"This basic manual—study it carefully when you get back. Best if you can memorize it ahead of time. It'll help with the assessment."
Xu Bin gave his last reminder, resting a hand on the hilt of his saber before turning to leave.
Old Xu Tou chuckled. "Binzi, why not teach Little Shitou a few moves now? Might help him get through the assessment later."
Xu Bin frowned slightly, gave Chen Sanshi a glance, and replied coolly, "I've got other matters to handle."
"You brat, he's from our own village—what's the harm in lending a hand?"
Old Xu Tou pointed at his son, ready to scold him.
"Old Xu, Brother Bin must have military duties. No need to trouble him."
Chen Sanshi understood.
He and Xu Bin had no real connection. A few tips were already generous—how could he ask for more?
"Hmph!"
On the bumpy road back to Poyang County, old Xu Tou muttered grumpily, "Little Shitou, don't take it to heart. My blockhead of a son thinks being a petty officer makes him a big shot—nose always in the air!
"He doesn't want to teach you? I'll teach you!
"The first three stages of martial cultivation are: tempering blood, tempering bone, and tempering organs.
"Once your blood is tempered to minor completion, you can be a squad leader. Major completion, you can be a platoon leader. Tempering bone qualifies you to lead a hundred. Tempering organs, a thousand.
"Of course, that's just the general correlation. Reality is usually more complicated."
Bouncing in the cart, Chen Sanshi asked seriously, "Brother Bin mentioned martial soldiers and formation grunts—what does that mean?"
Old Xu Tou patiently explained.
"Whether it's a sect or a martial hall, all require talent from their disciples. The military is no different."
"After joining, there's an assessment."
"Pass, and you become a 'martial soldier'. Fail, and you're stuck as a 'formation grunt'."
"Martial soldiers get to continue their martial path, get resources, and can still climb the ranks."
"Formation grunts don't have the talent for martial cultivation. They train in formations and fight in squads, with no shot at promotion."
"Archers and cavalry count as formation grunts too, though they're treated a bit better."
"Heh, I've got crap bones. Ended up as a formation grunt!" the old man chuckled.
Chen Sanshi nodded thoughtfully—he got it.
A martial soldier was like a college grad in the military from his previous life—room to climb. But a grunt? Just cannon fodder.
"I've told you all I know."
Old Xu scratched his head. "As for the manual, I never really understood it back then. I'd just mislead you. Better you study it yourself."
They parted ways just outside Poyang County.
Chen Sanshi mulled things over.
'I have to become a martial soldier—otherwise, what's the point of enlisting?'
'But what if I have no talent for martial arts?'
Back home, dinner was already on the table.
Now that life had improved, meals usually included fine white rice, salted duck eggs, and often some meat dishes.
Gu Xinlan no longer worked outside. She now stayed home full-time as a proper housewife.
At the table, she brought up Qin Xiong in surprise. "Shi ge'er, did you hear? That Qin guy disappeared!
"His little brother's been running around asking about him like a madman."
"He even chopped off Zhao San's arm in broad daylight. Blood sprayed everywhere. It was terrifying."
Zhao San was a known thug, though not from their area.
"Good thing everyone in the village knows we made peace with the Qins. Otherwise, they'd definitely come knocking."
Cutting a man's arm off in the street?
Martial hall disciples really were lawless.
Luckily, Chen Sanshi now had military status. Even if Qin Xiong's brother suspected him, he wouldn't dare attack him openly—at most, he'd scheme behind the scenes.
Still, Chen Sanshi had to get stronger—fast.
After dinner, he rushed out to the clearing behind the house and began reading Basic Spearsmanship for Infantry under the moonlight.
Despite the title, the manual was all about stance training—not a single bit on actual weapons.
Each page had lifelike illustrations of a stance, with several lines of text explaining key points and training insights.
His photographic memory finally came in handy. In just over ten minutes, he memorized all 36 stance forms and began practicing.
Following the images, he kept his toes forward, chest tucked, shoulders relaxed, elbows hanging, neck extended, imagining something balanced on his head he couldn't let fall—holding the posture with precision.
It looked simple enough, but once he actually tried it, he realized it was anything but.
After only a few breaths in the pose, he felt his whole body changing.
Heat rose from his soles to his calves, then his torso, then his arms—his whole body seemed to ignite. It was like the stances had triggered something inside him, unlocking hidden mechanisms.
His stamina and energy drained rapidly. In less than half an hour, he was soaked in sweat.
Even after his Archery reached Mastery and his physique had greatly improved—already putting him well above average among those without formal martial training—Chen Sanshi still started feeling worn out by the time he got to the fifth stance.
He clenched his teeth and pushed through until he finished exactly ten stances, but then he couldn't hold on any longer. Face pale, he dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.
'Good thing the Mastery in Archery boosted my constitution. Otherwise, there's no way I'd have made it to the tenth stance!'
'I just don't know—compared to others, is my speed considered fast or slow?'
His first feeling after finishing was hunger. Not just a bit hungry—he was dizzy from it.
"Shi ge'er, I made some food. Want something to eat?"
A soft voice rang in his ears.
Only then did Chen Sanshi realize that Gu Xinlan hadn't gone to bed. She had waited for him the whole time—and even made a late-night snack.
Without a word, he rushed inside and wolfed down the food—five steamed white buns and a full bowl of rice mixed with pork lard. Even then, he still felt like he could eat more.
Training really burned through everything!
After eating, Chen Sanshi looked at Lan jie'er cleaning up the dishes, and he didn't even have energy left for any kind of desire. He was just plain wiped out.
He'd need to eat meat.
Even though things were better at home now, they still didn't eat meat every meal.
Looked like he had to start treating himself better. No more hoarding silver every time he bagged something from the hunt.
Exhausted, Chen Sanshi collapsed onto the bed. Lan jie'er helped massage his muscles to relax him, and before long, he was fast asleep.
The next morning, before they even got out of bed, they heard that Qin Feng had come back to the village early again—still searching for his brother. His tone was way more hostile this time, clearly getting anxious.
Chen Sanshi didn't pay him any mind. After breakfast, he headed straight to the military camp to report in.
…
"Where's my brother?!"
Qin Feng had gathered all the street thugs who used to follow his older brother and questioned them one by one.
"Second Bro, we really don't know!"
One rat-faced punk said, "Last time we saw Big Bro was seven nights ago."
"After dinner, he said he was heading into town to have some fun. Didn't take us along. After that, we never saw him again…"
Another thug said nervously, "Second Bro, that night happened to be the night the county magistrate got attacked. You think maybe it was the barbarian…?"
"Impossible!"
Qin Feng cut him off with full confidence. "That barbarian would never kill ordinary civilians!"
Then, realizing he'd slipped up, he paused and rephrased, "What I mean is, if he started killing at random, he'd only expose himself more!"
"Second Bro," the thugs looked helpless, "We already checked on Zhao San. Aside from him, we can't think of anyone else who'd dare go after Big Bro."
Qin Xiong had made a lot of enemies.
But they were mostly widows, orphans, and lonely old men—easy targets with no real courage to retaliate.
"I might know someone!"
A skinny thug suddenly spoke up. "That scholar from the Chen family once had beef with Big Bro."
"Chen family?"
"Yeah, that hunter kid from Swallow-Edge Village—he's the best shot around!"