Martial Arts Have Mastery - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Rigorous Training

Translator: Tuiwen Editor: Tuiwen

The bandits all watched Shen Ling’s receding back and then dispersed to go about their own business.

When the chief of the bandits got back to his tent, one of the bandits following behind him asked, “Big Brother, you’re going to let him take that batch of goods with him just like that?”

The chief returned to his main chair and sat down. He said in a soft voice, “Do you have a problem with that?”

The bandit was unwilling to let this go. He said, “That batch of goods we snatched is worth at least ten thousand taels of silver. If we keep them…”

“Bang!”

The chief slammed his fist onto the armrest of his chair, and the bandit immediately shut his mouth.

Looking at the bandit standing below, the chief’s eyes became increasingly cold as he said, “Fourth Brother, I’ve told you that being a bandit is one thing, but you also have to know when to stop being greedy, and when to behave yourself and not cause trouble.”

“Don’t forget, those items belong to the Chennan Trading Company. It’s no good keeping them in our possession.”

That bandit said, “But the man who got us this deal explicitly said that the Chennan Trading Company would not look into the whereabouts of this batch of goods. Otherwise, why would we…”

The chief cut him off, “Can you guarantee that the master of that person will keep their word? If you hadn’t made that reckless decision when I was absent that day, things wouldn’t have turned out this way today.”

“That batch of goods must be sent away as soon as possible to avoid endless disasters.”

“The Shen family’s Elder Young Master has come here as a representative of the Chennan Trading Company. In fact, we should thank him for taking back the goods. He’s doing us a favor.”

“If we keep this batch of goods, some day the Chennan Trading Company might attack us for what we did, and when that happens, you will be the ones to blame.”

The chief’s words was firm and resolute.

Hearing his words, the bandits standing below revealed shameful expressions on their faces.

At that time, they were greedy and easily bought that person’s promise that the Chennan Trading Company would not go after them, but they completely forgot that they were much weaker than the Chennan Trading Company. The difference between them and the Chennan Trading Company was like an ant in the face of an elephant.

Looking at the bandits standing below him, the chief said in a cold voice, “Also, remember to keep your people in line. Next time when something like what Ma San did occurs again, don’t blame me for acting out violently.”

“We got it!”

Everyone responded together.

…

Shen Ling had no idea what was going on in the bandit fortress. In the meantime, he was able to successfully deliver the goods from the mountaintop back to the Chennan Trading Company.

Miss Qin stared at the incoming carriages that entered the backyard of the Chennan Trading Company and looked at Shen Ling in much surprise. “Young Master Shen, you are truly capable. You actually managed to deliver the goods back to us in no time.”

With a smile on his face, Shen Ling said, “I made a deal with the bandits so that they would give the goods back.”

“You can check and see if there’s anything missing or if there are any damaged goods.”

Miss Qin nodded her head.

After doing one round of inspection, Miss Qin led Shen Ling up to the third floor of the store.

“What is this?”

Staring down at the paper in Miss Qin’s hands, Shen Ling looked very confused.

Miss Qin pushed it into Shen Ling’s hands. “This is a part of our original agreement. You will get a third of the profits from the goods, that is 4,000 silver taels total. Young Master Shen can take this certificate and cash it at any branch of the Chennan Trading Company at any time.”

Shen Ling nodded his head.

Initially, he had thought that this batch of goods would be worth a lot, but he never expected it to have brought him so many benefits…

A third of the profits turned over 4,000 taels of silver.

It was enough to buy two-thirds of the Shen family’s property.

Shen Ling thought this over in his head and smiled. “Thank you so much, Miss Qin.”

Miss Qin said with a faint smile on her face, “You are more than welcome. Young Master Shen deserves it. You have helped me so much. This is just a small token of my appreciation.”

“Then consider it a win-win.”

Shen Ling said without thinking and the two of them laughed together.

Through the Shen family’s ties in the food trade, he found out that Green Mountain Bandits had a food shortage. After that, he risked his life to enter the fortress and have a talk with the chief of the bandits.

Every step of the way had a meticulous plan in place as well as calm judgment. If this were some ordinary person taking such a risk, they would have died for sure.

Shen Ling did not deny that he had been very lucky.

However, courage and resourcefulness played a huge part in his survival.

After chatting with Miss Qin for a while, Shen Ling stood up and made his way out of the Chennan Trading Company.

He was pretty transparent about the deal he made with the bandits and didn’t hide from Miss Qin that he was using food as a bargaining chip for the goods. But he turned Miss Qin down when she offered to help.

The Shen family was the biggest landlord in all of Qi Hua City. Not to mention their other resources like food…

There was enough food!

When he got back home, Shen Ling had some people transport the food, but at the same time, he didn’t put aside his own cultivation.

No matter what, strength was the currency for the strong.

If he wasn’t endowed with a full set of cultivation skills and strength today, he might not have come out of the bandit camp alive.

As Shen Ling calmed himself down, his cultivation training officially started.

‘You have completed one full circulation of the Longevity Technique, proficiency +5.’

‘You have completed one full practice session of the Mountain-splitting Saber Technique, proficiency + 5.’

‘You have completed one full practice session of Treading on Air, proficiency +5.’

‘You have completed one perfect practice session of the Iron Shirt, proficiency +10.’

Shen Ling cultivated all four techniques in one afternoon.

As the number of his skillsets increased, he had to take plenty of time out to practice each one of them every day.

Among these cultivation techniques, the Iron Shirt was a body-tempering technique. Training this cultivation technique for a long period of time could easily injure the body. However, Shen Ling possessed a great deal of inner energy, so physical injuries were not a serious problem for him.

Even though the Longevity Technique did not provide him with strong inner energy, reaching the fourth level of the Longevity Technique allowed Shen Ling’s survival rate to increase at a great level.

Just like that, the sky was darkening outside.

Shen Ling turned to look at the ‘Regretless Mountain Fist’ book in front of him. He drew in a deep breath and flipped open the book.

This was Miss Qin’s advance previously, and it was a rank-eight upper-grade cultivation technique.

“This fist technique is quite interesting! Very interesting indeed.”

After reading through the entire fist technique manual, Shen Ling had an inkling and found this technique quite intriguing.

The person who was behind this fist technique must be a very brave and vigorous individual.

If there was one word to describe the entirety of the Regretless Mountain Fist, it would have to be ‘fierce.’

But overall, it turned out the fist technique was not as complex as the rank-nine low-grade Longevity Technique.

Shen Ling went ahead to try and cultivate this new technique.

‘You have completed one full practice session of the Regretless Mountain Fist, proficiency +5.’

Success in one fell swoop!

This… This was exactly like how he felt when cultivating the Mountain-splitting Saber Technique. Shen Ling quickly began immersing himself in cultivating the fist technique.

Shen Ling executed one punch after another. The fierce fist caused Shen Ling to rip apart his clothes after only one punch.

He decided to take off his clothes, which were in the way anyways and swung his fists around even more freely than before.

‘You have completed one perfect practice session of the Regretless Mountain Fist, proficiency + 10.’

‘You have completed one perfect practice session of the Regretless Mountain Fist, proficiency + 10.’

‘You have completed one full practice session…’

In just under two hours, Shen Ling had successfully broken through to the first level of Regretless Mountain Fist.

“Regretless!”

Shen Ling punched the air, which caused the space before him to explode.

“Mountain!”

Shen Ling made a step forward with his right foot and tossed out a punch with his left fist.

“Fist!”

When Shen Ling stepped forward with his left foot and threw out his third punch, a huge explosion rang through the sky.

“Phew!”

Shen Ling, who by now had practiced for more than two hours, shook his head, then raised a basin of water and poured it all over his face.

“This is so awesome!”

A cold sensation immediately washed over Shen Ling’s brain.

After practicing his core strength, he no longer needed to worry about catching a cold or having to deal with a fever.

Very soon, Shen Ling threw out another fist again.

He continued to cultivate non-stop..