Time flowed on, unhurried.
Yang Ge’s days were once again filled with the trivial matters of life.
During the day, he ran between the Yuelai Inn and Iron Fist Martial Arts School.
Shopkeeper Liu talked constantly of retiring, but in the end, he couldn’t let go of the inn’s business and arrived punctually every day to work at the inn. Yang Ge, nominally on the shopkeeper’s payroll, still did the work of an assistant.
Yang Ge thought this was quite good; many old men spent their lifetimes busy without illness or weakness, their spirits high. Yet, once they stopped working, within two or three years, they declined rapidly.
Keeping the old shopkeeper busy might even help him hold on for a few more years.
Of course, he was also happy to have some leisure time...
After Liu Mang married, he indeed became much steadier.
Following Yang Ge’s advice, he didn’t hang up a sign at first, and instead recruited a group of apprentices at a low price. Day by day, he led the apprentices in martial arts training as well as community work in Luting County, such as building bridges, paving roads, and providing relief to the poor.
Only when the residents of Luting County gradually became accustomed to their presence did he hang up the "Iron Fist Martial Arts School" sign quietly, without even setting off a string of firecrackers.
Nonetheless, even with such measures, after the martial arts school put up its sign, it still faced several groups of itinerant martial artists coming to challenge the school.
Considering these people had no real malice, Yang Ge let Liu Mang step forward to meet the challenges; regardless of win or loss, he gave them some travel expenses, creating a good rapport.
Over time, Iron Fist Martial Arts School slowly built a reputation in Luting County. Liu Mang even earned the nickname ’Little Mengchang’, and from time to time, travelers among the martial community would come to seek his acquaintance and exchange pointers...
Come nightfall, Yang Ge didn’t rest either.
The blood case at the county office had left him in a gloomy mood for a long time. Afterwards, he reflected deeply and began to put a great deal of effort into disciplining his underlings, the strongmen.
Focusing on surveillance and tailing.
Under the guise of mutual study and progress, he organized midnight training sessions.
Each night, he would tap on the blackboard and break down the characteristics and traits of various trades’ practitioners, slowly imparting this knowledge to the group of fighters skilled only in combat.
How to disguise yourself as a pancake seller?
First, you need a pancake carryall, right? Then, your clothes should smell a bit like the smoke from burning firewood, no? Moreover, isn’t it necessary to have flour marks on your garments?
Going a step further, when you see people, shouldn’t you wear a bit of a smile? When customers buy pancakes, shouldn’t you stoop slightly? Shouldn’t your pancake wrapping technique be adept? And when giving pancakes to customers, should you not use both hands?
Read lat𝙚st chapters at fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓ Only.
Focusing on infiltration and reconnaissance.
He drew diagram after diagram analyzing human relationships, slowly analyzing from a human nature perspective. For different targets, what kind of identity was most suitable for approaching, least likely to arouse the target’s suspicion.
Want to get close to a young lady from a wealthy family?
Indeed, it is difficult to contrive a temporary identity to approach a lady who never steps out of her home.
But, could you consider another angle, starting with the people around her? Does she have maidservants? Are her maidservants married? Could a honey trap work?
What, the maidservant is also always by the lady’s side and hard to approach? Then, could you approach the maidservant’s parents? You could buy some gifts to their home, chop wood for them or carry water for a few days. Whether they look up to you or not, most likely they would sneak out to meet you.
Focusing on direct assault using force.
He divided his fifty-strong force of deputies into groups of three, adhering to the training principle of "training to the brink, but not unto death," working strenuously with these forces which already had decent combat skills.
The strong, but slow-reacting ones were assigned to shield and hammer.
The fearless and stable ones were assigned to swords.
Those quick and accurate were assigned to bows and crossbows.
In groups of three, one would draw fire and control the field, another would lead the attack and be the main damage dealer, while a third would provide long-range support and additional damage output.
Once the three-person groups were stable, they moved on to refining how to coordinate during field battles, alley fights, and night raids, as well as how to fight when outnumbering or being outnumbered by the enemy.
Moving to more advanced levels, in large-scale group combat, how to regroup into larger formations, when to charge aggressively, and when to stabilize and wait for reinforcements...
All the learning and practice wasn’t merely theoretical.
When researching pancake selling, Yang Ge would truly send people out with carryalls and fires, to sell pancakes in the streets. If they failed to sell them, they’d all look for the reason why, until they could sell out.
While researching how to approach the misses of reputable families, Yang Ge really picked out a miss from a reputable family in Luting County, sending someone to implement the "handsome man strategy," until he had gathered all her interests and hobbies.
When studying how to forcefully attack with martial prowess, he would personally mount up, using his significantly higher martial strength that surpassed the strongmen by an entire realm, allowing them to experience firsthand the pressure of facing a superior opponent.
Under his relentless urging, everyone was making progress.
When the strongmen went out again, gradually there were no longer any passersby instinctively avoiding them.
Even when they went to the Bian River to tow boats, there were finally cargo owners who dared to loudly order them to transport goods.
And when employing the "handsome man strategy," they now truly exhibited a bit of the innocent, honest, and down-to-earth allure of a good family’s son.
During sparring and practice sessions, when Yang Ge wasn’t using lethal moves, he gradually couldn’t break through the combined attack and restraint of two teams...
As for Yang Ge’s own progress, that was naturally even greater!
His body’s hundred meridians were unblocked, his channels both resilient and wide, and when he circulated his current level of Inner Qi, it was as easy as flicking his fingers to catch snails, with absolutely no need to focus and calm his energy to control his Inner Qi flow like other Inner Qi martial artists.
In other words, as long as he wished, whether he was running errands in the inn or knocking on the blackboard in the Drum and Bell Alley base of Embroidered Uniform Guards, he could maintain the Grand Circulation of Inner Qi running throughout his body without any fear of misdirecting his energy...
And he truly believed Shen Fa’s words, not trying to bite off more than he could chew all at once, but earnestly refining his Inner Qi and personally feeling every inch of progress in his own Inner Qi.
However, compared to the daily growth of his martial power, what truly soared by leaps and bounds was his strategy in battle!
They say that real combat is the best teacher, and this saying is absolutely true.
When he practiced alone behind closed doors, he would often imagine, if the enemy attacked from this or that direction, how he would respond.
But such suppositions naturally come with solutions, and no matter how rich his imagination was, he couldn’t possibly conjure up every lethal move thought up by ten people in the jianghu.
Moreover, during real combat, the opponent’s moves are often not as straightforward and honorable as he imagined... As long as the forest is big enough, all sorts of tricks like thumbing eyes, kneeing groins, throwing lime powder, and using poisoned weapons could come into play!
Didn’t he get bitten on the small of his back last time?
That time was only because the assailant wore a skintight night outfit with nowhere to carry a second weapon, and his dagger was knocked away by the table... Otherwise, his two large kidneys would have suffered terrible misfortune that day.
And this deadly weakness was finally beginning to be amended through the continuous drills with his subordinates, day after day.
Advance with shields, stabbing with knives, and arrows shot from afar aiming at the buttocks.
Waist-hugging bear-hugs tripping with groin kicks, bear’s heart gouging and monkey’s peach stealing.
Tripping horses with ropes and casting iron nets, with quicklime paired with knockout drugs...
Under Yang Ge’s relentless sparring, those scoundrels threw all sorts of dirt to beat him just once, coming at him with relentless pursuit and petty tricks.
If Yang Ge’s concentration slackened for even just a second, he’d be hit viciously several times over!
Several times, on his return from Drum and Bell Alley, he would stride out of the main gate with swagger only to end up hopping home, clutching his crotch and buttocks, thundering with rage.
This high-intensity, fast-paced practice of facing multiple opponents was perfect for someone like Yang Ge, who had the level of martial arts but lacked operational awareness—he was like an "empty shell heavy-weight."
It was akin to putting an intern who was used to gentle driving directly into a racing god GTR on an unrestricted speed highway.
Never mind learning how much driving technique.
First, weld the accelerator to feel the thrill of top speed!
And once an intern gets used to driving over two hundred fifty miles per hour, even if his driving skills are still flawed, driving a normal family car will feel incredibly easy!
At the very least, when confronted with a one-against-three situation again, he would never again lack confidence to say, "Escaping is also one of Yang’s specialties…"
In the meantime…
Shen Fa had disappeared without a trace, not showing his face in Luting County again.
But the intelligence sent to Yang Ge from the capital had never stopped coming.
On the sixth day of the ninth month, jianghu bandits bravely stormed the sky prison, with one hundred and seven captured, thirty-six orders issued for their arrest, known in the jianghu as the Thirty-six Celestial Deva Righteous Warriors.
On the ninth day of the ninth month, the entire family of Marquis Zhaowu from the Xie clan, totaling one hundred eighty-six members, was executed outside Zhuque Gate, and their blood stained the Luo River.
On the eighteenth of the ninth month, there was a major change of guard among the forbidden troops of the three yamen in the capital region...