Exhale-inhale-
A faint, warm current rose from his dantian, flowing slowly through his limbs and every bone.
[Boulder Art: beginner (201/500)]
Only one point... There's too much noise during the day. My blood and Qi still circulate a little too slowly, but it beats just sitting around!
Chen Xuan clenched his back teeth and abruptly intensified his breathing. "Circulate! Squeeze out every last ounce of strength I've had since I was suckling!"
The blood and Qi inside him surged thunderously through his meridians like a pot of water boiling over a fierce fire. Every complete circuit repeatedly hammered and tempered his muscles, bones, skin, and membranes.
Beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down his temples and struck the dry straw beneath him.
[Boulder Art: beginner (210/500)] [Boulder Art: beginner (220/500)]
Outside, the sun sank completely below the mountains, and dusk swallowed the stable bit by bit.
Just as Chen Xuan prepared to push straight through to two hundred and fifty points-
"Chen Xuan! Where the hell did Chen Xuan go?! Are you in there?!"
A loud shout suddenly exploded at the stable entrance.
The chestnut horse in the next stall immediately stamped its forehooves twice, hard.
Chen Xuan jolted and snapped his eyes open. The blood and Qi surging inside him instantly subsided and returned to his dantian. Like a startled rabbit, he sprang out from behind the haystack, grabbed the iron shovel leaning against the wall, and scooped up half a shovelful of horse manure with a scrape, calling at the top of his lungs:
"I'm here, I'm here! Who is it? Why are you hollering for souls at this hour?"
Someone pushed open the stable's wooden door, and a menial slave in patched gray clothes poked his head in and entered. His name was Wang Er, and he had entered the marquis's household two years before Chen Xuan. Among the backyard servants, he was a seasoned hand who disliked stirring up trouble but would never dare offend a steward. His relationship with Chen Xuan was neither good nor bad.
Wang Er had barely taken two steps over the threshold before the stench made his eyes roll. He hastily pinched his nose and complained in a muffled voice, "Mother of mercy, Chen Xuan, why are you burrowed into that farthest corner instead of coming out? This stink is overpowering! It's like falling into an old cesspit!"
"Oh, Brother Wang Er! I was wondering who it was. So it's you!" Leaning on his iron shovel, Chen Xuan raised his filthy sleeve and wiped the genuine sweat from his forehead, sighing with a miserable look. "Where else could I go if I didn't crawl in there? Who knows what got into that chestnut horse today? It's crapped twice as much as usual, and here I am, huffing and puffing as I shovel it out! Besides, the young lord just scalded me with boiling tea at the martial training ground today. The back of my hand still burns. At least I can get some peace hiding in there, instead of running into Brother Liu San and the others outside and getting another scolding."
Wang Er glanced at Chen Xuan's right hand, tucked inside his sleeve. A trace of sympathy flashed through his eyes, though there was more of the fox's sorrow at the rabbit's death, mixed with relief at his own escape. "All right, all right, stop pouring out your troubles to me. We slaves bound for life-what day goes by without some suffering to our flesh? I came to pass on a message. Brother Liu San went to the front courtyard for a drink just now. Before he left, he specifically ordered you to carry firewood to the rear kitchen. The first madam's courtyard is having an extra dish of nourishing soup tonight, and the kitchen's running short of hardwood."
"What? They want me to haul firewood again?!" Chen Xuan deliberately let his face fall and poured out complaints. "Brother Wang Er, those stove-tending bastards in the rear kitchen are the most blackhearted bunch. Every time I carry firewood, they won't let me leave until I've filled ten baskets. My arms and legs have only just taken a beating..."
"What damn good does whining to me do?" Wang Er glanced around and lowered his voice. "Who told you to offend the young lord again and again these past two days and give Brother Liu San a scare too? Brother Liu San said Steward Zhao has his eye on our stable right now. If we don't assign you more grueling work, and the higher-ups think our stable is shielding you, we'll all get dragged into the mess! If you're smart, put down that shovel and come with me. Don't wait for Brother Liu San to come back from drinking and whip you!"
"Fine, fine, one rank higher is enough to crush a man. Brother Liu San has spoken-how would a lowly servant like me dare disobey?" Chen Xuan tossed the iron shovel into a corner, dusted off his hands, and followed behind Wang Er with his back bent. "Let's go, Brother Wang Er. Thanks for coming all this way to give me a heads-up. When they hand out mixed-grain buns another day, I'll give you half of mine!"
"Forget it. Your own rations aren't even enough to fill the gaps between your teeth. Spare me the empty gestures and keep up!"
The two left the stable one after the other and hurried toward the brightly lit rear kitchen.
The moment they entered the rear kitchen courtyard, overlapping shouts and the clatter of pots, bowls, ladles, and pans came crashing toward them:
"Someone! Split those twenty shoulder-loads of blue oak in the eastern woodshed and deliver them to stove three!"
"Hey, you're that Chen Xuan from the stable, right? Don't stand around after you finish hauling wood. Fill those four big vats outside with well water! If you delay the soup, watch your hide!"
"Over here too! The honored guards in the front courtyard just sent back a hundred-odd greasy bowls. Hurry up and scrub them clean with plant ash!"
"Right away! Please don't rush me, masters. I'll carry it now! I'll scrub them right away!"
Chen Xuan answered with a face full of smiles, spinning nonstop like a tireless top between the rear kitchen, woodshed, well, and dishwashing basin.
He hauled a hundred jin of firewood, carried two hundred jin of well water, squatted on the ground to scrub greasy porcelain bowls, and swept vegetable leaves and coal cinders off the floor with a large broom.
Several kitchen helpers nearby slacked off, smoking their pipes as they pointed at the sweat-drenched Chen Xuan and whispered:
"Tsk, see him? That's the stable hand who nearly got beaten to death for taking one look at the courtesan queen. He's got some endurance when it comes to work."
"What good is endurance? He was born with lowly bones fit for rough labor! I heard he's been in the household three years and still hasn't even sensed Qi with the Boulder Art. He'll never be fit for anything but going around the stable and rear kitchen!"
Chen Xuan picked up a bundle of hardwood weighing a full eighty jin. Listening to the mockery around him, he showed not the slightest ripple on his face; inside, however, his heart blossomed with delight:
Go ahead, mock me all you like. What the hell do you idiots know? In my previous life, I worked 996 overtime at an advertising agency, trading my own life for the boss's Ferrari. Now I'm hauling wood and carrying water in your rear kitchen. On the surface, I'm your beast of burden, but with every step I take and every breath I draw, I'm mentally circulating my blood and Qi along the Boulder Art's pathways!
As he steadily shouldered the firewood toward the stove, he matched the rhythm of his footsteps and slowly circulated the warm blood and Qi inside him between his legs, waist, and back:
Doing the marquis's household's chores while grinding my own proficiency panel-in the corporate-slave world, this is called getting paid to train! One trip carrying eighty jin is even more invigorating than sitting still and practicing just now. This is practically a free weighted training ground!
[Boulder Art: beginner (225/500)]