"Liu Da, what's this about?" Ah Zhen asked.
Liu Da forced a smile. "Everyone, I really am not cut out for martial arts. I'll be going on ahead, then. The jianghu is a long road—if fate wills it, we'll meet again!"
Li Xiuwen had gotten along well with Liu Da, so he offered some comfort: "Xianghai is so prosperous—you're bound to find a better path."
Cheng Kuiqiang asked with concern, "Liu Da, what will you do next?"
"Follow the big bosses, of course!" Liu Da laughed. "I want to join a gang and work up from the very bottom. Gangs have master boxers too—I can keep learning."
"A gang? Then take care of yourself out there." Li Xiuwen didn't hold out much hope for Liu Da.
Cannon fodder at the bottom of a gang died at a high rate, and the big bosses wouldn't give you a second thought.
After bidding his friends at the hall farewell, Liu Da left.
"Liu Da." Huang Sihai came out of the study and called him back.
"What is it, Master?" Liu Da asked.
Huang Sihai said, expressionless, "In the gangs, don't drop my name. People will take you for someone who's come to stomp their turf, and you'll die even faster...
"But if someone beats you to death anyway, then say it. I won't be able to save you, but at least I can collect your body!"
After a moment of silence, Liu Da smiled with red-rimmed eyes. "Got it. Thank you, Master."
With Liu Da gone, the others sighed over it.
And in this stretch of time, Liu Da had hardly been the only one to go.
Learning boxing was expensive. Most people couldn't reach entry within a month and gave up.
After all, even once you made entry, the cost of keeping up your cultivation was a bottomless pit.
And if you let it lapse, your skill went backward instead of forward. Past one's peak, it collapsed headlong—and one might be left with hidden ailments.
In the end you were still fated to sweat at hard labor, able to change nothing.
Plenty of people enrolled at the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall. Every month some came and some went; turnover was high, and only a handful stayed to the end.
Li Xiuwen quietly returned to his corner to work on his stake training.
In the cage, Old Daoist Chen leaned against a pillow, took out a notebook, and was writing something.
"What are you writing, Brother Chen?"
"A Register of Four Seas Fellow Disciples... We meet away from home, strangers thrown together by chance—that too is fate."
After Liu Da left, the rest trained their fists all the harder.
...
In the blink of an eye, another ten days passed.
It was Li Xiuwen's twenty-first day at the hall.
Lately, Li Xiuwen had been in a good mood.
First, he had settled a deal with Brother Jun: two hundred a month to watch the place for him, and no need to sit in the hair salon all day long.
The Walled City wasn't big. If anything came up, they only had to phone the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall or Chen's Noodle Factory and call him over.
Brother Jun had also said that Li Xiuwen only needed to drive off, within the limits of his ability, the punks and addicts who had no backing.
If a real expert ever came to smash the place up, Li Xiuwen needn't lift a hand—such people had backing of one sort or another, and could not be provoked.
But the odds of that were slim. Experts had no interest whatsoever in the pittance a hair salon offered.
In short, he no longer had to work and still collected two hundred a month. Money came far easier than before.
It was enough to improve his meals—he could have some proper meat every day.
The second matter concerned Brother Ji.
Ever since he'd been robbed of fifty dollars, Brother Ji had seemed to vanish—not a sight of him in twenty-odd days.
Without that tiger blocking the road, he could walk down the street with his head held a good deal higher.
He figured something had most likely happened to Brother Ji.
The Thirteen Taibao sounded imposing, but in this Walled City of crouching tigers and hidden dragons, they were a third-rate gang on the lowest rung.
Brother Ji acted erratically and broke the rules; tall trees catch the wind, and it was only natural that someone would deal with him.
"The heavens take the wicked in their own time."
Li Xiuwen cast off stray thoughts and began moving through the set to a specific breathing rhythm, his palm technique like a gale raising great waves, wave upon wave.
Huang Sihai's words surfaced in his mind:
"Sand-Turning Palm has four realms, matched to a thirty-two-character mnemonic."
"Entry—Great Waves Wash the Sand!"
"Minor success—The Tide's Hidden Surge!"
"Major success—Fleeting Shadow of the Startled Shark!"
"Perfection—Giant Whale Swallows the Sea!"
"Each of the four levels has its own wonders."
"The first level trains the hard palm: gather the strength of your whole body into the palm as far as you can. Its momentum is like a great wave—splitting heaven, swallowing land!"
"The second level trains the soft palm. It looks gentle, but in truth it is like the tide: one second it is at the horizon, the next it is right before your eyes."
"The third level joins hard and soft, blends feint and truth, and cannot be guarded against—like a fierce shark in the sea."
"Only a Black Membrane expert can wield the fourth level. The palm force is like a giant whale: one palm lands, and it crushes the skull and snaps the great dragon—the spine... Without the Black Membrane, contact means death."
When Li Xiuwen finished the set, he pondered the changes of these four layers of palm technique.
In his mind, the incense burner appeared.
[Li Xiuwen]
[Martial Skill]
[General Martial Knowledge: Entry (51%)]
[Sea Sand Stake: Entry (29%)]
[Sand-Turning Palm: Entry (31%)]
[Stage: Green Membrane (29%)]
At this rate, next month he could bring the Sand-Turning Palm to minor success.
Cheng Kuiqiang and Ah Zhen had begun studying under the master a month before him, and their talent ranked second only to Liu Chun's among the disciples—yet even they had not reached minor success.
It was just that stake training came slowly. This was slow-grinding work that could not be rushed; he had to temper his skin and membranes bit by bit and lay a solid foundation.
At this pace, before his next monthly fee came due, he had a hope of advancing to the Purple Membrane.
And if Brother Ji still dared to come looking for trouble then...
A flicker of ruthlessness passed through Li Xiuwen.
In his time living in the Walled City, he had grown used to its law of the jungle.
Either you offended no one,
or, having offended someone... you had to beat them to death,
otherwise the trouble would never end.
He didn't want to fight—harmony was precious—but that didn't mean he could be trampled on forever.
...
The next day,
Four Seas Martial Arts Hall.
Nine days remained until Li Xiuwen's monthly fee came due.
Old Huang came over, hands clasped behind his back, to where Li Xiuwen was drilling his palms, and said with feigned indifference, "Ah Wen, will you keep training next month?"
Li Xiuwen said, "Master, we'll see how things go."
Old Huang nodded slightly. "The Green Membrane is only a beginning. Train three days and slack two, and instead of advancing you'll fall back—even the Green Membrane will fade away."
"Your disciple understands. It's only that the monthly fee is no small sum—I need to discuss it with my family," Li Xiuwen said.
"Today I plan to hold a gratitude event for my students—pay three months' fees or more in one lump sum and you get ten percent off!"
"Right. Understood." Li Xiuwen cursed the old miser inwardly.
He still had over a thousand, but he didn't want to renew early; he meant to wait until the last day to decide.
A little money in your pocket could meet an emergency.
He knew Old Huang's playbook well.
That was how health clubs worked.
The only fear was that one day the hall would go bust, and Old Huang would run off with the funds—and his wife's younger sister.
...
That very day, the gratitude event was held.
Liu Chun paid half a year's fees in one lump sum, earning Old Huang a fat windfall; he beamed with delight.
Aside from Liu Chun, the rest were all paupers—at most they renewed a month's fee as a token.
The more Old Huang looked at Liu Chun, the better he liked him. Smiling, he asked, "A Chun, how's the Sand-Turning Palm coming?"
"Master, still minor success. But I feel I've grasped a hint of the essence of hard and soft—these coming days are certain to bring major success," Liu Chun said, a little smug.
"Good! You're already at Purple Membrane. If no fierce talent like your senior brother Tianhong Zai shows up in the next six months, you're sure to make the second floor!" Old Huang laughed aloud.
Great talent, and he could cough up gold coins too—who wouldn't love a disciple like that?
Then he looked at the others, and Old Huang sighed.
Not one of them amounted to anything.
Chapter 14