In Sanchazi Town, Li Banxian sat behind his small fortune-telling stall, his eyes sizing up the passersby.
In his line of work, one had to be good at observation. He needed to gauge people’s minds, gather information from every little detail, actively spot potential marks, and then lure them onto the hook.
Sometimes, snagging a single fat sheep could feed him for several years, or even benefit him for a lifetime.
It was just that Sanchazi Town was far too poor. Most people wished they could split a single copper coin in half to spend it.
Even if they caught a mosquito, they would try to scrape a bit of lean meat off its legs.
Trying to wring money out of them was simply too difficult.
As a result, for all these years, Li Banxian had lived going hungry one meal and full the next.
Those who didn’t know the truth always praised his thin, ascetic appearance, claiming he possessed the bearing of a transcendent immortal. In reality, he dreamed of gorging on fatty pork at every meal until he was stuffed round and thoroughly plump.
It wasn’t until this year that his luck finally turned. After running into a naive young fool completely ignorant of the ways of the world, he not only got to eat his fill, but even had meat and wine to enjoy.
Just as he was sizing up the passersby, he saw a youth approaching from the end of the street. The boy wore a coarse hemp shirt and straw sandals, and in his hand, he carried a slab of fatty meat.
The fat sheep had arrived. Li Banxian immediately straightened his robes, sat up tall, and fixed his gaze forward without a sidelong glance, perfectly adopting the lofty bearing of an immortal.
In his heart, however, his thoughts had already spun through dozens of schemes, pondering how to fool this cheap disciple today.
That so-called Peerless martial art manual—he himself had practiced it for a long time, and it was completely useless. It was nothing but a sham.
Anyway, he had already done the teaching. If the boy couldn’t master the Peerless martial art, it was either because he wasn’t working hard enough or his innate aptitude was too dull. He certainly couldn’t blame his master.
“Master!”
Ergouzi called out his greeting from far away. Li Banxian very reservedly stroked his beard.
“Mm! You have arrived!”
“Have you made any progress in your cultivation recently?”
Li Banxian remembered that Ergouzi had consulted him last time about encountering some sort of difficulty. He had to spout nonsense for half the day to coax the boy into going back.
He mused inwardly that he would need to lay the deception on even thicker today.
“Yes, I’ve made progress! I’ve finally mastered the basics of cultivation!”
Ergouzi nodded emphatically. He was very satisfied with his current progress.
Of course, besides his own hard work, he also had to thank his master for the guidance.
That was why he had been willing to spend a hefty sum this time to buy another fine slab of fatty meat for his master.
“Mastered the basics?”
Li Banxian didn’t quite believe it. He figured the young man simply cared too much about his face and was eager to boast. Youngsters always liked to pretend they had achieved something out of thin air, or blow a tiny accomplishment completely out of proportion.
It seemed he needed to knock some sense into the boy. Pondering this, he casually picked up a stone from the ground and placed it on the table.
“Pick up this stone and pinch it into powder for your master to see.”
Ergouzi quickly shook his head. Although he possessed great strength now, crushing a solid rock was still impossible.
“If you cannot even accomplish such a simple task, how dare you falsely claim to have mastered the basics!”
Li Banxian shook his head. He put on a look of frustrated disappointment, as if deeply let down by Ergouzi’s lack of progress.
He casually tossed the small stone away and picked up an even larger one. Exerting force with a single hand, he crushed the rock to powder.
Seeing the utter astonishment and worship on Ergouzi’s face, Li Banxian felt deeply satisfied.
He casually brushed the stone dust from his hand, his expression calm and unchanging, as if he had just done something completely trivial.
“Those who practice the martial path must guard against arrogance and impatience. You must never grow conceited. Always remember, there is always someone better, and there is always a higher heaven…”
“Master, I was wrong!”
After this harsh reprimand from Li Banxian, Ergouzi was thoroughly ashamed. His sun-darkened face instantly flushed red all the way to the tips of his ears.
“To know one’s fault and correct it is the greatest virtue!”
“When the day comes that you can crush stones to dust and lightly leap a zhang into the air, only then will you be considered to have mastered the basics.”
Li Banxian deeply understood the principle of offering a carrot after striking with a stick. He stroked his beard and offered Ergouzi a word of comfort.
At the same time, he pulled that tattered manual from his robes.
“Do not be disheartened. As long as you persevere, you will eventually master the basics and pass the examination to become a Martial Scholar.”
“Today, you will continue copying the manual to learn the characters. We will talk once you can recognize every word in this book.”
The two spoke for a long while before Ergouzi finally bid his master farewell and left.
Ever since being knocked down a peg by his master, Ergouzi deeply understood the truth that there is always a higher heaven. Curing his arrogance and impatience, he returned to the mountain and cultivated with steady diligence every single day.
From then on, aside from heading into town every few days to copy the manual and learn characters, Ergouzi didn’t dare boast about his cultivation progress in front of his master anymore.
His pitiful bit of attainment could be seen through at a single glance by a transcendent figure like his master. Speaking of it would only pollute his master’s ears.
He had only learned a tiny bit of skill. He hadn’t even mastered the basics, yet he had actually started feeling so smug and self-satisfied.
His master possessed such incredible power, yet he never showed off or flaunted his strength.
This proved that a true master does not reveal himself. He still had far too much to learn.
Because of his accidental success the previous time, when he had managed to generate that first wisp of Qi within his Meridians, his subsequent cultivation felt as smooth as a boat coasting downriver. It was much easier.
As long as he kept up his regular practice, this Vital Qi in his body would slowly grow stronger. He could feel himself making a tiny bit of progress every day.
Wherever the Vital Qi flowed, a soothing warmth followed in its wake. It was incredibly comfortable.
Perhaps because of this Vital Qi, his physical strength had also been growing rapidly. He could now hoist a boulder weighing over a hundred jin without any real effort.
This strength couldn’t be allowed to go to waste. There were still so many barren Stone Hollows left on Snake Mouth Mountain, which made it the perfect time to use this new strength to clear the land.
Whenever he moved rocks until his arms were too heavy to lift, he only needed to direct the flow of Vital Qi into them. After a short while, the exhaustion would fade away.
However, he also noticed a serious problem. Ever since he started cultivating this method, his appetite had increased tremendously.
In the past, he could eat three large bowls of rice per meal. Now, eating five bowls barely left him feeling full, and he got hungry again far too quickly.
Before, eating two meals a day—one in the morning and one in the evening—had been enough.
Now, three meals a day was the bare minimum, and most days he needed four just to keep going.
If he ever missed a few bowls of rice, his cultivation progress would immediately slow to a crawl.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to worry about going hungry right now. Otherwise, there would be absolutely no way for him to continue his martial practice.
Moreover, he discovered that any grain stored inside the gourd not only became far more delicious, but could actively nourish his Vital Qi.
Ordinary rice had almost no effect in this regard.
The rice kept in the gourd was vastly different from ordinary grain. Anyone who tasted it even once would immediately realize the difference.
This posed a new dilemma. For the sake of convenience, he had stored all of his unhusked rice inside the gourd. How was he supposed to sell it at the market now?
If people asked where such exceptional grain had come from, how could he possibly explain it?
Sanchazi Town wasn’t far from Snake Creek Village. If he drew too much attention, people would easily trace the grain back to Snake Mouth Mountain.
Until he could think of a proper solution, he decided to hold off on selling any of this gourd-stored rice.
One day, as Ergouzi was thinking back to the years he had spent feeding pigs, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him.
If he boiled the grain until it turned entirely to mush, looking just like pig slop, who could possibly recognize what it was?
However, he couldn’t just go out and sell pig slop. He could never ask a high price for it, and it wouldn’t be easy to sell anyway. After all, there couldn’t be many people out there who wanted to eat pig feed.
Perhaps he could sell it as medicine.
He remembered the traveling jugglers in town who used to sell a kind of Great Strength Pill. Maybe he could try making something similar.