The Second Mortal Shedding

The young apprentice led Chen Ye through the front hall and toward the back, glancing back with a smile as they walked. "You came at just the right time, sir. Steward Shen has just finished inspecting a batch of lumber and is in the courtyard now. Please wait a moment. I'll go fetch him."

"Sorry for the trouble."

Chen Ye stood in the courtyard, thick with the smell of sawdust, and waited patiently.

He looked around and saw three or four partially finished carriages parked in the yard. Their mortise-and-tenon joints fit together without the slightest gap.

He had heard that Shuntong Transport Agency's craftsmanship had been passed down for three generations, earning it a reputation for carriages that "stay in one piece for a hundred years."

The claim wasn't empty talk.

Before long, a steward in his early forties strode into the courtyard.

He walked up to Chen Ye and looked him over. Chen Ye was dressed respectably, but he was a stranger, and the steward didn't recognize him.

"May I ask who you are, sir...?"

Chen Ye took a letter from his robes and handed it over. "I'm Chen Ye, a junior recommended by Escort Master Sun. I heard your agency was short-handed, so I've come to seek a position."

Steward Shen lowered his head to read the letter. Once he understood the circumstances, he looked up with a more genuine warmth in his expression.

"So you're the person Head Escort Sun recommended. What good timing—we're short-handed right now, and you've come just when we need you. Come along. I'll introduce you to the master of the household."

He led Chen Ye deeper into the back courtyard, casually asking as they walked, "What kind of work are you best at, young man?"

"Killing people. Does that count?"

Steward Shen stopped dead and turned to look at him.

Seeing Steward Shen frozen in place, Chen Ye paused for a beat, then grinned to ease the tension. "Just joking. I know a little martial arts, so naturally, I'm best suited to escorting carriages and standing guard."

Steward Shen let out a breath of relief. "Head Escort Sun praised you highly in his letter, too. He said your skills were solid and that you were reliable. Don't go making jokes like that carelessly in the future. This is the very feet of the Son of Heaven. Killing someone is a serious business."

"We're here."

They stopped in front of the main house.

Steward Shen motioned for him to wait. "Please stay here for a moment. I'll go in and report this."

Steward Shen went inside, then returned shortly afterward.

He said to Chen Ye, "The master has agreed, for the sake of Old Head Escort Sun. But we can't bend the rules. You'll have to join an escort run first. Once you've done the job properly, you'll be one of us."

"Good." Chen Ye asked, "I'm just not sure how this escort job works. What exactly will I need to do?"

Steward Shen explained, "Our agency is a big operation, and big trees catch the wind. There are plenty of people in the Capital City who envy us. Our carriage buyers are all high-ranking officials and nobles, so nothing can go wrong. On the day we deliver a carriage, we send a staff member along to keep an eye on it and make sure its construction is sound. Once the owner has paid the balance, we come back.

"All you have to do is accompany the carriage for a day. If the customer has any questions or problems, deal with them promptly on the spot."

Steward Shen suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, the carriage... you know how to drive one, right?"

Chen Ye had once been no more than a servant and had never driven a carriage. But without a moment's hesitation, he blurted, "Of course!"

As far as he was concerned, whether he knew how or not, he could agree first and figure it out later.

Do something long enough, and you learned how.

"Good. Get ready. Someone from Liu Estate will come to collect their carriage shortly. I'll go with you and see what you can do."

"May I ask what kind of background the Liu Family has? I'd like to be prepared."

"The Liu Family is a secondary Aristocratic Clan whose ancestors included a Director of the Secretariat. The current head of the family holds the post of Gentleman of the Secretariat. You and I will escort the carriage together, which should be proper enough."

Chen Ye wasn't yet familiar with the official ranks and family hierarchies of Jing Kingdom, but from that description, he could tell the Liu Family had deep roots in the Capital City. He made a mental note of it.

"Rest here for a while. When it's time, I'll come and call you."

"Sorry for the trouble, Steward Shen."

Steward Shen hurried back toward the front hall.

The courtyard fell quiet, leaving Chen Ye alone.

With nothing else to do, Chen Ye found a corner of the courtyard, sank into a horse stance, and began silently tempering his qi and blood.

Once his stance had settled, his thoughts gradually began to stir.

He mentally replayed the details of the fight on the water a few days ago and realized that the essence of the Array-Breaking Style wasn't its moves, but its method of generating force. He didn't have to restrict himself to fixed forms when applying it.

On land, he could push off the ground to gain leverage. On a boat, he could use his waist and hips to generate force instead.

By the same logic, if he ever had to fight on a galloping horse or inside a swaying carriage, he could adapt in the same way.

At a thought, Chen Ye quietly circulated the Foundation Cultivation Technique.

His breath arose from his dantian and slowly flowed along his meridians.

Some of the medicinal power from the Blood Ginseng Pill he'd been force-fed at the Gao Family still lingered in his meridians, not yet fully absorbed.

He had been practicing every day, and as his breath circulated, he had gradually been dissolving that accumulated medicinal power, bit by bit.

The four True Yangs in his dantian had been nourished by the pill, continually releasing gentle streams of warmth that made his whole body feel as if it were soaking in a hot spring. It was wonderfully comfortable.

As he held his stance, Chen Ye mentally took apart and reassembled the way the Array-Breaking Style generated force. He began using his waist and hips as the core to drive that force and channel it through his whole body.

Standing in a stance was no longer just a matter of holding still and enduring the passage of time. Now he constantly made adjustments and tested things as he stood.

Chen Ye was trying to use his breathing to guide his force along a newly constructed path.

The sensation was unfamiliar, like taking apart a machine and putting it back together from scratch.

Gradually, Chen Ye sank into his stance training until he reached a state of complete absorption.

At that moment, he remembered the fight on the water, when the boat had rocked and he'd slipped half a step across the wet deck before managing to steady himself.

Chen Ye imitated the sensation of directing his force that day.

Just like that.

Boom!

Suddenly, that one wisp of calm qi within him exploded beyond his control.

The qi he had been accumulating for so long surged through his meridians like a floodgate bursting open, thundering out of control as it smashed through them.

The four True Yangs near his dantian suddenly blazed bright.

Their light shone through his clothes, revealing four tiny circles, each the size of a sesame seed.

Chen Ye's flesh and blood roared as a vast, unstoppable new power poured forth from the depths of his dantian.

His heart shook, and he could hardly believe it.

He had pawned away his lifespan again and again to keep improving his cultivation. Combined with his recent hard training and insights, it had finally carried him over the last threshold.

Now, everything had fallen into place. In this courtyard, he had undergone the Second Mortal Shedding!

Deep within his flesh and blood, vitality burst into life.

Chen Ye felt his chest swell as a surge of breath rose through it, while his temples throbbed.

He had to adjust his breathing to force the surging impulse back down.

He didn't know how long it took. Once the power gradually subsided, Chen Ye looked down at his hands and saw a layer of golden-gray callus beneath his skin, thicker and heavier than last time.

As if struck by a thought, Chen Ye focused his mind and summoned the Pawn System interface.

[Name: Chen Ye]

[Current Martial Art: Foundation Cultivation Technique (Perfection)]

[Realm: Mortal Shedding (Two)]

[Remaining Lifespan: Six months and twenty-four days.]

Chen Ye stared at the last line for a long time, silent.

He hadn't expected his lifespan to increase by four months out of nowhere after his second Mortal Shedding, without his having to buy it back with silver.

At that moment, Chen Ye was certain.

An increase in cultivation could also increase lifespan.