Martial Arts Have Mastery - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Fierce Tiger Climbs Down the Mountain

Translator: Tuiwen Editor: Tuiwen

Shen Ling was a very ambitious person.

He wanted to become a true expert and not just rely on his cultivation to get him through a battle.

To add to that…

The Iron Shirt Technique was among one of the techniques he fell back on to help him turn the tides in his favor. But at present, it did not make him invincible.

If he came across a large scale of attacks that could put a hole through his defense system in a relatively short period of time, his inner energy from the Iron Shirt would be rapidly reduced until there would be zero protection.

After all, he did not need to face all attacks head-on. Shen Ling felt that by training his reaction and dodging abilities, he would able to build a good enough defense barrier in order to avoid getting beaten by his foe.

However…

“You go ahead.”

“No, you go!”

“I don’t want to go.”

All of the young and strong farmers turned to look at each other. None of them made the move to attack Shen Ling.

“Let’s all go together.”

Another young and strong farmer made the suggestion.

“Okay!”

The group of young and strong farmers said all at once.

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

At that moment, the square fell silent.

The strong and young farmer had clearly counted down to three, but when the time came for them to attack, none of the young and strong farmers made a move.

“Why didn’t you go?”

“Aren’t you going to go too?”

“Shut your mouth!”

Looking at the young and strong farmers surrounding him, Shen Ling could not help but sigh.

Whether it had to do with his identity as the young master of the Shen family or due to the might of his strength, these young and strong farmers were afraid to touch him.

Just as he was about to give up, a whistling of wind sounded out from behind him.

Shen Ling unconsciously ducked to the side.

The one who had launched the attack was a young and strong farmer who had a calm expression on his face. “Why are you all hesitating? Don’t you know who Young Master Shen is by now? Have you considered that even if we have the ability to hurt Young Master Shen… that Young Master Shen will not blame you?”

“Go now!”

Hearing his words, the farmers finally came to an understanding of what was going on.

For a moment there, their attack came in sudden waves and Shen Ling was unable to dodge them all.

“This…”

When a young and strong farmer slammed his wooden blade onto Shen Ling’s body and saw that the reverberating force caused his wooden blade to fly right out of his hands, he could not help but shout out in surprise.

Just like that, the wooden saber was swiped away by Shen Ling.

It was already obvious who was the victorious side was going to be.

Shen Ling, who was the only one standing in the arena, looked at the surrounding young and strong farmers who were slowly getting up. While cupping his fists, he said, “Thank you for cooperating with me.”

Although they had a rough start, it was still a good starting point for his training.

In this training session, Shen Ling focused on his dodging and reaction skills. The young and strong farmers threw everything they had learned at Shen Ling. But Shen Ling was always a few steps ahead of them every time and managed to block their blows each time they attacked.

With this battle, the second round of training commenced very quickly.

At this time, the young and strong farmers no longer waited around to attack.

They already found out that Shen Ling did not even wince when their wooden blades fell on his body.

Shen Ling’s defense abilities continued to amaze them. But at the same time, they were feeling very relieved that their blows did not do much to harm their eldest young master.

After some time had passed.

“I’ve had enough.”

The young and strong farmers bent over with their hands on their knees. They turned to look at Shen Ling who seemed to still have some energy left in him and waved their hands all at the same time.

More than a hundred people were up against one person. Just thinking of this made everyone quite embarrassed.

However, the young and strong farmers didn’t feel so bad losing to Shen Ling.

To them, Shen Ling was a very powerful martial artist, so it was perfectly normal for them to lose to him.

“Thank you, everyone, for all your hard work.”

Shen Ling released his fist, put on his coat, and said to the young and strong farmers with a smile on his face.

“It wasn’t hard at all.”

The young and strong farmers said at the same time.

After leaving the southern square, Shen Ling made a trip to visit the Yang family.

Due to the fact that school was not over yet, Yang Jian was still at home, helping his children with their studies.

“Young Master Shen has arrived.”

Seeing that it was Shen Ling, Yang Jian quickly stood up. “Yun’er, go ahead and brew a pot of tea for our guest.”

“Yes, Master.”

The young girl glanced over at Shen Ling, and her face immediately turned a crimson red. She bowed her head, turned around, and headed to the kitchen.

On the other side of the room, Yang Jian turned to look at Shen Ling and said with a smile on his face, “Young Master Shen, please have a seat. What brings you here today?”

Shen Ling said with a smile on his face, “I came here today to check up on the progress of the village wall. I just happened to be passing by, so I came to pay you a visit.”

After having said that, Shen Ling looked around at his surroundings. “Mr. Yang has already stayed in the village for a few days. How do you feel about it?”

With a smile on his face, Yang Jian said, “Everything is going great. I find that the people in the village are quite friendly.”

Shen Ling nodded his head.

After chatting for some time, Shen Ling did not want to overstay his visit so he returned to Qi Hua City in the afternoon.

Just like that…

A month had gone by.

The time had arrived for the farmers of the Great Qian Dynasty to harvest their fields.

To the Shen family, these two months were of utmost importance.

This was because the Shen family business was linked to food. Families like the Shen’s heavily relied on their harvest for income and the plentifulness of their harvest also had to do with the considerations for the following year.

“Such a beautiful scenery.”

Shen Ling had gotten to the farm early in the morning. He stared across at the golden wheat waves in front of him. A dazzling smile was on his face.

“From what I see, the harvest this year is really good.”

A young and strong farmer held up his sickle and followed behind Shen Ling as he said, “From our estimates, it looks like everyone’s share will also be higher than the previous years.”

“That’s very good.”

Shen Ling nodded his head and said.

In a place like this, which was very much similar to the era of his previous life, farming entirely relied on heaven’s will.

Once a disaster like drought or flood hits, the lack of harvest would pose a huge problem.

Their harvest entirely depended on their fortunes with the weather. If the farmers were to be so lucky as to be blessed with good weather for the entire year, by the time the harvest season came around, they would be sure to reap the rewards.

“Is the wall ready yet?”

After turning his eyes away from the field, Shen Ling looked back at the young and strong farmer and asked him this.

The young farmer said, “It’s already done. According to Young Master’s orders, the wall was built around the village.”

Shen Ling nodded his head.

No natural disasters had occurred this year, and the grain was about to be harvested.

However, other than natural disasters, the Shen family had to watch out for man-made disasters as well.

The wall was meant to keep out the bandits.

“Young Master Shen.”

“Young Master Shen.”

Suddenly, a voice could be heard sounding out from afar.

Shen Ling turned his head and saw that a young and strong farmer was running over in his direction, shouting as he ran towards him.

“I’m over here!”

Shen Ling waved his hand around.

The farmer ran over and stopped right in front of Shen Ling. As he panted, he said, “Young Master, we sighted a tiger at the entrance of the village. The village chief told me to come see you for advice on what to do.”

“Tiger?”

Shen Ling rapidly blinked his eyes in confusion.

Although he had heard of tiger sightings at Green Mountain, he had yet to see them with his very own eyes.

But now, the tiger had climbed down the mountain.

“Let’s go and have a look for ourselves.”

Shen Ling got on his horse and rode in the direction of the village.

Soon after, Shen Ling came back to the village and saw the tiger prowling around at the village entrance.

Although the tiger was still far away, Shen Ling’s horse stayed put where it was. It would not move an inch closer.

“Don’t be scared.”

Shen Ling gently patted the horse on its head and dismounted.

From this distance, the tiger looked tall and strong. The length of its body was at least four and a half meters long.

If not for the fact that they had set up camp and gates to guard themselves against bandits, this tiger might already be inside the village walls.

Shen Ling knew he had to drive this tiger out.

Shen Ling slowly inched forward, and the two young and strong farmers standing behind him said, “Young Master, isn’t this too dangerous?”

“I’ll be fine.”

Shen Ling shook his head back and forth.

Even though he was scared of tigers, he believed that this would be a good chance for him to train his cultivation skills.

He had always wanted a worthy opponent. It was best if he found someone who would not pay attention to his identity.

Only in a real battle would he be able to comprehend his true abilities.

However, it turned out Shen Ling’s opponent this time wasn’t even human.

It just so happened to be a tiger..