This Martial Saint is Too Cautious

Night fell.

Lin Yan changed into a set of black clothes, covered his face, and silently scaled the courtyard wall.

He had already found out the location of the Ping Mountain Gang’s stronghold that afternoon. It was in a remote alley in North City.

Lin Yan had never had a good impression of gang members, especially since they had verbally insulted his aunt.

His footsteps were feather-light as he moved through the night like a phantom.

Unleashing the full power of his Second-Time Skin Smoothing, he reached the vicinity of the Ping Mountain Gang’s stronghold in just a quarter of an hour.

It was a three-courtyard residence with two lanterns hanging by the entrance. The faint sounds of a drinking game could be heard from within.

Just as Lin Yan was about to scale the wall and sneak in, he suddenly froze.

A muffled thud echoed from the courtyard, the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

No, that was the sound of fighting.

’Someone’s already making a move on the Ping Mountain Gang?’

’Did I get this lucky? Is it a rival gang war, or is someone seeking revenge?’

Lin Yan frowned, pushed off with his feet, and landed lightly on the main building’s roof, lying flat against the tiles to peer into the courtyard.

Four or five corpses lay in the courtyard. Judging by their attire, they were all members of the Ping Mountain Gang.

At the entrance to the main house, a figure in black was walking out from inside. He stepped out from under the eaves into the open courtyard, carrying a bulging bundle in his hand. He had clearly finished looting the place.

The person seemed to sense something and snapped his head up, his gaze shooting like lightning toward the top of the main house.

Their eyes met.

The next instant, the person kicked off the ground, his body shooting toward Lin Yan like an arrow!

’Such sharp Perception.’

Lin Yan was slightly surprised but didn’t retreat. He leaped directly off the tiles and threw a punch!

His Fist Momentum was like a mountain!

A trace of astonishment flashed in the black-clothed man’s eyes as he met the attack with a punch of his own.

The two fists collided with a dull THUD.

Lin Yan stood his ground, but the man in black stumbled back several steps and spat out a mouthful of blood.

’Mountain-Splitting Fist?’

Surprise filled Lin Yan’s eyes. Although the man in black had altered the Technique when he threw his punch, Lin Yan had already developed Fist Momentum with his own Mountain-Splitting Fist. He was so familiar with it that he could tell at a glance that the core of his opponent’s Fist Technique was still the Mountain-Splitting Fist.

’Could it be one of the junior brothers from the Martial Arts Hall?’

Lin Yan’s pupils contracted.

Mountain-Splitting Fist, the power of Second-Time Skin Smoothing, and an attack on the Ping Mountain Gang... He had a vague guess as to the other’s identity.

Meanwhile, after steadying himself, the man in black didn’t hesitate for a moment. He threw the bundle in his hand at Lin Yan while retreating, then turned, leaped onto the wall, and vanished into the night.

Lin Yan remained where he was, not giving chase.

He looked down at the bundle on the ground, which had fallen open, revealing several silver ingots.

"It must be Junior Brother Zhuang," Lin Yan murmured softly, gazing in the direction the man in black had disappeared.

He was a Second-Time Skin Smoothing practitioner, and judging by the power of his punch, he had only just broken through. Coincidentally, Junior Brother Zhuang had run into him during the day. If he had bothered to ask around, he would have learned what happened in front of the Liu Family’s home.

Perhaps Junior Brother Zhuang had really attacked the Ping Mountain Gang to stand up for him.

As for the money in the bundle, that was likely just a crime of opportunity.

’It’s just that Junior Brother Zhuang’s methods are a bit crude.’

Looking at the fist marks on the corpses, Lin Yan shook his head. Ever since his master told him that a forensic doctor had examined one of his kills, he had become more cautious. After killing someone, he had to make sure to disfigure the body.

As for this money, he’d consider it payment for cleaning up Junior Brother Zhuang’s mess.

After spending the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to finish his work, Lin Yan left the courtyard, carrying the bundle.

---

「At the same time, in another courtyard.」

The man in black removed his face covering, revealing a young face. It was none other than Zhuang Zheng.

His face was pale, and blood still trickled from the corner of his mouth from time to time.

’Who was that man? A Third-Time of Skin Smoothing Powerhouse? Or one of the elites among Second-Time Skin Smoothing Martial Artists?’

Zhuang Zheng looked down at his fist. The punch his opponent had thrown felt both familiar and strange, but the one thing he could be certain of was that the man was incredibly strong. He feared he wouldn’t have been able to take a second punch.

’The strongest members of the Ping Mountain Gang are only three Single-Time Skin Smoothing Martial Artists. How could they have dared to offend such a Powerhouse?’

Zhuang Zheng couldn’t figure it out. If the Ping Mountain Gang had offended such a Powerhouse, they would have been wiped out long ago. Why would it have waited until tonight?

He had chosen to strike the Ping Mountain Gang tonight for two reasons. First, to repay his debt to Senior Brother Lin.

If Senior Brother Lin hadn’t appeared back then, he would have been taken to the Inspection Bureau. And once inside the Inspection Bureau, it wouldn’t have been easy to get out, even for a Martial Arts Academy Disciple.

Second, he was short on money and figured he could kill the members of the Ping Mountain Gang and make off with a small fortune.

His ability to advance from Single-Time Skin Smoothing to Second-Time Skin Smoothing in just nine months was certainly related to his own talent, but the more important reason was that he had silver coins to support him.

And these silver coins came from the people he had killed.

He had realized this path of killing and robbing after he killed Ge Hui.

Ge Hui was the first Martial Artist he had killed after stepping onto the path of Martial Arts.

The reason he went after Ge Hui wasn’t because Ge Hui had flashed his wealth; Zhuang Zheng wasn’t so depraved as to attack one of his own martial brothers.

It was because Ge Hui was too much of a bully. He had sold his ancestral home to study martial arts, essentially burning his bridges, yet Ge Hui still demanded that he pay him respects.

He had heard from other senior brothers that Senior Brother Lin had also faced Ge Hui’s harassment when he refused to pay him respects, but Senior Brother Lin had confronted Ge Hui directly.

But in his opinion, Senior Brother Lin’s actions were unwise. When facing someone stronger than yourself, the safest approach was to feign submission openly while striking from the shadows.

First, it would make the opponent lower their guard, and second, it wouldn’t arouse suspicion.

Faced with Ge Hui, he had feigned submission and given him copper coins. Then, he followed Ge Hui for a while until he finally found an opportunity. When Ge Hui was dead drunk, he launched a sneak attack and finished him off.

As for finding silver coins on Ge Hui’s body, it was merely a matter of not letting things go to waste. He never expected Ge Hui to have so much money.

However, this unexpected windfall gave him an idea for making money.

Kill and rob!

There was no faster way to make money.

For this reason, he often lurked late at night, targeting gang members. By killing and robbing, he accumulated enough silver coins to finally break through to Second-Time Skin Smoothing in nine months.

After so many successes, he never thought he would fail this time, nearly losing his life in the process.

’Good thing that mysterious Powerhouse didn’t give chase. It seems I’ll have to be more careful in the future.’

Zhuang Zheng gave a bitter smile. The good news was that he had managed to escape. The bad news was that after taking that punch, he would need at least half a month to recover.

...

...

At the Lin Family residence, Lin Yan was also in his room, taking stock of his gains.

’Junior Brother Zhuang didn’t even spare some of the silver-plated items.’

Inside the bundle, besides a few silver ingots, loose silver, and copper coins, there were also some small silver-plated objects.

If he took these objects to a pawn shop, he could get a few dozen to a hundred wen for them, but for the current Lin Yan, it wasn’t worth the risk of exposure.

After setting aside these items, the silver and copper coins added up to one hundred and fifty taels. This was the benefit of taking down a gang’s stronghold; it was practically a clean sweep.

Unfortunately, this Ping Mountain Gang wasn’t very strong.

’I now have a total of five hundred taels in silver coins. That’s a huge sum, but if I use it to cover my martial arts expenses, it will only last a year.’

The more Lin Yan calculated, the more amazed he was. It was true that Martial Artists had high status, but their expenses were also high.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to worry about failing to break through. For those who did fail, the amount of silver coins required was even more terrifying.

After his routine grumbling about the immense cost of studying martial arts, Lin Yan began to consider how to spend the money.

The Tang Family provided him with one bottle of Vital Tendon Pills each month, but it only contained five pills, meaning he could only take one every six days on average. He had learned from Zheng Xun that Second-Time Skin Smoothing Martial Artists could take one Vital Tendon Pill per day.

Additionally, he could buy some more venison.

Vital Tendon Pills helped Qi Blood flush the meridians, but they didn’t have a significant effect on increasing Qi Blood itself.

Eating the meat of the Purple Furred Beast had made Lin Yan understand that this Treasure Meat was expensive for a reason.

Tiger meat and bear meat were out of the question—the price was too high. But at five taels per jin, he could just about afford venison.

...

「The next day.」

When Lin Yan arrived at the Martial Arts Hall, he first went to the medicine dispensary to state the amount of Secret Medicine he needed. While the medicine was being prepared, he headed to the back courtyard to pay his respects to his master.

When he stepped into the back courtyard of the Martial Arts Hall, he found it unusually quiet. Only Junior Brother Zhao was there.

"Junior Brother Zhao, is Master in his room?"

Before Zhao Linyuan could answer, Yang Qingfeng walked out of the room.

"Lin Yan, you’re here."

"Disciple pays his respects to Master."

Yang Qingfeng looked at Lin Yan with a smile on his face. "Is there something you need?"

"Disciple has come for the topical Secret Medicine."

Hearing that Lin Yan was there for the Secret Medicine, Yang Qingfeng pondered for a moment before saying, "You hold a position with the Tang Family now, so you only need to pay seventy percent of the price for medicinal ingredients at the Tang Family Pharmacy. In a moment, I will give you a formula. From now on, you can go to the Tang Family Pharmacy to get the ingredients and prepare the Secret Medicine yourself."

At these words, both Zhao Linyuan and Lin Yan were stunned.

The topical Secret Medicine for post-Second-Time Skin Smoothing was one of the Martial Arts Hall’s most guarded secrets. If it were to be leaked, the impact on the hall would be immense.

Sensing his two disciples’ expressions, Yang Qingfeng smiled faintly. The Secret Medicine’s formula was indeed precious, but the medicine itself was only effective for those practicing the Mountain-Splitting Fist. The reason it wasn’t shared in the past was the fear that a disciple who had mastered the Mountain-Splitting Fist and possessed the Secret Medicine might break away and start their own school to teach it.

But from what he knew of Lin Yan, his disciple was an honest and sincere person who would never do such a thing.

However, the more important reason stemmed from a sense of guilt.

Lin Yan was very talented in the Mountain-Splitting Fist. If he hadn’t accepted Linyuan and made a prior agreement with the Zhao Family, he would have taken Lin Yan as his Cloth and Alms Disciple and cultivated him with more Martial Arts Resources.

But now, all the silver coins and Martial Arts Resources he had accumulated were being spent on Linyuan. He couldn’t give Lin Yan many Martial Arts Resources, so letting Lin Yan save some money on the Secret Medicine was a form of compensation.

"I am giving you the formula, but you are forbidden from sharing it. Otherwise, I, your master, will not forgive you."

Yang Qingfeng added, and Lin Yan cupped his fist, his face solemn. "Thank you for your generosity, Master. Disciple swears he will never leak the formula."

"It will take some time for the dispensary to prepare the medicine. Since you’re here, you and Linyuan can have a sparring match."

Hearing that their master wanted him to spar with Zhao Linyuan, Lin Yan didn’t react much. Zhao Linyuan, on the other hand, looked puzzled. Several senior brothers who had reached Second-Time Skin Smoothing over a year ago had all lost to him in sparring matches. Senior Brother Lin had only reached Second-Time Skin Smoothing a few months ago, so why did their master want them to spar?

"Lin Yan’s attainments in the Mountain-Splitting Fist are quite profound. By sparring with each other, you martial brothers can also gauge your respective strengths," Yang Qingfeng said, noticing Zhao Linyuan’s confusion.

Hearing this, Zhao Linyuan looked at Lin Yan with a hint of surprise. For their master to describe his attainments as "profound" meant he was definitely not ordinary.

"Senior Brother Lin, please guide me."

Zhao Linyuan cast aside his underestimation and cupped his fist in a salute.

"You’re too kind, Junior Brother Zhao."

But Lin Yan didn’t return the salute. Instead, he extended a hand toward Zhao Linyuan. Zhao Linyuan froze, recalling some of the rumors about this particular Senior Brother Lin in the Martial Arts Hall.

One of them was that Senior Brother Lin didn’t like to cup his fist before a spar; he preferred to shake hands.

Zhao Linyuan extended his hand. After they shook hands and let go, they each stepped back. Lin Yan’s expression remained unchanged, but inwardly, he was surprised.

’As expected of a genius so highly valued by Master. Junior Brother Zhao’s Martial Arts Tree is actually an inch taller than mine, reaching a height of two feet and seven inches.’

’Junior Brother Zhao started later than I did, and I even took a Treasure Medicine, yet he still surpassed me.’

Lin Yan had to admit he was feeling a little bitter.

’No wonder geniuses are so easy to envy.’

’Years of painstaking Cultivation can’t compare to a few months of their effort. Anyone in this situation would be cursing inwardly.’