After washing up and returning to his quarters, Shen Xiu found that today seemed out of the ordinary.
Unlike previous days when the courtyard would have long since grown quiet, filled only with the chorus of snoring, tonight many people were still awake and excitedly discussing something.
Listening in, Shen Xiu learned that in five days, the martial hall instructors would begin teaching martial arts to the handyman disciples who had completed a full year of service.
To them, this was exhilarating news.
Such treatment had been rare in the past; even when it existed, it was usually in name only.
Shen Xiu had heard that previously, when people joined martial arts halls as handyman disciples, opportunities to learn martial arts were extremely hard to come by.
Doing odd jobs for one or two years was called testing one's character and aptitude, working for three or four years was called testing one's patience, and then, right when it was time to learn martial arts, various excuses would be found to kick them out—a common occurrence across many martial halls.
After all, they never lacked for handyman disciples, and their main source of income had never relied on these people.
However, a few years ago, a certain martial hall in Taixi City had been far too harsh on its handyman disciples, dragging out the promised martial arts instruction year after year.
Unexpectedly, one of the handyman disciples rose up against the adversity. Through some unknown circumstance, he managed to learn the martial hall's martial arts, and in the span of just a single year, his strength advanced by leaps and bounds—jumping from Body Tempering to the Tendon Refining Realm, and then further to the Bone-Cleansing Realm.
Having gained such power, this fierce fellow immediately put to death a fellow disciple who had bullied him, killed a preceptor who had made things difficult for him, and even crippled a personal disciple of the hall master, before making his departure by means unknown.
In one fell swoop, he broke away from the martial hall and threw himself into the embrace of a rival hall.
At the time, this incident caused a massive uproar in Taixi City, directly dragging the martial hall's reputation through the mud.
In the years that followed, that martial hall could never hold its head high in Taixi City again, and naturally met an end where its wealth was exhausted and its members scattered.
Ever since then, as if guided by some mysterious force, the treatment of handyman disciples across the various martial halls in Taixi City quietly and unassumingly improved.
Unprecedented monthly stipends were added, and the promise of annual martial arts instruction was no longer just empty talk.
Jínhóng Martial Hall was even more prominent: after completing a full year of service, handyman disciples were given three techniques to choose from.
Although these were not deeply profound cultivation arts, to these handyman disciples with bleak futures and no other paths, it was undoubtedly like sweet dew from the heavens.
Consequently, whenever many of the handyman disciples learned these techniques, they would more or less silently offer a word of gratitude in their hearts to the fierce fellow surnamed Han.
When a strange rule is established, a far more bizarre story has inevitably occurred behind the scenes.
When he first heard of this deed, Shen Xiu could not help but think of this phrase.
As night approached and deepened, the people in the quarters were still discussing, the atmosphere quite lively.
"There are three martial arts to choose from this time. Which one are you guys picking?"
"Instructor Li’s White Tiger Fist! I’m definitely learning that one. Last month, I saw Senior Brother Lin Yuan use it down by the Lishui River—with a single punch, he sent a fierce water buffalo weighing several hundred catties flying, shattering its liver and innards instantly. That murderous aura was truly ferocious; even from a dozen meters away, I nearly pissed my pants."
"It's just that Instructor Li is rumored to be a bit greedy for money..."
"Senior Brother Lin Yuan is a Second Realm Martial Cultivator in the Tendon Refining Realm; of course a personal disciple of the hall master is different. If I had to choose, I'd pick Instructor Qian’s Vajra Palm. I hear that technique is the most fierce and violent—the young maidens in the west of the city love it the most."
"Ew... that might be fierce on the hands, but down below might be a different story..." someone chimed in with a meaningful tone.
Suddenly, a burst of laughter erupted in the quarters, their words filled with longing for the future.
Their entire world—a supreme technique that could set them on the path of martial arts, potentially making them official disciples no longer bound by trivial chores—was enough to satisfy every imagination they had.
"Shen Xiu, what are you planning to choose that day?" Amidst the discussions, Wang Si’s voice came from the neighboring bed.
Shen Xiu had not joined in their debate, choosing instead to quietly ponder the pros and cons of the three techniques.
Hearing Wang Si’s inquiry from beside him, he simply replied: "The Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Skill."
Upon hearing this, someone laughed. "The Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Skill? Isn't that the one with the slowest progress and the weakest power? If you practice for a few months and still haven't learned it, you won't even be able to beat up an old grandma out on the street."
"Haha, who did you hear that from? You can't even beat an old grandma practicing the Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Skill—just how strong would that old grandma have to be..."
"The grandpa who serves food in the cafeteria. Anyway, pick anything except that one..."
"Well, I'm different. Since none of you are picking it, I'm going to go take a look. Little do you know, the most awesome things are often the most easily overlooked. I heard that if you cultivate it to a profound realm, you can even produce Descending Dragon Vital Energy..."
"Fine, you're awesome, you're awesome..."
...
The moon climbed to the treetop and the night grew thick.
The jesting and banter in the quarters gradually faded. At some point, the sound of the first person falling asleep and breathing heavily rang out, the talking suddenly stopped, and a chorus of rising and falling snores began to fill the room.
In the darkness, Shen Xiu, lying on his bed, opened his eyes, his gaze bright and sharp.
He had taken his roommates' conversation to heart, his mind swirling with thoughts.
It was true that Jínhóng Martial Hall had begun punctually teaching multiple techniques after a full year starting three years ago.
However, facing these handyman disciples with ordinary aptitude who were only treated as laborers, the hall naturally held something back and would not teach anything too refined.
Some techniques, when learned, might seem fierce, violent, and unrivaled in power, but for handyman disciples like them who lacked the means for nutritional supplements, it was not necessarily a good thing.
As the saying goes, "scholars are poor, warriors are rich." Cultivation is inherently high-intensity training, and those relatively fierce external-refining techniques obviously required enough physical strength and blood-qi consumption.
As handyman disciples working from dawn till dusk, all their blood-qi was spent on manual labor, and without the ability to afford nutritional supplements, where would they find the stamina to practice such things?
If they chose those techniques, not only would they be difficult to master, but they might also end up living beyond their means, resulting in a mess of injuries and illnesses.
The Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Skill, on the other hand, was more inclined toward tempering the physique and training the spirit, resulting in fewer injuries.
Shen Xiu chose this one partly for these considerations, but more so because he had heard that this technique could subsequently generate a unique Descending Dragon Vital Energy.
...
Early the next morning, after the other disciples had left, Shen Xiu took out the earthen jar and released the golden cicada from his lower abdomen Dantian.
Catching the scent of the medicinal dregs, the cicada grew somewhat excited. It flew around in a circle before immediately diving into the jar to feast heartily.
As the medicinal dregs were swallowed, its satiety level predictably reached one hundred percent full.
Simultaneously, the golden cicada inside the jar suddenly stopped moving. Golden light radiated from its back, growing brighter and brighter until it spread across its entire body, tightly wrapping around it so that its interior could no longer be seen.
Feeling the cicada's excited and jubilant emotions, Shen Xiu watched as it transformed into a stream of light, flew back into his abdomen, and remained quietly suspended in his Dantian, unmoving.
He sensed wisps of golden silk unspooling step by step across the cicada's body, wrapping its entire form into a glowing, radiant shell.
Shen Xiu knew well that this was the golden cicada's first metamorphosis. What kind of scenery would await him after the metamorphosis, and what sort of innate talent it would grant him, left his heart surging with excitement.
Fortunately, he did not have to wait too long.
Two days later, at noon during the break, he saw that the golden cicada in his lower abdomen Dantian—now entirely transformed into a golden cicada shape—had suddenly begun to stir.
Amidst its movements, a crack suddenly appeared on the cicada's forehead. As time passed, the crack grew wider, eventually splitting into two halves, and finally, the complete golden cicada shed its shell and emerged.
The previously crystal-clear golden cicada had now turned a jade-white, suffused with a hazy, extraordinary luster, and its size was also a fraction larger than before.
A stream of information naturally flowed into his mind, grasped by his consciousness:
【Host: Shen Xiu】
【Cultivation: None】
【Talent: Heaven Rewards Diligence】
【Technique: None】
【Clone:】
【Nine-Transformation Golden Cicada (First Transformation, Satiety: 0.0%)】