【Baji Quan (Eight Extremities Fist) (Manifest Force 196 / 600)】
“As expected of the top-ranked Martial Hall, the martial arts are truly difficult to train. This basic training method alone took me almost an entire afternoon just to get started. It’s still too slow...”
“To reach Major Achievement, it will probably take a full two days. Master will surely be disappointed when he sees this...”
“I wonder how long it took Master to achieve Major Achievement back then, but since he could cultivate Manifest Force as soon as he started, surely he must have reached Major Achievement in two days, right?”
“No, I need to train more! I’ll train for another three hours when I go back tonight! Diligence can compensate for clumsiness, and the slow bird flies first!”
“Before coming tomorrow, I will strive to pierce three layers of paper without breaking the paper, reaching the level of Minor Achievement. I cannot let Master be too disappointed!”
Huo Yuanhong felt a strong sense of urgency.
How could there be such a freak as Master in this world, whose training speed was even faster than his, who had “one part effort, three hundred sixty-five parts reward”!
We must work harder and be more diligent!
“Train! Keep training! As long as I don’t train to death, I’ll train like death!”
Huo Yuanhong endured the muscle soreness, straightened his back, and continued to train again and again.
From the very beginning of entering the Martial Hall, his demands on himself were to match Master, the number one in Tianjin.
In the Martial Hall, there were not only ready-made training methods to guide him, but all his food, drink, and daily necessities were also taken care of by others. He didn’t have to worry about anything and could focus solely on martial arts.
His speed was more than two or three times faster compared to blindly practicing outside!
Time, in this state of self-forgetfulness, unknowingly slipped away.
By the time the sun set, the progress on the panel had become 【Baji Quan (Eight Extremities Fist) (Manifest Force 209 / 600)】
Compared to noon, it had increased by sixty or seventy, which was comparable to the gains from a full day and night of hard training before!
At this rate, he would reach Manifest Force Perfection in just three or four more days!
Seeing that it was getting late, Huo Yuanhong put away his spear and went to the accountant to withdraw his monthly living allowance of one hundred silver dollars.
Such a large sum of money, almost equivalent to Father Huo’s hard-earned wages for a whole year, it was better to get it first to be at ease.
After getting the money, he bought a white wax spear, six tall boxes of Xuan paper, and a set of joint protectors for training inside the hall, and hired a few porters to move them to his home.
It cost sixty-one silver dollars!
This was even after a 40% discount due to his status as a True Disciple!
“Martial arts is a money pit!”
Huo Yuanhong truly understood the meaning of this sentence.
Just the cost of buying these pieces of equipment was equivalent to Father Huo’s wages for more than half a year.
Moreover, even specially treated white wax spears would constantly wear down during training, and he would basically need to replace one every month, with the cheapest costing thirty-six silver dollars a piece.
Xuan paper was even more of a consumable, with an estimated two boxes being used up in one night of training.
This meant that even three or four rickshaw pullers like Father Huo, working desperately, would struggle to afford just the equipment costs.
Not to mention, the hard-earned income of ordinary people was meticulously calculated, mostly in a state where they wouldn’t starve but wouldn’t have much left over either.
After daily expenses, there was little money left, and saving five or ten silver dollars a year was already considered good.
To be able to suddenly pull out sixty-one silver dollars to buy equipment, like him, they would have to save until who knows when!
Fortunately, as a True Disciple, all his expenses within the Martial Hall were covered by the Martial Hall, and the Manifest Force elixirs he needed could also be directly obtained from Huichun Pharmacy. He only needed to pay out of his own pocket when taking equipment and other items out of the Martial Hall.
“I still have thirty-nine silver dollars left. I’ll use it to improve my diet. About one silver dollar a day, that’s enough for very rich meals, with plenty of fish and meat every meal.”
As he was leaving the Martial Hall, Huo Yuanhong’s peripheral vision suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure.
“Huh?”
He was slightly startled, feeling that the figure looked like Father Huo, but the distance was too great, and it was just a fleeting glance, making it difficult to confirm.
By the time he pushed his way forward to look, the person had already disappeared into the surging crowd, nowhere to be found.
“I must have seen wrong...”
Huo Yuanhong shook his head slightly.
Father Huo had rarely returned these past few days, even staying out at night, busy with something unknown.
Fortunately, from now on, with the Martial Hall’s monthly subsidy of one hundred silver dollars, his family would be able to live worry-free, and Father Huo would no longer have to toil so hard...
“Master.”
Father Huo carefully bowed and led a Divine Spear Martial Hall steward to the rickshaw. Only after the steward was seated firmly did he pull the rickshaw and trot off.
This steward was as fat as a ball and especially heavy; one person’s weight was equivalent to two. Father Huo had to pull quickly and steadily, which was very strenuous, and soon his short back shirt was soaked with sweat.
“Ah, today I really encountered something rare. The hall actually has a new True Disciple, and Old Xu has been hiding it, refusing to reveal his true name no matter what...”
“Judging by his appearance, he looks quite young, probably not even twenty years old...”
Father Huo pretended not to hear the fat steward’s low murmurs and buried his head, pulling the rickshaw with all his might.
He was chosen by the fat steward to pull the rickshaw precisely because he was tight-lipped and never said more than he should.
However, in his heart, a feeling of envy couldn’t help but arise.
Not yet twenty years old... wasn’t that about the same age as A Hong? To already be the hall master’s True Disciple!
What kind of Genius must that be!
If his A Hong could also... if he could have even one-tenth of that True Disciple Genius’s talent, he would be satisfied.
“Master, I’ve already gathered the last sum of money. When can my son’s job be settled...”
Only after the fat steward stopped pondering did Father Huo cautiously ask.
These days, he had been busy trying to secure a job for his son, and among the jobs at the rickshaw company, the most coveted was undoubtedly being a rickshaw puller for the Divine Spear Martial Hall.
Not only did it only require pulling two round trips a day, which was very easy, but the wages were also quite generous, a full ten silver dollars a month!
But with such a good job, there were naturally many people vying for it. Father Huo himself hadn’t been able to secure a long-term position, but for the sake of his own son, he still found ways to curry favor with a Martial Hall steward, hoping to ask him to put in a good word.
As a powerful steward of the Divine Spear Martial Hall, even government patrol captains would treat him politely. In the eyes of Father Huo, and even the former Huo Yuanhong, he was a great figure difficult to approach. Arranging such a small matter was naturally effortless.
“Old Huo, you know, after the Martial Arts Association issued the martial arts ban, many commoners couldn’t join martial arts halls, so they turned to seeking various jobs within the martial arts halls... After all, even just being a rickshaw puller or a cook for a martial arts hall would make one superior when spoken of, and as long as no mistakes were made, it was practically an iron rice bowl...”
Listening to the steward’s words, Father Huo felt an ominous premonition.
According to past practice, the price for securing a good job was a year and a half’s wages, which was one hundred eighty silver dollars.
But if there were more people competing, the price would likely increase.
Sure enough, after a slight pause, he heard the steward on the rickshaw slowly say, “So, with more people vying for it, this job naturally becomes more sought after. Now it costs three hundred sixty silver dollars.”
Three hundred sixty silver dollars!!
Father Huo was instantly stunned.
Such a large sum of money, even if he sold himself, he probably couldn’t gather it.
One must know that even for one hundred eighty silver dollars, he had swallowed his pride and borrowed one hundred sixty from Wu Xiaoxia to finally gather enough.
Now it suddenly jumped to three hundred sixty silver dollars, how could he possibly come up with that?!
“Three hundred sixty silver dollars is the current price. In another month, it will probably increase again. Old Huo, you need to think carefully. If you can’t gather the money, just sell the house, then you’ll have it.”
The steward sat on the rickshaw, enjoying the cool evening breeze, and said unhurriedly, “If it’s really impossible, my two-tenths commission can be owed for now, considered a loan to you, to be repaid within two years, with just one share of interest.”
Selling the house... Father Huo fell silent.
Although that old house was very dilapidated and old, and cockroaches would crawl all over it every season, with a very bad environment, no matter what, it was his family’s Foundation in Tianjin.
Generations of Legacy relied on this old house to be passed down. No matter how poor or difficult things were, no one had dared to sell it.
The last thing his father told him before he passed away was to guard their old house well and be worthy of their ancestors.
That evening, after taking the steward on the rickshaw home, Father Huo sat in the corner of the alley, pulled out the pipe hidden under the rickshaw, rolled in a few leaves, lit it, and slowly smoked.
He couldn’t bear to buy tobacco leaves and hadn’t smoked in almost ten years.
When he really couldn’t bear it, he would roll a few leaves to get by.
The little money saved from tobacco was for A Hong.
The sky gradually darkened, and the streets and alleys became emptier and quieter.
Only Father Huo remained, sitting by the rickshaw, slowly smoking his pipe. A few withered yellow leaves gradually curled in the sparks, and with a gentle tap of the pipe, turned into a few specks of ash and fell.
He remained silent until the sun gradually set, just like that smelly, hard rock in the corner of the alley.
“I’m old now.”
Looking at the hunched, blurry reflection in the puddle, Father Huo murmured.
Back then, he was also like A Hong, young, vibrant, full of inexhaustible Qi.
But after so many years of pulling rickshaws, his back could no longer straighten, and his hair had turned white.
A Hong... must never be like him, toiling his whole life, left with a body full of ailments, and having to constantly bow and smile to others.
Even if he doesn’t achieve great things in the future, with the Divine Spear Martial Hall rickshaw driver job, he can at least eat well, dress warmly, and live out his life easily.
As for what happens later, how will the Legacy be passed down without the old house... “As long as A Hong lives well, that’s enough...”
“That’s enough...”
Amidst his murmurs, Father Huo, with a hunched back, slowly walked towards home.
His figure, under the dim setting sun, cast a very long, very long shadow.
