Chapter 4

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Wang Qiang brought everyone to the small path they had walked on yesterday. On one side was a dense forest, and on the other side was a tall stone wall. This dirt road was at least over a kilometer long.

Previously, Wang Qiang had received Yang Xiu’s message. He expressed that he had high hopes for Lu Yu, so he asked Wang Qiang to arrange a good patrol time and patrol position for Lu Yu.

The patrol time and patrol position were quite crucial to their stamina. For example, it was usually the best to patrol in the morning and evening. There was no need to wake up before dawn or stay up late in the night. Moreover, there was still sufficient time for cultivation.

Next was the patrol position. In some places, there were too many people and too many things to do, so it was tiring to patrol at those places. While in other places, it was empty and unfrequented, so one could just check the surrounding on one spot without walking too far.

Under Yang Xiu’s instructions, Wang Qiang arranged for Lu Yu’s team to be on the outer wall of the west courtyard’s side gate. This side was the side of the Han family’s compound that was close to the forest. Usually, no one would come here, so the patrol team only had to be on guard against wild beasts running out of the forest. Basically, they did not have anything to do.

Standing at the courtyard’s entrance, Lu Yu could see the entire patrol route. He could see the end of it at a glance. His shift was simply too easy.

Moreover, his shift was arranged in the morning, which was closed to noon and not long before lunch. Early in the morning, there was time for him to cultivate. When he was tired from cultivating, he could go out for a walk. After that, they could eat. How comfortable!

However, the other people’s patrolling tasks were not too different. After all, they were only temporary courtyard guards. They were not the official courtyard guards of the Han family. They could only walk around the outermost perimeter of the Han family compound.

Even the straw shed that everyone lived in was located at the periphery of the Han family compound. Even the martial arts practice field that everyone cultivated in was still located at the periphery. The Han family disciples, and the inner court guards had other places for cultivation.

Lu Yu and the others were left to patrol on the spot. Wang Qiang told them that when someone came to take over the shift, they could leave for the canteen to eat. Then, he would take the others and leave the place.

Wang Qiang also gave each of them a whistle. In case of emergency or danger, they could blow the whistle, but they could not blow it carelessly. If they were caught for misusing the whistle, they would be severely punished.

Among the four-man team, the other three recognized Lu Yu as the person who had never been beaten up during the fist technique practice. For some reason, the three of them were obviously closer to each other while isolating Lu Yu.

Lu Yu did not have any intention of getting close to them. According to the requirements of the mission, he just needed to patrol on this dirt road. The three of them followed behind Lu Yu and whispered to each other. No one knew what they were talking about.

Just when Lu Yu was feeling a little hungry, the person who was going to take over the shift finally appeared. He was wearing a dark green embroidered Han character suit with a short knife on his waist. He should be the official courtyard guard.

The four of them ran towards the person delightedly. The three of them asked him if he was here to take over the shift. The person ignored them and walked directly to a tree. With a strong leap, he jumped four to five meters high and easily landed on a thick branch.

Then, he lay on the tree and began to sleep. He looked like someone who was looking for a place to sleep.

The three of them saw that he did not respond to them. After muttering to themselves for a while, they all agreed that this person was the person to take over the shift. Therefore, they all left together and went to the cafeteria to eat.

Lu Yu saw that the few of them had left, but he did not follow them. He stayed where he was and looked as if he was still waiting for the shift replacement.

After a while, the person on the tree said, “Why don’t you go with them?”

“Because the person that take over the shift has not come yet. I can’t leave.”

“Am I not here to take over the shift? You can leave now.”

“No, you’re not the guy.”

“I am here to take over the shift!”

“Alright, I’m leaving then.”

Lu Yu turned around and left. He walked so fast that the person on the tree did not have time to react. By the time he reacted, Lu Yu had already walked some distance away.

“Eh, wait, you are interesting!” The person jumped down from the tree and landed in front of Lu Yu, blocking his way.

“Tell me! What did you mean by what you said just now?”

Seeing that the man stopped him from leaving, Lu Yu had no choice but to explain to him.

“You said it before, ‘Am I not here to take over the shift?’ This is a question. It can be understood as you are here to take over the shift, or you’re not. So, I refuted your words.”

“Then you explicitly said that you are here to take over the shift and told me your identity. Then I believed that you are here for the next shift, and not the examiner who was sent to check if we were patrolling properly.”

“Aren’t you afraid that I’m a disguise while letting me off so easily?” that person asked.

“It’s your clothes that tell me that you’re a member of the Han family. There’s a circle of exquisite dark green embroidery around the word ‘Han’ on your chest. That should be the symbol of the Han family’s inner court guards’ clothes.”

“I’ve seen it on Instructor Yang’s clothes. If an outsider can obtain this cloth and disguise himself to enter the Han family’s courtyard, then his strength must be far greater than mine.”

“Just like how you can directly jump down from a tree eight to nine meters away to block my path. If such an expert wants to kill me or wants to sneak into the compound without me knowing, it’ll be as easy as flipping a hand. I won’t have any chance to resist or stop him.”

“Hahaha, a beautiful deduction, you’ve passed! You can go back and eat now. In the future, I’ll be in charge of taking over this path. The others will all be fakes.”

In fact, the most important thing was that when that person said, “I’m here to take over the shift”, Lu Yu received the game message that the mission was completed. That was why Lu Yu was sure that he was the real one.

Part of the subsequent deduction was based on his previous guess. Another part was based on the process of deducing the answer, or rather, an explanation.

That person threw a wooden token to Lu Yu and returned to the tree to continue sleeping.

When Lu Yu brought the wooden token to the canteen, there was already a row of people standing outside. They were all punished for leaving early and not completing the handover of the patrol mission.

“Those who left without permission, stand aside and wait to be punished. You are not allowed to eat lunch today.” Wang Qiang said as he stood at the entrance of the canteen.

Lu Yu handed the wooden token over. Wang Qiang was a little surprised when he saw the wooden token. “I didn’t expect that there would be someone who could pass the test this year. Last year, only Guard Yang passed the test. Now we have you this year, not bad kid.”

“As expected of Guard Yang’s favorite candidate. Alright, let’s go in and eat! As a reward for passing the test, you can have a roast chicken.” Wang Qiang took the token and waved his hand to let Lu Yu in.

Hearing that Lu Yu had actually completed the test and was able to eat the fragrant roast chicken, everyone had mixed feelings. There was envy, jealousy, and resentment.

“What are you looking at? Stand up straight!” Wang Qiang shouted loudly when he saw the others looking over.

Meat was an essential food for practicing martial skills, practicing fist techniques, and strengthening qi-blood. Every martial art cultivator had to eat a lot of meat every day to maintain the nutritional consumption during cultivation.

The roast chicken was just an ordinary option, but it was abundant and had a lot of meat.

No matter how rich the Han Residence was, it was impossible for them to provide everyone with medicinal meals to replenish their qi-blood every meal. They only provided the medicinal meal to the new recruits for free during the first month of their cultivation.

As most of the new recruits were poor children who had not eaten their fill for a long period of time, their bodies were lacking in qi-blood. The absorption effect of eating medicinal meals would be better, and it would be able to replenish their qi-blood that had been lacking for many years.

Moreover, the children were still in the development. A month’s worth of medicinal diet could greatly stimulate the children’s qi-blood, improve their physical condition, and promote their development. It would greatly improve their training.

After becoming an official courtyard guard, if they still wanted to use medicinal food to speed up their training, they would need to spend their own money to buy medicinal cuisine or medicinal herbs in the canteen.

Lu Yu ate a roasted chicken and two bowls of porridge. He only stopped when he felt nauseous and left the canteen.

This was what that guard had told him before he left. “If you want to become an official courtyard guard as soon as possible, eat more medicinal porridge.”

He supported himself against the wall and returned to his room. After lying on his bed, he immediately logged out of the game. He didn’t feel very comfortable after eating too much.

After he logged out of the game, the feeling of being full disappeared without a trace. Instead, he felt a little hungry because he didn’t eat much in the morning.

He took out a steak from the refrigerator, turned on the induction cooker, and fried a few steaks. He had planned to save two steaks for dinner.

For some unknown reason, he felt that his appetite was particularly good. After eating all the steaks, he only felt full after drinking a bottle of fruit juice.

Di ~ he looked at the message on his phone. It was a notification from the bank. With a simple glance, he knew that it was the payment for the following chapters of his novel.

Lu Yu was a professional novelist, also known as a freelancer. He started writing novels in university and wrote a few novels that were not so popular. The money he earned from writing novels could support his daily life, and he still had some savings.

Coincidentally, just as Lu Yu finished writing a novel and planned to rest for a month, Su Peng sent him a gaming helmet.

Lu Yu had nothing to do. Because of the request from Su Peng and other reasons, he decided to play the game.

After eating, he read some news and went to the toilet. After resolving his physiological needs, he laid back on the bed and continued playing.

When he put on his helmet, Lu Yu was thinking that if he ate, slept, and ate every day, would he become a fat man after a month?

He didn’t have time to think too much. He returned to the game world.

The sound of gongs rang out. Lu Yu walked calmly to the martial arts practice field and began his afternoon training (AFK).

Among the people in the practice field, Lu Yu was the only one who had eaten lunch. When the others were training in the afternoon, they all looked listless. Their punches were soft. For some unknown reason, there was no one around Lu Yu.

Everyone looked at Lu Yu with complicated emotions in their eyes.

Lu Yu, who was in AFK mode, did not notice this situation because he was checking the 50 experience points that he had obtained.

Opening up his personal attributes, he discovered that experience points could be added to his realm, qi-blood, cultivation technique, and skills.

To advance from mortal realm to first level of body refining realm required 100 experience points. The fist technique that he had practiced for so long did not seem to be of any help to level up his realm.

It required 100 experience points to increase one point of qi-blood. The experience bar for cultivation technique and skills was equal to the experience bar. One experience point could increase 1 point for cultivation techniques and skills.

According to Lu Yu’s understanding, the realm should be the level of player in the traditional game. Cultivation techniques might be skill trees. Leveling up cultivation techniques could gain more skills. As for skills, they did not seem to be of much use right now. After all, there was no chance for him to fight someone.

He did not have enough experience points to level up his realm, and he was not in a hurry to level up his skills. His cultivation technique was just a little bit away from leveling up. In any case, he would use up his experience points sooner or later. The earlier he used it, the earlier he could increase his strength.

After thinking about it, Lu Yu added the experience points to his cultivation technique.

[ After the hard work, the Fierce Tiger Fist Style has broken through to the second level, qi-blood + 5 ]

[ New skill comprehended — Fierce Tiger Fist-Fierce Tiger Descend (beginner) ]

Then, Lu Yu heard a system notification.

[ After the hard work, the player has broken through the mortal realm and reached the first level of the body refining realm, qi-blood +2 ]

“Leveling up my cultivation technique could help me level up my realm?” Lu Yu was deep in thought..