Eternal Life Begins with Learning

"An order from the Thousand Households!"

"Slay every rebel—man, woman, or child! Uphold the law!"

"An order from the Thousand Households..."

Shouts echoed through the forest. Having been ambushed repeatedly, the Inspectors were tormented to the point of madness, each one now venting their frustrations with wild abandon.

Even those who couldn’t stomach it didn’t dare to disobey a direct military order.

Man, woman, or child—it made little difference to the edge of a blade.

Chu Mu struggled to his feet. He had no intention of pursuing the stragglers. Besides, his body was in no condition to do anything.

He only stood to guard against any unforeseen attacks. Victory was within reach, and it would be a true disaster to be finished off by a stray blade now.

"Don’t run!"

"Stop!"

The few Inspectors near Chu Mu, who had been timid and cowering ever since they entered the mountains, now seemed to have gotten a shot of adrenaline. Seeing the old and weak fleeing, they charged forward, howling.

"You’re not going after them?"

Chu Mu glanced at Xu Yuan and asked.

"I have to stay and watch over you, Brother Mu."

Xu Yuan said, lifting his chin nonchalantly.

Chu Mu said no more. He took a couple of steps back and leaned against a tree.

Time trickled by. Before long, the panicked shouts and agonized cries in the forest gradually faded into silence.

At least, from where Chu Mu stood, the chase was over. All he could see were the silhouettes of Inspectors returning, each carrying a severed head.

"You’re injured?"

As Chu Mu weakly surveyed his surroundings, Wu Shuo’s voice suddenly sounded beside him.

Chu Mu turned his head, and before he could get a clear look, Wu Shuo was already standing before him.

"This dressing is useless. You won’t last if you can’t stop the bleeding."

Wu Shuo frowned, then tore a large strip of cloth from beneath his own armor.

"Stand still. I’ll re-dress it for you."

With that, Wu Shuo reached out, unwrapped the makeshift bandage Chu Mu had applied, and began to dress the wound again with care.

"I learned this bandaging technique from Doctor Li back in town."

"I’ve had plenty of practice over the years. You’re a lucky kid..."

Chu Mu was surprised. "Doctor Li is willing to teach his Medical Skill to outsiders?"

"He wouldn’t teach his family’s secret techniques, of course. But you can learn the basics if you pay him a little."

"Martial Arts is all about Qi Blood, so you have to understand the body’s structure, Meridians, and acupoints..."

"If nothing else, when you get hurt, knowing this stuff can help you save your own skin..."

Chu Mu nodded, committing Wu Shuo’s advice to memory.

"You’ve got three heads already, kid?"

Wu Shuo said, glancing at the two heads beside Chu Mu.

Chu Mu nodded, then pointed to the burly man’s head. "He was on the verge of death and still managed to slash me. I couldn’t dodge it."

"You must’ve gotten careless, kid."

Wu Shuo didn’t even look up. "You were lucky this time. Some of the more sinister Martial Arts can grant a burst of Combat Power far beyond normal right before death. Others can even let a man feign death..."

"Always remember: when you fight someone, no matter if it’s a man, woman, or child, you can’t let your guard down for even a second..."

As he spoke, Wu Shuo sighed with emotion. "My old team leader... he got soft-hearted for just a moment. A young kid with a dagger got him right in the heart..."

"Once you put on this uniform, a lot of things are no longer up to you."

Once he finished with the dressing, Wu Shuo took two heads from a nearby Inspector and tossed them in front of Chu Mu.

"Here are two more for you. Turn them all in together later. It should be enough to make team leader."

Chu Mu froze. He was about to speak, but Wu Shuo cut him off. "I’m a Squad Leader. I don’t have much use for more heads."

Chu Mu started, "Squad Leader..."

"I said take them, so take them! Stop being so wishy-washy!"

Wu Shuo cut him off again. Without waiting for a reply, he barked at the few Inspectors with him, and they walked away.

Chu Mu was speechless. He looked at the two heads on the ground and couldn’t help but feel a sense of resignation.

"Don’t worry, Brother Mu. I just asked around. Li Gang is probably going to be stripped of his post, so no one will dare to make trouble for you."

"That’s not what I’m worried about!"

Chu Mu waved his hand dismissively. He knew without thinking that since Wu Shuo had given him the heads so openly, no one would dare cause trouble over it.

’What I’m worried about is the debt!’

’First, he gave me Martial Arts. Then he dressed my wounds. And now, he’s giving me these two heads to push me into a team leader position.’

’With a debt this large, many things really will be out of my hands.’

"Let’s go, they’re gathering. Brother Mu, I’ll help you over."

Before Chu Mu could dwell on it, Xu Yuan glanced at the woods nearby, took his arm, and helped him toward the gathering point for the Inspectors.

With the slaughter at an end, this campaign to enter the mountains and suppress the rebels could, without a doubt, be considered to have ended in Perfection.

Heads were piled one on top of another, the blood staining a large patch of snow, forming what looked like a gruesome little mountain.

And for the sake of these heads...

At the start of the campaign, there had been nearly two hundred Inspectors. Now, Chu Mu glanced around and estimated that only seventy or eighty remained. A great many of them were wounded.

More than half the force was dead or wounded, yet the Inspector column hadn’t broken. The credit for that, clearly, belonged to the terrifying deterrent.

One man deserts, his entire family pays the price. In a small county town where everyone’s lives were intertwined, such a threat was brutally effective.

Their pace leaving the mountains was much faster than when they had entered.

The chase had lasted for nearly a full day and night. For most of the Inspectors, it was likely a terrifying nightmare they would never be able to forget.

Now that the ordeal was finally over, an urgent desire to return home was on everyone’s mind.

Being seriously injured, Chu Mu naturally couldn’t move very quickly, and it wasn’t long before he began to fall behind.

Fortunately, an order soon came down for the column to slow its pace, so Chu Mu and the other wounded didn’t fall too far behind.

"Brother Mu..." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

As Chu Mu struggled onward, Xu Yuan suddenly bumped his shoulder and pointed toward a bamboo grove off to the side.

Chu Mu instinctively followed his gaze. His pupils contracted, and he slightly raised the Long Saber in his hand.

But once he saw them clearly, Chu Mu relaxed a bit.

"Let’s go!"

Chu Mu waved his hand.

"Brother Mu?"

Xu Yuan was puzzled.

Chu Mu shook his head. "Let’s go. Don’t cause any more trouble."

"Oh..."

Xu Yuan nodded. He couldn’t resist another glance back at the woods, but he didn’t say anything else. He silently supported Chu Mu, and they continued on as if nothing had happened.

"Brother, they didn’t see us, did they?"

"I think they did. Look, they’re looking this way..."

"Brother, I’m scared..."

"Don’t be afraid. Big brother will protect you."

"They’re gone, brother. They didn’t see us."

"Let’s go..."

"Let’s go find Brother Xiu. Second Uncle said he’s still alive..."

In the quiet of the forest, faint whispers could be heard.

Not long after Chu Mu had staggered away with Xu Yuan’s help, a pile of snow under a tree was suddenly pushed aside. Two small, thin figures crawled out. A larger hand pulled a smaller one, and they quickly vanished into the dense woods, leaving only a trail of tiny footprints in the snow...

...