Ten Days

Before dark, Xiao Hua had finished cooking. Smiling like a blooming flower, she brought the dishes to the table: one plate of dried vegetables and another of steamed tofu.

It was not a lavish spread, but it had been made with care.

After standing by the table and pursing her lips, she went back into the inner room and brought out a jug of wine.

"Brother Yuan, it's only simple food. Please don't mind it."

"What are you saying? In times like these, having food to eat is already good enough." Lu Yuan sat down with a cheerful laugh, without the slightest hint of disdain.

He took the coarse-rice steamed bun Xiao Hua handed him and began eating.

When Xiao Hua and her mother had moved here, they had possessed some savings. But her mother had been bedridden with illness for years, and all that money had gone toward medicine. Now, they were barely making ends meet.

Usually, Xiao Hua supported the household by sewing clothes for others at home. Her embroidery was excellent, her stitches neat, and she could weave all kinds of patterns, so quite a few people sought her out.

She could just barely support the two of them, but calling their life comfortable would be impossible. With a sick person in the house, surviving through thrift and frugality was already no small feat.

After Lu Yuan started eating, Xiao Hua tended to her mother's medicine while chatting with him.

By the time the meal was over, the three of them had grown somewhat familiar with one another.

Seeing that the sky outside was nearly dark, Lu Yuan wiped his mouth, rose to his feet, and said, "It's getting late. I'll head back first. If anything comes up in the future, just call for me."

"All right, Brother Yuan," Xiao Hua said with a bright smile.

She was very cheerful. Having to care for her mother and keep the household afloat had not changed her nature.

After Lu Yuan left,

only the mother and daughter remained inside. The middle-aged woman lying on the bed coughed as she said, "Cough, cough... There was nothing suspicious about him. He really should have been exiled here.

After those people came to Ice Valley Lane last night, they did not act right away. They only lingered nearby, which means they had not confirmed our identities. Cough, cough..."

As soon as the middle-aged woman finished speaking, her coughing worsened.

"Mother, don't overthink it. Lu Yuan doesn't look like he came from that side either. Just rest and recover. Besides, when we came here back then, didn't we use the hidden network in Great Yong? It has completely gone to ground now. We haven't received any special treatment these past years, so there won't be any evidence left behind."

Xiao Hua softly comforted her mother.

The woman nodded and said nothing more. She only pulled the blanket higher and stroked Xiao Hua's long hair. "You've suffered because of me. But don't worry, these days will not last much longer.

Ten years have passed. Your grandfather is about to make his move.

But the more critical the moment, the more careful we must be. The matter of your cultivation must never be leaked."

"Mm." Xiao Hua nodded gently.

Inside Zhou Xiong's room at the City Defense Battalion, a jug of wine that had long since been warmed sat on a small table alongside several drinking dishes.

Zhou He sat across from him.

They drank wine as they warmed themselves by the brazier. At some point, the armor on their bodies had already been loosened.

"What do you think of this Lu Yuan?" Zhou Xiong asked quietly after picking up a bite of food with his chopsticks.

"He's pretty good. He reached the Entry Realm at such a young age, and he seems like a decent person too. Anyway, we got along well today." Zhou He answered carelessly.

Bang! Zhou Xiong struck him on the head with his chopsticks.

"Is that what I asked? I'm asking whether there's any chance of bringing him into the Zhou Family."

"Uncle, isn't that a bit much? He's only a Squad Leader right now, and he hasn't been in the Entry Realm for long. If you recommend him to the Young Miss, won't she have you caned?" Zhou He said with a bitter smile.

The Zhou Family was a powerful lineage in the Northern Frontier. The General of Yan Province was the head of the Zhou Family, while Zhou Ruowei, the garrison Captain of Ice Plain City, was also from the Zhou Family and the eldest daughter of its main branch.

Both Zhou Xiong and Zhou He were disciples of collateral branches of the lineage.

Aside from their official duties, they also bore the responsibility of recruiting talented young prospects for the Zhou Family.

After all, the Zhou Family could not firmly occupy the position of General of Yan Province by relying solely on a handful of family members. They constantly took in gifted youngsters as disciples.

They were, in a sense, former students and old retainers.

These branches and leaves were the true foundation. The talent Lu Yuan had displayed was indeed worth observing.

His Entry Realm cultivation alone was not enough to make Zhou Xiong think so highly of him. The key was that his blade technique had reached mastery, proving that his comprehension was exceptional.

Under normal circumstances, an old soldier who had practiced the blade for decades would already be considered impressive if he reached that level.

And Lu Yuan was only a teenager.

"What do you know? Lu Yuan's blade technique has already reached mastery. You've cultivated since childhood, yet the lineage's hammer technique is only at minor accomplishment for you. He's several years younger than you, yet he's already reached mastery. And I never said I was recommending him to the Young Miss now.

I only asked what kind of person he was. Why do you have so much nonsense to say?"

"He'd definitely be willing. Who doesn't know about the Zhou Family Military Gate? And it's not like we're taking him in as a household slave—we're only accepting him as a disciple. It's just one more layer of connection, yet the benefits for him would be enormous. At the very least, in Yan Province, he'd rise through the ranks much faster." Zhou He said as he chewed his food.

"Mm, that's what I was thinking too. But let's wait and see. If he's only in the Entry Realm, recommending him now really would be inappropriate. If he can reach the Bone Forging Realm before eighteen, then combined with his master-level blade technique, there won't be a problem."

Zhou Xiong said.

At that moment, Zhou He sipped the wine in his cup, narrowed his eyes, and said, "Uncle, Lu Yuan's neighbor isn't simple, is she? From what I saw last night, the Northern Barbarians' scouts seemed to be after that household, yet they did not dare offend them in the slightest.

Instead, even during the fighting, they tried their best to avoid them. And you seemed to deliberately steer clear too. Is there something behind this?"

"I don't know either, but they do have some background. I heard orders came from above to watch over them in secret and not disturb them. We'd best not pry into such matters. We only need to do our own jobs. Across Great Yong's eight thousand li of Northern Frontier and its hundred-odd Sai Cities, fish and dragons are mixed together—what sort of people aren't there?" Zhou Xiong said quietly as he drank.

Zhou He nodded in silence.

While the uncle and nephew were talking,

Lu Yuan had also returned home. The brazier had not gone out, and the moment he opened the door, a wave of warmth rushed over him.

After drinking a cup of tea and heating the kang bed,

he opened the Golden Bell Cover and examined it.

It truly was an excellent body-tempering technique. According to its description, getting started was easy, but reaching minor accomplishment was already exceedingly difficult.

Very few people ever trained it to mastery.

At that stage, attacks from people of the same realm could almost be ignored.

Once it reached perfection, even someone a full realm above him could be blocked.

Moreover, it provided a tremendous increase in strength.

It was actually quite suitable for those in the military to cultivate, though ordinary people would have great difficulty mastering it.

But Lu Yuan was not afraid. He had the system; bottlenecks did not exist for him.

As for the suffering of body tempering described within, he cared even less about that. What he feared most now was being unable to rise above the crowd, then being abandoned at the first hint of trouble just like the original owner of this body.

He wanted to control his own fate. He wanted to become the one making the decisions.

Rather than becoming someone else's chess piece.

After committing the Golden Bell Cover to memory,

Lu Yuan removed his armor, walked outside, and began practicing his blade technique.

In his mind, the system's voice continuously issued reminders.

[Host swung his blade once. *Blade-Breaking Eight Styles* proficiency +1]

[Host swung his blade once. *Blade-Breaking Eight Styles* proficiency +1]

[Host swung his blade once. *Blade-Breaking Eight Styles* proficiency +1]

After practicing his blade technique for an hour,

Lu Yuan did not stop. Instead, beside an Iron Tree unique to the Northern Frontier in the courtyard, he repeatedly slammed his body against the trunk.

Tempering his flesh.

The Iron Tree was hard as steel. Even an ordinary blade could scarcely damage it, making it quite suitable for practicing the Golden Bell Cover.

As his shoulder crashed into it again and again,

dull thuds echoed through the courtyard.

At the same time, the system's voice rang out in his mind once more.

[Host's body suffered a powerful impact. *Golden Bell Cover* proficiency +1]

After another hour of practice, even with Lu Yuan's physique, he was slightly out of breath. He then returned to the house and began cultivating the Crouching Tiger Stance.

In this world, everything was decided by strength. Without strength, everything else was empty talk.

Compared to life and death, all else was but a scratch.

Only making himself stronger mattered most.

For the next stretch of time, Lu Yuan trained intensely almost every day. After becoming an official City Guard Squad Leader, he only had to take a shift at the city gate once every ten days.

He had plenty of time, and he took care of a few matters as well.

For instance, he leased out all fifty mu of his land. Though the amount was not small, northern land did not yield much, so he only collected fifteen taels of silver a year. That was the market rate; no one could find fault with it.

At the same time, whenever he had nothing to do, he would drink with Old Huang.

And he gradually became more familiar with Xiao Hua next door. She would sometimes come visit, and whenever she saw that his clothes were torn, she would mend them along the way.

Their relationship as neighbors was quite harmonious.

In the blink of an eye, ten days passed.

Tomorrow was Lu Yuan's shift. After finishing his cultivation that day, he opened the System Panel, preparing to check his recent progress.