From the second day onwards, Chen Shouyi resumed his normal routine of daily training.

Time passed peacefully, and ten days went by in the blink of an eye.

That evening, Chen Shouyi returned home from the desert of the alternate world and saw Qin Liuyuan sitting in the living room, chatting with his father. His face was flushed, and he exuded an air of confidence and vigor, completely different from before.

Chen Shouyi was a bit surprised.

Since the reservoir mission, where Qin Liuyuan tried to get him to stand up for the rights of civilian martial artists and Chen Shouyi refused, they hadn't seen each other.

"Why are you back so late today? Your colleague has been waiting for you a long time!" Chen Dawei breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Chen Shouyi enter.

"Didn't come long, just dropped by to visit, come to drink with you!" Qin Liuyuan stood up upon seeing Chen Shouyi and said cheerfully, his attitude much more casual than before.

"Sorry, I lost track of time during training!" Chen Shouyi looked at Qin Liuyuan and smiled, "How rare to see you have time today, haven't seen you in a long time."

He then turned to Father Chen, "Dad, I'm going out for dinner!"

Father Chen understood and said, "Go ahead, don't be too late!"

His son was good in all aspects, just too much of a homebody, staying in his room all evening, who knows doing what?

Doesn't look like a martial artist at all.

In his mind, a martial artist should be either rough in personality, drinking large bowls of wine, eating large chunks of meat, and not caring about minor details, or dignified, with eyes like lightning, gaining authority without anger, just like on TV and movies, right?

But his son was nothing like that.

Obedient, well-behaved, had none of the martial artist's demeanor!

Sometimes he even suspected, was his martial artist certificate fake?

...

Nowadays, curfew was enforced at eight, with only city inns remaining open 24 hours, though there were certain identity restrictions.

Both of them had no issues.

"Welcome!"

After Qin Liuyuan showed his credentials, the two young, long-legged greeters at the door immediately welcomed them in with smiles.

Chen Shouyi, with his sharp eyes, was surprised to find it was a martial arts instructor certificate.

Qin Liuyuan got a private room, ordered a small table of dishes, and a case of white liquor.

Soon, the dishes and liquor were served one after another.

"Haven't seen you in a while, what have you been up to?" Qin Liuyuan clinked glasses with Chen Shouyi.

"What else can I do, training, or executing missions!" Chen Shouyi said. His life was always monotonous. As he spoke, he drank his glass of white liquor in one gulp, slightly frowning, as he wasn't used to drinking, especially strong white liquor, which was too harsh on the throat.

If given the choice, he'd prefer soft drinks, but unfortunately, couldn't buy them anymore even with money.

Chen Shouyi put down the glass and said with a smile, "Congratulations on becoming a martial artist!"

"I was lucky to have a fortuitous encounter," Qin Liuyuan said, acting casual, though a hint of joy appeared on his face. He couldn't help but whisper, "Did you hear about the war in the East Sea Province?"

"Yes, I did!" Chen Shouyi replied, having just returned from East Sea Province not long ago, how could he not know?

"A demigod died there. The military conscripted martial artists from nearby Jiangnan Province to clean the battlefield alongside soldiers. I was lucky to find the divine corpse in the ruins, gaining quite a bit of divine blood!" Qin Liuyuan said excitedly.

This was indeed a fortuitous encounter.

This time, he specially invited Chen Shouyi for a drink to release his inner joy. Such a thing would lose much of its effect when shared with others of lower status.

Chen Shouyi, hearing this, was astonished: "Your luck really is..."

He didn't quite know how to describe it,

This demigod, might it be the one he killed?

Seems like it was this demigod.

But he didn't feel any pity.

The divine blood from this demigod had no effect at all on a peak martial artist like him.

Back then, he sat directly in the pool of blood, letting the divine blood wash over his body without enhancing his attributes in the slightest.

"Yeah, without it, I might never have become a martial artist," Qin Liuyuan said, grinning at Chen Shouyi's gaping expression.

Now he could finally stand shoulder to shoulder with him.

Chen Shouyi glanced at his teeth and noticed they hadn't taken on a Buddha-like appearance yet, which was similar to Xiao Changming and Lei Ruiyang who had gained from demigod blood before, still just aspiring martial artists.

"Has the war over there ended so quickly?" Chen Shouyi wondered, taking a bite of food.

It had been less than half a month.

Even before the changes, it wasn't this fast.

Not to mention now, with the Barbarian God still existing.

"Indeed, upon arrival, only less than one-fifth was recovered.

Strangely enough, this war seemed like child's play, with hardly any decent resistance encountered, just some deranged cultists, while the barbarians and invading Southeast Asian soldiers almost disappeared.

In the end, there was no bombardment, and the army simply retook the cities. We Jiangnan Province martial artists stayed for a week before rotating with civilian martial artists from other provinces!" Qin Liuyuan said, flushed from drinking.

"The Barbarian God hasn't appeared?" Chen Shouyi asked.

"No, at least we didn't hear of it before we returned!"

This was peculiar.

A complete retreat?

Has the Barbarian God become so weak, not resisting even once?

Seems like something must have happened.

...

While eating and chatting, the table was soon cleared of food and drink.

Nearly all the case of liquor was consumed by Qin Liuyuan.

In the end, even Qin Liuyuan's constitution felt somewhat tipsy, he sighed: "I understand now, in this dangerous world, a martial artist's strength is the most important, everything else is superficial, no matter how much influence you have."

As the saying goes, your position determines your perspective, last time we met he talked of uniting civilian martial artists to form a force, fighting for rights with the government, now not a word was mentioned.

...

Under the night sky, the crescent moon hung high, casting a cool light.

The two walked out of the inn.

After parting ways with Qin Liuyuan,

Chen Shouyi took a solitary stroll through the streets, the smooth progress of the war on East Sea Province easing his mind.

East Sea Province bordered Jiangnan Province.

If the war in East Sea Province changed, it could spread to Jiangnan Province, leading to another disaster.

He opened the attribute panel:

Strength: 17.2

Agility: 17.7

Constitution: 17.2

Intelligence: 16.3

Perception: 15.2

Will: 16.2

Energy Accumulation: 4.52

Faith Value: 3.42

Three rounds of optimized horizontal training thirty-six styles, the effect remains evident, strength and constitution have increased by 0.2 points each over the past half month, approaching two tons.

At the same time, perception increased by 0.3 points, reaching 15.2, crossing the threshold of 15.

As for Faith Value, it accumulated to 3.42 points.

During this period, under Chen Shouyi's continuous issuance of "divine orders," the Barbarian Island held five grand sacrificial ceremonies, with the abundance of food in winter being the only thing keeping such grand ceremonies going.

Luckily, the effects were quite evident.

The Faith Value shot up to 3.42.

Looking at the "huge" Faith Value on the panel, Chen Shouyi let out a breath.

A sense of security emerged.

This was his capital for indulgence!

He quickened his pace and soon returned home.

ps: In the future, I'll release the second chapter on a regular schedule at seven.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.