, numerous footprints of varying depths had been left behind. On the left side of the Martial Arts Arena stood two weapon racks, while on the right were four heavily scarred Renshi.

Renshi was a very hard type of stone. Even the full-force strike of an ordinary tenth-realm Martial Artist would struggle to break it, so it was often used as a standard to evaluate a Martial Artist’s strength.

Following Li Yushan across the Martial Arts Arena to the inner courtyard, Fang Xu once again caught sight of that bright red silhouette.