Teaching You How to Survive

Xu Yao rubbed his head, feeling as though he had almost been beaten senseless. "You saw the whole process on this trip out. I won't say more!" Chen Chong said with great solemnity, "Letting you witness this was so you would remember one phrase forever: 'The human heart may be like iron, but the law of the state is a furnace!'" "Uncle, I truly took it to heart!" Xu Yao nodded earnestly. Although he did feel inside that it wasn't quite fair, feeling from the bottom of his heart that the two men's crimes didn't warrant death. Even so, he had firmly etched it into his mind: he must never, under any circumstances, do the same thing! Seeing his expression, Chen Chong finally felt relieved on this point. No matter what the kid thought, as long as he dared not commit the same offense in the future, this trip had been worth it! Chen Chong knew young people; some of them truly wouldn't turn back even after crashing into a wall. For Xu Yao to possess this level of awareness now was already quite good. Then Chen Chong brought up how the policy had changed to an across-the-board cut. "Your uncle's recommendation quota is gone. But when I think about it carefully, it's actually a good thing." Chen Chong smiled and said, "Because the ones we recommend don't have solid backing after all. If someone above has stronger connections than us, more money and is willing to spend it, and possesses ability to boot, they can bump our recommended candidate out. Over the years, that kind of thing hasn't been uncommon. "However, this time, Lord Gu made a clean sweep across the board. Anyone who dares reach their hand into this will die! That means not just for us, but across the entire southeast, under-the-table manipulation won't be possible anymore. "'The capable rise, the mediocre fall'—this is actually the fairest outcome! "As long as you have the ability to pass the exam on your own, no matter how high an official they are or how high-level their connections, they won't be able to push you down! "So, it all comes down to your own strength!" Before Li Keshi, Chen Chong had appeared fraught with worry, but speaking of the matter now, his face beamed with high spirits. With his nephew possessing real skill, bad news like the higher-ups abolishing special privileges had instead turned into a blessing backed by solid confidence! "If it were by recommendation, your spot might not have been secure. But charging ahead on your own ability, you have at least an eighty percent chance right now." Chen Chong asked, "Do you have the confidence!?" "I do! Rest assured, Uncle, this time it's in the bag!" Xu Yao was genuinely brimming with confidence. After today's brawl, he felt that looking at those young fellows waiting to test for warrior was like looking at men who had stuck straw signs on their heads waiting to sell their necks, a pack of clay chickens and pottery dogs! This young master could sweep them aside with one hand! "Heh heh, if you have that kind of assurance, then your training method needs to change." Chen Chong smiled slyly. A sudden feeling that things were turning ominous welled up inside Xu Yao. And so, starting from this journey back, Xu Yao entered an entirely different mode of instruction. Seizing every moment on the march, Chen Chong and the others constantly passed on their experience. In truth, this sort of thing had started ever since Xu Yao began transforming himself. Back then, however, there were only a few like Liu Zhen chattering away like old matrons, and it was always a matter of casual instruction whenever an incident arose. But as mission followed mission up until now, everyone's teachings had grown denser and denser. It was just that from this journey onward, the approach changed. They began preparing Xu Yao for his life after entering the Demon Suppression Bureau. Before, it was step-by-step; now, it was force-feeding like a duck! Once he entered the Demon Suppression Bureau, they would no longer be by his side to guide him. Everything had to be drilled in advance. Chen Chong and the others were richly experienced, having gone from home to martial arts training, to military service, to the jianghu, to the Demon Suppression Bureau, to the Mountain Protection Brigade... Every single one had accumulated half a lifetime of insight. Though their paths differed, one thing was identical: how to survive in this world where demons ran rampant, chaos ruled, and the fires of war were constant! This was the shared destiny of everyone across the continent. For this lot to instruct him was just as Li Keshi had said: nothing good comes from learning under a bunch of old army ruffians. That statement was undoubtedly true; following this crowd, one would never become a gentleman, but one could save one's life in chaotic times. These old army ruffians might not have possessed as wide a worldview as some others, but they knew one thing deep down: the greatest weakness of a child from the mountain gullies like Xu Yao was his honesty and kindheartedness. Because they themselves had suffered from that very weakness their entire lives! "If you didn't have a fart's worth of skill, living peacefully in Peach Blossom Valley for your whole life as a commoner, we would teach you how to be kind to others, how to be cautious and discreet, how to greet people with a smiling face, how to lower yourself, how to flatter, how to swallow your pride, and how to survive humbly in this world. "But now you're going out into the world, and none of that will do! "Outside, it's nothing but wolves, jackals, tigers, and leopards—far more terrifying than the demons in the mountains! The principles you lived by in your mountain village will cost you your life! "One wrong step means eternal damnation; one wrong word leaves you unable to take another step. Even if you do nothing at all, you're still standing in someone else's way. "In the Demon Suppression Bureau, there are colleagues and peers, but there are also hidden arrows, backstabs, spies, and rivals. "On the battlefield, there are comrades and brothers in arms, but there are also tripping cords and blades in the dark! "Some superiors love their soldiers like their own children, but far more are black-hearted villains who climb to the top over the corpses of their subordinates! "Just like on this trip: you said nothing and did nothing, but the moment they learned you were Chen Chong's nephew and the prime seed of the First Brigade, you instantly became a target for all! "We can't teach you profound martial arts, we can't teach you secret sect techniques, we can't teach you how to get promoted and strike it rich, nor can we teach you how to soar straight to the clouds. But we can teach you how to survive! "In this mortal world, every ennoblement as marquis or appointment as general, every marshal and supreme commander, every name that shakes the realm and is etched in history, was paid for in severed heads and human lives! "As long as you keep this little mountain village in your heart forever, no matter what happens, you will never stray from the path!" One had to admit the educational methods of this bunch of old army ruffians were quite unique. They did not demand that Xu Yao understand what they said right now, but they demanded that he memorize every single word. "At your current stage, you don't have to understand, and you can even scoff at it. But if you don't memorize it, I'll beat you! It's as simple as that!" And they drilled him with surprise recitation quizzes over and over. "What did I tell you last time about what happened between me and Zhou Laoshi?" "Do you remember who stabbed me in the back with this blade? What did I tell you about it?" "Do you remember why I wasn't promoted and how I got reported?" "..." "These are all the pits you're bound to step into later! "If the child of an ordinary commoner fails to remember, the most they'll suffer is a bit of a loss. If you fail to remember, you'll lose your life!" Xu Yao's head spun. An indescribable feeling filled his heart. He simply committed it all firmly to memory. Although he truly could not understand these words right now, and sometimes even felt a bit weary of being preached at incessantly like a suckling infant, he knew this crowd would never harm him. Every evening when he returned home, he would repeat these words to Physician Xu and his wife, and the family would discuss and try to comprehend them together. Whenever this happened, Liu Taohua would always lower her head and look at the ground. She dared not look up at her son, for he would see the worry in her heart. Yet when she thought of these matters—every one of them a bloody lesson from those who had lived through it—and realized her son was about to plunge into that environment of open blades, concealed arrows, and mutual deception, she could not help worrying. Could he... handle it? How many times had Liu Taohua wanted to say: Don't go out. Staying right here in Peach Blossom Valley is wonderful. Find a wife and live a peaceful life—isn't that better than anything else? But she could not bring herself to say it. She did not even dare say it. She merely sat in silence, accompanying the father and son, listening to them deliberate, treasuring every moment they had together now. Her gaze occasionally drifted past the room door, out to the main gate, across the river to the low wall, and farther out to the boundless, hazy mountains, leaving her somewhat dazed. Back then, her own father had chatted with her day after day just like this, talking about home, the outside world, other people, the past, and the future—especially the future. And then, mid-conversation, he was gone, lying quietly beneath that small mound of earth. She did not understand why men always loved daydreaming about the future so much, why they always loved talking about the world outside. If the outside world was so good, why had their ancestors fled deep into these mountains in the first place? Since they had come here, wasn't it to escape the outside world? Why dream of and yearn for that world outside? No one gave her an answer. Beneath the oil lamp, the father and son were still earnestly and solemnly discussing the treacherous hearts of men out in the world... "If you make something of yourself in the future, never forget your Uncle Chen and his lot." Physician Xu was deeply moved, warning his son with rare solemnity: "Even if your heart and liver turn thoroughly black in the future, you must remember this debt of gratitude! "I'm a physician. I can't teach you the jianghu. Your Uncle Chen and the others can!" Xu Yao nodded and solemnly agreed. Then, for some inexplicable reason, he felt that what his old man said—about his heart and liver turning thoroughly black in the future—tsk... had quite a unique flavor to it. Meanwhile, Chen Chong and the others warned Xu Yao: "If you achieve nothing in the future, so be it. But if you have even the slightest accomplishment, you must never, ever reveal that your parents live in Peach Blossom Valley!" Chen Chong's expression turned even sterner as he said this: "The Xu Yao I reported up the chain is an orphan from the mountain gullies, with no father and no mother. You must remember this without fail!" Xu Yao could understand his father's words. However, he could not understand Chen Chong's statement. "Uncle Chen, that doesn't seem right, does it? If I truly manage to... no matter what, I'd want to bring my parents out to enjoy a good life! If I become successful and refuse to acknowledge my own parents, would I still be human?" A strange smile appeared on Chen Chong's face, and he said mildly, "Do as I tell you for now. In the future, you'll understand. "As long as you have achievements and money, your parents can enjoy a good life anywhere. Living in an unknown place where they can enjoy life means they stay alive. Going out with you, their survival is far from certain."