Life is Rare and Precious

Zhuang Xun sat on the chair, enjoying Mr. Qi's fanning and water-pouring service.

He watched Lord Wolf at the alley entrance, asking every arriving member of the Wild Wolf Gang for money, only to get a few taels of loose silver each time, before waiting together for the next gang member to arrive.

Before long, dozens of people stood in the narrow, dark alley, yet they still hadn't pooled together the one hundred and eighteen taels of silver.

Zhuang Xun was thoroughly amused as he watched this.

In truth, he didn't lack this bit of money at all; he only did this to test their sincerity.

As for the consequences of insufficient sincerity...

Heh.

However, as early as a few months ago, Zhuang Xun had anticipated that he might be targeted like this, so he had secretly spread the rumor that Yan Pingsheng and Bai Yujing were from the same hometown.

This idle chess move had finally come in handy today.

Zhuang Xun stretched his waist and said, “Tsk, my shoulders are a bit sore.”

“Ah, let me massage them for you.” Mr. Qi massaged Yan Pingsheng's shoulders with a smile. “Young Master Yan, is this pressure alright?”

“A bit too light,” Zhuang Xun said, closing his eyes.

“Alright, I'll use a bit more strength.”

About half a pillar of incense later, all the members of the Wild Wolf Gang had arrived, but they were still short by over twenty taels.

In the end, Lord Wolf had to take his gang members to a pawnshop to pawn most of the belongings on them to make up the remaining difference.

Holding the large bag of loose silver pieces, Zhuang Xun looked at the members of the Wild Wolf Gang, who were now dressed only in their undergarments—with a few even down to just their underpants—and said, “Wonderful, my silver is finally back. Thank you all so much for your help.”

The gang members forced out smiles. “It's nothing, it's nothing.”

Zhuang Xun said, “This way, I won't have to trouble Senior Brother Bai.”

The gang members were overjoyed. “That's great, that's great!”

Zhuang Xun said, “Then I shall take my leave. Everyone, may the green hills remain unchanged and the green waters flow forever. We shall meet again!”

The gang members' faces turned pale. “Farewell forever! Farewell forever!”

“How can you talk like that!” Lord Wolf scolded his gang members, then waved at Yan Pingsheng with a smile. “Take care, Little Brother Yan. Next time we meet, this old brother of yours will buy you a drink. I won't see you off. See you!”

“Of course.”

Watching Yan Pingsheng's receding back, the smile on Lord Wolf's face faded, and he slowly lowered his hand.

He swept his gaze over the crowd of gang members behind him and said coldly, “Once today's matter is over, forget everything about it. If I find out that anyone has the guts to cause trouble for Yan Pingsheng, I will slice their entire family to pieces and feed them to the dogs! Do you understand?!”

“Rest assured, Lord Wolf. We understand.”

Even without Lord Wolf's warning, they wouldn't dare trouble Yan Pingsheng.

The extermination of the entire Zhong family was still fresh in their minds.

The Wanxing Martial Academy had wiped out a small noble family just over a few missing Outer Court disciples. If something happened to their Chief Disciple's only fellow townsman, would any of their nine generations survive?

Only someone tired of living would do such a thing.

As for the possibility of the lord inside the Wanxing Martial Academy who needed them to do tasks protecting them? If this matter came to light, that lord would likely be unable to even protect themselves.

“Good that you understand!” Lord Wolf snorted coldly.

If it weren't for someone disobeying orders, he wouldn't have been reduced to the state of having all his wealth depleted.

“Lord Wolf, when I came out earlier, I saw that Ye Guichen had left the Wanxing Martial Academy again,” one of the gang members said cautiously.

Hearing this, Lord Wolf looked at Mr. Qi, who was rubbing his hands, and said, “Mr. Qi, didn't you say last night that you knew Ye Guichen's general whereabouts after he left the academy? Lead the way! This time, I will make the move myself.”

“Yes, Lord Wolf. This way...”

Lord Wolf slung Mr. Qi over his shoulder and leapt swiftly toward the direction he pointed.

A ruthless expression appeared on his face. He thought to himself, I don't dare touch the hometown friend of the Wanxing Martial Academy's Chief Disciple, but do I really not dare touch you, Ye Guichen, a minor character targeted by the lord inside?

On a nearby rooftop, a young man stood with his feet on the ridge and his hand resting on his thigh, watching Lord Wolf's receding back.

The man wore an iron-cast conical hat and a scholar-martial robe of blue cloth and silver armor. His features were extremely cold, and his eyes were calmly ruthless, yet his face wore a discordant, careless smile—it was none other than the Debt-Lending Bladesman.

“It seems you also understand the preciousness and beauty of life. In that case, I shall spare your lives.”

Zhuang Xun chuckled, took off his conical hat, placed it over his face, and fell straight backward. With a few leaps, he vanished without a trace.

...

Controlling Yan Pingsheng, Zhuang Xun returned to the academy. Seeing that it was still early, he went to the Seventh Courtyard's martial arts field to practice a low-tier martial art—the Thousand-Jin Fall.

This was a technique he had meticulously selected from the Martial Arts Pavilion. The heavier the practitioner, the more powerful it became.

It was extremely friendly to a practitioner like Yan Pingsheng, whose weight exceeded two hundred jin.

Although Zhuang Xun could have mastered this low-tier martial art in a single glance using Bai Yujing, he still needed to practice it with Yan Pingsheng's body.

First, it was to let Yan Pingsheng's body remember the sensation of exerting force, building muscle memory.

Second, it was to avoid suspicion.

He practiced until the sky turned red. Feeling a bit hungry, Zhuang Xun left the martial arts field.

At this time, there were still many people working hard on the martial arts field. Two of them happened to catch sight of Yan Pingsheng leaving and whispered to each other.

“This brother's talent is truly enviable. He leaves before dark every day, yet he can still squeeze into the top hundred of the Outer Court Disciple Ranking.”

“I heard his background is also unusual. He's never lacked any precious meat or precious herbs...”

...

Humming a little tune in his heart, Zhuang Xun headed to the dining hall. As he passed by the academy's main gate, he spotted Guichen.

At this moment, Guichen was covered in blood, with several obvious slash marks on his clothes. He was limping, hobbling forward on one bad leg.

Good grief, he got beaten so badly... Zhuang Xun felt a wave of sympathy. If he hadn't taken precautions and laid out his plans in advance, this would have been his fate today as well.

No, it might have been even worse.

Because Yan Pingsheng's body only had seven stones of strength, which was much weaker than Guichen's.

Furthermore, using the Character Creation Panel to create clones and raise realms took quite some time; it couldn't be done instantly with a single click.

Fortunately, I was far-sighted, resourceful, and brilliant. Instead of being targeted, I extorted two hundred and eighteen taels from the Wild Wolf Gang and ordered them around like dogs... He thought smugly.

“Oh? Isn't this Ye Guichen? How did you end up in such a miserable state after not seeing you for a few days?”

“Is this... did you get beaten up? Haha, which chivalrous hero did this good deed? Beautifully done!”

Here it comes, the brainless villain mocking the protagonist. Wait, why is it this kid Liang Shaohua again? Zhuang Xun went into spectator mode, blending into the surrounding crowd.

Guichen looked coldly at Liang Shaohua, who was blocking his path. Without saying a word, he dragged his battered body, intending to walk around him.

“Hey, hey, hey, don't leave.”

“What do you want?” Guichen stopped and looked coldly at Liang Shaohua, who had blocked him once more.

Liang Shaohua wore a faint smile. “Naturally, I want to challenge the tenth place on our Outer Court Disciple Ranking, Ye Guichen.”

His smile suddenly turned cold, and his finger gently brushed against the unhealed bruise beneath his eye. “What, is it only allowed for you to challenge others, but not for others to challenge you? There is no such logic in this world.”

“You!” A look of anger flashed across Guichen's face, but he couldn't find the words to argue back.

“The Law Enforcement Hall is here!”

Someone in the crowd suddenly shouted. Zhuang Xun immediately stepped aside along with several disciples next to him.

“What are you all doing! What are you all doing!”

Liang Shaohua glanced back at the law enforcement disciples running over from a distance, snorted, and walked forward.

As he passed by Guichen, he whispered, “Consider yourself lucky, kid. But the matter between us... isn't over! Just you wait.”

Guichen remained silent, simply continuing to hobble forward.