Begin your practice with the crane-shaped stance.

In the days that followed, Xia Dong relied on his experience from his previous life, and with his current vigorous blood and abundant energy, the "Strange Tales" section of the Pingyang County Annals was largely completed in less than half a month.

The remaining work is nothing more than some minor historical material proofreading and word refinement, which can be finalized with a little time and effort.

On the other hand, this revision of the county gazetteer is a rare cultural event in Pingyang County in recent decades.

For Magistrate Yang, who was in charge of the area, this was a real achievement of "education," a significant accomplishment in his year-end performance review.

Therefore, after seeing the high-quality first draft submitted by Xia Dong, Magistrate Yang was in a great mood and had a very good impression of this young scholar who was efficient and had a skillful writing style. He greatly appreciated him.

With the favor of Magistrate Yang and the opportunistic efforts of Lord He, a good thing soon fell upon Xia Dong—he was personally recommended by Magistrate Yang and became the "tribute student" of Pingyang County this year.

This tribute student was no ordinary person; he was the top student among the local scholars, also known as the "tribute student of the year".

Ordinary scholars, though they were exempt from kneeling before officials and had the privilege of being exempt from some corvée labor, were ultimately just scholars with a degree of academic achievement and could not be considered true officials.

Once someone becomes a tribute student, it not only means they have the qualification to study directly at the Imperial Academy in the capital, but more importantly, being a tribute student is considered half an "official." Even if they don't continue to take the provincial examination to become a successful candidate in the imperial examinations, they can still be directly assigned to remote areas as assistant officials such as county magistrates or registrars after being selected by the Ministry of Personnel.

In addition, tribute students not only received a generous monthly stipend from the imperial court, but their social status in the local area also rose accordingly.

Even the wealthy landowners of Pingyang County would respectfully address the tribute student as "Master," and would never dare to treat him as an ordinary, down-on-his-luck scholar.

However, before the scholars of Pingyang County could recover from their envy of Xia Dong's promotion, Magistrate Yang swiftly dropped another bombshell—to implement the new laws of the imperial court and vigorously promote a martial art called "Five Animal Frolics" throughout the county!

Accompanying the promulgation of the new law was an official decree from the imperial court announcing the imminent reopening of the military examinations.

Not only did the military examinations reopen, but the Great You Dynasty also granted astonishing privileges to those who passed. The new law explicitly stipulated that from then on, those who passed the military examinations would enjoy far greater privileges than those who passed the civil service examinations!

The most direct and touching aspect was the exemption from land tax: a scholar could only be exempt from tax on a maximum of twenty mu of land; while a martial arts scholar could be exempt from tax on a full one hundred mu!

This news caused a huge stir in the gentry circles of Pingyang County.

Any literate person with a modicum of knowledge could see that while the civil service examinations were prestigious and prestigious, the military examinations were the true path to bringing glory to one's ancestors and protecting one's homeland!

Those traditional gentry and landlords, in order to ensure the continuation of their family's interests, had no choice but to grit their teeth and reduce their investment in their children's education and examinations, and instead devote all their wealth to increasing their efforts in training military personnel for the imperial examinations.

Furthermore, the new law is extremely strict: anyone wishing to practice this "Five Animal Frolics" must use a specific medicinal formula. This formula can only be purchased from designated government offices at great expense. Anyone found to be secretly distributing the formula will be punished according to the law, without exception!

Furthermore, all medicinal herbs related to martial arts training are subject to county-wide unified purchase and sale, and can only be bought and sold in officially designated pharmacies; private transactions are also a serious crime.

This was an open conspiracy. The imperial court wanted to strengthen its military while also taking the opportunity to plunder the wealth of local powerful families, thus firmly controlling the military lifeline and the ladder of advancement in the country.

However, as the saying goes, "one who is near the water gets the moon first."

The promulgation of the new law and its implementation at the local level will require a period of overall planning and preparation.

As a favorite of Magistrate Yang, and having already reviewed the relevant confidential files, Xia Dong naturally received subtle hints from the magistrate.

Before the news spread widely among the people and before the price of medicinal herbs in Pingyang County skyrocketed, Xia Dong unhesitatingly took out all his savings and secretly stockpiled a large amount of the necessary tonic herbs in the market ahead of time. He also took advantage of his position in the county government to get his hands on the extremely precious "Five Animal Frolics" medicinal soup recipe.

As for the He family, to which Lord He belongs, they are even more well-informed.

Not only did they make arrangements in this regard early on, but they also stockpiled far more medicinal herbs than in summer and winter. With the help of this new law, they took a big step ahead of other gentry and powerful families in Pingyang County right from the start.

...

...

Admittedly, having a quick and efficient helper at home has made Xia Dong feel much more relaxed, allowing him to focus more on his martial arts training.

In order to win over the hearts of the people, Xia Dong deliberately took advantage of a break and used his remaining influence with Magistrate Yang and Lord He to accomplish a small favor—he had Xiao Hong's family register their few acres of land under his name as a "contribution," thus transferring ownership to him, the newly appointed tribute student.

The taxes levied in the Great You Dynasty were numerous and complicated, causing immense suffering to the peasants at the bottom of society.

Now that Xia Dong, a tribute student with tax-free privileges, is under their protection, Xiao Hong's family has become Xia Dong's tenant farmers. Not only are they exempt from heavy taxes and levies, but their future will naturally be much better than that of ordinary farmers.

Through this operation, Xia Dong took the opportunity to thoroughly investigate Xiao Hong's background and confirm that her family was indeed innocent. Tian Di's move was a combination of kindness and coercion, firmly binding Xiao Hong's family to his cause.

Spiritual practice is a long and arduous path, destined to be filled with hardship and loneliness, and Xia Dong knew he couldn't be in two places at once.

He needs to cultivate "his own people" to handle these mundane matters of food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and social interactions for him.

As for the Qin family, since they have shown only goodwill and even generously sent maids and resources, Xia Dong naturally had no reason to send Xiao Hong away.

Whether this goodwill conceals any ulterior motives or schemes for offspring is not Xia Dong's primary concern for the time being.

In short, all schemes and tricks are futile in the face of absolute power. What he urgently needs now is to improve his strength at all costs.

On the other hand, Xia Dong recalled the confidential materials he had read in the archives and remained deeply wary of the court's grand-scale implementation of the new laws.

All sorts of clues are hinting at a cruel truth: worldly martial arts masters are very likely to be "resources" used by those high and mighty immortal cultivators to aid their cultivation!

If that's the case, why does the imperial court still open up military examinations so widely, even going so far as to offer huge benefits to induce people across the country to practice martial arts?

Is this a power struggle between the imperial court and the immortal sects, or some deeper conspiracy to exploit them?

Summer and winter can't figure it out.

But he was well aware of his situation—he had no spiritual roots and could not embark on the path of cultivation.

Martial arts is currently his only option for transforming into an extraordinary being.

"Whether it's a mountain of knives or a sea of ​​fire ahead, since there's no other choice, I can only continue down this path for now." Xia Dong secretly calculated in his heart, "I'll deal with the future later."

Moreover, he is not entirely without support now.

The title of Gongsheng (贡生) in the civil service examinations allowed him to "walk on two legs."

Even if there are cultivators secretly hunting martial artists to replenish their own power, they usually target those insignificant, unremarkable martial artists with no background first.

He has the official title of the Great You Dynasty as a talisman, which is an excellent protection in itself.

Of course, his original plan was to avoid showing off his profound martial arts skills in front of others and secretly improve his skill level.

Having cleared her mind, Xia Dong finally calmed down completely.

Xia Dong had carefully studied the official secret manual of the "Five Animal Frolics" that was being promoted under the new law.

This is indeed an extremely solid foundational martial arts technique, designed to regulate the five internal organs and stimulate qi and blood. Because Xia Dong already had a foundation in "Crane Stance," he could grasp the "Crane Play" part at a glance and master it very quickly.

However, he was not in a hurry to learn the Five Animal Fist.

He shouldn't try to do too much at once. His primary goal now is to use the abundant medicinal herbs to push the "Crane Shadow Step" to its "perfect" state in one go!

Moreover, the Crane Shadow Step is absolutely his most important means of survival in dangerous situations.

...

...

With Xiao Hong taking care of her daily needs in the yard, Xia Dong no longer had to sit in front of the clay stove every day, covered in dust, to brew medicine.

Xiao Hong was extremely meticulous. Every day, she would simmer the well-prepared "Strengthening the Body and Nourishing the Vitality Soup" until it was rich and flavorful, and then bring it to Xia Dong's door.

This tonic soup truly lives up to its reputation as an official secret medicine; its medicinal power is potent yet gentle.

After drinking a bowl of warm medicinal soup, Xia Dong felt as if an inextinguishable small furnace had been ignited in his abdomen, with a continuous flow of heat spreading through his meridians and limbs.

With the help of this powerful medicine, Xia Dong practiced the Crane Shadow Step day after day in this cramped little courtyard.

At first, his steps were light and agile, but still traceable. When his feet landed, they inevitably stirred up a breeze and crushed the fallen leaves.

Ten days later, the medicinal effects had completely merged with his blood and qi, and he began to move as he pleased.

With each step, the contraction and relaxation of leg muscles and the slight trembling of bones create a strange resonance.

On the twentieth night...

The moonlight, like water, poured down onto the bluestone slabs.

Xia Dong stood in the courtyard with her eyes closed, the medicinal power that had been accumulating in her stomach for many days finally reaching a certain critical point.

A gentle chime resounded from within my consciousness.

He suddenly opened his eyes, his blood and qi surging, and he exerted force with both feet.

Swish!

There was no heavy thud of footsteps, only the faint, sharp rustling of clothes rubbing against the air.

Xia Dong's figure vanished from the spot in an instant, like a cold crane skimming across the water in the night.

He lightly touched a falling, withered leaf with his toes, and the leaf did not break or fall at all; instead, it supported his body and slid along.

He leaped lightly across the stone table, the edge of the water vat, and even the slender bamboo clothesline pole in the courtyard. His speed was so great that his figure left two or three faint afterimages in the moonlight.

Moving like a ghost, still as a virgin.

When he stopped and landed steadily in the center of the courtyard, he didn't even let out a rapid breath. His energy was contained to the extreme, as if the intense exercise just now had never happened.

"This is the perfect state of the Crane Shadow Step..."

Xia Dong felt a surge of joy as he sensed the incredible jumping power and explosive force that seemed to be contained within his legs, ready to erupt at any moment.

"The effect of the Crane Shadow Step is now comparable to the lightness skill described in novels from my previous life."

However, Xia Dong's mentality did not become arrogant. He thought that cultivators were superior, and besides, he didn't even know how many trump cards the Great You government still had, or how deep the water was.

He needs to keep practicing hard!