Chapter 85: Village Brave
Chapter 85: Chapter 85: Village Brave
Dust stirred faintly on the Chen Family’s threshing ground.
Shouye stood tall and straight, his gaze like a torch as he meticulously inspected the training troops.
He strode slowly between the ranks, stopping from time to time. He would correct a young man’s posture with a finger, pat a back to signal them to straighten up, or press down on a shoulder to help them sink their center of gravity.
He had rigorously trained in the Iron Mountain Lean since childhood, a style that prized a stable foundation above all else, making his lower-body stance exceptionally solid.
This made him the perfect man to supervise the new recruits in their Pile Skill practice and basic marching drills.
Chen Li had recognized this, which was why he had given him full authority over the initial training.
It was October. The weather had turned cool, and the autumn wind carried a hint of desolation.
However, the afternoon sun was still scorching hot, baking the earth without mercy.
One hundred selected young men gritted their teeth, drenched in sweat, as they held the most basic Pile Skill stances in the field.
Large beads of sweat rolled from their temples, soaking their coarse cloth shirts. The muscles of many trembled faintly, a clear sign of the immense strain they were under.
Shouye paced back and forth across the field. His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an undeniable authority. "Backs straight! Your heels must be nailed to the ground as if they’ve taken root!"
The first day of training finally ended at sunset.
The men dispersed, relieved, dragging their exhausted bodies away.
Chen Li called Shouye to his side and asked in a low voice, "How did the training go today?"
Shouye shook his head. "Father, our kinsmen are strong and willing to work hard, but their coordination is terrible. Worse, they don’t know how to properly channel their strength. Their movements are stiff and haphazard. To get them to a point where they could even barely handle a real fight would take two or three months of grueling work... And..."
He paused for a moment. "Even if they master the stances, if they were to truly face those veteran Water Bandits, men who kill as easily as breathing... I’m afraid their chances would still be slim to none."
"I understand."
Chen Li nodded. "I never expected them to be able to take the initiative and crush the Water Bandits. It will be a success if they can just form ranks for self-defense and not shatter at the first sign of a fight. If the Water Bandits truly attack in force, it will be up to us to hold the line. Your mission is to drill the fundamentals into them and ensure they can follow orders without fail."
"Father, I understand."
Shouye nodded, then sighed faintly. "It’s a shame the entry-level Pile Skill and breathing methods Big Brother and I practice can’t be taught to outsiders. If we could have them practice those for even ten days to a fortnight, they’d build a bit of a foundation. Their physical conditioning and coordination would be far better than what they’ll get from this mindless drilling."
A thought struck Chen Li. He mulled it over for a moment before asking, "Shouye, back when you were at the martial arts hall, did you ever hear of anyone selling Martial Arts Secret Manuals on the market?"
After he transmigrated and paid off his father’s debts, he had considered buying Martial Arts Secret Manuals on more than one occasion.
But years of searching had led him to one conclusion: no one sold them. Anyone claiming to was a fraud.
The only way to learn Martial Arts was to become a disciple to a master.
His family possessed a good number of Martial Arts, but these were the foundation of their power and could not be taught to outsiders.
Not even to other members of their clan.
After all, this group of clansmen wasn’t truly united. Even when facing the threat of the Water Bandits, they had to be enticed with rewards just to get them to band together.
"No."
Shouye shook his head instinctively. ’A Martial Arts legacy is priceless,’ he thought. ’How could it be measured in silver coins?’
But then, he seemed to recall something. He froze for a second before saying uncertainly, "Father, I think I once overheard a few of my senior brothers talking. It seems there’s someone who teaches techniques and allows his students to pass them on."
Chen Li’s interest was piqued, and he quickly asked for details.
Shouye shook his head. "I only overheard them chatting about it and wasn’t really paying attention. I’d have to go back to the hall and ask them for the details. Father, should I go and ask?"
"It’s chaos and turmoil out there. We’ll go later."
Chen Li shook his head. The matter certainly needed to be dealt with, but there was no immediate rush.
「For the next dozen or so days.」
Chen Li and his two sons continued to train the Village Braves, but the Water Bandits never arrived in Lingxi. They didn’t even appear in the surrounding villages.
Another dozen or so days passed, and still all was quiet.
Just as they were beginning to wonder, news arrived: the Court had urgently dispatched an army of thirty thousand to station at Mirror Mountain. As if they’d known in advance, the Water Bandits had vanished without a trace.
Every household in Lingxi breathed a sigh of relief.
A close call!
What they didn’t know, however, was that Chen Li had a great deal to do with the Water Bandits’ absence.
Bai San had failed to complete his scouting mission, and simply turned in his register.
The records for several villages in the Lingxi area were missing.
This, combined with Lingxi’s meager record of a few hundred to a thousand dan of grain, instantly extinguished any desire the Water Bandits had to raid them.
After all, robbing poor folk was a thankless task. Naturally, they would go after whoever actually had grain to steal.
...
The seventh day of the eleventh month.
A light snow had fallen the previous night.
At dawn, the sky had cleared. A dusting of unmelted snow still clung to the eaves and treetops, sparkling faintly in the sunlight.
The private plot in the Chen Family’s backyard had since been converted into a small training courtyard.
Ever since Shouheng, Shouye, and Shouyue had all begun to practice Martial Arts, the original grounds at home had started to feel cramped.
To prevent them from getting in each other’s way, Chen Li had taken the opportunity when building the new granary at the start of the year to have this empty, less-than-half-acre plot in the backyard completely renovated. He had flowers and trees transplanted, bluestone tiles laid, and this secluded little training courtyard built.
Chen Shouheng stood in the courtyard, dressed in a blue training uniform.
He held his breath, focusing his spirit. The qi and blood in his body surged like a tide, and a plume of white steam rose from his head, starkly visible in the cold air.
He was completely focused on performing the Tiger Subduing Fist. Power erupted from his waist and hips with each punch, carrying the faint intent of a tiger’s roar. The wind from his fists was so fierce and sharp that it swept up the thin layer of snow on the stone tiles, scattering it in flurries along the path of his movements.
The snowflakes danced and swirled with his figure, revealing a kind of rhythmic beauty amidst the chilling austerity of the scene.
Just as his Heart Spirit was completely immersed in the moment, lost to the world around him.
SWISH!
A sharp, focused whistle cut through the air.
A branch, dotted with several budding red plum blossoms, shot toward him like a sharp sword from the direction of an old plum tree to his side. It flew straight for the vital point on his back.
The angle of the strike was incredibly cunning, and its speed was immense. It was cloaked in an ice-cold, bone-chilling Sword Intent, brimming with merciless killing intent.
"Hm?"
Chen Shouheng’s hair stood on end. He was startled, but not thrown into chaos.
A Martial Artist’s instincts kicked in, his body reacting in a split second.
He twisted his waist and sank his hips, spinning like a top. Instead of retracting his right fist, he advanced, his Tiger Subduing Fist Intent erupting forth. Wrapped in surging Inner Qi, his fist smashed into the middle of the incoming branch.
CRACK!
With a crisp snap, the branch broke. The fierce Qi Strength pulverized several of the red plum blossoms, their petals scattering and mingling with the fine snow that flew up from the ground.
"Who’s there?"
Chen Shouheng’s gaze, sharp as lightning, shot toward the source of the attack.
There, beneath the plum tree that bloomed in defiance of the cold, a figure in red as brilliant as a flame stood quietly amidst the flurrying petals and snow.
She was dressed in sharp, dazzling red martial attire. Her features were strikingly heroic, her skin fairer than snow, and the corners of her lips were turned up in a cold smile.
Who else could it be but Mu Yuanying?