Gou Zai Xianwu Wenjing Search for Opportunities

"Old Master Zhang's second son came today and ordered two coffins..." Uncle Gu took a puff of his pipe and began to exhale smoke.

"Zhang Dengyun?" Lin Yuan asked in surprise.

"His family has suffered a great calamity. His father passed away, and his only son died away from home. His elder brother has now committed a crime, which has implicated the whole family, leading to their downfall. His wife is also seriously ill and, judging from what he's saying, she probably won't last much longer." Uncle Gu coughed, choked by his pipe.

"Why did you order two sets?"

"Sigh, there's no one left in his family. His sister-in-law ran off to her parents' home, leaving their daughter with him and his wife. The girl is still so young. There's no one to take care of his funeral arrangements, so he has to make his own arrangements in advance," Uncle Gu sighed.

Lin Yuan was somewhat surprised. Xu Niang was the adopted daughter of Liu Tianxing, the leader of the Black Snake Gang. She should have gone back to her parents' home to seek refuge with Liu Tianxing.

Even if the Black Snake Gang is a mess, they must have accumulated a lot of wealth over the years. At least Xu Niang didn't have to worry about making a living in the past, but why did her daughter stay behind?

This gave Lin Yuan some trouble.

"Why didn't she bring her daughter with her?"

"After all, she's the Zhang family's daughter. It seems the Zhang family didn't agree to let her take her away," Uncle Gu guessed.

……

The end of March, every fifth day.

Lin Yuan arrived at the martial arts arena and first practiced the Taizu Long Fist to temper his body and refine his qi and blood. After practicing for an hour, he had completely refined the medicinal power, and his qi and blood became stronger.

Only then did he begin to practice the seven steps of the snake's walk, his body trembling like a snake, his steps like a swimming snake.

In just five days, Lin Yuan's footwork has become so skillful that it's heartbreaking!

There was no way around it; his arrogant gaze had become somewhat aggressive over time, which clearly provoked Coach Hong. These past few days, the provocation had gone too far, and Coach Hong kept staring at him and beating him.

The whipping made his whole body tremble uncontrollably. He practiced the Seven Steps of the Snake and gradually found the essence: his body trembled like a snake.

Yes, that's exactly the feeling of the snake trembling.

According to Wu Yong, this is the meaning, the meaning of a snake trembling!

Lin Yuan was so immersed in this bittersweet feeling that he couldn't pull himself out.

Of course, his rapid progress is also related to his mastery of the eight-directional footwork of Taizu Changquan, which is the foundation.

Whether it's studying or practicing martial arts, you need to have a foundation; without a foundation, it's difficult to achieve rapid progress.

With the martial arts class about to end today, Li Si arrived even later than last time. He didn't expect the three of them to make any progress in five days, but he still hoped that Li Shi could introduce him to a big deal, so he wanted to maintain their friendship.

So before lunch, Li Sishun stopped by to take a look. Seeing Lin Yuan and the other two come to pay their respects, he casually asked, "How's your 'Seven Steps of the Snake' practice going? Show me each one!"

"Yes." Lin Yuan cupped his hands, immediately lowered his body, stood in a static stance, and then performed the Snake Walk Seven Steps. As he moved around, his body trembled like a snake, and his steps were like a dragon and snake, completing the seven steps smoothly.

He finished his practice, stood up, and bowed to Li Si, saying, "Please offer your guidance, Elder!"

Li Si was stunned for a moment, his eyes showing a hint of surprise. He subconsciously rubbed his hands together and kept looking at Lin Yuan. Seeing that Lin Yuan's breathing was steady and long, he could not help but fall into deep thought. This kid is really a martial arts prodigy.

Or did he study it before?

Seeing that he remained silent, Lin Yuan couldn't help but glance at Hu Cai and Zhao Sheng. None of the three of them understood what was wrong with Li Si.

Li Si asked seriously, "Have you studied this before?"

"I just started learning from the steward a few days ago, and I've been practicing diligently ever since. Instructor Hong has also been very helpful in giving me pointers," Lin Yuan answered truthfully.

Li Si breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, realizing it was guidance from a master. He smiled and asked, "How did Instructor Hong instruct you?"

So Lin Yuan immediately told them about his daily extra training in the Peach Blossom Grove. This wasn't a secret; all the martial arts disciples knew about it, but they didn't dare go there to train.

"I see." Li Si nodded, praising, "An internal energy martial arts master is indeed extraordinary; her teaching methods are unique. It's your blessing that she can guide you; you must cherish this opportunity and not miss it!"

"The steward is right," the three said in unison.

"Hmm, you did a very good job with the Seven Steps of the Serpent. I'll teach you the complete breathing technique later." After commenting on Lin Yuan, Li Si had Hu Cai demonstrate it again.

Hu Cai finished his attack in a matter of breaths.

Li Si nodded: "Not bad, you passed. But compared to Lin Yuan, you lack that 'snake-like trembling' energy. You're similar in form but not in spirit, you still need more practice."

"Yes, Steward." Hu Cai hesitated whether to follow Lin Yuan's example and ask for a beating, but he was a little scared, especially after seeing how Lin Yuan was beaten. He was conflicted, both scared and wanting to.

Lin Yuan saw through his thoughts and ignored him.

Seeing that Zhao Sheng wasn't coming forward, Li Si urged, "Zhao Sheng, come here!"

Zhao Sheng was stunned for a long time before he had no choice but to use his skills. He had only taken two steps when he lost his footing, and the next five steps were basically all wrong.

Li Si immediately closed his eyes, shook his head, and sighed, "You're far from good enough! Didn't Coach Hong give you any pointers?"

Zhao Sheng stammered, unable to speak; he dared not approach Coach Hong.

"Alright, just practice more often, and learn from your two senior brothers if you don't understand something. Once you've practiced enough, you can learn breathing techniques from them."

Li Si was too lazy to waste time on him, so he immediately asked his senior brother to teach his junior brother, so he wouldn't have to teach him anymore.

Zhao Sheng was relieved and immediately stood aside.

Li Si formally taught Lin Yuan and his companion the breathing technique and incantation for the Seven Steps of the Snake. Seeing that Lin Yuan mastered it quickly and cooperated perfectly, he had no choice but to teach them the sword technique as well: "Watch closely, the Snake-Slaying Sword Technique is also called the Seven Snake-Slaying Cuts. There are seven cuts in total. The first cut is to slay the snake's head..."

Upon hearing the name of the move, Lin Yuan immediately recognized its martial arts flavor, which explained why it was considered a low-level sword technique.

"Broken Serpent Armor..."

"The snake's body is severed..."

"..."

After quickly finishing his instruction, Li Si had the two practice again. Seeing that their practice was a mess, he was certain that they were just starting out and couldn't help but feel a little more admiration for Instructor Hong.

Just then, the gong sounded to signal the end of class.

Li Si was in a hurry to eat and didn't let the two ask any questions. He waved his hand and said, "The breathing method for the Seven Steps of the Snake is the same as that for the Seven Slashes of the Snake, and the incantation is also the same. You just need to practice the coordination of the three. Now I've finished teaching this sword technique. If you have any questions in the future, just come and ask me."

Having said that, he strode away.

Lin Yuan and Hu Cai stared at each other in disbelief, suddenly realizing that a martial art had been taught twice in less than an hour.

This made Lin Yuan realize that not every master would seriously teach martial arts; most people were just going through the motions.

If he doesn't find a good master, his snake-walking seven steps won't be much better than Zhao Sheng's.

He couldn't help but feel a little more grateful to Coach Hong.

You still need to get a beating to improve!

……

Half a month has passed in the blink of an eye, and April has arrived.

Summer has just begun, the weather is gradually getting warmer, and the spring peaches in the peach orchard are gradually ripening.

As dawn broke, Lin Yuan arrived at the Carp Pavilion to report for duty. There was nothing important to do at the pavilion; the pavilion chief was too lazy to cause any trouble these days, so everyone was quite idle.

Of course, some people are very busy. For example, today Zhao Sheng asked him if he wanted to go to town together to check the shops.

"Check the shops?" Lin Yuan asked, puzzled.

"There are a few streets in town that my uncle manages, and these shops always have to give us a gift throughout the year. Now that it's already the beginning of summer, a few shops haven't come to deliver their ice tribute yet. We need to go and check and remind them," Zhao Sheng explained in a low voice, chuckling. Clearly, this reminder meant urging the merchants to hurry up and give their tribute.

"Isn't this just blatant extortion?" Lin Yuan said speechlessly.

"Hey, that's such a vulgar way of putting it! These days, which business owner who makes big money doesn't break the laws of the Great Liang? If we really followed the laws of the Great Liang, none of them would get away with it! Look at the braised beef at Chunfenglou, isn't it delicious? Slaughtering cattle is against the laws of the Great Liang, we just don't take it seriously. Do you think we don't know that? If they honestly offer their tribute, then everyone's happy, and we'll just turn a blind eye."

After Zhao Sheng finished speaking, Lin Yuan fell silent, and finally asked, "How much do you charge?"

"The lion's share goes to the higher-ups, and we lower-ups just run errands and get a small cut of the money. It's not bad," Zhao Sheng chuckled.

Lin Yuan thought it was only a small amount of money and not worth it, plus it would waste his morning sword practice time, so he simply didn't go.

Zhao Sheng was enthusiastic about it, while Li Shi didn't care whether the two of them went or not, since a bunch of thieves were eager to do this job anyway.

Now that Zhao Sheng has broken through to the late stage of the Body Tempering Realm and has achieved success in body tempering, he has not only caught up with Lin Yuan, but also with Li Shi. Therefore, Li Shi no longer urges him to practice martial arts and lets him do as he pleases.

After parting ways with Zhao Sheng, Lin Yuan jogged to the small peach grove at the Li residence. Seeing a ripe spring peach on a high branch, he took a few steps, lightly leaped up, casually picked the spring peach, wiped it on his clothes, and took a bite, his mouth full of juice.

"sweet!"

Juice spilled from the corner of his mouth. Lin Yuan was in a great mood after finishing his meal, but when he turned around and saw that Coach Hong was looking at him, his expression instantly fell.

"Slap slap..."

Lin Yuan entered the snake-trembling state again, and he practiced the Seven Slaying Snakes with ease.

In the past two weeks, he has mastered the Seven Slashes of the Snake technique to a near-perfect level, but it is nowhere near as fast as the Seven Steps of the Snake.

He had a solid foundation in the Eight Directions Footwork, so practicing the Snake Step Seven Steps was naturally fast for him. But practicing swordsmanship was different; it was his first time practicing, and he had no prior experience, so it was much slower for him.

For this, he was often whipped by Coach Hong, but fortunately, the trembling sensation always helped him practice efficiently.

He's come to terms with it now; he's just a poor kid, only suited to be taught by a master like Coach Hong.

Yes, he gave up struggling and chose to accept it.