Are You Deaf? I Said My Talent Has No Limits

Chapter 13. Soaring to the Top in a Single Step

Things on Xu Yuan’s side had remained relatively peaceful.

But on Li Daqiang’s side, the man from the Wild Wolf Gang had been in no pleasant mood lately.

“Brother Qiang, the gang leader sent someone again to ask why things with the Xu family are dragging on for so long,” one of his underlings reported in a low voice.

Li Daqiang frowned, growing more irritated by the moment. He turned to the lackey Xu Yuan had shoved to the ground before. “What did your nephew say?”

After returning, he had already looked into the matter. The Shangyang Residence had the servants practice martial arts for no more than casting a wide net. Catching even a few promising fry would count as a gain, and it cost them almost nothing.

However, if they failed to break through and become a one-meridian martial artist within two months, then they would still be lowly servants, and no one would bother interfering.

By then, if he greased a few palms, everything above and below would be taken care of.

“I found out clearly enough.”

The thug was big and broad, with a long scar across his forehead. He quickly stepped forward and said in a deep voice,

“The servants of the Shangyang Residence have already been practicing martial arts for over a month. The ones with poor prospects have long since been screened out… According to my nephew, Xu Yuan still has not even found the spark of blood and qi.”

“So the little brat really was borrowing a tiger’s might to wave a grand banner. Let us see how I crush you later!”

Li Daqiang raised his brows and sneered. Back when he had followed the gang leader, he had picked up a little knowledge about martial training.

He knew about stance practice and the tempering of blood and qi.

The gang leader had also specifically said that martial arts relied heavily on talent. If one or two out of ten people managed to become martial artists, that was already considered a lot.

Xu Yuan had trained for more than a month and still had not found his blood and qi. That clearly marked him as someone of mediocre talent.

So what did he still have to fear?

“But there is no rush.”

Li Daqiang shook his head. To be safe, he decided to wait until the end of the month before making his move.

At that thought, he instructed one of his underlings, “Tell the gang leader that a small complication came up, but it will be resolved soon.”

As he spoke, a trace of cold malice flashed through Li Daqiang’s eyes.

Since he had already offended the Xu family, he might as well uproot the weeds and eliminate the roots, lest Xu Yuan crawl back up from somewhere later.

That was the code by which he had survived all these years in the dangerous outer city.

“Once this matter is done, my position as hall master should be secure.”

Only then did his mood improve slightly.

…

Shangyang Residence.

At dusk, after all the martial instructors had taken their rest,

Xu Yuan and the others finished training and returned to the dormitory.

Sure enough, Liu Hong was once again going around asking everyone about their progress. Most people merely shook their heads, indicating that they had made no progress at all.

Ever since that previous conflict, Liu Hong no longer asked about Xu Yuan and the others, though he still questioned everyone else in the dormitory as usual.

After making the rounds, Liu Hong’s expression relaxed, as though his heart had regained some balance.

But there was one exception.

Tian Yang kept glancing toward Liu Hong, as if he had long been unable to wait to “report” his progress. The moment Liu Hong approached, he immediately began speaking.

“As for me, over the past few days, I have already tempered my blood and qi to saturation, and by sheer coincidence, I have touched the bottleneck… What does it feel like? Nothing much, really. I just kept practicing, and all of a sudden I reached that stage.”

“…”

Liu Hong stared with wide eyes, feeling as though his heart had stopped for an instant.

The others in the dormitory wore similarly speechless expressions.

Damn it, he had managed to show off again.

Watching Liu Hong’s face twist as though he had swallowed filth, Xu Yuan silently shook his head. The man was clearly consumed by jealousy, yet still had to force out congratulations. What was the point?

Comparing oneself to the “answer” every day only made things unpleasant for oneself. However well or poorly others were doing, it would not necessarily change anything for you.

After all, martial training depended most on talent and accumulation.

And if someone suddenly surged ahead at some point, it would only throw your own mind into turmoil and leave you stewing in helplessness.

…

The next day,

because news had spread that Wang Huan and Sun Rong had reached the bottleneck,

the servants, who had relaxed slightly before, tensed up again. The little bit of practice time in the morning no longer felt sufficient, so they started slipping martial training and stance work into the gaps between their chores.

Because of that, Fatty Wang and the others caught several examples and beat and cursed them in front of everyone, and only then did the matter gradually die down.

During this period, quite a few servants who still had not found the spark of blood and qi finally lost heart as well.

From then on, they stopped practicing their stances altogether and returned to their old routines, obediently doing the work of serving others.

Meanwhile, Li Shan got his wish on that very day. His blood and qi tempering reached saturation, and he touched the bottleneck. Overjoyed, he even spent money to treat Xu Yuan and Sun Rong to a hearty meat dish.

Time passed swiftly, and after several more days, it was the fortieth day since the servants had begun martial training.

That morning, after Feng Xiao led everyone through several rounds of stance practice, Wang Huan suddenly showed a look of delight and quickly raised his hand, saying that he had broken through.

Amid the uproar of the assembled servants, Feng Xiao had him circulate his blood and qi into his palm and lightly press it against a wooden board, leaving behind a clear palm print!

“You became a martial artist in exactly forty days. Very good!”

Feng Xiao was quite pleased. No matter how much he had previously spoken about differences in aptitude, if one failed to cross that bottleneck, then none of it counted.

This person might not be a pearl, but he could still be counted as part of the family’s lower-to-middle-tier strength.

More importantly, with one more success this month, Feng Xiao could buy a few more portions of medicinal soup.

In his delight, he even personally led Wang Huan out of the dormitory and into another courtyard.

Xu Yuan remembered that this courtyard had once been one of the places they servants were responsible for cleaning.

Who would have thought that now their statuses had reversed.

“Wang Huan really has leapt in a single bound above everyone else!”

The servants from Wang Huan’s dormitory were filled with emotion for a time.

Though it was not to the extent of martial instructors having attendants serve them, his future was already bright. At the very least, he no longer had to do all manner of odd jobs.

As for those who had given up on martial training, their eyes were red with envy, and they wished they could rush forward at once and snatch that position for themselves.

“Alright. With Wang Huan setting an example before you, I trust you will also make progress.”

After returning, Feng Xiao offered a few words of encouragement to the crowd, then left with his hands clasped behind his back.

Then, on the sixth day after that, Sun Rong unexpectedly overtook everyone from the outside lane and broke through the bottleneck as well, becoming a formal martial artist.

This development greatly exceeded everyone’s expectations.

After all, everyone had assumed Tian Yang would be the second person to break through and become a martial artist.

Within the crowd, Tian Yang’s face turned ugly, as though he had never imagined someone could beat him to it.

Xu Yuan looked at him and understood perfectly clearly.

Whenever Tian Yang made even the slightest progress, he would loudly publicize it. After touching the bottleneck early on, He had grown lax amid the constant praise of his dormitory companions.

Every day, he wasted no small amount of time bragging and chatting idly, so his progress in stance practice naturally slowed.

Feng Xiao was happy to let it happen. As far as he was concerned, each additional breakthrough earned him another half-tael of silver.

And there was even a chance the higher-ups would take notice of him.

Feng Xiao knew that among the many instructors training servants in the outer courtyards, his speed already ranked near the top and could be considered excellent teaching.

This time, however, he did not personally escort Sun Rong.

Once something became too common, it lost its value.

So Xu Yuan and Li Shan, being the two people she knew best, volunteered to see her off.

Feng Xiao naturally had no objection.

After Sun Rong went back to gather her luggage, she returned. Under the envious gazes of the maidservants, she walked away with easy steps, not offering a single greeting.

Soon, the three of them left the rear courtyard together and arrived at a spacious, bright residence yard.

The entire courtyard was paved with gleaming blue stone slabs, and the surrounding walls had been coated in a fine layer of white lime.

And aside from the broad training area, several flourishing emerald pines had been planted along both sides.

The air was fresh, and the scenery was orderly.

A single glance at it was enough to brighten one’s mood.

Although Xu Yuan and Li Shan had come here several times before, each visit still left them sighing over the difference between the servants’ dormitory and this place.

Looking around, Li Shan said with a face full of envy,

“What a fine place. Even some of the masters outside probably do not live much better than this, do they?”

“How could it be that exaggerated? The masters’ quarters are surely far grander. Ours is only a dormitory.”

Although Sun Rong said this, the astonishment and delight on her face were impossible to hide.

She had grown up in utter poverty, so poor that she had never even eaten a candied hawthorn skewer. How could she ever have imagined that one day she would live in such an elegant residence?

While Sun Rong was still sighing inwardly, she saw Li Shan about to continue farther in and hurriedly stopped him. She then bade the two farewell.

“That is enough, Brother Li, Brother Xu. Please see me off only this far today. This is, after all, the martial artists’ residence.”

At the end, she pointed inside with her finger, indicating that going farther would easily violate a taboo.

Li Shan froze for a moment, then immediately understood. “Oh, right, right. I did not think that through. Fine, we will head back first. If anything comes up, just call out.”

Xu Yuan looked at Sun Rong quietly. She still wore a smile across her face, but he could still sense a faint, almost imperceptible distance within it.

“Mhm. You two brothers must work hard as well!”

Sun Rong raised her fist and offered a word of encouragement. Only after the two of them turned and walked away did she withdraw her smile, take up her bundle, and step alone through that corridor doorway.

Ahead of her seemed to lie splendid scenery, waiting to be taken in.