Three Thousand Draws, at Last Saber Force; Wind and Frost, Hardship and Rough Roads Are Nothing to Fear—Stepping into the Strength Threshold, Becoming a Martial Artist at Last!

Late at night.

Pushing open the wooden fence, Ji Xiu stepped into his own house, its broken tiles letting in the wind.

Carrying an oilpaper parcel, Ji Xiu crept quietly through his front door.

Outside, the cold wind howled, making the wooden door rattle softly without end.

To Ji Xiu, it felt even more as though he had returned from a "dream" to "reality."

Yet at this moment, he still could not suppress the surging tide in his heart.

"Only today have I truly seen the real world."

When Qin Biao had shared a table with him, all he did was boast about how overbearing and extravagant martial artists were. His eyes had been filled with envy, as if he wished he could take their place.

But he had only seen the surface, utterly unaware of how much others had paid to reach such splendor.

Yet Duan Chenzhou—

Had truly shown him ambition, and the vastness of heaven!

It truly answered the saying: "A true teaching is one sentence; a false teaching fills ten thousand scrolls." The two could not be mentioned in the same breath.

"The three realms of the Strength Threshold: Sinew Tempering, Bone Tempering, Skin Refinement!"

Ji Xiu clenched his fists and murmured softly.

"Bone Tempering and Skin Refinement can wait."

"According to Master Duan, this stage of Sinew Tempering is also called 'Gold Muscle Jade Tendons' by the Prefecture City's refined folk. It is the beginning of body cultivation."

"To master this stage, one must first Enter Force, Nourish Blood, and Forge Tendons."

"Only then can flesh and blood grow strong, dragon and tiger alike in abundance. With the body alone, without relying on weapons, one can split steles and crack rocks, tear jackals and leopards apart alive. Only then can one continue advancing and cultivate an Invulnerable Body."

"Otherwise, if one's flesh is insufficient and one's sinews and bones are weak, then after forcibly tempering the bones and carrying around a frame of 'golden bones and silver bones'—"

"One will not even be able to walk. That skeleton will crush one's spine alive, becoming a burden instead!"

"Nourishing Blood and Forging Tendons require meat at every meal, mountain ginseng for nourishment, supplemented by things like Leopard Fetus Pills and Tiger Bone Powder. Only years upon years of pounding and tempering can achieve them."

"I am but a servant, without the money or means. To lay the foundation for these two thresholds—hard, hard, hard!"

"But..."

"Entering Force is different."

"Master Duan said that so-called 'force' is a strength drawn from one's sinews, bones, flesh, and blood after basic martial arts such as fist, palm, saber, and sword have been practiced to a profound level."

"By wielding that strength, one can make the techniques in one's hands move and halt at will. Whether splitting steles and cracking rocks or blasting something into powder, all follows one's intent. Tsk, tsk."

"Even striking bricks and stones carries such weight."

"If it landed on a person, wouldn't even bone fragments be left behind?"

"Once the Heavenly River Saber Technique reaches Minor Accomplishment, can I Enter Force?"

He licked the corners of his dry, chapped lips, scraped raw by the whistling wind.

Ji Xiu was brimming with drive, feeling that his days were steadily rising.

He had already thought through the next steps on his way back from Duan Chenzhou's residence.

"Carve a wooden saber. In my spare time, I'll practice three hundred draws a day!"

"Then..."

"As long as the advance progress reaches it and I gain Minor Accomplishment in the saber technique..."

"The threshold of Entering Force, which others might only glimpse after years upon years of bitter training, when the time was right and the water naturally formed a channel—"

"For me..."

"It won't be so difficult."

"Once I Enter Force, become a martial artist, and shed my Slave Status, with this foundation, no matter what livelihood or trade I find, earning a monthly salary of several taels will be easy!"

"Life will get better."

The room was too dim to light an oil lamp. By the soft moonlight leaking through the cracks in the wall, Ji Xiu crept quietly inside, but he still stirred up a small commotion.

"Brother?"

Ji Wei poked her head out from the bedding. She wore tattered clothes, a section of her calf exposed and shivering from the cold. Her eyes lit up with delight as she looked at him.

"You came back an hour later than usual today. If you hadn't returned soon, I was going to look for you."

She threw aside the bedding, rubbed her face with her little hands, and ran to the stove. Lifting the lid, she took out two flatbreads that were still somewhat warm, then carefully held up a bowl of thin porridge.

"There isn't much food left at home. You work hard during the day, so I kneaded some dough and made two flatbreads, and there's a bowl of thin porridge too. Eat quickly."

She licked her lips and swallowed her saliva, but did not say a word. She merely set the food by the wooden table, then added a small dish of blackened pickles.

Then, without a word and without stopping for breath, she went to the wooden bucket to fetch water and heat it, intending to serve Ji Xiu as he washed his face and feet and warmed himself.

Ji Wei knew that after entering the Lin Residence as a groom, Ji Xiu did not actually need to come home at night.

But for her sake, he still brought back food every day and took care of her.

Thus, ever since Ji Xiu began practicing the saber and came home famished after a busy day, she had done her best to be sensible and quiet, never causing him trouble.

Their home was already suffering enough. Her brother had already staked everything on making a living.

If she did not eat less, work more, and serve him properly, then under such hardship... they truly would not be able to endure.

Watching Ji Wei's string of obedient, worry-free actions—

Ji Xiu suddenly fell silent, pity rising in his heart.

Over the past half month—

In pursuit of a future, he had spent every last coin he possessed, leaving not even a scrap behind.

In such straits, he could still snatch the horses' fine feed in the Lin Residence stables to fill his belly.

But his unlucky little sister could only rely on the meager grain bought with a few coins, calculating every mouthful with care.

Most of it had gone into his own stomach after he began practicing the saber, during those evenings when he returned before and Duan Chenzhou had not allowed him at the table.

And besides—

The Lin Residence had too many eyes and ears. Even if grooms had some extra profit to skim, they could not bring much out, and they had to risk being reported. Thus, he had no way to bring Ji Wei much food.

At most, he could tuck away two eggs that had gone cold.

And now, looking around—

Early autumn had already arrived.

Not only did the house leak wind everywhere, but there was only one thin quilt. Ji Wei was nearly frozen stiff beneath it, snot bubbles forming at her nose.

Yet she had not uttered a single complaint.

It was as though Ji Xiu's newly kindled lofty ambition had been doused with cold water, leaving a knot in his chest.

He stroked Ji Wei's head, untied the oilpaper parcel he had brought, and set the leftover dishes he had gathered from Duan Chenzhou's place on the table. In a gentle voice, he said,

"I already ate at my saber master's place today."

"Eat more and grow stronger. In a few days, once I become a martial artist and cultivate saber force, we'll move to a different courtyard. I'll hire you a teacher too, to teach you how to read and write."

"Our days won't have to be this hard anymore."

Ji Wei had originally been about to refuse.

But when she heard Ji Xiu finish speaking, her eyes suddenly brightened, like starlight just beginning to bloom.

"Brother, did that Master Duan take you in?"

Over the past few days, as Ji Xiu practiced the saber, she had heard him speak of some things and learned about the One-Armed Constable's deeds.

"Mm."

Ji Xiu smiled but said no more. He told her to eat well, then picked up a rusty axe and carried out a section of wood he had prepared earlier.

"Eat properly. I'm going to carve something."

In the silent long night, stars fell from the heavens.

Holding a small stool, Ji Xiu carefully shaped a wooden saber amid the bitter cold.

Given his status, if he wished to practice the Heavenly River Saber Technique, he had no saber to use at all.

So he could only make a wooden saber and practice with it day after day, cultivating bitterly without pause.

The saber did not need to be good, nor did it need exquisite craftsmanship.

As long as—

It could bear the spirit of a man with no road left behind him, one who had smashed his cauldrons and sunk his boats.

Then—

It was enough.

Crack, crack, scrape!

The harsh, grating scraping sounds drifted out from time to time, accompanied by the muttered complaints and curses of the neighbors, which gradually faded away.

Ji Xiu's thin figure was stretched endlessly long by the moonlight.

Now chopping, now chiseling, until deep into the night.

At last, a rough, blunt wooden saber blank more than two feet long was held in his palm.

Then—

He practiced the saber!

He did not sleep all night.

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, ten days passed.

Over those days, Ji Xiu fed the horses as usual and went to Duan Chenzhou's residence as usual to seek instruction in martial arts. At the same time, his relationship with his senior brother, Lu Yu, gradually grew closer.

But strangely, he did not mention a word about how he had "achieved something in saber practice" that day.

Perhaps it was because Duan Chenzhou had instructed him not to.

But all such matters—

Had long since left no room in the eyes of Ji Xiu, whose heart held nothing but saber practice.

This day—

After finishing his work beside the stables—

He still swung that wooden saber, never resting all day, knowing only to draw it.

Even though in the eyes of Old Yao and his apprentice, Qin Biao, and the passing residence servants, Ji Xiu had seemed like an absurd madman these past days, his heart remained as calm as water, without the slightest ripple.

A caged bird that had never raised its head to look at the sky in its entire life—

How could it possibly—

Know the ambition in his heart?!

The wooden saber slashed. It had no blade; all it possessed was a howl that pierced the air.

In the past, with no edge or sharpness, it left no mark on stone and no trace on wood, merely inviting laughter.

However—

On this day—

When the wooden saber in Ji Xiu's hand cut across the drooping branches of a great willow, bare of leaves in autumn—

In an instant—

Crack! Crack! Crack!

One after another!

Like an explosion, the sound of splintering and shattering wood chips erupted with unbelievable suddenness!

As that wooden saber, once blade-less and edge-less, swept past—

The tough slender willow branches, which had endured repeated chops without losing a single hair—

Exploded into powder, scattering and vanishing at the first breath of wind!

A great willow beside the stables, thick enough for a person to wrap their arms around, lost an entire swath of branches.

When spring came, how many branches would it sprout?!

This day—

Ji Xiu's saber technique was accomplished.

The wooden saber had no edge; force came and became its blade, cutting through drooping branches and reducing them all to powder!

Three hundred draws each day, offering the saber with devotion. Progress +1!

Heavenly River Saber Technique: (3000/10000)

Three thousand draws, and at last accomplishment.

Current: Heavenly River Saber Technique (Minor Accomplishment)

Comprehended: Saber Force!

When Ji Xiu opened his eyes again—

The calluses covering his hands—

Were no longer the shame of his past, weathered by wind and frost and bitter hardship.

They were the old road he had walked: climbing without cease beneath blades of wind and swords of frost, never once stopping despite every twist and turn!

This day—

I stepped into the martial artist's Strength Threshold—

The first step of Sinew Tempering!