Thud, thud, thud!
Su Mu could hear his own rapid heartbeat clearly. Only when the few points of firelight from the village came into view did he finally feel a little more at ease.
Even now, his mind kept replaying what had happened not long ago, beyond his control.
In these troubled times, human life was cheap as grass. He had never wronged Sun Li, a fellow apprentice, yet Sun Li had come to hate him—and had even hired someone to murder him.
"People's hearts are unfathomable..."
Su Mu trembled all over. Only now did he understand why the ancient sages had come up with sayings like "One can never be too wary of others" to warn the world.
As he repeated those words under his breath, something in the young man's mindset quietly changed.
That's right. I've crossed into another world. This isn't a society ruled by law... It's a world in chaos...
If I hadn't diligently practiced the Five Animal Frolics for over half a year, and if that bandit hadn't let his guard down because he thought I was young and timid, I'd be the one dead today...
Su Mu took a deep breath and slowly clenched his fists.
"I, Su Mu, won't become a villain who plots against others, but I'll never be a short-lived goody-two-shoes, either..."
He returned to his little courtyard bare-chested. He had already tossed the bloodstained clothes aside in the wilderness. After returning to his room, he boiled water and washed off the blood. Only then did Su Mu finally feel completely calm.
This time, besides the purse containing ten taels of silver he'd found on Sun Li, he'd also discovered a tightly wrapped bundle.
"Let's see what that scoundrel was carrying."
When he'd felt the bundle earlier, its shape had seemed a lot like a book. He could only hope it wasn't some useless volume like the Four Books and Five Classics.
After coming so close to death, Su Mu yearned for strength and the power to grow stronger.
Full of anticipation, he opened the dark blue bundle, wrapped in three layers of cloth. At last, its contents were revealed: an old-fashioned thread-bound book with a yellowing cover.
Su Mu's breathing quickened slightly. He brushed the dust off the book, revealing three large golden characters: Tiger Subduing Fist.
"Is this really a martial arts manual?"
Su Mu's heart pounded.
"Tiger Subduing Fist imitates the tiger's fierce fighting style. It is powerful and domineering, breaking through skill with strength. With deep enough practice, one can reach the Ninth Rank..."
Reach the Ninth Rank!
This was clearly a Ranked Martial Art.
Su Mu's heart burned with excitement. He couldn't help swallowing. The ancients hadn't lied: murder and arson really did make a golden belt. Sun Li could never have imagined that the hired killer he'd sent would instead deliver a great gift to Su Mu.
"The Ninth Rank is the lowest level among Martial Artists in this world. Tiger Subduing Fist isn't some top-tier martial art... but that's exactly what I need right now. A top-tier martial art would be useless to me at this stage."
The higher the level of a martial art, the higher the threshold for practicing it. Without a foundation in martial arts, even if Su Mu were given a top-tier technique right now, all he could do was stare at it helplessly.
Su Mu began reading the copy of Tiger Subduing Fist by candlelight. The pages rustled pleasantly as he turned them, one after another. His eyes grew brighter and more fervent as he became increasingly absorbed.
It wasn't until late at night that Su Mu finally closed the manual, reluctant to put it down. Joy showed on his face.
"Tiger Subduing Fist imitates the tiger's fighting style. I already have a foundation in the Five Animal Frolics, so I should find it easier than most to master. I'll start practicing tomorrow!"
The Five Animal Frolics included thirteen Tiger Frolic forms. Tiger Subduing Fist was precisely an advanced, Ranked version of the Tiger Frolic.
After skimming through Tiger Subduing Fist, Su Mu had also finally gained a general understanding of this world's martial arts system.
According to the manual, Martial Artists in this world were divided into nine ranks, with the Ninth Rank lowest and the First Rank highest.
The Ninth, Eighth, and Seventh Ranks were collectively known as Low-Ranked Martial Artists. They were also the first major hurdle on the martial path: Body Refining Martial Artists. In martial arts, refining the body came first.
The Ninth Rank involved refining strength into force, the Eighth Rank bone forging and marrow refining, and the Seventh Rank muscle tendon transformation and meridian cleansing.
Refining Strength into Force was the threshold for becoming a Ranked Martial Artist. Put simply, this stage involved gradually building one's strength through years of practice, until one's power flowed throughout the body and an invisible "force" emerged from every movement.
Though this was the first step into martial arts, it still excluded more than nine out of every ten people who trained in the world. Countless practitioners spent over a decade training without ever cultivating "force." Without it, they could never become Ranked Martial Artists and would remain nobodies forever.
Suppressing his excitement, Su Mu stepped out into the courtyard and practiced the Five Animal Frolics for a while before soon falling asleep.
Exhausted in body and mind, Su Mu slept deeply that night.
The next day, after practicing the Five Animal Frolics for a while as usual, Su Mu headed to town with some unease. As he walked through its streets and alleys, he felt somewhat nervous.
Yet a whole night had passed, and there was no news in town. The deaths of the two men hadn't stirred up the slightest ripple. It was enough to make one wonder whether the authorities in town hadn't even noticed that two people had died overnight.
Only then did Su Mu feel a little more at ease. As he ate lunch at noon, Li Xiaohu came over. "Sun Li took yesterday off, but he still hasn't shown up today..."
Su Mu's face changed. His heart gave a jolt, and the spoon he'd been using to ladle porridge hung frozen in midair. Li Xiaohu glanced at him in puzzlement.
"I think he went drinking again last night. That guy's family lives in Willow Village, north of town. There's a fairly large distillery there, and his family lives right across from it. Anyway, this isn't the first time. He used to hang around with the local thugs in that area all the time."
Hearing this, Su Mu secretly breathed a sigh of relief and brought the porridge to his mouth, though his thoughts had already drifted elsewhere.
The events of the previous day resurfaced in his mind.
Before dying, Sun Li had mocked him for being a country bumpkin. Later, Su Mu had found a purse containing ten taels of silver on Sun Li's corpse. In this world, one tael of silver was enough to keep a family of three fed and clothed for three months.
What ordinary apprentice had ten taels of silver? Even if he'd planned to use the money to hire a killer, it was enough to show that Sun Li was well-off.
He'd already killed the man, so he might as well take the rest of his property before anyone realized Sun Li was dead. Sun Li would only have been getting what he deserved.
Besides, in these troubled times, Sun Li had been away from home for a long time. Sooner or later, someone else would set their sights on his property. He might as well take it himself.
Willow Village, across from the distillery...
Coming back to himself, Su Mu casually asked, "Won't Sun Li's family do anything?"
"Sun Li only has an uncle left, and they don't live together. It was his uncle who brought him to the shop. He used to come visit Sun Li every now and then, but after he caught him drinking, he stopped coming around so much."
"I see."
Su Mu replied, his mind made up.
Clang, clang, clang!
The afternoon slipped by amid the sound of hammering. At dusk, Su Mu doused the forge and left the shop.
After night fell, a figure arrived at a house, vaulted over the wall, and slipped inside. It was Su Mu. After practicing the Five Animal Frolics for over half a year, his body had become nimble and well-coordinated. He entered Sun Li's courtyard without disturbing anyone.
After searching in the dark for a while, Su Mu found a small wooden chest under the bed.
When he opened it, the first thing he saw was silver: one ten-tael ingot of Official Silver, along with some loose coins, adding up to sixteen taels.
"There's sixteen taels here. Added to the ten taels from before, that makes twenty-six taels of silver. Sun Li really was well-off."
Su Mu muttered under his breath.
"Hmm? What's this?"
Besides the silver, there were two tokens in the little chest, along with a Fish-shaped White Jade Pendant.
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