A Chatterbox at Dinner

Faced with Qi Beihang's disdain, Mu Xiangli had no way to refute and could only crawl up from the ground to continue.
He actually wanted to negotiate and ask him not to hit his face, but he knew with his rear end how Qi Beihang would respond. It would mostly be, "Do you expect to ask your opponent not to hit your face when you fight in the future?" Therefore, the words at the tip of his tongue were swallowed back into his stomach.
Brandishing his saber and stepping forward again, Mu Xiangli wanted to be more focused than before. Before Qi Beihang made a move, he could still see the red light, but even though he could see it, he couldn't avoid it.
Although it was just a branch, Qi Beihang's slashes, swings, and thrusts were incredibly fierce. Moreover, it wasn't as if he hadn't clashed with the saber in his hand. After clashing several times, not only did the branch not break, but Qi Beihang could also take advantage of the momentum to counterattack, leaving him unable to dodge.
Mu Xiangli knew the branch didn't break not because his master used inner force, but because each clash occurred either when his own force was weak or because Qi Beihang used clever techniques to neutralize the force on his saber. After practicing for a long time, the thumb-thick branch only had a few cracks and was far from breaking.
Only when his stomach let out a loud rumble did Qi Beihang stop: "You're hungry. Go eat something first. Practicing martial arts also requires using your brain. You can eat and think at the same time about whether there was a better choice for each move and stance in the clash just now."
"Understood," Mu Xiangli replied.
Aside from what Qi Beihang said, he also believed that the practice just now must have increased something called "experience points" in his consciousness.
"I wonder if reaching the peak of proficiency will allow me to master new skills." Mu Xiangli looked forward to it, leaving himself no retreat: "If not, I will definitely break the game myself!"
In the deep mountains, there were naturally no rich delicacies. Qi Beihang often hunted in the mountains, so there was no lack of meat, but lacking seasoning, the taste was only mediocre.
Mu Xiangli ate while asking, "Master, after I complete my apprenticeship, what do you want me to do for you? Is it indeed to kill someone? Kill whom?"
Qi Beihang kept his mouth shut: "Wait until the day you complete your apprenticeship."
Mu Xiangli asked again, "Master, when I took you as my master before, you asked me if I was afraid you were a heinous villain. Then, by taking me as your disciple, aren't you afraid I am an insidious, treacherous scoundrel?"
Qi Beihang hadn't expected him to talk so much, but still replied, "This old man could become the Deputy Commander of the Palace Imperial Guards. Aside from being brave, I must know how to judge people. My judgment of good people might not be entirely accurate, but my ability to distinguish evil is eighty to ninety percent correct. You may be crafty, but you are not evil."
"Master is wise!" Mu Xiangli followed up with another question: "Then, Master, aren't you curious about why I was pursued that day?"
Qi Beihang had already wanted to make him shut up. Hearing this question, he glanced at him: "You tell me."
Mu Xiangli then vividly described the events of the night before. Naturally, his identity as a heavy convict was glossed over, and he only said he was forced into military service.
"Master, what was the background of the archer that day? What were we escorting?"
Qi Beihang pondered for a moment, then shook his head: "I have been away from the Royal City for many years and cannot speculate."
"Ah, then Master, legend has it that the Nine Kings each hold a cauldron. If the Nine Cauldrons truly possess innate power, are the Nine Kings the strongest?" Mu Xiangli asked while eating, "What power do the Nine Cauldrons actually have? Can they split the heavens and sever rivers?"
Qi Beihang finally couldn't bear it anymore, nearly smashing the small wooden table with a palm strike: "Can't you keep your mouth shut while eating?!"
Mu Xiangli finally fell silent, honestly gnawing on his dried meat.
In the afternoon, Qi Beihang did not let him continue practicing his saber, but led him into the mountains to learn how to track wild beasts.
Mu Xiangli's mood gradually improved, no longer feeling such immense survival pressure. As he followed and learned, he entertained himself by thinking: "This counts as learning life skills, right? Hunting plus skinning, and processing leather?"
It was indeed not far from what he thought. Aside from practicing the saber, hunting also became a daily task.
The expected revenge did not appear. The people who had been forced back by Qi Beihang's single strike that day did not return, seemingly accepting the setback.
With this, Mu Xiangli felt even more relaxed, and his practice became more focused. With the accumulation of practice, he made a new discovery.
In the past, when sparring with Qi Beihang, every single move of Qi Beihang's had a red light warning, and a mere lift of his hand left him unable to dodge. But today, many changes had occurred.
Now when they sparred, Qi Beihang's moves did not all have red light warnings. Mu Xiangli carefully summarized and found that he was already familiar with most of the moves that lacked the warning and could handle them with ease.
"This makes sense. Only moves with extreme threat have the red light warning. Initially, I was just a novice, so everyone looked like a red-named monster to me, and every single move felt like a killing blow. Now, as my level rises, the red-named monsters turn into white-named ones, and the moves that used to pose an extreme threat to me are no longer fatal."
Often, people do not fear effort, but rather fear effort that shows no progress and yields no return. Compared to reality, the stat increases in a game are extremely intuitive, allowing one to clearly perceive the character growing stronger.
Although Mu Xiangli couldn't see a game interface, by summarizing his experience in this way, he could likewise clearly perceive his own progress. This was incredibly encouraging; when effort yielded returns, the fatigue and pain were no longer so hard to accept.
"Master, I have completed my three thousand saber swings today. Can you spar with me a bit more?" Mu Xiangli hadn't seen Qi Beihang during his morning practice and had to wait until noon for him to return.
"We will practice later," Qi Beihang disagreed, throwing him a piece of paper. "Do this first."
"What is this?" Mu Xiangli took it and looked, finding it was a recruitment notice from an escort agency. Looking closely, he roughly understood.
To put it simply, escort agencies recruited people differently. Just like modern enterprises, they had official employees and temporary ones.
The notice Qi Beihang had thrown him was for recruiting temporary workers, paid by the trip. Once the escort was completed and payment was settled, they would disband.
Such situations usually occurred when the escort agency was short-handed and couldn't handle the shipment with their existing staff. Only then would they temporarily hire people. However, hiring people also had rules; not just anyone could join. What if bad guys eyeing the goods joined the team? A single poison pill could wipe out the entire escort team.
"Master, this requires some reputation or an introduction from an acquaintance, right?" Mu Xiangli looked toward Qi Beihang.
"I have naturally made arrangements beforehand. It's the escort agency in the town where you bought your saber. Just go."
Qi Beihang was relaxed, but Mu Xiangli was somewhat apprehensive: "Master, with my current strength, can I handle such a major task? Perhaps I should practice a bit longer, wait until my saber techniques have some success, and then go down the mountain to gain experience."
Qi Beihang saw through his thoughts, which were simply fear: "If you do not go out and travel, staying here will only yield half the result with double the effort."
Mu Xiangli thought about it and nodded: "Master is right. With Master's martial arts achievements, even a saber kept in the mountains for too long will inevitably grow dull, let alone mine. Master, I shall go right away."
Qi Beihang found that after spending time together, the kid had grown bolder. Amused and exasperated, he threw the prepared silver and the curved saber to him, uttering two words: "Now scram!"