From bone collectors to the supreme ruler of humanity

Wang Agou shuddered, and the rabbit leg in his hand fell to the ground.

Lin Yan stood to the side, still looking shaken.

But his foot had somehow moved forward half a step.

There was something hard under my right foot.

It's that brocade pouch.

The brocade pouch slipped off when Steward Zhao rode by on horseback just now.

Lin Yan glanced at the brocade pouch and saw it fall, but didn't touch it at the time.

Once the guard crushed the stone with one hand, drawing everyone's attention, he used the action of dodging backward to step on it.

The brocade pouch was right under his feet; he could feel its outline even through the sole of his shoe.

"Brother Wang."

Lin Yan crouched down, patted Wang Agou's shoulder, and whispered comfortingly, "That person is gone."

Wang Agou shuddered, turned to look at Lin Yan, and said in a terrified voice, "You...you saw him? He..."

"I saw it." Lin Yan lowered his voice. "It can crush stones into powder. If it wanted to kill us, it would be as easy as crushing ants."

Wang Agou's face turned even paler.

"But it's alright."

Lin Yan continued speaking to Wang Agou, "They don't take us seriously at all. Look, they didn't even glance at us."

"Well...that's true..."

Wang Agou swallowed hard, slowly regaining his strength. He tried to stand up, but found his legs were still weak.

Lin Yan reached out to help him, supporting his arm with her right hand, slightly tilting her body to the side, and gently hooking her right foot so that the brocade pouch slid out from under her foot and was caught by her left hand, which she then tucked into her own bosom.

Wang Agou, oblivious to everything, muttered under his breath, "Damn it...you scared the hell out of me..."

"Brother Wang, who is this person?"

Lin Yan feigned curiosity and asked, "You don't look like an ordinary person."

"How should I know!"

Wang Agou said irritably, "Anyway...anyway, I can't afford to offend them, so I'll stay away from them in the future."

"Big brother is right."

Skinny Monkey's henchman sidled up, "We can't afford to mess with this kind of person."

"Alright, alright, everyone disperse!"

Wang Agou waved his hand, losing all interest in boasting, and turned to leave.

After taking a couple of steps, he turned back, pointed at Lin Yan, and said fiercely, "Don't tell anyone about tonight's events."

"Don't worry, Brother Wang," Lin Yan nodded. "I'll keep my mouth shut."

Wang Agou grunted in agreement, then led a few followers away, hunching his shoulders.

Lin Yan stood under the old tree, watching them walk away, and then waited in the same spot for a while.

Only after confirming that there was no one else around did he reach out and touch his chest.

Two brocade pouches.

One of them was found in a cave.

One is brand new, made of new materials, and exquisitely crafted.

Lin Yan turned around and walked back.

Inside the cave dwelling, the mother and younger sister were already asleep.

Lin Yan quietly closed the door and squatted down in the corner by the dim light.

He took out two brocade pouches from his bosom and placed them on his knees.

Lin Yan brought the two brocade pouches close to the fire and compared them carefully.

The patterns are the same.

Even the way the stitches are finished at the corners is the same.

"Same ancestry, same origin..." These four words popped into Lin Yan's mind.

He opened the old one first.

There was nothing inside.

empty.

However, the lining felt a bit stiff, as if something had been placed there before, leaving traces over time.

He opened a new one.

The rope was untied, and the contents were poured into the palm of the hand.

A token and a booklet.

The token was made of iron, about the size of a palm, with the character "令" (command) engraved on the front and several cloud patterns on the back.

It's quite heavy, and feels cool to the touch.

Lin Yan looked at it over and over again, but couldn't figure it out, so he put it aside.

The booklet was even older, and the cover had four characters written on it: "Fragments of Breathing Exercises".

The handwriting is crooked and messy.

The first page was yellowed and had some tears at the edges.

There is a human figure drawn on it, sitting cross-legged, with several lines on its body marking the path of its breathing.

Lin Yan's heart raced.

Breathing in and out.

This is the foundation of martial arts training.

He forced himself to calm down and continued flipping through the pages.

There are only seven or eight pages in total, each page depicting different postures and breathing techniques, but it is clearly incomplete, with a large section missing from the middle of several pages, as if it had been torn off.

The last page had a few lines of small print:

"Breathing techniques are fundamental, and qi and blood are the foundation. Qi circulates through all meridians, and strength originates from the bones. Beginners can feel the effects of qi and blood within one hundred days, and can reach a higher level within three hundred days."

"However, this is only an incomplete version; the subsequent techniques have been lost. Those who practice it should be cautious."

Lin Yan stared at the few lines of text on the book, her mind racing.

These are the things that Manager Zhao lost.

Manager Zhao was the manager of a business in town, and he was escorting goods with guards. This token and breathing technique either belonged to the business or to him personally.

No matter whose it is, if someone loses something so important, they'll definitely look for it.

Lin Yan stuffed the token and booklet back into the brocade pouch, then tucked both pouches into the closest place to his body.

Then he got up, walked to the corner of the cave dwelling, squatted down, and dug away a layer of loose soil on the ground.

Below is a small pit he dug earlier, originally intended for hiding copper coins.

The copper coins have now been removed, and the pit is still empty.

He put the two brocade pouches inside, covered them with soil, stomped on them twice, and finally moved the broken pottery jar next to him to press it down on top.

"elder brother?"

Lin Xiu's voice came from the kang (a heated brick bed), and she mumbled to Lin Yan in a daze.

"It's okay, go to sleep."

Lin Yan gave a perfunctory reply.

The little girl turned over and fell asleep again.

Lin Yan leaned against the wall, her eyes closed, but she couldn't calm her mind.

The fragments of the breathing exercise.

He memorized those postures and breathing patterns.

But should we practice?

If I practice this and get caught, I'll be doomed.

Not practicing...

He opened his eyes and looked at the dim ceiling of the cave dwelling.

If you don't practice, you'll continue to be a bone collector, continue to be bullied by tax collectors like Zhou Dahu, continue to watch your mother cough up blood, and continue to find it a luxury to let your sister eat sugar figurines.

Lin Yan closed his eyes.

practice.

Practice carefully.

Early the next morning.

Lin Yan had just picked up the ceramic bowl and taken a couple of sips of hot water when a commotion broke out outside.

It wasn't the noisy kind where Zhou Dahu came to collect donations.

It's chaotic.

The entire refugee district was in chaos.

Lin Yan put down her bowl, walked to the door, and looked outside.

A dozen or so constables came down from the official road and split into several teams, now searching house to house.

Zhou Dahu walked at the front, his triangular eyes drooping, his face even more unpleasant than last time.

Two fully armed constables dressed in black followed behind him.

Behind them were several men dressed in short-sleeved shirts, who looked like they were trained fighters.

Lin Yan recognized one of them.

The guard who crushed the stone last night.

He changed his clothes, but his face remained the same, as cold as iron.

"Come out, everyone! Come out, everyone!"

Zhou Dahu shouted at the top of his lungs, "The county government has ordered that a thief stole something valuable last night. A house-to-house search is being conducted today. Anyone who dares to hide it will be punished as an accomplice!"

The refugees crawled out of the cave dwellings, their necks hunched, looking at Zhou Dahu with fear on their faces.

"Sir, we live in a poor place, where would we find any thieves..."

"That's right, sir, we can't even get enough to eat..."