Chapter 218: Chapter 131: Thoughts Reach Far and Wide
「Two days later.」
The twenty-second day of the twelfth month, in the year 1058 of the Great Yu Calendar.
Late winter, Renzi day. The Jade Hall was ascendant. Greatly auspicious, with no taboos. A perfect day for a wedding.
Bailu Avenue, the main hall of the Chen Family’s front courtyard.
Chen Cheng sat in a grand chair, looking at the red paper invitation in his hand. He lifted his teacup and took a gentle sip.
Today was the joyous day of Yan Jian’s marriage to a main-line young lady of the Shen Family. Early in the morning, the Yan Family had sent someone to deliver the invitation. The messenger had also passed on a special message from Yan Jian, saying that Chen Cheng must do him the honor of attending and witnessing their happy union.
The wedding was to be held in Red Leaf Lane, which was located in the southwest corner of the Inner City District. It was near the outskirts of the Shen Family’s residential area, and most of its inhabitants were clans subordinate to the Shen Family.
By marrying a main-line young lady of the Shen Family and holding the wedding in the Inner City District, Yan Jian had undoubtedly latched onto a powerful connection, allowing the Yan Family to leap into the ranks of the Inner City Clans subordinate to the Shen Family.
Chen Cheng had always preferred peace and quiet, avoiding noisy occasions like weddings whenever possible. Furthermore, that fellow Yan Jian was not only a sycophant to his superiors and a bully to his subordinates, but also a two-faced hypocrite. Associating with him was simply exhausting.
So, after a cursory glance at the invitation, Chen Cheng casually tossed it aside and paid it no more mind. He would later order a subordinate to send a wedding gift of five taels of silver and be done with it.
Given Chen Cheng’s current status, five taels of silver might seem a bit stingy, but this was a considered decision.
After all, that fellow Yan Jian had just recently backstabbed him by taking in one of his disobedient constables. For Chen Cheng to disregard this past grievance and be willing to give him five taels of silver as a wedding gift was already quite magnanimous.
And this magnanimity was entirely for Shen Qingshuang’s sake. Since they were both people nurtured by Shen Qingshuang, it wouldn’t be appropriate to show no gesture at all.
Otherwise, based on Yan Jian’s reputation alone, Chen Cheng probably wouldn’t have even sent a single copper coin.
Thinking of the marriage alliance, Chen Cheng frowned slightly. Yan Jian was eagerly pursuing an alliance with the Shen Family, while he himself was suffering a major headache over it. Of course, this wasn’t because of Mu Xiaowan.
Some days ago, Chen Cheng had mentioned the Shen Family’s marriage proposal to Mu Xiaowan. Not only did she not object, but she was enthusiastically in favor of it.
Mu Xiaowan’s original words were: "Which great family doesn’t have multiple wives? The Chens’ will be a great family in the future, so of course Brother Cheng will have to marry a few more concubines.
Never mind those huge clans—someone like Mr. Zheng is a good example!"
Chen Cheng couldn’t agree with this point. Mr. Zheng had a full six wives. It might seem blissful, but only he knew how mentally exhausting it was to manage such a large household.
’Anyway, just thinking about it gives me a headache,’ he thought. ’It’s better to keep things simple and quiet. On the family front, having Mu Xiaowan alone is enough. Simple is comfortable and worry-free.’
’As for the marriage alliance with the Shen Family, I’ll delay it for as long as I can. Worst case, I’ll repay the Shen Family’s favor in other ways in the future.’
’For now, the right path is to focus on Cultivating Martial Dao and improving my own Martial Arts Power.’
’Only by becoming strong enough can I grasp the truth!’
Pulling his thoughts back, Chen Cheng took out a Saber Technique Manual and began to study it carefully.
These days, his daily Cultivation only required two hours to comprehend the Great Power Realm. As for the Iron Armor Skill, because his current weights were far from sufficient, Chen Cheng kept the Iron Armor Skill’s Heart Method active at all times and still had plenty of energy, which meant he had more free time.
This time couldn’t be wasted, of course. Chen Cheng chose to cultivate another Saber Technique Skill, planning to develop another Saber Momentum. With two types of Saber Momentum, the deduction progress of his Wind Chasing Saber Technique should advance much faster.
After all, his master, Mr. Zheng, had said that one can never have too many skills. For every additional Momentum from a Skill one masters, one’s understanding of Momentum and Realm would be further enhanced.
This Saber Technique was none other than the "Deer Cutting Saber Technique," which he had looted from the Flying Thief Ren Fei. Although it was only a Mid-level Saber Technique, it was highly compatible with his Wind Chasing Saber Technique and could compensate for the latter’s lack of power.
The Wind Chasing Saber Technique emphasized lightness and speed. The Wind Chasing Saber Stance it produced, when taken to the extreme, could achieve the effect of chasing the wind. If he were to comprehend a Realm from it, it would likely be of the Xun Wind Lineage within the Eight Trigrams Realm.
The Deer Cutting Saber Technique, on the other hand, also emphasized speed but placed greater importance on precision and control of force. The Secret Manual recorded that when the Deer Cutting Saber Technique was cultivated to Perfection, one could strip an adult deer beast down to a skeleton in the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea.
If one developed the Horn-Cutting Saber Stance, it would be even faster; the deer beast could be stripped to bone within dozens of breaths.
If used against an enemy, the Horn-Cutting Saber Stance could easily reduce an opponent to a white skeleton. It was utterly ruthless.
One could imagine the horrifying scene: a Martial Artist who had developed the Horn-Cutting Saber Stance charging into a group of Martial Artists who hadn’t developed any Momentum, and after a frenzied slaughter, leaving behind nothing but a field of white skeletons.
Such power, if it reached the Realm level, would likely combine the ultimate speed of the Xun Wind Realm from the Eight Trigrams Realm, and the sharpness and solidity of Geng Metal from the Five Elements Realm.
Therefore, Chen Cheng was full of anticipation for this Saber Technique.
Another consideration was his panel’s modification function. Once he developed the Horn-Cutting Saber Stance, Chen Cheng could try to fuse it with the Wind Chasing Saber Stance and modify them into a new Cultivation Technique.
He might not even need to modify it much. Over the past two days, just by carefully studying the Deer Cutting Saber Technique, the deduction progress of his Wind Chasing Saber Technique had already improved significantly. The deduction for a superior-grade Wind Chasing Saber Technique seemed to be already absorbing the merits of the Deer Cutting Saber Technique.
Holding the Deer Cutting Saber Technique Secret Manual, Chen Cheng gradually became focused, entering a state of complete immersion.
[Cultivation Progress for Deer Cutting Saber Technique has increased.]
...
Notifications from the panel appeared from time to time.
