First Signs Emerge!

Over the next few days, Chen Yi still woke up early and then found various excuses to avoid practicing martial arts.

He was either not feeling well, in a bad mood, or had occasionally caught a cold.

So much so that even a rough person like Wang Lixing saw through his intentions-the son-in-law was not having any problems at all, he simply did not want to practice the martial path.

There was no helping it.

Wang Lixing was ultimately just a personal guard of the Xiao Manor, and even a matrilocal son-in-law like Chen Yi was a rank higher than him in status, not to mention that he had to show some respect for Second Miss's sake; otherwise, it would be hard to give her an account.

With no other choice, he reported Chen Yi's actual performance to Xiao Xuanshuo.

"Hmph, if he doesn't want to practice, let him be. The Xiao family hasn't fallen to the point where a matrilocal son-in-law who tried to escape his wedding has to hold up the pillars!"

After receiving the reply, Wang Lixing no longer fussed over Chen Yi's stake training. He woke Chen Yi up at past half-past chou as usual, and left the Chunhe Garden before yin while shaking his head and sighing.

Naturally, Chen Yi was happy to see such a change.

However, every day after Wang Lixing left, Chen Yi continued to practice stake training in the bamboo grove for an hour.

Using five days, the Great Spear Stance Cultivation broke through to the Proficient Level, along with his cultivation base breaking through the Mortal Body to reach the Ninth Rank Realm:

Name: Chen Yi
Cultivation Base: Ninth Rank · Lower
Way of Calligraphy: Great Accomplishment (0/1000)
Calligraphy: Wei Qing (Proficient)
Martial Dao · Body: Small Accomplishment (0/100)
Cultivation Technique: Great Spear Stance Cultivation (Proficient)
Fortune: 7

Every hour he stood in the proficient-grade [Great Spear Stance Cultivation] allowed Chen Yi's body to improve one by one from the outside in.

During each practice, his Tendons, Bones, and Skin, along with his five viscera, felt as though they were struck countless times by a hammer, gradually growing stronger.

The most intuitive things were his strength and the lightness of his body.

Even without testing, solely in terms of strength, he should have already reached One Ox Strength, which was around two hundred jin or so.

According to the profound principles he comprehended from "Martial Dao · Body", fleshly body strength was measured by "strength-force", divided into three tiers: ox, elephant, and dragon.

Each tier was harder than the last.

Although Chen Yi had now reached "One Ox Strength", wanting to break through to elephant strength required cultivation techniques, personal talent, food, medicinal herbs, and other things, not a single one of which could be omitted.

"Under normal circumstances, the Great Spear Stance can reach the elephant strength level when practiced to a profound depth, and at that point, the focus must shift to practicing 'Qi' until the Four Main Meridians are opened."

"But if I upgrade 'Martial Dao · Body' to Great Accomplishment, I can patch up the flaws of the stake training, just like how the Way of Calligraphy patching up the Wei Qing Font after breaking through to the Great Accomplishment Realm."

Thinking this, Chen Yi looked at today's intelligence:

[Yellow Grade High Rank: In the flower bed outside the training ground in the middle courtyard of Marquis Dingyuan's Xiao residence, a hidden guard is passing a secret letter. A trace of fortune can be obtained.]

[Fortune +1. Evaluation: Before the person arrives, the secret letter has already been sent out; a person of a carefree nature will surely suffer punishment.]

After reading, Chen Yi curled his lip.

For two months, he had grown somewhat accustomed to the nature of "Daily Intelligence".

For the first dozens of days, it was "slack", then after going to the Jiaxing Garden once, he got "lecherous fellow", and now instead of belittling him, it had changed to cursing him.

However, compared to previous quarrels, fights, and elopements, today's intelligence made him care quite a bit.

"A secret letter from a hidden guard? It seems to be a spy hidden within the Xiao family?"

Chen Yi had never heard of "hidden guards" and could only make inferences based on common sense.

They were either spies who had sneaked in from the Wei Dynasty's neighboring states, or adversaries harboring plots against the Xiao family.

Aside from that, combining the memories in his mind with the evaluation of "will surely suffer punishment", another possibility surfaced in Chen Yi's heart:

"Could it be those people who previously used bizarre methods to make me escape my wedding?"

If so, they really were hauntingly persistent.

Chen Yi originally thought he would be very safe residing in the Xiao family; after all, on the day of the grand wedding, he had met with misfortune on the road from the inn to the marquis's mansion.

Now it appeared that some malicious people were also hidden within the Xiao family.

Yet what Chen Yi was more curious about was whose path he had actually blocked to be hounded like this.

A love rival admiring Xiao Jinghong?

It shouldn't be. The Xiao family was clearly taking in a matrilocal son-in-law, but anyone with even a little bit of capability would find it impossible to agree.

Enemy states, such as the Barbarian Tribes or the Western Regions Buddhist Kingdom?

That still shouldn't be a reason to target him. He was just a tiny shrimp, and even killing him would only cause the Xiao family to lose a bit of face, nothing more than a minor annoyance.

Thinking it over and over, the only possibility was-those people within the boundaries of the Wei Dynasty who coveted the Xiao family.

"If the other party's scheme had succeeded earlier, and I had successfully escaped my wedding only to die with no evidence, the Xiao family's reputation would certainly have been ruined to the ground."

"And a thing like 'reputation' is completely useless in a war between two nations; the only place it can be used is in the court of the Great Wei."

"Countless histories have told me that the trick commonly used by those civil officials is to 'make a fuss over a minor issue', drilling huge holes through even sesame-sized cracks."

"Hidden guards... perhaps they are the private soldiers raised by some household."

Thinking this, Chen Yi baited his fishhook, cast it casually into the pond, and a trace of ferocity surfaced on his face.

"I've kept such a low profile, so if that bunch still won't let go, it'll be going too far."

It didn't matter this time since he hadn't lifted his confinement and missed it, but the next time he saw similar secret letters, he would go check out the bottom of it no matter what.

"Son-in-law, son-in-law, there's a letter for you, Second Miss has sent a letter."

Right at that moment, Xiao Die ran back from outside with a joyful expression, placing the letter in her hand onto the table.

Chen Yi rested his crude fishing rod beside him, wiped his hands, walked over, picked up the letter, and glanced at it. "Two letters?"

Xiao Die nodded. "There's also one mailed from Jiangnan Prefecture, it looks like it's from the son-in-law's household..."

Before she finished speaking, Xiao Die covered her mouth with both hands.

She certainly knew how those people of the Chen family treated the son-in-law, and worried that saying too much would make the son-in-law unhappy.

Chen Yi let out an "en", directly tore open the letter from Jiangnan Prefecture, glanced at it, and furrowed his brows slightly.

He saw that the signature on this letter was shockingly that of his father Chen Xuanji's first wife, as well as his nominal "mother", the Chen family's First Madam, Cui Yu.

[My son Chen Yi: Writing to you today, Mother will only state two matters.

First, your elder brother Yun Fan has placed high in the imperial examination as Zhuangyuan and will soon head to Shuzhou to serve as an official, at which time he should go to the Xiao family to visit you.

Second, your father recently wrote a letter from the Buddhist Kingdom, ordering you to behave yourself and stay properly in the Xiao family. Of course, Mother also hopes you can live in peace and stability within the Xiao family, and the matter of the imperial examination need not be brought up again.

After all, the Xiao family is not comparable to the Chen family...]

After reading it, Chen Yi furrowed his brows even tighter. "Cui Yu?"

The contents of the letter seemed like idle family chat, but from inside and out, they all leaked an inexplicable air of aloof arrogance.

Yet, he had already become a son-in-law of the Xiao family; did she have to bite onto him so tenaciously?

She simply had to write a letter to disgust him.

"If the former self had seen this letter, wouldn't he have been angered to death by Cui Yu?"

"Fortunately, it's me. I won't bicker with you, and from now on it's best we never cross paths again for the rest of our lives."

Chen Yi then opened the second letter and began to read, his furrowed brows relaxing.

[Janghong has already learned of her husband's conduct at home recently, and the previous punishment for escaping the wedding is hereby written off.

Also, Jinghong still has some military affairs on her hands, and her date of return is undecided.

Do not worry.]

A smile bloomed on Chen Yi's face. He looked at Xiao Die, who wanted to peek but still stayed honestly in place, and said:

"Starting today, your son-in-law's confinement is lifted!"

Everything fears comparison.

Compared to the First Madam of the Chen family's sarcasm, Lady Xiao Jinghong's tone was much calmer and more equal.

He didn't know what military affairs she spoke of, but recently he hadn't heard of any wars, so he guessed it was still inspecting troops and drilling.