"Dong dong dong!"
Su Mu could clearly hear his own rapid heartbeat until the few points of firelight in the village came into view, only then did he feel slightly relieved.
At this moment, his mind was still uncontrollably recalling the events that had occurred not long ago.
In a world of chaos, human life is like grass; he had never offended his fellow apprentice Sun Li but was still resented by him, to the point of being targeted for murder.
"The human heart is unfathomable..."
Su Mu trembled slightly all over, finally understanding why the ancient sages would create sentences like 'the heart of defense should not be absent' to warn the world.
Repeating this sentence, the young person's mindset quietly underwent some changes.
"Yes, I have crossed over; the present is not a law-abiding society... but a chaotic world..."
"If not for my diligent cultivation of Five Animals Qigong for half a year, if not for that villain relaxing his vigilance upon seeing my youth and fear, today, it would surely have been me who died..."
Su Mu took a deep breath, fists slowly clenching.
"I, Su Mu, will not become a villain who harms others, but shall never be a short-lived do-gooder either..."
Returning naked to the small courtyard, the blood-stained clothes had long been discarded separately in the mountain wilderness, back inside he boiled water to wash away the blood on his body, finally finding complete peace within.
This time, apart from finding a money bag containing ten taels of broken silver on Sun Li, there was also a tightly wrapped package.
"Let's see what exactly is on that villain's body?"
Back then, he felt that the object inside the package's outline was much like a book, just hoping it wasn't some useless book like the Four Books and Five Classics.
After experiencing life and death, Su Mu thirsted for power and strength.
Holding onto anticipation, he opened the cyan-colored bag wrapped in three layers, revealing the true form within before Su Mu—a traditional thread-bound book with a yellowed cover.
Su Mu's breathing quickened slightly, reaching out to brush away the dust on the book, revealing three golden characters: Tiger Subduing Fist.
"A real Martial Arts Secret Manual?"
Su Mu's heart thumped loudly.
"'Tiger Subduing Fist', mimicking the stance of a tiger's fierce combat, it's aggressive, breaking cleverness with force, reaching deep cultivation could enter Ninth Grade..."
Could enter Ninth Grade!
Before his eyes was clearly a Grade-Entering Martial Arts Manual.
Su Mu's heart burned with excitement, swallowing a mouthful of water; this was indeed genuine, killing and arson truly yielded the golden belt. Sun Li probably never imagined that the villain he employed would instead deliver such a gift to him, Su Mu.
"Ninth Grade is the lowest rank among the martial artists in this world. This 'Tiger Subduing Fist' isn't some top martial art... but it's exactly what I need right now; top martial arts would instead be useless to me at present."
The greater the martial arts, the higher the cultivation threshold required; without a martial arts foundation, even if given a top martial art now, Su Mu could only stare blankly.
Su Mu then began to browse through the 'Tiger Subduing Fist' in the candlelight, the pleasant sound of pages turning, one after another, his eyes growing ever brighter with excitement, utterly engrossed.
Until late at night, Su Mu reluctantly closed the Secret Manual in his hand, his face involuntarily showing signs of delight.
"'Tiger Subduing Fist', a fist technique that mimics the combat style of a fierce tiger. With my foundation in Five Animals Qigong, the entry-level cultivation should be much easier than for ordinary people. I'll start cultivating from tomorrow!"
Within Five Animals Qigong, there are 13 forms of Tiger Play; this 'Tiger Subduing Fist' could just be considered a Grade-Entering advanced version of Tiger Play.
At the same time, after roughly going through 'Tiger Subduing Fist', Su Mu finally gained a broad understanding of the martial dao system in this world.
According to the description in the Secret Manual, the martial artists' realms in this world are divided into nine grades, among which Ninth Grade is the lowest and First Grade is the highest.
The Ninth, Eighth, and Seventh Grades are collectively known as Low-Grade martial artists, making up the first significant checkpoint in the martial arts path—Body Refinement martial artists. Martial dao begins with body refinement.
Ninth Grade involves Refining Power and Transforming Force, Eighth Grade corresponds to Bone Forging and Marrow Refining, while Seventh Grade includes Muscle and Vein Strengthening.
Refining Force marks the threshold of Grade-Entering martial artists, simply described as gradually enhancing one's power through years of cultivation until the Qi Power permeates the body and invisible 'power' is produced with every gesture.
Although this checkpoint is the entry-level of martial dao, it excludes over ninety percent of the martial arts enthusiasts in the world; many fervent practitioners cannot cultivate 'power' even after decades, and without 'power,' one will never enter a grade, forever remaining an unranked amateur.
Suppressing excitement, Su Mu exited the courtyard, practiced Five Animals Qigong for a while, and quickly fell asleep.
That night, Su Mu slept heavily, both physically and mentally exhausted.
The following day, Su Mu practiced Five Animals Qigong as usual, then, feeling slightly apprehensive, went to the town—he was a little tense while walking through the streets and alleys there.
Nevertheless, overnight, the town didn't hear any news; the deaths of two people didn't stir any waves in the town, making one wonder whether the officers here completely failed to realize two people had died overnight.
Thus, Su Mu felt somewhat at ease; at noon, while having lunch, Li Xiaohu approached him, "Sun Li took a day off yesterday, but today he's still nowhere to be seen..."
Su Mu's expression changed slightly, his heart skipped a beat, and the spoon holding the porridge water hung in mid-air, with Li Xiaohu casting a curious glance.
"I suspect he went drinking again last night. That guy's family lives in Willow Tree Village, north of the town, where a sizable distillery exists. Sun Li's home is right across from the distillery; this isn't his first time doing this either—before, he often mixed around with the hooligans in that area."
Hearing this, Su Mu secretly let out a breath of relief and delivered the porridge water into his mouth, yet his thoughts drifted elsewhere.
Past memories surfaced.
Just before dying, Sun Li had sarcastically remarked on him being a country boy. Subsequently, Su Mu had found a money bag with ten taels of broken silver on Sun Li's corpse; in this society, a tael of silver is enough for a family of three to not worry about food and drink for three months.
What normal apprentice would have ten taels of silver? Even if this money was for hiring a killer, it still indicated that Sun Li was quite well-off.
Given that he was already slain by me, I might as well claim all his possessions before anyone notices Sun Li is dead; this was only what Sun Li deserved anyway.
Besides, in this chaotic world, Sun Li being away from home for so long would definitely have his assets eyed by others eventually, so I might as well take them myself.
Willow Tree Village, opposite the distillery...
Coming back to his senses, Su Mu casually asked aloud, "Sun Li's family doesn't mind?"
"Sun Li only has an uncle these days, who doesn't live with him. It was his uncle who brought him to the shop, and while he used to visit Sun Li occasionally, after catching him drinking, he's stopped coming around much."
"I see."
Su Mu responded, a determined decision forming in his heart.
Tang tang tang!
Amidst the forging sounds, the afternoon passed by, and Su Mu left the shop with the setting sun, furnace sealed.
As night fell, a silhouette climbed into a house over the wall; it was Su Mu, and after practicing Five Animals Qigong for half a year, he moved swiftly and coordinated, entering Sun Li's courtyard without alerting anyone.
After some exploration in the dark, Su Mu found a small wooden box under the bed.
Upon opening the box, the first thing to catch his eye was the silver—a ten-tael ingot of official silver, along with some scattered silver, totaling sixteen taels.
"Here are sixteen taels, coupled with the previous ten; that's an impressive twenty-six taels of silver. Sun Li was indeed wealthy."
Su Mu quietly spoke.
"Hmm? What's this?"
Aside from the silver, the box also contained two tokens and a fish-shaped white jade pendant.