Instead of planning to eradicate the pests in the spiritual lands, Shiao Tianren talked to Lin Xun about things that had taken place more than one hundred years ago.
Lin Xun listened silently, in spite of the queer feeling rising in his heart.
"There used to have nothing, and no one could survive here. One day, a spiritual tattooist from Donglin Town stumbled across a small lode of Feiyun Fire Copper on his way through…"
According to Shiao Tianren, several miles behind Feiyun Village located Smoking Mountain at that time, inside which buried a lode of Feiyun Fire Copper. It was an excellent spiritual ingredient to make spiritual weapon, thus it was expensive. A small piece of it, such as the size of an infant's fist, could sell for three imperial silver coins in the city.
That copper vein had no doubt been worth a great fortune.
So the distinguished practitioners from Donglin Town had flocked here to mine the Feiyun Fire Copper, together with lots and lots of slaves they had captured.
It had taken them a good ten years to dig out all the copper, and then they had returned to Donglin Town fully loaded.
When they left, they had not bothered to take those slaves, who were abandoned and left in the empty mine on their own.
The village head, Shiao Tianren, was one of the survived slaves, and all the other villagers were the descendants of the slaves.
That was also why the village was called Feiyun.
After hearing this, Lin Xun couldn't help but sigh. As someone who had lived in a dark mine prison since he was an infant, of course he knew how miserable a life the salves led. Their lives were as cheap as dirt and their fates were in the hands of others.
He was also surprised and a bit admired when he heard that one of the slaves who had survived could make his way to be the village head.
To build a village as thriving as Feiyun from a deserted mine and help the descendants of the slaves to settle in and flourish, one must have extraordinary capabilities and courage.
As if he had sensed what was on Lin Xun's mind, Shiao Tianren waved his hand and said in a self-deprecating way, "I am not as capable as you think. Feiyun Village is what it is today all because of the spiritual tattooist who used to live in this cottage."
Seeming to get a little emotional, he continued, "It was the spiritual tattooist who excavated the spiritual land and taught us how to plant the spiritual grain in it. Otherwise, all of us would have starved to death in the wild."
Lin Xun blurted out, "Why didn't you leave since the conditions were so harsh and unfavorable?"
Shiao Tianren shook his head, "Leaving is easier said than done. Feiyun Village is located deep in the thousands of mountains at the southwest border of Ziyao Empire, which is known as a natural moat since long before. The nearest city is five thousand miles away, and the way to it is full of dangers like ferocious beasts and poisonous insects. No one could survive the journey without the protection of a powerful practitioner."
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Only then did Lin Xun understand that it was far more difficult than he had expected to get to a populated city from here, even though he had already been in the territory of Ziyao Empire.
But he was not worried about it. As long as alive, dreams would come true one day.
At this moment, Shiao Tianren suddenly laughed. He patted the shoulder of Lin Xun, and said, "Young man, I know you will not spend your whole life in Feiyun Village. But I give you my word, as long as you stay here, we will treat you as one of us."
Lin Xun earnestly nodded his head, "Please rest assured, Uncle Shiao. I will also see you as my own."
Shiao Tianren gave a hearty laugh, "That would be great."
Lin Xun then said, "Uncle Shiao, right now I think we should come up with a plan to help the villagers kill the pests in their spiritual lands. We have no time to lose."
Shiao Tianren nodded repeatedly in approval.
Later that day, Lin Xun came to the 0.4-hectare of spiritual land owned by one of the villagers Liu Dabiao. Once again, he used the bone meal of the gold-eating mice to inscribe a Light-attracting Spiritual Tattoo, which lured the bright sunlight to the spiritual land and exterminated all the pests in it.
In doing so, he used up the little spiritual energy he had and was unable to continue until the next day.
To express their gratitude, Liu Dabiao and his wife made a feast of lunch for him.
After lunch, Lin Xun left and went back to his cottage. On his way, he saw from a distance a dozen topless children practicing some kind of boxing on a flat ground at the center of the village.
It was a hot day. Sweat broke out from their tanned skin and glittered under the scorching sun.
Nevertheless, all of them were entirely concentrated without a single complaint.
Their moves were simple yet alternately as vigorous as galloping horses and as fierce as wild tigers. Even at the age of seven or eight, they managed to get skilled and accurate at it.
Lin Xun was a bit astonished, for he knew it was the Marching Boxing, a preliminary boxing which was most popular among the martial troops in Ziyao Empire.
He never formed the expectation that children in a small village like Feiyun could practice it in such a good way, clearly not just for fun.
In a while, he astutely noted something unusual. Although their moves looked perfect to the eye, their technique seemed somehow flawed, causing them unable to focus their strength at one point.
The Chinese martial arts were all about spirits concentration no matter how changeable the moves were, so was the case for the Marching Boxing. One must stay focused so as to put forth one's strength in a powerful and irresistible way as the rolling thunder. If it was done right, it would like cuirassiers marching over and troops conquering all.
These children, just as it mentioned, lacked certain techniques that could help them to concentrate their strength, thus losing the forcible appeal like the rolling thunder.
If they keep practicing like this, it would no doubt benefit their bodies and health but harm their chance to become real martial practitioners.
Lin Xun pondered on this thought, and eventually shook his head. He was in no position to correct someone's teaching before he got clear on who he was.
"Well, you know about the Marching Boxing?"
The village head Shiao Tianren looked at Lin Xun thoughtfully, who had no idea when he came to his side.
"Yes, I had practiced it when I was a child."
With nothing to hide about this, Lin Xun nodded. He was frail and constantly sick at that time, so Master Lu had taught him several martial arts to improve his physical fitness, one of which was this Marching Boxing.
"Oh, then what do you think of these children?"
Shiao Tianren asked with great interest. All of a sudden, the young boy in front of him, who did not only know how to inscribe the spiritual tattoos, but also knew well about the Marching Boxing, made him more and more confused.
Click to read next chapter -> Captain of the Guardians on Flying Lines.