The snow fell thick and fast late into the night.
It was as if someone had crumbled a mountain of silver dust and scattered it from above.
In a dilapidated room, Liu Da and his two sworn brothers were feasting, taking great gulps of wine and tearing into large chunks of meat.
After a few cups of wine, Liu Da's smile vanished. "That little brat from the Chu Family," he said, annoyed. "Who knows where he's run off to..."
"We turned his house upside down today and still couldn't find the deed. How are we supposed to explain this to Young Master Huang?"
The third brother, a man with a scar on his face, took a vicious bite of the chicken leg in his hand. "If you ask me," he said, "we should just take the Chu Family's Old Mansion by force. Why go through all this trouble?"
"That little brat is all that's left of the Chu Family..."
"If we just beat him to death, who's going to care?"
"Easy for you to say..." the stout fourth brother interjected. "That Chu Family's Old Mansion is cursed... Plenty of people coveted that place over the years, and they all mysteriously ended up dead in the streets."
"The Huang Family only dares to make a move because they have the Blood Saber Sect backing them."
"That mansion could easily sell for over thirty pieces of silver! Who wouldn't want it?"
"Sigh, we were too slow to act..." Liu Da nodded. "Two years ago, after that Chu couple died, our second brother's wife told us to get rid of the kid and take the mansion."
"But now Young Master Huang has his eyes on it. It's too late!"
"A bunch of grown men with less guts than some woman. If word of this gets out, we might as well pack it in!"
The third and fourth brothers, filled with regret, focused on drowning their sorrows in wine.
Just then, the door was pushed open.
A short, weaselly-looking man walked in, a fawning smile on his face. "Boss Liu," he said, "that little brat from the Chu Family is back!"
"What?!" Liu Da, overjoyed, shot to his feet and grabbed the front of the short man's shirt. "Are you sure?!"
"I saw him with my own two eyes!" the short man said. "He's definitely back!"
"Excellent!" Liu Da grabbed a chicken leg from the table and tossed it to the man. "Your reward!"
The short man wasn't one of Liu Da's sworn brothers, just a vagrant who lived in the ruins.
He caught the chicken leg, his eyes instantly lighting up.
"Brothers, let's go. We're going to teach that Chu Family brat a lesson!" Liu Da shot a look at the other two.
The other two nodded and rose to their feet.
...
In the pitch-black room, Chu Fan sat cross-legged on his bed, his eyes shut tight.
The bed and the floor beneath it were covered in cotton wadding and straw.
His two ragged quilts had been torn to shreds by Liu Da and his men.
Even the one hundred and twenty wen coins hidden under the bed, along with the few wheat cakes and sweet potatoes in a jar, had been stolen by Liu Da's gang.
The fishing net he depended on for his livelihood was ruined, the one hundred and twenty wen coins he had painstakingly saved were gone, and his two quilts were nothing but tatters...
For any ordinary person, this would be a hopeless situation.
'If it weren't for the Map of Mountains and Rivers, if I hadn't joined the Seven Stars Gang to learn martial arts, there would only be one path left for me...'
'...a dead end!'
'Freeze to death.'
'Starve to death.'
'Or be beaten to death...'
Yet the Chu Fan of today was perfectly calm, his heart like Still Water.
His gaze was turned inward, focused, as he silently sensed the Qi Blood Power within his body.
'What a wondrous feeling...'
Now that he was on the verge of the Blood Nourishing realm, the moment he focused, he could clearly hear the sound of his Qi and blood roaring through his body, like a great river.
Not only that, but he could even vaguely "see" his own bones and blood vessels.
According to Master Cao's teachings, a Martial Artist at this stage needed to locate the scattered strands of Qi Blood Power moving throughout their body.
Then, using the Breathing Technique and Pile Skills from the Fist Technique, they had to drive these scattered strands of Qi Blood Power to a single point, condense them, and bring them under complete control.
Condensing a single strand of Qi Blood Power was not enough.
To reach the Blood Nourishing realm, one had to condense three!
After returning home, Chu Fan had begun trying to sense the scattered Qi Blood Power within his body.
Two hours had passed, and he had already located every last strand of Qi Blood Power scattered throughout his limbs and body.
'Strange, this is much easier than Master Cao and Tianxing said it would be...'
Chu Fan opened his eyes.
It had taken Zhao Tianxing a full two days to sense and condense his first strand of Qi Blood Power.
And even then, Master Cao had praised him profusely for his speed.
Yet Chu Fan had sensed the Qi Blood Power in just two hours.
'The next step is to use the Breathing Technique and Pile Skills of the Twelve Forms Fist to gather and guide these strands of Qi Blood Power, then condense them until they take form... Is this part supposed to be difficult?'
Earlier that afternoon, Chu Fan had wanted to ask Tianxing for some advice.
But before they could even exchange a few words, Master Cao had whisked him away to visit an archery expert.
Chu Fan hopped off the bed and spread his feet, preparing to try manipulating his Qi Blood Power.
But no sooner had he taken his stance than he immediately drew his feet back together!
'Someone's coming...'
'Four of them.'
'Three have a decent presence, but their stances are unstable and their footwork is a mess.'
'The fourth is weak, doesn't seem like he's ever trained in martial arts.'
Chu Fan focused his senses for a moment and immediately heard Liu Da's voice from the courtyard. "Chu Fan! You've been hiding for days, but I've finally caught you!"
"Get your ass out here!"
Chu Fan frowned.
To be on the safe side, he had planned to wait until midnight to go and kill Liu Da and his men.
He hadn't expected Liu Da to come to him.
Their arrival had disrupted his plans.
'Killing a few thugs won't cause much of a stir.'
'But having them die in my own courtyard would be a major hassle.'
'Oh, well...'
'It's not a bad opportunity to test my current strength on these three!'
Chu Fan walked slowly out of the room.
He saw Liu Da and two of his men standing in the courtyard, staring at him coldly.
One of them held a lantern aloft.
In the dim glow of the lantern, the faces of Liu Da and his two men looked sinister.
Behind them, by the main gate, stood the short, weaselly-looking man.
'Still one missing...'
Chu Fan narrowed his eyes and extended his senses. Hearing no movement outside the house, he knew that the second-in-command of Liu Da's group hadn't come.
"See, Boss Liu? I wasn't wrong!" the short man at the gate called out.
'So he's the one who tipped off Liu Da...' Chu Fan glanced at the short man.
The lantern's light had a limited reach, but because he was on the verge of the Blood Nourishing realm and had achieved Great Success in the Twelve Forms Fist, he could see the short man's face clearly despite the darkness and distance.
"So you really are back!"
Seeing Chu Fan emerge, Liu Da was ecstatic. "You little bastard! You made me wait for days and take an earful from Young Master Huang, but I've finally got you!"
'Young Master Huang...'
'Huang Shouliang's son, Huang Yu?'
Chu Fan's eyebrow twitched.
The fourth brother, holding the lantern, said impatiently, "Boss, why are you wasting time talking to him? Let's break both his legs first so he can't run away again!"
"Then we'll make him hand over the deed!"
"If he doesn't hand it over nicely, we'll kill him tonight!"
'The Outer City is getting more and more chaotic...'
'A few common thugs have gotten so arrogant they'd dare to show up at someone's door to commit murder!'
Chu Fan watched Liu Da silently and took two steps forward.
"Huh, this kid..."
Liu Da, surprised to see that Chu Fan's demeanor was completely different from before, reached out to grab him by the chest.
"Double Peak Piercing Ears!"
Ignoring Liu Da's outstretched arm, Chu Fan raised both hands and struck both sides of Liu Da's head with his fists. The blow was swift and fierce!
When a person takes a punch to the head, the brain sloshes inside the skull.
If the blow isn't heavy, one might feel a moment of dizziness before recovering, with no lasting harm.
But if both temples or ears are struck simultaneously, it's like a hammer hitting a bell—the shock penetrates straight to the Mud Ball Palace!
Even a man with Copper Skin and Iron Bones would see his vision go black!
Chu Fan didn't want to kill them in his own home, so he held back his full strength.
But the two-fisted blow was enough to make Liu Da pass out instantly.
Without pausing, Chu Fan cupped his right hand over Liu Da's head, gave a sharp tug, and flung him toward the man with the lantern.
Just then, the scar-faced man to his right let out an angry roar and threw a punch at his chest.
Chu Fan spun, leaning to his left. As he dodged the punch, his right fist slammed into the scar-faced man's stomach.
As the man grunted, Chu Fan's left Hand Blade chopped down on his neck, followed by a lightning-fast low sweep with his right leg...
THUD!
The scar-faced man collapsed heavily to the ground, unconscious.
Still as a crouching tiger.
Explosive as a snapping bowstring!
In just a few moves, the advantages of achieving Great Success in the Twelve Forms were on full display!
Just then, the man with the lantern managed to clumsily catch the falling Liu Da.
Liu Da clutched his head and shook it twice, trying to clear it.
Chu Fan lunged forward. Before Liu Da could react, he drove a front kick into Liu Da's left knee.
CRACK!
Liu Da let out a pained howl and dropped to one knee.
Chu Fan followed through with a right roundhouse kick, lashing out like a whip to connect with Liu Da's head.
THWACK!
Liu Da, the burliest of the three, flew like a kite with a snapped string, landing in the corner of the courtyard where the firewood was stacked.
"..."
The man with the lantern and the short man at the gate stared at the scene, utterly dumbfounded.
'Pathetically weak...'
Chu Fan raised his hands, glancing at his own fists.
'From their movements, I knew they were no match for me.'
'But I never expected these losers, who trained at the Martial Arts Hall for over half a year, to be this pathetic!'
'Or maybe achieving Great Success in the Twelve Forms has made me strong enough to crush an ordinary Blood Nourishing Martial Artist?'
Seeing Chu Fan standing there silently, the fourth brother's eyes darted. He lunged forward and aimed a kick at Chu Fan's stomach.
Chu Fan calmly took a step back, then dodged to the left and smashed a Bear Form Splitting Fist into the man's chest.
THUD!
The punch was immensely powerful, sending the man crashing to the ground.
The short man at the gate, seeing things had gone south, turned to flee.
Chu Fan bent down, picked up a piece of firewood, and hurled it at the short man, striking him squarely in the back.
The man had never practiced martial arts; his qi, blood, and bones were far weaker than Liu Da's and his men. The blow sent him flying, and he landed hard in the snow outside the Chu Family's Old Mansion.
Liu Da and his two men, having scrambled back to their feet, were scared out of their wits. They stumbled and crawled their way out of the Chu Family's Old Mansion.
Back in the courtyard, Chu Fan rushed into his room. He threw off his thick cotton jacket, leaving him in just a thin shirt, and tucked the Firewood Splitter that had been on his bed into his waistband. Then, like a whirlwind, he was out the door.
He hugged the base of the walls, following the four men from a distance.