Chapter 20: Joyfully Stepping On Heads
Returned the water cart and headed home after shift.
Chen Shun’an lay on his back and looked up, seeing rolling dark clouds as if the sky were collapsing, but no rain ever fell.
Returned to Chaodou Hutong.
There was light at home, a sliver of brightness spilling from the door crack, illuminating the darkness before Chen Shun’an’s eyes.
Under the lamp behind the door, Wan Niang was waiting.
As soon as she saw Chen Shun’an return, Wan Niang’s loud voice immediately rang out.
“Bro, how’d you end up sitting in the private room?”
“That’s Instructor Lin! That year, he fought and killed the Golden Saber Twin Tyrants single-handedly with just one saber—it’s even in the storytellers’ tales…”
Wan Niang seemed to have completely forgotten about the morning’s events.
At this moment, her face showed surprise as she hurriedly welcomed Chen Shun’an inside.
Seeing Chen Shun’an actually sitting at the same table as Instructor Lin and the others today had scared Wan Niang silly; she’d been holding it in all day, fidgeting anxiously, dying to ask Chen Shun’an.
Seeing Wan Niang like this, Chen Shun’an secretly chuckled inside, deliberately wanting to tease her.
He methodically took off his green robe, then wiped down his upper body with a damp towel.
Seeing this, Wan Niang paced back and forth, her gaze flickering uncertainly, twisting a handkerchief embroidered with orchids between her fingers until it was deformed.
In the end, she couldn’t hold back anymore and grabbed Chen Shun’an’s arm, saying,
“Bro! Please don’t tease your sister anymore, tell me quick!
And that damn Fu Sheng hasn’t come to the shop either?! You know my personality, I can’t keep secrets or hold things in!”
Chen Shun’an felt secretly delighted inside, sat at the table in the main hall, and while eating, recounted the day’s events.
The lamp wick was like a bean, the firelight flickering.
Listening to Chen Shun’an’s vivid storytelling, Wan Niang leaned over the table, her floral dress stretching taut, the edging outlining her plump, curvaceous figure.
Wan Niang kept laughing, her eyes narrowed, already with wrinkles.
But at this moment, she no longer seemed like a widow just turned thirty.
Her expression and gaze both revealed the curiosity and liveliness of a teenage girl.
After the meal, Wan Niang as usual prepared Chen Shun’an’s medicinal bath.
Seeing Chen Shun’an fall into a deep sleep, she added two more ladles of hot soup before stretching her sore, tired arms.
She secured the doors and windows, checked the remaining fire in the stove, and took in the courtyard’s undried clothing from under the eaves.
Wan Niang quietly pushed open the courtyard gate and quickly left.
…
That night, accompanied by murmurs in his ears, Chen Shun’an slept exceptionally soundly.
【Wish+8】
【Wish: 85】
Not only was there more Wish added to the account, but the Qi and Blood gained from digesting the midday dietary supplement was comparable to days of accumulation!
It made Chen Shun’an in the medicinal bath feel warm and cozy from inside out, as if immersed in amniotic fluid in the womb, quickly relieving his whole body’s fatigue.
When Chen Shun’an naturally woke up, only two hours had passed.
Full of energy, mind clear, even the wrinkles on his face seemed a bit fainter.
“Good, good, good, being able to eat and sleep well is a blessing…”
Chen Shun’an’s face showed joy, and with a move of his body, he leaped out of the wooden bucket.
The medicinal soup was nearly colorless, yet still fully absorbed.
Dressed in short outfit, Chen Shun’an pushed the door and went out.
The sky was dim, dark clouds pressing down on the city.
With the help of half a waning moon, Chen Shun’an could barely make out the plum blossom stakes in the courtyard.
Chen Shun’an lightly stepped forward, leaped onto the plum blossom stakes, stretched his tendons and spine, activated his Qi and Blood, and entered martial arts practice.
But after just stepping through the plum blossom stakes a few times, Chen Shun’an stopped.
He frowned slightly, his expression strange.
“Why does it feel like neither plum blossom stakes nor dragon roaming stakes are as satisfying as stepping on people’s heads?”
Recalling yesterday, those heads that sank with one step but immediately floated back up, along with all sorts of ‘ouch’ curses to encourage and cheer him on…
An odd feeling welled up in Chen Shun’an’s heart, as if something was teasing him.
Moreover, after careful comparison, Chen Shun’an solemnly discovered that stepping on a head just once had a better effect than practicing on the plum blossom stakes for several cycles!
“It’s not that Chen Mou loves stepping on heads, but actual combat is the fastest way to digest what one has learned.”
Chen Shun’an nodded deeply in agreement.
If there’s a chance, step on some heads again.
……
After activating the Qi and Blood in his body, Chen Shun’an adjusted his breathing, circulated the training method, practiced stepping on stakes, and stored the Qi and Blood into his bone marrow.
Yesterday’s dietary supplement and the unused medicinal power all turned into Chen Shun’an’s martial arts cultivation resources.
As his bone joints trembled, strands of new Qi and Blood sprouted from his limbs and bones.
Strength gradually increased, bone sounds growing louder…
Pointed Foot!
Broken Knee Leg!
Two more striking techniques were successfully practiced in succession.
Two Qi and Blood Seeds suddenly condensed, hiding deep in the bone marrow like Dragon Returns to the Sea.
Soon, the sky brightened, and Chen Shun’an heard Wan Niang’s familiar footsteps approaching from far to near at the alley entrance.
Chen Shun’an smoothly ended his practice, shook his arms, and continuous Force oscillated from the bone marrow.
One sound.
Two sounds.
Crackle pop… Wonderful Sound one hundred thirteen.
According to Instructor Lin, when the bones vibrate like Wonderful Sound, it not only measures a person’s root bone aptitude but can also be used to disrupt enemies.
Just like yesterday’s Zhuang Kun.
Shaking eardrums, disrupting pulse, intimidating the mind.
If one can reach 360 Wonderful Sounds, a day’s cultivation can condense several Qi and Blood Seeds.
One shake of the body, Bone Thunder Sound, turning weak mortals into bloody pulp; even same-realm martial artists lose five or six tenths of their strength, standing undefeated against Xiantian.
And today’s Chen Shun’an, compared to yesterday’s Chen Shun’an.
Gained one Qi and Blood Seed, and several more Wonderful Sounds.
Though slow, it’s positive feedback in both directions, sooner or later snowballing into an advantage that accumulates greater and greater, like the Great River flowing east, unstoppable!
“Gurgle gurgle…”
Suddenly, a rumbling came from his stomach.
A massive hunger finally surged up belatedly.
Chen Shun’an had no choice but to sit on the plum blossom stakes, hands on his knees.
With a ‘creak’, the courtyard gate opened.
Wan Niang, carrying a vegetable basket and several pounds of fresh pork belly, had just walked in and looked up to see Chen Shun’an with an expectant face.
“Wan Niang, I’m hungry.”
……
Full of food and drink, changed clothes and went on shift.
Sacrificed his looks.
【Wish+2】
Chen Shun’an left satisfied.
Wan Niang’s ears flushed red, she grumbled a curse, hummed a tune, and went back to her tasks.
Ever since falling into the well and losing his footing, Chen Shun’an had become extremely cautious, more or less developing some persecution complex.
For example, the ‘Blood Strengthening Powder’ from Fu Sheng yesterday, and during his bedridden recovery, the healing medicinal herbs, pills, ointments, and powders sent by the other Water Carriers, friends, and neighbors.
He hadn’t used any of them, temporarily storing them all in a box in the bedroom.
“Should find a time to go to the Changchun Hall pharmacy at Banye Ferry Crossing and have Golden Needle Li identify them for me.”
Chen Shun’an pondered.
Just as the sky showed a fish-belly white, Weihang Street Water Station bustled to life.
Chen Shun’an wasn’t late, but by the time he arrived, there were already over a dozen or twenty Water Carriers in the alley.
Including San Dezi, who always arrived right on time for shift.
Everyone was practicing, standing meditation, shadowboxing.
Some were sparring in pairs, quite lively.
San Dezi gripped a three-foot long saber, stomped his right foot fiercely, powered from his waist and hips, the long saber slashing down from overhead like a mountain collapsing.
Slash, hook, wrap, collapse—he repeatedly practiced basic saber technique.
Golden lines rose on the four ridges of his arm roots, his body covered in knotted muscles.
He seemed extremely diligent.
Chen Shun’an drew close and curiously asked: “San Dezi, what’s going on? Are the brothers preparing to cause trouble for someone?”
San Dezi reversed his grip to sheathe the saber, exhaled long, then irritably glanced at Chen Shun’an and said,
“It’s all because of you, big bro!”
“Me?”
“Who else! You don’t know, ever since Instructor Lin invited you to the private room for a meal yesterday and gave you special treatment, the brothers at the well have been like they’ve been injected with chicken blood! In the gaps between pushing carts and delivering water, they all practice a few rounds of punches and leg forms!”
San Dezi’s face was full of exhaustion, with heavy bags under his eyes.
“But I don’t want to get involved! Yet that damn Scarred Liu came knocking before dawn, wanting me to go on shift with him!”
