My Cultivation Starting from Archery

Time flows like a relentless river, never pausing for moment.

Behind closed doors, time seems to fly especially fast.

In the blink of an eye, another twenty days had passed.

The weather in the Northern Territory was growing increasingly cold.

Fortunately, after the pay increase, the soldiers of Po Yang Thousand Households had more money in hand and did not have to suffer from the cold.

At the Martial Arts Arena.

Chen Sansi was sparring with Fang Zongqi.

The effects are best when the sparring partner is a realm higher in skill.

Fang Zongqi, full of confidence at first, had a markedly terrible expression on his face after less than five rounds.

Is this really just "small achievement" in Blood Refining?

Strength, speed, endurance, in which aspect is he inferior to me?

To put it more precisely, he seems to be much stronger than me—I who have reached "great success" in Blood Refining!

Struggling miserably to reach the tenth round, the web of Fang Zongqi's right hand holding the saber split open, blood gushed out continuously, and his arm became numb and stiff, almost forgetting how to execute the saber technique he learned.

Surrounding them were onlooking soldiers, most of whom were his subordinates.

Seeing that he could no longer hold on, Fang Zongqi quickly said, "Enough! It's a draw, a draw!"

Chen Sansi withdrew his spear, "Thank you for the effort, Fang Zongqi."

Fang Zongqi, with his trembling right hand hidden behind his back, said, "You must be close to achieving 'great success' in Blood Refining, right?"

"It should be in the next few days."

Chen Sansi did not deny it.

[Cultivation Technique: Basic Spear Technique of a Soldier (Minor Success)]

[Progress: 1855/2000]

[Utility: Swift Spear Movement, Amazing Endurance, Robust Qi-Blood, Blood Birth Phenomenon]

The effects of the Exotic Beast's flesh are astonishing.

Together with Chen Sansi being relatively affluent, even forgoing Blood Replenishing Soup for the fifteen taels per dose of Nine Revolutions Replenishing Essence Soup, how could his speed not be fast?

"Well done."

Fang Zongqi said with emotion, "Once you reach 'great success' in Blood Refining, you too could be promoted to a flag leader, levelling with me."

"I've benefitted from your care during this period, Fang Zongqi."

After the enhancement of his cultivation, Chen Sansi's promotion to flag leader was a certainty.

But he feared he would end up a leader in name only.

After all, the garrison didn't have that many men.

Where would he suddenly find fifty men to command out of thin air?

At most, he'd be treated with the privileges of a flag leader's rank, but in title only.

Training in the morning, patrolling the city in the afternoon.

Ever since they reported the cases of people disappearing, Xiang Tingchun had promptly started to dispatch daily city patrols.

Moreover, he was very irritable.

Most of those ranked flag leader or higher were scolded on a daily basis.

After all, the Selection Officer was about to arrive, and not to mention the matter of the Immortal Treasure, just the fact that people were dying daily without any catch of the murderer could lead to a charge of dereliction of duty against him.

The problem was.

They truly couldn't find anything.

So many deaths certainly couldn't be the work of just one or two people.

But Po Yang County was such a small place, there couldn't possibly be another place like the Golden Bell Temple for them to hide.

Unless, the murders were not committed by the Witch God Sect at all!

In that case, it would be natural to find no clues.

Chen Sansi's mind, involuntarily, thought of the Medicine Valley he encountered on the mountain that day.

Being barricaded from such a distance, it was completely abnormal.

He just couldn't understand, why would a martial arts hall commit murder?

He would go up the mountain to take a look!

It would also provide an opportunity to hunt something.

There was still nearly two hundred taels of silver at home, which was enough, but it would also not be bad to hunt something like a Black Bear, after all, he couldn't make the trip in vain.

...

Early the next morning, Chen Sansi set off.

Explore stories on empire

"In recent days, there are still people missing, it's just that..."

Zhao Qiao and a few others followed behind, "They're all countryside folk."

"The countryside?"

Neck-deep in martial arts training, Chen Sansi had not participated in the patrols and was aware of the deaths, but he did not know about this detail.

"Yes."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Wu Da said, "At first, there were disappearances in both the county town and countryside, but gradually, it changed to only countryside folk going missing, to put it plainly, the poor."

Chen Sansi felt even more that something was wrong.

The Witch God Sect didn't discriminate whether you were rich or poor when they killed.

This kind of thing, only "one's own people" could do.

After heading up the mountain, he made his way towards Medicine Valley.

Before he even reached his destination, he could see from afar three figures standing on the road that led inevitably to Medicine Valley.

Liang Zhan, Mr. Wu of Golden Bell Temple, and another youth around thirty years old.

This youth had a cloud pattern on his garment.

Additionally, considering his mannerisms and how he stood as an equal to the other two, it could only be the young Master of Yunhe Martial Arts Hall, who first had his family business usurped by his uncle, only to later make a comeback.

Why, recently, have all these pampered young masters taken a liking to delving into the deep mountains and dense forests?

It's one thing for a single person, but three gathering together—do they have too much time on their hands?

Moreover, two li away from Medicine Valley, it's all guarded by Martial Arts Academy Disciples, not even letting a bird through—it's clear there's some unspeakable secret.

Thinking back carefully.

The Master of Yunhe Martial Arts Hall, who was mediocre for half his life, suddenly had a breakthrough at a critical moment.

In the town, it was also around those few days that people started to go missing.

And then there's Old Five Song.

There were rumors that his father was at death's door, desperately in need of White Deer for healing.

And what happened?

So much time has passed, and there hasn't been any news of a funeral at the Tai Lei Martial Arts Academy.

On top of that, Old Five Song doesn't seem to be in any hurry at all.

No wonder last time I watched helplessly as he took away the White Deer—it's likely they have some special way of healing.

All the pieces of the puzzle fit together.

The disappearances of the commoners, they must be connected to them!

It's just there's no evidence for now.

Chen Sansi has no plans to approach rashly either.

Just before his eyes, there were three practicing Bone Training.

Inside Medicine Valley, there must be a few old servants hidden away.

Concealing Breath and Hiding is not the same as Invisibility Technique; if caught by these people, they could very well do something drastic in desperation.

First, I'll go back and break through to Great Success in Blood Refining; besides, the ten-stone heavy bow is almost ready.

Ensure that I can retreat safely even when encountering someone in Bone Training, then come back here to explore further.

Having made up his mind, Chen Sansi left quietly without a sound.

...

"We can't have any more deaths."

Liang Zhan advised the two beside him, "Let's put a halt to it for now."

"It doesn't matter!"

Old Five Song, however, confidently said, "We're only taking peasants from the countryside, nobodies who won't have anyone to seek justice for them."

"Xiang Tingchun has started investigating again, doesn't Old Five know?"

Liang Zhan sighed and said, "Let's just stop for a while. Anyway, your father's injury has been healed, and besides, we still lack the key Immortal Treasure, killing more people won't increase its utility."

"Brother Pan."

Old Five Song looked towards the young Master of Yunhe Martial Arts Hall: "You're not still hiding something, are you?"

"Absolutely not."

Pan Quan's expression tightened: "It was with the help of you two that I was able to take back my family business. How could I continue to hide anything? The Immortal Treasure must be in the hands of Xiang Tingchun, I guarantee it!"

"That bastard Xiang Tingchun."

Old Five Song cursed: "We sent him a month's worth of money, grain, and medicinal materials, and he won't even show us the shadow of the Immortal Treasure!"

"Indeed, we can't go on like this."

Liang Zhan said worriedly: "Up to now, we still don't even know what the Immortal Treasure is, could Xiang Tingchun at least open the box and show us? As Refining Organ Martial Artists, they're going too far."

"On one hand, we don't know what the Immortal Treasure is, and on the other, even if we had the Immortal Treasure, we wouldn't know how to use it. This situation is ridiculous."

"First stop supplying the money, grain, and medicinal materials; we can't keep compromising blindly."

"I agree with this opinion."

...

Leaving Medicine Valley.

Chen Sansi hunted down a Black Bear.

For him now, it was completely possible to deal with it easily on his own.

He went to the creek to meet up with Zhao Qiao and the others.

Unexpectedly, they had caught a few wolves.

"Seems your hunting luck has improved recently."

Chen Sansi first congratulated them, then threw a wet blanket: "However, I advise you to not go up the mountain for the time being. There may be danger."

Everyone knew the Martial Arts Academies were responsible for the killings, so it was only right to warn them.

"Why, Brother Shi?"

Wu Da asked puzzled: "We've finally found a good spot. We'll definitely be able to shoot wolves again tomorrow."

"Could stones be harmful to us?"

As the oldest, Zhao Qiao knew there was a reason behind it: "Starting from tomorrow, we won't go up the mountain."

Zhuang Yi expressed his difficulty: "Our family can hardly scrape a meal together."

"I'll give you the grain."

Chen Sansi, now, was not short of money.

"No way!"

Zhao Qiao refused: "Brother Shi, we are already grateful that you're willing to take us hunting in the mountains; how could we possibly take your grain?"

"Consider it a loan from me, you can pay me back next spring."

With Chen Sansi insisting, they finally agreed.

After selling the Black Bear,

Chen Sansi rushed back to the garrison, planning to achieve Great Success in one fell swoop.