Yin Na and Song Yu Ying shared the same bed that night, which was more spacious than it sounds.
They lay on top of the straw bedding, which was softer than the hardened kang beds of the North. Instead of sleeping, Yin Na spent hours lecturing Song Yu Ying about his passive income methods, offering constructive criticism while also digressing to long anecdotal tangents.
The breaking point for Song Yu Ying was when Yin Na took off his bandages. After beholding Yin Na’s destroyed face, Song Yu Ying frantically nodded and made affirmative “en’s” over and over.
Yin Na’s facial bones were almost caved in! His nose and mouth looked grotesque. Even the stub of a right arm looked disgusting once those bandages were removed.
And tonight he was going to have to sleep in the same bed as this monster!
“...and that’s why you’d be far better off doing business in the city!” Yin Na finished, but Song Yu Ying was barely listening.
Whether Song Yu Ying was more fatigued than he was miserable, he could not tell. This was the worst day of his life, of this he was convinced! For ten years he’d been living in security as the village drunk, secretly enjoying wealth and blissful comfort until by sheer bad luck he was discovered by this Demonic Jiang Hu martial artist.
Yin Na was also getting tired. Prior to this bedside lecture he had been intending to onboard Song Yu Ying as a potential follower, but mid-lecture he already decided that Song Yu Ying would not be good company along his Jiang Hu adventures after all.
The biggest reason was that he was weak. Song Yu Ying lacked courage and concealed no great ability in fighting. He was going to be more of a burden than of actual use during any fights or violent encounters along the way.
The other reason was that Yin Na gauged Song Yu Ying’s potential for actually embodying the Dao of Benefits in his future business ventures, and he found him wanting.
Song Yu Ying was too cowardly. He was destined to limit his ambition to the size of a village. He expressed little interest in becoming a master of martial arts and was too content with being the shadow mayor of Three Dog Village. He was afraid of the tiniest losses, how would he endure the trials and sufferings of the road to cultivation?
“Alright, you can sleep easy, Song Yu Ying,” Yin Na said. “I’m not going to kidnap you or anything, I’ll leave you to your little business here.”
Song Yu Ying tried to hide the relief in his voice as he said, “Goodnight, senior.”
After a pause, Yin Na suddenly said: “Hopefully, what little I have passed to you about the Dao of Benefits will assist you further in your entrepreneurship.”
“Uh…yes, senior. Thank you, senior.”
“In fact, I can offer you further education in the Dao of Benefits, even once I’m long gone out of this village!”
Hearing this made Song Yu Ying’s head involuntarily wince on his pillow.
“H-how would Senior achieve that?”
“It’s easy,” Yin Na said. “I publish my teachings in a very digestible, easy to read on-the-go format in the form of bamboo scrolls. For just 10 taels of silver, this invaluable information will be mailed to you every week. You can make your payment to the carrier pigeon or whatever messenger I use to send you. After all, I know where you live.”
10 taels?! Song Yu Ying was instantly jolted awake. The local village’s gross domestic output had never seen beyond three taels of silver at one time before he had taken their place as their secret trader. He shouldn’t have told Yin Na about his monthly earnings, 10 taels was simply robbery.
“S-senior, perhaps…”
Yin Na sensed Song Yu Ying mustering courage to try to negotiate his way out of being forced to pay for his subscription service.
He leaned his ghastly face closely to Song Yu Ying’s trembling brow.
“What’s the matter? Is there a… problem?”
Song Yu Ying felt as if death was staring at him, feeling its breath upon him. He whimpered, then said, “No, no, Senior’s magnanimity knows no bounds- he is gracious; is absolutely generous for extending his education to me even while he will be afar!”
Yin Na chuckled, then said, “Goodnight.”
Yes, subscribe or die!
Song Yu Ying barely slept that night, as he contemplated running away from Three Dog Village before his stash of taels ran out within a year.
When he woke up the next morning, he found that the bed that he was sharing with Yin Na was absent of the one-armed martial artist.
Yin Na had left already. The only reminder of the encounter was a single bamboo scroll that Yin Na had left behind for him, which contained the words, “Use debt to create wealth.”
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“Tch,” Yin Na thought as he was riding a horse that he had stolen from one of the villagers. “He can’t say that I’m robbing him blind, it’s up to him to turn the words I write on bamboo into wealth that would pay him back tenfold. But judging by his nature, he will perhaps flee Three Dog Village before his taels completely run out, but aiya, I could be wrong! There’s nothing more delightful than seeing a crisis motivate a slacker into the go-getting, motivated entrepreneur! Such an outcome would mirror the example of Immortal Liu Bei!”
Yin Na needed a source of steady income. Acquiring silver and taels via violence and banditry was simply too risky and ineffective. Even though Yin Na had an unfair advantage with a Golden Core within his dormant Dan Tian as a martial artist, many of its full abilities were completely locked to him. His body also still needed to allocate meridians to tailor to a specific fighting or cultivation style in the future, which he had not planned out yet.
Along the journey to Spring Wind Village, Yin Na repeats the subscription scam to one unlucky villager he encounters in every village he stops by. He targets martial artists and merchants only, as they are the most sustainable sources of income.
He had forced seven of these people in total from seven villages to mail him 10 taels of silver every week in exchange for his Dao of Benefits mail letter. 70 taels of silver per month was enough wealth to enable a mortal farmer to live in comfort for many years.
“The mortal world, even the Jiang Hu, is highly ignorant of the affairs and wonders of the Cultivation world above them. If I could make them pay me simply one spirit stone weekly each, I would, but it’s clear none of them have ever gotten a glimpse of a spirit stone.”
A spirit stone for a mortal would be like a treasure as valuable as a legendary artifact weapon used by a cultivator. But not even 10,000 taels of silver could equate to the value of a single Spirit Stone for a cultivator.
Not once did he meet anyone who caught sight of the Spicy Oil Boar. The perception of mortals is weaker than those of cultivators.
“Also, Mao Shiqi could be a cautious rider,” Yin Na thought, which seemed highly likely given her nature.
Yin Na had almost reached his destination of Spring Wind Village. Ten days had passed since he made his journey, and he was about to make one final stop at a neighboring village…
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Grandma Peng Ling sat on her table carved of stone, staring at Song Ying Jie, her grandson.
“At my 80 years of age, seeing my grandson cook braised pork while singing folk songs, I can tell that he has grown into a fine adult now.”
Song Ying Jie smiled upon hearing his grandmother’s compliment, and continued singing in a high-pitched, local dialect.
Song Ying Jie was dressed in simple farmer’s clothing, yet the seams of his shirt were bulging from his muscles. He left his hair in a wild, long mess that made him look slightly wild. He had an energetic, youthful disposition that screamed vitality and martial arts.
“At some point, little treasure, you’re going to need to marry someone.”
“Yes, grandma.” Song Ying Jie agreed.
“So why don’t you finally marry that Jin Wang lass,” Grandma Peng Ling said. “It’s clear how much you like each other.”
“I…I don’t know,” Song Ying Jie blushed like an innocent girl.
“Wang’s entire family loves you. They are respectful and take good care of me when you’re not around, and it’s not like either of you care for a dowry.”
“Yes, you’re right, Grandma. But… I don’t know.”
“What? Why? What don’t you know?” Grandma Peng Ling asked in exasperation. “Young people don’t stay young forever. You’d best marry Wang Er now and have a healthy son early.”
Song Ying Jie was silent as he closed the lid on his cooking.
“I don’t know what I’m waiting for,” he said. “It just feels…like the time isn’t right yet.”
Song Ying Jie served lunch for his grandma, during which they ate in silence. He devoured his plate, then promptly headed outside of their hut and began training.
“Always training, training, training! Gong fu, that’s all my little treasure knows!” Grandma Peng Ling sighed.
Song Ying Jie began by warming up on a nearby tree, which had bore the indentation from his fists over many years. Leaves shook and fell from the tree with every other blow he landed into its hardened trunk, as the young martial artist repeated punches for one thousand repetitions.
Then, without a pause for a rest or drink of water, Song Ying Jie walked into a clearing free of trees.
Jumping Across Clouds!
Song Ying Jie pumped his legs, jumping not just once but twice, thrice, four times- as if gravity had no meaning anymore. He repeated this tiring exercise over and over, getting a little higher with each attempt, surpassing the nearby trees, until he reached fatigue.
Song Ying Jie returned to the front of his hut, before doing one final training: martial art forms.
Bladed Wind Palm dance!
Song Ying Jie moved his limbs in angular movements that were so sharp that they almost emitted sword qi. He rapidly entered horse stance and arrow stance as effortlessly as blinking, and crushed the earth with his downward blows.
During this entire time, Yin Na observed from a small cliff overlooking the village and Song Ying Jie’s little hut by the edge of the village.
“What a talented young man!” Yin Na said. “He has the looks and air of a hero; had he had any more deviousness or cunning he could be the main character of his own Xianxia! But alas, just looking at him I can diagnose much uncertainty and room for growth that’s preventing him from taking control of his own life. What is he guarding? What is he postponing?”
Yin Na was excited.
This martial artist he was secretly observing was the first actual martial artist he had come across!
“I shall learn of his nature, and judge him to be worthy of being a follower!” Yin Na chuckled to himself a little too heartily, as he sent a few pebbles from the edge of the cliff tumbling down its sides with his trembling.
Song Ying Jie’s eyes glittered with awareness, as he sensed a disturbance on the small cliff above his hut.
“Who’s there?!”
Song Ying Jie rapidly began using Jumping Across Clouds to scale the sides of the cliff towards Yin Na.
“Oh, it appears I’m about to be exposed. I’d better think of something clever to make a good impression on this young man and quickly win him over to my side.”
“You!” Song Ying Jie shouted, upon seeing Yin Na’s bandaged figure. Yin Na had scrambled into a full lotus position, as if he had been meditating the entire time.
Song Ying Jie Demanded: “Why are you sneaking about and spying on my training? Who are you, whence came you?”