When Fang Han returned to Tingyu Pavilion, the setting sun was casting its last lingering rays on the courtyard’s bluestone slabs, coating the exquisite courtyard in a warm, golden layer.

His little sister, Fang Ying, was squatting by the flowerbeds in the courtyard, her small hands curiously fiddling with a few newly planted orchids.

She raised her head at the sound of footsteps.

Upon seeing Fang Han, she immediately scurried over like a cheerful little sparrow, her short legs wobbly as she ran.

"Big brother, you’re back!"

A doting smile naturally appeared on Fang Han’s face. He bent down, picked up his sister, and lifted her high, making the little girl giggle.

"It seems I’ve come at just the right time."

A steady and familiar voice came from the courtyard gate.

Fang Han looked toward the sound and saw Elder Fang Yuan standing at the open gate, a gentle smile on his face.

Two servants stood respectfully behind Elder Fang Yuan, carrying a heavy wooden chest.

"Elder?"

Fang Han was a little surprised. He quickly put his sister down and hurried forward to bow respectfully.

"What brings you here?"

"The Patriarch heard that you defeated Lin Hu again at the Moon Embracing Lake gathering, bringing glory to our Fang Family. He is greatly pleased and has specifically ordered me to deliver this reward to you personally."

Fang Yuan stroked his beard and smiled, his eyes holding unconcealed admiration.

He turned slightly to the side, and the two servants behind him immediately stepped forward, presenting the heavy wooden chest.

Fang Han took the chest. It was much heavier than he expected. His heart stirred; he had a good idea of what was inside.

"Thank you, Patriarch, for your generous gift! And thank you, Elder, for delivering it personally!"

Fang Han suppressed the surging emotions within him and bowed solemnly once more.

"Keep up the good work, and don’t disappoint the Patriarch’s expectations. The future of the family ultimately depends on you young ones."

Fang Yuan spoke earnestly, offering a few words of encouragement.

His fondness for the boy extending to his family, he cast a benevolent gaze at Fang Ying, who was peeking out curiously from behind Fang Han’s trouser leg. Then, without lingering, he turned and gracefully departed.

"Take good care of the young miss!"

After seeing Elder Fang Yuan off, Fang Han instructed a maidservant to look after his little sister, Fang Ying.

He then carried the wooden chest back to his room, closed the door, and bolted it shut.

He gently opened the chest, and his eyes were met with a silvery gleam.

It was the light reflecting off ingot after ingot of fine silver.

Even though he had anticipated it, his breath still caught for a moment when he saw the neat stacks of gleaming fine silver inside the box.

For someone like him, who possessed a "pay-to-win" system, the most alluring things were not Miracle Elixirs or Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, but actual, tangible silver.

’Because of this, I even considered using the panel to start a side business to earn money.’

’But after thinking about it, I gave up on the idea.’

’In a world where Martial Artists are mainstream and strength is fundamental, wasting time on a side business would be putting the cart before the horse.’

’It’s better to improve my own strength, maintain my status as a genius, and use that status to acquire wealth. As long as I have strength, wealth will naturally follow.’

’Just like now.’

’Conversely, without sufficient strength, even if I earned mountains of gold and silver through a side business, I wouldn’t be able to protect it.’

"Five hundred taels!"

Fang Han quickly counted and found there were fifty ingots of fine silver, each weighing ten taels.

In other words, there were a full five hundred taels of silver here. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

This was an extremely large reward.

This was easy to see from the fact that his father, Fang Zheng, who was a Restaurant Manager with a fairly high income, only earned a monthly salary of twenty taels.

A huge surge of joy washed over him like a warm current.

’Now I’m more than halfway there!’

Fang Han was overjoyed as he looked at the five hundred taels of silver before him.

Having witnessed the outrageous effect of activating Level 3 Amplification for his Root Bone—an eightfold boost—he was naturally eager to unlock Level 3 Amplification for his swordsmanship and had already started saving for it.

With this reward of five hundred taels, he was now more than halfway to the one thousand taels needed to unlock Level 3 Swordsmanship Talent Amplification.

Considering the sixty taels he received monthly for ranking third on the Martial Arts Stele, plus what he could earn from family-assigned missions,

he might even be able to save up another thousand taels within the year and unlock the Level 3 Amplification for his Swordsmanship Talent.

’System Panel.’

Fang Han called out, and the System Panel appeared in his vision.

[Host: Fang Han]

[Root Bone Talent Amplification: 8x (Level 4 Amplification requires 10,000 silver)]

[Swordsmanship Talent Amplification: 4x (Level 3 Amplification requires 1,000 silver)]

[Stepping Talent Amplification: 4x (Level 3 Amplification requires 1,000 silver)]

[Wealth: 52 silver]

From the sixty taels he had received as his monthly stipend, he had kept ten for emergencies and deposited the remaining fifty. That was why his current wealth was fifty-two silver.

"Deposit."

Fang Han reached out and touched the five hundred taels of silver, depositing them.

With a flash of light, the five hundred taels of silver vanished. In their place, the text on the System Panel changed.

[Wealth: 552 silver]

Looking at the 552 silver sitting in the System Panel, safe from theft and beyond anyone’s reach, Fang Han couldn’t help but feel overjoyed once again.

「The next day.」

Having rested for a day after the gathering at Moon Embracing Lake, a revitalized Fang Han stepped into the Inner Hall and walked straight to his own Class A-10 Martial Arts Room.

Sandalwood incense smoke curled through the silent room. He cleared his mind of distracting thoughts and began his daily cultivation routine.

First, he practiced the Crane Form.

Under the effect of the eightfold Root Bone amplification, his qi and blood surged like a great river, violently washing over the bones throughout his body and rapidly increasing their strength.

He could feel himself improving with every passing moment.

In the afternoon, he switched to cultivating the Xunfeng Swordsmanship, a graded swordsmanship technique that was more difficult than Basic Swordsmanship.

He had long since memorized the secrets and essentials of Xunfeng Swordsmanship. Calming his mind and spirit, he assumed the opening stance.

With a fourfold Swordsmanship Talent amplification, the various profound principles of this graded swordsmanship flowed endlessly through his mind.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH—

His mind was clear, his sword moving with his thoughts. The Cyan Blade Sword began to trace a series of strange trajectories and astonishingly fast arcs.

Unlike the gentle Sword Techniques of Qingfeng Swordsmanship, these were as swift as a gale.

This was precisely the difference between Xunfeng Swordsmanship and Qingfeng Swordsmanship.

Time passed quietly as he remained focused.

Fang Han was completely immersed in this wonderful state of cultivation. His qi and blood surged naturally, circulating according to the unique Magic Gate of Xunfeng Swordsmanship, perfectly synchronizing with his Sword Techniques.

Suddenly, in a flash of inspiration, he flicked his wrist, and the qi and blood in his body instantly surged and accelerated!

HUMMM—

The Cyan Blade Sword emitted a vibration different from before—deeper, yet more piercing.

A faint cyan glow seemed to flash across the blade for an instant, and then a Sword Momentum far sharper and more condensed than before erupted forth.

’My Xunfeng Swordsmanship has reached Minor Achievement!’

A sharp glint flashed in Fang Han’s eyes.

Just now, his Xunfeng Swordsmanship had broken through to the Minor Achievement Realm.

’And it hasn’t even been a month!’

Fang Han muttered to himself.

It had been less than a month since he obtained the manual. To cultivate a graded swordsmanship to Minor Achievement in under a month...

Even with the terrifying comprehension granted by his fourfold Swordsmanship Talent amplification, he was still astonished himself.

If the other disciples in the Inner Hall who practiced swordsmanship were to find out, they would be utterly shocked.

’It’s because of my Perfection Qingfeng Swordsmanship!’

Fang Han figured out the reason after a moment of thought.

Perfection Qingfeng Swordsmanship had laid an extremely solid foundation for him in the Sword Dao. Combined with his fourfold Swordsmanship Talent...

The two effects stacked, producing an astonishing result that made his progress in cultivating Xunfeng Swordsmanship feel divinely assisted and incredibly fast.

’No wonder the family doesn’t give graded Martial Techniques to the disciples from the very beginning...’

Fang Han finally understood why the family insisted on having disciples first cultivate Basic Martial Techniques, even though they possessed stronger ones.

With an unstable foundation, even with a profound manual, it would be difficult to grasp its essence. One might even get half the results for twice the effort.

Only with a solid foundation can one build a skyscraper from the ground up and achieve twice the results with half the effort.

’Time to test the power of Minor Achievement Xunfeng Swordsmanship!’

Fang Han’s gaze shifted to the corner of the room, where an extremely tough Black Iron Wooden Man Stake stood, used for testing strength.

He took a deep breath. The qi and blood of his Middle Stage of Bone Refining cultivation surged, and he channeled it all into his Cyan Blade Sword.

As he circulated the Heart Method of the Minor Achievement Level Xunfeng Swordsmanship, the blade trembled slightly, letting out a low hum.

SWISH!

With a low shout, he executed a particularly powerful move from the Xunfeng Swordsmanship.

His figure shot forward, the Cyan Blade Sword transforming into a streak of cyan light that tore through the air. Carrying a strange force that was both heavy and swift, it ruthlessly slashed toward the wooden stake’s shoulder!

SHINK—CRACK!

The blade collided violently with the black ironwood, which was harder than refined steel, emitting a muffled cutting sound.

The shoulder of the wooden stake, which was tough enough to withstand a full-force blow from a Bone Refining Realm Martial Artist, was cut nearly an inch deep.

’Its power is already on par with Perfection Qingfeng Swordsmanship!’

Fang Han retracted his sword and stood, a look of delight in his eyes as he stared at the deep gash.

As a graded Swordsmanship, even though Xunfeng Swordsmanship was only at Minor Achievement, its power was already no weaker than Qingfeng Swordsmanship at the Perfection level.

If he continued to improve it, its power would surely surpass Perfection Qingfeng Swordsmanship, becoming an even stronger Martial Technique in his hands.

A strong sense of anticipation rose in his heart at the thought of that prospect.

He tightened his grip on the Cyan Blade Sword and once again immersed himself in his cultivation.