"Keep your body straight."
"Yes, just like that."
On the archery range, Chen Sanshi was patiently instructing Sun Buqi.
This young master wasn't just rich—he'd even paid upfront.
A silver note worth 200 taels. It was the first time Chen Sanshi had ever seen one in his life.
"Whoosh—"
Sun Buqi aimed at the target a hundred paces away and loosed an arrow.
It struck the fourth ring—barely.
Unwilling to accept that, he nocked another arrow and shot again.
This time, it hit the second ring.
"…"
Chen Sanshi had already taught him everything he could.
But after two straight hours of practice, this pampered young master hadn't improved at all.
His posture was right, his stance steady—yet somehow, his arrows always missed their mark.
"Master!"
No matter how many times Chen Sanshi tried to stop him, Sun Buqi insisted on calling him that. "How do you do it?!"
Archery and martial cultivation were not the same.
A martial artist's realm only determined how heavy a bow he could draw.
But the heavier the bow, the harder it was to control.
To hit the bull's-eye at a hundred paces? That was no small feat.
Yet this man before him—not only could he do it, he never missed.
Every single shot struck true.
"How do you do it?"
Chen Sanshi thought for a moment, then said simply, "Mostly, it's just effort. Heaven rewards diligence."
"What a fine saying—Heaven rewards diligence!"
Sun Buqi's eyes lit up as though he'd just grasped a profound truth, confidence burning in his heart.
Compared to close combat, he was far more obsessed with archery.
No matter how high one's martial cultivation was, close-range combat was still a battle of life and death.
But archery—archery could take a man's life from a hundred paces away.
He practiced martial arts only so he could draw heavier bows.
Brimming with enthusiasm, Sun Buqi kept shooting arrow after arrow, refusing to rest.
"What's your name?"
Chen Sanshi finally asked.
The young man had been so focused on learning that he hadn't even given him a chance to ask until now.
Still aiming downrange, Sun Buqi answered casually, "Sun Buqi."
"Sun?"
Chen Sanshi frowned slightly. He had never heard of any wealthy family surnamed Sun in Poyang County.
Then a thought flashed through his mind. "Do you know Sun Li?"
"Of course."
Sun Buqi replied without hesitation, "She's my older sister."
Before Chen Sanshi could react, a familiar voice called out from behind.
"Sun Buqi."
Dressed in crimson, Sun Li stepped into the training yard, her tone sharp and angry.
"Sis, I'm busy right now!"
Sun Buqi quickly dodged aside and pointed at Chen Sanshi. "This is my archery master! He can hit the target from 150 paces away—an absolute legend!"
"?"
Sun Li blinked, momentarily stunned. "What did you just call him?"
"Master," Sun Buqi said matter-of-factly. "What's wrong with that?"
"Little junior brother…"
Sun Li pressed a hand to her forehead, her tone exasperated. "What on earth is going on here?"
"Senior sister, please don't blame him," Chen Sanshi said a bit awkwardly. "I didn't know he was your younger brother. The whole 'master' thing was just for fun, not serious."
"You're Chen Sanshi?!"
Sun Buqi's eyes widened, and then his face broke into an excited grin. "A true prodigy! You've got the body of the Nine Dragons and peerless archery! From now on, I'll call you 'master,' and you can call me 'senior brother'—we'll each have our own titles!"
"My brother's brain doesn't work quite right," Sun Li said helplessly. "Father named him Buqi after the saying 'A gentleman is not a tool,' but he ended up… well, not much of a tool or a gentleman."
"Senior sister, you're too harsh," Chen Sanshi said with a small smile. "Brother Buqi is about the same age as me, yet his cultivation realm is already higher. That alone proves he's exceptional."
"Can two months of martial training compare to three years?"
Sun Li tugged Sun Buqi away. "Junior brother, we still have things to take care of. We'll be going now."
"They're still investigating?"
Chen Sanshi couldn't believe it. Even the Sun family's young master had shown up.
He'd asked around recently and learned that Grand Commander Sun had originally five children, but the first three had all died in battle.
The third child, the most gifted in martial arts, perished in the Xuanwu Garrison battle.
Now, only a son and a daughter remained—Sun Buqi and Sun Li.
Sending his only surviving children to Poyang County… the Grand Commander truly had no fear of loss.
After all, they were both only at the tempering bone stage. Accidents were hardly impossible.
"Boom—!"
A deafening crack split the sky, and a torrential rain poured down.
Chen Sanshi hurried through the downpour toward the apothecary and carried away two clay jars.
Each jar was filled with the medicinal soak he had preordered.
Two jars per bath—worth 50 taels of silver.
If not for Sun Buqi's generous payments, he couldn't have afforded even one.
He poured the medicine from both jars into the wooden tub, then mixed in cool water until the brew turned a deep, inky black.
Chen Sanshi stripped off his clothes and jumped in.
"Ah—hiss!"
The medicine and water were both cool to the touch, yet the moment they met his skin, it felt like boiling water—like liquid fire mixed with chili oil—burning every inch of his flesh.
The fierce medicinal power forced its way through his pores, seeping into muscle and bone.
"Ah!"
Following the physician's instructions, Chen Sanshi sat cross-legged in the tub and began circulating the Haoran Breathing Method.
Even so, he couldn't last more than five minutes before he leapt out in agony.
His entire body was flushed red, swollen from head to toe.
Grabbing his plum-blossom spear, he rushed into the courtyard to practice his spear technique, using the circulation of his qi and blood to absorb the remaining medicinal energy.
Only then did the pain begin to fade.
When it finally subsided completely, he returned to the tub and continued the cycle.
He repeated this over and over until the bath's medicinal potency was spent.
The pain was unbearable—but the effect on his cultivation was remarkable.
He bathed in medicine once every three days.
Before long, most of his savings were gone.
But his progress was undeniable.
[Skill: Undying Golden Serpent Spear (Upper Scroll) (Beginner)]
[Progress: 58/500]
[Effect: Dragon Elephant Blood; Nine-Dragon Active Tendons]
"The speed's slowing down, huh?"
Chen Sanshi frowned. Even though he knew his improvement was already far faster than ordinary cultivators, he still wasn't satisfied.
After all, war could break out any day. No soldier ever complained about having too much strength.
"That's about enough."
As the days passed, the uproar over Medicine Valley gradually died down.
After observing for several days and confirming that no one was watching him, Chen Sanshi decided it was time.
He was nearly broke anyway—this was the perfect moment to figure out how to use the immortal treasure and make the most of the spoils he'd taken.
After lunch, he slipped quietly out of the Thousand-Household Division's camp, took a long detour through a grove, and climbed over the wall into his old house at Swallow-Edge Village.
He retrieved the stash he had hidden there—herbs, spiritual grain, a medicine grinder, jars, and medical scrolls.
Basically, everything he'd managed to carry away that night.
"Immortal treasure…"
"Spiritual grain."
From his deduction, the flame from the immortal treasure likely had the ability to remove the spiritual grain's poison while preserving its essence.
But the flame produced by the treasure was no ordinary fire—it was far too hot.
Could an iron pot or clay cauldron even withstand such heat?
Chen Sanshi tossed a handful of spiritual grain into the pot and poured in water.
Then he packed the stove with firewood and coated the top layer with a thin film of lamp oil.
Striking a spark with a fire striker, he lit it.
"Boom—!"
A crimson blaze erupted, the room's temperature soaring instantly—as if late autumn had turned to midsummer in the blink of an eye.
The water in the pot boiled almost instantly.
"Hissss—!"
But just as quickly, the bottom of the pot turned red-hot and melted through, vapor and steam bursting outward as the liquid vanished in seconds.
The whole room filled with steam until the flames consumed the wood and died out.
Just as Chen Sanshi suspected.
An ordinary iron pot couldn't withstand the strange fire produced by lamp oil.
No point in trying a clay pot either—it'd shatter in minutes.
"What if I burn the spiritual grain directly?"
"Isn't burning it with strange fire also a form of refinement?"
He thought it over for a moment, then acted immediately, ready to test the idea firsthand.