Qiaoxi Village was located to the west of a stone arch bridge. The village on the eastern side was called Qiaodong Village.
Since a stone arch bridge had been built in this place, the river's flow was naturally quite substantial.
Aside from being prone to flooding during heavy rains, it was normally very suitable for farming.
As a result, Qiaodong and Qiaoxi Villages were not poor. It was just that the local officials were too ruthless, leaving the villagers struggling to make ends meet.
When Zhou Yuan first discovered he had transmigrated, he was incredibly excited, but he came to regret it after just two days.
After all, he had dreamed of a harem of wives and endless wealth, but his reality was a single steamed bun and half a bowl of bitter herbs.
Fortunately, his game-like interface gave him unprecedented hope, allowing him to grudgingly accept this strange new world.
But twenty days ago, a minor official from the county, along with his bailiffs, arrived in Qiaoxi Village and issued the imperial court's new Conscription Order.
It was then that Zhou Yuan learned Qiaoxi Village belonged to a nation called Great Wei.
Great Wei employed a system of conscripting one able-bodied man for every three households in times of war or for corvée labor.
To be honest, this method of conscription wasn't considered particularly harsh in ancient times. Coincidentally, however, Zhou Yuan, who lived alone, was also included in this draft.
When Zhou Yuan heard this, he thought, *You want me to fight your wars? I'd rather run off into the wilderness and try to survive on my own!*
*At least in the wilderness, I could scrounge for food and clothes. If I actually go to the battlefield, a bunch of villagers like us will just get slaughtered by armored soldiers.*
But he had underestimated the villagers' wisdom. That very day, the Village Head assigned three men to watch over him and another three to watch Ergou.
Zhou Yuan was watched because he lived alone and had no family ties. Ergou wasn't in a much better situation.
Ergou's father had broken his leg during corvée labor over a decade ago, and his "family jewels" had been ruined as well, leaving Ergou as his only son.
When his father heard it was their family's turn for service, he insisted on going in Ergou's place, despite his broken leg. But this was military service, not corvée labor, and the Village Head refused to allow it.
In the end, with no other choice, the village pooled some money and arranged for a girl from Qiaodong Village to marry Ergou.
Now, the whole village was hoping Ergou would make the most of these few days and leave an heir for the Zhao family before he left for the army.
As for Zhou Yuan, he had no desire to leave behind a descendant, and the village wouldn't help an orphan like him find a wife.
Firstly, they were afraid of ruining a girl's life. Secondly, no parents with a conscience would marry their daughter off to a lone man with no one to support him.
Thus, while Ergou got a wife and Zhou Yuan got chicken soup, Ergou was sleeping with his new bride, while Zhou Yuan had three sloppy villagers lying in his room.
In this comparison, Ergou was the winner. Zhou Yuan was the truly miserable one.
The thought made him even more restless, so he got up to see if Big Huang Uncle, who was on watch, was getting drowsy.
"Big Huang Uncle, I've changed my mind. You guys should get me a wife too."
"Get lost. What decent family would ever want you?"
"I wouldn't mind one from a 'bad' family. I hear girls from 'bad' families are prettier."
"Nonsense! What's a 'good' family, and what's a 'bad' family? A 'bad' family is one like yours, with no support. You can't even find a wife, and you're talking about looks? That's a joke!"
"Tch, we're not on the same page. I'm talking about little demonesses and succubi. Who said anything about proper girls?"
"Good heavens, you've really gone off the deep end! How did you get so twisted, even thinking about demons? It's a good thing we're leaving for the army in a few days. If you stayed in the village, who knows how many families you'd bring trouble to, or how many bastards you'd leave behind."
Da Huang's full name was Zhao Dahuang. He was from the same clan as the recently married Zhao Ergou. Villagers often had humble names; few had proper ones.
In Qiaoxi Village, Zhou Yuan's name was 'Shi Tou'. While not much better, it was at least a slight improvement over names like Ergou or Da Huang.
Unable to sleep, he couldn't help but pull up his attribute panel and study it, hoping to find a hidden path to leveling up.
Name: Zhou Yuan
Health: 98%
Essence: 1, Qi: 1, Spirit: 1
Skills: None
Experience: None
It was a very simple attribute panel. Aside from lacking a traditional level, it didn't miss any of the core stats.
"Still so balanced. How has all my hard training these past few days not made any difference? Is the effect too small to be displayed, or has it just been too short a time for any noticeable results?"
Ever since he heard about the conscription, Zhou Yuan had been training every day, just like the other men in the village.
No one wanted to just wait for death. They all trained as hard as they could, hoping to increase their strength even by a little.
But reality was cruel. Except for this afternoon, which he'd missed for Ergou's wedding, Zhou Yuan had been training for over twenty days.
Not only had his Essence, Qi, and Spirit stats not changed at all, but his Health had actually dropped by 2%.
What a mess. He had sore muscles and an empty stomach. It was hard to say if there were any real benefits, but he had certainly sweated a lot.
"Experience, experience... As long as I can find a way to gain experience, everything will be fine."
Zhou Yuan drifted off to sleep in a daze, but Da Huang and the other two men didn't let down their guard. They took turns on watch, keeping a close eye on this deviant kid.
The next day at noon, Zhou Yuan woke up feeling refreshed and hurried to the latrine to relieve himself.
"Morning, Big Huang Uncle."
"It's not morning anymore. It's almost time for the noon meal. You might as well go back to sleep. I'll call you when it's time to eat."
Zhou Yuan was currently enjoying the treatment of a landlord—he didn't have to cook his own meals or boil his own water.
The three villagers were very efficient, allowing him to enjoy the highest level of treatment Qiaoxi Village had to offer.
"No, I can't. Bring me my wood-chopping axe. I feel restless if I don't train for a day."
"Alright, hold on."
Big Huang Uncle handed him a wood-chopping axe and casually placed two logs of deadwood in front of him.
"Hurry up, we need that for the fire soon. Stop messing around with that tetanus-inducing blade technique of yours. Once you've chopped the wood, you can practice for as long as you want. No one will bother you."
"Don't worry, it won't take long. When I master the Mountain-Splitting Strike, I'll pass it down to our village as our ultimate martial art."
The three villagers exchanged glances, hastily grabbing the hardwood clubs by their sides before pursing their lips with lingering fear.
"Old Huang was careless. What if his 'Mountain-Splitting Strike' turned into a 'Man-Splitting Strike' the moment he handed over that axe? Luckily, Shi Tou isn't completely insane, or one of us would have been done for. We need to be more careful next time he practices with that thing. Can't let this kid take us out."
"What are you talking about? You can't just go around saying Shi Tou is crazy. If he hears you and tells the bailiffs, they might make us send a replacement and leave the madman behind."
"Right, right, we can't say that. Shi Tou is very clever, the smartest person in all the villages around here. Anyone who dares call our Shi Tou crazy can take his place in the draft."
What a coincidence. Zhou Yuan thought the villagers were ignorant, and the villagers thought he was a madman. Everyone was putting on an act, and no one was a better actor than the other.
Fortunately, Zhou Yuan was completely focused on chopping wood and practicing his blade work, so he didn't hear the three villagers muttering.
Otherwise, he would have definitely described his new "debuff" to the bailiffs, using the excuse that his worsening madness might cause a camp-wide panic to demand they find a sane person to take his place.
"Almost there... just a little more... Break for me!"
Zhou Yuan lived up to the "madman" title the villagers had given him. He muttered to himself, his face flushed red, as he stared intently at the log and brought his axe down with a fierce chop.
He wasn't lying. He really was practicing his blade work. Even if he didn't know any real martial arts, he at least knew the simple motion of a Mountain-Splitting Strike.
Over the past few days of training, although his stats hadn't changed in the slightest, the feeling of chopping became more and more comfortable, more and more satisfying.
*Ding.*
[You have comprehended 'Mountain-Splitting Strike' and mastered a blade technique.]
Proofreader: Peter Pan