Promise!

Chapter 84, Advance

Zhuang Jin was not very aware of the turmoil in the outside world, but he could clearly feel the change in attitude of everyone in Furong Street since that night.

The next day, his subordinates Zhou Chao, Pan Zimo, and Du Yunqi discussed raising money and held a small banquet for Zhuang Jin to thank him for saving his life, supporting him and making great contributions, and to celebrate his breakthrough in the fourth classics.

It was originally a small banquet, but with the arrival of the two teams of Ke Jingxing, Song Jie, and Duan Tao, it turned into a big banquet. Needless to say, there were many compliments and flattery at the banquet, which made Zhuang Jin feel as if he was back at the Shen family headquarters.

In the following days, Du Yunqi, a student of Professor Yiyue, broke through to the second level of the Sutra Realm due to his meritorious service, as well as his experience in fighting. He came to express his gratitude again.

From that night on, the two team leaders, Ke Jingxing and Song Jie, changed their way of addressing each other. They no longer dared to call each other "Brother Zhuang" and became "Mr. Zhuang" like Chang Hetong. Later, when Zhuang Jin was on night duty, the two of them directly snatched over his shifts and said that they would not accept any money, but only wanted to repay Zhuang Jin for his meritorious service.

Duan Tao turned a blind eye to this substitute teaching, as if what he said that afternoon on Chujiu had never been said. Even after taking Shuluo Pills and breaking through the Five Classics, he often came to Zhuang Jin to discuss the Black Evil Palm, trying to make a small breakthrough in martial arts.

While communicating with him, Zhuang Jin thought of a blind spot that he had suppressed that night and asked: Why is it that the Medicine King Gang, from the first to the third level warriors, and then to Yu Di, who is at the level of Little Incense Master, all use the Black Evil Skill and the Black Evil Palm?

When Duan Tao heard this, he seemed accustomed to it and was not surprised at all. He also said: He had been to several neighboring mansions and found that the retainers and servants of the wealthy families were all practicing the Black Evil Skill and its corresponding martial art, the Black Evil Palm.

Zhuang Jin was even more confused. It was extremely rare to find other martial arts that did not exploit one's potential, and it seemed extremely forced to explain this problem.

He had a vague suspicion in his heart that the Black Evil Technique was not simple - because generally speaking, this kind of technique that squeezed potential was mostly brutal, superficial, and careless, but the Black Evil Technique gave him the feeling that it had been tempered through thousands of trials and tribulations.

Zhuang Jin couldn't figure it out, so he suppressed it and let things flow. He knew many things would become clear once he reached a higher level. For example, how were the numerous warriors supplied with the vast quantities of aged medicinal herbs they needed for their training? For example, how had the Shen family, who had dominated the southern Yunnan capital for centuries, rivaled even the government in prestige and influence, suddenly risen from a small gang in the west of the city? And then there was the widely circulated Black Evil Technique...

Let's get back to the point. After what happened that night, the person who was most active in licking Zhuang Jin was Qian Wende. He was very attentive to every detail.

For example: Zhuang Jin had plenty of military merits, so he ordered a pound of skin-grinding beast meat every day. After it was delivered, Qian Wende could watch the kitchen cooking the whole time to prevent him from stealing any of it.

This person has no faults and no merits, so Zhuang Jin doesn't mind giving him a little treat and inviting him to dinner.

Qian Wende was also very sensible and would only eat one or two pieces each time. For him at the Second Sutra Realm, one or two bites of this kind of exotic beast meat at the Skin-grinding Realm was enough, and it could greatly increase his cultivation speed.

In fact, this is a cost-free thing. Just one or two bites can be compensated by the other party keeping an eye on the kitchen to offset the loss caused by cooking.

……

After returning to the Shen family headquarters and receiving the fourth to sixth chapters of the tranquility training, Zhuang Jin once again focused on his cultivation realm. His breakthroughs in the first, second, third, and fourth chapters were incredibly rapid, and his body's deficiencies were being remedied, allowing him to begin to recover his true superior aptitude. With the added bonus of exotic beast meat...

——Originally, the meat of exotic beasts at the great perfection level of skin grinding can be used for the cultivation of the Four Classics and the Five Classics. It adds 30% to the Five Classics realm, and 50% to the Four Classics realm!

Due to various factors, his accumulation speed of the Four Classics is extremely terrifying. According to estimates, by the end of this month, half of the accumulation of the Four Classics realm will be completed. Coupled with the lack of bottlenecks, he will be able to break through to the Five Classics in late next month!

This is faster than breaking through the four classics!
Of course, the price behind this is that military merits are consumed like water - the exotic beast meat is transported from the state capital, which is extremely costly. One pound of exotic beast meat at the great perfection level of skin grinding requires 10 military merits, which means 300 military merits in a month, which can be converted into 300 taels of silver.

Many people will be reluctant to do so, but they will not think it is not worth it, because it will speed up the practice and reduce the loss of potential, and they will be able to go further in the future!
Zhuang Jin's personality is the kind of person who will "spend all his money and make it back again". Military merits come easily, and since he spends them on himself, he has no reluctance at all.

"Reducing potential loss is one aspect; on the other hand, the exotic beast meat accelerates and realizes its power as soon as possible. In the current context of the Shen family's Medicine King Gang's struggle, a little more strength may be used to save one's life at some point, or even to fight back!"

As for the rapid breakthrough speed, attracting attention, and even fear, Zhuang Jin discussed this issue with Duan Tao, and the other party laughed when he heard it.

Duan Tao's original words were: "Brother Zhuang, you don't think that the Medicine King Gang is so narrow-minded that just because of this incident, just because warriors like us who practice the Black Evil Art have made a breakthrough quickly in the early stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, they would break the rules and send out masters to kill us as soon as possible?" He didn't say it out loud, but the meaning of "you think too highly of yourself" and "worrying about nothing" was very clear. At the same time, Zhuang Jin also heard a hint of bitterness in it.

Zhuang Jin understood. In the eyes of the Shen family and the Medicine King Gang, their warriors who practiced the Black Evil Art, a martial art that squeezed out potential, were destined to have a ceiling. While squeezing out potential in the early stages seemed fast, once they got stuck at a bottleneck in a certain realm, they would be unable to make any progress and were not worth fearing.

Afterwards, Duan Tao sighed and said, "That kind of true genius, the young master of the Shen family, starts with taking small supplements and then refines his body with big medicines. When he reaches the age of practicing martial arts, his aptitude improves by one level, from above-average to excellent, from excellent to top-notch, and even with top-notch aptitude, he can go even further!"

"When they truly begin to practice martial arts, their cultivation techniques are different. From the very beginning, they lay a solid foundation, strengthen their essence, and replenish their potential. This way, their cultivation speed may be a little slower, but they can make up for it by eating exotic beast meat every day. Compared to us who practice the Black Evil Technique to squeeze out our potential, their speed is not much inferior. When they encounter bottlenecks, I believe there will be no shortage of elixirs to break through them. Those people are true geniuses, and only they can go further on the road of martial arts!"

"During last year's chaos, both the Shen family and the Medicine King Gang suffered heavy losses. We couldn't quickly eliminate the other, so we reached a tacit agreement. For example, we cleared out those small gangs in the north of the city first and wouldn't do anything that broke the rules."

Zhuang Jin understood the unspoken meaning in Duan Tao's words: the Medicine King Gang would not break the tacit understanding, and to kill these so-called cannon fodder geniuses would be shameless, and would also be killing the true geniuses such as the direct descendants of the Shen family who had the hope of breaking through to the level of the head of the Shen family or the leader of the Medicine King Gang.

This makes sense. From the perspective of the Medicine King Gang, if he didn't know their own background, they would do the same and would not take these ants who practiced the Black Evil Technique seriously.

There is no need to worry about the Medicine King Gang, and the situation within the Shen family is even more so: the Black Evil Art has a fixed upper limit and cannot threaten anyone in the Shen family. At the same time, it controls the skills, martial arts, and cultivation resources, and even the betrothed maids. It is deeply bound, with many shackles and complete control... In this situation, the faster Zhuang Jin cultivates, the happier the Shen family will be.

——In the eyes of the Shen family, warriors who practiced the Black Evil Technique were all consumables, but compared to low-level consumables, high-level consumables, or even tools that could be used sustainably without consumables, were naturally more valuable.

Finally, Duan Tao looked at Zhuang Jin meaningfully, probably thinking that Zhuang Jin did not refuse Ke Jingxing and Song Jie to take his shift because he was worried that the Medicine King Gang would be wary and retaliate. In fact, Zhuang Jin did have this consideration, but he did not explain it, nor did he change it for the sake of face. He still let Ke Jingxing and Song Jie take his shift and concentrated on practicing.

"So, to be honest, although I may seem pretty good right now, I'm just average in the eyes of the Shen family?"

"Yes, this time I have reached the Fourth Scripture Realm, have achieved minor success in the Black Evil Palm, and have also made considerable military achievements, so the rewards are a bit unusual. I haven't even been personally received by the higher-ups of the Shen family, which is a testament to my status."

"Oh, I'm the second person among all the martial artists recruited externally to break through the fourth level since last year. I heard that someone who participated in the martial artist recruitment in the first month broke through the fourth level at the end of last month and was met by a young master of the Shen family. I'm a bit unlucky."

Zhuang Jin didn't feel looked down upon or unbalanced, but rather felt relieved: "It's good not to attract attention. I like to keep a low profile and develop."

In fact, if you really say he has no bottleneck talent, it is indeed difficult to discover. Besides that, there is nothing to hide. If others look closely, they can only think that Zhuang Jin is talented, self-disciplined, and hardworking.

——Nowadays, his reputation as the ‘Martial Madman’ is still circulating in the Shen family headquarters. With such diligence and self-discipline, coupled with a bit of talent, it makes sense that he is a little faster than others.

"Although with my diligence and unlimited talent, I'm like a cone trapped in a bag, and sooner or later the 'end will appear', it won't be in a short period of time. Even the Seventh, Tenth, and Twelve Classics may not be noticed. And even higher realms will require caution in the eyes of the Shen family. If they really investigate, they won't find anything. At most, they can attribute it to diligence and talent. With the Medicine King Gang as a powerful enemy, it's more likely that they will try to win them over, or form a marriage alliance, or something like that. We'll see when the time comes."

Now that Zhuang Jin understood this, he no longer needed to hide anything or deliberately slow down his cultivation. He only needed to take advantage of all favorable conditions and strive to improve his strength.

……

The peaceful days passed like a flash, and several days were gone in a hurry.

That afternoon, Qian Wende suddenly came over, closed the door, and said, "Brother Zhuang, the matter you asked me to investigate has finally come to light!"

……

(End of this chapter)