Chapter 12: Raising Money! Minor Success

"Sigh, don't talk about it. Since we only know him, there's no one else we can turn to even if we wanted to."

Taking a deep drag of his dry tobacco, Li Fu grew resentful again and cursed, "I told you long ago to discipline Xiao Dong properly, but you wouldn't listen. Well, look at this now—a doting mother ruins her son!"

"You only know how to blame me. If you're so capable, go save the child yourself," his wife wailed.

The two bickered for a while until they were finally exhausted.

The wife sighed and sobbed, "If it’s really as that brat Zhang Lingshan said, then if there’s no other way, we’ll sell everything in the house. No matter what, we have to redeem Xiao Dong. He’s my only son. Even if we have to steal, we must scrape together those twenty taels!"

"Hmm, I’ll go see what the situation is at Sanjiang Gambling House tomorrow."

Li Fu said in a low voice, "If it’s not as terrifying as Zhang Lingshan claimed, then giving those twenty taels to him would be better spent directly at the gambling house. As the saying goes, 'a beardless youth is unreliable.' That kid can't even keep his own head straight; he’s definitely not to be trusted."

That night, the couple went to sleep in misery.

Early the next morning, Li Fu rushed to Sanjiang Gambling House to confirm the situation. Seeing his son working amidst piles of filth, his old eyes immediately welled up with tears.

The gambling house didn't keep idlers.

They not only made his son work but also denied him food, beating and scolding him at every turn. He was living worse than a dog.

"Dad! Please, take me home! I can't take it anymore!"

Li Dong wailed, his face covered in snot and tears.

A man from the gambling house sneered, "You've seen your son. Where's the money?"

"I'm still scraping it together."

"Then why are you here? Come back when you've got it. Get lost!" the man said bluntly.

Li Fu braced himself and asked, "I want to know, did my son sign any other IOUs with you?"

"Oh, you know the ropes, do you?"

The man from the gambling house laughed, "Since you know, stop wasting breath! Our gambling house is being merciful by letting you redeem your son for twenty taels. As for the remaining debt, we’ll give you a month to pay it off slowly. Isn't that humane? Get out!"

"Yes, yes, I'm leaving, I'm leaving right now."

Driven away by the fierce-looking men, Li Fu scurried out with his tail between his legs, his heart filled with a mix of joy and sorrow.

He was happy because he had actually been right to seek out Zhang Lingshan; this half-grown boy was unexpectedly useful.

According to Zhang Lingshan, as long as they gave twenty taels of silver to Senior Brother Shi, he would help mediate, allowing Xiao Dong to completely sever ties with the gambling house and stop being hunted for debt.

This was a stroke of luck that was hard to come by.

It was worth being happy about.

But the sorrow was that twenty taels was no small sum.

If he had known about this disaster, he would have been better off smashing his pots and selling his iron to scrape together twenty taels earlier, just like that Zhang Lingshan, and sending their Xiao Dong to the Hong Family Martial Arts Hall.

That way, not only would he not be extorted by the gambling house, but Xiao Dong could also have made something of himself.

Sigh.

The regret was endless.

But thinking about it now was useless; scraping together the money was the priority.

And while the Li family was busy trying to raise the funds, Zhang Lingshan had long since cast their affairs to the back of his mind, continuing to focus wholeheartedly on practicing the Hunyuan Zhengyang Stance.

This day.

Name: Zhang Lingshan

Martial Arts: Hunyuan Zhengyang Stance (Entry+)

Energy: 6.6

"Huh? I can upgrade again."

Zhang Lingshan was both surprised and delighted.

He had just opened the panel out of habit, never expecting to suddenly see a plus sign after "Entry."

But there was only 6.6 energy.

It was a specific, fractional amount.

What did this mean?

It meant that all his hard work practicing the stance these past few days had been useful!

Although the panel didn't have a clear digital record, when he used energy points to upgrade, it factored in his own efforts, thereby saving him energy points.

According to his estimation, advancing the Hunyuan Zhengyang Stance from Entry to Minor Achievement might require 10 points of energy.

Now, 3.4 points had been deducted.

This was all thanks to his unremitting efforts!

"Energy! Add points!"

Zhang Lingshan shouted in his heart, his mind clicking on the "+" after "Entry."

Whoosh!

The characters "Entry" flashed with yellow light, then transformed into the characters "Minor Achievement."

*Hoo, hoo, hoo.*

A sound like a bellows suddenly came from within his body.

It felt as if someone were pumping air into him; the airflow surged wildly into his limbs, as if blowing his entire body up until it felt bloated.

But this was just an illusion.

Because when Zhang Lingshan observed his limbs and palms, they hadn't inflated or swollen.

The only change was that his palms and the backs of his hands were slightly flushed, but that was within the realm of normal understanding—his body would also get hot and flushed after practicing the Hunyuan Zhengyang Stance for a long time.

The difference was that this time, he could clearly feel the skin on his body becoming taut.

As the airflow moved through his body, his skin was pulled repeatedly, his muscles trembled incessantly, and his bones seemed to have been stimulated into activity.

Zhang Lingshan had a strange sensation, as if he could feel the marrow inside his bones moving in tandem with the airflow in his body.

This feeling didn't last long, but it felt as if he had just had a long, deep sleep.

Slowly, the airflow dissipated, and his body returned to calm.

If not for the warm currents still lingering within him, he would have suspected that everything that just happened was a dream.

"My height... it seems to have grown a bit more."

Standing up from the corner where he had been resting, Zhang Lingshan stretched his body and discovered that his trousers and sleeves had become a bit shorter.

If he kept growing at this rate, he estimated it wouldn't be long before he needed new clothes.

Fortunately, once he became an official disciple, he could wear the custom training uniforms provided by the martial arts hall, which would save him a significant amount of money. That was truly great.

"Hoo! Ha!"

In the courtyard, the other registered disciples were still practicing their stances independently, and no one noticed the change in Zhang Lingshan.

Zhang Lingshan naturally didn't make a scene and went back to practicing his stance.

As for Shi Lei, he was a lazy fellow. Ever since Zhang Lingshan had gotten the hang of things, he didn't provide much guidance, often standing in the shade to rest and slack off.

Right now, he was napping in the shade.

Unless Hall Master Hong Zhengdao suddenly appeared, he would sleep until the afternoon meal.

"Is Senior Brother Zhang Lingshan here? Someone is looking for you outside."

Suddenly, an apprentice from the front courtyard called out from the direction of the main hall.

Zhang Lingshan was slightly surprised and said, "Coming."

Passing through the main hall, arriving at the front courtyard, and turning past the screen, Zhang Lingshan saw who had come.

His neighbor, Li Fu.

He saw Li Fu hunched over, standing at the entrance and peering in with a constrained expression.

In these few short days, he seemed to have aged over a decade; there were gray hairs at his temples, and he looked completely worn out.

Seeing Zhang Lingshan come out, Li Fu grabbed him like a drowning man clutching a straw, hurriedly pulling him close: "Xiao Shan, I’ve scraped the money together! I’ve got it! Please, quickly ask your Senior Brother Shi to go to the Sanjiang Gambling House and save my Xiao Dong.

"You don't know, Xiao Dong has been living like a ghost these past few days; I could barely recognize him.

"If his mother hadn't gone to deliver food a few times, he would have starved to death!

"If you don't get him out, Uncle Li is going to have to bury his own son.

"Xiao Shan, I beg you, please ask Senior Brother Shi to step in."

Li Fu cried out, as if trying to vent all the pressure he had been under these past few days.