An Unexpected Life of Leisure

He had joined the Scout Battalion and made it through the veterans' attempts to make life difficult for the newcomer, but Wang Qi had never expected the blow that knocked him over the head to come from somewhere else.

His original wish for a tent of his own had come true, because the entire Scout Battalion consisted of just three squads, fifteen men in all, and everyone handled their own clothing, food, shelter, travel, and every other personal need...

Expect Detached Division Commandant Xu Ping to concern himself with such things?

Not a chance. His subordinates were capable, so he simply left them to solve their own problems.

And although they were called three squads, there were actually no squad leaders. They did not even trust one another in their daily lives; everyone essentially lived for himself.

These people have an extreme lack of security... That was Wang Qi's assessment.

The terrain map he had submitted was so detailed and accurate that everyone would have nearly a month of idle time... And once the assignment was complete, Xu Ping did not care in the slightest what they went off to do.

The only requirement was that they be ready to answer whenever summoned.

So he had only just moved to a new environment, and they were already turning him loose to graze?

Wang Qi found it all rather unreal.

But once he accepted this reality, he immediately realized that this arrangement was actually better for him.

Didn't it give him more time to improve himself?

So after Xu Ping announced that they were free to do as they pleased, Wang Qi's first move was to head toward the recruit camp...

His reaction once again caught everyone by surprise, but the same principle still applied... Everyone minded his own business, so no one truly cared what he went off to do.

Wang Qi's reasoning was simple: joining the Scout Battalion did not mean he could no longer hang around the recruit camp. Of course he was going back for a meal!

He would also stop by the supply depot to see whether there was anything he could put to use... Commandant Lin had already promised him a one-man tent, and that was naturally the first thing he needed to settle.

...The first thing on his mind was still getting his own tent.

There was no helping it. This touched upon Wang Qi's bottom line when it came to his quality of life, making it his foremost priority above all else.

His visit to the supply depot went smoothly, and he easily secured a small tent for himself... It was the same one he had used while isolated during his illness.

When not in use, he could roll it up, wrap it in his pack, and carry it on his back. To pitch it, he only needed to find a branch to prop it up, then secure the four sides.

For Wang Qi at this point, having a place all his own that could shelter him from wind and rain was already a blessing.

And so he made his preparations...

Two quivers hung at his right hip, while the iron sword given to him at his village send-off hung at his left.

A tall marching pack sat on his back, with his hunting bow hanging at its side.

His full kit probably weighed some eighty jin, yet Wang Qi could still stride along as swiftly as if his feet had wings.

He thought he might even be able to begin training his external arts ahead of schedule. Since his lesser yang qi had reached the first yang arises stage, it had brought him many incredible benefits, including his body's ability to recover.

With these thoughts in mind, he arrived at the hidden Scout Battalion camp carrying his enormous pack.

He did not pitch his tent near the others... In fact, he suspected that much of that camp was a decoy, and that they all had other places to stay.

Since everyone was doing his own thing, Wang Qi saw no need to join the crowd.

He headed straight for a stretch of river between the Scout Battalion and the recruit camp, but instead of staying along the river itself, he found a spot beside a mountain stream that flowed down from the hills and eventually joined the little river.

An earthen mound stood behind it, with dense woods all around.

With a little camouflage added, it would be an exceedingly well-hidden secret base.

Once he had pitched his tent, his first task was to address "clothing," the first of the four essentials: clothing, food, shelter, and travel.

That was why he had wanted the Clothing-Cleansing Spell so badly. In theory, once he had it, he would never have to worry about dirty clothes again...

This was another of Wang Qi's bottom lines for his quality of life... Even if he could not bathe all the time, his clothes absolutely had to be clean!

With his previous experience, however, he could avoid many detours while learning the Clothing-Cleansing Spell.

He already understood that the key to spells was using his own internal qi, reinforced by mental power, to lever the ambient primal qi into motion... Mental power was the most crucial part of all.

He began reciting the incantation over and over, searching for the knack of producing those mental fluctuations, then building "muscle memory" so he could cast the spell as close to instantaneously as possible.

He did not practice much that day, though. Having just changed environments, he needed to spend more time tending to his surroundings to make his campsite better concealed.

So after a full day of work, when he finally settled down, he stripped off his clothes and jumped into the nearby mountain stream to give himself a thorough scrub...

To his surprise, the stream was not as icy as he had imagined. Instead, it felt slightly warm, making it quite pleasant amid the ice and snow.

Nor did he fear the cold weather. After washing, he was steaming with warmth and felt something like the lingering sensation he experienced after returning from an out-of-body excursion.

Thinking of leaving his body, he suddenly missed that feeling of being free and unrestrained, without a single thought in his mind. He stretched comfortably and lay down to sleep.

As his internal qi cultivation grew stronger, leaving his body seemed to become a little easier too.

Almost as soon as he fell asleep, his awareness woke. With a little effort to break free, he left his body.

This time, his disembodied consciousness did not go far. Remembering the Clothing-Cleansing Spell he had practiced in his spare moments that day, he could not resist practicing it in his disembodied form.

He recited the incantation silently, yet sensed the fluctuations of his mental power with extraordinary clarity... Then the true yang qi within him stirred in response, instantly forming an utterly clean area before him.

All dust and filth were driven out of that area, turning it into an immaculate space in an instant... Even Wang Qi's consciousness felt wonderfully comfortable within it.

But this time, he had cast the Clothing-Cleansing Spell directly with true yang qi... That pained him, because it had consumed rather a lot.

While he was still wincing at the cost, he suddenly spotted two figures, one large and one small, walking hand in hand toward him through the distant woods...

Without any reason at all, he knew that Aunt Yun and A Bao had come to see him again.

Then he noticed two faint, translucent threads connecting them to one another. Aunt Yun and A Bao must have followed those threads to find him.

He was delighted, and they seemed just as happy to see him.

In particular, seeing them again, Wang Qi noticed that the aura of decay and gloom surrounding both Aunt Yun and A Bao seemed to have faded somewhat...

Perhaps this was a change brought about by his reciting scriptures for them last time.

Wang Qi was very happy about this, because he truly hoped to see them get better.