With Pang Long's guidance, Li Xian finally caught a glimpse of the true essence.
Initial Realm of Martial Arts: Clay Embryo.
Martial Arts First Realm: Food Essence.
"In that case, every martial art is extremely precious, capable of accumulating inner strength and martial arts insights... all sorts of things, providing enough capital for future rebirth!"
Where does inner strength come from?
Ordinary running and body training do not produce inner strength. Instead, through practicing different martial arts, the body naturally generates power.
"The deeper you invest in hard work, the more you gain... In that sense, there is no breathing technique in the world, only high martial arts!"
Li Xian sensed his body, feeling a warm current circulating in his lower abdomen. It was significantly larger than before.
Part of the inner qi is cultivated through the "Wild Bull Fist." Due to the incomplete nature of Wild Bull Fist, this part of inner qi is quite limited. Another part comes from practicing the "Four Directions Fist."
Although Four Directions Fist is very basic, its technique is complete. Once Li Xian became familiar with it, his movements flowed seamlessly and smoothly.
The progress wasn't slow at all.
[Four Directions Fist]
[Skill Level: 658/1000 Mastery]
At this rate, reaching "Minor Achievement" was not far off.
...
...
In the patrol room, there was a row of duty schedules.
The patrolling duties of hundreds of nursing home members were recorded and arranged in the schedule.
Li Xian had become an official member of the nursing home, reducing his time for martial arts practice. Every day, he only had two hours in the early morning to practice martial arts freely.
The rest of the time, he was scheduled for patrol duties around the manor.
Sometimes, when luck wasn't on his side, the schedule was so full that he couldn't sleep even in the middle of the night.
"Sure enough... nursing home members are still servants, albeit much better than the likes of servants. But they are still servants."
Li Xian's patrol today was full, or rather, it was nearly always full.
The early morning hours of mao and chen were for martial arts practice. Starting from si hour, patrol duties began, with a brief fifteen-minute rest at noon, followed by more patrols at wei, shen, and you hours.
During xu hour, there was a one-hour break for dinner. But at hai and chou hours, patrol duties resumed.
Tomorrow's situation seemed better, as there was no patrol during chou hour, allowing for a peaceful sleep.
"Altogether, there are three hours for rest and two hours for martial arts practice. The rest of the time is spent on various duties."
"But it's much better than being a servant."
The servants get up before dawn, while members of the nursing home are still sound asleep at that hour. Moreover, the treatment is worlds apart, with completely different accommodations and food.
"If I could become a C-class member of the nursing home, the patrol time would be greatly reduced."
Li Xian saw that the higher the nursing home member's class on the schedule, the more free time they had. The "A-class members" even went days without a patrol.
After receiving a nursing home token and pairing it with a waist knife, Li Xian went off to patrol.
This morning, he was patrolling the east side of the manor, a place he had never visited before. The greenery was lush, and the scenery was beautiful.
"This is..."
Li Xian suddenly stopped, noticing a large tree that had been split in half. The tree stump was so massive that it would take seven or eight people spreading their arms to barely encircle it.
Yet, such a large tree was split in one blow, and the cut was smooth without any additional knife or sword marks.
It was clearly formed in a single stroke!
"What incredible power!"
Even with the advanced technology of the previous world, using technological strength, such a smooth cut couldn't be made.
Li Xian couldn't help but move closer to examine it, feeling even more amazed. This type of large tree had very strong vitality, even if it broke in the middle, its vitality still lingered.
It would grow new branches the following year. But this tree stump showed no new branches, as if its "head" had been severed.
The vitality was completely cut off.
"What kind of realm has martial arts reached to achieve this kind of strength?"
"Could it be the work of that lady?"
Li Xian didn't dare to observe further and obediently continued his patrol along the designated route.
"Who's there!"
Li Xian's ears twitched. Since specializing in "Four Directions Fist," he had gained its characteristic "Ears Listening in All Directions," which gave him far superior hearing compared to others.
He heard a faint rustle in the distant grass, and his gaze turned cold as he carefully approached.
Using his waist knife to push aside the grass, he saw a young beggar, shirtless, in tattered pants, cowering in fear in the corner.
It was already winter, frost and snow hadn't fallen yet, but the temperature was getting colder.
The beggar looked at Li Xian with eyes full of despair, clutching his mouth tightly and making no sound, but he was already scared to tears.
Li Xian couldn't help but think of himself, of his younger brother, "Are you here to steal something?"
The beggar shook his head but then nodded timidly, afraid Li Xian would hit him, and said pitifully, "Didn't manage to steal anything."
"Hero, I won't dare again. Please... spare me."
"This work, with winter coming... my sister and I... couldn't survive, so I came. Please spare me, I won't dare again."
The beggar, emaciated, kept knocking his head on the ground.
"How did you get in?" Li Xian frowned.
"Through... through a dog hole. I'm skinny..." the beggar replied trembling.
"Where you came from, roll back there. If I catch you again, I'll beat you to death." Li Xian said coldly.
"Ah!?" The beggar was in disbelief, "Sir, you're really letting me go?"
He had some companions who also sneaked into the manor. They were caught by nursing home members and met tragic ends.
"Hmm?" Li Xian furrowed his brow, showing displeasure.
"Alright... alright, I'm leaving now. Sir, you're a good person, you're a good person." The young beggar was about to crawl back through the hole.
Li Xian glanced around and saw no other nursing home members before calling out, "Wait."
The young beggar was almost scared to pee, but there was nothing in his belly, so he couldn't.
"Here are some stale buns, take them and leave quickly." Li Xian took out two soft warm buns from his chest.
As they had been next to his body, they still retained some warmth.
"This..." The young beggar didn't dare to take them. Li Xian simply threw them at his feet. When the buns got dirty, the beggar picked them up to his chest and looked at Li Xian with trembling eyes.
He then banged his head twice and crawled through the narrow hole to leave.
"Alas, the extra meal is gone."
"And it was delicious meat buns... sneakily taken."
Li Xian felt a pang of heartache; he used stones to block the hole in the wall and covered it with grass, continuing his patrol.
The world was still full of suffering.
It's just that Li Xian's situation had improved compared to before.
"D-class nursing home member number two hundred sixty-nine, Li Xian."
"Your afternoon patrol is canceled, come with me to the servant room to assist with duty supervision."
About half an hour later, just as Li Xian was feeling bored, a middle-aged man walked towards him, waving his hand and calling out loudly.
This person was also a D-class nursing home member, named Zhao Dachun. He was an old hand among the nursing home members, with average martial talent, unable to advance for a long time.
"It's Li Xian, right?" Zhao Dachun said directly, "I'm Zhao Dachun."
"Hello, Brother Zhao," Li Xian nodded. "I want to ask, why the sudden duty at the servant room?"
Zhao Dachun explained, "Why else? The lady wants to refurbish an Alchemy Pavilion. But there's a shortage of wood and stone."
"Some time ago, we purchased some wood and stone from the Lin Family of Qingning County and the Black Wood Gang, which are piled up three miles outside the manor."
"Now that winter is approaching, quickly transport the stone and wood back into the manor. We'll have the servants do the heavy lifting; we just need to watch over it."
Li Xian said, "I see."
"This is a good job, much easier than patrolling," Zhao Dachun laughed. "It's good luck for us. We can slack off on the side."
"I didn't expect to return to the servants' quarters so soon," Li Xian smiled suddenly.