Son-in-law of the An Family, Guest Elder at Shanhe Martial Arts Hall, partner to Lady Zhushan...

These were the three identities Song Cheng acquired after leaving Tang River Village.

Son-in-law of the An Family, which solved his problems with road guides and settling down;

Guest Elder at Shanhe Martial Arts Hall, which freed him from being clueless about the war situation outside;

Partner to Lady Zhushan, allowing him to understand yet another battlefield and to have a rough grasp of strategic situations through the lady.

Beyond that, he also breathed a sigh of relief.

Because in his interactions with these powers, he began to realize that the higher-ups were a bit different from what he'd initially feared.

These forces were not incompetent, not plagued by infighting, not just boasting empty reputations; they could truly hold their ground when it mattered.

Up to now, whether on the regular battlefield or the battlefield of ghost servants, these three major powers were the ones standing firm.

As Song Cheng was contemplating this, his sedan chair had already entered the An Residence.

Lady Zhushan, wrapped in her heavy, earthy robe, gazed intently at the youth with her chubby face and said, "You've worked hard, Song. In the future, there will be many more such emergencies that you'll need to deal with alongside me."

Song Cheng shook his head.

Hard work?

To him, it was bullshit.

All he had to do was move forward and cut down the targets Lady Zhushan pinned down.

Where was the hardship?

"The one who has worked hard is you, senior. You silently protect the Prefectural City, unknown to outsiders," Song Cheng said with a smile.

In his eyes, Lady Zhushan was not a peer but a senior with many stories.

Even though she had a seductive and charming side, she only used it as a killing move, not as her everyday self.

Usually, she was just an ugly, fat woman wrapped in an earthy robe, her appearance ruined by special medicinal paste.

Lady Zhushan said no more. Getting off the vehicle was exhausting after creating illusions, and the side effects were quite uncomfortable for her. Her body wasn't strong, and even in terms of martial arts, any rough man in the village with a scythe could kill her.

Song Cheng also returned to his courtyard.

Ling climbed out of bed, directing her maids to heat water for her master's bath...

Song Cheng leaned back in the warm water of the large ceramic tub.

The bright moon was high above, and while it appeared to cast a clear moonlight to others, in his eyes, it was a large ink blot falling into the water, with tendrils of ink spreading out from it like the twisted aquatic plants on a dark riverbed, like the flickering long hair of corpses in deep water, like the tentacles of a demon in unknown seas...

'What in the world is this place...'

After watching for a while, Song Cheng lowered his head and dove into the water.

He began to contemplate the future.

'Is it to flee, to flee, to flee, or to flee?'

This choice wasn't easy to make.

The youth murmured to himself, "Or should I... take root in one place and develop steadily?"

For the first time, Song Cheng entertained a different idea.

It wasn't that he had been moved by the passionate persuasion of others, but if ghost tides and ghost servants were everywhere, instead of running around and continually encountering entirely new and strange environments, adapting to new interpersonal relationships, wouldn't it be better to attract people and fortify the place he was in so it was as secure as a metal vat?

The youth thought for a long time.

He murmured, "It seems... not bad at all."

"Yawn~~"

The Little Tea Girl was yawning profusely, and she couldn't tell what the master was muttering, so she just said, "Master, would you like some late-night snacks? The Taoist Temple Master sent over a lot of good ingredients. Everyone is enjoying them."

"Let's eat."

Song Cheng replied.

The Little Tea Girl said, "Oh," then ran off to prepare the night snacks. Called to wake up in the early morning, she was now fully awake and just in time felt hungry, so she decided to follow her master's lead and have a bite too.

...

...

Life "calmed down" for two days.

But in those two days, the people of the An Residence were very tense, occasionally someone would run out anxiously asking "is there a fire?" "Has it caught fire?" "What a strong smell of burning," and such.

There was even one instance where someone shouted "The water is running away!" and many people rushed over, holding buckets and carrying basins in a panicked state, only to be told "No water loss, disperse, disperse."

The An Residence was "calm" in this way.

Boom!

Another explosion sounded.

The lid of the iron furnace was blown off.

Madam Tong sat stunned not far away, watching as the lid whirled "woowoowoo" in the air, uncertain which unfortunate piece of land it would crash onto.

Clang.

Finally, the lid hit the ground.

Madam Tong, frightened, covered her ears and dodged to the side as if electrocuted.

Under the eaves, Lady Zhushan, still in her heavy, earthy robe, watched quietly, sniffed her nose, pondered for a moment, and then turned to Tong Jia, speaking indifferently, "Tell me what went wrong this time."

Her calm voice was filled with the authority of a teacher.

Madam Tong hastily got up, approached Lady Zhushan, and began to explain her thoughts like a child admitting to a mistake.

Lady Zhushan listened patiently, explaining and breaking down the concepts slowly.

Madam Tong tried again.

This time, she succeeded.

The young lady cheered.

Lady Zhushan, too, smiled.

The master and disciple went together to test the effectiveness of the medicine.

As the dusk turned the old houses in the scene to the color of an aged yellow album.

All of a sudden, Madam Tong asked, "Teacher, do I have any senior brothers or sisters?"

Lady Zhushan fell silent for a while, then said, "I actually didn't plan to teach anyone, and teaching you was an accident."

If it hadn't been for the ferocity of the ghost servants in the last Ghost Tide; if it hadn't been for the death of her Medicinal Human partner; if it hadn't been for her sensing an impending attack by ghost servants; if it hadn't been for Song Cheng who was also a Form Realm blind man; if not for so many ifs, she would not have made this exchange, nor would she have met Tong Jia, let alone discover...

Actually, teaching someone can be quite good.

Actually, she really needed to teach someone.

Madam Tong asked like a child, "So, there aren't any, right?"

Lady Zhushan said, "No."

Madam Tong chuckled, "Then I'm your senior disciple."

Lady Zhushan seemed to be infected by her mirth and nodded slightly.

However, she had no plans to teach a second one.

The sources of her power and knowledge were all coincidental, all uncertain; although she had only transmitted knowledge to Madam Tong, and not power, but... having such a student was already enough.

Thinking of this, she said sternly, "Rest a while, then continue."

But as soon as she had finished speaking, she glanced at the sun and noticed it was already dusk, so she changed her words, "Go find Song and have dinner first, and after the meal, we'll study again in the evening. I don't know how long I can teach you..."

Madam Tong fell silent for a moment, then spoke with a smile, "I won't eat with him, I'll eat with Teacher."

As she spoke, she intimately took the arm of the woman dressed in an earthy, thick robe that made her look plump and unattractive.

Lady Zhushan was taken aback, her instinct was to get angry, to roar "Presumptuous!" or to break free and then reprimand. But in the end, she did nothing, simply letting her much younger disciple take her arm, and then with a voice not so cold, she said softly, "Alright."

...

...

Night falls.

All is quiet, the moon shines brightly.

Through the gauze windows, the lotus leaves in the pond can be faintly seen.

Miss An is too busy with affairs. The "nine-to-five" schedule is impossible for her. Recently, she has taken on the massive channel of "Pearl Mountain Taoist Temple," and she has been too busy to return.

Ling is the chief steward of the inner house, running around with no time to rest.

Inside the small courtyard, it surprisingly becomes Ying who is accompanying Song Cheng.

Ying practices with her sword.

Meanwhile, Song Cheng is practicing the "Old Man Fist," cultivating internally.

He had thought it over again later. If he really wanted to "set down roots and develop stably," he truly had to become stronger.

But is he strong now?

Could he crush an army?

Does he have the courage to take a sword and comb Hanping Prefecture and its eighteen counties back and forth a few times, slaying all the ghost servants?

'Still far off.'

'Still not safe enough.'

The youth gnashed his teeth, clenched his fists, and slowly, sluggishly moved like a snail, not even causing a stir in the air, but inside him, a storm was already raging; his martial spirit and gang qi were like loaches thrown into hot oil, wildly thrashing about.

A breeze came through the night, carrying a leaf that landed on his shoulder.

With a thought, he willed his power to his shoulder, releasing it gently.

The leaf, as if strapped to an explosive, detonated, disappearing without even leaving dust behind.

Ying rubbed her eyes, thinking she had seen incorrectly.

...

...

Days go by, and another three have passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, the news of "Lady Zhushan taking a disciple" finally spread like wildfire, and the entire city knew and was astonished.

The Envoy of External Affairs Shi from Shanhe Martial Arts Hall, as if he had found a way, came with gifts to pay a visit. After finding Madam Tong, he dropped all pretense and from the standpoint of a father, pleaded with Madam Tong in the manner of a clumsy-speaking martial artist, to save his son.

Madam Tong already knew about this and responded with an assurance to "do her best."

The Envoy of External Affairs Shi was overjoyed, bowing deeply to Madam Tong.

...

On this day, news finally came from the Prefectural City army that had been deployed for nearly a month.

A bloody battle!

A fierce fight!

The Prefectural Army took action, and the Six Towns behind them, retreating into their shell like turtles, withstood the attack of the barbarians!

The city erupted in cheers.

However, the "city" only received the "good news without the bad news they were allowed to hear."

As for the bad news, Song Cheng knew it all too clearly.

The military report was playing semantics.

"Withstood" means just that, but it says nothing of the battlefield strewn with corpses, nor does it mention that among the Northern Barbarians, the Great Barbarian King and from the Four Golden Tents, only one Golden Tent King had taken action.

At the same time, Song Cheng also learned another crucial piece of information from Lady Zhushan.

That is, the highest realm of martial arts is actually just the realm above the "Form" realm.

People like the Great Hall Master and Old Venom may not count as top martial artists from the perspective of the entire Dashang Martial Arts World, but they are at the same realm as those top figures.

The strengths and weaknesses of the major forces depended more on "armies," not "individuals."

This news was a relief to Song Cheng.

Initially, he thought that there must be "Profound Level" forces within the Dashang Dynasty, but now it seemed that even if there were any Profound Level forces, they were very rare.

Thinking about it, that also made sense. Why should martial artists from the Imperial Capital be strong, while those guarding the borders be weak?

That would be totally backward, wouldn't it?

Those stationed at the borders should be resisting the Northern Barbarians, shouldn't they be stronger?

With Lady Zhushan around, Song Cheng's grasp on the overall situation began to deepen slowly, and the thought of "escaping" in his mind also weakened more and more because... escaping to a different place wouldn't be interesting. It was indeed better to take root here and "farm" carefully.

...

On this day, at midnight.

Song Cheng was sleeping soundly next to Miss An when he suddenly heard Lady Zhushan's voice from outside the door.

"Song, we have a visitor."

Song Cheng peeled the snow-white long legs that were wrapped around his waist off, answered "Coming," and quickly got dressed. He grabbed his sword and shield, and took the sedan chair to an uninhabited mountain ridge. He waited there until dawn before finally seeing six ghost servants approach.

Lady Zhushan performed the Fox Dance, and he swiftly made his move, finishing the fight in minutes.

The two returned in the sedan chair to the residence.

The young martial artist went back to bed to catch up on lost sleep, only to find the Miss An was no longer there.

Husband and wife were often apart, each busy with their own affairs.

Tossing and turning on the empty bed, Song Cheng embraced his pillow and fell into a deep slumber.

Even in his dreams, he contemplated the Martial Path, thinking about becoming stronger.

Absorbing everything, digesting everything, deducing to the utmost, then stabilizing his days!

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