Chapter 498: Trouble Comes Knocking

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It was daytime when Hu Haihe passed the Horse Stance stage. Since he was in the archery academy’s living quarters, many people saw the Dharmic Projection that appeared when he advanced. It caused a small commotion in the archery academy since the majority of the students had yet to pass the stage and they were all envious at the sight of someone passing the stage.

For people who hadn’t progressed into a Martial Warrior yet, the Horse Stance stage was the first checkpoint in their cultivation journey. As soon as they passed this stage, they would immediately widen the gap between them and their peers in terms of stamina, speed and endurance, and rise above them. Subsequently, progressing into a Martial Warrior would no longer be a far-fetched dream.

For the next two days, morale was high in the archery academy. Students were seen practicing the Horse Stance everywhere in between their trainings or during breaks ⁠— on the training field, living quarters, or archery forest…

Of course, the Five Animal Frolics technique had to be kept secret from outsiders. Yan Liqiang didn’t want too many people to notice this secret technique for now and draw unwanted attention. Internally, after Hu Haihe verified the power of the Five Animal Frolics technique, Yan Liqiang secretly choose another two hundred people to pass the technique down to.

The two hundred people included Zhou Yong, Chang Kuan, and the others who participated in ambushing the Transportation Office’s cavalry. A few dozen archery academy students were also included as they had outstanding performances, proving themselves to be loyal and reliable.

It went without saying that there was no reason to doubt the loyalty of Zhou Yong, Chang Kuan, and the others. These people were comrades who had experienced deadly battles with Yan Liqiang. Most of them were disciples from the Hui Clan Gathering. As the descendants of the Qiyun Protectorate, these people were Yan Liqiang’s die-hard fans.

In addition to the Psychic Serpent in Yan Liqiang’s head, he could completely grasp a person’s loyalty and character by just summoning them over for a little conversation and some questions.

The real bond formed between a master and apprentice after imparting the Five Animal Frolics technique made Yan Liqiang and these people grow closer to each other. The team cohesion in archery academy was once again strengthened.

In just the blink of an eye, the tenth lunar month was over. When the eleventh lunar month arrived, the first batch of students finally completed the three-month formation training. With renewed vigor and enthusiasm, they looked forward to their next lesson…

Archery was, of course, part of the lessons in an archery academy. Yan Liqiang would personally be in charge of teaching this.

Apart from archery, the second lesson everyone needed to learn was horsemanship, which included charioteering. Yan Liqiang found a few veterans from the Gan Province army to be in charge of this lesson.

Aside from archery and horsemanship, there were two other types of lessons. One was cultural, with Shi Changfeng in charge. The contents of the lesson included reading, writing, literature, history, the art of war, and case studies on wars. These were all Shi Changfeng’s forte.

The second was practical class. The practical lessons were more comprehensive and they were conducted through more interesting methods. This class was Yan Liqiang’s innovation which emphasized hands-on experiences, as well as expanding knowledge and student’s abilities. The main concept behind the lessons was that the classes were not just limited to the teachers in the archery academy — instead, any professionals in the various industries could lead the lessons.

The practical class was basically a combination of basic general education and hands-on lessons. This was offered because Yan Liqiang realized the Great Han Empire or even the Silver Continent seemed to lack general education. To most people, they only seemed to have a choice between two careers. One was to become a martial practitioner. Anyone who succeeded on this path would naturally be considered a winner in life as they would have more options in life. 99 percent of those who failed on this path would choose to learn a craft and live out their lives. Most of these people had extremely limited skills and knowledge. Even a prefectural governor like Wang Jianbei didn’t know what general education meant.

The archery academy was a place Yan Liqiang used to nurture and discover talents. To Yan Liqiang, the so-called talents were not limited to only fighting capabilities. Not only could the practical class enrich the students’ knowledge, but it could also cultivate their interest and bring out different strengths. After all, general education was also the basic foundation of an outstanding talented individual.

Yan Liqiang had picked Liuhe Town to conduct the archery academy’s first practical class. Under Yan Liqiang’s orders, the one thousand among the three thousand students in the archery academy would be sent to Liuhe Town’s big construction site every day to assist in building the defense wall and buildings, leveling the land, chiseling stones, and digging ditches.

Yan Liqiang also requested all students in archery academy to be apprenticed to the artisans in Liuhe Town, so they could pick up some house-building and defense wall-building techniques as they toiled away. For the sake of making the students take the practical classes more seriously, Yan Liqiang set an example on the first day. He personally brought the students to Liuhe Town, picked up a hammer and shovel, then jumped right into a ditch full of mud and started shoveling in the ditch even though he had to make himself look like a muddy monkey in the process…

His actions stunned everyone. Following his lead, the archery academy’s students put their hearts into the new practical class with great enthusiasm.

With help from the archery academy’s students, the construction in Liuhe Town immediately sped up.

Every afternoon, when the students lined up and sang in their neat uniforms lined up while jogging and appeared in Liuhe Town, the residents would gather on both sides of town. They’d look at those energetic young men with admiration while singing praises at them. The children about seven or eight years old in town in particular watched those students with great admiration. Every single one of them was shouting about wanting to join the big brothers…

Among the groups that would come to Liuhe Town every day, many were from Liuhe Town. These people never expected they would appear in front of their fellow villagers like this.

“Do you see that? That’s my kid! I didn’t expect him to change this much after a few months in the archery academy. He’s so tan and strong now. As his father, I almost couldn’t recognize him…!”

“Look at that big boy! Isn’t he the son of Tofu Liu from Hekou Town? I didn’t expect him to join the archery academy too…”

“They’ve grown, they’ve really grown! You can tell the spirit of the team is unusual just by looking…!”

“Of course! The future of our Liuhe Town will depend on these young men…!”

“Big brother, big brother, you look so cool…!”

Listening to the praises from the local folks on both sides of the road while looking at those proud smiles on familiar and friendly faces, a strange warmth filled the hearts of those young men.

What they didn’t know was that this was Yan Liqiang’s real training for them.

…

In the afternoon on the 16th day of the eleventh lunar month, two unfamiliar men with longswords hanging on their waists appeared in Liuhe Town. Among the crowds along the streets, they crossed their arms while they watched the groups of students from the archery academy energetically jog into town. They then quickly went over to a few construction sites and deftly got to work without any orders…

The Yan Blades were well-known in town, so strangers often visited Liuhe Town to purchase weapons from the Yan Clan’s store. Therefore, the arrival of those two men didn’t really bother the residents of Liuhe Town.

“Damn, the commotion they made while running over here startled me just now! I thought they were the elite troops stationed in the Gan Province army since their footsteps were so synchronized and the ground was shaking. Turned out to be just a bunch of brats going to do some dirty job!” The shorter of the two unfamiliar men sneered, then lifted his hand with a disdainful smile on his face. “Establishing an archery academy to trick these brats into working in a ditch… I see that Yan Liqiang is nothing but an unscrupulous man!”

“He is probably a man of a certain caliber. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to make a name for himself!” The slightly taller of the two, sporting a mustache above his lips, nodded slightly while squinting at a group of students swinging their hammers on a construction site nearby.

“It only takes some luck, some cunningness, and some petty tricks to please others. A monkey will proclaim itself a king if there are no tigers in the woods. Gan Province doesn’t even have one decent sect — how is it possible that there’ll be anyone impressive from there? Yan Liqiang only started making his mark after meeting Sun Bingchen. He had his backing and lucked out. This time, we’re going to skin him and use his skin as our socks. We’ll show these country bumpkins in Gan Province…!”

“Let’s find something to eat first, then we’ll go to the Yan Residence!”

“Alright, we might as well since we’re here. I heard the Yan Clan’s blacksmith store is very easy to find. We’ll have lunch first, then we’ll head over there. It’s not like he can run anywhere…”

After the two men with swords walked away, a chubby lady behind them took a good look at their silhouettes before she hurriedly ran off in another direction…