Late at night.
Pushing open the wooden fence, he stepped into his own dilapidated, drafty shack.
Carrying a grease-paper package, Ji Xiu tiptoed into his home.
Outside, the cold wind howled, rattling the wooden door ceaselessly.
For Ji Xiu, it was like returning from a dream to reality.
But at this moment, he still couldn't contain the surging tide in his heart.
'Today, I finally saw the real Heaven and Earth.'
When Qin Biao sat and talked with him, he would only boast about how domineering and extravagant those Martial Artists were, his eyes filled with envy, wishing he could take their place.
But he only ever saw the surface, completely unaware of how much others had sacrificed to achieve such a glorious position.
But Duan Chenzhou...
He had shown him what a true pursuit was, and how high and vast the sky could be!
It truly was as the saying goes: 'True Inheritance can be conveyed in a single sentence, while false teachings fill ten thousand books.' The two couldn't be compared.
'The Three Power Barrier Realms: Bone Marrow, Bone Tempering, Skin Refining!'
Ji Xiu clenched his fists and muttered to himself.
'Let's not talk about Bone Tempering and Skin Refining for now.'
'According to Master Duan, this first stage, Bone Marrow, is pretentiously called 'Golden Muscle and Jade Veins' in the Prefecture City. It is the beginning of body refinement.'
'To achieve Great Success in the Cultivation of this stage, one must first 'Enter the Realm,' 'Nourish Blood,' and 'Forge Muscles.''
'Only then will one's flesh and blood become strong, with the Dragon and Tiger in perfect balance. One's physical body alone, without any weapons, will be able to perform feats like Breaking Stone and Monument and tearing apart jackals and leopards. Only then can one continue to advance and cultivate the 'Unbreakable Body.''
'Otherwise, if your flesh and blood are insufficient and your muscles and bones aren't strong, forcing Bone Tempering will just leave you with a frame of 'Golden Bone and Silver Bone'...'
'You won't even be able to walk. That skeleton will literally crush your spine, becoming a burden instead!'
'Blood Nourishing and Muscle Forging require constant meals of meat, nourishment from mountain ginseng, supplemented by items like the 'Leopard Embryo Pill' and 'Tiger Bone Powder,' and years of relentless training to achieve.'
'I'm just a servant. I don't have the money or the means. To even attempt to lay the foundation for these two steps is difficult, difficult, difficult!'
'But,'
'Entering the Realm is different.'
'Master Duan said that the so-called 'Force' is a kind of strength grasped from within one's muscles, bones, flesh, and blood when one has practiced introductory Martial Arts—like fist, palm, saber, or sword—to a profound level.'
'By using this strength, you can control the power in your hands freely. Whether you're Breaking Stone and Monument or blasting something to dust, it's all up to you. Tsk, tsk...'
'Even striking bricks and stones has such an effect.'
'If that hit a person, wouldn't it leave not even a fleck of bone behind?'
'Achieving Minor Success in the Celestial River Saber Technique lets you 'Enter the Realm,' huh...'
He licked his chapped lips, which had been scraped raw by the whistling wind.
Ji Xiu was full of motivation, feeling that his life was improving day by day.
He had already figured out his next steps on the way back from Duan Chenzhou's residence.
'I'll carve a Wooden Blade, and in my spare time, I'll practice three hundred strikes a day!'
'Then...'
'Once I've 'advanced' my progress and have the Saber Technique at Minor Success...'
'The 'Entering the Realm' stage, which for others takes years of bitter training and endurance before they might have a sudden flash of Spiritual Light and achieve it naturally...'
'...for me,'
'...it won't be that difficult.'
'Once I Enter the Realm, become a Martial Artist, and am freed from the Slave Registry, with this foundation, I can find any kind of job or trade and earn a monthly salary of a few silver coins. It'll be easy!'
'Life will finally be good.'
The room was too dim to light an oil lamp. Using the soft moonlight shining through a crack in the wall, Ji Xiu tiptoed, but he still made a noise that stirred someone inside:
"Brother?"
Ji Wei poked her head out from the bedding. She was wearing ragged clothes, and a part of her shivering calf was exposed. Her eyes widened in pleasant surprise as she looked at him:
"You're a double-hour later than you've been the past few days. If you hadn't come back soon, I was going to go look for you."
She threw off the covers, rubbed her face with her small hands, and trotted over to the stove. Lifting the lid, she took out two still-warm flatbreads and carefully picked up a bowl of thin porridge:
"We don't have much food left. You work hard during the day, so I kneaded some dough and made two flatbreads. There's also a bowl of porridge. Hurry up and eat."
She licked her lips and swallowed, but she didn't say a word about her own hunger. She just placed the food on the wooden table and added a small, dark-colored dish of pickled vegetables.
Then, quietly and without stopping, she went to the wooden bucket to fetch water and heat it, wanting to help Ji Xiu wash his face and feet to warm him up.
Ji Wei knew that as a Groom at the Lin Residence, Ji Xiu didn't actually have to come back at night.
But for her sake, he came back every day, bringing some food to take care of her.
So, ever since Ji Xiu started practicing his saber, he came home ravenous after a long, busy day.
She tried her best to be sensible and quiet, never causing Ji Xiu any trouble.
'Life at home is already so hard. My brother is risking everything just to make a living.'
'If I don't eat less, do more chores, and take care of him, we... we really won't be able to make it through such hardship.'
Watching Ji Wei's series of thoughtful, well-behaved motions, Ji Xiu fell silent, a pang of pity striking his heart.
Over the past half-month, in his pursuit of a future, he had spent all his silver coins, leaving not a single one.
In this desperate situation, he could at least fill his stomach at the Lin Residence stables by snatching the horses' fine feed.
But his poor sister could only rely on the meager grain bought with their few large coins, scrimping and saving all day long.
And after he started practicing his saber, most of that food had ended up in his own stomach on the evenings he returned, back when Duan Chenzhou didn't let him eat at his table.
Furthermore, the Lin Residence was full of prying eyes. Even if a Groom could skim some perks, it was impossible to bring anything out without the risk of being reported. Thus, he had no way of bringing much food for Ji Wei.
At most, he could pocket a couple of cold eggs.
Looking around now, it was already early autumn. Not only was their home drafty, but there was only a single thin quilt, which had left Ji Wei practically frozen stiff, a bubble of snot forming at her nose.
Yet she hadn't uttered a single word of complaint.
This sight was like a bucket of cold water on the soaring ambition that had just ignited in Ji Xiu, leaving a heavy feeling in his chest.
He stroked Ji Wei's head, unwrapped the grease-paper package he had brought, and placed the 'leftover vegetables' he had gathered from Duan Chenzhou's on the table. He said gently:
"I already ate today at my saber-practice Master's place."
"You eat more, so you can grow. In a few more days, once I become a Martial Artist and master Sword Force, we'll move to a new courtyard. I'll even hire a tutor to teach you how to read and write."
"Life won't be so hard anymore."
Ji Wei was about to refuse, but when she heard what Ji Xiu said, her eyes suddenly lit up like the first glimmer of starlight:
"Brother... did that Master Duan accept you as his disciple?"
Over the past few days, as Ji Xiu practiced his saber, he had told her a little about the deeds of that Broken Arm Captain.
"Mhm."
Ji Xiu just smiled and didn't say much more. He told her to eat well, then picked up a rusty axe and a piece of wood he had prepared earlier, and carried them both outside.
"You eat up. I'm going to go carve something."
In the long, silent night, the stars seemed to fall from the sky.
Ji Xiu took out a small stool and, in the freezing cold, began to earnestly polish... a Wooden Blade.
Given his status, if he wanted to practice the 'Celestial River Saber Technique,' he had no real saber to use.
Therefore, he could only make a Wooden Blade and practice with it day after day, cultivating bitterly without rest.
This blade didn't need to be good. It didn't need to be finely crafted.
As long as...
...it could bear the Qi of his desperation, his point of no return.
...it would...
...be enough.
SCRAPE, SCRAPE, SHAVE!
The ugly, piercing sounds of scraping occasionally rang out, accompanied by the muttering and cursing of neighbors, which gradually faded away.
The moonlight stretched Ji Xiu's thin figure into a long shadow.
He chopped and chiseled until late into the night.
A rough, bladeless 'Wooden Blade Embryo,' a little over two feet long, was now held in his palm.
And then,
He practiced his saber!
It was a sleepless night.
...
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed.
During this time, Ji Xiu fed the horses as usual, went to Duan Chenzhou's residence to ask for instruction in Martial Arts as usual, and at the same time, his relationship with his senior brother, Lu Yu, gradually warmed.
Strangely, however, Lu Yu never mentioned the day that Ji Xiu had 'succeeded in his saber practice'.
He didn't know if it was because of something Duan Chenzhou had instructed.
But all of this was of no concern to the Single-minded Ji Xiu, who focused solely on practicing his saber.
On this day, after finishing his work by the stables, he was still swinging his Wooden Blade, practicing endlessly all day, knowing only how to draw his saber.
Even though in the past few days he had come to be seen as an absurd madman in the eyes of 'Master Yao and his Disciples,' 'Qin Biao,' and other servants of the residence who passed by, Ji Xiu's mind was like still water, not a single ripple disturbing its surface.
'A caged bird never lifts its head to gaze at the sky in its entire life.'
'How...'
'...could it possibly know of my ambition?!'
The Wooden Blade swung. It had no edge, only the whistle of it cutting through the air.
In the past, it was edgeless and dull, leaving no mark on stone or wood, serving only as a source of ridicule.
However, on this day, when Ji Xiu's Wooden Blade slashed past a drooping branch of a large, leafless willow tree, shed for autumn...
Instantly,
CRACK, CRACK, CRACK...!!
One after another, the sound of splintering, shattering wood suddenly and unbelievably erupted!
As that once-edgeless Wooden Blade swept past,
the tough willow branch, which he had hacked at several times before without leaving a scratch,
disintegrated as if it were dust, scattering completely with a puff of wind!
This left the large willow tree by the stables, one that took an arm's embrace to circle, missing a whole section of its branches...
When spring arrives, how many new shoots will it sprout?!
On this day,
Ji Xiu's Saber Technique had reached a new level of achievement.
[Wooden Blade has no edge, Force becomes its blade. Slashes the drooping branch, turning it to dust!]
[Drawing the saber three hundred times daily, a devout offering to the blade. Progress +1!]
[Celestial River Saber Technique: (3000/10000)]
[Three thousand draws, finally an achievement.]
[Current: Celestial River Saber Technique (Minor Success)]
[Comprehended: Sword Force!]
When Ji Xiu opened his eyes again,
the calluses that covered his hands,
once a mark of shame from a life of hardship and exposure,
were now a testament to the rugged path he had walked, a path of relentless climbing against biting winds and frosty blades, a path where he had never once stopped!
On this day,
I entered the Martial Artist's 'Power Barrier'—
The first step of Bone Marrow!