I Alone Devour All Under Heaven

Chapter 4

In his previous life, Mo Qian had spent years working as a social animal and had long since lost the patience for dealing with someone this transparent.

Li Chong saw that Mo Qian seemed not to have heard the mockery at all and remained standing in his Round Pile without reaction, and his anger surged. "Mo Qian, I am talking to you! Can you hear me? You have no talent. You deserve to be doing chores for the rest of your life. Who do you think you're impressing with this act?"

Li Chong saw that Mo Qian still paid him no mind, and for a moment he could not contain his fury. He was just about to make a move when Kong Bin suddenly gripped his shoulder.

"Brother, let him practice his and we'll practice ours. Why pick a fight with him? If things get physical and someone gets hurt, you'll be the one punished."

"Brother Bin, look at him. I spoke to him and he acted as though he didn't hear a word."

Kong Bin glanced at Mo Qian and noticed that Mo Qian's head was steaming and his Round Pile stance was quite well-formed. A flicker of surprise crossed his face. "The assessment is almost upon us. Don't cause trouble."

After Kong Bin finished speaking, he moved to a quiet corner of the yard and began standing in his stance.

Zhang Zheng patted Li Chong on the shoulder and said: "Our goal is to be promoted to apprentice. Nothing else matters."

After Zhang Zheng finished speaking, he stood not far from Kong Bin and began to practice as well.

Li Chong glared at Mo Qian's back, spat on the ground, and had no choice but to take his own stance.

Although he played the part of the arrogant one in front of Mo Qian, he was in truth the least capable of the three.

Kong Bin was the tough, quiet type with the sharpest mind and the best talent. He was the core of the group. Zhang Zheng had a quick and clever mind, full of ideas.

Li Chong mostly just followed along. Had he not possessed some measure of martial talent, Kong Bin and Zhang Zheng would have had little reason to keep him around.

Mo Qian paid Kong Bin and the other two no attention whatsoever and kept his mind fixed entirely on his own affairs.

It was not until the sky had fully brightened that the errand disciples in the dormitory rose one after another and headed to the canteen in the front yard for breakfast. Mo Qian followed the group and left the courtyard.

Mo Qian held a bowl of porridge and two steamed buns, crouched in a corner, and swept the food clean in short order.

Even so, he still felt an emptiness in his stomach.

Two steamed buns and a bowl of porridge had gone down like water into a bottomless pit.

"So it turns out it would be like this?"

Mo Qian felt that his appetite was unusually strong that morning. He blinked and immediately understood the reason.

Because his practice that morning had been real practice. Although he had practiced before, it had not worked at all.

But now it was different. He had the experience of the entry-level Five Tigers and Sheep Knife in his mind.

He was practicing according to formal entry-level martial arts, so it was far more exhausting than the original empty-framed training.

So, having a strong appetite was actually a good sign, which meant that he was on the right path.

But this was also a problem. If he continued to consume like this and could not supplement himself through food, his body would fall into deficit.

Mo Qian put his empty bowl into a large wooden basin the size of a millstone not far away, where the kitchen servants would wash the daily bowls and chopsticks.

Mo Qian turned out of the canteen yard through the corner gate, walked through several corridors, turned east in front of a screen wall, and after walking straight for a while, he heard the faint sound of a horse blowing through its nose.

Mo Qian walked into the stable, and Old Man Sun, who was in charge of the stable, had already started soaking the fodder.

Old Man Sun was over fifty years old, his back had begun to hunch, and the top of his head, ringed by gray hair, was already bald, revealing a shiny crown.

He had also been an errand disciple once. He had not been selected as an apprentice, and so he had worked as an errand hand at Yuanshun Escort Agency for the rest of his life.

When Mo Qian came in, Old Man Sun glanced at him briefly and continued with his work.

Neither he nor Mo Qian was a talkative person.

Old Man Sun actually liked Mo Qian quite a bit. He was honest and without tricks. Old Man Sun had privately thought that if Mo Qian was not selected in the coming assessment, he would stay on in the stable and make a fine helper.

Old Man Sun had never entertained the idea that Mo Qian might actually be selected as an apprentice. After all, moving from errand disciple to apprentice was no easy matter.

That selection was conducted by Xiao Zongting, the chief instructor of the escort agency.

That stubborn old man would show no mercy to anyone.

"Old Sun, I would like to take a half-day leave." Mo Qian stood beside Old Man Sun and said respectfully.

Old Man Sun frowned. Mo Qian had been ill for several days not long ago and had already been delayed. Now he was asking for leave again.

Old Man Sun turned his head and looked at Mo Qian with an odd expression. Just as he was about to speak, Mo Qian smiled and cut him off, saying: "Don't worry, I genuinely have some private matters to attend to, I am not trying to slack off. You only need to see to the fodder, and leave the horse manure to me. I will be back in the afternoon to deal with it."

Old Man Sun's words died in his throat. Looking at Mo Qian's smiling face, he did not know what to say. After a pause, he said simply: "Go."

"Thank you, Old Man Sun." Seeing that Old Man Sun was willing to relent, Mo Qian acknowledged the reply and walked out.

Old Man Sun watched Mo Qian's retreating figure and muttered: "After that fever, the boy's brain seems to have sharpened quite a bit. He never used to talk this smoothly."

Mo Qian left Yuanshun Escort Agency and walked east along the street.

Errand disciples were naturally given days off, with two days free each month without any deduction from their monthly salary. But Mo Qian had already used three days while he was ill.

He was asking for leave again today, and Old Man Sun could have refused him outright.

However, Mo Qian also understood that the original occupant of his body had always been diligent, and Old Man Sun held him in good regard because of it. It was that goodwill alone that gave Mo Qian the confidence to speak up.

Mo Qian's home was a fair distance from Yuanshun Escort Agency.

The original body's parents had long since passed, leaving him entirely alone in the world.

The family had once owned a few acres of thin farmland, but they had all been sold off to pay for his father's medical treatment, and his father had died nonetheless.

After his father fell ill, the family sank deeper into poverty, and what little remained of their relatives stopped coming around.

Mo Qian now had nothing but an empty and crumbling house.