My cultivation method shines upon all heavens.

Liu Tiezhu led the way in, followed by a group of people.

He glanced in the direction of Lu Ming and Fan Wu. Fan Wu was startled and quickly pulled Lu Ming to his feet, walking towards the martial arts arena next door.

Ahead, three women and six men stood in a row, representing the remaining nine martial arts candidates for this martial arts examination.

Dressed in fine clothes, exuding an air of elegance, the subtle patterns on the fabric shimmered in the sunlight.

"very good."

Liu Tiezhu stood in front of them, cleared his throat, and his beard twitched as he spoke:

"You've all been in the government office for a while now, so you must have a good understanding of the rules. Now, we need to formally assign tasks."

He turned to the people in the front row, and the wrinkles on his face immediately formed into a fawning smile:

"Young Master Wang, Miss Lin, you two can be responsible for guarding the county government office. Young Master Hong, Young Master Zhang..."

After the assignments were distributed, the sons and daughters of the four powerful families were almost all just figureheads, and the so-called "tasks" were practically meaningless.

The real task, I suppose, is simply to cultivate oneself peacefully in the county government office.

"As for Lu Ming, Fan Wu..."

Liu Tiezhu straightened his back, turned to the two men, his smile vanished completely, replaced by a stern, businesslike expression:

"Recently, there have been many demons and bandits in the city. You two remember to set off at dawn and return at dusk, without any slackening."

Lu Ming's lips curled slightly.

Not only are they not given martial arts techniques, but now they are even taking away the time to practice.

Arranging for them to patrol the city streets and hunt down bandits was a way of ensuring his death at the hands of demons.

"What? Didn't you hear me?"

Liu Tiezhu's eyes turned cold, and the obsequiousness he had shown to the sons of powerful families vanished completely. His tone became as hard as a rock.

Behind him, Zhang Yuquan and nine others watched coldly, their lips curled into either overt or covert sneers.

In their view, Yinhu County was becoming increasingly decadent, with just any Tom, Dick, or Harry able to infiltrate the county government.

Do these lowly scoundrels even deserve to be their colleagues?

Fan Wu gently tugged at Lu Ming's sleeve, bowed, and clasped his hands in a fist salute:

"Deputy Squad Leader Liu, we understand."

Liu Tiezhu snorted coldly, turned around, bowed to Zhang Yuquan and the others with a big smile, and led them deeper into the yamen.

Wang Chenghu and the others never even glanced at Lu Ming and his companion.

In their eyes, Lu Ming was nothing more than a lowly commoner who had gotten lucky.

Even if one has some talent, so what?

They will soon realize just how wide the gap between the two families can be due to the family's accumulated wealth and resources over generations.

Only Zhang Yuquan, as he turned to leave, turned his head and gave Lu Ming a cold smile, as if he were looking at a dead man.

"Don't get angry."

Fan Wu took out his pipe, wiped the mouthpiece with his sleeve, and took a couple of puffs.

White smoke billowed from his nostrils, slowly dissipating in the morning light.

"These are people we can't afford to mess with."

He exhaled smoke rings, his voice muffled:

"Those people have the backing of their families, and their cultivation is far beyond ours. At such a young age, they have already mastered the martial arts of the Spirit Scripture level."

"As you know, once martial arts are mastered, one can break through to the next realm. It is said that they have already begun to practice the Yi Jin Jing martial arts and will soon break through again."

"There are even rumors that if the family hadn't been worried about their weak foundation in the early stages and deliberately controlled the supply of elixirs, their cultivation level would be even more terrifying now. And now..."

He took the pipe out of his mouth and tapped the ash on his knee.

"Their respective families will begin to supply them with unlimited amounts of pills, and their cultivation speed will increase rapidly."

He looked at Lu Ming, his eyes filled with helplessness:

"The wealth accumulated by these powerful families over generations is beyond our comprehension."

Lu Ming's eyes remained calm, and he did not respond.

……

Mouse Alley.

A figure frantically fled through the narrow alley.

The figure staggered, bumping into the walls on either side from time to time, his face full of panic.

At the fork in the road, Lu Ming suddenly darted out from the corner of the wall and tripped her with a precise kick.

With a muffled thud, a figure fell headfirst to the ground, splashing mud and water everywhere.

Lu Ming immediately stepped forward, pressed his knee against the other person's back, and twisted his wrists behind his back with both hands, swiftly and neatly subduing the person to the ground.

Fan Wu ran up, panting heavily, bent over and supporting himself on his knees.

"No...don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

The disheveled man beneath her struggled desperately, his hoarse voice filled with a deathly fear:

"I...I just don't want to die!"

"Shut up!"

Lu Ming gave a low shout and pressed his face heavily onto the bluestone slab.

He frowned, looking at Fan Wu with some confusion:

"Something's not right... How could this person have killed dozens of people from the Luo family?"

This fleeing refugee claimed that he broke into the wealthy Luo family's house in the city, robbed them of their valuables, and killed dozens of people before escaping.

Judging from his skills and demeanor, this man was at best just an ordinary refugee who couldn't even kill a chicken.

Fan Wu moved a little closer, squinting at the man's slightly reddened pupils, when suddenly his expression changed and he took several steps back.

"This guy... he was probably bewitched by demons while he was outside the city."

He lowered his voice, his face filled with fear:

"Both their bodies and minds have briefly gone berserk. We need to get away from them quickly... Staying in contact with this kind of person for too long could lead to something ominous."

He retreated to the other side of the alley and waved his hand dismissively.

Lu Ming narrowed his eyes slightly.

He was not familiar with demons, unlike Fan Wu, who had worked in the government office for decades and was well-informed.

But at this moment, he had an inexplicable intuition.

The man's aura made him very uncomfortable, yet it inexplicably attracted him.

"Let's go."

He suppressed the strange feeling in his heart, grabbed the man under his collar, and together with Fan Wu, escorted him back to the yamen.

……

Dusk. Blackwater Alley.

The setting sun bathed the entire alley's bluestone pavement in a dark gold hue.

Lu Ming walked alone on the road, his pace unhurried, but his gaze was somewhat unfocused.

At this moment, he was staring intently at the slowly moving numbers on the scroll beneath his eyes.

[Martial Arts: Azure Ox Manual (Mid-grade Spiritual Scripture; Mastery 3/3000)]

[Fellow cultivators from all heavens: 999999+]

In just a few days, he used up all the Blood-Circulating Pills he had.

With the continuous dissemination of the techniques and the gradual accumulation of experience, the "Green Ox Record" was finally brought to its zenith.

"It's time to find the cultivation method for the Yi Jin Jing (Muscle/Tendon Changing Realm)."

A smile appeared in his eyes, and his steps became lighter.

After wandering around for a while, he arrived at a dilapidated courtyard.

Most of the mud plaster on the courtyard wall has peeled off, revealing the gray-black adobe bricks underneath.

The wooden door was crooked and half-open, and the old Spring Festival couplets pasted on the door frame had been gnawed away by the wind and rain, leaving only a few pieces of red paper.

"This place... if I remember correctly, is this Aunt Zhang's house?"

He was one of his mother's few close friends, and he had accompanied her to the visit several times.

Unexpectedly, the family he was looking for turned out to be the same one.

The sounds of arguing coming from the courtyard immediately brought him back to reality.

"Honey! You...you've taken all this money to gamble! How are Wanjun and I supposed to live?!"

The woman's voice was choked with sobs, hoarse and filled with despair.

"Let go! Let go of me! You bitch, I don't care how you live! Don't get in my way of making big money!"

The man's voice was rough and violent, carrying the savagery of a gambler who had lost everything.

With a loud bang, the wooden door was violently kicked open from the inside.

A middle-aged man with a stubble stumbled out and almost bumped into Lu Ming.

"Are you blind?!"

He steadied himself, pointed at Lu Ming's nose, and began to curse, his spittle almost landing on Lu Ming's face.

Lu Ming glanced at him indifferently, then his right hand shot out like lightning, grabbed the finger pointing at him, and twisted it behind his back.

The middle-aged man's arm was twisted into an awkward angle, forcing him to bend over, and his face instantly turned a deep purplish-red.

"Ouch...it hurts! You..."

He cursed loudly, but the creaking sound from his arm joint grew louder and louder, and the pain made him swallow the rest of his words.

Lu Ming pushed him forward step by step until his face was pressed against the door frame.

"Sir! Sir, spare my life!"

The middle-aged man finally broke down, squeezing out a plea for mercy from his throat.

Lu Ming slowly spoke, "I heard that your family has passed down a martial arts manual, and I'm quite interested. Do you have a handwritten copy?"

The middle-aged man, who had been screaming in agony, suddenly rolled his eyes and, enduring the pain, said:

"Ah, yes, yes! But that's a family heirloom..."

Just as he was about to make an exorbitant demand, Lu Ming suddenly tightened his grip, and the sharp pain in his joints made his face contort in agony.

"Ah... one hundred taels! Take one hundred taels of silver!"

He quickly changed his tune and dared not try anything more.

"Take it out and let me see it."

Lu Ming casually pushed him into the yard.

The middle-aged man staggered a couple of steps to regain his balance, shaking his aching and numb arms, his expression shifting constantly.

But when he noticed Lu Ming's constable uniform, his expression changed slightly. Without saying anything more, he turned and went into the house.

Lu Ming walked into the courtyard.

A little girl of about twelve or thirteen years old stood at the door, disheveled and wearing a faded old shirt, staring straight at him.

Behind her, a plain-looking woman in her thirties was holding her tightly, preventing her from moving around.

Upon seeing Lu Ming, her eyes were filled with surprise and doubt, and her lips parted slightly:

"You...you are..."

Lu Ming nodded to her and said with a smile, "Aunt Zhang."

The woman's mouth gaped open, her face filled with disbelief.

"Brother, there's a dark aura on your chest."

Suddenly, the little girl in the woman's arms reached out and pointed at Lu Ming's chest, her voice clear and abrupt.

Lu Ming narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Wanjun! Don't talk nonsense!"

The woman turned pale with fright, quickly hugged her daughter tighter, and apologized to Lu Ming:

"Young Master Lu... I'm sorry, Wan Jun has always liked to talk nonsense since she was a child, please don't take offense."

Lu Ming smiled slightly: "It's alright, Aunt Zhang can just call me Lu Ming, no need to be so polite."

The woman shrank back and nodded meekly.

Clearly, the intimidating power of Lu Ming's attire was far greater than he had imagined.

At this moment, a middle-aged man came out of the house with a yellowed book in his hand, his face full of ingratiating smiles, and jogged up to Lu Ming:

"Sir, this was obtained by my grandfather through an encounter with a deity; it's no ordinary item! If it hadn't been mostly lost, I would never have sold it for a hundred taels of silver!"

Lu Ming glanced at him, said nothing, and took the book to quickly flip through it.

"Green Snake Hand" is a second-rate martial art at the Skin Tempering Realm, with crude moves and mediocre power.

But when he turned to the last page, his gaze suddenly froze.

A line of bold, vigorous characters comes into view:

"Encountering a fairy in a deserted temple, an unforgettable experience. With this painting, I commemorate the beauty."

Below, a white snake stands upright, surrounded by swirling clouds and mist, its posture elegant.

Although outlined with ink lines, it seems as if it might swim off the paper at any moment.

The swirling clouds, the slightly raised snake head, and even the eyes dotted with ink, all exuded an indescribable spiritual charm.

[Found a low-grade spiritual scripture, "The White Snake's Crossing," which can be refined. Refine it?]