After comforting Su Hong, Su Yu and his aunt went to the outer room.
An oppressive silence filled the air.
Su Yu looked at his aunt's red, swollen eyes and asked softly, "Aunt, about my cousin's injury... how does he manage day to day?"
At this, his aunt's tears broke through. She covered her mouth and sobbed, "He's not managing at all! The pain is so bad at night that he chews the corner of his blanket to shreds. He refuses to make a sound, afraid he'll wake me."
Su Yu sighed helplessly. "Have you seen a doctor? Maybe some medicine could at least ease the pain."
His aunt shook her head. "He... he won't let me. He says his leg is already ruined, and spending more money would just be a waste..."
Hearing this, Su Yu took out six taels of silver from his robes and pressed it into his aunt's hand.
"Yu, I can't take this, I can't. It's too much..."
"Aunt, I owe this to my cousin. Use it to get him treatment. Even if it just makes him more comfortable, it's worth it."
...
After leaving Su Hong's house, Su Yu returned home, gave Yaya a few instructions, and then went straight back to the martial arts hall in the city.
'Right now, my only path is to break through and increase my strength as quickly as possible!'
'A Martial Artist... I must become a Martial Artist!'
He paid the upcoming tuition fee of ten taels to the hall, along with another four taels for the herbal medicine fee. Su Yu was once again left with only five taels of silver for emergencies.
[Skill Level +2]
[Skill Level +2]
...
Time flew by, and a month passed quickly.
During this month, Su Yu was completely focused, dedicating all his time to practicing the White Ape's Six Changes. He didn't join the Qian Family Fishing Team's excursions and set aside his Fishbone Skill training.
Occasionally, when his body was too tired to practice on the stakes, he would practice Coin Toss.
With such dedicated and diligent practice, his progress with the White Ape's Six Changes was finally more than halfway complete.
[Martial Arts]: White Ape's Six Changes (Skilled 589/1200)
'In less than a month, I'll have a chance to break through to Minor Achievement. Based on my experience, reaching Minor Achievement corresponds to the second 'gate-breaking'!'
After checking the skill level for White Ape's Six Changes, Su Yu opened the status for Coin Toss.
[Martial Arts]: Coin Toss (Minor Achievement 12/500)
'Sigh, an unintentional success. I only practiced Coin Toss occasionally to de-stress, but it reached the Minor Success Realm first. Although the skill level requirement is much lower than for White Ape's Six Changes, I also invested far less time in it.'
Su Yu took a pebble the size of a goose egg from his robes. With a flick of his wrist, he casually tossed it toward a distant Ironwood Stake.
"SWISH—THUD!"
The stone flashed through the air and accurately struck the stake more than a hundred feet away, letting out a muffled thud.
'This power and accuracy can already be used in actual combat!' Su Yu pondered how he could convert his Coin Toss skill into real strength to improve himself.
'I could hunt birds and small beasts in the forest with no problem. That could earn me a lot of money and improve my living standards. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time. Just like with the Net Casting Skill, if I spend too much time earning silver now, it will delay my martial arts training.'
'Training in martial arts is just too expensive. My Herbal Decoction is only three doses a week. I hear the senior brothers in the Inner Courtyard basically get one dose a day. Some martial arts halls even use more expensive decoctions, not this Bone-Strengthening Soup!'
'I have to find a steady source of income or improve my money-making abilities. Then I wouldn't be so short on cash all the time!'
A few more days passed, and the monthly assessment arrived as scheduled.
The atmosphere in the Martial Arts Arena was tense.
This time, neither Master Qin nor Senior Brother Qi Linfeng made an appearance. Only Inner Courtyard Disciples like Lin Wanzhu and Qin Yu were presiding over the event.
It seemed Senior Brother Qi Linfeng's injuries hadn't healed yet, so his absence was expected.
However, Master Qin's absence was unusual.
Master Qin usually paid no attention to the Outer Courtyard apprentices, only showing up for the monthly assessment. Now that he wasn't even appearing for the assessment, many people would probably only see him once or twice from the day they joined until the day they were eliminated.
"Today is the routine monthly assessment. When your name is called, step forward for testing."
"Sun Jia, Zhao Heng..."
Senior Sister Lin called out seven names in a row. These people had all arrived shortly after Su Yu started his apprenticeship and had now reached their three-month assessment period.
Hearing their names, the disciples' faces turned ashen. They stood in the center of the arena with their heads bowed, hesitating to move.
"Are you deaf? Why aren't you moving!"
Just as Lin Wanzhu was about to speak, Qin Yu, who was standing to the side, shot up her shapely eyebrows and snapped.
The group immediately shivered. The scene of Qin Yu injuring Ma Fei during last month's assessment was still fresh in their minds. How could they dare to defy this arrogant senior sister?
Resigned, they braced themselves and began walking the stakes.
Halfway through, Qin Yu snorted coldly again. "Useless! Three months and you haven't even achieved the first 'gate-breaking'! All of you, get out!"
Her words struck them like a bolt from the blue.
They knew that once they left, their lives were essentially set. They had spent over a decade of their families' savings, and to not even achieve the first 'gate-breaking' was tantamount to losing a high-stakes gamble.
Once they left the martial arts hall, without the secret Herbal Decoction, they could forget about ever having a chance to break through.
One of them felt his legs go weak and knelt, pleading, "Senior Sister, please give me another chance! My family sold our land just to scrape together the money..."
"Shut up!" Qin Yu's eyes were filled with disgust. "If you don't have talent, then don't dream of becoming a Martial Artist! This hall isn't a charity. We don't support freeloaders! Any more nonsense, and I don't mind 'seeing you off' myself!"
With their senior brother still not recovered from the injury inflicted by that bastard from the Bone-breaking Martial Arts Hall, she was already in a foul mood. Seeing that the hall was full of trash, she didn't mind teaching them another harsh lesson.
"We wouldn't dare, we wouldn't dare..."
Facing Qin Yu's oppressive presence, the disciples didn't dare say another word. Completely deflated, they retreated.
"Next up are those who have achieved the second and third 'gate-breaking'." Senior Sister Lin flipped through the book and shook her head. "There aren't any. In the Outer Courtyard, there are three people at the first 'gate-breaking', but it's not their assessment time yet. In the Inner Courtyard, Wang Hu has broken through to the second 'gate-breaking', so he doesn't need to be assessed. Then there's Junior Brother Chen. He already achieved the third 'gate-breaking' a few days ago. Does he even need to be tested?"
Hearing this, Chen Fan stepped out with a smile. "Senior Sister, should I give a demonstration then?"
"Haha, Junior Brother Chen, don't joke around. No need for you to come out and demoralize everyone."
"Exactly, exactly. Your training speed, reaching the third 'gate-breaking' in just three months, is truly enviable. It took me more than six months, and I was taking an Herbal Decoction every day."
Qin Yu also nodded in approval. "Chen Fan, you are Father's Direct Disciple. Don't lump yourself in with these people for comparison, it's embarrassing! You should be focusing on breaking through the Martial Artist bottleneck. Don't get distracted."
Chen Fan immediately smiled and bowed. "You're right, Senior Sister. I've also had some insights recently and feel like I've run into some issues with my Qi and Blood accumulation. I was hoping to ask for your guidance."
"Come find me in the rear courtyard later."
Below, the crowd of apprentices was stunned to hear that Chen Fan had achieved three 'gate-breakings' in three months.
Some couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath, unable to believe the gap between them was so vast.
'Does innate talent really make that much of a difference? Why do I only have below-average talent? The heavens are so unfair!'
'I'll never be able to compare to Senior Brother Chen in this lifetime. I've been training my heart out. And he came from a poor family too...'
Chen Fan listened to their hushed discussions with a faint smile on his face. By now, most of the people from his own cohort had been eliminated.
'How things have changed.'
'Oh, wait, there's still Su Yu. That kid's pretty lucky, he actually wasn't held back by the first 'gate-breaking'.'
'But with his talent, he most likely has no hope of reaching the second 'gate-breaking'.'
The assessment ended, and Senior Sister Lin and the other senior brothers from the Inner Courtyard walked, talking and laughing, through the Moon Gate toward the Inner Courtyard.
Along the way, they chatted amongst themselves.
"These strange occurrences outside the city are getting more and more frequent, you all know that, right? Sigh, the waters where my family cultivates precious plants have had several incidents." Jiang Liuchuan closed his Feather Fan and shook his head helplessly.
"Escort missions have also been running into trouble recently, especially waterway escorts. Three merchant ships have already disappeared from the Black River Crossing Pier," Xu Feng added.
The Xu Family was in the escort business, so they were well-informed about the recent strange occurrences.
Lin Wanzhu straightened her back, feeling the heavy weight on her chest, and said tiredly, "The trade routes have been hit too. My family's caravan just got back from Huai'an County. A lot of people died. They said they also encountered something strange."
"Sigh, things are getting more and more chaotic lately. Forget the strange occurrences, those few gangs are also brawling outside the city. They never give it a rest. It's gotten to the point where people outside the city can't even survive, so who has the money to come into the city to become an apprentice?"
"Don't worry. Now that it's affecting business in the city, the three great families of the Inner City will step in soon."