How to Struggle Twenty Years Less

In the empty courtyard, a man stood alone.

Unlike at the county yamen, he was not wearing the official uniform that symbolized his status. Instead, he had changed into fitted martial attire and even wore a veiled bamboo hat.

"Constable Wang Ping..."

Xu Bingzheng calmly swept his gaze across the entire courtyard. His brow twitched faintly; not the slightest irregularity in the yard could escape his sharp eyes.

The walls, the tables and chairs, the ground.

He walked through every corner of the courtyard, even checking the stable. In the end, he saw only a well-behaved Curly-Mane Horse huddled in the corner against the wall.

"Nothing. Not on his person, not where he lives. He could not possibly have hidden something so precious outside. So it probably was not him... That makes sense. His cultivation is too weak. Even if he possessed three supernatural gifts and launched a surprise attack, he could not have killed the heavily wounded Chen Haoyan."

Xu Bingzheng withdrew his gaze.

The next instant, his figure vanished from where he stood. At the same time, a faint breeze swept through, brushing away his footprints and every trace he had left in the courtyard.

Creak—

Almost at the same moment, Wang Ping pushed open the door and strode inside. Seemingly noticing nothing unusual, he simply began practicing his saber forms in the courtyard.

From morning until night.

The sun rose, the sun set, and the moon hung over the treetops.

After finishing his training, he meditated to rest, then went to sleep—he neither slipped away in secret nor displayed any suspicious behavior. Everything appeared perfectly normal.

Only then did Xu Bingzheng leave.

And at the very instant he departed, Wang Ping, lying in bed and "sound asleep," finally released his Spirit Sense. The first bead of cold sweat slowly ran down his back.

It chilled him to the marrow.

"Fuck, he was watching me!"

It was an extraordinarily peculiar method. Wang Ping could not sense Xu Bingzheng's gaze at all; only when he used his Spirit Sense could he detect that something was wrong.

"Is this the method of a Titled Martial Master? Liu Ye said that at this level, martial arts have completely broken free from mere fists and kicks, instead moving toward the spirit and consciousness. Supposedly, those Martial Grandmasters have even reached the level of [Seeing God], capable of killing people with a mere thought..."

It resembled Spirit Sense, yet was not quite the same.

"Still, Spirit Sense should be a little more advanced. At least I can detect his spying, while he has no way of discovering my covert scrutiny."

Besides, if Xu Bingzheng truly possessed an investigative method comparable to Spirit Sense, he would have discovered the pills hidden inside the horse's belly long ago.

Fortunately, it ended there.

When the next day came, Xu Bingzheng did not return. Yet even so, Wang Ping did not relax in the slightest. Instead, the pressure in his heart grew even more urgent.

"This is no place to stay for long."

Where he lived was too close to the county yamen. To guard against Xu Bingzheng, he did not dare make any moves at all and could only waste his days away like this.

Besides, mere surveillance was only temporary.

If Xu Bingzheng kept failing to find clues, sooner or later he would make a bolder move. What would Wang Ping do if that happened to him?

"Why do you all keep forcing me..."

Wang Ping secretly gritted his teeth. His mind was made up: he had to find a suitable excuse to move out, somewhere Xu Bingzheng could not casually spy on.

"The 'spirit' of a Titled Martial Master is far inferior to my Spirit Sense. As long as I can move somewhere farther from the county yamen, I can gain enough time and space. Instead of being like this—so close that if Xu Bingzheng suddenly comes over, I would not even have time to hide anything..."

Wang Ping pondered for a long while.

He needed a suitable excuse, one that would allow a poor, powerless little constable whose home was supplied by the county yamen to move elsewhere.

"There actually seems to be one..."

On the third day, at dawn.

As usual, Wang Ping rose early and went to the training grounds to practice archery. Before long, Liu Ye entered with a smoking pipe in hand, a somewhat melancholy expression on his face.

"Brother Liu, how did it go?"

Wang Ping took the initiative to ask.

"Not very well." Liu Ye shook his head and sighed. "You know it too—many martial arts are things money cannot buy. They are priced but unavailable."

"Especially for someone like me. I have trained in martial arts for half my life, and I only lack a Marrow-Tempering Martial Art before achieving External Arts Perfection. Yet I have searched for this martial art for seven or eight years and found nothing. The county yamen has some, but I would have to take on dangerous bounties. I truly do not want to take that risk."

Wang Ping could see the helplessness in Liu Ye's heart.

"So, Brother Liu, you do not plan to make a final gamble?"

"That is not it."

Liu Ye shook his head. "I am considering whether to mortgage Vermilion Phoenix Tower and get some powerful concealed weapons instead... The results might even be better."

At that point, Liu Ye suddenly laughed.

"Of course, there is another path. A better one. Sadly, I am old, and not handsome enough either, so I do not have that opportunity... But you, kid, could give it a try."

"This..."

Wang Ping's expression stiffened slightly.

He knew what Liu Ye meant. It was also the perfectly reasonable excuse he had thought of last night, one that would allow him to move away from the county yamen.

"Though Magistrate Chen is dead, the estate he left behind is no small matter. Take Madam Su in the county town, for example. The rice shops, butcher shops, and blacksmith shops in town—she has a hand in nearly all of them. If Magistrate Chen had not sheltered her, did you think a woman who did not even know martial arts could have built such a business?"

"Now that Magistrate Chen is dead..."

"Once the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. Madam Su has been plagued with troubles lately. Which respectable wealthy household in town does not covet her? They all want to join hands and swallow up her businesses."

After saying that, Liu Ye shook his head and sighed.

"If you ask me, Madam Su is a woman with a bitter fate. They say she was once a noble young lady in the capital, but committed some offense and ended up drifting here."

"Later, she finally managed to build a little family fortune, only for Magistrate Chen to take a fancy to her... He claimed to be her patron, but was he not really demanding both money and her person?"

At that point, Liu Ye seemed rather disdainful himself.

"Now Magistrate Chen is dead. His parents passed long ago, he had no children, and there was not even anyone to bury his body. It was Madam Su who paid to hold his funeral."

"Of course, Madam Su's move kills two birds with one stone. It is actually quite clever."

"If you ask me, holding Magistrate Chen's funeral is only secondary. Her true purpose is to use the opportunity to find another patron and protect the businesses in her hands."

Wang Ping immediately understood. "She needs to borrow the tiger's might in the fox's name."

"Exactly. That is your future!"

Liu Ye clapped his hands. "Several strong, capable men from the yamen have already gone over. With such a huge business, how can we let it fall into the hands of those unruly commoners in town?"

"That is county yamen money!"

Liu Ye spoke with righteous conviction, then looked at Wang Ping and chuckled.

"But if you ask me, none of those men are a match for you, Little Wang."

"After all, you are the [Great Dragon Spear] famous throughout the county town. Madam Su has long been lonely in her home—dry firewood meeting blazing flames. If your luck is good, you could at least save yourself sixty years of detours..."

"Say no more!"

Wang Ping waved a hand, his tone resolute. "Brother, you misunderstand me. I am not a lecherous man, much less someone who would sell his looks for profit!"

Su Family Estate.

"I was one of Magistrate Chen's most valued juniors in life. I have come specifically to attend his funeral."

After handing over his calling card, Wang Ping followed a servant into this enormous manor spanning dozens of acres. He could not help sighing inwardly.

"They say that when Madam Su first came to the county town, she had only a bundle of clothes and a few bits of loose silver. Her first business was selling clothes at the Grass Market. How many years has it been? She has already amassed such a vast fortune. Sure enough, doing business requires collusion between officials and merchants. Otherwise, how could a business grow bigger and stronger?"

Before coming here, Wang Ping had made careful inquiries.

Chen Haoyan had no residence or businesses in town. He appeared to be clean-handed, living and eating either at the county yamen or in this Su Family Estate.

Madam Su was merely the nominal owner.

In reality, she was no more than Chen Haoyan's white glove in the county town. Not only had most of the money she earned likely been spent by Chen Haoyan, but even she herself probably...

At that thought, Wang Ping cursed inwardly at once. Beast!

Of course, he had no interest whatsoever in money or women.

What interested him was that, given Chen Haoyan's wealth and status, he must have collected quite a few martial arts manuals. Otherwise, he could not possibly have achieved External Arts Perfection back then.

"Perhaps... not merely martial arts manuals."

Chen Haoyan was an Inner Force Martial Master. Thinking bigger, his home might even contain the secret to condensing Inner Force. That was what Wang Ping truly valued.

"Inner-Force Cultivation-Body Diagram!"

"To condense Inner Force, one must first cultivate a martial body. This involves the Twelve Principal Meridians, the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and even the circulation and arrangement of qi and blood through the five viscera and six bowels."

"A Cultivation-Body Diagram is a diagram recording this arrangement. Only by circulating one's qi and blood according to its records can one gather the strength of the entire body into one, thereby giving birth to Inner Force... Thus, the vast majority of Cultivation-Body Diagrams are secrets never passed on. Even a fortune could not buy the smallest fragment of one."

Yet the Su Family Estate might have one.

Because Chen Haoyan himself was an Inner Force Martial Master, he must have seen at least one Cultivation-Body Diagram in the past. He might therefore possess a copied version.

It was only a guess. But even the slightest possibility was enough to drive someone mad.

Otherwise, Liu Ye would not have called it "another path," and the Su Household would not have become a sweet bun coveted by the wealthy families and every faction in town.

"This is a monopoly on knowledge."

From the scarcity of Cultivation-Body Diagrams alone, Wang Ping could see just how guarded the upper-class martial artists in this damned place were against the mud-legged commoners below.

No wonder the realm had remained "peaceful" for so long.

Soon, Wang Ping arrived at the main hall where the coffin had been placed.

There, Wang Ping saw many people, all familiar faces from the wealthy gentry and great households of the county town, circling one person like hyenas.

She was a cool, elegant woman in a white dress, with a gentle temperament. Tear tracks still lingered on her lovely face, and her beautiful eyes were red, as if she had only just finished crying.

Yet faced with the hyenas surrounding her, ravenous for the Su Household's businesses—and even for her herself—Madam Su appeared remarkably calm, even somewhat indifferent. She looked as though her heart had long since died, as though nothing that happened could move her again.

The next moment, she spoke.

Her voice was mournful and cold, carrying a touch of self-pity. "My lord departed so suddenly. I thank you all on his behalf for coming today to see him off."

"Not at all, not at all. Madam Su is too courteous."

"I wonder, Madam, tonight..."

Madam Su had clearly intended to shift the subject back to the funeral itself. Yet after offering a few perfunctory replies, the crowd once again began discussing how to divide the estate.

These people all came from the county town's great households.

And in their mouths, Madam Su's businesses were like a delicious cake. You took a slice, I took a slice; before long, it looked as though they would carve it up completely.

Faced with such a predicament, Madam Su initially tried to say a few words, but no one paid her any heed. Their words were more polite and respectful than the last, yet their methods were ruthless and merciless, clearly intending to devour her businesses down to the last scrap. In the end, Madam Su stopped speaking altogether.

A breeze passed through, stirring the hair at her temples.

Madam Su tucked her hand inside her sleeve and tightly gripped a jade hairpin, as though she had seen her own future. Her already sorrowful face became all the more tragically beautiful.

At the sight, several constables immediately stepped forward.

"Gentlemen, this is going too far."

"Madam Su, rest assured. Your family's businesses are protected by the Great Shun Code, and the county yamen also holds silver shares. We will never allow these people to divide and seize them at will."

"Stand back!"

They were all shrewd men. They had deliberately stood by and watched earlier, waiting for this moment to step forward, rescue the beauty like heroes, and leave a deep impression on Madam Su.

Everyone present understood this perfectly well.

Madam Su naturally understood as well. In fact, she had deliberately paid to hold Chen Haoyan's funeral precisely for this moment. Everything had been calculated by her from the start.

Thus, there was no change in how she looked at the constables. She even smiled, but the inexplicable sense of brokenness around her only grew heavier.

Seeing this, Wang Ping knew it was time for him to step forward.

The next instant, he walked directly over, briskly shoving aside everyone blocking his way. Only then did he stop before Madam Su, whose eyes remained indifferent.

"[Great Dragon Spear] Wang Ping greets Madam."

The moment he said this, the several constables Wang Ping had pushed aside changed expression. Inside, they cursed furiously. What the hell did he mean by bringing up that title?

"...Oh?"

At the same time, Madam Su, who had remained calm until now, finally turned toward him. Ripples rose in her beautiful eyes as she looked at Wang Ping with some surprise.

The [Great Dragon Spear], renowned throughout the county town, was a name like thunder in the ears of women—especially women like her, who had long lived secluded at home.

Naturally, she was no exception.

Yet before long, the surprise in those mournful, beautiful eyes faded, replaced by the same cold disgust she showed everyone else.

But Wang Ping did not care.

Then he strode forward and, in a rather presumptuous manner, leaned directly close to Madam Su's ear and whispered several words.

The next instant, Madam Su's expression changed.