Hearing his grandfather's voice, Tang Yan felt a flush of embarrassment. "I got too caught up just now and forgot you were still here, Grandfather. I've grasped some of it. I should be able to cultivate it."

Tang Ling's brows knit together, and he asked at once, "What grade of cultivation art is this? Can you tell?"

Tang Yan weighed the power of the fist art over and over in his mind, and only after a long while did he shake his head. "Hard to say for certain. At the very least, it's Earth Rank."

"Earth Rank!" Old Master Tang gave a start. All of Yun City likely didn't possess a single Earth Rank art, yet this jade slip held such a precious treasure.

"Take it back and cultivate it with care. Remember, this art must never be passed to anyone outside the family," Old Master Tang instructed.

"Set your heart at ease, Grandfather."

Hearing his grandson's promise, Old Master Tang nodded, led Tang Yan out of the secret chamber, and sent him on his way.

Back at his residence, Tang Yan could hardly wait to digest the contents of the Flame Burst Palm.

His strength was only Yellow Rank Sixth Grade. Recalling the tangled steps of the Flame Burst Palm, he reckoned he could barely manage the first form.

The movements were also fiendishly intricate. Though he felt he could glimpse the underlying principles, truly mastering them would take no small amount of effort.

He was in no hurry. Patiently, he picked apart every step of the first form.

Time slipped by, moment by moment. Tang Yan sat there lost in thought, but to anyone watching, he was simply sitting and staring blankly for hours on end.

This left Zi Yun and Xiaocui unable to make heads or tails of it.

"Xiaocui, your young master didn't get beaten witless by Liu Zhi, did he?" Worry shadowed Zi Yun's eyes. The only reason her own strength was recovering so quickly was the Qi Recovery Pills Tang Yan had refined. If this fellow had gone soft in the head, who knew how long she'd have to wait before she healed fully.

"He hasn't lost his mind, surely?" Xiaocui fretted too.

Still, the two women knew better than to disturb him and only watched him sit there, curious. And so, amid their bored waiting, Tang Yan suddenly threw back his head and burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha... I finally see it. So it's about releasing True Qi outward to set off a tremor in space!"

The sudden shout made both women jump.

"Are you sick?" Zi Yun snapped in irritation.

"Heh, no, no." The knot in his mind had come undone, and Tang Yan was in high spirits, paying no mind to Zi Yun's scolding. He drew a deep breath, and rather than bother with the gate, he sprang up, vaulted clean over the wall, and hurried toward the little hill in the rear courtyard.

"Hopeless," Zi Yun huffed, stamping one small foot. Yet a flicker of understanding crossed her lovely eyes.

No wonder his strength advanced by leaps and bounds in a single day. No wonder he dared challenge foes above his rank. This devotion to the martial path alone was a tenacity few could ever match.

The rear courtyard of the Tang Family, at the little hill.

A lean figure stood before a tree, repeating the same motion again and again.

"Pfft!"

"Pfft! Pfft!"

One hissing sound after another escaped, like air leaking out, yet not a trace of force came with them.

Sweat poured from him again and again, failure followed failure, but Tang Yan did not give up.

After each miss, he worked out why he'd failed and refined the next motion.

"Break!"

After countless failures, Tang Yan felt the True Qi within him surge outward in a torrent, as though it were being drained dry.

In that instant, the air around him seemed to warp.

An immense mass of Qi gathered at his palm.

"Go!" Tang Yan stamped forward and drove the palm at the great tree before him.

"Crack!" The trunk, thick as a bowl's mouth, split apart on the instant.

"Boom!"

Its core shattered, the tree caught the wind in midair and at last toppled to the ground.

"Damn!" Tang Yan stared at the scene before him in disbelief. He'd long known the Flame Burst Palm was no ordinary technique, but he was only Yellow Rank Sixth Grade. The force it unleashed was simply too much.

If only he'd learned this palm sooner. Yesterday he wouldn't have been driven into such a sorry state, would he?

Just as Tang Yan mused over it, a powerful wave of exhaustion crashed over him.

His heart lurched. Caught up in his excitement, he'd forgotten that this single palm had emptied his Dantian of every last thread of True Qi.

The only reason he was still on his feet was the thrill of success holding him up.

His badly overdrawn body left his mind a sudden blank. Before he could even reach for a High Spirit Pill, his vision went dark and he collapsed to the ground.

When Tang Yan woke, he found himself already lying in his own room.

"Young Master, you're awake?" Seeing his eyes open, Xiaocui cried out in delight.

Feeling how weak his body still was, Tang Yan asked with a smile, "What happened? Who brought me back?"

"The guards found you collapsed while on patrol and carried you home. The Master already had someone examine you. You only exhausted yourself and overdrew your body, Young Master. A little rest and you'll be fine," Xiaocui answered honestly.

"Good, I understand. Go and rest now." The clear moonlight spilling through the window quietly told him the hour had grown late. Tang Yan glanced at Xiaocui. This girl had waited on him since they were small, all these years without a word of complaint. A thought stirred in him. "Oh, and from now on your monthly wages are doubled. Go straight to the accountant tomorrow."

With that, he took the paper and brush by his bedside, swiftly wrote out a few lines, and handed the note to her.

"Thank you, Young Master." Xiaocui's eyes reddened at the words. She took the note and withdrew.

"The True Qi this Flame Burst Palm devours is simply too great. Unless my strength reaches Black Rank, I'd best not use it lightly." Tang Yan sighed inwardly, took out a High Spirit Pill, swallowed it, and began to restore his strength.

Three days slipped past in a rush, every one of them spent in punishing training.

That evening, as Tang Yan practiced his sword in the courtyard, someone came to report. "Young Master, someone from the Myriad Pill Pavilion has come asking for you."

"For me?" Tang Yan's interest stirred, and he followed the man to the front hall.

Inside, the moment he laid eyes on Ge Ming, Tang Yan strode over with a hearty laugh. "Elder Brother Ge comes in person. You bring splendor to our humble abode!"

"Haha, Brother Tang is as striking as ever!" Ge Ming returned with a smile.

Hearing the two of them, Old Master Tang felt a quiet pang of vexation. He had just spent half a day exchanging courtesies and addressing Master Ge as a brother, yet the moment his grandson appeared, it was straight to "Elder Brother Ge." Just how was this generational standing supposed to add up?

"Master Ge, Yan'er has arrived. May I ask what matter brings you to him?" Tang Ling could no longer hold back his curiosity and asked at once.

"To settle the Tang Family's account," Ge Ming said with a smile.

Tang Ling froze, then suddenly recalled how the Tang Family's hundred and twenty guards had all advanced in rank together not long ago. Could it be that Tang Yan had bought on credit to gather those pills?

A matter this large, and the little brat hadn't breathed a word of it to him. Were Ge Ming not present, the old man would have leapt up and interrogated Tang Yan on the spot.

Thankfully, after emptying the Four Seas Gang's entire storehouse last time, the Tang Family had a bit of reserve to lean on. He gave a wry laugh. "And how much silver does my Tang Family owe the Myriad Pill Pavilion?"

"Not much this time. Only three million three hundred thousand taels," Ge Ming said with a shake of his head and a sigh.

"What, three million three hundred thousand?" Watching Ge Ming sigh and shake his head as though even that figure left him dissatisfied, Old Master Tang nearly went out of his mind. "Tang Yan, what in the world did you buy at the Myriad Pill Pavilion to run up so much silver?"