Yang Xiu turned around and unexpectedly saw another person holding two bowls, mimicking Lu Yu by pouring the porridge back and forth.
He walked over, frowned, and said, "What are you doing?"
"I saw others taking bowls, and since there were still bowls left, I thought I'd use one. This way, the porridge cools faster..."
Before he could finish, Yang Xiu hit his hand with a knife sheath, causing his bowls to crash to the ground, spilling all the porridge, and breaking the two bowls.
The person sat on the ground in a daze, staring at Yang Xiu blankly, as if asking: We're both holding two bowls; why did you hit me? Why did you praise him?
Yang Xiu said expressionlessly, "Special privileges are for the strong. The weak must follow the rules. I said take one, so you can only take one!"
"Don't eat."
Leaving those words behind, Yang Xiu turned and left.
The person sat there, still dazed, as he watched Yang Xiu's back disappear. It wasn't until everyone was almost finished eating that his hunger brought him back to his senses. He saw the cold porridge and broken bowls on the ground.
Glancing at Lu Yu, who was picking up his third bowl of porridge, he, without a bowl, grabbed the cold porridge from the ground with his hands, and crawled on the ground to eat the porridge covered in dust, clenching his fists as he beat the ground, his heart filled with unwillingness.
Looking at Lu Yu, his eyes were full of hatred: I want to become stronger! I want to become stronger! I want all of you who look down on me to kneel before me.
Eat, no matter how hard it is to eat, because eating will make me stronger!
Noticing the person licking porridge on the ground looking at him oddly, Lu Yu felt speechless—he imitated me and got into trouble, yet he blames me...
But this game is really realistic; even a regular NPC can have such rich emotions.
After eating, everyone returned to their rooms to rest. Having practiced the fist technique all morning, they were exhausted, and after a full meal, sleepiness overtook them as soon as they lay down.
Lu Yu also took this time to log out of the game, have lunch, check some messages and news, rest a bit, and when he felt ready, logged back in.
After returning to the game, shortly after logging in, he heard the sound of gongs, waking everyone and driving them out of their rooms.
"This is the last time I chase you out. From now on, when you hear the gong, gather at the martial arts field. If you're not there on time, you won't eat that day! Repeated tardiness and you'll be expelled from the Han family; the Han family doesn't support idlers!"
Everyone gathered at the martial arts field, the sun blazing high in the sky, making the temperature rather high. Under such heat, everyone seemed listless and displayed a lazy appearance.
Yang Xiu appeared unaffected by the temperature, walking to the front of the group and shouting, "This afternoon, continue practicing the Fierce Tiger Fist."
"After dinner, everyone will receive two new sets of clothes from the logistics courtyard, then head to the bathing courtyard to clean up before returning to your rooms."
"Let me remind you all, there are forty-three of you here, but less than a third will become official Protectors. If you don't break through to the first level of the Body Refinement stage within a month, you'll either be expelled from the Han family or become laborers, with no chance of redemption."
"So, your future will be decided this month. Either become a Martial Cultivator, join the Han family as a Protector, and enjoy a life of eating fine foods, or become a laborer with no chance of redemption."
"You decide for yourselves!"
Hearing this, no one dared slack off, and everyone began practicing the Fierce Tiger Fist. This time, it wasn't Yang Xiu who corrected their moves but several official Protectors.
However, these few were harsher than Yang Xiu. As the only one in the group who hadn't been beaten, Lu Yu increasingly felt the envy (or jealousy) in others' eyes.
As for Lu Yu, the Protectors were also amazed—every time they wanted to find fault, they couldn't because Lu Yu's moves were more precise than their own.
To this, Lu Yu could only say, "Nothing I can do, it's just that I'm naturally gifted and learn everything quickly!"
Grinding experience points in the background, Lu Yu felt completely at ease, after all, he's a player!
Time passed quickly, especially while grinding in the background.
Grinding wasn't boring because every feeling and experience from practicing the fist technique would relay back to Lu Yu's brain. Grinding just meant he didn't actively control things; it wasn't like doing nothing at all.
As the afternoon training session ended, Lu Yu had gained thirty experience points, and his skill was about to level up again soon.
At this rate, he could break through the first layer of the Fierce Tiger Fist tomorrow. In the afternoon training, Lu Yu also noticed that after long-term grinding, his Qi Blood increased by 1 point.
Now, his character's Qi Blood value had increased from 9 to 10. Without any comparison, nor feeling any noticeable change, Lu Yu still wasn't sure what use this Qi Blood had.
After eating, receiving fitting new clothes, and bathing, Lu Yu returned to the straw hut, lied down to sleep, and logged out.
He wasn't sure if it was because he ate dinner in the game, but Lu Yu felt a bit full. Still, he ate some more to avoid waking hungry in the middle of the night.
Bathing and getting ready for bed, he saw the helmet on the bedside table, and suddenly thought: Could it be possible to sleep in the game too?
Why not… give it a try?
Lie down, cover up with a blanket, put on the game helmet, and enter the game.
After opening his eyes, he found himself still lying on the simple wooden bed covered with straw. Closing his eyes, he couldn't fall asleep; the bed was really too uncomfortable.
Helplessly, he had to exit the game and return to his comfortable big bed to enjoy a restful sleep.
The next day, Lu Yu woke up early in the morning, quickly washed up, casually ate something for breakfast, and put on the helmet to enter the game.
After entering the game, Lu Yu found himself not in the wooden house, but with others training boxing techniques in the martial arts field. Seeing a bit more on the experience bar, the character should have been training here for a while.
Finding out that he didn't need to wake up early, as the character can automatically be in auto-mode, Lu Yu breathed a sigh of relief. If he had to follow the in-game schedule every day, it wouldn't be him playing the game, but the game playing him.
The character was still training in auto-mode, and Lu Yu chose not to take control, letting him continue training in auto-mode.
After a while, Yang Xiu came over, asking everyone to go have breakfast. Lu Yu wanted to see if the character would move automatically.
Seeing everyone else leave, Lu Yu was still standing there. Yang Xiu came over and asked, "Is there a problem?"
Lu Yu snapped out of it, looked up at Yang Xiu, and quickly said, "No problem, just got a sudden surge of inspiration while training but got a little puzzled."
Yang Xiu laughed and said, "That's a good thing. You might be about to make a breakthrough. Alright, go have breakfast first!"
Lu Yu thanked Instructor Yang for his guidance, then ran to catch up with the main group. He wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but Lu Yu felt he was faster today.
Breakfast was still the same medicinal white porridge mixed with herbs as yesterday's lunch and dinner. Lu Yu had a premonition that he might be drinking this white porridge for quite a while.
He pondered whether to improve his diet in real life; the medicinal porridge in the game didn't taste very good. It pursued medicinal effects, not taste, and drinking it was a bit bitter.
However, the effects were significant, as Lu Yu found his body was not as tired when he took control after the auto-mode training.
After breakfast, he rested for a while and continued training, still in auto-mode, spending the whole morning in it.
Lu Yu wanted to exit the game midway but was reminded by the system that leaving during auto-mode counts as forcibly exiting the game, potentially leading to unknown consequences.
Helpless, Lu Yu had to continue auto-mode training. Watching the experience bar grow was quite fulfilling, especially seeing those teammates suffering through hits; Lu Yu felt a bit pleased.
Most people rest after a while of training. But a taller boy, whenever about to give up, saw Lu Yu still punching and gritted his teeth, continuing his training.
"I will definitely not lose to you. If you can persist, so can I. I want to be strong, I want to be strong!"
Since it was auto-mode, Lu Yu had time to observe the surrounding environment, discovering a boy competing against him, seemingly the same emotionally rich NPC boy from yesterday.
Good luck! I'm rooting for you, boy!
Silently cheering for him; such spirit deserves praise.
Suddenly, a protector ran in from outside and said to Yang Xiu, "Yang, Miss wants to go out to the town for a stroll and invites you to join."
Yang Xiu listened, was silent for a moment, and called a few guards who were training nearby to instruct the group, then followed the person out of the martial arts field.
"The servant is going with Miss for a stroll, personally named by Miss. Looks like Yang Xiu is set to be an exceptional servant! Seems like an interesting show is about to unfold." Lu Yu watched Yang Xiu leave while in auto-mode.
Not long after Yang Xiu left, Lu Yu received a system notification.
[Skill upgraded! Fierce Tiger Fist - Hungry Tiger Pounce (Slight Mastery) → Fierce Tiger Fist - Hungry Tiger Pounce (Advanced Mastery)]
The next upgrade requires 100 experience, which will take a considerable time to achieve. However, the cultivation technique is about to upgrade, likely tonight. He wondered what benefits it would bring.
"Stop all training! Next up is your first patrol task. We'll be dividing into groups and teams, each responsible for their own area, each team handling their patrol times and shifts."
"Report your name to stand on my right side." Wang Qiang held a list and read aloud.
"Wang Er, Li Si, Zhang San, Lu Yu..."
Soon, they were divided into groups, "Each group of four will form a team, in the order of names called. When you reach the patrol area, your times will be assigned."
"Li Shan, take them to the East Court. I'll take them to the West Court."
"Okay."
The two led over twenty people each out of the martial arts field.
At this moment, Lu Yu also received a system prompt.
[Task: Daily Patrol—Complete patrol in the designated area within the specified time. Task Reward: 50 Experience Points.]