It was said that he either snatched someone’s bride or drove some woman to her death. There were even stories of him abducting people’s daughters and beating their elderly parents to death...

This was a textbook scoundrel—how could he possibly let Sister marry him!

At this thought, Mike Sullivan pushed open the door and strode into the room.

“Sister, you can’t marry him.”

Mike Sullivan entered the room, grabbed Grace Sullivan’s hand, and said softly, “Sister, if Taoli Village won’t give us water, we can just go negotiate with them. Why do you have to marry Liu Yuliang?”

“That’s right, what Mike Brooks said is true. We’ll go negotiate with Taoli Village.”

“Negotiate? Negotiation is useless.”

An old farmer with eye bags tucked at his waist shook his head and sighed, “How many times have we negotiated with Taoli Village? The conflict between our two villages over water has lasted for more than a day or two. Because of the water source, the feud between our villages has gone on for over a hundred years. This isn’t something that can be solved just by talking.”

“Exactly. Over the past hundred years, it was only six years ago, because Mike Sullivan became a martial xiucai, that they gave us a bit of water. Now that our Mike Sullivan can’t...” A man started to speak, but suddenly realized something, quickly shut his mouth, and looked up awkwardly at Mike Sullivan and the others in the room, who were all glaring at him angrily.

Mike Sullivan smiled at the man. He knew the man meant no harm, he just spoke too quickly and didn’t think. Still, martial xiucai...

The Great Peng Dynasty had always valued martial arts.

Every year, the Great Peng Dynasty held martial arts examinations. These exams were similar to the civil service exams, with the same ranks: xiucai, juren, jinshi, and zhuangyuan.

Although the titles were almost the same, one was for literature and the other for martial arts. But the treatment between the two was worlds apart.

A civil xiucai, juren, or even zhuangyuan only had the opportunity to enter officialdom and the right to ride in sedan chairs or carriages.

But as long as one became a martial xiucai, they could petition the emperor to establish a family clan, and the emperor would even grant them a piece of land. Besides that, there were many other benefits.

So, in the Great Peng Dynasty, there was a saying:

Ten years of bitter study, youth turns to white hair.

With one victory over a hundred villages, even chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.

White-haired and still without clothes, yet chickens and dogs have mansions by the thousands.

Better to trade for a martial xiucai than to be a civil zhuangyuan.

It was said that decades ago, a group of civil and military officials presented this folk doggerel to the current emperor, hoping he would change the country’s preference for martial over literary pursuits.

But the emperor remained unmoved.

If he could truly become a martial xiucai, he could request to establish a family, and the emperor would grant him a piece of land. Although the land wouldn’t truly belong to him, the profits would be split fifty-fifty, which was much better than renting land from the Liu family. If he became a martial juren, he could keep sixty percent of the harvest from the land granted by the emperor.

However, martial juren was out of reach for now. The only thing he could strive for was martial xiucai.

Every year, the court would send officials to oversee the martial xiucai exams, selecting up to ten martial xiucai in a single town. A town was made up of a hundred townships, and each township had ten villages.

That meant people from a thousand villages would compete for those ten spots, and among them would be the big families from the towns. There was no age limit for the exam, so even elderly men could participate.

The difficulty was obvious.

Mike Sullivan pondered to himself. With his current strength, it was impossible to become a martial xiucai. But if he could achieve Martial Dao Lingxin, he might have a chance.

As he was thinking, an old farmer’s voice sounded again: “If they won’t give us water, can’t we go get it ourselves? Right now, we’re fighting with them over the water source, so they must be guarding it closely. In a few days, let’s pick a dark, cloudy night and sneak over to Taoli Village. If we dig open the water source and let the water flow just once, it’ll do wonders for our crops.”

“That’s right, we’ll open the sluice ourselves.” Mike Sullivan’s eyes lit up at the suggestion. “Great idea! In a few days, we’ll go open the sluice together.”

“No, Mike Sullivan, you can’t go.”

Everyone shook their heads and said, “Mike Sullivan, you and your Sister have already done so much for the village. You don’t need to go this time.”

“That’s right. Besides, Mike Sullivan, you have more important things to do. The children in our village still rely on you to teach them martial arts.”

“That’s true.” Mike Sullivan nodded. Soon, it would be time for the sects to come select martial apprentices. If more children from the village became martial apprentices, the village’s strength and status would rise. Besides, he still had to prepare medicinal baths for the village children, and now was a critical time.

When everyone saw Mike Sullivan agree, they all breathed a sigh of relief. After all, Taoli Village had a young genius.

Soon, everyone left one after another.

After everyone had dispersed, Mike Sullivan looked at SisterGrace Sullivan with excitement, his face openly showing his elation.