Chapter 20 The World Remains the Same, Back to the Servant's Quarters

With Pang Long's guidance, Li Xian finally glimpsed a corner of its true nature.

The initial state of martial arts: mud body.

The first level of martial arts: eating essence.

"In that case, every martial arts manual is extremely valuable, and can accumulate internal energy, martial arts insights... and so on, laying enough foundation for a complete transformation in the future!"

Where does internal strength come from?

Ordinary running and physical exercise do not generate internal strength. Instead, it is through practicing different martial arts that the internal strength naturally grows within the body.

"The more hard work you put in, the more you will gain... In that case, there is no breathing technique in the world, only high martial arts skills!"

Li Xian sensed a warm current flowing through his lower abdomen. It was already considerably larger than a fist.

Part of his internal energy came from the "Wild Bull Fist." Because the Wild Bull Fist was incomplete, this part of his internal energy was very limited. The other part came from the "Four Directions Fist."

Although Sifangquan (Four Directions Boxing) is very basic, its techniques are complete. After Li Xian became familiar with it, his boxing became fluid and effortless.

The progress is actually not slow.

[Four Directions Fist]

[Proficiency: 658/1000 Mastery]

At this rate, reaching the "minor achievement" stage is not far off.

...

...

There is a row of duty rosters in the patrol room.

The schedule for the hundreds of guards' patrols was recorded in the table.

Li Xian has become a full-fledged guard, so he has less time to practice martial arts. He only has two hours each morning to practice freely.

The rest of the time, they were assigned to patrol duty, which required them to patrol the village.

Sometimes, when I'm unlucky, I have to wait in line for a long time, and I can't sleep until midnight.

"As expected... guards are still servants after all, even though they are much better than menial laborers. They are still servants."

Li Xian's patrol duties are full today, or rather, they are full almost every day.

The early morning hours of Mao (5-7 AM) and Chen (7-9 AM) are for martial arts practice. Patrol duty begins at Si (9-11 AM), with a short break of 15 minutes at Wu (11 AM-1 PM), followed by patrol duty at various locations at Wei (1-3 PM), Shen (3-5 PM), and You (5-7 PM).

They can rest for an hour and have dinner during the Xu hour (7-9 PM). But they have to patrol during the Hai and Chou hours (9-11 PM).

Tomorrow will be better; there's no need to patrol during the Chou hour (1-3 AM), so I can finally get a good night's sleep.

"A total of three hours of rest, two hours of martial arts practice. The rest of the time, we have to do all sorts of labor."

"But it's much better than being a janitor."

The servants got up at dawn, while the guards were still fast asleep. Moreover, their treatment was worlds apart; their food and lodging were completely different.

"If one can become a Class C guard, the time spent on patrol will be greatly reduced."

Li Xian saw in the duty roster that the higher the guard's rank, the more free time they had; "Grade A guards" even patrolled every few days.

Having received his guard token and a waist knife, Li Xian went on his patrol duty.

In the morning, Li Xian patrolled the eastern part of the village, an area he had never been to before. It was lush with greenery and had beautiful scenery.

"This is……"

Li Xian suddenly stopped and saw a large tree that had been split in half. The stump was so thick that it would take seven or eight people with outstretched arms to barely encircle it.

Yet this large tree was cleaved in two, with a clean break and no extra marks from knives or swords.

It was clearly a single, decisive blow!

"What astonishing power!"

Even with advanced technology in the past, it would have been impossible to make such a smooth cut.

Li Xian couldn't help but move closer to observe, and was even more astonished. This kind of tree had extremely vigorous vitality; even if it was broken in the middle, its life force would still remain.

New branches will grow next year. But the tree stump here has no branches, as if its "head" has been cut off.

Lifeline was completely cut off.

"With this level of strength, what realm has the martial arts reached?"

"Could it be that lady's doing?"

Li Xian dared not observe any further and obediently patrolled the route.

"who!"

Li Xian's ears twitched slightly. After mastering the "Four Directions Fist" and acquiring its characteristic "hearing from all directions," his hearing ability far surpassed that of others.

He heard a faint noise coming from the bushes in the distance, his gaze turned cold, and he slowly approached.

Using his waist knife to push aside the weeds, he saw a little beggar, shirtless, with tattered trousers, cowering fearfully in a corner.

Winter had already arrived, and although there was no frost or snow yet, the temperature was gradually dropping.

The beggar looked at Li Xian with despair in his eyes. He covered his mouth tightly to keep quiet, but he was already crying from fright.

Li Xian couldn't help but think of herself and her younger brother, "You're here to steal something?"

The beggar shook his head, but fearing Li Xian would hit him, he nodded and said pitifully, "I didn't steal anything."

"Great hero, I will never dare to do it again, please...please spare my life."

"It's winter now, and my...my sister...she really can't survive, that's why I came here. Please have mercy, I'll never...I'll never do it again."

The beggar was emaciated and kept kowtowing.

"How did you get in?" Li Xian frowned.

“I crawled in through…through a dog hole. I’m thin…” the beggar said in a trembling voice.

"Go back to where you came from. If I see you again, I'll beat you to death," Li Xian said coldly.

"Huh!?" The beggar exclaimed in disbelief, "Sir... you're really letting me go?"

He had several companions who had also sneaked into the manor. They were discovered by the guards, and some were beaten to death, others were tortured to death. Their deaths were gruesome.

"Hmm?" Li Xian frowned, revealing his displeasure.

"Okay...okay, I'll go now. You're a good person, sir." The little beggar was about to crawl through the hole and leave.

Li Xian looked around and, seeing no guards, called out, "Wait a minute."

The little beggar was so scared he almost peed his pants, but unfortunately, he had nothing in his stomach and couldn't urinate.

"These are spoiled buns, take them and get out of here." Li Xian took out two soft, hot buns from his pocket.

Because it was placed close to the body, it still retained some warmth.

"This..." The little beggar hesitated to take it. Li Xian simply dropped it at his feet. Seeing that the bun was dirty, the beggar then hugged it to his chest, looking at Li Xian with trembling eyes.

He then kowtowed twice, crawled through a crack in the wall, and left.

"Sigh, the extra meal is gone."

"Still a fragrant meat bun...sneaked it on the sly."

Li Xian felt a pang of heartache, so he used stones to seal the cracks in the wall, covered them with weeds, and continued his patrol.

The world is still full of suffering.

It's just that Li Xian's situation is better than before.

"Second-class guard number 269, Li Xian."

"Your afternoon patrol duty is canceled. Come with me to the servants' quarters to help with the watch."

About half an hour later, just as Li Xian was getting bored, a middle-aged man walked towards him, waving his hand and calling out.

This man, Zhao Dachun, was also a low-ranking guard. He was a seasoned veteran among the guards, but his martial arts talent was mediocre, and he couldn't be promoted much earlier.

"Li Xian, right?" Zhao Dachun said bluntly, "I am Zhao Dachun."

"Brother Zhao, hello." Li Xian nodded. "I wanted to ask, why did you suddenly go to the servants' quarters to check on duty?"

Zhao Dachun explained, "What else could it be? Madam wants to repair the alchemy pavilion. But she's lacking some wood and stone."

“A while ago, we purchased some timber and stone from the Lin family in Qingning County and the Blackwood Gang, and piled them up three miles outside the village.”

"Winter is approaching, so let's quickly move the stones and timber back to the village and store them. Let the servants in the outhouse do the work, and the two of us can just watch from the side."

Li Xian said, "So that's how it is."

"This is a good job, much easier than patrol duty," Zhao Dachun laughed. "We're lucky. We can just slack off on the sidelines."

"I didn't expect to be back in the servants' quarters so soon." Li Xian smiled suddenly.

(End of this chapter)