The Night Before the Battle (2)

Night.

The door to Yanglin's house was knocked on repeatedly, but there were no replies in return. This made Xia Xuan-Xuan decide to peek through the window's gap to see if anything went wrong.

She was nervous at first. But when she noticed nobody inside the house, Xia Xuan-Xuan decided to invite herself into the home and do some cleaning on Yanglin's behalf.

'What a messy place. Can't this guy have a hint of decency to clean this place a little if a guest comes over?' Xia Xuan-Xuan complained as she wipes the dust off from the kitchen. It doesn't seem that she noticed that she's behaving no different from a housewife right now.

After cleaning a few spots to make this house look cleaner, Xia Xuan-Xuan rested herself on Yanglin's bed. She was a little exhausted from doing all the house chores. And in mere minutes, she fell asleep on his place unknowingly.

Meanwhile, Yanglin is still busy with his fighting practice.

It was already stained with blood that coming out from Yanglin's fist. Since this was his first time throwing blows after blows as practice, wounding the layer of skin around his hand is unavoidable.

But instead of feeling the pain from the scarring, Yanglin was feeling happy instead.

The epiphany from before seems to allow Yanglin to grasp the way Spiritual Energy can be used. It can even be used to enhance his physical body, allowing him to stay awake longer, heal faster, and even look further. The step of cladding his body part with them is just the introduction to their uses.

Yanglin had no idea this was the correct method to practice and strengthen his physical body to hold more Spiritual Energy.

Practicing without looking at the time, he finally ended the training when it was long past midnight. He wouldn't have stopped if his stomach weren't growling from not eating anything for the entire afternoon.

<<You should go home and rest. Although physical training is more effective, your body's exhaustion is more apparent than training via meditation and spirituality. I'll overlook it this time, but you should buy something to recuperate your body from today's workout.>>

The Reliance System's stinginess came out again. But instead of stopping him from spending the Foundation Pills, the System actually allowed him to use them for some shopping.

"It's rare to see you being so generous. What's wrong with you?" Yanglin teased the Reliance System. Bringing the few Water Foundation Pills won from the bet against Liu Shuixian, Yanglin made his way to the village center.

When it comes to buying something with the Foundation Pills, the village center is the only place with a bustling market during the night. Of course, there are more than just shops available here during nighttime.

The previous Yanglin seems to have a faint memory regarding this place. He sneakily came here a few times while accompanying Xia Xuan-Xuan. This allowed the current Yanglin to remember where to go if he were looking to get some food.

"Hey brat, what are you doing here alone at night?" one of the villagers operating a stall questioned Yanglin for his visit here late at night. Although there's no curfew or restriction on those coming to this place, there's a minimum requirement they had to fulfill.

They had to be able to pay for what they want over here.

This is also why the previous Yanglin and Xia Xuan-Xuan could only walk around without buying anything. Unless they're from a proper family with some money to spend, it was pointless for them to come here!

To people with hardly having any spare Foundation Pills to spend, they're not even qualified to come here!

"Brat! What brings you here, huh?" another stallkeeper teased Yanglin. He recognized Yanglin because there are only a few orphans in this village, and Yanglin was one of them.

In their opinion, orphans like Yanglin are only good for one thing. They'll be used to produce Foundation Pills in exchange for food or as a cannon-fodder if something happens outside of the village.

"I want to buy ten Foundation Pills worth of meat from Spiritual Beast. Pack it up for me, thank you," said Yanglin as he put the small pouch of ten pills on top of the stall.

"Hahaha! Ten pills worth of meat? Do you know how much there is? If that's all you got, then listen to me and go catch some worms latching on the mulberry trees to eat. They're much meatier than the meat you'll get with ten pills!" the stallkeeper laughed.

But in the end, ten Foundation Pills is still money in his eyes. Through the butcher knife in his hand, the stallkeeper made a cut on the piece of smoked meat hanged in his stall. While he looked like a good-for-nothing stallkeeper, his skill with the butcher knife is superb.

After cutting about half a catty worth of meat out, the stallkeeper wrapped it using a pine tree's bark before tossing it over to Yanglin.

"Make sure you keep the meat covered at all times. You might or might not know it, but the Stone Wasps that living outside of the village loves the smell of smoked meat. If you're not careful, they'll finish that meat before you notice." the stallkeeper added.

It seems that although he had quite a foul mouth, his heart still had some sense of conscience. To him, making sure he tells his customer how to keep the meat away from pests was something he's obliged to do.

Yanglin continues to walk around the night market before making his way home. And to make it more filling while eating the meat, he bought ten flatbreads using a single Foundation Pill on his way back.

Going home at night felt different compared to when he was doing it during the evening. At night, the surrounding is quieter than the usual. Most of the houses seem to be surrounded by darkness as they keep their living expenses low.

Before pushing the door to his house open, Yanglin makes sure to light the wick to provide his home with some brightness. But as the lamp in his hand illuminates his place, he was shocked to see someone is sleeping on his bed.

"Xia Xuan-Xuan? What the heck is this girl sleeping on my bed?" Yanglin's eyes were opened wide as he inspects this girl's sleeping look.