Earth Mound Formation

It did not take long to go from the county office to the Demon Suppression Division, then leave the Demon Suppression Division.

Seeing that it was still early, Zhou An had new ideas about the Soaring Dragon Steps, so he did not plan to head back so soon.

At that moment, crimson clouds filled the distant sky.

Though it was not yet night, it was nearly time for the stalls to close.

The vendors along the streets were scattered about, and it was no longer as lively as it had been in the morning.

Markets were like that. Some sold things for the morning, some sold things for noon, and some kept their stalls open all day.

People came and went, gathering and dispersing.

Zhou An wandered through the market for a while before finally buying a long roll of rope from a small vendor.

The ropes had all been hand-twisted by the vendor and were quite sturdy.

After buying them, he did not return home immediately.

Instead, he bought a large amount of burlap from another stall.

Once everything was ready, he carried the supplies home.

After casually eating something, Zhou An eagerly began setting things up.

First, he tied all the ropes to the ceiling beams.

That step reminded him of the auntie he had encountered last time.

Her talent for comedy was still fresh in his memory.

Once the ropes were tied up, they hung at just the right length in the middle of the room.

Zhou An gave the ropes a hard tug. They were firmly secured and would not snap from brute force.

Only then did he pick up the burlap he had bought earlier and use his long knife to cut it into dozens of equal-sized pieces.

He thought of the auntie again.

Especially when he had divided her into fifty-six pieces, each one as evenly cut as these little cloth squares.

"Sure enough, comedians are the most unforgettable."

Zhou An gathered up the cloth pieces from the floor, hugged them to his chest, and walked out onto the street.

After looking around and confirming that no one was nearby, Zhou An took out his long knife and shoveled up the yellow earth from the ground.

After filling roughly one basket, Zhou An carried the dirt back inside, divided it evenly, and wrapped it in the small cloth pieces.

He tied the openings shut with thin string and hung them from the ropes.

Before long, dozens of hanging dirt bags filled the room.

They were packed densely together, like a formation made of dirt bags.

Zhou An chuckled and ran into the kitchen. After washing his hands clean, he grabbed the iron wok.

"Rise!"

He swung it hard at the dirt bags in the room.

Empowered by his strength, the swing whipped up a gale that sent the dozens of dirt bags swaying wildly from side to side.

Every dirt bag swung in an irregular pattern.

"From now on, you'll be called the Earth Mound Formation."

It was a pretty lame name.

Zhou An set the iron wok aside and stepped inside, the qi within his body circulating without pause.

Qi spread across the surface of his body. That was the most important foundation of the Soaring Dragon Steps.

By changing the qi covering his body, he could evade an enemy's attacks.

The instant Zhou An stepped into the Earth Mound Formation, several dirt bags swung toward him from behind.

Just as the dirt bags were about to strike his back, Zhou An barely dodged them through a shift in his qi.

But before he could fully evade them, another dirt bag flew at him from the side.

Zhou An focused intently, bent down, and dodged the dirt bag beside him.

Yet another dirt bag came at him from his rear left.

The surrounding dirt bags all swung without any pattern.

This was different from fighting the Beast Sect Leader. This was a group attack!

More importantly, he had to evade within such a cramped space and could not leave the range of the dirt bags.

That undoubtedly increased the difficulty.

The successive attacks made Zhou An exceptionally excited.

He could feel his mind becoming intensely tense.

But the more tense he was, the happier he became.

A line of text appeared before his eyes.

Soaring Dragon Steps +1

Joy appeared in Zhou An's eyes when he saw the words.

Once any skill reached level three, he had to put more thought into grinding proficiency.

For example, he gained proficiency in the Butchering Ox Skill by carving wood.

Ever since returning home, he had been thinking about how to grind proficiency for the Soaring Dragon Steps.

Once he figured it out, he knew what he needed to do.

Since it was a movement skill with an evasive function, he had to start with evasion.

He remembered seeing this kind of movement training on television in the past.

He had merely wanted to give it a try, but unexpectedly, it worked for some inexplicable reason.

His joy caused his qi to become slightly disordered.

Zhou An failed to dodge the dirt bag flying toward him. It struck him in the face and sent him falling flat onto his back.

His face was slightly numb, but he was not injured. The earth he had dug up was loose, not solid mud.

Though he had failed, Zhou An was even happier.

On the surface, he had failed, but he had already completely grasped how to grind the proficiency.

"Again!"

Zhou An decided he would not rest tonight.

Now that he had found something fun, he just had to keep grinding.

And unlike the Butcher the Ox Knife and Object Juggling, this skill was not boring.

Dodging was not boring at all.

Every time the dirt bags swayed, they did so irregularly. No one could predict what would happen next.

This kind of training was perfect for Zhou An.

His interest piqued, Zhou An tried again. He used the iron wok to fan up a fierce wind, sending the dirt bags swinging in every direction.

He stepped into the Earth Mound Formation once more. This time, he lasted slightly longer.

Smack!

With a crisp sound, Zhou An was struck by a dirt bag.

"Again!"

Zhou An kept fanning up fierce winds and stepped into the formation again.

He repeated the cycle until dawn.

Zhou An lay on the floor, feeling the qi flow through his body as it restored the energy he had spent all night.

With his current condition, staying up for an ordinary night was no longer a big deal.

Though he still needed to sleep every few days to replenish his energy, last night had been different.

Every training session last night had required intense concentration.

Mentally, he was still exhausted.

After resting for quite a while, Zhou An finally climbed up from the floor and shook his head.

With his qi restoring him, some of his energy had returned.

After an entire night, Zhou An's proficiency had risen considerably.

Soaring Dragon Steps lv.3 (Speed +2, Evasion +1) 1258/40000

Effort brought rewards. This was only his first attempt, so he was still unfamiliar with it.

Besides, the higher a proficiency level became, the slower its progress would be.

Zhou An felt that gaining this much in one night was already quite good.

"Mm... During the day, I'll work on the Butchering Ox Skill and Object Juggling at the county office. At night, I'll practice the Soaring Dragon Steps here."

After planning out his time, Zhou An saw that dawn had already arrived. He did not linger, ate something, and went to the county office to clock in.

The county office was a little different today.

The constables were not loafing around as usual. Instead, every one of them was busy.

Even those without anything to do pretended to be busy.

When Yu Hang saw Zhou An arrive, he curled his lip and set the book in his hand aside. "The moment promotion gets mentioned, every one of them starts putting on an act."

Zhou An smiled.

That was perfectly normal.

They wanted to be promoted to Constable Captain, so naturally they had to perform well in front of the adviser and increase their chances.

Zhou An had no interest in becoming Constable Captain. After stretching lazily, he went to the kitchen and continued working.

Once all the ingredients were prepared, Zhou An picked up a piece of wood and began carving.

Near noon, he started practicing Object Juggling again.

As his proficiency rose, so did Zhou An's mood.

He had originally wanted to train with weights, but after thinking it over, he decided to take things step by step. First, he would train the Soaring Dragon Steps to evade group attacks.

The Butcher the Ox Knife's progress was about to speed up. The second storyline would begin soon.