Chaos begins when one joins a martial arts school

Chapter 20: Potential Exhausted?

The night was cool as water, and the chilly spring breeze carried the lingering cold of winter.

Yuhe County, Datongfang.

Yang Jing sat on a chair in the room, while horse meat was stewing in a clay pot in the corner.

He took out a letter, laid it flat on the table, and read it by the light of the oil lamp.

The letter was brought to the martial arts school by Yang Laosan, a peddler from the village, through his family. Yang Jing only had time to read it now that he was back in his rented room.

Yang Jing quickly finished reading the letter, his expression slightly surprised.

"The Ning family sent someone to their home?"

The letter stated that this morning, the Ning family sent their steward to their home and even brought an ox as a gift, showing extreme courtesy.

The letter also mentioned that the steward of the Ning family had mentioned him several times.

So they sent a letter from home to inquire whether they knew what had happened to cause such a drastic change in the Ning family's attitude.

"The Ning family's news travels quite fast."

Yang Jing had already guessed why the Ning family had undergone such a big change.

Naturally, it was because he had broken through to the Ming Jin level and become a Ru Jin martial artist.

Although in the entire Yuhe County, even a martial artist who has reached the Energizing Realm is not considered anything special, in the rural areas and among the wealthy landowners who can only make a living in the countryside, a martial artist who has reached the Energizing Realm carries much more weight.

With the Ning family's power, although they wouldn't be afraid of Yang Jing, a martial artist who had just broken through to the Ming Jin realm, they would certainly be somewhat wary of him. Given the nature of that Master Ning, he would naturally adhere to the rule of avoiding enmity if possible.

Yang Jing had long anticipated running into the Ning family, so he had investigated the Ning family as much as possible and had gained a considerable understanding of the Ning family patriarch, Ning Xuezhi.

Ning Xuezhi may seem domineering, but a closer look reveals that he is quite cautious and careful.

Those who had conflicts with the Ning family were mostly ordinary farmers with no power, background, or potential. Ning Xuezhi tried his best to befriend those who were truly capable or influential.

The reason Yang Jing attacked Feng Lei two months ago instead of killing Ning Xuezhi was not only because the powerful Ning family was not as easy to deal with as the isolated Feng Lei, but also because Yang Jing had analyzed Ning Xuezhi's personality.

Even if Ning Xuezhi kills Feng Lei, he may not really be willing to go to great lengths to avenge Feng Lei.

Moreover, once he breaks through to the Ming Jin realm, given Ning Xuezhi's style of doing things, he certainly wouldn't dare to continue pressuring his family.

Yang Jing hadn't expected Ning Xuezhi to be so generous, actually gifting the Yang family an ox in an effort to ease tensions.

Yang Jing pondered for a moment, then took out paper and pen and began to write a reply.

My grandparents are both honest people, and this time, their letter contained a hint of unease.

Yang Jing replied by frankly telling his family about his breakthrough to the Ming Jin level, so that they could be happy and put their minds at ease.

Although he is far from having the strength to stand out in the martial arts examination, for a farming family to produce a martial arts expert is already a major event that can change the fate of the family.

A moment later, Yang Jing put down his pen, closed the letter, and stuffed it into an envelope, planning to have his third uncle from the same village take it back the next day.

After doing all this, Yang Jingcai stood up, walked to the casserole in the corner of the room, and took out the cooked horse meat.

While eating horse meat, Yang Jing was thinking about bear meat.

Bear meat is the meat of a ferocious beast, and its nourishing effects far surpass those of horse meat, which is currently consumed. However, its price is also far greater than that of horse meat, and Yang Jing does not currently have that much money to buy ferocious beast meat. "If I could consume ferocious beast meat every day, my martial arts progress could be greatly improved, and the time required to break through to the Dark Force stage could be significantly shortened," Yang Jing thought to himself. "So the most crucial thing right now is still money."

In this chaotic world, without money there are no resources. For an ordinary martial artist like him, the path of martial arts is extremely difficult without resources.

"I've now broken through to the Ming Jin level and am qualified for a temporary post, but..."

Yang Jing sighed softly.

Since he broke through to the Ming Jin level, several families have come to him in the past two days, inviting him to take up temporary positions.

The conditions offered were not generous, basically seven or eight taels of silver per month.

For ordinary people, seven or eight taels of silver a month is definitely a large sum of money. In the countryside, even when land prices were high in previous years, seven or eight taels of silver would be more than enough to buy an acre of good land.

Before Yang Jing broke through to the Ming Jin level, his family went to great lengths to support his martial arts training, selling everything they owned, and his monthly living expenses amounted to just over two taels of silver.

If his family were to tell him that someone was paying him seven or eight taels of silver a month, and that he only helped out occasionally, they would probably find it unbelievable.

But that's only true for ordinary people. Yang Jing's successful entry into the realm of internal energy means he has transcended the realm of ordinary people and truly become a martial artist.

According to what Yang Jing learned, the monthly salary for a typical Ming Jin martial artist should be around ten taels of silver, but those with higher aptitude would be a different story.

Yang Jing didn't set his target for this compensation too high; he was content with just reaching a moderate level.

So far, no company has offered him a price of ten taels.

Yang Jing sighed helplessly.

It is estimated that in the eyes of others, he has truly exhausted his potential and is less valuable than an ordinary Ming Jin martial artist, so his monthly allowance is also set lower.

"Tsk tsk, I'm being looked down upon for my temporary posting, and as for funding, nobody's paid any attention to me. It's been two days already, so it seems there's no hope."

Yang Jing shook his head, not at all discouraged, as he had expected it.

After breaking through to the Ming Jin level, in addition to being able to hold a temporary post, one may also have the opportunity to receive sponsorship from large families or large shops.

Take the Sun Family Martial Arts School as an example.

Once a disciple breaks through to the Ming Jin level, if they show some potential, they may be favored by some powerful families who will provide them with financial assistance, thus establishing a good relationship. If they achieve success in martial arts in the future, they can then repay their benefactors.

The greater the potential shown, the more likely they are to be valued and funded by those powerful families.

For example, Lin Yue, the most popular genius disciple of the Sun Family Martial Arts School, had already received financial assistance from the Zhao and Qi families before breaking through to the Ming Jin level.

The second senior brother, Zhao Wenzheng, and the third senior sister, Qi Yun, were respectively from the Zhao family and the Qi family.

Generally speaking, because of the proximity and speed, if a genius disciple appears or breaks through in a martial arts school, the scions of the large families in the same martial arts school will be the first to contact them for assistance, and it will not be the turn of outsiders.

Under normal circumstances, a disciple is usually supported by only one family, after all, these large families have intricate relationships and even estrangement among themselves.

It was only because Lin Yue showed such great potential that two major families began to provide him with financial assistance.

“Although no one was willing to sponsor me, I never had any hope from the beginning, and without hope, there was no disappointment.” Yang Jing ate horse meat in large bites, pondering slowly in his heart.

Others didn't know he had a panel; they just thought he had exhausted his potential and that his breakthrough to Ming Jin was all due to luck.

(End of this chapter)