Chapter 549: Three Years

"Life-shortening martial arts?"

Ge Lao murmured.

"What? With your experience, you don't even know that?" Aaron deliberately goaded him.

"How is that possible?" Ge Lao fell for the trap, as expected, and shouted: "Isn't the 'Black Sand Palm' from your Wuguan exactly that?"

"Ah?!"

This unexpected answer caused Aaron's expression to change.

"Did Xue Qingshan ever instruct you that if you don't have Medicinal Sand, you must absolutely not continue training once you feel your Qi and Blood failing and your body overdrawn? With Medicinal Sand, you can train for four or five hours a day; without it, you can only train for one hour?"

"Sigh..."

Aaron let out a sigh.

"But I'm not afraid. As long as it doesn't kill me, I'll train until I'm half-dead!"

Several old customers, reluctant to part with the money and craving a drink, could only stare blankly from the side, their throats bobbing continuously.

One boat, one person, forming a reflection in the water.

Aaron handed the remaining fish in his basket to the last little girl who had bought fish, then carried the empty basket toward Yuyang Restaurant.

"Sigh... grain prices are skyrocketing. Now people can't even afford to eat, so naturally, fewer people are eating fish..."

Aaron practiced the Black Sand Palm Method once, then practiced it again.

Aaron patted his chest in assurance.

Ge Lao said: "This is why, without the support of Medicinal Sand, practicing the 'Black Sand Palm' will damage the body and shorten one's life significantly... For all these profound martial arts, the secret manuals are not the problem; the medicine is the true secret that is never passed on!"

Aaron laughed: "Bring four more plates of meat!"

"I wasn't thinking of myself, but of Lao Chutou..."

Three years later.

"Hmm, stick to training for three hours every day and fishing for one hour... use the rest of the time for rest and entertainment... why live such a miserable life?"

"Now I can be considered a hegemon of the Fish Market; no one dares to provoke me. When I have nothing to do, I can go drink some wine or visit a brothel... I don't know how much more carefree and happy I could be!"

"Oh my... you gentlemen are all regular customers; would I really try to swindle you?"

The waiter explained with a face full of grievance: "This wine is also brewed from grain. Since the price of rice has risen, shouldn't the price of wine follow suit? It is said that the Imperial Court is even going to issue some kind of prohibition on brewing. Whether there will be any left after this batch is sold is anyone's guess!"

"This feeling... is somewhat similar to when I took the 'Life-Snatching Green Dragon Soup'."

It is not easy for a fisherman to take a wife, for example, Xiao Chu...

He arrived at his usual spot and had just sat down when he heard a drinker shout: "Damn your mother, a bowl of Burning Knife actually costs me two big coins?!"

"If one were to live forever and have infinite time, why bother racing against the clock like this?"

When he felt his body beginning to be overdrawn, he did not give up, but instead continued to train bitterly!

Taize Lake.

"That makes sense. Give me two bowls of Old Yellow Wine."

"Looks like there's no business again today..."

This kind of life was quite leisurely.

"Also... there is talk of a Refugee Army everywhere. Although our Taize Prefecture is still fine, there's no guarantee when soldiers might pass through..." another fisherman lowered his voice.

"For me, the most important thing is not risking my life with hard work, but self-discipline!"

"Many thanks to Master Yu for the intervention."

Xiao Liu's father laughed: "Those who farm are different now. That land, that mansion... can it grow legs and run away? Once it runs, everything is gone! In the past, the farmers looked down on us, but now the situation has changed... Take my Xiao Liu, for instance; the wife he married is the daughter of a farming family. She is so bright and lovely, and they didn't even ask for a dowry; they even paid to have her marry him!"

"What? Does Master Yu also want to take the opportunity to find a wife?" Si Niang came over with a smile to refill the wine: "Which girl do you like? Si Niangzi will go and speak for you personally; it's sure to succeed!"

"Other people's bodies are like sponges; once squeezed to a certain point, no more water can be wrung out..."

"Master Yu is here too? My Xiao Liu is getting married in three days; I must invite you to come and join the celebration."

"That is to say... even without Medicinal Sand, one can still train the 'Black Sand Palm' until they are half-dead?" Aaron's eyes lit up.

The twelfth year of the Guangzong reign of the Lin Kingdom, the world suffered a great drought, the people were starving, and people were eating each other.

Aaron began to boil tea for himself, watching the morning sun while making subsequent plans:

"Hmm... and this Golden Finger I made for myself, it should also be adjusted... terms like Entry, Small Success, Great Success... they don't have any intuitive feel. It would be better to change them to a progress bar or a numerical display..."

The moon set and the sun rose.

"Sure enough, all martial arts that refine Qi and Blood into energy are life-shortening martial arts! Once there is no secret medicine to assist, it will ravage the body's Essence Qi!"

"It is possible... Ten years ago, a master in the prefecture city named 'Xiao Xuanfeng' was like this. He also went to the Qingshan Martial Arts Hall to learn martial arts. His family was poor, he didn't listen to advice, and he trained bitterly in the 'Black Sand Palm' without the assistance of Medicinal Sand. He did manage to enter the realm of Dark Energy and was a hero for a time... Then, before he was thirty, signs of premature aging appeared. He died of old age at twenty-seven or twenty-eight, passing away without illness. I was the one who personally sent him off!"

Night fell.

Not far away, the misty waves were vast, and gulls and herons flew up...

"As for the problem of not aging... at least for the next ten years, there is no need to consider this matter. After ten years... at worst, I'll move!"

"Shortening life..."

Before long, several familiar fishermen walked into the restaurant, greeted everyone first, and then called for the waiter to bring Burning Knife to drink.

"Good, I will definitely go to have a cup of wine then." Aaron agreed with a smile, then asked curiously: "Your Xiao Liu found a wife?"

An old fisherman laughed so hard that the wrinkles on his face smoothed out.

"From now on, I will train for my life every day... eh? Wait..."

Unknowingly, Aaron was immersed in the pleasure of his energy growing rapidly, and a whole night had passed.

In the Fish Market.

"Yo, greetings to all you elders and youngsters."

Furthermore, he did not get involved in other matters, did not join gangs, did not work as a guard for merchant caravans, and did not compete for benefits, so naturally, no one was bored enough to provoke him, and he would not encounter any danger.

"However, this Golden Finger is based primarily on my own cognition... so I must wait until I have mastered the first layer of the Black Sand Palm before the progress can be concretely quantified and reflected on the Divine Attribute panel."

Above the golden surface of the lake.

Sure enough, when he circulated his Qi and Blood again, he felt as if steel blades were scraping through his limbs and bones, and wisps of heat reappeared.

"That may be so, but the most chaotic period is not easy to get through... Master Yu, you are blinded by a single leaf. We are fishermen, our belongings are all on the boat; if we encounter the ravages of war, we can just sail into the lake and hide, who could find us?"

Aaron smiled: "For us common folk, as long as we hide through the most chaotic period, no matter who comes, we will honestly pay our dues; who would make things difficult for us?"

"Isn't it because the times are different now?" the old fisherman said with a chuckle: "Under this great drought, the harvest from farming has decreased, and the price of rice has risen... but we rely on the lake to eat; if there is no rice, we can still eat fish, so we won't starve to death..."

"Of course, how could I?"

"Hoo hoo... the talent for immortality is truly astonishing."

A Ming Jin Martial Master is a small figure in the prefecture city, but in the Fish Market, they are at the level of an overlord; even Wang Pangzi gives Aaron three parts of face.

The waiter hurriedly thanked him and nimbly served the wine and meat.

"But as long as I want to, I can continuously squeeze out Qi and Blood. Is the effect equivalent to using medicinal sand to assist in cultivation every moment?"

Since 'Master Yu', who had quite a bit of prestige, had said so, the others naturally had to quiet down.

Ge Lao suddenly grabbed Aaron's hand: "I see you are a good person, you must never follow in the footsteps of Xiao Xuanfeng!"

Aaron said: "If I had known it would be like this, if we had held on for a few more years, would we have worried about Xiao Chu not having a wife? Too hasty, too hasty..."

Xiao Liu's father also fell silent and sighed: "This is all fate... how can a person have eyes in the back of their head?"

(End of this chapter)