“Great-aunt, you need to eat more when you’re home alone. Once Little Nathaniel finishes six months at the academy, he’ll be able to get a job with a salary.”

“I know, I know. You should focus on your martial arts at the academy, be patient when things happen, and don’t act rashly just to prove a point…”

Nathaniel Clark quietly listened to his great-aunt’s advice, even though she had already repeated these words several times last night.

“Well, great-aunt, I’m off now. And don’t go pulling up grass to eat again.”

“You little rascal, you pulled up all the grass in the yard yesterday. Even if I wanted to eat it, there’s none left.”

Nathaniel Clark chuckled. The weeds were still quite resilient—after the rain these past few days, the yard was green again. He just worried that while he was away, his great-aunt would try to save money by eating weeds.

Yesterday, not only did he pull up all the grass, but he also borrowed a total of ten taels of silver from the neighbors to buy rice and filled the rice jar to the brim.

If he hadn’t enrolled in the academy, the neighbors might not have lent him the money. But now that he was in the academy, they were much more willing.

All the neighbors knew that as long as he stayed at the academy for six months, he could get a job at the yamen. Even if he didn’t last the full six months, he’d still have learned martial arts techniques, and after leaving, he could work as a bodyguard for a wealthy family or join a gang as a hired hand—he’d be able to pay the money back either way.

There was still half an hour before the hour of Chen. Nathaniel Clark arrived at the academy and, following the dormitory list posted on the wall, found his room number.

Room B-3.

It was a double room, with two wooden plank beds, a small courtyard, a stove, a bath barrel, and some stone stools.

His roommate hadn’t arrived yet. Nathaniel Clark made his bed, put his clothes in the box provided by the dormitory, placed the medicinal herbs given by Chief Huang on top of his clothes, and after finishing all this, picked up a broom from the backyard to sweep away the moss and weeds.

Halfway through sweeping, there was a commotion at the dormitory door—a young man carrying a large wooden chest walked in.

The young man saw Nathaniel Clark cleaning the courtyard and immediately put down his chest and hurried over.

“Sorry—”

Bang!

The young man was walking too fast and didn’t notice the moss underfoot. His feet slipped forward, his upper body fell backward, but he reacted quickly—his waist snapped forward, pulling his upper body upright again. Only, perhaps he used too much force, and now he was tipping forward.

In the end, he landed squarely on his knees in front of Nathaniel Clark.

Nathaniel Clark: ……

The young man: ……

A quarter of an hour later, the two of them had finished cleaning all the moss and weeds from the courtyard.

Nathaniel Clark also learned the young man’s name: William Parker.

He was from Jijiang Town under Danning County. Unlike Nathaniel Clark, who only trained his strength by lifting stone stools, William Parker said he had been practicing martial arts for two and a half years. Of course, he hadn’t studied martial arts manuals, but had learned body-strengthening boxing from the clan’s martial instructor in town.

“Impressive, my brother.”

“What?”

William Parker looked confused, but just then the sound of a gong rang out, saving Nathaniel Clark from having to explain.

When the gong sounded, all the students had to gather at the martial arts field.

By the time Nathaniel Clark and William Parker arrived at the field, most of the students were already there.

A few minutes later, Instructor Brooks arrived at the martial arts field.

“From today onward, you are all academy students. The Grand Ancestor established this academy to select talent. If you achieve something in the future, you must remember to serve your country.”

Instructor Brooks wore a solemn expression, looked north, and cupped his fists. Nathaniel Clark and the others followed suit. After fifteen breaths, when they saw Instructor Brooks lower his hands, everyone else did the same.

“Next, I will teach you the core techniques of the martial arts manual ‘Bull Demon Strength.’ Back in the day, the Grand Ancestor began his martial path by practicing this very manual. ‘Bull Demon Strength’ has six levels; today, I will teach you the formulas for the first three.”

Hearing Instructor Brooks’s words, the students all became excited.

This martial arts manual was the very reason they had come to the academy.

Next, Instructor Brooks began teaching everyone the formulas for ‘Bull Demon Strength.’

“Sink your breath to your dantian, circulate it through all your meridians, gather your strength first in the cauldron, then charge to the top with tenfold power…”

Following the breathing and energy-guiding techniques taught by the instructor, Nathaniel Clark began to gather his energy. Very soon, he felt a surge of power rushing through his meridians.

Is this what they mean by ‘a true teaching in a single sentence, a fake scripture in a whole book’?

Nathaniel Clark had a feeling that his strength had increased by at least ten jin in that moment.

He glanced at the other students out of the corner of his eye. Although they looked excited, they didn’t seem overly thrilled. It seemed their strength hadn’t increased much.

Was he a martial arts prodigy?

Or was it the effect of the longevity fruit?

Instructor Brooks glanced at the excited students. “If you don’t understand something, you can ask me now. In three months, if you don’t have five hundred jin of strength, you’ll be expelled from the academy.”

But Instructor Brooks’s words didn’t worry the boys. Each of them was still immersed in the excitement of having learned a martial arts technique. As for expulsion…

Young people are always confident—they didn’t believe they’d fail to reach five hundred jin in three months.

No one asked any questions, and Instructor Brooks didn’t mind. He simply left.

As soon as Instructor Brooks left, the other students began to discuss in low voices, mostly in pairs—clearly grouped by roommates.

“Nathaniel Clark, let’s head back to the dorm.”