Earlier, when Uncle Mo first heard Tang Yan's words, he had only thought they made good sense. Now, turning them over more carefully, a chill crept through him.

"Half a year from now..." Uncle Mo said slowly, "the Tang Family may no longer sit at the very bottom of Yun City's four great families."

"First he enraged them all, drawing every eye squarely onto himself. Then he led by his own example, winning them over through his conduct. After that he dangled rewards before them, stirring their blood. And in the end he laid down the rules and took this whole band of guards firmly in hand." Tang Ling paced back and forth, picking apart everything Tang Yan had done piece by piece. By the time he reached the end of it, even he was unnerved by this monstrous grandson of his.

Trained like that, how could the men not grow strong? Had it always been done this way, would the Tang Family ever have ended up circled by hungry rivals?

Of course, what shook Tang Ling most of all was still his grandson's transformation.

This good-for-nothing scoundrel who had loafed about his whole life... how had he suddenly grown up?

Tang Yan had no idea that his grandfather and Uncle Mo had taken in his every move. Right now he was out on the martial training ground, driving his body far past its limits.

A hundred-jin sandbag weighed down on his back as he forced out push-up after push-up.

This time, Tang Yan had drawn on his True Qi. A cultivator's True Qi moved in a cycle of exhaustion and renewal-spend it all, and it would grow back. And each time he pushed his body past its limit, the second surge of True Qi always returned richer than before. Settle into that virtuous cycle, and his progress would only quicken.

Of course, there was a price. Train under such strain for too long, and the body's meridians were bound to take damage. But Tang Yan paid that no mind. The pills he refined himself could mend whatever harm came to his Meridians.

The Tang Family guards had assumed their young master was merely acting on a passing fancy. But once Tang Yan truly threw himself into the training, every last one of them was left dumbstruck.

Their own young master was downright savage. From morning on, he ground out push-ups under a hundred-jin load and held it for a full hour straight!

After only half an hour of catching his breath, he launched into a second round.

Was this really something a pampered wastrel with a crippled Dantian could pull off? Even at their own Origin Rank Ninth Grade, an hour of push-ups under a hundred-jin load would leave them half-dead with exhaustion.

And with Tang Yan pushing himself this hard, the fighting spirit in the guards' hearts caught fire. If a man with a ruined Dantian could do it, how could they-proud Origin Rank Ninth Grade martial artists-fail to hold on?

For a time, the spirit on the Tang Family's training ground soared higher than ever before.

A day went by. Tang Yan dragged his weary body back to his room. He was in no rush to cultivate; instead, he sent Xiaocui to the Tang Family's medicine pavilion to fetch several portions of herbs.

It was a blessing the Tang Family's holdings ran large, for they kept no small store of odds and ends among their herbs. This time, Tang Yan meant to refine a pill-Meridian Tempering Powder.

Once Xiaocui brought the herbs over, Tang Yan stepped into the pill room he had set up for the time being. He skillfully sorted and purified the ingredients, then set to work refining.

Meridian Tempering Powder was a first-rank Low Grade Pill. Its grade was nothing remarkable, yet in this world there seemed to be precious few pills aimed at repairing and tempering the Meridians.

After about an hour, Tang Yan opened the Pill Furnace. Eyeing the heap of powder inside, he dug out a large porcelain bottle and emptied all of it in.

On any other day he would surely have refined something of a higher grade. But he had worn himself ragged the whole day, the True Qi in his body all but spent, so he had to settle for less and make do with Meridian Tempering Powder.

Back in his room, Xiaocui had already followed his orders and boiled a large bucket of water. Staring at the bucket churning and bubbling away, Tang Yan poured in most of the Meridian Tempering Powder. After a brief hesitation, he sprang in.

"Sssss-" As the scalding heat bit into him, even Tang Yan, for all his fearsome willpower, let out a wretched yelp. It was a good while before he finally grew used to the temperature. Only then did he shut his eyes, draw out an Initial Spirit Pill, and swallow it down.

This time, an odd look crossed Tang Yan's face. He had braced himself for the Heaven and Earth Creation Cauldron to swallow the pill whole as it always did-but instead the pill dissolved the instant it touched his tongue and flowed straight into spiritual power.

No time to dwell on it. Tang Yan settled into a cross-legged seat and calmly set his cultivation method circulating.

In the days that followed, Tang Yan truly drove the Tang Family guards to awe.

Everyone had taken him for a man acting on a whim, yet Young Master Tang stuck it out by sheer grit-and his daily training load climbed higher with each passing day.

A month went by, and Tang Yan's strength at last broke through to Origin Rank Eighth Grade.

What thrilled Tang Yan even more was that most of the guards under him had reached a bottleneck. Given the right opening, there was every chance they would shatter their current barrier and step into the Yellow Rank.

If the Tang Family could field a hundred and twenty more Yellow Rank guards, then its strength as a whole would surely no longer sit dead last.

Of course, it wouldn't make them the strongest either. On the martial path, a single rank stood between men like a mountain. Within Origin Rank, an Origin Rank Fourth Grade martial artist might well defeat one at the Fifth Grade.

But for a Yellow Rank First Grade martial artist to beat one at the Second Grade was as hard as climbing to heaven. The higher one rose, the more a sliver of difference yawned into a gulf of ten thousand li.

The other families likely held somewhat more Yellow Rank experts than the Tang Family. It wasn't that the Tang Family treated its martial artists poorly-quite the opposite, its terms were more generous than most.

But many martial artists reckoned the Tang Family was caught in a storm, and that throwing in with powers like the Liu Family was the safer bet.

To help every one of them seize their chance to advance, the first thing Tang Yan thought of was pills.

The Initial Spirit Pill suited this group's cultivation perfectly.

But more than a hundred pills meant at least ten furnaces' worth. With Alchemist Tang's skill he could vouch for a flawless success rate, yet the herbs ten furnaces would devour came at no small cost. Reckoned roughly, it would run upward of ten thousand taels of silver-and that was the thorniest problem before him now.

The reason he didn't ask his grandfather for the money was that his recent changes had simply been too great. Should the old man press him on it, he'd have no clear way to explain himself.

"Let me head out again and try my luck." After turning it over for ages with nothing to show for it, Tang Yan decided to take a walk outside.

He called for Xiaocui, and in a white robe with a folding fan in hand, master and servant set off.

"Master, the Eldest Young Master has gone out." Not long after Tang Yan left, Uncle Mo came to Tang Ling's study to report.

"Come, let's follow and see for ourselves." Tang Ling rose to his feet. "Be quick and put on a disguise."

In less than half a quarter-hour, two plainly dressed old men slipped out through the Tang Family's back courtyard. At a careless glance, one would have taken them for a pair of small-time peddlers.

"Master, you mean to follow him yourself this time?" Uncle Mo asked in a low voice.

"Hmph. That Liu Family rabble has had men watching around our Tang Family this whole time. No need to guess-it's that brat Liu Yuan, itching to pay us back for last time. But from this day on, if anyone dares lay a single finger on my grandson, I'll wipe out his whole clan!"

Hearing the Killing Intent thick in the old master's words, Uncle Mo understood completely. For over ten years Tang Yan had been an idle, good-for-nothing wastrel, and the old master had all but given up on the boy.

Who could have guessed the boy would turn over a new leaf, every bit the proof that A prodigal son's return is worth more than gold. The change had filled the old master with delight, and a deep sense that the Tang line had its heir at last.

If anyone truly harmed Tang Yan now, the old master would never withstand the blow. As Uncle Mo knew him, Tang Ling would throw the whole of the Tang Family's might into avenging his grandson, even if it meant shattering jade and stone alike.

This time, he only hoped no one would be foolish enough to cross Tang Yan again.