Yun Shou: I Don't Eat Tender Grass

Chu San, captain of the Chu Family's guards, was a Second-rate Martial Artist. While training the new batch of guards, he passed on certain secrets known only to the martial artist class!

Martial training was divided into two kinds: Martial Arts, meaning orthodox martial disciplines. Take the Iron Body Technique you had chosen at the start, for example—only by mastering it could one become a Third-rate Martial Artist, a Second-rate Martial Artist, or even higher!

The second kind was Combat Techniques. As the name implied, they were fighting skills. Combat Techniques had an extremely limited effect on training one's physical constitution; even if practiced to the limit, they would only make one an "Unranked Martial Artist."

Some advanced Martial Arts possessed not only training methods but also matching Combat Techniques. When the two were combined, their power surpassed any Martial Arts and Combat Techniques cobbled together at random.

Unfortunately, the Iron Body Technique had no matching Combat Techniques. You could only piece together other Combat Techniques.

And the Heaven-Piercing Arm you had not chosen—actually had no matching Combat Techniques either.

Your batch of new guards began receiving Captain Chu San's instruction. He told you that Third-rate Martial Artists trained their muscles, blood and qi, and skin membranes. Only after cultivating all three to a certain level could Internal Energy be born, allowing one to become a Second-rate Martial Artist!

You began training in Martial Arts, while also being assigned patrol duties around the Chu Family compound.

Da Qing 283. The Iron Body Technique reached Initiation, and you felt your body's strength receive an additional boost.

(Martial Arts proficiency: Initiation → Minor Accomplishment → Major Accomplishment → Perfection.)

(Under normal circumstances, Martial Arts proficiency only slightly affected the speed of training. Its main purpose was to provide additional attribute bonuses. For example, as the Iron Body Technique's proficiency stage rose, the practitioner's physical strength would increase as well.)

Chu San praised your Talent Aptitude as decent. If you caught the main family's eye, becoming a Second-rate Martial Artist was certain, and even reaching the First-rate Level was not beyond consideration.

At this point, your Foundation Amplification had reached 144%. Moreover, the Chu Family was wealthy and generous. With meat at every meal and occasional medicinal supplements for outstanding guards, you felt the small amount of vital energy you had lost in the past had recovered as well.

In other words, this 144% was equivalent to more than 150% from several years ago!

You truly were someone with outstanding martial talent!

Da Qing 284. You heard that the Daoist Sect's grandmasters were preparing a Grandmaster Assembly. Naturally, this had nothing to do with a Third-rate Martial Artist like you, who was still training his muscles.

Da Qing 285. Your martial cultivation advanced another step. You felt that your muscular strength had been tempered to a certain standard, and you vaguely sensed the blood and qi within your body. Once you gained control over your blood and qi, you would be considered above average even among Third-rate Martial Artists.

—However, Captain Chu San said that your innate physique and strength were already exceptional, so your actual combat ability was comparable to certain Third-rate Martial Artists who had cultivated blood and qi.

That same year, Wu Kingdom slaughtered villages along the Qing Kingdom border. The following month, Qing Kingdom declared war on Wu Kingdom.

What the hell did that have to do with me?

Three months later, conscription began across the land. But you were a Chu Family guard, so even forced recruitment would not reach your head.

Your Iron Body Technique reached Minor Accomplishment.

Da Qing 286. You heard that the front lines had suffered a crushing defeat. The main reason was that Wu Kingdom had produced an "Innate Dragon Elephant Great Strength" warrior, who could casually unleash the force of ten thousand jin with every strike. Even grandmasters were unwilling to clash with him head-on. On the battlefield, he swept through all before him, taking on a thousand alone with ease.

Everyone in the Chu residence was saying that within two years, Wu Kingdom's army would push all the way to Qingcheng.

That same year, Uncle Ji sent his daughter to your care. He asked only that you take her in, let her leave with you, and look after her properly. His words hinted that you could even take her as a concubine.

After all, the Chu Family stood behind you. When the armies came, such aristocratic clans would either surrender or flee. Following you was far safer than following a fisherman.

Da Qing 287. The Grandmaster Assembly was held as scheduled, but soon afterward, earth-shattering news spread!

It had been a trap. The Daoist Sect and Qing Kingdom struck together, and six Wu Kingdom grandmasters fell on the spot! The tide of war seemed poised to turn!

Wu Kingdom's Peerless Great Grandmaster emerged in rage. With one palm strike, he could blast open city walls. He struck three times, helping Wu Kingdom's army breach three cities in succession and slaughter three cities in succession!

Da Qing 288. The army arrived beneath Qingcheng's walls. Some time earlier, you had already used the small privilege afforded to an "excellent Chu Family guard" to bring acquaintances from Qing He Village into the city.

In truth, you had merely found them a dilapidated house to squeeze into and warned the local thugs not to cause trouble.

You were thirty-three this year, and your Foundation Amplification had reached 149%. The only regret was that you had begun martial training too late and were stuck at the skin membrane stage... Another reason was that the more blood and qi you cultivated, the thicker your foundation became, and the more time it took.

You guarded near the Chu Family's inner chambers. By now, you counted as a senior guard and were only one step away from becoming captain.

You heard the Chu Family members cursing Wu Kingdom's army: the enemy refused to accept their surrender and intended to massacre the city!

Although no Great Grandmaster had taken the field, after three consecutive days of assault, the city walls were clearly about to fall. Panic gripped the city.

The Chu Family ordered you to defend the walls. Military orders were as immovable as mountains, and the commands of wealthy aristocratic clans were hardly any less so. You felt that this time, you were done for.

On the fifth day, the day the city was about to fall, you saw an old man drift gracefully onto the city wall. You recognized him. He was a crippled Martial Master who ran a martial arts school that barely qualified as a dojo. But now, it seemed he was far from simple.

But even if he were a grandmaster, what could he do? Not even a grandmaster could face ten thousand on a battlefield alone. Besides, Wu Kingdom revered martial prowess; even the most ordinary soldiers in its army generally possessed the strength of Third-rate Martial Artists.

The old man called out the army's commanding general. His voice rolled across dozens of li, stirring winds and clouds, so inhuman it scarcely seemed of this world. He urged the general to bypass this city and refrain from murderous intent.

The commanding general sneered, calling him an old fool playing tricks, then led tens of thousands of troops in an all-out charge.

A force beyond imagination descended like a natural disaster. At thirty-three, you stood on the city wall like an ant, staring dumbfounded as the old man slapped thousands of people to death with a single palm.

Forget grandmasters—even the "Supreme Grandmasters" standing at the pinnacle of the world could never possess such power. This display was already akin to a heavenly catastrophe!

You rather wanted to start over, so that your Main Body could hurry up and cling to this golden thigh in the next simulation.

Yun Shou: "You can count on it, brother."

The crisis in Qingcheng was resolved. The old man calmly watched Wu Kingdom's remaining defeated troops retreat in panic, yet he did not unleash a second strike.

From that day onward, no one in Qingcheng ever saw him again.

Da Qing 289. The two kingdoms called a truce, and peace temporarily returned.

That year, Internal Energy was also born within your body, making you a Second-rate Martial Artist—the most common kind of martial artist in the martial world, capable of walking the Jianghu.

A Second-rate Martial Artist had Internal Energy born within their body, also known as inner force. This power could not be projected outward to kill enemies, but it could flow through the limbs and bones, temporarily enhancing strength, speed, and explosive force.

You had already reached the level of those "martial arts masters" from the weaker wuxia novels you had read in your previous life.

You became captain of the Chu Family guard unit. You were thirty-four this year, while Ji Xiaoyu was fifteen. She often came to your residence to see you, and the guards under your command teased, "The captain's little wife is here again."

You only wanted to satisfy your desires, but such things were not for acquaintances, not for those close to you.

You did not eat tender grass.

Da Qing 290. You often went to Hundred Flowers Pavilion to satisfy your desires right in front of Ji Xiaoyu. Hundred Flowers Pavilion was relatively high-end, and there had been no reports of anyone catching a venereal disease there.

Yun Shou: "...Pah! A john!"

I haven't even gotten to enjoy myself yet!