Bandits

After Yan San left, Li Qing once again began his stance training in his own courtyard, spending the next several hours on this fundamental stance practice.

Only when his body was utterly exhausted and weary did he return to his room to rest.

When he woke again, Li Qing was startled by a knock at the door. He hadn't dared to sleep too deeply, so he opened his eyes after just three knocks.

Opening the courtyard gate, he saw Yan San carrying a pile of iron ingots and a stone slab engraved with mysterious patterns.

"Heh heh, Little Master Li, the Yan family agreed to your terms. They're willing to let you view one secret manual first, and once the farm tools are finished, two more will be delivered!" Yan San said with a grin.

Clearly, the Yan family had agreed to this deal readily, and he had profited handsomely from it as well.

From the moment Li Qing laid eyes on the stone slab, he found it hard to look away from the mysterious patterns carved into it.

"May I ask what martial art is inscribed on this stone slab?" Li Qing averted his gaze and asked with a calm expression.

"The Yan family steward said this art is called Light Silk Leg, one of the signature techniques of the Light Silk Martial Hall back in the city. This slab was personally engraved by their hall master!" Yan San explained, then handed the slab to Li Qing, adding, "Of course, the Yan family will take this slab back afterward!"

Taking the heavy stone slab, Li Qing gave it another careful look.

There was indeed a certain indescribable resonance to it; he could sense the flow of energy within, and it didn't seem fake.

"Alright, I'll take the slab. I'm a bit tired today, so you can head back now. Come back in seven days to pick up the sickle." Li Qing nodded, his expression calm.

"Got it! Little Master Li, I'll come again in seven days!" Yan San didn't linger, and even closed Li Qing's courtyard gate behind him as he left.

Bang!

Once the door was shut, Yan San's fawning expression immediately shifted to one of contempt and disdain.

After walking a distance, he muttered to himself, "What a fool. At a time like this, he'd rather practice this useless stuff than take the Black Rye Mushroom. Does he really think he can make something of himself?"

Inside the courtyard, Li Qing, sharp-eared and keen-eyed, naturally caught this mockery.

He paid it no mind at all—in fact, he almost felt like laughing.

Practicing this martial art might indeed be time-consuming and yield little visible progress, but he wasn't short on time!

He would develop in silence, and once his martial arts were perfected, he'd kick everyone to the curb.

"No matter. Even if my talent is poor, practicing for eight or ten years should show some results. If that fails, I'll just forge a few more weapons!"

Li Qing silently made this fierce vow to himself.

His body utterly spent, Li Qing returned to his room and collapsed into sleep again.

He woke almost precisely on time. His years as a blacksmith's apprentice in the army had trained him to keep an internal clock—he never overslept.

Leaving the stone slab inscribed with Light Silk Leg in the Eternal Night World, he brought some iron ingots and the "Ancient Profound Hammer Technique" back to his own tent.

After returning, having slept a total of about ten hours, he was once again exhausted and panting from the exertion.

He climbed out of bed, his entire body aching terribly, especially his legs, which trembled uncontrollably with every step.

The aftereffects of stance training!

But despite the fatigue, Li Qing could clearly feel that his stamina had improved. When he stepped on the ground, there was a solid, grounded sensation—this was the influence of the stance training's power-transfer method.

"Gurgle, gurgle~"

Having gone nearly a full day without eating, his stomach naturally protested.

"Sigh. If it weren't for the triple time flow and the harsh living conditions, I'd want to stay in the Eternal Night World forever."

He had considered using the Eternal Night World to avoid disaster—when the enemy attacked, he could just slip into the other world and leave it all behind.

But traveling between worlds had a flaw: wherever you were before the shift, you returned to the same spot!

The border fortress where the Wu Li Army was currently stationed was a crucial stronghold, near an iron mine that needed constant guarding.

If the enemy captured this place and he came back, the joke would be on him.

He might be caught as a spy and subjected to brutal torture.

Of course, the most critical issue was the Eternal Night World's lack of food. He had no confidence he could sustain his post-training appetite there.

Starving, Li Qing stepped out of his tent. The sky outside was just barely light.

He grabbed two bowls and hurried to the kitchen. Unexpectedly, the cook on duty this morning was still Fatty Wu.

But compared to last night, Wu Chong's face was noticeably more worried.

"What's wrong, Fatty Wu?" Li Qing asked.

Then he spotted the mountain of white steamed buns on the counter, and his eyes practically glowed green. Famished as he was, he felt he could down a dozen or two in one go.

"The master cook who taught me went to check on the grain transport team yesterday afternoon. He was supposed to be back last night, but he still hasn't returned!" Wu Chong blurted out, unable to keep anything to himself.

Li Qing looked around. No one else was up yet. He grabbed two buns and stuffed them into his mouth, asking between chews, "Did anyone from the Wounded Soldiers' Camp come for breakfast this morning?"

Wu Chong shook his head, then stared at Li Qing in surprise as he kept shoving buns into his mouth. "Are you a starving ghost reincarnated? How can you be this hungry? Didn't I give you plenty of food yesterday?"

Li Qing naturally couldn't tell Fatty Wu that he'd spent the whole day doing stance training in another world without eating.

He filled his two bowls with food, patted Wu Chong on the shoulder, and hurried out of the kitchen.

The border fortress was about to descend into chaos. If his guess was right, the grain transport team had likely been ambushed by bandits.

Someone had delivered food to the Wounded Soldiers' Camp last night, but no one had come this morning. The severely wounded men who returned yesterday afternoon were probably more likely to be dead than alive.

That he could hold on for this long still surprised Li Qing. He must have practiced martial arts and had some skill to rely on; if he were an ordinary person, he would have died on the spot.

The bandits at the Border Fortress all came from the nomadic tribes on the eastern grasslands, bordering both the Feng Kingdom and the Liang Kingdom.

It was still midsummer, far from winter, so for them to boldly plunder grain supplies and shoot soldiers was truly unusual.

This was making enemies to the death! It seemed they were practically begging the Feng Kingdom to send troops to attack and wipe them out.

But would bandits so easily court death? Of course not. They weren't fools. Offending the Feng Kingdom like this brought no benefit.

Unless the bandits had colluded with the Liang Kingdom.

His sharp thinking, honed by modern experience, led Li Qing to consider many possibilities. However, he believed that what he could think of, the Wu Li Army's high command could not have missed.

Now it was up to the imperial court's stance.

"Ah, I just wanted to quietly work the forge and develop a bit more. Why is it so difficult?"