Proving God begins with the principle that no effort is wasted.

In the martial arts training ground, Jiang Lan stopped and stood still, the residual force of his punch stirring up dust on the ground.

I've been in the museum for six months now, and there are less than nine months left until the one-year bet I made with my grandfather.

In the past six months, he practiced his stances before dawn and continued practicing his boxing even when the moon was high in the sky. He practiced each move of the Bengshan Fist no less than a thousand times, and every drop of sweat turned into numbers slowly climbing in his mind.

At the moment he withdrew his fist, the blood and qi in his dantian surged suddenly, and a heat current several times stronger than usual rushed through his meridians to his limbs and bones.

Immediately afterwards, a familiar golden light appeared in his mind, not out of thin air, but following the trajectory of his surging blood and qi, slowly revealing the control panel:

【Crushing Mountain Fist (Beginner): 300/300】

[After a hundred days and a thousand repetitions of arduous practice, the technique has been perfected, meeting the requirements for a breakthrough.]

【Crushing Mountain Fist (Minor Mastery): 1/500】

[Additional Buff: Slight increase in muscle and bone strength]

A warm current rippled from the depths of his body, condensing along his meridians at the tip of his fist, as if something had been completely awakened within his bones. He subconsciously lowered his waist and twisted his hips, slamming his fist into the elm wood dummy in front of him.

"Click—"

A sharp crack echoed through the quiet training ground. The sturdy, dense elmwood dummy split open at the point where the fist struck, its upper half tilting to one side with a thud, sending wood chips flying everywhere.

The disciples practicing their martial arts around them instantly stopped and turned to look. This elmwood dummy was specially made by the martial arts school. It was so hard that it could withstand the normal punches from a martial artist with two acupoints. Normally, a punch to it would at most cause a tremor, and the number of dummy dummy that could be cracked by a single punch could be counted on two hands in the entire martial arts school.

Sun Gengsan was the first to rush over, circling the mannequin that had split in two twice, his eyes wide with disbelief: "You brat... you've mastered the Mountain-Crushing Fist?!"

"Hmm." Jiang Lan closed her fist, her fingertips slightly numb, her tone calm.

"How long has it been?!" Sun Gengsan counted on his fingers, his voice rising. "You've only been in the academy for half a year! Back in the day, I had above-average physical talent and practiced diligently for eleven months before I even reached the threshold of minor mastery! And you... When Instructor Liu examined your bones, he said your physical talent was below average. Was he wrong?"

He patted Jiang Lan on the shoulder and laughed heartily, but Jiang Lan didn't respond, only rubbing her fist.

It wasn't that the master touched the wrong person; it was that he trained harder than anyone else. While others practiced the boxing twenty times a day, he practiced fifty or sixty times; while others stood in stances for two hours, he stood for four hours; while others rested, he carried rice in the grain store to build up his strength, and at night he studied the boxing manual under the lamp.

He achieved this small success by risking half his life.

Liu Tie, panting, ran over and looked at the cracked human figure, his eyes shining brightly, his voice full of admiration: "Brother Jiang Lan! You're amazing! When will I be able to reach your level?"

"Practice." Jiang Lan said succinctly, "Stand in the stance for an extra hour every day, rest for a quarter of an hour less, and thoroughly understand every move of the boxing manual, and you can do it too."

Liu Tie clenched his fist and nodded emphatically, as if engraving the words into his heart: "I will definitely train hard! I will never slack off!"

Just then, a mocking laugh drifted slowly over from the other side of the corridor.

"What's the point of training so hard? In the end, you're still destined to be someone else's slave."

Jiang Lan looked up and saw a young man dressed in a silk robe leaning against a red lacquered pillar, waving an ebony folding fan in his hand, and a condescending smile on his lips.

He wasn't wearing the linen shorts issued by the martial arts school; instead, he was dressed in silk robes that shimmered softly in the sunlight. The fabric was from Jinyunfang, the best in Yucheng, and an ordinary family's annual expenses might not even be enough to make such a robe.

Sun Gengsan's expression changed instantly. He grabbed Jiang Lan's arm and said in a low voice, "Don't be impulsive! This is Xia Dongsheng, the young master of the Xia family. He's a notorious playboy in Yucheng. He paid to get in here to learn self-defense techniques. His family has connections in the prefectural city. We can't afford to offend him!"

Xia Dongsheng walked over, fanning himself, his gaze sweeping over Jiang Lan's patched-up burlap jacket. His sneer deepened: "Oh, I forgot. A martial artist who's just entered the first level of cultivation isn't even qualified to carry shoes for my Xia family's guards, let alone be a servant."

He closed his folding fan, chuckled, turned and walked straight into the innermost private training room of the martial arts hall. The heavy wooden door slammed shut, blocking out all the gazes and oppressive atmosphere.

Jiang Lan stood there, her clenched fists turning white at the knuckles, then slowly relaxed.

It's not worth it.

Engaging in verbal sparring or even physical altercations with these privileged children born with a silver spoon in their mouths wastes his own training time and delays his bet with his grandfather.

Xia Dongsheng spoke lightly, but what he said was true—now, as a martial artist, in Yucheng, let alone contend with the Xia family, even a random hall master from the Cao Gang or the Black Tiger Gang could easily crush him, and he would even have a hard time protecting his mother.

His anger didn't dissipate; instead, he suppressed it all into his dantian, transforming it into an even stronger tenacity.

"Senior brother, spar with me for a couple of moves." He turned to look at Sun Gengsan, his eyes shining brightly.

Sun Gengsan was taken aback for a moment, then grinned: "Alright! I'll be your sparring partner. It'll be a good opportunity to test just how powerful your partially mastered Mountain-Crushing Fist really is!"

The two walked to the center of the training ground and stood facing each other. Jiang Lan assumed the starting stance of the Mountain-Crushing Fist, his waist and hips sinking, his whole body like a mountain pillar nailed to the ground, his breath as steady as a rock.

Sun Gengsan crossed his arms and nodded, indicating that he could make a move.

The next second, Jiang Lan stepped forward with his right foot, causing the ground to tremble slightly, and threw out a punch with a heavy and fierce force—the first move of the Mountain-Crushing Fist, Tiger's Might.

The force of the punch was more than twice as heavy as before, carrying a bone-piercing power.

Sun Gengsan was prepared. He turned to the side and raised his arm to block. Just as his palm touched the fist, he was shaken back a step by a tremendous force, and his entire arm went numb instantly.

His eyes lit up immediately: "Good lad! After achieving minor mastery, his internal energy is fully integrated! This penetrating force is amazing!"

Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Lan's second punch followed immediately—a tiger swing. The fist, with a crisp sound as it cut through the air, grazed Sun Gengsan's clothes, the force of the blow stinging his cheek.

Before he could catch his breath, the third move, Tiger Pounce, was already upon him, both fists thrusting out like a tiger charging down a mountain.

Sun Gengsan dared not take the blow head-on, and could only cross his arms to block in front of him. With a muffled thud, he staggered back three steps, leaving two shallow imprints on the bluestone slab beneath his feet.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Sun Gengsan quickly waved his hands, shaking his numb arms, and gave a wry smile. "I'm not fighting anymore! If you keep punching me like this, I'll be bedridden today! You're already this strong at such a young age; when you're fully grown, I won't even be able to withstand one of your punches!"

Jiang Lan withdrew his fist, his chest rising and falling slightly, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl upwards.

His sweat was not shed in vain, and his hard work was not in vain.

He made the right choice!

……

As evening fell, Jiang Lan finished her work and went straight to the grain shop by the dock.

Uncle Zhou was leaning over the counter, fiddling with his abacus. When he saw him come in, he straightened up with a smile, took out a copper coin wrapped in coarse cloth from the counter, and stuffed it into his hand: "These are your wages for the past few days, a total of four hundred coins. Count them."

"No need to count, thank you, Uncle Zhou." Jiang Lan put the copper coins into his pocket.

With the money saved from medicinal baths, daily necessities, and wages from the grain shop, three taels of the twenty taels of silver owed to Grandpa have already been repaid.

Seventeen taels are still owed, and there are only nine months left until the bet expires. With the meager wages from the grain shop, it would take at least two years, let alone six months, to pay off the remaining debt.

His next step was to open the second acupoint, practice real combat, and master the Crushing Mountain Fist. Every step required a significant investment of money. Sun Gengsan had told him that opening acupoints consumed a great deal of qi and blood, and the best tonic was the blood-nourishing pills from a pharmacy, costing two taels of silver per dose. One dose was equivalent to three or four days of arduous training. Without them, he would have to endure several more weeks of hardship, making it impossible to open the fourth acupoint before the bet expired.

Jiang Lan clutched the silver in his arms, standing by the dock, the river breeze whipping his clothes in the water vapor.

To buy or not to buy?

Once the bet was placed, most of the money in my hand was gone in an instant, leaving even less money to pay off my debts, and bringing me one step closer to the red line of the bet.

If he doesn't buy it, his progress will be severely hampered, and he won't be able to complete the bet within six months. At that time, he will not only have to kowtow and admit his mistake, but also fulfill his promise to never touch martial arts again in his life. Then all his hard work in the past six months will have become a joke.

He looked up at the lanterns that were gradually lighting up the river. The pale light from the fishing boats contrasted sharply with the scarlet lanterns hanging in the distant headquarters of the shipping guild. They were equally cold and equally oppressive.

Xia Dongsheng's sarcastic remark echoed in his ears again: "A mere martial artist isn't even qualified to enter the Xia family."

With his current strength, let alone making a way out in the prefectural city, he can't even protect himself in Yu City.

If we don't become stronger, we'll only be at the mercy of others.

Jiang Lan took a deep breath, gripped the silver in her arms even tighter, and the hesitation in her eyes vanished instantly, leaving only an unwavering determination.

Buy blood-tonifying pills first.

Only by becoming stronger can I take on guard jobs at martial arts schools and escort jobs at the docks, earn quick and large sums of money, and pay off my debts faster. This isn't a detour; it's the only shortcut to break the deadlock before the bet expires.

He turned around and walked firmly toward the pharmacy at the street corner.

As night deepened, the lanterns along the street lit up one after another, casting a long shadow over him.

Just as he reached the entrance of the pharmacy, before he could even step inside, two dark figures emerged from the alley beside him and blocked his way.

Both men were dressed in black short-sleeved shirts, with gleaming machetes at their waists and the insignia of the Canal Gang embroidered on their chests. The bearded man in the lead spoke in a gruff voice, his eyes scanning him up and down:

"Jiang Lan?"

Jiang Lan stopped in her tracks, her fists clenched instantly, and the qi and blood in her dantian began to circulate quietly.

The bearded man grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth: "Our boss, Hall Master Huo, invites you. He has a big deal he'd like to discuss with you."