It was past ten at night by the time Master and Cao Tian walked out of the Fu Family’s main gate. A curfew was already in effect on the streets.

A servant from the Fu Family called a car for them, and the two waited by the entrance.

"This just goes to show how rich the Fu Family is. Even the lamps at the gate are electric..."

The Master stood under the bright beam of a streetlight, hefting the heavy bag of silver coins in his hand. He couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. "Young Master Fu is so generous. One hundred silver coins, just like that..."

Cao Tian didn’t reply. He just stood there silently with his head down, as if staring at the moths fluttering in the light, lost in thought.

Seeing his demeanor, the Master thought for a moment before speaking softly, "You fought well tonight. It seems you took what I said before to heart.

"That’s how you have to be in life. You can’t be too rigid. You have to know when to bend.

"This one hundred silver coins..."

"PFFT—"

Before he could finish, Cao Tian suddenly sprayed a mouthful of blood without warning, spattering the ground in a dark red pool.

"You..."

The Master’s words caught in his throat, leaving him shocked and stunned.

"I’m fine."

Cao Tian raised a hand and slowly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "I got a little injured in the ring a few days ago. Taking that hit today actually forced out the bad blood that had pooled in my chest..."

"Sigh... Of all the times to spit out blood. If you had done that inside the Fu Family’s home..."

The Master slapped his thigh. "That would have been at least another hundred silver coins."

A muscle in Cao Tian’s cheek twitched. He suddenly asked, "Master, did you say before that Young Master Fu has been training for less than two months?"

"That’s right."

The Master was still staring at the pool of blood on the ground, his face full of regret.

"Impossible."

"Why would I lie to you? It’s not a secret. You can find out just by asking around."

The Master shook his head. "Didn’t I tell you before? Young Master Fu’s Talent is astonishing..."

"No matter how astonishing his Talent is, there’s no way in less than two months..."

"And why is it impossible?!"

The Master cut Cao Tian off with a cold sneer.

"You, Cao Tian, could become a Red Stick in the gang in your early twenties. Why can’t Young Master Fu achieve mastery in two months?"

"Do you think this Fu Family mansion is some straw hovel like yours?"

The Master poked Cao Tian in the chest, punctuating each word. "Young Master Fu sleeps on a golden-thread wood bed imported from the Southern Ocean and practices on soft mink fur. While you were eating chaff and wild greens, he was drinking aged ginseng soup like it was water. You break a couple of bones and you’re laid up for half a year; he has the chief physician from Xing’an Hall on standby and is back on his feet in three days. You fight for your life in the ring; with a single word, he can have my Black Shark Gang send its best Red Stick over to be his sparring partner...

"That’s a Talent built from piles of glittering silver coins. What right do you, Cao Tian, have to be unconvinced?"

Cao Tian stood frozen in place, as if struck in the head by an invisible hammer.

"Don’t be so arrogant, young man.

"Before you think about climbing higher, you must first learn to lower your head and watch your step."

The Master’s tone softened as he spoke with earnest gravity, stuffing the money bag into Cao Tian’s shirt.

Cao Tian was silent for a long moment. After a while, he cupped his fist to the Master, then turned and walked away.

"Aren’t you taking the car?"

The Master called out as he watched Cao Tian’s back slowly disappear into the night.

When there was no reply, the Master shook his head. He glanced at the pool of blood at his feet and couldn’t help but lament again, "If only Young Master Fu had seen it..."

...

’A Red Stick forged in the bloody struggles of the docks is really something else...’

That night, Fu Juemin soaked in an enormous bathtub. He covered his face with a towel to rest his eyes, replaying the evening’s battle in his mind.

The tub was filled with a specially prepared Medicated Bath. The cost of this one soak was nearly thirty silver coins.

In an era where even a County Government official’s monthly salary was no more than twenty silver coins, a single bath for Fu Juemin was equivalent to half a year’s, or even a full year’s, income for an ordinary family.

What did it mean for scholarship to be poor and martial arts to be rich?

This was it.

Fu Juemin’s victory that evening had looked clean and decisive, but only he knew how many heavy punches and elbows he had taken from Cao Tian during the fight.

If not for the extra Attributes from his Master Level Eight Extremes Bone Forging Skill, which gave him a solid advantage over Cao Tian in both Attack and Defense, the battle might not have been so easy.

Cao Tian’s combat experience was immense, and his skill in Tongbei Fist was profound. Even if it hadn’t reached Mastery, it was probably not far from Master Level.

He wouldn’t have been defeated so quickly, but the main reason was that he had severely underestimated his opponent.

’Who would have thought that the ignorant and incompetent young master of the Fu Family, after less than two months of training, could surpass a veteran Boxer of five or six years in Fist Technique?’

’If it were me, I wouldn’t have expected it either...’

As Fu Juemin thought this, he leaned back, slowly sinking into the water face-up.

He let the warm, herb-infused water slowly submerge his mouth and nose.

He held his breath, his mind gradually emptying.

After his breakthrough with the Mixed Element Stance, his Life Attribute had increased by one point, and Fu Juemin’s lung capacity had grown significantly.

He waited until a faint, burning pain spread through his chest before quickly surfacing from beneath the water.

"WHOOSH—"

Fu Juemin exhaled a long breath and wiped away the water streaming down from his brow.

As his vision blurred, he suddenly glimpsed two points of ghostly, rust-colored green light floating up from the depths of the bath.

They looked like the eyes of a water ghoul that had soaked at the bottom of a lake for countless years before crawling out of its sunken coffin.

Cold, evil... and steeped in venomous hatred.

Fu Juemin’s body froze instantly. He felt a chill run through him, as if the very blood in his veins had turned to ice.

He tried to stand, but a rotten stench suddenly filled his nostrils.

Looking closer, he realized the warm, fragrant bathwater around him had, at some unknown point, turned into heaps of foul, rotting sludge, like countless slimy, cold tentacles gripping his body tightly.

Suddenly, a hideous, seaweed-covered face burst from the water, its cavernous mouth gaping wide as it lunged forward to bite him...

"Get out!"

"SPLASH—"

A huge plume of water erupted from the tub. Fu Juemin’s back slammed against the wooden wall as he was violently jolted awake from a dream.

He gasped for breath, looking around in bewilderment. There was no water ghoul. He was still perfectly fine, lying in the bathtub. What he had just experienced was nothing more than a Nightmare.

The water beneath him had gone completely cold, and the lights had been turned off by someone, leaving the room pitch-black.

Fu Juemin sat there stunned for a while, only managing to calm himself after a long moment.

He stood up, grabbed a towel, draped it over his shoulders, and slowly walked to the window.

Staring out at the dark, heavy night sky, Fu Juemin recalled the terrifying face from his dream, his brow furrowing deeply.

’Was it really... just a dream?’

...

For the next few days, Fu Juemin had Cao Tian come over daily to be his sparring partner.

After being defeated on the first day, the top Red Stick from the Black Shark Gang completely shed his sharp edge, gradually settling into the role of a training partner.

In fact, Fu Juemin was very interested in the Tongbei Fist that Cao Tian practiced. Although the Eight Extremes Bone Forging Skill had three major killing moves, it wasn’t a proper combat-oriented Fist Technique. In his usual fights, he mostly used Ming Fist and was in dire need of a practical fighting style.

Cao Tian’s Tongbei Fist was flexible without lacking explosive power and emphasized multi-stage force generation, which greatly suited Fu Juemin’s taste.

Fu Juemin wanted to pay Cao Tian to teach him. He originally thought that, given Cao Tian’s personality, it might not work out. Unexpectedly, the man seemed to have had a complete change of heart. The moment Fu Juemin expressed a slight interest in learning the fist technique, Cao Tian agreed with remarkable readiness.