Mercenaries in Two Worlds

Zhang Qian followed the five people back to the Wang Family Mercenary Group's base. Well, it was just a dilapidated courtyard, located on the outskirts of the city. Fortunately, there were quite a few rooms, and the scenery outside was nice, offering a view of a vast field.

After the autumn harvest, the fields became a playground for a group of children, and the sounds of children playing could be heard all around.

Zhang Qian was quite satisfied with his lodgings. At that moment, he was outside the door, under the willow tree by the river, trying to get Wang San to demonstrate a couple of sets of boxing techniques. Wang San was the most simple-minded of the three Wang brothers, yet his cultivation level was the highest, at the seventh level of Qi Refining. Perhaps those with simple hearts cultivate quickly!

With a loud shout from Wang San, the "Tiger Roar Fist" was delivered, and the sound of a tiger could be faintly heard. With a "thud," the forty-centimeter-wide willow tree was smashed by the punch, swaying from side to side, and its roots buried in the ground were loosened.

"Tsk tsk, uprooting a willow tree is no dream!" Zhang Qian exclaimed in amazement at the power.

"I can uproot the willow tree, but Sister Ye will hit me." Wang San seemed to recall something from the past, and a look of fear appeared on his face. He then nervously ran over and shook the willow tree. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there was no immediate risk of it falling down.

"Analysis of the cultivation technique's trajectory successful. Yellow-rank low-level cultivation technique, Bull-ramming Technique, automatically improved to Yellow-rank mid-level cultivation technique; Analysis of the martial skill's trajectory successful. Tiger Roar Fist, Yellow-rank high-level martial skill, automatically improved to Profound-rank high-level martial skill." The data in Zhang Qian's mind suddenly generated a text, and then the mental cultivation methods of these two improved cultivation techniques and martial skills appeared in Zhang Qian's memory.

"Wow, amazing! You can deduce the whole mental cultivation method just by watching someone demonstrate a few punches. It's a pity it's so low-level. Learning this would be beneath my status as a transmigrator! Why is the improvement level different? Does this even have a 'basic' aspect?" Zhang Qian, a novice in martial arts, naturally couldn't understand such a complicated question.

Seeing Zhang Qian staring blankly at him without moving, Wang San thought he was shocked by his boxing skills. He blushed a little, crossed his arms, and said shyly, "Hehe, actually I'm not that good. Don't look at me like that, I'm shy."

"Uh..." Zhang Qian came to his senses and saw the burly Wang San looking shy. He felt a mix of emotions and almost threw up. "Your sudden flirtatious behavior almost hurt my back."

"Hey, Wang San, are you ruining the willow trees again? Getting a beating?" Ye Hongmei's voice came from afar. Upon hearing this, Wang San shrank back like a mouse seeing a cat and ran away in a flash. Though simple-minded, he knew the truth of "better to die than lose," and as he ran, he shouted, "It wasn't me, it was Zhang Qian! It's not my fault!"

Zhang Qian raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sun and looked at Wang San, who had already run downstream. He was speechless. "She's just a woman. How can she scare you like this? Does she deserve your figure?"

Ye Hongmei walked gracefully to Zhang Qian, a strange smile on her face. "Wang San said you ruined this willow tree that my deceased mother planted with her own hands?"

Looking at Ye Hongmei's enigmatic smile, Zhang Qian felt a chill run down his spine. He desperately wished he were the one who was cowering. Ye Hongmei's face drew closer and closer; Zhang Qian could smell her fragrance. A strand of her hair tickled his nose, but he could only hold his breath and let this enchantress do as she pleased.

"It wasn't me, it was Wang San."

"Oh? Is that so?" Ye Hongmei smiled lightly, grabbed Zhang Qian by the collar and tossed him aside. Zhang Qian flew up and began to fall freely, completely unable to resist.

"Ah~" "Thump~" and fell into the river to dance with the fish.

Ye Hongmei had no intention of letting Zhang San go. With a light step, she chased after him like the wind. After a while, two loud "thumps" and "ahs" were heard in the distance.

"Hey~ Looks like Sister Ye is still good to me. She threw me into the river, but Zhang San got shoved flat on his face. It looks painful~~"

...Zhang Qian is a typical example of someone who is not worried about scarcity but about inequality...

"Analysis of the cultivation technique's trajectory was successful. It is a low-level Earth-rank cultivation technique, One Leaf Dao Technique, which cannot be perfected. Analysis of the martial skill's trajectory was successful. It is a high-level Yellow-rank martial skill, Forest-Piercing Steps, which will be automatically perfected to a low-level Earth-rank martial skill. Analysis of the martial skill's trajectory was successful. It is a low-level Earth-rank martial skill, Deceitful Words (concealing cultivation level), which will be automatically perfected to a Heaven-rank martial skill."

Three new cultivation techniques and martial arts manuals appeared in Zhang Qian's mind.

"Wow, two Earth-rank martial arts techniques, one of which has been perfected to the Heaven-rank! How does Ye Hongmei know Earth-rank techniques and even hide her cultivation level?" Zhang Qian was initially surprised to suddenly obtain Ye Hongmei's martial arts techniques, not expecting her to be someone of such importance. Then he was overjoyed, "Wow, Heaven-rank! This is more befitting my status! Is this nonsense used to hide her cultivation level? Hmm, it seems this Ye Hongmei has a story! Ye Hongmei, if you dare to tease me again, believe me, I won't teach you the perfected technique, hmph."

Overwhelmed with joy at being hit by this unexpected gift, Zhang Qian couldn't help but grin foolishly.

Just then, Ye Hongmei, who had finished dealing with Wang San, happened to pass by. She was idly playing with the ribbon on her clothes when she suddenly caught sight of Zhang Qian grinning foolishly in the river. A chill ran down her spine, and she thought to herself, "Is Zhang Qian some kind of masochist? I threw him in the river and he's still grinning like an idiot. I'd better stay away from him in the future. One scoundrel like Zhao Yi is already annoying enough."

Zhang Qian, who was in the river, was unaware that he had already been labeled a masochist...

Following Wang Yi, Zhang Qian arrived at the mercenary center of Featherfall City. As for why this remote little town had such a poetic name, Wang Yi explained that every year around the time of Grain Rain in spring, cuckoo birds from all over the continent would flock to Ghost Night Forest to mate and lay eggs, darkening the sky and causing bird droppings and feathers to fall like snow. Because of this spectacle, the town was called Featherfall City—thankfully, not Shitfall City.

The entire sky was covered in bird droppings, and Zhang Qian shuddered at the thought. Fortunately, it was late spring, and Yuluo City had just been cleansed by bird droppings, so it could rest for a year for the time being.

The mercenary center was much like a stock exchange on Earth. In the vast hall stood enormous pillars, each with a circular platform at its base, where one or two people sat. The pillars were covered with colorful papers, and a group of mercenaries were pointing and commenting on the papers around the platforms.

Wang Yi led Zhang Qian to a service counter at the very back of the mercenary center. The service counter was very spacious, but there were only a few people doing their business here and there.

"Brother Wang, is there anything I can help you with?" A little girl with braids and a slightly chubby face approached Wang Yi.

Wang Yi smiled kindly, "It's like this, Fangfang, our Wang Family Mercenary Group needs to add a member, could you help me register?"

"This must be the big brother!" Fangfang glanced at Zhang Qian, and before he could answer, she took out a stack of papers from under the table, quickly flipped to a piece of paper with "Wang Family Mercenary Group" written on it, picked up a pen and asked, "What's the name?"

"Zhang Qian, Zhang (弓长张), Qian (谦虚)."

Fangfang kept repeating, "Zhang Qian, Zhang Qian, Zhang Qian, the 'Qian' in 'modest,' with the 'speech' radical," while writing at the end of the paper: "Zhang Qian..., um, who should be listed as the heir?"

The second question was about the heirs, which startled Zhang Qian. Being a mercenary was a high-risk profession. At this moment, Zhang Qian was already thinking about how to back out and escape from the Wang family mercenary group.

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