Chapter 53: Commanding and Controlling

Chaiyu Fang, southeast, a two-courtyard small residence.

The sky was not yet fully dark, yet several rooms were already brightly lit with lamps; in the courtyard, Niu Gui swung a hammer wildly, his bare upper body drenched in sweat, both arms crimson.

"Are you a stupid pig? How many times have I, Laozi, told you: power rises from the ground, feet must be heavy, body like a nimble ape, physique must be relaxed!"

"So slow, can you even hit anyone?!"

"Change, change! Ape-form transformation, what the hell are you hitting?!"

Before the house, Qin Xiong kept shouting angrily, the whip in his hand occasionally cracking through the air with a 'pa-pa' sound.

"Useless!"

He slammed the whip hard onto the ground, then brushed his sleeve and returned to the room. Inside, a woman with a graceful figure came forward, massaging his shoulders and speaking softly:

"Master, please do not upset yourself over this good-for-nothing."

"Stupid as a pig!"

Qin Xiong's anger had not yet subsided; he did not even want to touch the meat and wine on the table.

"Please, do not be angry!"

The woman spoke gently.

"The Divine Weapon Valley!"

Qin Xiong closed his eyes slightly, enjoying the woman's service, his emotions churning within.

The Divine Weapon Valley is the true overlord of the Panlong Prefecture; whether the prefectural government office or other sects and factions, all look to it for direction.

For ordinary people wishing to enter the Divine Weapon Valley, there are only three paths.

First, be under twelve years old, possess superior bone structure, and pay three hundred taels of silver.

Second, a famous martial artist may be invited to become a guest advisor.

He satisfied neither of these two, so only the third path remained.

Whenever a disciple within the sect has a relative who has cultivated internal strength, that relative may be recommended to join the army, entering the elite 'Divine Guard Army' of the Divine Weapon Valley.

"Jia Liu and Huang Ping just delivered the silver for these past few months; since over thirty accounts remain uncollected, they brought less than one hundred taels, far less than when Qian Bao was here..."

"Less than one hundred taels?"

Qin Xiong opened his eyes, his face darkening; the woman could not help but shiver.

"Less than one hundred taels!"

Qin Xiong's cheek twitched; his inner rage was barely contained.

He had risen from the son of a long-term laborer, a frail sickly boy, to where he is now; along the way, he even abandoned the Bai Yuan Hammer to cultivate the Tiger Roar Blade, not only because of his superior bone structure, but also because he supported ruffians like Qian Bao and Jia Liu.

That was his reliance for 'cultivating internal strength', the foundation and provisions for advancing to body tempering!

"Sister, brother-in-law..."

At this moment, Niu Gui in the courtyard panted heavily, covered in sweat, feeling his arms so sore he could barely lift the hammer; he called out timidly:

"L-Liu Qing is here."

Qin Xiong did not even look at him: "Let him in, you continue training!"

"Q-Qin Master!"

A short while later, Liu Qing, his face full of awe, walked cautiously to the courtyard entrance; his peripheral vision swept over the table laden with meat and wine, and he could not help but swallow his saliva.

"Speak."

Qin Xiong did not turn around, drinking and eating on his own; a martial artist's appetite is huge, and his appetite is far greater than that of an ordinary martial artist.

"L-Li Yuan, except for that trip to Faqiu Mountain, almost never leaves the shop; he is always forging iron, practicing martial arts, reading books..."

Liu Qing spoke with his head bowed, daring not to conceal even a shred.

"Renting the courtyard, four taels; buying meat, wine, rice, grain, clothing, etc., for home, another six or seven taels.

Daily medicinal supplements, five taels for four months; a medicinal bath every ten days, eight taels for four months; at Sijicaotang, he spent over forty taels on Zeng Xue Dan..."

"That fat Sun, is he really that generous?"

Qin Xiong put down his bowl and chopsticks, muttering to himself.

"Other miscellaneous expenses must be another two or three taels! He, he even bought two sets of clothes..."

Liu Qing added, both envious and jealous.

These taels of silver, he could never save in a lifetime.

"Hmm..."

Qin Xiong pondered briefly, waved his hand to dismiss Liu Qing, stood up and paced, his heart growing slightly cold, filled with both anger and rage:

"Is he using my silver to become formidable?"

"Huff!"

Soaking entirely in the medicinal liquid, Li Yuan muttered to himself:

"I still need to move out and live alone."

After early spring, even the wealthy families in the inner city would not be so extravagant as to bathe once every ten days; in most households in the outer city, wiping the body with hot water was the most they did; going a whole year without bathing more than a few times was normal.

Li Lin, who was boiling the water, felt quite pained; the firewood burned this time would take him three or four days to gather; if it were him, he could never bring himself to do it.

"Wind Tiger Pestle, Azure Water Blade, Black Silver Armor... so many good things!"

Li Yuan was still thinking about the inner treasury, feeling the discomfort of entering a treasure mountain and returning empty-handed; he could only comfort himself that the General's Command Talisman had not yet promoted, so he could not use so much even if he had it.

"Huff!"

Soaking entirely in the medicinal liquid, Li Yuan half-closed his eyes, sensing the General's Command Talisman.

After the General's Command Talisman promoted to the second tier, the cooldown for changing the commanded object is only one day; at this moment, within the 'Star Sky', two stars emitted a faint glow.

They were the Three-Origin Blade and Scythe and the Grand Artisan's Hammer.

"I don't know the Blade and Scythe Art; a Master-level Saw-Horse Blade and Scythe Art is useless, but mastering this long weapon would be a pity..."

Li Yuan felt a bit of regret, but he didn't hesitate, quickly made his choice, and lifted the Green-Gold Hammer on the gray stone platform:

"Command!"

Boom!

Li Yuan's vision went black; it seemed as if a heavy hammer had cracked his skull, and intense pain instantly spread through his entire body, as if a thousand steel needles had pierced his flesh in one strike.

Even though he had prepared himself, he still let out a muffled groan of pain, pressed against the bath tub to stand up, and prepared to lie down on the bed.

Who would have thought...

Crack!

With just a light press, the solid-wood bath tub split like paper; the medicinal liquid 'splash'ed all over the floor, soaking the wooden planks.

"This?!"

His hands pressed on nothing; Li Yuan almost sat on the floor, but luckily his waist and abdomen were strong enough to straighten him up. Now looking at his own hands, his eyes were full of disbelief.

His strength had instantly surged, so much so that he didn't notice at first and had broken the bath tub; now both his hands were full of wood splinters, and his arms still stung with a burning pain.

【Thousand-Jin Strength: Those without superior bone structure or extraordinary talent cannot use the hammer; those who use the hammer year after year reach a strength of a thousand jin.】

"Truly, Thousand-Jin Strength?!"

His blood qi surged, shaking off the wood splinters that hadn't pierced his skin; Li Yuan's face was full of delight.

【Heavy Force】, 【Armor-Breaking and Horizontal Cultivation】, and 【Thousand-Jin Strength】; among these three Command effects of the Green-Gold Hammer, he had originally expected 'Armor-Breaking' the most, but he hadn't expected the Thousand-Jin Strength to be so immediately effective.

He had thought it required using the hammer year after year...

"This strength seems to be generated out of thin air; it can stack with my own strength, but my tendons and bones aren't that strong, so my muscles are strained..."

Bending and extending his five fingers, feeling the surging power, Li Yuan even felt as if he had broken through again, his heart deeply shocked.

Except for those with superior bone structure like Qin Xiong, ordinary martial artists only possess Thousand-Jin Strength after breaking through to Internal Force!

"Third Brother, what are you doing? Water is flowing everywhere!"

From downstairs, Li Lin's exclamation came.

"N-no, it's nothing, this bath tub broke!"

Li Yuan snapped out of his daze, hurriedly put on his pants and clothes, and under the glare of his Second Brother who was rushing upstairs, they cleaned up the bath tub that was broken beyond recognition together.

It took quite a while before they finished.

Li Yuan couldn't wait to return to his room, closed his eyes, and felt the changes in his own body and the new Command effects.

【Heavy Force: Those who use the hammer year after year have heavy fists and feet; every movement carries heavy force.】

【Armor-Breaking and Horizontal Cultivation: The flesh cannot withstand armor; a heavy hammer breaks armor and also breaks Horizontal Cultivation.】

Blood Qi Mastery, a Perfect-level Hammer Art, a Grand Perfect-level Forging Art, Thousand-Jin Strength, Heavy Force, and it also possesses Armor-Breaking!

One word,

Fierce!

(End of this chapter)