My Cultivation Starting from Archery

After inquiring, Chen Sansi learned that he lived very close to Xu Bin, only about a five-minute walk away.

He knocked on the door and announced his identity, and soon a young woman opened the door.

Chen Sansi noticed the slight bulge in her abdomen, "Is this Xu Bin's home?"

"Yes."

The woman hurriedly called someone out.

There came Xu Bin, sporting a handprint on his face, and greeted awkwardly, "Chen, Chen Flag Officer."

He remembered that not long ago, he had requested the other to address him by his official title.

How long had it been, and now everyone held the same rank?

"I really don't consider myself as an officer; just calling me 'Rock' or by my name will do."

Chen Sansi smiled and pulled out a slip from his sleeve, "This is for you."

"This is…"

Upon seeing it was a weapons slip from the arsenal, Xu Bin remembered he indeed had loaned out a bow and arrows before.

"What are you staring at? Apologize to Little Rock!"

Old Xu came running out and kicked Xu Bin on the buttocks.

Xu Bin's face turned red immediately.

In the military camp, he never resorted to giving gifts or flattering others; he always proved himself through hard work.

"Bin, hurry up!"

Old Xu was so anxious he was hopping, "Without Rock's help, offending Hundred Households Wang, our whole family might end up unable to even eat!"

"I…"

Xu Bin felt his face burning, but seeing his wife's bulging stomach, he finally compromised: "Flag Officer Chen, I..."

"I've already said, no need to call me flag officer."

Before he could finish, Chen Sansi interrupted, "At the camp, we call each other by our ranks, but at home, there's no need to be so formal. If you don't mind, I'd still like to call you Brother Bin."

"What?"

Xu Bin doubted his ears, "You don't resent me?"

"Why should I resent?"

Chen Sansi was candid.

If it wasn't for borrowing the heavy bow, he wouldn't have so easily won the favor of the Household officers nor could he have built his Qi-Blood so quickly.

Admittedly, Xu Bin's attitude might not have been the best.

But help was help.

The other could have completely refused to lend it.

"Hundred Households Wang is a bit..."

Chen Sansi couldn't compliment Wang Zhi's character, "Anyway, I'll speak with him, no worries."

"Right, I knew Little Rock was good-natured, how could he not help you?"

Old Xu said, "Aren't you going to thank him now?"

Xu Bin looked at the youth.

In this world, not repaying kindness with enmity was already good.

And here was someone willing to disregard past grievances, even calling him 'brother'?

Futhermore, for him, it was really just a small effort.

How could he face such decency?

For some reason, when Xu Bin looked at Chen Sansi again, he began to sense an indescribable aura about him that commanded respect.

'Respect' might not be the exact word, but he couldn't think of a more fitting way to describe it at that moment.

Swallowing his words, Xu Bin finally simply offered a fist salute, "From now on, anything you ask, I am at your disposal!"

Chen Sansi smiled, "That's too much, but, I do have a favor to ask of you.

"I'd like Brother Bin, whenever you're not busy, to spar with me on spear technique."

I benefited a lot from our last exchange.

"At your service."

Xu Bin agreed instantly, "But, I really cannot accept this."

He handed the slip back.

"I have a sword and that's enough; if you insist on giving me this, it means you still hold a grudge."

"Alright."

Chen Sansi didn't insist further.

"Little Rock, don't go, stay for dinner!"

Old Xu insisted on not letting him leave.

At noon, Chen Sansi and Gu Xinlan both stayed for a meal.

Xinlan and Xu Bin's wife, Lady Tong, got to know each other, and as both enjoyed needlework, they found a lot of common topics to discuss, hitting it off well, and even made plans to meet up in the future.

"Buzz—"

Halfway through the meal, the military camp sounded a rally call.

"Father, we have to go," Chen Sansi said.

Xu Bin hastily put on his armor and grabbed his sword. "Shanshi, hurry!"

"What's happened?"

Chen Sansi purposely looked up at the sky but saw no signs of beacon smoke, indicating that there were no enemy attacks.

When they arrived at the garrison, they were met by Lord Thousand Households, his face full of fury.

Xiang Tingchun ordered in public, effective immediately, that half of the personnel within the Households should search the city of Po Yang daily for Witch God Sect Followers, not sparing even the Martial Arts Schools, and conduct strict searches of each. If any were found, they were to be charged with the crime of colluding with the enemy and treason.

What was the Witch God Sect?

Why even search the Martial Arts Schools? Hadn't they just cooperated recently to surround and attack barbarian assassins?

"I'm not sure," he replied.

Householder Xiong said, puzzled, "All I know is that yesterday Lord Thousand Households and Luo Dongquan went to the Tianyuan Martial Arts Academy, and when they returned, he was furious, stating that they were all parasites of the court, and it was time they learned their lesson."

"Lord Thousand Households is probably preparing to let the local lords bleed a little," Households Commander Liu said, stroking his chin.

"Isn't he afraid of the higher-ups?"

It was a well-known fact that the Great Sheng Court was heavily in debt.

In earlier years, the garrison occasionally had delayed payments.

On the other hand, the Martial Arts Schools and local gentry were amassing wealth.

The money in the hands of the hundreds of households was merely scraps between the lords' teeth. Nicely put, it was called a bribe; harshly put, it was money thrown to beggars.

Securing some wealth from the Martial Arts Schools was naturally a good thing.

But the problem was,

If it was that simple, the court wouldn't have been so hard-pressed.

The Martial Arts Schools and local gentry included many who had retired from positions in the court; some were blatantly businesses owned by current court officials. Who would dare touch them?

On the surface, it seemed that their Households wielded the greatest authority.

In reality, which Martial Arts School didn't have connections with people in the prefecture or state offices?

The actions of Xiang Tingchun were difficult for them to understand.

"Unless, Xiang Tingchun has some leverage over them," Chen Sansi thought, though he did not voice it.

And he was right.

These people had been hiding from the court while searching for the Immortal Treasure.

Xiang Tingchun had planned to use this matter to blackmail the Martial Arts Schools, but it seemed the talks had broken down.

"Move out!"

Five Hundred Households, leading over four hundred soldiers marched out of the garrison mightily.

Chen Sansi and his subordinates were among them.

Wang Zhi was not present, and two flag leaders led them instead.

One surnamed Miao, the other surnamed Fang.

"Flag Leader Fang."

Chen Sansi asked, "Wasn't it barbarian assassins before? How did it become the Witch God Sect?"

Flag Leader Fang shook his head, "That night, the masked persons who suddenly appeared and rescued the assassin were said to be from the Witch God Sect, supposedly very notorious villains. That's all I know."

"I know about this, I know!"

Xu Wencai rushed over excitedly raising his hand.

"Mr. Xu knows?"

Chen Sansi said, "Please tell us."

"Ahem!"

Xu Wencai cleared his throat and began seriously, "This Witch God Sect, it originated from the barbarian tribes and has a history of two hundred years. However, it declined long ago.

"Just about ten years ago, they suddenly became active again and even supported the Yuwen Tribe to swallow up three tribes on the grasslands in one fell swoop, transforming from a small tribe into one of the four hegemons. These years, the barbarians who have been harassing the borders of Sheng are mainly from the Yuwen Tribe, with the other three hegemons mostly watching from the sidelines."

"Hmm, you seem to know quite a lot!"

Zhu Tong was half skeptical, "You aren't making this up, right?"

"Ptui!"

Xu Wencai proudly stated, "I traveled everywhere in my early years. You think I did that for nothing?"

"No wonder you weren't at home even when your father died a few years ago!" Zhu Tong said bluntly.

Xu Wencai turned dark and fell silent.

"Witch God Sect, Yuwen Tribe, border, Immortal Treasure..." Chen Sansi connected the dots and realized it seemed to be a matter of great significance.

Following their entry into the city, the five hundred soldiers began a house-to-house search.

However, they temporarily did not search the Four Great Martial Arts Schools and other top-tier halls, focusing primarily on the smaller and lesser-known ones.

This was Xiang Tingchun making an example of the smaller entities.

The search continued until dusk, and they then left without any conflicts, but this was just the beginning.

After wasting an afternoon, Chen Sansi went straight to the arsenal upon returning to the Households, intending to exchange the Weapons Slip and then get a bowl of Blood Replenishing Soup.