Chapter 5: Battalion Commander Li, who has the most holidays

When the sun was high, Li Miao got up from the bed and stretched.

Mmm~——

This stretch lasted a very long time, a full half-stick of incense, before Li Miao finally let out a long breath, shivered, put on a garment, and got out of bed.

He had worked overtime too long last night, which made him fall asleep directly, and he didn't even know how he got back.

He walked out of the room and beckoned to a little girl who was watering flowers in the courtyard: "Xiao Si, come here, come here."

Xiao Si heard the call, turned her head to see him smiling on the steps, and ran over in a rush, saying anxiously: "Master, you're finally up."

"It's almost past the Chen hour (nine o'clock), and the roll call at the office was an hour ago! If you don't show up for roll call today, this month's salary will be deducted again!"

Li Miao said indifferently: "Let it be deducted. I grab a couple of handfuls from the treasury any day and it's enough for us to eat."

He had no psychological burden taking money from the Embroidered Uniform Guard's treasury, because that money was originally his.

"Master, you say that every time, but the money is spent before it even gets home!" Xiao Si said aggrievedly.

"Fine, fine, fine." Li Miao felt a bit embarrassed now. He had originally wanted to call Xiao Si to go out and eat breakfast together, but seeing her serious look, he couldn't tease her anymore.

"Okay, I'll go to the office for roll call now. When I get some silver, I won't put it in my pocket, I'll have your Brother Hai send it directly to you, okay?" Li Miao teased.

Xiao Si's face turned red, she didn't say anything, turned around, and ran into the house with a thud-thud-thud.

"Little girl, can't keep her." Li Miao smiled, watched her, put on his clothes, and walked out slowly.

The current dynasty is called Dashuo. Generally, it's not much different from the Ming Dynasty in Li Miao's previous life, with slight differences in details.

There are similarities, such as the Emperor's surname being Zhu, the existence of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, eunuchs in power, and factional strife among civil officials.

There are differences, such as not being as rigid as the Ming Dynasty, the division of wards and markets not being so strict, allowing Li Miao to walk slowly now, picking up a few snacks in his hands, eating while walking to the office.

For example, this world has real Wu Gong.

Crossing the river on a reed, striking an ox across a mountain—these are all real. Even eternal youth and regrowing severed limbs are not fabrications, but a consensus recognized by Jianghu people.

And if we talk about Li Miao, who has been in this martial arts world for over thirty years, how is his Wu Gong cultivation?

Heh—let's put it this way, he has achieved a small, minor success.

Just at the level of being invulnerable to swords and spears, water and fire, eternal youth, and an indestructible body—half a Wu Lin myth, not worth mentioning.

And if you ask why Li Miao can practice Wu Gong to this level.

First is his bone structure. Li Miao's bone structure isn't just good; it's excessively good—to the point where Bodhidharma would shed tears upon hearing of it, and Zhang Sanfeng would be shocked upon seeing it. Relying solely on this bone structure, even if Li Miao just stuck to one internal cultivation method, he wouldn't be bad by now.

Of course, bone structure determines the lower limit; at the level of a supreme expert, what determines the upper limit is often comprehension.

Don't you see Yang Guo, who had only one arm and learned blindly from a big bird that couldn't speak, could still comprehend the Soul-Shattering Palm. And Hero Guo has more divine skills than brain cells, but after using the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms for half his life, no tricks were ever seen.

It can be seen that to reach the master level of founding a sect, comprehension is the decisive factor.

And Li Miao's comprehension? Let's just say average, very average.

To what extent is it average—let's put it this way: suppose there is such a gifted young hero,

This young hero has a disciple in his sect with mediocre talent,

This disciple goes down the mountain and meets a bandit who has turned to robbery,

This bandit has a small leader under him who robs houses,

This small leader has a lackey behind him who waves flags and shouts,

This lackey has a dog at home that can shake hands and sit—Li Miao's comprehension is about the same as this dog.

This is not an insult to Li Miao, but a factual evaluation. His "average" is neither "average among Jianghu people" nor "average among ordinary people."

It is "average among mammals."

Perhaps some will say, isn't comprehension just IQ? Is Li Miao's brain about the same as a dog's?

No, comprehension is not equivalent to IQ, at least not in the Dashuo Jianghu.

So-called comprehension is actually closer to "adaptability." The same person might have strong comprehension for one cultivation method, but be a blockhead for another.

And some martial arts geniuses have high adaptability for almost all martial arts. And Li Miao has shockingly low adaptability for all martial arts.

Because he has to use the thinking of a modern person to understand things that are mysterious and sometimes even violate common sense.

Commonly known as "cognitive barriers."

He can change his concepts, he can change his perception of the world, but it is difficult to shake the thinking patterns that have been deeply rooted after decades of practice.

This shakes the foundation of his understanding of all martial arts.

Fortunately, he is a cheater.

Relying on a golden finger that has no text description, no mission release, and is more like a special constitution than a cheat, Li Miao spent twenty years hard-grinding himself to the level of half a Wu Lin myth.

As for the details of this golden finger, we will talk about them later.

For now, Li Miao walked with a square step, eating while walking, wandering around while eating. He ground the sun to the very middle before arriving at the Commandery office.

It was almost time for a break, and the street in front of the Commandery office was empty; clearly, few people were willing to pass in front of the experts who raided houses and exterminated sects. The two Embroidered Uniform Guards on duty at the door were happy to be quiet, and were squinting their eyes to rest.

Seeing Li Miao in casual clothes from afar, chewing something, looking like a loafer, swaying and about to walk into the Commandery office, a young Embroidered Uniform Guard was about to step forward to shout and question him.

Before he could open his mouth, the older one beside him took a big step, running to Li Miao's side like flying, nodding and bowing:

"You've come, Battalion Commander. You worked hard last night. The Commander said, let us tell you as soon as we see you, hurry over to see him."

Li Miao was still chewing something and couldn't open his mouth to speak. He pulled a string of candies from the small bag in his hand, patted it into the older Embroidered Uniform Guard's hand, patted his shoulder like coaxing a child, and entered the office.

By the time Li Miao was out of sight, the young Embroidered Uniform Guard asked: "Brother, which Battalion Commander is that? Why did he come at this hour, and still wearing casual clothes?"

Although there are levels within the Embroidered Uniform Guard, there are also differences in affiliation. Generally, only direct superiors are addressed by their title without their surname. Just like only your direct Battalion Commander is called "Battalion Commander," while others are Battalion Commander Wang, Battalion Commander Zhang.

But just now, the older Embroidered Uniform Guard clearly called him Battalion Commander directly, without adding any surname.

And the internal family law of the Embroidered Uniform Guard is strict, even the two Vice Commanders are meticulous and lead by example. Where did this loafer-like Battalion Commander pop out from, coming to work at noon?

The older Embroidered Uniform Guard took a piece of paper from his bosom, carefully wrapped the string of candies Li Miao had patted into his hand, and then said.

"Remember this master's face. In the future, just call him Battalion Commander when you see him. Do whatever he tells you to do, and pretend you didn't see whatever he does. Remember that?"

"He is our entire Embroidered Uniform Guard's most senior, most well-connected, most wild-method, and most holiday-taking Battalion Commander Li Miao!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 6 =====