Chapter 20: The Martial Artist’s Way Out

Chapter 20: Chapter 20: The Martial Artist’s Way Out

Night fell. Fang Xu had just finished his cultivation and was about to draw some well water for a shower. Suddenly recalling yesterday’s embarrassment, he hurriedly went to bolt the courtyard door.

He had just closed the door and picked up the wooden bolt when a pair of large hands pushed the door wide open.

"Fang, what’s all this..." Wang Erhu looked at the wooden bolt in Fang Xu’s hands with some surprise. "Bolting the door to sleep at this hour?"

His gaze shifted to the room behind Fang Xu, and a wicked smile appeared on his face. "Got a beauty hidden in there?"

Fang Xu smiled awkwardly. "No way. I just finished my cultivation and wanted to take a shower. I was afraid someone might suddenly barge in..."

Wang Erhu chuckled in agreement, lifting the jug of wine and two small side dishes in his hands. "Want a drink?"

Fang Xu stepped aside to let Wang Erhu into the courtyard. "Let me go wash my face, then I’ll stew some meat."

After entering the small courtyard, Wang Erhu looked around, a touch of nostalgia in his voice. "Before I left Fenglin Town back in the day, I used to pester your grandfather to whittle wooden swords for me. Time really flies. In the blink of an eye, he’s gone."

Fang Xu sighed softly, unable to stop his grandfather’s voice and smiling face from surfacing in his mind.

"Well, go wash up. I’ll handle the meat," Wang Erhu said. He placed the wine and dishes on the stone table in the courtyard before ducking into the kitchen.

"Whoa! Where did you get all this Blood Food?" Wang Erhu shouted, staring at the massive pile of Blood Food stacked inside.

Wiping the sweat from his body, Fang Xu laughed. "Miss Yun rewarded me with the Zhang Family’s Blood Food Shop. There were two thousand pounds of Blood Food in the shop, so I had someone move it all here. I’ll need it for cultivation anyway."

Wang Erhu picked out a premium slab of Blood Food, sliced off over ten pounds with a knife, and carried it to the well to wash.

"Fang the Kid, selling that Blood Food Shop was the right call. I was actually worried you wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation and would try to run it yourself," Wang Erhu praised as he washed the meat.

Fang Xu gave a sheepish smile. "I know my own limits well enough. Erhu, let me do that."

Wiping the well water from his face, Fang Xu took the Blood Food from Wang Erhu and expertly cleaned it. He placed the clean meat into the pot, added some spices, lit the stove, and left it to stew slowly. Then, he returned to the courtyard, sat down, and began drinking with Wang Erhu.

"Erhu, that Miss Yun today..."

Before he could finish, Wang Erhu quickly shushed him, glanced around cautiously, and lowered his voice. "Do you know who the dead man was?"

Fang Xu shook his head.

Wang Erhu continued with a grave expression. "That was the Yun family’s second master, Miss Yun’s biological uncle."

Hearing this, Fang Xu’s heart skipped a beat.

"No wonder that corpse was wearing Glowing Gold Embroidered Boots worth a hundred pieces of gold. To think it was actually the second master of the Yun family!" he thought. "This is a massive deal!"

The dignified second-in-command of the Yun family had inexplicably died outside Fenglin Town, and his corpse had even been burned to ashes by Fang Xu himself. To the Yun family, this was an absolute humiliation. It seemed things were far more complicated than he had anticipated.

"Erhu, that massive fire burned the second master’s corpse. The Yun family..." Fang Xu trailed off, a little worried.

Wang Erhu shook his head. "It’s fine. Miss Yun has a kind heart. Plus, your brother’s wife didn’t set the fire on purpose. The Yun family won’t hold it against you.

"However, the mountain bandits around Qinghe County are probably in for some terrible luck. Miss Yun has already ordered the commander to return to Huangzhou Prefecture to dispatch Three Thousand Government Soldiers to wipe them out."

Since Yun Wan suspected that the Divination God Treasure had fallen into the hands of the bandits around Qinghe County, she would naturally have her family send people to sweep the area. The Divination God Treasure was something the second master of the Yun family had sacrificed his life to bring out of the Tilan Mountain ruins.

"Three Thousand Government Soldiers?!" Fang Xu looked at Wang Erhu in astonishment.

The minimum requirement to become a Government Soldier was the Martial Disciple realm. Wang Erhu, for instance, had already reached the Third Realm of the Martial Disciple stage when he passed the selection years ago. To mobilize three thousand Martial Disciples at once to exterminate bandits—the Yun family truly was the sky over Huangzhou Prefecture.

It seemed he needed to be even more careful.

"The more the Yun family values the Divination God Treasure, the more I must ensure nothing is exposed," Fang Xu thought. "Otherwise, with the Yun family’s ruthless methods, they wouldn’t hesitate to slaughter the entirety of Fenglin Town for the Divination God Treasure."

"Come on, drink up!"

Unaware of the shift in Fang Xu’s expression, Wang Erhu raised his cup.

After the two shared a toast, Wang Erhu said, "Fang the Kid, I see you’re making good progress in Refining Viscera. Keep pushing yourself. Try to step into the Second Realm of the Martial Disciple stage by the time the Government Soldier selection rolls around this year. Once you become a Government Soldier, you can go out and see the world."

Become a Government Soldier?

Fang Xu shook his head. "Erhu, I don’t want to be a Government Soldier."

Not wanting to be a Government Soldier? Wang Erhu set his cup down and smiled playfully. "You’ve got ambitions, kid! Are you planning to cultivate on your own, or join another Noble Family?"

Fang Xu was confused. "Are there no other paths for a Martial Artist besides those three?"

Other paths... Wang Erhu pondered for a moment, then downed his cup of wine in one gulp. "There is one!

"Joining the military!"

The Great Yu Dynasty boasted vast territories and countless powerful Noble Families. Becoming a Martial Disciple meant one had crossed the threshold of a Martial Artist, but let alone a Martial Disciple, even a Martial Master didn’t have many options.

If one didn’t want to become a Government Soldier or join the powerful Noble Families, their only choice was to find a small place to hunker down and act as a local boss, just like Lu Zhiyuan and Zhang Hong. Even then, they still had to attach themselves to certain families for protection; otherwise, being a local boss wouldn’t be as easy as it sounded. Take the annihilation of the Zhang Family this time—if anyone other than Yun Wan from the first-rate families had attacked them, say some second-rate family in Huangzhou Prefecture, the Zhang Family would have still had some room to maneuver.

Seeing Fang Xu’s eyes light up at the mention of joining the military, Wang Erhu smiled. "Fang the Kid, you should know that Government Soldiers are, frankly speaking, the private armies of Noble Families. Just like us, we mostly only follow the Yun family’s orders. In terms of priority, even those officials in Huangzhou Prefecture have to stand in line behind the Yun family.

"Soldiers, however, are different.

"They take orders directly from the imperial family—or rather, only from His Majesty.

"His Majesty is a warlike ruler, and he has specifically established a system of rewards and punishments for the military. Killing enemies on the battlefield and expanding territories—as long as you earn merits, your background doesn’t matter. Becoming a titled noble or a high-ranking general in the future is entirely possible.

"General Zhao Wuji, who trampled the Imperial City of the Dusk Cloud Kingdom and beheaded their High Priest with a single slash, rose from being a bottom-tier Martial Disciple."

At the mention of Zhao Wuji, a trace of fanatical worship appeared in Wang Erhu’s eyes.

"Erhu, since joining the military has all these benefits, why did you choose to become a Government Soldier?" Fang Xu asked in confusion.

Wang Erhu paused briefly, then shook his head with a bitter smile. "Like you said, you have to know your own limits.

"Being a Government Soldier means operating within the small territory of Huangzhou Prefecture. There aren’t any massive dangers in day-to-day life.

"I know my aptitude is dull. The highest I can reach in this lifetime is the Martial Master realm. I don’t have that many grand ambitions.

"Alright, go check if the meat is done," Wang Erhu urged, seeing that the two side dishes were almost entirely polished off.

Fang Xu quickly put down his chopsticks, went to the kitchen, and brought the fragrant stewed meat out into the courtyard. The two continued drinking.

During this time, Fang Xu purposefully checked the friend list deep within his sea of consciousness.

He discovered that the percentage next to Wang Erhu’s name had dropped from 88% to 70%!

The rate of decline was accelerating. At this pace, it was highly doubtful whether Wang Erhu would even live another month!