"Ungrateful son! You ungrateful wretch!"
In the main hall, Xue Dingyi knelt on the ground, his head bowed, not daring to make a sound.
The entire Xue household was as silent as a grave, with only the furious roars of the family patriarch, Xue Chengquan, echoing through the halls.
"If it weren't for others telling me, I wouldn't have known you caused such a huge mess outside! Four months, and you've already spent a hundred taels of silver on tuition alone! Not to mention the extra fifty taels I gave you for medicinal expenses! And what have you achieved? Huh? Loafing around, causing trouble, and now you dare to molest the maidservants at home! Disrespectful, unfilial, and indulging in wine and women without restraint! How did I end up with a son like you?"
Xue Dingyi stiffened his neck and retorted, "How did I molest the maidservants? It was Qiu Hua who seduced me first! She even flirtatiously offered me brown sugar water!"
"You—you!" Xue Chengquan trembled as he pointed at Xue Dingyi's nose, his face turning as pale as gold paper, his features twisted in rage.
"Oh, my son, please say less!" Xue's mother cried out anxiously from the side.
"You shut up too! If it weren't for you covering up for him, how could I have only found out now? Two days! For two whole days, I thought he was going to the martial hall! But instead, he was visiting brothels!" Xue Chengquan turned to the servants and barked, "Gag him and beat him to death!"
The servants trembled like quails, but they didn't dare disobey.
After all, the master of the house was still the patriarch.
They could only press Xue Dingyi onto a bench and raise the heavy paddle, striking him a dozen times, though the blows were more noise than pain.
"Fine, fine! You're all putting on a show for me, huh? Get out of the way!" Xue Chengquan kicked the servant holding the paddle aside, snatched it himself, and with gritted teeth, delivered thirty or forty heavy blows.
Xue's mother wailed and clung to Xue Chengquan's leg, tears streaming down her face as she begged him to stop.
But Xue Chengquan was beyond reason and only struck harder.
"A doting mother ruins a son! You've spoiled this wretch rotten, and now you dare to plead for him? If you keep this up, I'll beat you too!"
Terrified, Xue's mother let go and sat on the ground, wiping her tears with a handkerchief.
Xue Chengquan panted heavily, continuing to beat his son until he could no longer lift the paddle.
Finally, he slumped onto a stool, took a few sips of tea, and shouted, "Tomorrow! Tomorrow you'll come with me to Righteous Prosperity City and apologize to the ninth disciple of Master Yang!"
There was no response.
"Did you hear me?"
Still no response.
Xue Chengquan's eyebrows shot up, and he was about to grab the paddle again when a servant cried out, "Master, please stop! The young master has fainted! If you keep hitting him, something terrible will happen!"
"Tungsten steel is different from ordinary metals. It's extremely heat-resistant, and a regular furnace can't melt it. But it has one characteristic: it easily absorbs fire essence but releases it with difficulty. So, by using a large amount of fire-red stones and heating it for a certain amount of time, it will gradually soften."
Lu Gang sat in front of the furnace, pouring in fire-red stones.
His muscles gleamed with a metallic sheen.
"I've never used Crimson Mourning Feathers to forge a weapon before, but I've worked with similar materials. I'm fairly confident, and this spear might just be my masterpiece."
Liang Qu, standing nearby, was delighted.
"Thank you, Senior Brother Lu."
"No need to thank me. Crafting a fine weapon is the greatest reward for a blacksmith. Even if you hadn't come, I would have found a way to forge the Crimson Mourning Feathers into a weapon. The only difference would be what kind of weapon it would become."
"By the way, Senior Brother Lu, if we use the Crimson Mourning Feathers, will the spear become some kind of fire-attribute weapon?"
Liang Qu was worried.
With fire-red stones and Crimson Mourning Feathers, in another story, this would undoubtedly be a fire-attribute magical weapon.
But he was a Water Monkey—fire and water didn't mix.
"No, tungsten steel is known for its stable nature and resistance to attribute changes. As for the fire-red stones, they're just a type of high-heat charcoal, nothing special. The Crimson Mourning Feathers, on the other hand, are essentially condensed life essence. While they do contain fire-attribute energy, unless you use other methods, they won't fuse with the tungsten steel. They can only imbue the weapon with spirit. Are you thinking of adding an attribute? If so, we'd need to change the spearhead material."
"Oh, no, no. It's fine as it is."
"Alright."
At noon, Liang Qu had a meal with Lu Gang before leaving.
Staying there wouldn't help, and watching his senior brother work tirelessly while he sat idle felt wrong.
Returning to the martial hall, Liang Qu underwent another round of skin tempering, bringing him one step closer to breaking through.
Everything was progressing smoothly, with daily positive feedback keeping him motivated.
Even as the weather grew colder, he no longer felt the urge to laze in bed in the morning.
All he could think about was breaking through, breaking through, breaking through!
After finishing his skin tempering, Xiang Changsong came looking for Liang Qu.
It turned out that Senior Brother Hu had returned earlier but, seeing Liang Qu in the middle of training, didn't disturb him.
Instead, he asked Xiang Changsong to take Liang Qu to the academy to get acquainted, while he went to report the mountain spirit incident to Master Yang.
Between martial training, watching the forging process, studying, and diving for treasures, Liang Qu suddenly felt his time was stretched thin, as if he'd been signed up for multiple cram schools by his parents.
But these "cram schools" were undoubtedly a mix of pain and joy.
Martial arts, academics, and spirit weapons—none of these were things ordinary people had access to, yet he now had them all.
At the academy, the two were greeted by an elderly man in a long robe.
After jotting down some information, the old man stroked his beard and said, "Tomorrow is a rest day, so starting the day after, you'll come every afternoon from the end of the Wei hour to the end of the Shen hour. You'll study for one hour, with ten days of study followed by one day off. How does that sound?"
"I'll follow your instructions."
"Good. When the time comes, come find me, and I'll take you to meet the teacher. If you need to take leave, remember to inform us in advance. In case of emergencies, send someone to notify us."
"I understand."
"Good. Feel free to walk around the academy and take a look, just don't disturb others."
Liang Qu took a stroll around the academy.
The courtyard was simple, with a pond, bamboo groves, and a small pavilion with stone tables and chairs—standard academy scenery.
There were also a few small classrooms, with about sixty students inside, some reading and others writing.
After familiarizing himself with the environment, Liang Qu returned to the martial hall and began his second round of skin tempering in the meditation room.
After two or three days of skin tempering, Liang Qu realized his physical condition was much better than he'd thought.
Unlike what Hu Qi had said—that one could only condense blood energy twice a day—Liang Qu could fully refine his blood energy three times a day! Moreover, the blood energy he could condense was no longer as thick as a finger but as thick as a thumb!
Considering that blood energy was the result of physical conditioning rather than the cause, Liang Qu guessed that the boost in physical condition from reaching a Marsh Spirit fusion rate of over forty hadn't fully translated into blood energy.
If he had pushed himself harder back then, he could have made his chest energy even stronger.
As a result, his recovery and physical condition far surpassed others at the same stage.
The benefit of this was that after this round of skin tempering, the strange sensation in his skin and fascia was particularly intense, as if a qualitative change was imminent.
Based on his current progress, he might break through in just two or three more days?
Unable to contain his joy, Liang Qu pushed through his fatigue and continued his stance training, eagerly anticipating the moment of breakthrough.
In the evening, Li Libo knocked on his door.
"Ah Shui, someone's at the gate looking for you. It's Lin Songbao."
"Coming."
Liang Qu put away his stance, wiped the sweat from his face with a towel, changed his clothes, and tidied up before heading out.
As they walked out, Li Libo asked curiously, "What does Lin Songbao want with you?"
"His father probably found out that Master Yang took me as a personal disciple. He wants to treat me to a meal."
Li Libo's eyes lit up.
"That's great! Lin Songbao's father owns the fish market, right? Talk to him and see if we can get a better price when we sell our fish."
"Don't worry, I've got it covered."
(End of Chapter)