Free Web NovelChapter 14: Chapter 14: Civil Affairs
’This little bit of Life gained from breaking through with the Mixed Element Stance is the real deal...’
After his [Life] increased to 2, Fu Juemin felt some subtle yet distinct changes. For instance, his vision and hearing seemed to have sharpened slightly, his heartbeat was steadier and more forceful, and his breathing had grown deeper and longer...
’Is Life a health bar? No wonder it’s so hard to increase. I really need to keep practicing the Mixed Element Stance.’
Fu Juemin glanced at his panel. The Blue Energy in the left half of the Tai Chi Fish Round Slot at the bottom was almost a third full again.
Over the past half a month, he had been constantly taking all sorts of supplements, causing the Blue Energy to accumulate rapidly. After entering the Bone Forging stage, he soaked in Medicated Baths and practiced on medicated posts daily, which made the energy build up even faster.
’As long as my Basic Attributes keep increasing, it doesn’t matter if my actual combat experience and skills are a bit worse than other Martial Artists at the same realm...’
After reaching the Bone Forging stage, Li Tong had taught Fu Juemin a new Martial Art, the one displayed on the panel as the "Eight Extremes Bone Forging Skill."
It was a Refining Method that assisted with Bone Forging, but it was also a Fist Technique used for combat.
Practicing the Eight Extremes Bone Forging Skill required the practitioner to repeatedly strike a hard wall with their shoulders, back, and sides; to repeatedly knock, bump, roll, and circle their forearms against a hard wooden post; and to strike a burlap sack filled with iron sand with their palms, followed by washing their hands with a medicinal solution... all to temper the body’s resistance to impact and increase the bone density in their arms and hands. freёwebnovel.com
And from this series of training methods, three killing moves were derived: "Han Yue," "Coiling Dragon," and "Stone-Smashing Technique."
Among them, "Han Yue" was the simplest, essentially using the power of one’s shoulder and back to violently slam into an opponent. The stronger one’s physique, the greater its power.
Fu Juemin had mastered it under Li Tong’s personal guidance, and it was the move he had used to send Sun Youzhu flying that night.
’Coiling Dragon and Stone-Smashing Technique are much more technical than Han Yue. I wonder if mastering all of them will allow the Eight Extremes Bone Forging Skill to advance to the Mastery level...’
Body Forging in the Martial Dao could be accelerated by throwing massive resources at it, but there were few shortcuts when it came to Martial Dao Skills.
Fu Juemin had been practicing Ming Fist for over a month, but it was still at the Entry Level. He didn’t feel any signs of a breakthrough, only that he was becoming more and more proficient with it.
For a Fist Technique or Martial Art, unless one was a genius with astounding comprehension like those described in novels, an ordinary person would have to train diligently and endure for years, even decades, to achieve any real success.
Fu Juemin suddenly understood what Li Tong had said before.
The Martial Dao, to put it bluntly, wasn’t all that different from the online games he had played in his previous life.
The stages like Skin Polishing and Bone Forging... were equivalent to grinding mobs to level up in a game. Once you had a high enough level and left the starter village, you’d start PK-ing other players. At that point, when two players of the same level fought, the contest came down to their weapons, equipment, and game sense.
The assistance of medicinal stones and other external aids was meant to shorten this "mob grinding and leveling" process as much as possible, allowing one to spend more time on "crafting equipment, honing skills, and developing game sense."
This was the true path, the royal road to becoming a top-tier Martial Family!
The bedroom was unlit. Moonlight filtered through the window screen, spilling across the floor like mercury and filling the room with an ethereal tranquility.
Fu Juemin slipped out of the loose robes he wore for his Stance practice and slowly walked barefoot to the window.
After more than a month of martial arts practice, nourishing supplements, and adding two points to his Attack, he had long since shed the thin, weak frame he had when he first transmigrated. He had grown much taller. Now standing at 1.85 meters, his body was covered in solid, well-proportioned, streamlined muscle.
In a suit, he was still the Young Master. Without the suit, however, he was already a formidable Martial Artist.
Thanks to the various nourishing creams and essential oils he used, a month of Skin Polishing and whipping had left no marks on his body. His skin was still smooth; only the bullet scar on the left side of his chest remained clearly visible.
Fu Juemin gently touched the scar on his chest where a bullet had once pierced his heart. He gazed at the moon outside the window, a flicker in his eyes.
’After more than a month of arduous training, I finally have some ability to protect myself.’
’It’s time to ask Second Uncle about what happened at the docks.’
’And I need to start investigating who tried to kill me... There’s the saying about a thief stealing for a thousand days, but no one can guard against a thief for a thousand days.’
......
「The seventh day of the ninth month.」
A black Wan-brand car swayed as it drove along the road leading out of Luan River County.
Although it was the only county road in Luan River County, the local businesses primarily used the waterways for shipping goods. As a result, even though the road was in terrible condition, no one bothered to repair it.
Fu Juemin sat in the back seat, rolling down the window to look at the scenery outside.
The southern provinces of Yangping had just emerged from a chaotic period of constant warfare and had also suffered through several famines. Outside the city, the landscape was almost completely barren. The grass didn’t look like grass, and the mountains didn’t look like mountains.
On the road’s surface, one could occasionally see large craters left by artillery shells from the wars a few years ago. Fortunately, it hadn’t rained in the past few days, so the craters weren’t filled with mud.
On the way out of the city, there were hardly any people on the road, just a few scattered ox-carts and some nearby villagers carrying goods on their backs to sell in the city.
His two bodyguards, Ma Dakui and Qian Fei, each rode a bicycle alongside the car. They carefully dodged potholes and cow dung on the ground while talking to Fu Juemin. Every so often, they would flick the brass bell on their handlebars, producing a crisp DING-A-LING sound.
"Young Master Fu, once we get past that rise up ahead, you’ll be able to see the Civil Affairs Bureau office!"
Qian Fei pointed toward a dusty yellow hill in front of them and spoke loudly to Fu Juemin.
Beside him, Ma Dakui pedaled hard with his head down, vigilantly watching their surroundings for any potential trouble.
Fu Juemin had paid for both of their bicycles, buying them from a foreign goods store so they could keep up with him when they went out.
Rubber wheels, a leather seat, a steel frame... The two of them adored the bikes and polished them several times a day as if they were precious treasures.
Fu Juemin nodded. He was on his way to see his second uncle, Fu Guoping, and also to see for himself what kind of place Fu Guoping’s Civil Affairs Bureau really was.
The car drove on for a short distance before coming across two villagers, one old and one young. The older one, a woman in her seventies or eighties, was carrying a basket on her back.
As soon as she saw the car approaching, the old woman quickly moved to the side of the road, tightly hugging the child who was with her.
"Get out, get out! Don’t block my master’s way!"
Qian Fei pushed hard on his pedals, zipping ahead on his bike to loudly shoo away the old woman and the child on the roadside.
Fu Juemin saw that both of them were frightfully thin. He casually called over Ma Dakui and told him to leave a few silver coins, then rolled up the window, no longer looking at the desolate scene outside.
The journey of a few li took a full twenty minutes by car, but they finally arrived at the location of the Civil Affairs Bureau.
"Young Master Fu, we’ve arrived."
Qian Fei called out respectfully and opened the car door.
Fu Juemin got out of the car. When he saw the towering, imposing structure before him, he couldn’t help but freeze. Then, with a strange expression, he said to Qian Fei and the other, "You call this... an office?"
What appeared before Fu Juemin was, in fact, a massive earthen fortress built into a mountain pass.
The fortress walls were at least ten-odd meters high, constructed entirely from stacked blocks of polished bluestone. They were then coated with a thick layer of yellow clay mixed with rice paste and straw stalks, and the clear imprints of tamping boards were still visible on the surface.
