Three Talents Town

That night, Shi Feizhe feared more trouble might arise. Half-asleep and half-awake, he held his stance until dawn.

His eyes were dry, and only three thoughts filled his mind.

First, if he ever traveled again and missed an inn for the night, he would be a pig!

Second, all that nonsense about stance work, meditation, and circulating inner force replacing sleep was a lie.

Third, holding this stance too long was useless! Forcing himself to stand did not increase his true qi; it only exhausted him!

While holding the stance, he had been so sleepy he could barely keep his eyes open, and had nearly fallen over several times.

What he did not know was that experts who normally condensed true qi through Blood Qi Spirit truly could go without sleep, sitting in meditation all night.

This martial arts newbie who had come up through some wild, crooked path was trying to hold a stance instead of sleeping. He could not even walk yet, but already wanted to run—aiming too high!

Rubbing his eyes, Shi Feizhe stamped out the campfire and continued westward.

The whole way, he was dizzy and bleary-eyed, as though he would fall asleep the moment he closed his eyes. He gnawed on dry provisions as he walked, and by around afternoon, he finally spotted an inn by the roadside.

At the inn, he rented a private room, had hot water brought up to wash his face and feet, then slept all the way until the next morning.

Only then did he feel alive again!

Regretfully checking out of the private room, Shi Feizhe resumed his journey. He had previously slept in communal bunks, which cost only three copper coins a night. Yet this private room had cost twenty copper coins for one night—equal to what he used to earn in a month at the medical clinic!

He had simply been too tired the day before. Rarely indulging himself, he had not wanted to squeeze into a communal bunk and be disturbed by others.

With money, you were the boss anywhere! He sighed as he followed the main road west.

There were many people of the martial world along the way, carrying bundles and weapons as they headed west as well. There were also horse caravans and merchant caravans traveling toward Three Talents Town.

Those martial-world folk traveled in groups and paid Shi Feizhe no mind. As they walked, they chatted about nothing but trivial scraps of gossip.

Things like how Li Family Village had started fighting Wang Family Village again, and how Mountain Tiger had received an invitation from Li Family Village to lend them a hand—how damned impressive he had been, and so on.

The others all praised him. "Brother, you're incredible!"

After he was done, others spoke up as well, saying how Eight-Armed Ape had gone somewhere to back someone up, how imposing he had been, and how loyal and righteous.

They were loud, too, and Shi Feizhe was forced to listen to them all the way. His expression turned strange. So this was the martial world?

Why did it feel like nothing more than the business of lowlife street thugs?

Shi Feizhe kept listening until noon before he finally got the picture. So these people were also little rookies just stepping into the martial world!

Back in their hometowns, they relied on their ability to train Blood Qi to swagger about and earn a living, unlike Shi Feizhe, who had to work for others just to avoid starving. But they had no inner cultivation methods and no other way to obtain martial arts manuals, so like Shi Feizhe, they were heading to Three Talents Town to try their luck.

If they were lucky, they might stumble upon a manual, cultivate true qi from then on, and become true qi experts.

If that failed, they could still join some sect or school. They looked terribly old, but were in truth only a little over twenty.

People who had to start making a living early simply looked older!

In the martial world, everyone lifted each other's sedan chairs. You bragged, and others flattered you. Others bragged, and naturally you had to flatter them too.

There had to be give and take. That was the martial world!

The most useful thing he heard was that after Huang Tian moved into Yi Yang City, the fighting in the city had become fierce. High rewards were being offered to those who went to lend their fists.

Thus, these people who usually lived off their reputations in the countryside hurriedly ran away.

They might want that money, but they still needed to be alive to take it!

You wanted his silver; he wanted your life!

That slippery, evasive disposition made Shi Feizhe think more highly of them. Come to think of it, among those who could survive in the martial world, how many fools could there be?

After traveling with this bunch of bragging brothers for two days, they finally arrived at Three Talents Town.

Three Talents Town was an east-west town beside a small lake. There were no archways or gate towers, only a stone stele outside town bearing the two characters: "Three Talents."

A main street ran through the middle of town, and it was far livelier than Shi Feizhe had expected. The streets bustled with people coming from north and south, east and west. From accents alone, Shi Feizhe had already heard three or four different kinds.

Whether their doors faced south or north, the storefronts along the street were packed with little restaurants, inns, and studies.

At the westernmost end of Three Talents Town stood a grand manor facing south from the north: Three Talents Manor. Naturally, everyone else settled down in the Small Town.

Where people gathered, eating, drinking, pissing, and shitting were unavoidable. For all he knew, the businesses in this town might all belong to Three Talents Manor!

Thus, the little restaurants and inns in town were no surprise to Shi Feizhe. After all, so many people came to Three Talents Manor to read martial arts manuals for free; Three Talents Manor could hardly be expected to feed and house them too.

Only the studies and bookshops exceeded Shi Feizhe's expectations.

Whenever martial-world folk arrived from the east, the book boys standing outside the studies would shout, "Quiet Heart Study's exclusive Martial Path Detailed Explanation! Gathering the latest progress in cracking manuals from recent years! Three taels of silver—no loss if you buy it, no scam if you buy it! Helping you crack martial arts sooner, succeed in 'Seeing Truth,' step into 'Escaping Mundane,' and laugh proudly over the martial world!"

After listening to those people boast all along the road, Shi Feizhe had learned that the martial path consisted of the Entering Mortal Realm, the Escaping Mundane Realm, and the True Person Realm.

There were higher realms beyond the True Person Realm. These people only knew that such higher realms existed, but did not know what they were called.

The Entering Mortal Realm was divided into three stages: the Blood Qi Barrier, the Spirit Barrier, and the Seeing Truth Barrier. These three barriers were known as the "Three Barriers of Escaping Mundane."

Once one passed these three barriers, one entered the Escaping Mundane Realm!

As for whether the Escaping Mundane Realm also had three stages, even these bragging brothers did not know. They said Three Talents Manor had its own explanations.

From what the book boy outside the study said, it seemed they had collected the cracking results of those who had entered Three Talents Manor over the years.

To be honest, Shi Feizhe was tempted. Looking over these cracking results and finding a line of thought for cracking the manuals would be very helpful once he entered the manor!

But three taels of silver was far too expensive!

He continued farther in and heard someone calling out, "Fragrant Heart Study's exclusive Martial Path Detailed Explanation, personally compiled by a master! Two taels of silver—buy it without fear of being cheated..."

Good heavens, you people had already started competing like this!

It seemed this thing wasn't worth much after all!

He entered a Fragrant Heart Study and saw a book boy warmly say, "Young hero, wouldn't you like a copy of Martial Path Detailed Explanation?"

Heaven knew, this was the first time in Shi Feizhe's life that anyone had called him a young hero!

Sure enough, salespeople everywhere had honeyed tongues!

Fragrant Heart Study was quite spacious inside. The moment he entered, he saw several redwood lacquered shelves displaying brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. Shelves also stood in the surrounding corners, piled with paper, books, stationery, and the like.

In one corner sat a flat-topped writing desk, where a burly man in a gray robe, his face full of fierce flesh, was earnestly copying a book.

"No, I'm buying some brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones." Shi Feizhe shook his head and carefully examined the shelves.

He really did need to buy something to copy with.

"We have superior Wolf Hair Brushes and goat-hair brushes. Our paper includes peach blossom paper, magnetic blue paper, flower-curtain paper, and more. As for ink, we have yellow ink, Xuan ink..." the book boy introduced tirelessly.

"Do you have anything cheaper?" Shi Feizhe felt that all these things were too expensive and could not help asking.

Even bookstores were fiercely competitive!