Chapter 4 Yang Chun Skill

Chen Jie walked out of his house, paused, and looked back at his dilapidated dwelling, unable to suppress a sigh, "It really is a house with nothing left."

Chen Jie was not a pessimist. He had lived through tough times too. When he dropped out of middle school, he had nothing, but through relentless hard work with his own two hands, he ultimately fought for a life where he didn't have to worry about food and clothing and could enjoy financial freedom.

He had been poor and he had been wealthy, so he knew the reasons for poverty and understood how to become wealthy. Therefore, he was not confused about his future.

However, the immediate priority was to ensure he had food and warmth.

With this in mind, Chen Jie headed towards the mountain behind.

On the way, Chen Jie observed the crops in the fields of the villagers, which were failing to thrive. It looked like another tough year ahead, and it was uncertain how much grain the villagers would have left after the government collected their taxes.

Behind Xiantao Village was a mountain called Black Mountain, which was part of the Daba Mountain Range. The mountain was filled with all kinds of wild beasts and was very dangerous. Moreover, from halfway up the mountain, there was a lethal poison barrier that ordinary people wouldn't dare to enter.

Even the renowned Master Martial Artist from the town would not dare to venture deep into it.

However, it was said that there were treasures within the poison barrier. Someone once found a blood-red Lingzhi mushroom inside and the Master Martial Artist purchased it for ten silver taels, making the finder rich overnight.

It could be said that within this mountain, opportunity coexisted with danger.

But this had nothing to do with Chen Jie. Today, his destination was a valley at the foot of Black Mountain.

Chen Jie quickly arrived at the location identified by his System, Black Bear Gully.

Black Bear Gully was so named because someone claimed to have seen a bear there.

Upon arriving, Chen Jie saw the dense tall trees; villagers dared not come here to chop wood easily because of the government taxes.

The trees in Black Bear Gully belonged to the authorities, and it was said that each year, villagers had to pay a firewood tax to the government. The more they chopped, the heavier the tax they had to pay.

Villagers faced more than a dozen types of oppressive and arbitrary taxes yearly, leaving them struggling to afford basic food.

Reflecting on the vexing taxes in this world, Chen Jie could only think of one phrase: "Oppressive government is fiercer than a tiger."

The trees in Black Bear Forest were mixed, but locust trees were concentrated in one area. Chen Jie quickly arrived there and found a rabbit that had died after crashing into a tree.

He picked up the rabbit, which was quite heavy, weighing around seven or eight catties. After skinning and removing the internal organs, there would still be three to five catties of meat—enough to eat for a day or two.

Thinking this, he felt relieved, as at least the issue of food for the next two days was resolved.

The thought of his two sisters at home being able to eat meat was indeed a joyous matter.

As Chen Jie contemplated this, he prepared to head home but then paused, momentarily rooted to the spot. Thinking of his two sisters at home and their wary attitude towards him, he found a large tree root and sat down.

He thought he should give them some time to cool off.

They were probably happier not seeing him than seeing him.

With that thought, Chen Jie leaned against the large tree and summoned his System.

Back at home, the situation had been urgent and he hadn't had a chance to examine his System in detail. Now was the perfect time to familiarize himself with it, for it would be essential for establishing his future life.

He started examining his System.

And indeed, he discovered something useful.

First, the current information provided by this Information System was Level 1, updating with only five pieces of information every day. The conditions for upgrading were unknown.

Second, it seemed the information was only updated based on his own experiences, like seeing, contacting, or passing by. It was unclear if information heard or thought about could also refresh the updates.

Third, and what Chen Jie liked the most, was that the Information System included a personal attribute panel.

"Panel."

He summoned his panel.

[Chen Jie]

[Realm: Not yet admitted]

[Cultivation Technique: Yang Chun Skill]

[Evaluation: You seem to have studied some medicine, yet it seems you haven't.]

The basic panel information made Chen Jie feel awkward, particularly the last superfluous evaluation. What did it mean by 'it seems you have studied some medicine, yet it seems you haven't'?

Was he being played with Schrödinger's medicine?

However, one piece of information caught Chen Jie's attention, the Yang Chun Skill, which must surely be a secret martial arts manual!

A secret martial arts manual, the Yang Chun Skill—he had this treasure!

After pondering for a moment, Chen Jie suddenly remembered that on his seventh birthday, his grandfather had taught him a method of breathing and meditation.

But due to his laziness, he hadn't learned it properly, just went through the motions for a few days, and after suddenly losing his grandfather, he completely stopped studying the breathing and meditation method.

Wait, it seemed that on that day, his grandfather had also given him an old, yellowed book. Yes, that's right, and the content recorded therein was the Yang Chun Skill.

Thinking about this, Chen Jie jumped to his feet.

And then he rushed home.

In his previous life, he had read novels and understood the importance of a cultivation technique, especially in a high martial arts world.

As for how Chen Jie knew this was a high martial arts world? Because he had memories that claimed the most revered individuals in this world were the Master Martial Artists.

Master Martial Artists possessed strength unmatched by ordinary people, able to effortlessly lift massive boulders and leap onto roof beams.

Even the County Magistrate had to afford the Master Martial Artist some respect.

Thus, almost everyone among the common folk wished to learn martial arts, yet most saw no hope of entry.

In this world, resources for martial arts learning were almost entirely monopolized by the government, prominent families, and Jianghu guilds. To learn martial arts, one had to either join the army, become a servant of a major family, or a disciple in a Jianghu guild.

Otherwise, you couldn't learn martial arts or become a Martial Artist.

As for martial arts schools, how could such a thing exist? Even if they did, they were just scams to swindle money.

To learn the real thing as a country bumpkin, you had only to sell your life to one of the three major powers.

They didn't teach you martial arts to earn the small change in your pocket but needed a bunch of people to die for them.

As for renting a teacher with your wealth, that was a joke. Without martial power to defend it, how could you possibly be wealthy?

And let's say, hypothetically, you inherited a fortune like Chen Jie. Those major powers would only have to say the word if they wanted your money.

If you didn't have the corresponding martial power to protect yourself.

The government could tax you separately—resistance was rebellion against the court.

Guilds could demand protection money—if you didn't pay, they'd send someone to deal with you.

Families could demand compensation—if you didn't pay, they would use their connections to crush you.

Even street thugs could trick you into gambling everything away.

He was a living example.

So, in such a world, without martial power, everything was in vain. The Yang Chun Skill was the key to changing destiny.

Thus, it was imperative to find the Yang Chun Skill!

To survive in such a world, the only way was to learn martial arts, to become stronger!