Seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune: Starting with death row inmates

Qin Pi's welcome banquet was scheduled for 7 PM, and the scene was lively. To welcome Qin Pi, the Dog Tooth Mountain Village slaughtered a whole cow to feast everyone.

The laws of the Great Yan Dynasty prohibited the slaughter of oxen and the consumption of beef, and also divided the people into three classes: good families, average families, and sick families.

A son from a respectable family could join the army, earn merit, and become an official in the court. With outstanding performance, he could receive rewards from princes and nobles and might be able to eat a bite of beef in his lifetime. As for the sons of commoners, there is no need to say more; even eating a bite of beef would land them in jail.

As for the common people who were classified as "sick families," they were basically criminals and slaves. When they went out, they were required to wear a sign around their necks to warn those around them of their "sick family" status.

Normally, it's a luxury for a sick person to even have a bowl of thin porridge, but at this moment, many sick people in the mountain village are eating large mouthfuls of beef that a good person might never get to eat in their entire life.

With one hand carrying most of a cow's leg and the other around Shen Chen, Qin Pi, thoroughly annoyed, introduced him to the brothers who had come to welcome him: "This is Shen Chen, my sworn brother whom I met in prison. Let's toast him!"

Shen Chen's alcohol tolerance wasn't bad in his previous life, but this frail body seemed to have hardly ever drunk alcohol. After just two sips, he felt his face burning and his head spinning.

Qin Pi could also tell that Shen Chen couldn't hold his liquor, and said with a smile, "Brother Shen, you need to work on your drinking capacity."

Shen Chen admitted, "My body is too weak. If Brother Qin could teach me martial arts, my alcohol tolerance would probably improve."

He truly envied Qin Pi's excellent physique, who ate a whole cow leg by himself, which weighed dozens of kilograms of beef. Even the top competitive eaters in his previous life couldn't match that.

Qin Pi readily agreed, "Don't worry, I've already found you a master. You'll definitely improve your martial arts skills if you practice with them."

"Brother Qin, won't you teach me yourself?" Shen Chen asked.

Qin Pi chewed on his beef, his words muffled: "I'll become your teacher once you've improved. Martial arts also has that... um..."

"Take it one step at a time," Shen Chen said.

"Ah, yes, that's what I mean." Qin Pi nodded. The gap between him and Shen Chen was too great. If Shen Chen were to start learning martial arts from him right away, who knows what he would end up with.

"The path of martial arts has nine levels of refinement. You can practice slowly. If you have talent, you should be able to reach my level in twenty years," Qin Pi said.

"What realm is Brother Qin at now?" Shen Chen asked.

"Hehe, you guess." Qin Pi didn't say anything explicitly, just let Shen Chen guess.

Riddler, get lost...

Shen Chen twitched his lips but didn't press the matter further.

He started gnawing on the beef bone in his hand. The beef in this world was delicious and fragrant. It was so good that Shen Chen almost bit his tongue. He finally understood why the Great Yan Dynasty did not allow commoners to eat beef. Once they had eaten it, they would want to eat it again. In that case, all the cattle in the fields would be eaten to extinction!

After finishing the beef, the bandits started playing pitch-pot and dice games, but Shen Chen wasn't interested in them. Firstly, he wasn't very good at them, and secondly, these games were really boring, not as fun as a deck of cards.

Hmm? How about we take advantage of the banquet to promote playing cards?

Shen Chen had a sudden thought and immediately cast a divination stick to express it.

The illusory words immediately took shape before his eyes.

You find ancient entertainment quite dull, so what do you choose?

[Winning result: Do nothing, draw]

[The divination result: You promoted modern entertainment toys such as poker, and the bandits quickly became addicted to them. Before long, the entire stronghold was obsessed with gambling. When the chieftain learned that everyone was neglecting their duties for entertainment, he ordered the entertainment you promoted to be banned and, in a fit of anger, expelled you from the stronghold. A bad omen.]

Looking at the result of the draw, Shen Chen sighed softly. He was new to the mountain stronghold and his foundation was not yet stable, so he should just keep to himself and behave himself.

He joined the bandits in throwing the pot, and he was lucky; he threw several pots perfectly in a row, drawing cheers from the surrounding crowd.

Just as the atmosphere was getting along well, a somewhat arrogant voice suddenly rang out: "Qin Pi, we haven't decided a winner yet in our last competition. This time, we're determined to settle things once and for all."

The speaker was a one-eyed young man with a high nose bridge and a well-proportioned figure. Even though he had lost one eye, he was still a handsome young man.

The one-eyed young man, carrying a knife, swaggered up to Qin Pi and said, "Come on, let's have a fight!"

"Haha, you're really not convinced, kid." Hearing the young man's challenge, Qin Pi wasn't angry at all. Instead, he asked with a smile, "Zhang Xiaolong, when will we see you on the Heroes' Ranking?"

"You'll come up after I win," Zhang Xiaolong retorted stubbornly. He turned to the people around him and shouted, "Get out of the way! My swordsmanship is already at its peak; don't hurt any of you!"

The people around him dispersed, laughing and joking. Zhang Xiaolong crouched down, drew his sword, its gleaming blade reflecting the firelight. One eye stared eagerly at Qin Pi: "Come on!"

Qin Pi didn't draw the broadsword at his waist: "Go ahead and kill me."

"This is outrageous!" Zhang Xiaolong roared. "Don't blame me if you underestimate my swordsmanship like this and get your stomach ripped open later."

He roared and charged towards Qin Pi like an arrow released from a bow. His speed was so fast that Shen Chen, who was watching from the sidelines, couldn't help but shrink his pupils and worry about Qin Pi's safety.

The next second, a blade flew out with a whoosh. Everyone only saw a blur before their eyes, and then they saw Qin Pi with one hand holding Zhang Xiaolong under his arm, grinning as he said, "Good brother, how come you can't even hold a knife properly?"

Zhang Xiaolong's sword was already stuck in the ground not far away. No one saw how Qin Pi removed his sword. It was as if time had been fast-forwarded. One second Zhang Xiaolong pulled out his sword, and the next second Qin Pi had him under his arm.

"Bravo!" The group of men cheered for Qin Pi in unison, and the applause was thunderous.

Zhang Xiaolong tried to break free from Qin Pi's restraints, but after a lot of effort, it was no use. He could only hang his head dejectedly and say, "I give up! Xiao Hu, write down the number of times."

A boy in the crowd who looked like Zhang Xiaolong picked up a pen and began to write on a piece of paper, reading aloud as he wrote: "Zhang Xiaolong's 562nd challenge to the Skinner, defeated in three breaths."

Zhang Xiaolong roared, "Who told you to read that out loud! I'll fucking beat you to death!"

His words drew another round of laughter, and Shen Chen laughed as well. At the same time, he turned his gaze to Qin Pi, who was standing there, and felt a chill in his heart.

Zhang Xiaolong was no weakling. Shen Chen knew that if he had been in Qin Pi's position, he probably wouldn't have had a chance to react. He really couldn't imagine how Qin Pi had managed to disarm Zhang Xiaolong in an instant and subdue him with one hand.

"Qin Pi is so powerful, yet he was captured and thrown into prison. The martial artists in this world are truly outrageous, almost like a different species from ordinary people..." Shen Chen thought to himself, his desire to learn martial arts growing ever stronger.