Martial Arts Have Mastery - Chapter 20
Chapter 20: Another Favor for Miss Qin
Translator: Tuiwen Editor: Tuiwen
After walking around for a while, Shen Ling and Yang Jian got to the end of the village.
Mr. Yang looked around the village and couldn’t help but sigh, “I didn’t expect this village to be as peaceful as this.”
“Well, it hasn’t always been so.”
Shen Ling smiled as he shook his head. “There are several bandits on the Green Mountain there. Their existence alone is always a problem for the surrounding villages.”
Mr. Yang was even more puzzled. “Why then isn’t anybody here worried about this?”
With a smile, Shen Ling said, “Well, it’s very simple. When the bandits no longer threaten their safety, they don’t need to be afraid any longer.”
Mr. Yang was even more confused.
Then, Shen Ling led him to the southern side of the village.
Mr. Yang looked at the hundreds of young men standing in the huge open space in front of him. Each of them was doing their best to slash hard.
Although their clothes were drenched in sweat, their movements were meticulous and uniform.
When Mr. Yang saw this, he had just one word in mind…
Surprise!
Shen Ling looked at the young men with a smile and said, “They haven’t practiced martial arts for long, but it’s enough to deal with those bandits. With their protection, the bandits wouldn’t dare threaten this village again.”
Mr. Yang looked at him and said, “Young Master Shen, sounds like you have formed a strong army…”
When Shen Ling heard these words, he shook his head and said with a calm face, “I didn’t think of forming an army. I only gave them an avenue to practice martial arts to give them some ability to protect themselves when the time comes.”
In all honesty, Mr. Yang was surprised by Shen Ling’s calm demeanor.
After a long while…
“So, Mr. Yang. Do you have something on your mind?”
Shen Ling took the initiative to ask when he saw that Mr. Yang was deep in thought.
“Actually, I wanted to know if the Shen family has surplus farmlands. Since I just came into the village, I need to do something to keep busy. So I thought it would be best if I could rent some farmland.”
“Well…” Shen Ling hesitated for a moment.
It was no longer an exaggeration that the former prefecture overseer wanted to be a sharecropper here.
After contemplating for a while, Shen Ling said, “For now, the Shen family’s current land has all been rented out. We can’t get you another piece of land, Mr. Yang.”
Hearing this, Mr. Yang understood.
Shen Ling continued, “Besides, it would be a waste of talent to allow you to become a farmer here. How about this… I’ll build a school in the village. Then you take your time to teach the children in the village how to read and write.”
Mr. Yang looked at Shen Ling in surprise. “A school?”
Shen Ling nodded affirmatively, “That’s right.”
When he received Shen Ling’s affirmative reply, Yang Jian felt even more surprised and extremely puzzled.
In this part of the world, no landlord was willing to care whether the children of farmers could read or not. Even the emperor of the Great Qian Empire had not considered this.
Mr. Yang didn’t know that Shen Ling had not considered it either…
But his arrival seemed to be the perfect opportunity that made Shen Ling think that he could establish a school and let the children have something to do.
Mr. Yang lowered his head and said softly, “Thank you so much, Young Master Shen.”
“There’s no need to thank me.”
Shen Ling said with a smile.
After Mr. Yang’s affairs had been completely resolved, Shen Ling turned around and arrived at the square in the south of the village.
“Young Master Shen.”
“Young Master Shen.”
“Young Master…”
As soon as he approached the square, several people called out to him with enthusiasm.
He nodded in response to them and looked at these young men who were sweating profusely before he said with a smile, “Pay attention your work and also make sure you have adequate rest. Don’t get hurt just because you’re undergoing training. The gains won’t make up for the losses.”
“Don’t worry, Young Master Shen. We all know what we’re doing and won’t act tough,” someone said in a carefree manner.
Shen Ling nodded.
He looked briefly at the over hundred young men in front of him. They were the first batch of people who followed him to practice the Mountain-splitting Saber Technique in the village. But four of them were gone.
As he thought of this, he raised his head high and said, “I’m here today to teach you another cultivation technique.”
The young men clicked their tongues. “There’s another cultivation technique?”
Almost everyone in the Great Qian Empire knew how expensive a cultivation technique was.
The fact that Shen Ling was willing to teach them a rank-nine low-grade saber technique had already made these young farmers excited. They didn’t expect that there would be a second cultivation technique.
“The name of this cultivation technique is Iron Shirt.”
Shen Ling spoke slowly and explained the main points of the Iron Shirt.
After a while, the young men all began to wail, “Young Master Shen, why is this particular cultivation technique so difficult…”
Shen Ling smiled and spoke calmly, “All cultivation techniques are like this. It’s normal for them to be difficult. Have you memorized the part I asked you to?”
The young men looked at each other.
Patiently, Shen Ling repeated it a few more times and began to lead the young men to learn the movements of the Iron Shirt.
Truth be told, the movements were quite difficult, but merely looking at more than a hundred young men learning in unison was very eye-catching.
In the blink of an eye…
The afternoon passed.
Only one person out of more than a hundred young men had produced a trace of inner strength from the Iron Shirt. The others had not even touched the door to success.
Shen Ling’s expression was calm.
Unlike him, these young men could not rely on repeated practice to improve their cultivation methods.
For instance, for the young man who had just produced a trace of inner strength from the Iron Shirt, Shen Ling estimated that it would at least take half a year before he could successfully cultivate the first level.
“Young Master Shen, are you going back?”
One of the young men asked when he saw Shen Ling retreating.
“Yes, I’m ready to go back.”
“I didn’t go home yesterday. I have to go back home today, otherwise, the old master will be worried again.”
As soon as he said this, he bid farewell to the group of young men who were reluctant to part and rode his horse towards Qi Hua City.
Back in Qi Hua City.
He first returned to the Shen residence to meet with Master Shen. After that, he walked out of the house and headed towards the Chennan Trading Company.
As usual, he met Miss Qin on the third floor.
“Young Master Shen is here.”
Miss Qin spoke softly as Shen Ling sat beside her.
He picked up his teacup to have a drink, but before he did, he spoke first, “I’ve taken care of the matter, so I came here to tell you.”
“Thank you, Young Master Shen.”
Miss Qin nodded with a perfect smile. Shen Ling couldn’t see any flaws in her expression.
To be honest, he even suspected that she was the one who had assigned those assassins. But then, this suspicion sounded absurd even though he still tucked it away in his heart.
However, he decided not to think too much of it.
As long as it didn’t involve him and the people he cared about, he didn’t want to bother himself with getting to the bottom of the issue.
“Alright, I’ll take my leave now.”
Immediately after drinking the tea, he got up and was about to leave.
“Wait a minute.”
Miss Qin raised her hand and said slowly, “Well, I’d like to trouble you to help me once more. Is that okay with you?”
He raised his head and looked at her. “What is it? I can think about it and get back to you.”
She got up and said, “I’d like to ask you to help me recover a batch of goods. How about a third of the profits from the goods as a reward?”
“Recover a batch of goods?”
Shen Ling asked as a trace of doubt flashed in his eyes.
She nodded slowly and said, “Actually, a batch of goods belonging to the Chennan Trading Company was stolen by a group of bandits from Green Mountain. I would like you to help me recover them.”
This extra information didn’t cure the doubts he had. “Someone dared to touch the goods belonging to this company?”
”Yes!”
Miss Qin nodded affirmatively..
