Surviving in the chaos of battle, I'm grinding for proficiency.

Jiang Ting's eyes were filled with disbelief:

"What?!"

Although she originally looked down on Li Chuan, and had no intention of marrying him.

But refusing yourself and being refused by someone else are two completely different things!

How dare I? How dare Li Chuan!

She's the one who looks down on Li Chuan, not the other way around!

Li Chuan glanced at her and said indifferently:

"Jiang Ting, we're not a good match."

The implication was that Jiang Ting was simply not good enough for him.

"You!" Jiang Ting was speechless with anger, wanting to say something but finding herself at a loss for words.

Does she have to beg him to like her?

Jiang Ting choked, her face flushed red, and her disgust for Li Chuan reached its peak.

Tang Xiang raised an eyebrow:

"Junior Brother Li, that's not right of you. Junior Sister Jiang is unmarried and is pure and innocent."

If word gets out that you're treating her like this, won't people laugh at you?

Luo Zheng sneered:

"Tang Xiang, stop pretending to be a good guy. Why didn't you speak up for me before?"

Luo Zheng's words were very pointed, implying that Tang Xiang was taking sides.

"Enough!" Liang Xingzhou slammed his fist on the table and roared.

Tang Xiang shut his mouth in embarrassment, not daring to say anything more.

Liang Xingzhou sighed helplessly and looked at Li Chuan:

"I was just mentioning it casually, and I won't force you if you don't want to."

He turned his head and scanned the crowd:

"You are all fellow disciples... no matter what, you should look after each other and work together to strengthen our martial arts school."

"Yes, Master." The crowd responded in twos and threes, looking sincere, but it was hard to tell how many were truly sincere.

Liang Xingzhou sighed inwardly again.

He's still here, and the martial arts school is in this state.

If he leaves, things might fall apart.

Thinking of this, Liang Xingzhou felt somewhat disheartened:

"Go back, everyone."

As everyone dispersed, Qin Feng quietly walked up to Tang Xiang and asked, seemingly casually:

"Senior Brother Tang, has the selection of personnel for this year's conscription been finalized?"

"Not yet," Tang Xiang said, puzzled. "Why are you asking that?"

A strange light flashed in Qin Feng's eyes as he smiled:

"It's nothing, I was just asking."

……

As they walked out of the inner courtyard, Luo Zheng approached them apologetically:

"Ah Chuan, actually it's my fault. Tang Xiang and the others have never given me a friendly look, and you've been implicated because you're on good terms with me."

Li Chuan smiled nonchalantly:

"Qin Feng has always disliked me, and he's also close to Tang Xiang and Jiang Ting. It's normal for this clique to dislike me; it has nothing to do with you."

"Besides, having Senior Brother Luo's support is enough for me."

Luo Zheng laughed and scolded:

"Don't say that, I don't want to support you!"

Li Chuan was stunned for a moment before he realized what Luo was talking about.

He nudged Luo Zheng helplessly:

"Senior Brother Luo, it's a shame you don't go into drawing comic books."

"Little picture book" is also known as "little yellow book".

Luo Zheng caught his elbow, his eyes gleaming:

"Come, let me test the quality of your hidden strength!"

Li Chuan felt a surge of gratitude.

He knew that Luo Zheng wanted to help him quickly become familiar with the application of internal force.

"I'll come!" Li Chuan readily agreed.

He also wanted to see just how big the difference was between himself and a seasoned master of internal strength like Luo Zheng!

The two walked side by side to the training ground, attracting the attention of many disciples.

A disciple with a long, narrow face sneered:

"I don't know what kind of spell he cast on Senior Brother Luo to make him take such good care of me. If Senior Brother Luo could guide me like this, I would have already mastered the hidden strength technique!"

"Come on, even if your master taught you day and night, I doubt you'd be able to handle it," his friend mocked.

The shoehorn-faced man said angrily:

"Even if I'm not good enough, how much better can he be? Does he have some hidden strength?"

The man with the long, narrow face waited for a while, but received no response.

Turning around, I found my friend frozen in place, staring intently in the direction of the training ground.

"It really is... subtly powerful."

"What?" The shoehorn-faced man didn't quite hear him and followed his friend's gaze.

On the martial arts stage, Li Chuan and Luo Zheng were locked in a fierce and evenly matched battle.

His boxing technique was as smooth as water, almost in one breath, with each strike subtly revealing the flow of internal force.

The man with the long, narrow face was lost in thought, muttering to himself incessantly:

"How is this possible? How is this possible...?"

"He has inferior aptitude..."

……

On the martial arts stage.

Luo was panting heavily:

"Not bad, A-Chuan. You've only recently entered the realm of internal strength, yet you're already using your power quite well. Even I had to put in a lot of effort to defeat you."

"Is your Tongbei Quan (a style of Chinese martial arts) almost mastered?"

"Almost there, but there's still a gap compared to Senior Brother Luo," Li Chuan replied.

Luo Zheng laughed:

"If Tang Xiang had your mouth, I'd definitely call him 'Senior Brother'!"

Li Chuan also laughed.

It seems that the eldest and second senior brothers have a long-standing grudge.

"By the way, Senior Brother Luo, based on last year's ranking, what place do you think I could get in the martial arts competition with my current skills?"

Li Chuan voiced his question.

Luo Zheng thought for a moment:

"It's roughly around the hundredth place. If you master Tongbei Quan, you can probably get to the seventieth place, which is about the same as me last year."

"The reason I can beat you now is because I've also mastered another fighting style, which makes my internal energy even stronger."

Luo Zheng comforted him:

"You've only recently broken through to the Dark Force realm, so you should go and broaden your horizons at this year's martial arts exam."

"It's unlikely you'll be able to pass the martial arts exam for the time being until next year at the earliest."

"Oh, right," Luo Zheng suddenly remembered something, "After you break through to the Dark Force realm, many forces will probably come to you seeking official positions. The benefits will naturally be much better than those for the Bright Force realm. You should carefully compare them and choose the one with the better benefits."

Luo Zheng's eyes held a complex expression:

"I'll go back and discuss it with my dad and uncle, and give you a new quote."

"I will do my best to offer you a good reward, but if there is someone better than my Luo family, you can go for it and don't need to consider me."

After seeing Li Chuan off, Luo Zheng couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

His family currently only has three hidden strength members: himself, his eldest uncle, and his father.

We really need someone with hidden strength to help us, but we might not be able to offer a good price.

Maybe it was possible before.

But because of that incident...

……

Li Chuan was walking on his way to the butcher shop in the east of the city.

He was mentally planning his next move.

There is still a month and a half until the Wuhan University entrance exam.

Tongbei Quan was quickly mastered.

But as Luo Zheng said, simply mastering Tongbei Quan is not enough to win the title of one of the top fifty martial arts scholars.

My goal is to at least stay in the top 30, so that I have enough leeway to ensure that nothing unexpected happens.

After all... the Li Yang Dynasty doesn't care whether you have hidden strength or not when it levies corvée labor.

The day for conscription was fast approaching, and he didn't want to be suddenly conscripted to perform corvée labor in a remote area when his career was flourishing.

The corvée labor in this era is not as easy as working as a sewing machine in my previous life.

Countless people will die on the way, and countless more will perish from the hardship of their journey to the places where they are to perform corvée labor.

In the end, very few of them made it back alive!

Even if one possesses hidden strength, one is not necessarily secure.

If I were transferred to a military camp and sent to the front lines...

That would truly be a matter of life and death.

After all, once you're on the battlefield, your life and death are no longer in your own hands.

"I must pass the martial arts exam and become a martial arts scholar!" Li Chuan made up his mind.

There are only two conditions for exemption from corvée labor: one is to obtain the title of Martial Arts Scholar, and the other is to become a master of Transformation Realm.

In comparison, it's much easier for a martial arts scholar than for a master of internal energy.

There are only a dozen or twenty Transformation Realm experts in the entire Anning County.

Aside from that, there are probably only some underhanded methods.

After all, the selection of those to be conscripted for corvée labor was "randomly" determined by the local county magistrate.

If one were to use some tricks, one could cleverly avoid it.

This is why corvée labor was always conscripted from ordinary people, and rarely from large families.

"However, I can't even get a word in with the magistrate, and it's always safest to rely on myself in everything."

Li Chuan secretly shook his head, not intending to rely on this approach.

"Something terrible has happened! The Iron Tiger Gang was wiped out overnight, and even their leader, Song Jin, had his head chopped off and hung on the door!"

Li Chuan stopped in his tracks.