I Want to Take on Ten! (Bonus Chapter for the Silver Alliance)

"The secret to using a saber comes down to six words: steady hands and a sharp eye. Pick out the head, bring your blade down, and if it stays in your hand, you've already won half the battle."

"Just look at that three-legged-cat excuse for saber work."

"Your eye can't judge the distance, your hand can't hold the blade steady, and not one move looks right."

"Start over!"

The sun was already high, and the county yamen's training ground was bustling with activity. Unlike other days, though, many of the veteran constables were nowhere to be seen.

"They've all gone after that White Lotus rebel."

Liu Ye puffed on his pipe as he continued correcting Wang Ping's movements. "A windfall like that? What constable wouldn't be tempted?"

"That rebel broke into the yamen last night, and the magistrate's arrow went clean through him. Everyone saw his flesh, tendons, and bones tear apart. He lost most of his blood, and his marrow can't be in much better shape. Even if he'd reached External Arts Perfection, he probably has less than a tenth of his strength left. Now's the perfect time to beat a drowning dog."

Wang Ping couldn't help asking, "You're not tempted, Master Liu?"

"Of course not."

Liu Ye's tone was mild. "Little Wang, I think you've got promise, so I'll teach you something today. Know what matters most for a constable?"

"What?" Wang Ping asked curiously.

"Patience!"

Liu Ye put more weight behind his words. "Let heaven collapse and earth cave in. I'll wait it out. If the sky falls, it hits the tall fellows first. It won't land on you or me."

"Remember this, kid. The world belongs to the powerful. Little people like us have to learn to survive in the cracks... Put plainly, only take on things far beneath your abilities. That way you'll get them done and still have plenty of room for error."

"Take me, for instance."

"Nearly every constable in the yamen collects protection money in the city and rakes it in. I'm the only one who goes to the Grass Market outside the walls for a little pocket money."

"Why?"

Liu Ye looked rather pleased with himself. "Because it's safe outside the city! The real heavyweights are inside. Collecting protection money there comes with risks."

"After all, it's a dirty business. You're eating buns soaked in human blood."

"One wrong encounter with some hotheaded young hero out to uphold justice, and he might hit you too hard and kill you!"

"Don't scoff. It's happened to someone from the yamen before!"

"But the Grass Market outside the walls doesn't have so much trouble. There's hardly anyone formidable there, and I don't ask for much. I earn less, but it's safe."

"Same goes for this business."

Once Liu Ye got going, the words poured out of him.

"What happened last night was plainly a contest at a distance between the White Lotus Sect's leader and our Magistrate Chen. Is that something the likes of us can blunder into?"

"What if you run into the sect leader coming to rescue that rebel?"

"If you're lucky, Magistrate Chen might reach you in time, and you'll only be crippled for life. If you're not, all they'll be able to do is send your family a death benefit."

Wang Ping understood at once.

"Bait..."

Liu Ye nodded slightly. "As long as you understand. I'm not wading into those muddy waters. You settle down and practice your saber."

Wang Ping nodded, then let out a long breath.

As he exhaled, it was as though he breathed out all the restlessness in his heart. His expression steadied, and he began practicing his saber technique again.

Liu Ye watched with considerable approval.

He really does have a future. He listens to advice and can keep his greed in check. At this rate, he'll truly get started with Yama's Three Demon Blades within three days.

Speaking of which, how's his Iron Ox Skill coming along?

He doesn't seem to have gone to the Vermilion Phoenix Tower yet...

Liu Ye thought it over and decided he had Wang Ping figured out. He's probably worried that, being a virgin, he won't be able to keep a rein on his little brother and will lose control in no time.

So he wanted to improve his abilities before putting them to the test... Young men cared about saving face. Fair enough!

Liu Ye chuckled inwardly.

Naive kid. Getting started isn't that easy.

With how demanding the Iron Ox Skill is, he'd have to practice at least seventeen or eighteen times to get started in a single night. Even a young man couldn't stand that.

"Let's aim for another hundred rounds tonight!"

After training, Wang Ping went home, ate the meal delivered by Joyous Arrival Tower, then shut his doors and windows once more. He sat upright on his bed, ready to put his skills to work and practice martial arts.

Liu Ye had guessed correctly.

Though Wang Ping was still young, his face had gone pale by the third round. Even the hand he was using trembled slightly.

But the next moment, he took a deep breath and lightly linked the fingers of both hands, forming a strange hand seal. A spark suddenly burst from his fingertips. It flickered in the dim room, then flowed through his body like water, restoring its vitality.

The spell Qi Suppression!

After losing his Force Servitor body, Wang Ping could no longer use Qi Suppression to make himself impervious to blades and spears. But it could still stop bleeding, grow flesh, and restore his body.

It was especially useful for training.

The True Qi he had worked so hard to refine was limited, but it was more than enough to make up his losses and swiftly replenish his spent vitality and spirit.

As a result, Wang Ping's progress with the Iron Ox Skill far exceeded Liu Ye's imagination.

It was only the second day, yet he had already reached a minor level of mastery. By a conservative estimate, he would bring the skill to full completion within seven days at most.

"Keep going!"

Wang Ping gritted his teeth and threw himself back into training. The citywide manhunt and the White Lotus Bandit vanished from his mind.

A while later, Wang Ping completed another round.

As the technique ran its course once more, he felt his soul abruptly leave his body. All stray thoughts fell away, and he entered a state of pure, tranquil nonaction.

Now!

Without a moment's hesitation, Wang Ping seized the rare opening, snatched up the Ox-Tail Saber beside him, and performed the moves of Yama's Three Demon Blades.

Clang! Clang!

The long saber left its sheath. In an instant, an overwhelmingly powerful intent rode its ringing into Wang Ping's mind, and blood vessels sprang up in his eyes.

It was—greed!

Money, women, power—everything in the world had to be possessed at any cost, fought for and seized. It was a desire worthy of the claim that human nature was evil at its root!

As Wang Ping began swinging the saber according to Yama's Three Demon Blades, matching each move with its breathing method and the circulation of his blood and qi, the feeling only grew stronger. It faintly resonated with the Ox-Tail Saber in his hand. More blood vessels spread across his eyes, and his reason came under fierce assault.

"What a demonic saber!"

The next moment, Wang Ping held his breath. Drawing on the relaxed state left by his training, he barely managed to restrain the desire and slide the Ox-Tail Saber back into its sheath.

Only when he came to his senses did he realize he was drenched in sweat.

"So that's it... I understand."

Looking at the long saber in his hand, Wang Ping had a realization. Greed. Being battered by that emotion is part of how the technique transforms my body.

I have to stay clearheaded through it.

Only by using reason to suppress the desire instead of letting it sway me can I maximize the transformation. Then the results will be better when I get started with the saber technique.

With that thought, Wang Ping made his decision.

For now... there's no need to rush.

Truthfully, with the Iron Ox Skill as his foundation and Qi Suppression to help him recover quickly, he was confident he could get started with the saber technique.

But if he did it this way, the dragon tendons he formed would probably be the lowest-grade worm dragon tendons. It would be quick, but it would do nothing for his future. If he hadn't had his cheat, that would be one thing—a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush. But since he did have it, he could afford to set his sights farther ahead.

No rush. Take it slowly.

My Iron Ox Skill still hasn't reached completion. My little brother isn't quick enough, let alone fierce enough, to keep me relaxed and able to resist the saber intent of Greed for long.

Wang Ping planned as he continued training.

As the saying went, a tower ten thousand feet high rose from level ground. If he couldn't do his best at martial arts, wouldn't cultivating immortality be even more of a castle in the air?

Once I've brought the Iron Ox Skill to completion, I can cultivate the Desire-Realm Celestial Birth Method and remold myself from the inside out. Then I'll use a body fit for immortal cultivation to practice martial arts. When I get started with the saber technique, the result shouldn't be any worse than what those geniuses with excellent Root Bones achieve. I ought to start with flood dragon tendons, at least.

Whatever happened, now was the time to keep his head down and grow stronger.

No reckless moves!

Longxing County's outer city.

At Chen Haoyan's order, Longxing County had officially sealed its gates. People could enter but not leave. Dozens upon dozens of constables searched house to house for the White Lotus Sect rebel.

Yet after searching for most of the day, they had failed to find the rebel Xie Shi. Instead, they had turned up a great heap of fugitives, sending the county into a frenzy.

"Damn it. I never should've listened to that old bastard..."

In a secluded alley of the outer city, Xie Shi hid in the shadows and pulled the rags around himself tighter, taking particular care to cover the fist-sized wound in his lower abdomen.

Through the wound, his organs were faintly visible.

"The Cloud-Piercing Heaven-Shaking Bow..."

Xie Shi gritted his teeth. His skin, flesh, tendons, and bones all throbbed with pain. He had lost far too much blood, and a constant feeling of depletion welled up within him.

Flesh, tendons, bones, blood, and marrow—nothing had been spared.

All six weapons corresponding to them had shattered as well. He could no longer bring even a tenth of his martial prowess to bear. It was as if he had lost half his life.

What now?

Waiting for rescue was out of the question. Knowing that old bastard, he would never risk walking into a trap by entering the county seat to save him.

He would have to save himself.

After turning it over again and again, Xie Shi saw only one path. The government thaumaturge in the north of the city—the Wandering God True Person. His establishment should be able to shelter me as I am now.

The yamen was a giant in Longxing County, but it did not reign supreme. Leaving aside the White Lotus Sect outside the city, there were places within the walls that even the yamen was reluctant to provoke. The Spirit Wandering Temple in the north was one of them. Even during a citywide search, no one dared search there.

And the Spirit Wandering Temple was currently hiring servants.

If I can find a way in, I can evade those black-clad constables. Xie Shi weighed the idea, then quickly frowned with worry.

The problem was the Spirit Wandering Temple's hiring requirement.

Applicants had to be beautiful women.

At the thought, Xie Shi despaired of this world that judged by looks. Thickset and heavy-jowled as he was, there was no way anyone would call him a beautiful woman.

Unless—

Xie Shi's gaze shifted. In his pursuit of External Arts Perfection, he had sought out many martial arts. One unusual art among them suited his present predicament perfectly.

The Shape-Altering Disguise Art.

It was a lowly martial art with no corresponding weapon. Once perfected, it formed a martial principle called Thousand Faces of One Person, which allowed its user to change both face and figure.

It could change more than a face: height and build could shift at will. A woman could grow a beard, and a man could give himself breasts. Aside from truly changing sex, there were almost no limits to its alterations of appearance. With this art, he should be able to meet the Spirit Wandering Temple's requirement.

But... what should a beautiful woman look like?

Xie Shi felt a headache coming on. Images of beauties he had once seen flashed through his mind, but without someone before him, it would be hard to fashion a perfect disguise from memory alone.

...I need a real woman to use as a model.

Where could he find the most beautiful women?

At that thought, Xie Shi looked up. His gaze immediately fell on the city's largest and busiest tower, ablaze with lights.

The Vermilion Phoenix Tower.

Wang Ping had only four words for Longxing County's largest pleasure house.

Ample bosoms, grand scale.

Noise poured endlessly from the brightly lit tower. People came and went in search of pleasure: wealthy gentry, students, even officials.

Wang Ping paid them no mind. His gaze went straight to the woman seated on the highest platform in the center, playing the zither and singing. Even he had heard the other constables mention her on the training ground. She was Longxing County's most famous courtesan.

Her fingers brushed the strings as gently as a breeze stirring willow branches. Her red lips parted, and her voice rose like a nightingale singing of spring.

Wang Ping was not a lecherous man, yet she struck him at first sight. There was no denying she had the talent to be named the foremost courtesan.

In looks, her carefully made-up face was second to none.

In bearing, she seemed every inch a young lady of a fine household.

Yet she wore a thin dress, with a wrap across her chest that raised two snowy peaks, half concealed and half revealed. The bottomless valley between them narrowed at last into a dark line.

In short:

A beauty beyond compare, the darling of one's heart, with a slender, graceful waist. Rising from fragrant curtains, hair adorned and cheeks flushed with wine, her face bloomed like spring apricot flowers. So charming was she that she hid her red lips behind a fine silk fan as she smiled.

"Miss Qing Feng sings beautifully."

"A pity she only performs. Imagine what sweet sounds she makes in bed..."

"Hmph. What a vulgar man, daring to speak of her in such filthy terms..."

Wang Ping withdrew his gaze. He paid no further attention to the courtesan or the clamor around her. After half a month of hard training, he had come here on serious business.

The next moment, he strode toward a corner of the tower.

There, a beautiful older woman was busy giving instructions. Though her age showed, the charm in her eyes and every glance was impossible to hide.

"Madam Feng."

Wang Ping had done his homework before coming. He called out to her and came straight to the point. "My name is Wang Ping. Master Liu sent me."

With that, he patted the Ox-Tail Saber at his waist.

He was not wearing his black-and-red constable's uniform, but the saber's distinctive design was enough to prove his identity.

"...So you're young Master Wang!"

The Vermilion Phoenix Tower's madam paused, then seemed to recall something. She smiled. "Master Liu did let me know. This way, please."

Before long, Wang Ping followed Madam Feng into a private room.

"You received the Iron Ox Skill and came to practice it, right?" Madam Feng spoke easily. She was clearly on familiar terms with Liu Ye.

Then she looked Wang Ping up and down.

At the sight of his build, which did not look particularly sturdy at first glance, and his youthful face, a teasing gleam entered Madam Feng's eyes.

"You've only just started practicing the Iron Ox Skill, so you shouldn't overexert yourself. How about I call three young ladies over to let you warm up?"

"Three? Who are you looking down on?"

Wang Ping gave a cold laugh. He immediately activated his perfected Iron Ox Skill, reinforced himself with Golden Spear Unyielding, and said in all seriousness, "I want to take on ten!"