The fourth-rank martial master was so angry that he was blowing his beard and glaring, wanting to scold them, but after glancing at the sky, he fell silent. The clan’s requirement for its juniors was to train for at least one hour every day; beyond that, there were no strict rules. However, most people wished they could spend all their time on martial arts training. People like Olivia Smith were extremely rare. But since that little fellow insisted on doing so, he really had no grounds to rebuke him. Was he supposed to lecture him with the old saying, “If you don’t work hard when you’re young, you’ll regret it when you’re old”? That kid had no future in martial arts anyway—he’d long since given up on pursuing it, so forcing him was pointless. It was just a pity about William Parker, such a promising talent—

“Little young master, the madam said this morning that we’re not allowed to go back until noon!” William Parker hurried over to Olivia Smith’s side, grinning foolishly. Judging by his expression, he’d already completely forgotten about the eagle meat incident.

“What? You want to go back and practice some more?”

Though he asked this, Olivia Smith felt a twinge of jealousy inside. After practicing with a sword that was ten times lighter for three hours, he already felt exhausted. Yet this guy had been swinging an axe all morning without stopping and was still full of energy. People really are different from one another.

“Yeah! I still haven’t figured out the sixth form; something feels off.”

William Parker scratched his head, then hesitated. “And the seventh form, ‘Fury Pierces the Netherworld’—when transitioning to the third and fourth forms, there seems to be a problem. I want to ask that old gentleman about it again, and practice the third form a bit more.”

Olivia Smith was speechless for a moment, wondering whether this fool really hadn’t noticed the emotion in his tone, or was just pretending not to hear.

After two months together, he already knew that this servant was by no means as straightforward as he appeared.

In fact, back when he’d just regained consciousness, he’d seen this guy peeping lecherously at a maid bathing. When caught, he immediately put on a simple, honest expression, and without saying a word, managed to pin the blame on a nearby male servant. No matter how much the latter tried to explain, it was useless; instead, people thought he was deliberately slandering an honest person. Even his ‘mother’ was utterly convinced of William Parker’s ‘innocence.’

Still, William Parker was fundamentally kind-hearted. When The Smith-Bolton Family wanted to throw the man out of the house, he straightforwardly stepped forward and confessed. But even then, he downplayed his own role, successfully playing the part of a naive, honest boy who was just a little curious about women. Afterwards, both The Smith-Bolton Family and the peeped-upon maid not only generously forgave him, but even praised William Parker for being truly ‘honest.’ Especially the latter, who seemed secretly pleased at the time. Olivia Smith later saw that little maid sneaking into William Parker’s room a few times, but as for what happened between them, he had no idea.

All in all, in Olivia Smith’s eyes, his servant appeared simple and honest on the surface, but was actually a bit sly inside. Still, overall, he was a good kid.

At this moment, he also realized that this not-so-honest fellow was actually trying to probe with his words. But after hearing what William Parker said, Olivia Smith’s attention shifted to the axe techniques he’d mentioned. Recalling the scenes he’d just witnessed in the training ground, he allocated some resources in the auxiliary parasitic system within his body to run some calculations. Before long, he had a pretty good grasp of the issues William Parker had raised.

At this point, Olivia Smith once again felt a surge of jealousy. This fool’s martial intuition was truly astonishing. The flaws he mentioned were things Olivia Smith hadn’t noticed at all when watching earlier, and even that fourth-rank martial master probably hadn’t realized them either. Yet William Parker not only noticed, but also clearly understood where the problems lay. It was just that, given his age and experience, he couldn’t yet come up with solutions.

Such talent was truly hard to describe. If Olivia Smith didn’t have his own confidence, it would be hard not to feel unbalanced in front of William Parker.

Turning his head, he looked carefully at William Parker’s face, full of eager anticipation like a child waiting for candy, and couldn’t help but smile.

“Not now! Rest for two hours, and I’ll teach you outside the city this afternoon.”

Upon hearing this, William Parker immediately beamed with excitement. Olivia Smith ignored him and walked straight into the bustling crowd on the street.

From 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.—the hours between the morning and noon—were always the busiest time in Yue Family City. On days like today, when there was a major or minor market every five or ten days, the crowds were even denser, shoulder to shoulder.

—In theory, this should be the best hunting ground for those demonic birds in the sky. But at this time, not only were there over a thousand martial masters in the city armed with eight-stone bows, but the giant crossbows set up on high towers within the city, with a range of up to 1,200 meters, were also terrifyingly lethal weapons.