Chen Yuan offered a helpless, bitter smile. Since they had completely blocked his retreat, any further refusal would just be impolite. "Then I’ll have to trouble you, Steward Li," he replied.
He thought to himself, "I’ll just find some excuse to brush it off when the time comes."
Li Changfu smiled with great confidence.
"Rest assured, Brother Chen. With your looks and talent, many girls in the Li family will definitely take a liking to you. You won’t be disappointed."
Besides, coming from a humble background meant Chen Yuan wouldn’t be constrained by a powerful in-law family.
Chen Yuan could only nod.
As the meal wrapped up, he remembered another matter and asked, "Steward Li, does the Treasure Tower sell Strong Sinew Pills? If so, I’d like to purchase a batch of them."
Li Changfu’s gaze flickered slightly. "Oh? Naturally, we have Strong Sinew Pills. How many do you want, Brother Chen?"
Chen Yuan didn’t hide his intentions. He directly asked for a month’s supply first—thirty Strong Sinew Pills, which cost one hundred and fifty taels.
Looking slightly surprised, Li Changfu seemed to guess his purpose. He didn’t pry further, promising to bring him the highest quality Strong Sinew Pills.
Soon enough, after Chen Yuan received the rubbing of the Ripple Step, someone else delivered the Strong Sinew Pills, bringing the banquet to a close.
After taking his leave, Chen Yuan walked home with high vigilance, but the journey turned out completely peaceful.
Since someone was covering his shift and the day’s many events had drained much of his mental energy, he decided to rest early.
Late at night.
In the Inner City, at the He family residence.
A man in black slipped silently through a side door, navigating the corridors with practiced ease until he entered a room in the backyard.
Pushing the door open, he found a person already waiting inside. It was He Tianxiong, the Patriarch of the He family. Yet, given his lofty status, who could he possibly be waiting for?
He Tianxiong quickly stood up, lowering his head and cupping his fists. "My lord, your subordinate is incompetent. I messed things up."
The man in black spoke with a frigid tone. "I’ve heard. How do you plan to handle it?"
He Tianxiong’s eyes flashed with a vicious glint. "My lord, I had victory in the bag, but that brat Chen Yuan ruined it. I’ve investigated his background. He has a few ties to the Li family, but not much. The Li family shouldn’t make a huge fuss over him.
"Once this kid stirs up trouble again, I’ll send someone to eliminate him and prevent any future headaches."
If he struck now, everyone would immediately point fingers at him. He didn’t want to face the pursuit of the Government Office or the counterattack of the Fang family. He had to wait for a scapegoat to appear.
"The Li family..." the man in black murmured, his tone somewhat peculiar. Then he slowly said, "Whether you eliminate him or not is up to you. I only care about the results. As long as you provide sufficient resources every month, I will naturally help the He family boost its strength. When the turbulent times arrive, you will have the power to protect yourselves."
"Yes," He Tianxiong nodded heavily.
He knew the He family’s rise was deeply intertwined with this lord. As for the turbulent times the lord mentioned... he at least had the awareness, whereas most people still didn’t realize they were nothing more than chess pieces.
The Ripple Step consisted of three Stages in total. The first Stage was called Shallow Treading Ripples. Upon reaching Perfection, one could step on still water without sinking and tread on duckweed without snapping it, walking across the tips of grass and branches as if on flat ground.
Wherever one’s footsteps landed, the water surface would merely ripple outward faintly before vanishing without a trace in an instant.
The second Stage was called Treading Snow Without Traces. As the name implied, the footsteps were incredibly light, leaving virtually no tracks.
The third Stage was called Flowing Wind Returning Snow. The body would move like wind swirling snow, erratic and unpredictable. Treading on waves would be like walking on a plain, allowing one to freely shuttle through even raging rapids, treacherous shoals, and soaring waterfalls.
Unfortunately, this manual of the Ripple Step only recorded the first two Stages. The third Stage was missing.
However, mastering just the first two Stages would be more than enough for a small place like Qingyuan County.
The difficulty was certainly there. Even with Chen Yuan’s current Comprehension, it still took him an entire two hours of practice to barely reach the entry-level.
[Ripple Step (Shallow Treading Ripples): 1/1000]
Chen Yuan began lifting his knees in place. He found that his steps had indeed become a tiny bit lighter, though not obviously so. Let alone stepping on still water without sinking or duckweed without snapping it, right now, it would be difficult for him to even tiptoe and peek at a girl bathing.
Of course, Chen Yuan only made this comparison in his mind to remind himself that he still needed to work hard on his cultivation. It wasn’t that he actually wanted to go peep at women bathing. He had received a higher education and was a man of high moral character.
Setting the Ripple Step aside for now, Chen Yuan swallowed a Strong Sinew Pill. Waiting for the medicinal efficacy to gradually spread, he took a deep breath and began practicing the second layer of the Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppression Body—the Dragon Sinew.
Elephant Bone Perfection had already let him taste the sweet rewards. Whether killing He Yunhan or Ge Jinhua, the Elephant Bone had played a crucial role.
Without the Elephant Bone, he would just be an ordinary Great Success in Bone Refining and Hidden Force Entry-level Martial Artist. Perhaps even fighting He Yunhan would have been a tough battle.
However, now that the Elephant Bone was exposed, it would be hard to rely on the element of surprise. He had to temper the Dragon Sinew to proficiency as soon as possible. Only with such a trump card to rely on would he feel confident in his actions.
Accompanying the Dragon Sinew was a corresponding set of stance training, designed to better activate the medicinal efficacy of the Strong Sinew Pill and progressively improve the quality of his sinews.
After finishing two sets of stance training, Chen Yuan’s face turned slightly rosy. The first time practicing was always the hardest. Once his proficiency increased later on, he would be able to perform it with practiced ease.
[Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppression Body Second Layer (Dragon Sinew): 1/2000]
The rate of progress had also slowed down. It was difficult to replicate the legend of gaining 300 points in a month like he did with the Elephant Bone. It seemed this would be another long journey of cultivation.
He woke up early the next day and practiced martial arts in the woods outside Hundred Herbs Lane. Once finished, Chen Yuan headed toward the Huo Courtyard.
His primary goal now was to train his bone gate to Iron Bones, then shatter the muscle gate. By then, his strength would take a qualitative leap. More importantly, he could obtain 2 basic settlement points.
Of course, the prerequisite for all this was passing the system’s evaluation. He had to keep a strictly low profile during this period. After all, he hadn’t received any Low-key Points yesterday either. This was already the second time he was judged as not being low-key enough in this test cycle.
Chen Yuan felt very helpless about this. The tree longed for peace, but the wind refused to stop. He couldn’t just stand by and watch the Fang family, which had always supported him, fall into ruin.
Moreover, he also needed to use this opportunity to earn resources for his Dragon Sinew cultivation. He could only say that you win some and you lose some. The gains and losses were hard to weigh.
Upon arriving at the Huo Courtyard, he ran into a few new disciples who had joined over the past half-year. In the past, they would simply nod in greeting and go on their way. Today, however, Chen Yuan watched them snap to attention on the spot. With eyes full of admiration, they chorused, "Greetings, Senior Brother Chen!"
Chen Yuan froze for a moment, then shook his head and laughed. "Hello. There’s no need for such formalities. Just treat me like before."
It seemed they had all heard about yesterday’s events. He truly didn’t want to show off, simply because it brought too much trouble.
He still preferred the feeling of staying low-key in the shadows and watching others act arrogant. If the arrogant person provoked him, he didn’t mind revealing twenty-five percent of his strength to give them a tiny shock.
Of course, all of this was built on the premise that he was strong enough.
Chen Yuan walked all the way to the Dining Hall. Along the way, even the least respectful disciples stopped in their tracks to watch him pass with admiration. He couldn’t remember all of them; he could only remember the disciples who didn’t give him a respectful gaze.
It wasn’t that he held a grudge. They were just exceptional.
Just as he got his food, he bumped into Tao Ping. The two smiled at each other.
At the dining table, Tao Ping beamed with a bright smile. "Junior Brother Chen, congratulations. Great Success in Bone Refining, and Hidden Force Entry-level. Reaching this step so silently—you really kept a low profile."
He was genuinely happy for Chen Yuan from the bottom of his heart.
Chen Yuan gave a faint smile. "Actually, it’s not really keeping a low profile. I just broke through and didn’t have time to say anything. If you want to talk about keeping a low profile, that would be Senior Brother Xu."
He still remembered that when he sparred with Xu Heng that day, Xu Heng only exposed his Hidden Force level after having comprehended it for at least three or four days. The low-key way truly existed everywhere.
Tao Ping teased, "Yeah, right. If you hadn’t displayed such incredible might at Wankou Mountain, consecutively killing the He family’s genius He Yunhan and the renowned Martial Artist Ge Jinhua, I would still be kept in the dark.
"Junior Brother Chen, your fierce battle record is far more shocking than your breakthrough in Stage. You truly stay silent until you shock the world with a single move! There’s always an even heavier bombshell waiting behind the curtain.
"When your Stage breaks through next time, are you going to drop an even more explosive piece of news? I’m afraid my heart won’t be able to handle it by then."
He was telling the truth. Chen Yuan’s progress was too fast. He was almost catching up to Tao Ping’s own pace. Next time Chen Yuan pulled off something massive, Tao Ping might have to stand on his tiptoes just to look up to him.
Chen Yuan laughed heartily. He knew Senior Brother Tao was poking fun at how he shocked the entire audience with the news of comprehending Manifest Force when he first broke through the skin gate.
However, he remembered that he truly hadn’t wanted to show off back then. He had only wanted to tell Senior Brother Tao in private. Who would have thought that Senior Brother Tao was also secretly mischievous and directly announced it to the public?
Thinking back on it now, all those past events felt as if they had just happened yesterday.
Everything had transpired in just over half a year’s time.