Showboating

Master Nie had not shown his face for several days, yet the moment he appeared, he was about to leave. Meng Yuan naturally could not bear to let him go and kept tugging at him.

Of course, the main reason was that he wanted Master Nie to teach him a few more things.

"Master Nie hasn't come around much lately, and the trainees' spirits aren't quite high enough," Meng Yuan said.

"What? Am I supposed to get some eggs, then hand them out to whoever trains diligently?" Nie Yannian said, and laughed at his own words.

Meng Yuan laughed along with him and asked, "Master Nie, how are things with the Buddha Demon?"

"We couldn't find anything. It's already been reported upward, and they'll probably send people down specifically to investigate. Anything tied up with bald donkeys is no small matter." Nie Yannian answered casually, his feet never stopping as he plainly tried to make his escape.

Meng Yuan stuck close behind him and asked again, "Does Master Nie have any further arrangements for the Training Field?"

"Train extra, train more, train diligently, train hard!" Nie Yannian's answer amounted to saying nothing. Clearly, he did not care much about the youths at the Training Field.

As the two traded meaningless chatter, someone came rushing in from outside the Training Field, moving like a whirlwind and beaming as if he had struck gold. It was Ren Debiao.

"Master Nie, I've entered the Eighth Rank! My Niwan has opened!" Ren Debiao shouted excitedly, his voice exceedingly loud. Seeing Meng Yuan beside him, he did not forget to shoot Meng Yuan a smug glance.

The youths had been drilling, and upon hearing this, every one of them looked on with envy.

For an ordinary person to rise from Subordinate Ninth Rank to Eighth Rank took three or four years. Ren Debiao had done it in just over two years. His aptitude was not exceptional, but it was already far from poor.

Moreover, after entering the Eighth Rank, not only would his abilities grow stronger, but his monthly pay would rise as well.

"Good. Not bad at all! Go find Lao Gou; your monthly pay ought to be increased." After saying this casually, Nie Yannian waved a hand and headed out again.

Seeing Nie Yannian's perfunctory manner, as though advancing to Eighth Rank had not made him think any more highly of him, Ren Debiao hurried after him.

But after following for a few steps, Ren Debiao saw that Nie Yannian did not look at him at all. Instead, he kept turning his head to chatter endlessly with that gelding craftsman. One moment, he threatened the gelding craftsman, saying that if he dared visit a brothel, he would dare geld him; the next, he urged the gelding craftsman to visit Drunken Moon Pavilion more often and lend a hand washing dishes or something.

And that gelding craftsman was shameless as could be, claiming that when it came to castration, he was the true expert, then going on about how dishwashing ought to come with wages.

Ren Debiao followed them all the way out of the Prince's Manor and tried several times to join the conversation, but Nie Yannian had little interest in speaking to him. Meanwhile, that gelding craftsman was exceedingly skilled at currying favor and had already helped lead out the horse.

That gelding craftsman had a keen eye for work and kept saying that his skills were too low, that he feared tarnishing Master Nie's reputation. It was obvious that he wanted to learn something.

Ren Debiao watched as Nie Yannian was pestered until he had no choice but to actually agree to teach the gelding craftsman a set of fist techniques when he had time.

"Master Nie, I want to learn fist techniques too." Ren Debiao hurriedly jumped aboard the favorable wind.

"We'll talk about it later." Nie Yannian gave him no definite answer and rode away with a slap of the reins.

Ren Debiao watched Nie Yannian's back recede into the distance. After pondering it for a while, he still could not understand why Master Nie, who had once favored and promoted him, now seemed unwilling to pay him much mind.

Then he looked at Meng Yuan. At this moment, Meng Yuan had one hand pressed over the money pouch at his waist, as if some treasure were hidden within.

Ren Debiao studied Meng Yuan carefully. This fellow was a few years younger than he was, his aptitude was not bad either, and even his looks outshone his own.

"Gelding craftsman, you haven't known Master Nie for long, yet I never expected you two to become this familiar." Ren Debiao asked with a smile.

Meng Yuan had worked alongside Ren Debiao before and knew that the man was narrow-minded and small-hearted. Thus, he had no interest in getting entangled with him; keeping his distance was enough.

"Master Nie treats everyone at our Training Field the same." Meng Yuan smiled, then added, "Congratulations, Brother Ren, on reaching the martial Eighth Rank."

"The Eighth Rank is nothing much. Train harder and more diligently, and in a year or two, you'll catch up to me." At last, a trace of a smile appeared on Ren Debiao's face. Then he asked, "I see that Master Nie treats you somewhat differently. Are you planning to become his son-in-law?"

Meng Yuan only smiled and did not answer. "The Training Field is busy. I'll head back first."

"I'll go with you and teach the younger generation a thing or two!" Ren Debiao actually called himself a senior.

Meng Yuan smiled and did not stop him.

After returning to the Training Field, Ren Debiao indeed stepped forward to offer instruction. Everyone already knew that he had entered the Eighth Rank, so they were genuinely willing to befriend him more and seek his guidance.

Meng Yuan paid him no mind. He merely took the key Master Nie had given him and went to the storeroom to find a five-stone bow.

After familiarizing himself with it a little, he adjusted the bowstring as Master Nie had taught him before beginning to fire arrow after arrow.

After shooting more than twenty arrows, his right arm felt slightly sore and swollen. Meng Yuan calmed his mind and steadied his spirit, slowly drew up his True Qi, poured it into the acupoints of his right arm, and fired again.

The bow roared like thunder, its string startling like a bolt from the blue! Though his accuracy was slightly worse, the five-stone bow's power already far surpassed that of a two-stone bow.

Meng Yuan thought to himself that among those of the same rank, even if all of the Lower Thirty-Three Heavens were opened, getting struck in a vital spot within a hundred paces would probably still mean disaster.

"A low rank is still a low rank. In the end, one hasn't escaped the bounds of being 'human.' Later, I should ask Master Nie for a body-tempering art, so a slash of the saber or cut of the sword won't take me out in one blow."

Meng Yuan muttered to himself for a while, then found himself yearning terribly for Master Nie's Blossoming Spring Thunder.

That Blossoming Spring Thunder was truly extraordinary. When the blade emerged, thunder rolled in bursts, carrying the image of spring thunder over mountains and rivers. He did not know how one could cultivate it.

Meng Yuan reckoned that it was probably still related to the circulation of True Qi through the Upper Middle Lower Three Heavens. After all, that was the foundation of a martial artist.

"How can a man born between Heaven and Earth remain long in gloom beneath another's heel? Master Nie only has one daughter. I wonder whether he needs someone to care for him in his old age..."

After shooting for a while longer, Meng Yuan switched to his left hand and continued until both arms were sore and swollen beyond endurance.

Besides the Way of Looseness and Tightness taught by Master Nie, there were other methods for opening acupoints.

For example, the sixteen acupoints across the front and back of the chest and abdomen had to be opened through breathing methods combined with the Horse Stance Punch. The limbs were simpler: use them more and train them more, such as drawing a bow, lifting stone locks, tying on sandbags to kick one's legs, and so on.

Putting away the bow and arrows, Meng Yuan stretched his arms, then tied heavy iron-sand bags around his legs before climbing onto the Plum Blossom Stakes to train.

Over there, Ren Debiao had already gone around offering guidance to everyone and had won himself quite a few followers.

"Did Master Nie send him here? Why does it look like one part teaching, two parts lecturing, and seven parts showboating?" Hu Qian also leaped onto the Plum Blossom Stakes and came over to ask Meng Yuan.

"He just entered the Eighth Rank. Can't you let him show off a little?" Meng Yuan said with a smile.

Hu Qian nodded in understanding. "To grow arrogant in wealth and rank is to bring calamity upon oneself. Learning martial arts isn't for showboating. There's no reason to fall into the inferior path."

Hearing Hu Qian quote a line from a Daoist scripture, Meng Yuan smiled and asked, "Sister Qian, I see that your skills are practiced and refined. You learned the Gale Wind Saber Technique the fastest. It seems you trained in martial arts from childhood, so why are you only now considering the path of a martial artist?"

"I learned some sword techniques and qi-nourishing arts as a child. I followed the Daoist Sect path, but I never managed to make it through." Hu Qian shook her head, sounding rather helpless. "The Princess Consort said I was suited to the martial path, so she sent me to study under Master Nie."

So you used to be a little Daoist nun!

Thus far, Meng Yuan had only seen people of the martial path and the Buddhist path make their moves. He had yet to witness the splendor of Confucianism or Daoism, so he asked curiously, "What is the Daoist Sect path like?"

"Daoist teachings are the most widespread, with different schools and different emphases in cultivation. But at the lower ranks, there is not much difference." Hu Qian seemed to know a little. "Daoism speaks of cultivating both nature and life, so one consumes qi to nourish one's nature. I don't understand anything too profound either."

Seeing Meng Yuan listening intently, Hu Qian blinked and said, "If you're interested, you might ask Sister Xun Mei for some Daoist Sect texts to read."

That made sense. Meng Yuan had already roughly read through the history books and gained a general understanding of the historical thread. He planned to find some Confucian and Daoist classics during his spare time as well, broadening his horizons.

Learning more was never a bad thing. Master Nie had said that the Princess Consort loved reading. If he encountered the Princess Consort later and could not answer a single question, would that not damage the fine reputation of a gelding craftsman?

The two chatted casually for a few more sentences. Hu Qian then returned to diligent practice, while Meng Yuan performed a round of the Embracing Stake Nourishing Essence Art.

Afterward, he sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and visualized the force of a great river. He moved his True Qi and began striking at the acupoints in his left arm, nine shallow and one deep, nine slow and one swift.

Meng Yuan no longer lacked money, nor did outside affairs trouble his mind. He intended to open the Lower Thirty-Three Heavens as quickly as possible, so that he could go serve the Princess Consort.