Breaking Free of the Shackles, Heavenly River Saber Reaches Major Accomplishment, Ji Xiu's Second Trait: Saber Technique—Ten Steps, One Kill!

He walked out of the yamen.

Ji Xiu clenched a Household Registration Plate in his palm.

After a long while, he finally let out a long breath.

"All that came before was like windblown sand, vanished like smoke."

An ordinary farming household, a lowly household—throughout their entire lives, they could not even leave Anning County's five hundred li of territory. Otherwise, they would be deemed "runaway slaves." If caught, their lives would be more miserable than even servants'.

But once one became a martial man!

From then on, mountains rose high and seas stretched wide. Counties, prefectures, provinces—the vast Four Seas and Eight Desolations would truly be his to measure with his own two feet!

This feeling—

Was utterly different from the feeling of having shackles fastened around his feet.

After gathering himself and calming down, Ji Xiu felt the silver in his pocket.

Good fortune put a spring in one's step.

Now that he had a little money, how could he not reward himself and offer tribute to his five viscera temple?

So he first went to the nearby Cattle and Sheep Market, bought two jin of pork, carried away a black-footed chicken, and picked up a string of fresh black crucian carp weighing two jin.

He also bought rice and flour, filling both hands before returning to his shabby, drafty little courtyard.

Afterward, he specifically went out once more and brought home the cotton clothes he had ordered earlier, bundled together with the bedding, then spread them over the bed.

He wrapped up the old, tattered quilt that barely had any stuffing left and tossed it onto the wooden rack to one side. Only then was he done.

Watching Ji Xiu bustle about like this—

Ji Wei stood behind him, clasping her tiny hands. She was small and silly-looking, her eyes sparkling brightly.

"Meat, rice, flour..."

"And new bedding. It looks so thick at a glance!"

"I haven't seen things like this in so long."

She counted on her fingers, pursing her lips now and then.

"But Big Brother is practicing martial arts. I heard Liu Zi from Uncle Shuanzi's house next door say that martial artists must nourish their bodies above all else."

"To train qi and blood, to forge the great tendons, you need ginseng chicken soup and beef and mutton at every meal to replenish yourself."

"This winter, I can be more frugal and eat a little less. I'll be able to endure it."

"But Big Brother can't!"

"I have to learn how to make medicinal meals and stew soups for him. Only then can he walk out of this poor, broken alley that cannot contain the ambitions in his heart."

"Someone who works as hard as he does shouldn't be delayed in this rotten ditch."

Ji Wei thought herself entirely right. She nodded foolishly to herself and could not help smiling at how much better life had become.

Yet her thin little body looked as if a gust of wind could knock her over.

Seeing the little girl amusing herself alone, Ji Xiu pressed one hand against the thick bedding and beckoned to her with a warm smile.

"Didn't I say this morning that I'd give you a surprise?"

"Come here."

The little girl tilted her head and obediently walked over. Before she could say anything—

Ji Xiu flipped open the bedding, revealing two sets of cotton clothes, one purple and one green. Ji Wei immediately covered her little mouth, her chest trembling.

"C-Cotton clothes?"

"Big Brother, why... why didn't you buy one for yourself?"

She was anxious at first, but then boundless emotion suddenly surged up from the depths of her heart.

Crystalline tears even welled at the corners of her eyes, blinking and blinking, ready to fall at any moment.

Ji Xiu pulled her over, wiped away her tears, took one of the outfits, and wrapped her snugly inside it, leaving only her little head exposed.

"Warm?"

Ji Wei gazed at Ji Xiu with wide, round eyes. For the first time, white breath carrying warmth puffed from her mouth as she nodded with all her might.

"That's good, then."

Ji Xiu smiled in satisfaction and picked up the Wooden Saber at his side.

"I'm going to practice saber techniques. Tidy things up and make dinner later."

"Today, your brother won his freedom. I'm happy. Let's celebrate the New Year and eat meat!"

With that, he stepped over the broken threshold and left.

Only Ji Wei remained, huddled in the cotton clothes. Her throat bobbed as she choked back sobs, clutching the corner of her clothes and stroking the bedding again and again.

That was right.

It was New Year's.

She had never lived such a good life in her entire life...

In the end, Ji Wei crept over on tiptoe and leaned against the crack in the door. Just as she had through every day and night before, she secretly poked out her head and watched that figure use a Wooden Saber to cut through the "air" beneath the late-autumn evening breeze.

Only this time—

She was no longer shivering with cold.

Two days later.

The sky gradually entered dusk.

Wisps of cooking smoke rose. Holding firewood as she lit the stove, Ji Wei skillfully sliced the meat, chopped the fish, blanched them, and put them into the pot. Before long—

A plate of garlic shoot stir-fried pork, a bowl of fish soup, an entire braised chicken with fat glistening over its surface, and a huge basin brimming with brown rice—

Left Ji Xiu immensely satisfied after this meal.

This was life!

What bitter, wretched days had he been living before?

At Duan Chenzhou's home, he could also scrape together a meal, but it still felt different from being in his own home.

Only—

Looking at the money pouch that was gradually running empty—

Ji Xiu recalled how Lu Yu had thumped his chest two days ago and promised to find him a good job, yet had still not come to visit.

After eating and drinking his fill—

Ji Xiu hesitated over whether he should pay him a visit.

But before that—

His progress on the saber path could not be neglected.

After all, this was the foundation upon which he would survive and make his stand!

Heavenly River Saber Technique: (5644/10000)

Current: Minor Accomplishment

Ever since Ji Xiu had become increasingly proficient with the saber—

He discovered that the saber technique progress he had once needed to draw his saber and swing it with utmost sincerity and effort to advance even once—

Had gone from "three hundred swings a day" at the start—

To "five hundred swings a day" after reaching Minor Accomplishment—

And now, after staking every effort and spending an entire day building it up with drop after drop of sweat—

Had finally reached the level of "eight hundred swings a day"!

"When I advanced my horsemanship and reached Great Accomplishment, I gained a trait."

"It was precisely by relying on that trait that I could hold a horse stance and walk the piles, making Master Duan value my foundation enough to teach me the saber."

"I drew my saber three thousand times, reached Minor Accomplishment, and entered 'force.'"

"And as my time practicing the saber grew longer and longer..."

"I could clearly feel something!"

"That was, faintly, I seemed to be approaching an entirely new realm!"

"It wasn't an attainment above that of a martial man."

"It was..."

"A vista upon the saber technique itself!"

"Perhaps I'm about to reach Great Accomplishment!"

The more cards one held, the better.

And one's own value—

Would depend on the position one could establish for oneself.

Ji Xiu knew that his aptitude was no more than ordinary.

For him to have what he had today—

Other than his unceasing hard training, unyielding will, and a Primordial Dao Talisman that allowed him to "advance" things beforehand, he had nothing at all!

If he wanted to enter the levels of Nourishing Blood and Forging Tendons—

Without advancing this Heavenly River Saber to completion—

Even if he obtained true pile stances and cultivation methods, he would not be able to make much of them.

So there was no time to waste, young man!

"Practice the saber!"

After digesting for a long while, he felt his tendons strong, bones sturdy, and qi and blood solid.

Ji Xiu moved with a Dragon Walk Tiger Step, Wooden Saber in hand. Every time he drew it, one yellowed, withered leaf drifting through the air would be struck with perfect accuracy and shattered into powder.

Thinking about it that way—

Over all these days, he had drawn his saber several thousand times. How could the autumn leaves he had shattered number fewer than ten thousand?

He could be considered the Saber God of Ten-Mile Slope!

Devoutly offering the saber, Heavenly River Saber Technique advancement progress +1!

Devoutly offering the saber, Heavenly River Saber Technique advancement progress +1!

Until the fenced courtyard was covered in shattered fallen leaves, their powdery fragments spreading like fine golden sand across the yellow earth.

A full moon hung amid the branches.

Moonlight spilled over the youth's back.

Yet it only made him appear more steeply solitary and cold.

As though—

He had seen through a certain threshold!

Six thousand saber draws, and at last you have gained something. Heavenly River Saber has reached Great Accomplishment!

Through thousands upon thousands of saber swings, you drew your blade to cut water, comprehended saber techniques, finally broke through the bottleneck, and caught a flash of inspiration!

You have comprehended the saber technique trait: Ten Steps, One Kill!

Ordination Master: Ji Xiu

Current Traits: Waist-Horse Unity, Ten Steps, One Kill

Ten Steps, One Kill

This is a secret art of killing. Once unleashed, within ten steps, blood must fall!

This realm is the starting point of a "saber wielder."

Any saber wielder under heaven who cannot achieve "when narrow paths meet, one kill within ten steps" is unworthy of wielding a saber.

They are all outsiders at the gate!