My Cultivation Starting from Archery

"Mr. Chen, this is the place," said Li Qianzong as he stopped in front of a grand residence. "General Fang has prepared the house in advance and even arranged for two maids. If that's not enough, you can buy two more yourself."

"It would be best to purchase the children from poor families through a broker, better than seeing them sold into brothels, wouldn't you agree?"

"There's something else I need to make clear beforehand: People from the Governor Mansion must not randomly kill or harm their servants for entertainment."

"Of course, this is only if they haven't made any mistakes. If they do something wrong, they still have to be punished."

"Alright."

"I've said everything that needs to be said. Now, Mr. Chen, you can settle in here and wait for the notification from the Selected Point.

"Hmm, you might also get some visitors since those who can participate in the Selected Point are all outstanding and talented youths from various places. In the future, who knows, you might be a General. Mr. Chen, you'll handle it accordingly."

"I appreciate it, Li Qianzong. I'll treat you to a drink another day," said Chen Sansi as he clasped his fist in farewell.

Li Qianzong had been quite thorough in his explanations, despite the task being a challenging one.

"We're at the new home now," Chen Sansi finally had time to look at the residence.

What a grand home, with three courtyards and three entryways.

In Po Yang County, only the county magistrate and a few wealthy families could afford such a residence.

And truthfully, he didn't even need such a large house. Fortunately, it came with two maids, or else Sister Lan would've been worked to death just keeping it clean.

"We greet the master and the mistress," said two maidens, still at the tender age of puberty, as they came forward to welcome and bowed in respect.

Chen Sansi waved his hand dismissively, "Mm, you two can go now. I'll call on you if I need something."

"Master..."

The two maids exchanged a glance and timidly spoke, "You haven't given us our names yet."

"Names?"

It was then that Chen Sansi remembered that after selling themselves into servitude, they no longer owned their names.

He really wasn't good at naming: "Sister Lan, I'll leave it to you."

"Alright, I'll do it."

Gu Xinlan took the hands of the two maids, gently inquired about their family backgrounds, ages, and talents, and finally named one Si Qin and the other Mo Hua.

Both had been sold by their parents from a young age, specifically trained to be sold to wealthy households as maids, and they came at a steep price.

"It seems I don't have any silver to provide for the household!"

It suddenly dawned on Chen Sansi.

He had fought in battles for two months, without a single coin of silver on him.

Luckily, he held the rank of a Sixth-rank Captain and additionally a Medal from the rank of fifth-rank cavalier, both of which came with stipends. He just wasn't sure where to collect it and would have to ask around later.

"Master!"

Mo Hua rushed over, looking somewhat panicked, "There is an eunuch outside who says you're needed to receive an imperial decree, and there are a lot of people."

"An imperial decree?"

A surge of unpleasant memories flashed through Chen Sansi's mind.

But he had no grudges with the Emperor, so there was nothing to fear, and most likely, it was some kind of reward.

Even if there was some bad news, he had to receive the decree; what choice did he have when his power was so weak?

"Let's go," said Chen Sansi as he walked out the door.

He saw before the entrance to the residence, there were no less than a dozen carriages lined up — such a grand spectacle attracted hundreds of onlookers.

At the front was a eunuch dressed in an exquisite python robe, with a jade belt at his waist, his face pale as paper, his expression somber and his breath steady and long. By his demeanor, he seemed to be trained in the martial arts as well.

With a sharp and somewhat piercing voice, the eunuch proclaimed, "The imperial decree has arrived, Captain Chengxin Chen Sansi, receive the decree!"

"Your servant hears and obeys!"

Chen Sansi and his family knelt down.

As usual, when one's strength is lacking, one must bow their heads, or else it's as good as courting death.

"By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Captain Chengxin Chen Sansi, who has led the people across the Hongze River Shore, has moved both Heaven and Earth. Having heard of it, I am moved to tears. To have such a courageous and benevolent General is indeed my great fortune, as well as the fortune of the Great Sheng Dynasty. Hence, you are promoted to the General of Martial Virtue of the fifth rank and exceptionally appointed as the Standard Third-rank Cavalry Commander in an honorary capacity, bestowed with a thousand taels of gold, fifty thousand taels of silver, a thousand rolls of silk, thirty Refining Organ Treasure Medicine, and a pot of Imperial Wine. Take heed of this decree!"

"Your servant receives the decree and gratefully thanks the Heavenly Grace, long live the Emperor, long, long live the Emperor!"

Chen Sansi had no choice but to express his gratitude with perfect propriety, bowing deeply in thanks.

"Who is this person?"

"The new neighbor."

"Leading the people to cross the river?"

"I've heard of this incident. It seems that during Yunzhou's ten-day crisis, a commander from a small county led tens of thousands of people in an escape. To help the people cross the river, he and his subordinates nearly lost their lives."

"There's actually an official willing to go to such lengths for the common people?"

"The Emperor is indeed a sagacious and enlightened ruler!"

"Exactly, otherwise he wouldn't have bestowed so much. With the gold, the silver, and a thousand rolls of silk, that's enough for many people's lifetimes of food and clothing combined."

"So young and already awarded a third-rank medal; he's eligible to attend court and see the Emperor."

"This man is sure to be a great leader one day!"

"..."

The onlookers discussed among themselves.

'Damn it, that old Emperor sure knows how to take advantage of my situation!' cursed Chen Sansi internally.

The old Emperor conspired with the enemy and betrayed the country, causing nearly a million civilians to be slaughtered in Yunzhou over ten days. Now, by giving him this reward, he's trying to garner a good reputation, the epitome of shamelessness.

The gifts are too few!

Give more, much more!

Otherwise, it doesn't make up for this kneel.

"Mr. Chen, aren't you inviting me inside to sit?" inquired the Chief Eunuch from above.

Chen Sansi stood up: "Please come in, Eunuch. Mo Hua, go make some tea."

"Master, we don't have tea…" Mo Hua, who had never seen such a scene, was terrified on her first day 'at work' facing an imperial decree, with talk of thousands in gold and tens of thousands in silver. It was too frightening, making her shiver all over.

"Eunuch, I have just moved in, and the house is honestly quite empty."

Chen Sansi explained, "It may be an imposition to ask you to drink plain water."

"Master, we don't have plain water either…" Si Qin timidly added, "We haven't even bought firewood or tea sets for the house yet..."

"Forget it then, I won't go inside. Let's talk here," the Great Eunuch stopped in front of the main hall and sighed, "My surname is Hou, and I'm the supervisor of the military in the Northwest Three States, overseeing all military affairs. You can simply call me Elder Hou."

Chen Sansi inquired, "Is there anything Elder Hou needs?"

Supervisor.

The supervisor was naturally Sun Xiangzong; it must be that this person also holds a high position in the palace.

"You were just granted the fifth-rank title of Flying Cavalry Commander, and now so soon you've been further awarded the third-rank title of Light Chariot Commander, far exceeding the medal you should have for your refining organs cultivation."

Mr. Hou emphasized with a drag, "Mr. Chen, do you understand the implication of this?"

"The heavenly grace of His Majesty, this general will surely hold firmly in his heart, and will not forget it for a moment!"

Chen Sansi said word by word, "Not forget it for a moment!"

"Good, you are indeed clever!"

Mr. Hou waved his hand, signaling his subordinate eunuchs to bring up the imperial wine, "Mr. Chen, do not let down the holy intent."

[Green Blood Poison Dew Antidote]

Chen Sansi picked up the imperial wine and drank it all in one gulp.

Constant poisoning was no solution.

Because over time, the poison would certainly flare up, and it wouldn't do to have slow-acting poison, periodically bestowing some food and drink as gifts. Even a fool would find it odd, and it would only increase the distance between monarch and subject.

Better to give the antidote and then bestow great rewards, which could win people's hearts.

If it weren't for Chen Sansi's prior knowledge of the poison through [Recognize Medicine], and the serendipitous understanding of Yunzhou's inside story, he might have really thought this was a benevolent and wise monarch, and hence felt grateful and esteemed.

The means of an emperor to rule over his subjects!

"Good."

Mr. Hou watched him drink the wine and smiled, "Mr. Chen, you will next stay at the Governor Mansion's Selected Point, so..."

"Rest assured, Mr. Hou."

Chen Sansi replied promptly, "As a servant, no matter where I am, I will always remember that I am a subject of the Great Sheng Dynasty, a subject of His Majesty."

"You are a smart one, I like you! Alright, since there's no tea or refreshments, I will take my leave now."

Mr. Hou left, satisfied.

The others helped move things into the Chen Mansion and then dared to depart.

As the gates were closed,

Chen Sansi immediately took out the refining organ treasure medicine and began to practice.

Thousands of gold and silver coins, plus a thousand rolls of silk, would indeed suffice for some time.

But what was really valuable was the treasure medicine!

After reaching above the refining organs stage, the required medicines could basically no longer be gauged by money.

The truly precious ingredients were invaluable; after all, they demanded extremely harsh requirements for age and growth environment, which is why even Po Yang County was at its resource limit when it came to refining organs.

Even in the Eight Camps, treasure medicines were not available to just anyone who wished for them.

Because the Eight Camps were constantly relocating, they had no fixed assets of their own, and military supplies also required court allocated funds and local support to maintain.

"Fortunately, I won't be lacking for the time being."

After Chen Sansi verified that the treasure medicine was fine, he swallowed it, and under the powerful force of the medicine, he practiced his spear technique.

Thirty pieces of treasure medicine, enough to support him until Hua Jin!

The combined value, how could it be just thousands of gold?

[Cultivation Technique: Unity Spear Technique (Mastered)]

[Progress: 288/1000]

With the addition of Spiritual Grain, the efficiency of skill improvement was astonishing!

Logically, after entering the Refining Internal Organs stage, the speed of cultivation progress was bound to slow down.

But he was confident that, within one month, he could break through to refining organs small achievement.

Chen Sansi had originally planned to enter seclusion.

But the very next day, his residence became bustling.

Invitations, from scholars, aristocratic families, sects, to officials big and small, a massive amount of invitations were sent to Chen Mansion. Suddenly, the doorstep was as busy as a marketplace, with an endless stream of visitors coming and going.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

With such a grand display of imperial reward, even though it wasn't in the Capital City, it indicated a promising future. It was normal that people wanted to make connections.

Chen Sansi did not refuse them.

The resources needed for future practice would increase, and one couldn't guarantee when they might be needed from a family.

It was just that for the time being, he really couldn't accommodate them all.

"Shanshi!"

That afternoon, after Chen Sansi had eaten and was practicing spear in the courtyard,

Sun Buqi knocked on his door, "Come on, I'm here on their behalf to invite you to the banquet, the Selected Point's banquet, you must go."

"Selected Point's banquet?"

Chen Sansi took the opportunity to ask, "By the way, could you tell me about the specific processes involved with Selected Point?"

Soon, with Sun Buqi's explanation, he roughly understood the process.

Selected Point was divided into two main categories: Reserve Military Officer and Reserve Generals.

Those who participated in Selected Point were subject to age restrictions.

Within the age limit, anyone above refining organs cultivation could participate in the Reserve Generals' selection.

Additionally, each Selected Point would accept eight Inner Sect Disciples, but there was only one True Inheritor!

There were five parts to the assessment.

One, formation setting.

Two, formation breaking.

Three, battle deployment, that is real combat.

Four, martial arts competition.

Five, root bone, to judge the upper limit and then decide how many resources to allocate based on that limit.

The series of assessments was basically equivalent to another martial arts examination process.

The difference was that after passing the assessment, one would directly stay in the Eight Camps and be taught martial arts by Sun Xiangzong.

"Shanshi, this year is the toughest one."

Sun Buqi sighed, "Last time, the ones you saw like Yin Hanwen, Cao Fan, and even Elder Yan's grandson are here, along with the Young Sect Master from the Sky-reaching Sword Sect in Liangzhou, disciples from the Moon Splitting Mountain Villa, and so on...

"Most of them have reached Refining Internal Organs Perfection!

"And because everyone arrived particularly early this year, the Selected Point will officially start in ten days!

"Shanshi, you've just mastered your refining organs skill, haven't you?

"These opponents are not like the previous ones. Each and every one of them has a special physique. Anywhere in the Jianghu, they could be undefeated at the same stage. It won't be easy for you to win against them across cultivation levels."

To Chen Sansi,

All these could wait till later.

What mattered to him was that there was only one True Inheritor!

Not only was he the last batch of Selected Point disciples, but also the last True Inheritor. Needless to say, what that implied.

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Immortal Law.

Only by becoming the only true inheritor would there possibly be a chance to touch upon the ways to break through above Martial Saint!