Chapter 18: As Long as the Mind Does Not Slip

"Sir, you should..."

"I said two days, can't you understand human speech?!"

Feeling the anger in the other party's tone, Chen Sansi didn't dare to continue, respectfully bowed, and withdrew from the tent.

Wait two days?

I'm afraid it's not just two days and then another two days.

By the time the ten-day assessment period is over, it'll all be old news.

"Others pay money and are willing to be taught, but when I pay, they refuse to teach?"

Even a fool could see he was being deliberately targeted.

Since joining the military camp, Chen Sansi had not offended anyone, so who was out to get him?

Two possibilities.

First, Qin Xiong's brother!

He was dressed in a military uniform, so Qin Feng didn't dare to touch him but feared he might make some achievements in martial arts, so he targeted him in this manner.

But Qin Xiong's brother didn't seem capable of mixing up with the true inheritors, he shouldn't have the power to connect with the Hundred Households.

So the second possibility, Hundred Households Luo.

Hundred Households Luo's nephew is currently ranked second fastest in practicing pile work.

He's worried that I might steal Song Yan's future.

It makes sense now.

Chen Sansi felt an immense pressure.

Climbing up the ranks is truly fraught with obstacles!

"How about it, who's teaching you? I heard Households Commander Liu teaches with the most patience and offers the best deal,"

Zhu Tong approached to inquire. After learning the outcome, he was furious, "What kind of nonsense is this? Taking money and not teaching? I'm going to reason with him!"

"Old Zhu, you can't go,"

Xu Wencai advised, "This Brother Chen must have offended someone!"

"This..."

Zhu Tong scratched his head, "So what do we do? Among all these people, it's Stone who practices the fastest. The qualification for the Selected Point should naturally belong to him!

"Otherwise, what if I teach him on the sly? Surely nobody would notice."

"Old Zhu, it's really not necessary,"

Chen Sansi didn't want to drag others down with him.

Even if the others had the Breathing Skill, he was still the fastest at practicing Pile Work.

There might still be hope.

With that thought, he took a plum blossom spear from the rack near the Martial Arts Arena and started practicing.

"Spear technique?"

Zhu Tong was astonished, "Stone, you've started practicing spear technique now?!"

Not just him, everyone at the Martial Arts Arena took notice.

"It's fine!"

Zhu Tong shouted loudly, "Stone is so impressive, everyone can see it, and if any military officer notices and reports it, there's bound to be a superior who would value his talent."

Xu Wencai looked at him with the eyes one uses when observing a naive child and gently shook his head.

Clearly, that's not how things are.

There were no superiors around, but there were plenty of small flags, none of whom intended to poke their noses into others' business.

Including Xu Bin, who passed by.

He had just arrived at the camp today and heard the arsenal clerk speaking of his fellow villager as a Divine Archer, highly likely to become a military soldier, so he thought of taking a look.

Then, he saw Chen Sansi being targeted, unable to learn the Breathing Skill even with money.

"This kid, offending people as soon as he arrives."

Xu Bin glanced in the direction where Lord Thousand Households usually worked, took a step that way, but quickly retracted and, with a sigh, went home.

"It's definitely your second uncle!"

Zhu Tong grabbed Song Yan by the collar, "It's your second uncle who's making things difficult for Stone."

"I... I don't know!"

Song Yan's face turned red, "I didn't ask my second uncle to do that!"

"Hmph!"

Zhu Tong cursed, "In my opinion, there's no need for an assessment, just give the Selected Point qualification to you directly."

"I'm going to find my second uncle."

Song Yan broke free and ran straight out of the army camp.

Inside the tent, he found his uncle and voiced his doubts.

"What's the matter?"

The military officer Luo, who was reading Military Books at the desk, looked up, "Isn't this a good thing?"

As he looked into his nephew's clear eyes, he put down the Military Books and continued, "I did have this intention, but let's not mention that I have yet to be promoted to Deputy Thousand Households—even if I were, the other Hundred Households, especially Fatty Wang, wouldn't all be willing to listen to me.

"Actually, just yesterday, Lord Thousand Households sent us to cooperate with the Martial Arts Hall in the city-wide manhunt for the barbarian assassins. Afterwards, the Young Master of Tianyuan Martial Arts Academy invited us for drinks, and your name came up over the table.

"Heaven knows how he offended the people of Martial Arts Hall.

"We've all been indebted to Tianyuan Martial Arts Academy for many years, naturally, we should give them face."

"This..."

Song Yan hung his head, "Wouldn't this be too unfair to him?"

"Fair to him..."

Luo Dongquan felt helpless toward his naively righteous nephew and put down the Military Books he nearly threw, "Yan'er, why worry about others? Focus on your training to get the Selected Point qualification. Your concern should be entering the Governor Mansion in the future!

Do you not know that without a mentor or a family backing, one can never don the crimson robe embroidered with the Immortal crane? Entering under Sun Dushi's command is your only hope! Out you go, don't bother me again."

…

Meanwhile, in Hundred Households Wang's tent, a couple of Hundred Households were gathered.

"Hey Fatty Wang, you sure are ruthless."

Householder Xiong joked, "It's one thing not to teach the lad, but why did you also take his silver?"

"Hahaha, the drinks are on me later for the brothers."

Wang Zhi was very pleased with himself.

"But..."

Households Commander Liu spoke somberly, "I remember that Chen Sansi seemed to be the fastest in this batch to learn the Pile Work. It's a shame to waste such a promising youngster."

"Since when has the army lacked promising youngsters? I also learned Pile Work in a day and a night."

Wang Zhi dismissed, "What the army lacks are true geniuses, ones who master Pile Work in half a day and spear technique in three days—those are worth cultivating."

"That's right, after all, in our shabby place, any resource shared with others means less for ourselves."

Households Commander Liu stroked his chin, "But if this lad doesn't make it, it looks like the Selected Point qualification will fall to Luo's nephew. If he really gets into the elite of the Eight Camps, he could even manage to get Luo over as well in the future. That would be quite a leap to success, huh!

"Come to think of it, Fatty Wang, if you could bring along a genius, you might be able to return to the Eight Camps. You don't want to stay in this desolate place forever, do you?"

"I would like to, but darn it, where do I find a genius?"

Wang Zhi fiddled with the Silver Ingot in his hand, putting an end to the conversation.

…

Martial Arts Arena.

Chen Sansi began practicing his spear technique.

With his superior memory, his mind seemed to have a slide show that repeatedly played the scene of Hundred Households Wang demonstrating the spear technique.

Pile Work, which already exhausted physical strength greatly.

Add spear technique to that, and Chen Sansi immediately felt as if his Qi Power was being drained by a pump. Fortunately, he was mentally prepared and persisted.

With every swing of the plum spear, his heart raced, and his lungs felt uncomfortably constricted—as if he had reached his limit running, with a taste of blood in his throat.

Breathing Skill was likely meant to aid, to ease the pain and speed up the training.

But!

If it was just an aid, that meant one could learn the complete spear technique without it.

It simply meant enduring more pain than others.

As for the speed, so long as one trained fast enough, being slightly slower was no big deal.

As long as one doesn't falter in resolve, there are always more solutions than difficulties!

Chen Sansi's teeth gritted audibly as he continued swinging the iron spear in his hands.