Shu Yang left his wife and newborn son and headed to the fields.
He had inherited 5 acres of land from his father. It was originally 10 acres, but his father sold 5 acres in order to afford his drinking. Shu Yang wanted to save up some money to buy the land back. His knowledge of botany from his past life enabled his crops to grow a lot better than others in the village, and he wanted to make the most of it.
Hopefully, he would get to the point where he didn't have to work in the fields himself anymore in the future, and rely on workers to take care of everything for him. That was how the big landowners in the village did it.
'That should be my first goal. I can't get ahead of myself. Even if I'm a martial warrior now, I'm still weak. If I am too ambitious, I might get on the wrong side of an Official, and then everything would be over.'
"Little Yang, I heard it was a boy. Congratulations!" Old Lao called out to him as he came up to his fields.
Old Lao had worked for his father in his early years. When Shu Yang started taking up farming after his father passed, he rehired Old Lao to help out.
"Thank you, Old Lao," Shu Yang said with a smile, "Hopefully, he'll grow up strong, so we can have some help around here."
"By that point, I'll probably be too old to be much use," Old Lao said, shaking his head.
"What are you talking about? Isn't it normal for the younger generation to help carry the load? Even if your body fails you, I'll need someone to tell the brats how to plow properly."
"Haha," Old Lao laughed, "I suppose I can always do that."
"Well," Shu Yang nodded and turned to look at the road leading out of the village, "I leave it to you to get started. I need to head into town first to get a few things."
"Alright, you go do what you have to."
Shu Yang said goodbye and started walking toward town.
He needed to get his hands on a martial arts manual. The one he had comprehended from the Bloodline Tree only allowed him to practice to the 3rd grade. If he wanted to advance further, he needed to comprehend it further.
But he had tried it just now, and without a martial arts to reference, it was a lot more difficult to get started.
'It will definitely take months, perhaps over a year, before I have figured out all movements and how to activate my blood and qi. I really don't want to waste so much time not getting any stronger. I'm not getting any younger either.'
Martial arts were best to start as early as possible, when the body still had room to grow and adapt. Shu Yang started martial arts when he was 11 years old, which was too late to get the best effect. He was 17 now and possibly had one or two good years left. After that, he would have decades in which martial arts practice was much slower. Then, when he was in his forties or fifties, his blood and qi would start to decline, and it would basically be impossible to improve further.
That was if he didn't advance further, of course. As you advanced in martial art grades, you would grow stronger and healthier and live longer. A 1st-grade martial artist would basically reach 100 years without issue. And if you could advance even further and cross the great chasm that was the Innate realm, you could live to 120 years.
But there was no Innate martial artist in the surrounding area. Not even the heads of the martial art halls in Chunsi Town were that strong. Only Kuo City, the biggest city in the County, had martial artists of that level.
'The martial arts halls in town should have high-grade martial arts in their hands, so it won't be impossible to get my hands on a middle-grade martial art, right?'
'If it really is impossible, I'll have to swallow my pride and ask Ren Ming to teach me.'
As Shu Yang was lost in thought, he suddenly heard something approaching from behind.
Turning around, he noticed a carriage running toward him at full speed.
'Damn!'
He didn't have any choice but to jump off the road to avoid getting run over.
As the carriage passed, he saw that it belonged to the Liang family.
'They really don't put their fellow villagers in their eyes.'
The Liang family was the wealthiest family in Baishu village by far. Even the village chief was afraid to offend them. They alone owned almost a third of all the land in the village, after all.
They were the family who bought the 5 acres of land that Shu Yang's father sold.
The Liang family was infamous in Baishu Village for being bullies. Shu Yang had always done his best to steer clear of them; he didn't want to get involved in any trouble. He just needed to develop his family peacefully, and he would surpass the Liang family soon enough.
—
Inside the carriage.
"That looked to be that kid, Shu Yang." Chen Guo said, looking out the window.
"Shu Yang?" Liang Cong asked. He was the third son of Liang Xian, the head of the Liang family, 25 years old, and known as the waste of the Liang family, not having any talent for martial arts.
Chen Guo was his friend and underling who took on work for him.
"The one who married Ren Qianyue," Chen Guo reminded.
"Oh, that Shu Yang," Liang Cong said with a frown, "I really don't understand what that Ren Ming was thinking, marrying his daughter to a poor farmer."
Liang Cong had also taken a liking to Ren Qianyue, and had even gone over himself to Ren Ming's house to propose. He thought the matter should be a done deal; there wasn't a more suitable man in the entire village.
But before he knew it, Ren Qianyue had a rushed wedding with some poor farmer he had never heard of. Liang Cong really couldn't understand it; he wasn't even a martial warrior.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do. Ren Ming and his son were both 2nd-grade warriors. It wasn't a threat to their Liang family, but it wasn't something that could be entirely ignored.
So Liang Cong had to swallow his anger and move on.
But how could he really move on just like that?
"My eldest brother has been a 2nd-grade warrior for many years now. He says it won't be long before he advances to 1st-grade warrior status. By that point, our family will have nothing to fear even in Chunsi Town. I will be able to get a position as an Official because of my brother's status. Won't it be easy for me to go over and demand an explanation by that point?"
"Haha!" Chen Guo laughed, "That girl will surely be blue with regret by then."
"Tch," Liang Cong snorted. "Even if she regrets it, it's too late. She missed her chance. I will have found myself a sophisticated wife from Chunsi Town by then."
'All these people will only ever spend their lives in Baishu Village. What others treasure, I won't even glance at in the future.'
'It will be interesting to see that poor farmer with his head bowed in front of me in a few years. I wonder if Ren Qianyue will leave him then?'
Liang Cong smiled at the thought.
—
It took Shu Yang two hours to walk to Chunsi town, even with his improved strength. He couldn't help but be jealous of the Liang family's carriage.
'One step at a time.'
There were three martial halls in Chunsi Town, each with 1st-grade martial warriors in charge. Those martial halls, along with the Chunsi Office, were the highest power in Chunsi and the surrounding villages.
Shu Yang wasn't heading to any of those, however. He first went and bought some meat from a street vendor before heading to the outskirts of town.
Shu Yang still remembered the way, even if it had been a while since he visited.
Knocking at the gate of a small courtyard, Shu Yang waited for a short while before the gate opened.
"Shu?" Zhuo Zhangye called out in surprise as he spotted Shu Yang.
"Thought I'd stop by for a visit," Shu Yang said with a smile, "Can I come in?"
"Of course," Zhuo Zhangye said, smiling and wiping some sweat off his face.
Zhuo Zhangye was one of the few friends Shu Yang had made in this life. They were both adamant about practicing martial arts to change their lives. But Zhuo Zhangye was different from Shu Yang, his parents supported him with everything they had once they found him to have some talent.
A few years ago, Zhuo Zhangye had moved from Baishu Village to Chunsi Town. That was because his family used their savings to send him to Tiger Claw Hall to practice, one of the three 1st-grade martial halls.
Shu Yang didn't make it many steps before Zhuo Zhangye noticed something different about him.
"You…Did you advance to 3rd grade?" Zhuo Zhangye asked, suprised.
"I got lucky," Shu Yang said with a smile.
"That's great news," Zhangye said, laughing, "It seems like there is still hope for both of our dreams of adventure to come true."
"I don't know about that," Shu Yang said, shaking his head, "I have a son now, so I can't go anywhere for the next 15 years at least. And don't you need to pay back your family? They have sacrificed a lot for you."
"I will definitely pay back, at least tenfold," Zhangye said seriously. Then he smiled and patted Yang on the shoulder, "But hey, I forgot that it should be time for Qianyue to give birth. So it's a boy? Both mother and child are healthy?"
"It's a boy," Shu Yang nodded, "And everyone is fine."
"That's good," Zhengye said, "Congratulations."
"Isn't it time for you to find a wife yourself? Aren't your parents urging you to find someone?" Shu Yang asked. Even if they were both just 17, it was normal to get married by that time in the village.
"I managed to convince them to wait until I advance to the 2nd grade," Zhangye said, shaking his head, "That way I might be able to get married to a girl from a proper family here in town."
"Are you close to advancing?" Shu Yang asked.
"I'm afraid not," Zhangye said, "Everything went so smoothly up until now, but I can feel that it will take a lot of effort to go further. It shouldn't be a problem if I push on ahead, but it will take a few years. That's why I don't want to settle down yet, I'm afraid I'll be stuck as a 3rd-grade warrior for the rest of my life if I start to slack off."
"I see," Shu Yang said, sighing.
'Even someone like Zhuo Zhangye is already struggling. I wonder how far the talent I got from Tianren can get me.'
Shu Yang talked with Zhuo Zhangye about life in the village for a while before telling him about his purpose for visiting.
"A middle-grade martial art?" Zhuo Zhangye asked, "It will be difficult. You know how closely guarded these martial arts are. If I am found to have taught someone outside the martial hall, death is the only punishment."
"I'm not asking you to teach me," Shu Yang said, waving his hands, "But just having a look at their middle grade one should be fine if I pay, right?"
"I'm sorry, even if you sell your land, I'm not sure it would be enough for you to get even a peek. These martial halls aren't short of a little money. There is no need for them to take the risk of having their martial art spread."
"I…see."
'I guess I thought about it too simply.'
"Why not go to your father-in-law? He has a middle-grade martial art. It might not be as strong as the one in our Tiger Claw Hall, but isn't that the one you're already practicing?"
"I guess that's the only way," Shu Yang said with a sigh.
"Haha," Zhuo Zhangye laughed, "You two are still not getting along? Didn't even his grandchild change anything?"
"How can it be that simple? Well, I guess I'll go give it a try," Shu Yang said.
Shu Yang said goodbye to Zhuo Zhangye and walked around town for a while, buying a few things that were hard to get hold of in the village.
As he was walking home, he struggled with the decision of heading over to see his father-in-law.
'I somewhat doubt he'll give it to me. Wouldn't I just head over there to embarrass myself? Besides, I'll need to deduce higher grades of martial arts in the future, and by that point, I'll have to do it without any references. Maybe it's a good thing to get used to it now.'
A big part of him just wanted to head home and do exactly that, but in the end, he headed over to Ren Ming to ask him. A little embarrassment was fine if it could save him months of practice time.
"What are you doing here?" Ren Ming asked coldly when he noticed Shu Yang. He didn't even look at him.
"Father-in-law," Shu Yang said, putting on a flattering smile, "I'm a 3rd-grade martial warrior now. The low-grade martial art is no longer good enough for me to practice…"
"You want to learn my middle-grade Hurricane art? Forget it," Ren Ming said.
"Fine," Shu Yang said, putting away his smile, "What do you want for it?"
"Take Qianyue back home. Let Tianren carry our surname, and I'll even throw in 100 coins of silver," Ren Ming said.
'I knew there was no hope.'
Shu Yang didn't respond, just turned around and left. Ren Ming had tried to make him a live-in son-in-law before, but obviously, Shu Yang refused.
What he didn't expect, however, was that just as he was leaving, Ren Ming threw something at his head.
Turning around, he saw that it was the middle-grade Hurricane art passed down in the Ren family.
"So you have a heart," Shu Yang said, picking up the booklet, "In return, I promise not to beat you up when I advance in the future."
"What was that?" Ren Ming called out.
Shu Yang didn't answer and hurried home, carrying the martial art tightly against his chest.
'With this, things will go a lot smoother. I wonder how long it will take me to advance with my new talent.'