Promise!

Chapter 39, Second Scripture

A few more days passed, and it was the afternoon of December 24th.

In the quiet room of the martial arts training ground, Zhuang Jin silently practiced the meditation technique to condense the internal energy that he had just refined from the Black Yuan Powder he had swallowed. He felt a slight swelling in his meridians and knew that he had completed the accumulation of a realm.

"If it were someone else, at this point, they would feel the bottleneck of the second meridian, but me? It's time to confirm my golden finger again."

Zhuang Jin took a deep breath, mobilized his internal energy, and carefully guided it to the second meridian, the Shaoyin Meridian of the Hand. Just like when he broke through the first meridian, he did not feel any hindrance. The internal energy entered unimpeded, completing the circulation in the two meridians.

The second level of the sutra... is accomplished!
"Sure enough, my golden finger just has no bottleneck?"

Zhuang Jin was excited, but he suppressed his joy and thought to himself: "Now that I have broken through the Second Scripture Realm, I am a second-level servant in the Shen family. And a second-level servant's basic monthly salary is three taels of silver!"

"Last month, I broke through the first level and received a basic monthly salary of a one-line servant in the middle of the month. Now that I have broken through the second level, I wonder if I can receive the basic monthly salary of a two-line servant this month. Or, you can make up the difference between the monthly salaries of a one-line servant and a two-line servant!"

His breakthrough was so fast that it was natural that his food and money were consumed quickly. From the 18th of last month to today, he had swallowed fourteen sets of Black Yuan Powder, which was seven taels of silver. Now he only had nine taels left.

That's it, or the twelve days in the second half of last month, there was a bowl of Kailuo Soup every day - last month, Zhuang Jin went to Wusheng to drink, because he knew it was his own drink and he had paid for it. This month, no matter how thick-skinned he was, he didn't have the face to continue going to Ping Yongfeng to drink.

"Now that I've reached the second level, the speed of refining Black Yuan Powder will also increase. At the first level, one set of Black Yuan Powder is enough for three days of cultivation, but by the second level, it's only enough for two days. So, I need fifteen sets of Black Yuan Powder per month, which is seven taels and five cents of silver. It's really a money-eating beast!"

Therefore, Zhuang Jin had to take this into account. After going out, because the incense stick time had not yet arrived this afternoon and Tang Wentao had not left, he told the other party about the breakthrough and asked about the monthly allowance.

"Breakthrough to the second meridian?" Tang Wentao checked Zhuang Jin's pulse and confirmed it. He laughed and clapped his hands: "Haha, great!"

Originally, it was almost the end of the month, and none of his eight subordinates had broken through to the second level or entered the Black Evil Palm. He was worried about the indicators, and then Zhuang Jin told him the good news. How could he not be happy?
Afterwards, he explained the monthly allowance issue to Zhuang Jin. Basically, only one monthly allowance could be received, and there was no way to make up for it.

Moreover, the promotion of servants' ranks does not mean that one can just go to the General Affairs Department immediately after a breakthrough one day and complete the promotion.

Each level promotion for a First-Pattern Servant must wait until the first day of each month, and the 'Glass Realm Testing Puppet' must be summoned for verification before it can be promoted.

This is easy to understand. After a breakthrough and a month of learning martial arts, you will be assigned a task, and the duration of the task is one month. It is impossible to let you put down the task and run back to register for promotion just because you have a breakthrough at the beginning or middle of the month. It would be a waste of manpower and material resources to do that one by one.

As for their immediate registration as a one-mark servant upon becoming a formal warrior, that was a special arrangement to allow them to quickly recoup their losses. Furthermore, the breakthrough to the first level was easily verifiable, simply leaving a mark on a wooden board. However, after the first level, verification was less intuitive. To prevent fraud, pulse diagnosis was not an option, and the "Glass Realm-Testing Puppet" was used, which was naturally different.

In other words, Zhuang Jin has to wait until the first day of next month, oh no, this month's end-of-month evaluation can also be considered a special matter, and he can also complete the servant level promotion.

In short, no matter what, you can only officially receive the monthly salary for the second-level servant level from next month.

"That 'Glass Realm-Testing Puppet' is quite magical. You place your palm on the puppet's back and circulate your internal energy. The meridians on it will light up, indicating your current realm."

Tang Wentao explained this and then kindly asked Zhuang Jin if he had any questions about the Black Evil Palm. After answering his questions one by one, he repeatedly reminded him not to focus on his cultivation level in the next few days, but to practice the Black Evil Palm intensified to see if he could get started before the end of the month. Only then did he leave.

After Tang Wentao left, the martial arts training ground erupted in excitement. Xiong Lei, Jiao Kun, Lin Hong, and other martial arts practitioners had been outside and, naturally, had heard the news of Zhuang Jin's breakthrough to the Second Element. They gathered around him, congratulating him and asking about his feelings.

At this time, Xiang Qichen, who was practicing meditation, also came out of the meditation room and was informed of the news of the breakthrough.

Xiang Qichen had been stuck at the bottleneck of the Second Element these days, feeling utterly utterly stuck and completely clueless. He had been wondering if he should start practicing martial arts to gain some insights. Suddenly, upon hearing the news that Zhuang Jin had broken through to the Second Element, his head felt like it was about to explode. He subconsciously asked, "Really? Jinzi is not lying, is he?"

"Brother Xiang, what you said has been verified by Master Tang, so how could it be false?"

Qian Wende said this, then left Xiang Qichen behind and looked eagerly at Zhuang Jin, complimenting him: "Brother Zhuang is amazing! He's the first person in our dormitory to break through to the second level!"

He was a thick-skinned man, but he had high emotional intelligence. He knew that Zhuang Jin was the fifth in the dormitory, and calling him "Fifth Brother" was not nice, so he always called him "Brother Zhuang".

Xiong Lei was standing aside with a complicated expression. It was obvious that he became a formal warrior before Zhuang Jin, so how come Zhuang Jin broke through the second level first?

He was thinking whether he should choose to focus on his cultivation realm. Maybe he would have made a breakthrough by now. But then he thought that even Xiang Qichen had not made a breakthrough yet. Even if he had enough money to buy Black Yuan Powder, it would not be possible now. He could not help but suppress his complicated emotions and sincerely congratulated Zhuang Jin.

Lin Hong, Jiao Kun, Wu Hao and others were all surrounding them, needless to say.

"Brother Zhuang has broken through to the second level. This is such a great event. I suggest that each of us pool some money and go out for a meal tonight to celebrate for Brother Zhuang!" Qian Wende said.

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone looked over and found it hard to believe that it was Qian Wende who said this. They wondered if they had heard it wrong.

——They are all in the same dormitory, who doesn’t know each other? After living together for more than a month, everyone knows that Qian Wende likes to take advantage of others the most: asking Xiong Lei for toilet paper, asking Jiao Kun for food, and even sex... To be frank, people like Qian Wende, when they see others eating shit, they will go up and ask for some to taste the saltiness!

So, you tell me, this is the kind of person who offered to chip in and treat everyone? They remembered correctly that we had a dinner together on the last day of last month, and you got it for free!
Qian Wende saw the others looking at him with strange eyes and said with a smile, "Why are you all looking at me like that? I'm really happy that Brother Zhuang made a breakthrough today, so I wanted to celebrate for him!"

"No, there's no need to spend money on everyone. Besides, the end-of-month evaluation is coming up soon, so we shouldn't be distracted these two days."

Zhuang Jin declined politely and looked at Qian Wende deeply. At this moment, he suddenly remembered some small details from before and saw through Qian Wende more thoroughly.

"Qian Wende likes to take advantage of small opportunities, but he is definitely not a short-sighted fool who would ignore the consequences for small gains. At the same time, he has an extremely shrewd side and knows how to give before you get something!"

When he was a martial artist, Qian Wende saw the potential of the small group of Zhuang Jin and Xiong Lei, so he would share the news of the small group and invest in them to make friends. This shows his ability to take action!
After becoming a formal warrior, Xiang Qichen loosened his grip, but Qian Wende did not take advantage of him much, and only took advantage of Xiong Lei, the sheep. Zhuang Jin was a little confused before, but now he understands: Qian Wende did not take advantage of Xiang Qichen because he valued Xiang Qichen's potential and looked down on this. He has big ambitions!

"The same logic applies to me now. Treating me to a meal is an investment, it's to build a good relationship so that you can get greater benefits from me in the future." Zhuang Jin thought to himself, seeing through Qian Wende.

……

(End of this chapter)