My cultivation method shines upon all heavens.

Instead of making a decision, he quickly bent down and began to search Zhou Tao and the old man.

He quickly found two money pouches, weighed them in his hand, and found they contained about several dozen taels of loose silver.

Then he felt a small, cool porcelain bottle on the old man's waist, brought it to his nose and sniffed it.

A rich medicinal aroma filled the air, and three small characters were affixed to the bottle: Blood-Circulating Pill.

He stuffed the silver and porcelain bottle into his pocket, glanced at the mess in the room, and pushed the wine bottles on the table to the ground one by one.

Finally, he took out a tinderbox from his pocket, opened his hat, blew on it, and casually tossed it into the spilled wine.

"boom--"

Flames suddenly shot up and snaked along the liquid.

Lu Ming turned around and jumped out of the window.

"Fire! Fire!"

Behind them, gasps of surprise quickly rang out.

……

Lu Ming hurried along the shadows along the wall, and after turning several streets, he finally saw his own yard.

He slipped into the courtyard, returned to the house, sat cross-legged on the wooden bed, and began to study the contents of the scroll.

"The Wild Ox's Strength need not be considered."

He quickly ruled out the first option.

"It has no advantage among the three. The choice is only between the mid-grade spiritual classic 'The Record of the Azure Ox' and the high-grade spiritual classic 'The Song of the Kui Ox'."

Lu Ming looked at the spread of the message across the heavens, and with a thought, he went to investigate.

"The spread across the heavens represents the speed at which this martial art spreads throughout the heavens. The higher the star rating, the greater its potential for dissemination..."

He processed the information in his mind, feeling uncertain.

The "Green Ox Record" was widely circulated, but its quality was slightly inferior.

Especially with the tenfold additional damage from "The Song of the Kui Niu," Lu Ming, whose body was still aching, was extremely envious.

But soon, he made a decision:

"The Record of the Green Ox, Refine it."

He knew very well that the greatest value of the Heavenly Heart Scroll lay in its ability to gather geniuses from all realms for its own use.

Therefore, the extent of dissemination throughout the heavens is clearly the most important factor to consider.

As long as it spreads widely enough, in the future, let alone a top-grade spiritual book, even a higher grade is not out of the question!

On the scroll, the text spreads out like ripples on water, old characters dissolving and new characters coalescing:

[Martial Arts: Raging Bull Fist (Unranked; Perfect 400/400)] →

[Martial Arts: Azure Ox Manual (Mid-grade Spiritual Scripture; Minor Success 1/2000)]

In an instant, the blood and qi in my body surged like a tide, and the rushing sound echoed in my ears.

A warm current surged from the dantian, permeating the limbs and bones, like soaking in a warm spiritual spring.

The wounds that had been burned and torn by the Thunderclap Finger were slowly healing in the warm current, and the burning and pricking pain was greatly reduced.

Beneath the skin membrane, the skin tone gradually changes from its original bronze color to a warm, bluish glow.

Upon closer inspection, fine, hair-like textures faintly emerge on the skin's surface, resembling an invisible layer of scales covering the entire body.

"boom--"

Lu Ming clenched his right fist tightly, and a sonic boom exploded in his fist, causing the wooden bed next to him to shake slightly.

He looked down at his fist, feeling the immense power surging from the depths of his bones, and was deeply shocked:

"This is a mid-grade spiritual scripture-level martial art?"

He couldn't help but clench and unclench his fist several times: "I feel... I could beat ten of my past selves."

He glanced at the progress bar, and his lips twitched involuntarily.

The martial arts of the Spiritual Canon level are indeed powerful, but the difficulty of learning them is ten times that of the Wild Bull Fist.

Two thousand experience points hung prominently on the scroll, like a towering city wall.

"Based on my observations over the past few days, the Heavenly Heart Scroll can provide me with approximately 700 experience points per day."

He thought to himself, "I thought we had plenty before, but now it seems..."

He couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head.

"Never mind. Once I become a martial arts student, I can receive the Yi Jin Jing martial arts. I need to think of a way to see if I can find the corresponding 'Heart Imprint' in the government office."

He muttered to himself and then fell asleep.

……

The fire in the brick house in Heishui Lane has been extinguished.

The charred beams lay scattered haphazardly among the ruins, and wisps of smoke still rose from the crumbling walls.

Dozens of constables surrounded the scene, and the torches crackled in the wind, casting flickering light on everyone's faces.

A middle-aged constable with a sallow complexion hurriedly came out of the house and bowed to Wang An, who was standing in the courtyard, to report:

"Sir, the deceased are Zhou Tao, a minor leader of the Canal Gang, and Zhang Heshun, the third steward of the Zhang family. Judging from the charred bodies, both of them died from having their heads twisted off. Most of the other clues were destroyed by the fire, making it difficult to find out anything more."

Wang An looked at the charred ruins before him with his hands behind his back, his smile still gentle.

But the middle-aged constable felt a chill run down his spine and his whole body suddenly tensed up.

After a long pause, Wang An narrowed his eyes slightly and slowly spoke:

"Can you confirm that it's related to that brat Lu Ming?"

The middle-aged constable was taken aback for a moment, then quickly understood and replied:

"Very likely! Zhou Tao has always been a bully who preys on the weak. He must have seen that Lu Ming and his widowed mother were weak and vulnerable, and he had ulterior motives..."

He was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly realized something was wrong and quickly corrected himself, his voice filled with a sinister and ruthless tone:

"Lu Ming must have killed him in a fit of rage! I'll go arrest him right now and make him confess!"

Having said that, he turned around decisively and strode out of the courtyard.

"Wait!"

Wang An raised his hand and waved.

The middle-aged constable suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around in astonishment:

"Sir, is there anything else you need? Do you want to 'serve' him an extra meal?"

Wang An pondered in silence, then waved to the outside.

A young constable strode in and bowed to report:

"Aside from some miscellaneous matters, Lu Ming went to Lord Liu's residence at nightfall today, but has not been seen coming out until just now."

Wang An's expression darkened slightly.

He lowered his eyes and muttered to himself:

"Our upright and just magistrate... what exactly do you want?"

Outside the city, demons became increasingly rampant, the number of refugees increased daily, and the surrounding area was in turmoil.

Even these powerful figures in the county had no choice but to rely on this scion of a prominent family who had been demoted to this place.

If Lu Ming really does manage to climb up Liu Zhiyuan's social ladder, then he'll have to think twice.

"Never mind. Let's find out more first."

His smile vanished abruptly, and he turned and walked away.

The middle-aged constable stood there, watching him leave with a bewildered expression.

Investigate thoroughly? When did they acquire this ability? When have they ever not arrested and killed innocent people to claim credit for their crimes?

……

In the early morning, the first rays of light slanted in through the holes in the window paper and fell on Lu Ming's face.

When he opened his eyes, he felt warm all over, every inch of his skin felt translucent, and his blood and qi surged like a tide.

The feeling of becoming stronger while asleep is exactly the same as the feeling of "making money while lying down" in my previous life, which makes people feel comfortable from the bottom of their hearts.

He sat up abruptly, instinctively looking down into his eyes:

[Martial Arts: Azure Ox Manual (Mid-grade Spiritual Scripture; Minor Success 24/2000)]

"Huh?" He frowned slightly. "Why are the experience points increasing so slowly?"

Based on the experience of the past few days, he can gain about two hundred experience points per night.

But now, overnight, the progress bar has only jumped from 1 to 24, a difference of an entire order of magnitude.

As he pondered this, his gaze fell upon another change on the scroll:

[Fellow cultivators from all heavens: 999+]

This made him recall the details that had been initially overlooked.

When the "Azure Ox Record" was first refined, there was clearly only one lonely "1" among the fellow cultivators in the heavens.

"So... initially only one person practiced the 'Azure Ox Record,' and as time went on, more and more people began to practice it. Because its current popularity is far less than that of the 'Raging Ox Fist,' that's why the experience points increase so slowly?"

He leaned against the headboard, gradually figuring out the logic behind it all:

"The spread across the heavens only represents its potential for dissemination, but it still takes time to truly reach a significant scale. The longer the time, the more people will practice, the faster the experience points will increase, and the higher the possibility of developing new techniques."

He murmured to himself, watching the progress bar slowly increase in speed, becoming more and more certain of his guess.

In a great mood, he got up and quickly washed up.

Then he went to a corner of the yard.

Beneath the wooden stake, a gray-haired rat, its hind legs bound by thin hemp rope, was struggling wildly, baring its teeth and claws.

"It seems there's nothing wrong with this batch of blood pills."

Lu Ming took out a porcelain bottle from his pocket, uncorked it, brought it to his nose, and sniffed it again.

After returning home yesterday, he casually caught the rat, scraped some medicine powder off with his fingernail, mixed it into the water, and fed it to the rat.

Looking at the rat's energetic appearance now, it's clear he was overthinking it.

He poured out a dark red pill, the size of a quail egg, with a smooth, shiny surface and a strong medicinal fragrance.

He swallowed it in one gulp, the pill sliding down his throat, and the heat spread from his stomach almost instantly.

It felt like a warm, cozy ember burning in my lower abdomen, then spreading into a misty, warm current that slowly permeated my limbs and bones.

Lu Ming immediately lowered his waist and stood on his horse, breathing in and out to boost his strength.

He lowered his shoulders and charged forward, pushing his fists out with a powerful "Green Ox Pushing the Mountain" move.

The force of the punch pierced the air, causing the withered leaves on the wooden stakes in front to flutter down.

He then turned and swept horizontally, his waist and hips twisting to unleash the smooth, rounded power of the "Green Rhinoceros Tail Swing";

With a stomp of his foot, the ball of his foot sank half an inch into the soil, and then another "Running Bull Trampling the Dipper" move pressed down heavily and steadily...

A strong wind blew, and clothes fluttered in the wind.

Lu Ming's figure crisscrossed in the morning light, each punch and stance carrying the unique weight and refinement of a Spirit Classic-level martial art.

Her movements and breathing flowed smoothly and naturally, even more so than last night.

Half an hour later, when Shen Ru stood at the kitchen door to call him for dinner, he slowly stopped his movements.

He slowly pressed his fist down in front of his chest, exhaling all the stale air.

He subconsciously glanced down at the bottom of his eyes:

[Martial Arts: Azure Ox Manual (Mid-grade Spiritual Scripture; Minor Success 30/2000)]

"Six experience points were provided in just half an hour."

Lu Ming sighed softly, "This Blood Pill is indeed a good thing."

If he had enough elixirs to aid him, his cultivation speed could reach another level.

Unfortunately, there are only three left in the porcelain bottle, and even if we use them sparingly, they won't last much longer.

After breakfast, Lu Ming accompanied his mother out.

Shen Ru was holding a wooden basin containing several clean old clothes.

Several wealthy families along the street regularly hired people to do laundry and needlework. Although the pay was meager, it was one of the few sources of income for the family.

Unfortunately, I knocked on three or four doors today, but all of them were closed.

The doorman waved his hand through the half-open door, his eyes darting around, his words conveying a polite yet firm refusal.

No one wanted to offend those two behemoths in the county because of this.

Over the next two days, what made Shen Ru even more upset was the increasingly sharp gossip from her neighbors.

Several women gathered together, and when they saw her pass by, their voices rose rather than fell, and they began to gossip, their eyes squinting.

"Have you heard? That kid from the Lu family offended the second young master of the Zhang family during the imperial examination. Does he really think he can use that to get high marks?"

"I heard that Lu Ming is quite promising; he's performed exceptionally well on the training field. Maybe he really has a chance..."

"Hmph, how could that be? In the past few decades, anyone who passed the imperial examinations has either been a son of one of the four powerful families or related to them. Have you ever seen a commoner with no one to rely on pass?"

"Exactly! There are only ten spots for the martial arts examination. If you pass, the four major powers will be one short. Commoners can only dream of it! My second uncle's third aunt's cousin saw the Zhang family patriarch come out of the county government office with a big smile on his face. What do you think that means?"

"Hey, shallow waters can't raise dragons, and chicken coops can't produce phoenixes. People have to accept their fate. Don't be like some people who overestimate their abilities and don't know what's good for them. Just wait and see how the Zhang family deals with them!"

Each veiled remark, along with the contemptuous look in his eyes, stabbed at Shen Ru's heart like a knife.

Her face was deathly pale, and her lips trembled with anger each time, but she never argued back. She simply lowered her head and quickened her pace.

Lu Ming stayed by his mother's side, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the women, without saying a word.

……

As night fell, a series of hurried footsteps and sharp shouts suddenly came from the depths of the alley.

Several refugees who had fled from the east of the city rushed into Blackwater Alley, carrying wooden sticks and torches, kicking down doors and looting anything they could find.

The firelight flickered in the night, and the screams of women and the cries of children rose and fell, turning the entire alley into chaos.

In the chaos, someone glanced toward the Lu family's gate.

Lu Ming stood three steps inside the door, arms crossed, back against the door, his face flickering in the candlelight.

Cries and running sounds came from outside the courtyard wall. A refugee tried to climb over the wall, but as soon as half of his body was exposed, he was grabbed by the collar with one hand.

With a flick of his wrist, he was thrown to the ground like a broken sack, his neck lolling to the side, and he fell silent.

No one dared to approach the door anymore.

This place is inhabited by the poor. The government had long discovered that the refugees were causing havoc here, but they were too lazy to do anything about it.

The cries continued for a long time that night before gradually subsiding.

Early in the morning, when Shen Ru took off her earplugs and pushed open the courtyard gate with a dazed look on her face, she was stunned.

Lu Ming was leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, dozing off lazily.

Inside the alley, everything was in a mess.

The gates of several houses were kicked askew, and many people stood at their own gates, covered in dust and dirt, staring blankly at the mess.

Shen Ru looked completely bewildered.

Lu Ming coaxed her to bed early last night. Before she went to sleep, he even put two soft earplugs in her hand, saying they were "to help her sleep and calm her nerves."

How come the whole alley looks like this when I woke up?

But for some reason, when she saw those women who usually loved to gossip squatting on her doorstep, cleaning the tiles with red eyes, she felt a strange sense of pleasure welling up inside her.

At that moment, the residents of these dilapidated houses all secretly glanced at the gate of the Lu family's courtyard.

His eyes held an undisguised resentment, but also a deep-seated fear.

They didn't care how much they had ostracized and slandered the Lu family in the past few days.

All they saw was Lu Ming refusing to help someone in distress.

Why didn't you lend a hand when you could have done so easily?

For a moment, the resentment in those gazes almost overflowed.

Lu Ming ignored him, still leaning against the door, his fingers tapping lightly on the crook of his arm.

"clang--"

Suddenly, a clear gong sounded from afar.

"Good news...good news..."

A servant boy in a worn red jacket ran into the alleyway, panting and banging a gong, his voice high-pitched and shrill.

"Congratulations to Master Lu Ming on passing the martial arts examination and ranking seventh!"

The sound of the gong still echoed in the alley.

All resentment, fear, and despair... froze at this moment.

Everyone in the alley immediately and skillfully bent down, their faces beaming with smiles and fawning.