Black Membrane

The following day, at Four Seas Martial Arts Hall. Li Xiuwen finished his stake training and looked down at his arms. The purple sheen beneath his skin had deepened, flecked with speckles of black that spread like splashed ink. He was closer than ever to the Black Membrane. With a thought, the incense burner materialized in his mind. [Sea Sand Stake: Minor Success (99%)] "Time for the breakthrough." Returning home, Li Xiuwen chose not to train in the Armor-Binding Art. Instead, he produced a fish ball and swallowed it, letting the familiar medicinal efficacy course through his body. "It hardly hurts anymore. That means the medicine in these fish balls is having less and less effect on me. "Old Huang should have better remedies, but only disciples on the second floor can access those." Drawing on the medicinal strength, Li Xiuwen tempered his skin membrane again and again—tearing it, grinding it down, reforming it, cycle after cycle... In the blink of an eye, dawn began to break. Within the incense burner in his mind, the stick of incense for Sea Sand Stake burned out, and a fresh stick sprouted from the ash. [Proficiency in Sea Sand Stake increased by 1%] [Sea Sand Stake: Major Success (1%)] The moment Sea Sand Stake broke through, the gates swung wide open. From the acupoints stimulated by two months of relentless stake training, trickles of fine rain welled forth. The rain coursed through his meridians, merging into streams that gathered into a lake across his limbs and bones. An intense itch spread through him, as if microscopic buds of flesh were continually sprouting, compacting, and tightening, rendering the muscle throughout his body firmer and denser than ever. Li Xiuwen clenched his fists, the sinews beneath his skin coiling like taut cables. Across his arms, the purple membrane shattered, giving way to an ink-black membrane that gradually consolidated. Beneath the moonlight, a faint, dark sheen shimmered. "Black Membrane... the final stage of the skin membrane hurdle is complete. "My blood essence is three times that of an ordinary man, and I have more brute strength than I know what to do with." Li Xiuwen admired his reflection in the water vat. His build was streamlined and well-proportioned, completely different from Brother Ji's bulky slabs of muscle. He had always felt that Brother Ji's exaggerated bulk would severely restrict muscle movement and mobility in real combat. His own physique was closer to Bruce Lee's, though somewhat fuller. With this, his cultivation had finally stopped lagging so far behind Liu Chun's. Liu Chun had reached the Black Membrane more than two months ago. Unless he possessed talent on par with Gaojiao Qi, it was impossible for him to attempt the second gate before reaching the second floor. From what Li Xiuwen understood, challenging the second gate carried a risk of failure. Even someone as formidable as Gaojiao Qi, who possessed top-grade innate physique, had only a ninety percent chance of success. To be safe, even someone of superior aptitude had to build up their foundations or seek out gate-crossing elixirs to grind their odds as close to one hundred percent as possible. Liu Chun had only middling aptitude, giving him a fifty percent chance at best, so he needed even more preparation. If a gate-crossing challenge failed, though not necessarily fatal, it wasted a tremendous amount of time. The undertaking relied heavily on momentum: one burst of vigor at the start, waning on the second try, and exhausted on the third. Once a martial artist suffered defeat, their drive shattered, and their chances on a second attempt would be even lower. Naturally, with the incense burner, Li Xiuwen had no such worries. Every hurdle offered a hundred percent success rate. As long as he accumulated enough blood essence and brought his stake training to perfection, he could challenge the gate directly without needing deep reservoirs of preparation or costly elixirs. Up on the rooftop, Li Xiuwen ran through the Sea Sand Palm once more. Each strike whipped up a gust of wind, snapping crisply even as it struck empty air. "I can tell Old Huang tomorrow. There's no need to hide the timing of my breakthrough to the Black Membrane. "If I couldn't reach the Black Membrane in two months after eating so many fish balls, Old Huang wouldn't see any value in grooming me anyway." *** In the Eastern District of the Walled City, along Hesheng Street. Small vendor stalls, dental clinics, modest restaurants, lottery parlors, and brothels lined the road in a chaotic, lively sprawl—many times more bustling than Longjin Road. A graffiti-covered, fourteen-story tenement building stood tall in the middle of the street. Powerful martial artists with concealed, imposing auras came and went from time to time. This was the headquarters of Hesheng Tu, a prominent gang in the East District. Up on the rooftop, two men and a woman dressed in outlandish outfits were gathered around a bubbling hot pot, eating heartily. The woman sported an afro and was none other than Lion-Head Buddha. One of the men had a short buzz cut and a vermilion bird tattooed across his arm; he was Pheasant Brother. The last man was broad and stout, with fair skin and a round belly, sitting there like a mountain of flesh. He was the boss of Hesheng Tu and its sole Flower Pole—known in the underworld as Tianliang Lao! These three were the pillars of Hesheng Tu. "Lion-Head Buddha, how are those two prospects you recruited from Four Seas Martial Arts Hall doing?" Tianliang Lao asked around a mouthful of beef. Lion-Head Buddha shook her head. "Mediocre. They only have middling aptitude, after all. Two months in, and neither has reached the Black Membrane. Hard to see them achieving much." Pheasant Brother grinned. "Looks like the Liu Chun kid I recruited isn't half bad. Give him another five or six months, and he might have a shot at challenging the second gate." Tianliang Lao said, "The gang isn't running a charity. If they lack potential, cut them loose. Find them a decent venue to manage and call it a day. We'll give Master Huang that much face." "That was my thought as well," Lion-Head Buddha said. "I was thinking of sending Ah Zhen to Cuiyun Ju to help Shi'er Niang watch over the place. Working under Hesheng Tu's strongest Straw Sandal won't be mistreating her." Cuiyun Ju was a pleasure house under Hesheng Tu's umbrella, brimming with easy money. Shi'er Niang was at the peak of the second gate; once she built up enough foundation, she could challenge the third gate at any time. Tianliang Lao nodded slightly. "That works." Lion-Head Buddha added, "As for Cheng Kuiqiang... he has innate divine strength and is suited for hard qigong. I've always wanted a disciple in hard qigong, so let's give him a little more time." Tianliang Lao chuckled. "Use your own judgment. Ordinary innate strength only lets someone throw their weight around in the skin membrane stage. Once you reach the second gate, it doesn't mean a damn thing." Pheasant Brother recalled something and asked, "By the way, did you hear about Night Heron Martial Arts Hall paying a challenge visit to Four Seas a while back?" Tianliang Lao nodded. "What about it?" "That Li Xiuwen kid did pretty well," Pheasant Brother said. "He outperformed both Cheng Kuiqiang and Ah Zhen. His innate physique is poor, but he managed to reach minor success in Flipping Sand Palm in just a month. He's got something." Lion-Head Buddha looked surprised. "When I checked his bone structure back then, he only had inferior aptitude, so I didn't pay him much attention. Could his inward bone structure actually be decent?" Tianliang Lao took a puff from his cigar and said, "No telling how his inward bone structure is, but achieving minor success in fighting techniques within a month means his comprehension isn't bad." Flipping Sand Palm was no roadside wild boxing; it was an orthodox style from a reputable lineage. Reaching minor success in a single month put him in the upper tier even among Hesheng Tu's core members. Pheasant Brother sighed. "Pity that no matter how good his comprehension is, it's only icing on the cake. For people like us, innate physique is the foundation. With inferior aptitude, it's hard to make anything of yourself." Lion-Head Buddha said, "I'll have Xiao Laba drop by the martial arts hall tomorrow to bring him over. We can test him for a while, and if he turns out all right, we can keep him in the gang." Tianliang Lao chuckled. "We do need to hurry and recruit a batch of decent prospects. Those bastards from Leigong Shed have been making quiet moves lately." Pheasant Brother said with a frown, "Anyone with eyes can see Leigong Shed has disloyal intentions, yet the higher-ups in our branch haven't lifted a finger." Tianliang Lao smiled. "Headquarters is casting a long line to catch big fish. Across Changle's four branches—east, west, south, and north—and all these halls, who knows how many big fish are lurking out there?" *** The next day, inside the study at Four Seas Martial Arts Hall. Li Xiuwen knocked, entered, and got straight to the point: "Master, I've reached the Black Membrane." Huang Sihai did not look surprised. He smiled and asked, "You've eaten around ten fish balls over these past two months, haven't you?" Li Xiuwen nodded. "Yes." Huang Sihai said, "I know you want to fight for a spot on the second floor, which is understandable. Now that you've reached the Black Membrane, your cultivation isn't far behind Liu Chun's. Do your best to train on your own."