Taming a Horse a Thousand Times Leads to Mastery; the Path of a Martial Warrior Is What a Man Should Seek!

Lin Residence, stables.

Old Yao, the stableman, tucked his hands into the sleeves of his gray padded coat and stood before a thatched hut, glaring darkly at the newcomer.

"Old Yao, this is someone personally chosen by the Second Miss. His name is Ji Xiu. From now on, he'll be just like you, feeding and tending horses in these stables."

"Don't bully him just because he's young. He isn't one of your apprentices. Like you, he's a stableman of the Lin Residence—there's no rank between you!"

"These were the Second Miss's own words. Don't blame me for not warning you."

Qin Biao had brought Ji Xiu all the way to the stables.

Along the way, Ji Xiu had discreetly buttered him up with quite a few compliments.

Qin Biao usually either fawned over the noble people of the Lin Residence or scattered cringing servants with a lash. When had he ever heard such sweet words?

He was delighted beyond measure.

Once they arrived, he patted Ji Xiu on the shoulder, then put on a stern face and coldly addressed the stableman before him, Old Yao, deliberately adding fuel to the fire.

As the saying went, if cooks did not steal, the five grains would not be harvested. Stablemen were naturally no different.

The horses ate far better than people like them did.

This old fellow must have secretly stolen quite a bit of food.

Come to think of it,

this poor gatekeeper and guard probably had a less bulging purse than Old Yao. Old Yao had lived comfortably for so many years; naturally, Qin Biao's words carried a sour edge.

"Since he was personally sent by the Second Miss, this old man naturally wouldn't dare obstruct him."

"I'll have to rely on you to look after me in the future, little brother."

Upon hearing Qin Biao's words, no matter how unwilling he was inside,

Old Yao, a stableman already in his fifties or sixties—an age when ordinary people could enjoy their twilight years—naturally did not argue too much.

Even though, in terms of status, Qin Biao, a guard who had yet to enter the path of a Martial Warrior, did not rank above him, a household servant who had served the Lin Residence for many years.

But these old bones of his could not withstand much trouble. He could not reveal even the slightest hint of resentment or unwillingness.

Small people had their own ways of surviving.

Old Yao had served horses at the Lin Residence for over forty years. He knew the rules of a Noble Family like the back of his hand.

Since Ji Xiu had been sent by the Second Miss, Lin Ruyue, he could not drive him away.

After all, how could a household servant clash with the wishes of the master's family?

That was absolutely forbidden!

Even though only he knew how to care for the horses he had raised for over forty years, while the other apprentices, deliberately kept in the dark by him, could only learn three or five tenths of the craft and were disliked by the masters—making stablemen scarce and their status relatively high.

Still,

Old Yao knew perfectly well that if he failed to understand his own identity and station, Master Lin could replace him in an instant and throw him into the river to set an example!

After all these years, only he knew how many benefits he had reaped from these stables.

As long as he did not go too far,

there was more than enough profit in this place to let him enjoy a comfortable old age. It could not have been easier!

He had no intention of letting go.

As for having another person come and share his benefits?

He was even less willing!

"Raising horses and judging horses are a craft. Without settling down to learn for several years, and without a master teaching everything he knows, what kind of horses could he possibly raise?"

"If anything happens to the horses, if they eat something wrong or are trained into some mishap, or if one day the masters are in a bad mood and see that the horses you raised have yellow, waxy coats and look withered and haggard, won't they hold you accountable?"

"Back then, this old man coveted the profits in it. When I was sixteen, in freezing weather, I carried piss and shit for that old stableman in the middle of the night and served him for a full ten years!"

"Only in the end, before that old bastard breathed his last, did I finally satisfy him. With his final breath, he showed his true feelings and passed all the tricks of the trade down to me by word of mouth."

"That was how this old man secured his position as the stables' steward for more than forty years. Heh heh, it may not compare to being a master, but how could ordinary people possibly know the benefits within?"

"So what if you come here? Stay two days, and you won't know a damn thing. I'll throw a few obstacles in your way, and you'll have to slink away with your tail between your legs."

"His face is yellow and thin, but his profile does have a bit of looks to it. No wonder he caught the Second Miss's eye."

"But the master doesn't care about that. If you can't get the job done, the board will land on your own body."

Old Yao leisurely mulled it over in his heart.

Only after he saw Qin Biao walk away did he put on a kindly expression, tuck his hands into his sleeves, and look at Ji Xiu with a beaming smile.

"Young man, you came at just the right time. This old man is getting on in years, and my body isn't what it used to be. The few apprentices I took in are all dull-witted fools who can't learn much."

"Now that you're here, you can share quite a bit of the work. To raise horses well, the most important things are mixing dry feed, preparing fine feed, and walking them in circles."

"If the Second Miss thinks highly of you, you must have some ability. Since that's the case, I'll leave the more than twenty fine horses in the East Stable to you. That will put this old man's mind at ease."

"As for the manure and such produced every day, I'll have my apprentices clean it up for you."

"You've got a craft to rely on. Such dirty, menial work should be left to those who know nothing and understand nothing. Otherwise, they're just eating for free."

Old Yao pulled a hand from his thin padded coat and took the grass cigarette offered by an apprentice who had sidled over. After taking a drag, he immediately rapped the apprentice on the head.

"Did you hear that? Hurry up and go! I'm talking about you!"

"Don't know how to be clever at all. No wonder you still can't take over for this old man, and we need Little Brother Ji to help out!"

The freckled youth Old Yao had adopted, Yao Shi, who was only about a year younger than Ji Xiu, winced in pain and protested anxiously.

"But weren't these things previously—"

Before he could finish, Old Yao kicked him in the backside again, glaring as he cursed.

"When I tell you to go, you go! Why are you talking so much nonsense?"

After taking another drag of grass tobacco and exhaling a puff of smoke, Old Yao looked at Ji Xiu with narrowed, smiling eyes again.

"This old man's apprentice is disobedient, so I disciplined him a little. He doesn't understand the rules, doesn't understand the rules. Please don't laugh at us."

Looking at the fine horses in the stable to his right, as well as Old Yao's manner of being arrogant before and respectful after,

Ji Xiu fell silent for a moment, then smiled without smiling.

"It's no matter, Master Yao."

"Still, Ji Xiu will have much to learn from you in the future."

Xiang Zhuang performed the sword dance, but his intent was on Duke Pei.

Only,

this old stableman had likely chosen the wrong target.

Horsemanship: Beginner

Tame a horse a thousand times to achieve mastery!

Current progress: 0/1000!

Only a little over twenty horses?

It seemed

he had underestimated him.

Night fell.

Taking advantage of a break, Ji Xiu hurried back to care for Ji Wei, then immediately returned to the eastern stables.

As a stableman,

from now on, he had to care for this place day and night, without rest.

After all, horses were worth more than human lives. If anything went wrong, even several lives of his might not be enough to compensate for it!

However—

Feed dry grass, rice flour, and eggs. The fine horse snorted through its nostrils, feeling greatly pleased!

Horsemanship: 1/1000!

Lead the horse and remove its reins, releasing its nature. Walk the horse for a quarter of an hour; horse taming complete!

Horsemanship: 2/1000!

Horse taming complete. Attempts +1!

Horsemanship: 26/1000!

Feeding a horse once and walking it once each day counted as one successful horse-taming attempt.

A single horse ate four meals and went for four walks a day, providing Ji Xiu with a full four attempts.

There were over twenty horses in the East Stable. In this one night alone, with each horse providing only one attempt, he had already repaid more than twenty instances of the cost he had advanced for Horsemanship. More than that,

during the process of taming horses, Ji Xiu could clearly sense that his foundation in Horsemanship was steadily improving.

"So, the moment I advanced Horsemanship was only the beginning."

"As I continue paying back the cost of that advance, I... will become even more proficient!"

"If skills are like this,"

"then what about blades and swords?"

Under the vast night sky,

though Ji Xiu's body was frail, an unquenchable flame still burned in his dark, deep pupils.

He tried hard to lift his head and gaze toward the bright moon, like an ant wishing to peer into the heavens.

Yet no matter how tiny he was,

he could still see the faintest trace of a beginning and hope.

For the rest, it was simply a matter of man's effort. He only needed to work hard.

Soon. Soon.

Once the reward money that the Second Miss of the Lin Residence, Lin Ruyue, had promised came down during the day, and once he had completely repaid the cost of advancing Horsemanship,

he could begin sounding out Qin Biao, the Lin Residence guard, about the Martial Dao of this world.

A stableman was still a servant for life, merely one who might live a little better and steal some horse feed.

Yet he would still have to stand on tiptoe just to look at the tips of someone else's shoes!

But Martial Warriors were different!

If a true man could not dine from five cauldrons in life, then in death he might as well be boiled in five cauldrons.

What was good about serving as someone's slave for an entire lifetime?

He, Ji Xiu,

had been granted such fortune,

so—

he would stand at the very top!