Eternal Life Begins with Learning

"A bowl of plain congee and three sesame flatbreads."

Early in the morning, Chu Mu sat at a table set up by the vendor, placed his sword down, and casually ordered.

"Right away, Lord Official! Just a moment."

The vendor responded at once and busied himself, ignoring the other customers waiting nearby to immediately bring Chu Mu his food.

"Lord Official, let me be the first to congratulate you on your promotion."

The vendor was old, but he still bowed, smiling obsequiously as he flattered Chu Mu.

Chu Mu raised an eyebrow, looking at the vendor with some curiosity. The man had white hair and a wrinkled face, appearing to be at least in his fifties or sixties.

’Has news of my promotion spread so far already?’

The old vendor quickly explained, "My nephew just recently filled a vacancy, and besides, you often eat breakfast here, Lord Official..."

Chu Mu nodded without another word. The old vendor didn’t dare say more either and returned to his stall with a smile to continue calling out to customers.

"Brother Mu, I knew I’d find you here."

Chu Mu had just taken a spoonful of congee when Xu Yuan’s voice reached him. Xu Yuan then plopped down beside him, grabbed a flatbread, and shoved it into his mouth.

"Another three flatbreads and a bowl of congee."

Chu Mu called out to the vendor before turning to Xu Yuan. Seeing him gobbling down the food, Chu Mu couldn’t help but frown and say irritably, "You brat, slow down. No one’s going to steal it from you!"

"I haven’t slept well in days, and pulling an all-nighter yesterday has me starving."

After swallowing the flatbread in his mouth, Xu Yuan glanced around before looking at Chu Mu mysteriously. "Brother Mu, you’ll never guess what I’ve been up to these past few days!"

"What’s up? Been on corpse duty?"

Chu Mu took a sip of congee and said casually.

"Brother Mu, how’d you know?"

Xu Yuan exclaimed, his face full of curiosity.

"I happened to run into Squad Leader Wu Changyun bringing the corpse back a few days ago. We chatted a bit."

"Brother Mu, you won’t believe it. That old guy’s been dead for a year, but his body is still like a living person’s!"

"These last few days, a few of us..."

"So, they put the old man’s body in the dungeon, and you’ve been guarding it this whole time?"

Chu Mu asked casually after getting the gist of it.

"Right. They cleared out the whole dungeon just for that old man’s corpse. Our entire squad has been guarding it..."

Chu Mu frowned. "Our squad... we should be short-handed right now, shouldn’t we?"

During that mountain operation to exterminate the bandits, his squad had lost more than half its members. Even though the order for replacements had been given, there was no way they could be back to full strength in just a few days.

"We are short-handed!"

Xu Yuan complained bitterly, "There are less than twenty of us in the squad. We’ve been eating, sleeping, and shitting at the office. We can’t even get a good night’s sleep!"

"If a few new guys hadn’t trickled in over the past couple of days, I wouldn’t have even been able to come out for a meal!"

Chu Mu asked, "Has there been any activity these past few days?"

"What activity could there be!"

Xu Yuan shook his head. "I heard the county issued a Wanted Order. The portraits are posted all over town!"

"If I were one of those bandits, I’d have hidden deep in the mountains by now. Why would I dare come to the Inspection Office to snatch a corpse!"

"That’s not necessarily true."

"We practically massacred all the villagers in Qili Village and dug up their master’s grave. With that kind of blood feud, and those bandits being so skilled in Martial Arts, it’s unlikely they’d just hide like cowards, right?"

Chu Mu shook his head. ’When one carries a sharp blade, the intent to kill arises naturally.’

Those with exceptional Martial Arts are often bold because of their great skill.

Besides, the battle in the mountains had already proven how pathetic the Inspectors were.

If it weren’t for a few experts from the Inspection Office and the Thousand Households’ Personal Guards holding the line, they probably would have been wiped out completely.

’Putting myself in their shoes, if I were one of the bandits, I might be wary of the Inspectors, but I definitely wouldn’t be afraid, and I certainly wouldn’t run and hide.’

"I heard from the Squad Leader that the old man only returned to Qili Village about seven years ago."

Chu Mu frowned. "Seven years ago?"

"Yup."

Xu Yuan nodded. "I heard the old man was originally from Qili Village. He went out to make a name for himself when he was young and was never heard from again, until he came back seven years ago."

At this point, Xu Yuan seemed to remember something and leaned closer to Chu Mu conspiratorially. "Brother Mu, take a guess. How old was that old man?"

Chu Mu’s pupils contracted. He whipped his head toward Xu Yuan. "How old?"

"According to the captive we took, the old man left Qili Village over a hundred years ago, and he was already in his twenties back then."

Chu Mu’s heart trembled, his shock unconcealable. "He lived for over a hundred and twenty years?"

"Right!"

Xu Yuan nodded, smacking his lips. "Lived for over a hundred and twenty years!"

"I heard he was still full of vigor when he returned to Qili Village. They say a few years ago a huge tiger wandered into the village, and the old man killed it with a single palm strike..."

"And they say his death was really strange, too. It was as if he knew he was going to die. He had his disciples prepare everything a few days in advance and even gave them his last instructions..."

"Something from over a hundred years ago..."

Chu Mu frowned. "No one can be certain about that, right?"

Xu Yuan shook his head. "They say they confirmed it by checking the clan’s genealogy records. Don’t know if it’s true or not."

Chu Mu put down his chopsticks. Hearing such a secret, he lost his appetite. His mind was in turmoil, a raging tide that was impossible to calm.

Over one hundred and twenty years!

Over one hundred and twenty years old!

What did that even mean?

’Can Martial Arts lead to long life?’

’Or... did that old man possess the secret to longevity?’

Chu Mu’s eyes gleamed, and his breathing seemed to quicken.

He suddenly understood.

Why, even after the bandits were exterminated, the Thousand Households Li Jinghong had suddenly led men into the mountains, insisting on digging up the grave and exhuming the corpse!

And after exhuming it, why he’d had it transported back, spread the news, set a trap, and posted Wanted Orders!

To go to such great lengths... the reason was probably this!

Over one hundred and twenty years old!

’If I were the Thousand Households, I’d probably do the same thing!’

Chu Mu gently touched the wound on his abdomen, feeling the faint, numb sting. Any thought he’d had of taking more time to recuperate had vanished completely.

’In this world, there’s no such thing as a free lunch!’

He had been a nobody at the Inspection Office for over a month, with no one giving him a second glance and no opportunities coming his way.

But one operation to exterminate bandits in the mountains, a first display of his skills, a life-or-death battle—and he had earned Wu Shuo’s appreciation, obtained the True Martial Arts he’d always dreamed of, leaped up the military hierarchy, and crossed a social class.

But if he hadn’t risked his life in that fight, would he have reaped such rich rewards?

Obviously not.

He would have just ended up like the original owner of his body’s father: decades in the Inspection Office, still just an ordinary Inspector, unknown, without influence. When he died... he was just dead.

And now... it seemed another opportunity had appeared...

A massive opportunity!

Even though this opportunity... seemed to have very little to do with him...

...if he didn’t get involved, his chances would be absolutely zero!

...