Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age-Chapter 99 - 94: The Terror of Genius

This man is a collateral relative of Hong Yuan. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have much natural talent or root bone, but he is quite favored by Hong Yuan, so he kept him close for personal instruction—counted as half a senior brother to Lu Chang’sheng.

Lu Chang’sheng immediately told the junior official about the Dragon and Tiger Eight Treasures herbal cuisine.

Long Fan chuckled, "Junior Brother Lu, don’t get anxious. I’ll go get the Dean’s Martial Artist Order."

He said, turning and heading into a study. When he came back out, there was a token in his hand.

"The Dragon and Tiger Eight Treasures herbal cuisine is usually supplied by all areas of Black Mountain Prefecture, but mostly from over in Jinghua Prefecture. They have a dedicated medicine institute for cultivating all sorts of medicinal herbs. But, since the chaos of war spread so wide, Jinghua Prefecture has had its supply cut off for now, so we have to get it through some special channels—but that means the quantity is way less."

Lu Chang’sheng nodded in understanding, then took the Martial Artist Order and headed over.

When Guan Fu saw the Martial Artist Order, his face turned green, and he blurted, "Won’t listen to your uncle—you’re bound to regret it sooner or later!"

Lu Chang’sheng looked at his wrinkled face, figured he couldn’t have all that many years left, so he didn’t bother correcting the ’uncle’ title.

With Hong Yuan’s Martial Artist Order opening all the doors, Lu Chang’sheng took a whole half-month’s supply of the Dragon and Tiger Eight Treasures herbs. He figured he’d refine the rest himself once he got back anyway.

He wanted to take even more, but Guan Fu wouldn’t budge, saying even if Dean Hong Yuan came himself, that’s the most he’d give.

If he took more, the Martial Artist Institute might as well shut down for good.

Seeing this, Lu Chang’sheng didn’t make things hard for him, and instead, he carried over a dozen bags of herbs back home.

"Herbal cuisine, cultivation time—those are the main variables to trigger things. And then there are these sparring sessions, which I can’t skip."

The first two are simple enough; just keep your head down and power through. As for the last—

"But that’ll be pretty rough for Master Mo."

Lu Chang’sheng felt a little guilty.

Master Mo was a Hospital Guardian Master brought in from Feiyu Martial Arts Hall not long ago. His Immovable Stake skill was at Great Success Realm, making him second only to Hall Master Li Fei and Niu Dazhuang among the disciples.

When Lu Mansion said they needed a Hospital Guardian, Niu Dazhuang wanted to come in person, but Li Fei wouldn’t allow it.

After getting his hands on True Qi Realm martial arts, Li Fei was dead set on having Niu Dazhuang reach True Qi Realm soon, so Feiyu Martial Arts Hall could rise again.

Still, the Hospital Guardian gig was a great find. To get a job for their hall’s disciples in a household was rare and valuable.

Feiyu Martial Arts Hall wasn’t a big hall. Without anyone at True Qi Realm, they’d already fallen to a third-rate force. Usually, they’d occasionally get escort jobs or do labor work, hunting and gathering herbs in the wild, that sort of thing.

But these days, things were tough; even jobs like those were hard to come by. So there was no way they could turn it down—in fact, Niu Dazhuang was told to keep Lu Chang’sheng happy, and except for Niu Dazhuang, they sent their youngest Pile Skill Great Success guy, Mo Chengshan, home to apply right away.

When Mo Chengshan got the news, he was over the moon. Most of the big households already had their Hospital Guardians, and the smaller ones couldn’t offer enough silver. The rare ones that could—well, those jobs got snatched right up; without serious connections, you couldn’t even get in.

So he dropped his hunting tools and raced back with his crew.

Checked it out—damn, it really was a big household. The famous Scholar Lu, a student of the Dean of the Martial Artist Institute.

These folks, if they’re willing to put in the effort, could probably even hire someone at True Qi Realm. Landing a guardian job here was like luck from eight lifetimes. He even knocked a bit off his price.

The real perks of being a guardian for a big household aren’t in that base pay—it’s about the influence.

Servants in big households sometimes make several times their monthly salary from tips and side gigs.

Sure enough, Lu Chang’sheng offered him a monthly salary that made him happy—an entire tael of silver.

For someone at Pile Skill Great Success, with normal jobs only paying a few hundred copper coins a month, that’s insanely generous.

One time after drinking, Master Mo let slip the truth to a friend, who was so jealous it hurt. They said Lu Mansion was dumb, just handing out money for free.

You gotta know, the guardians get food and board, plus proper training gear. For a Martial Artist at Immovable Stake Great Success, five hundred copper a month is actually solid.

Add in the extra "oil and water," and by year’s end, the average monthly income could reach almost two taels.

And a household as big as Lu’s could probably pay even more.

Not worth it!

Totally not worth it!

Even Master Mo thought so himself.

He never imagined the money would actually turn out this hard to earn.

...

The side courtyard where the Hospital Guardians lived.

On the training field, a few guardians were working out, sweat running down their bronze skin, showing a wild, powerful sort of beauty.

Just then, a man around fifty came, following a Lu Mansion servant to the courtyard entrance. His gaze swept over the scene, and he nodded to himself.

It was already late; the lazy ones would’ve gone to rest by now. But these guys from Feiyu Martial Arts Hall were still working out, and as hall master, he was honestly proud.

But just as he was about to leave, his brows suddenly furrowed.

Turns out all the guardians on the training field suddenly deflated, like air let out of a balloon, and went off to the side.

"Huh? What’s this about! Master Lu pays good money to have you guys as guardians, and you can’t even do daily training—or stake practice! Are you really earning the silver you’re getting?"

A surge of anger burned in Li Fei’s heart.

Unbelievable.

He stormed over, and saw that even Mo Chengshan, who was supposed to oversee the guardians’ training, wasn’t around. When he asked, he found Mo Chengshan was resting.

Outrageous!

Li Fei barged into Mo Chengshan’s quarters, dragged him from bed before he could say a word, and chewed him out hard.

Just as Mo Chengshan tried to explain, Lu Chang’sheng walked into the training field.

"Master Mo, want to spar together?"

Mo Chengshan’s face turned pale; his body looked like it would collapse at any moment. Li Fei’s anger skyrocketed instantly, shooting way past his limit.

You don’t know how tough it is until you run the household.

Do you know how many folks would kill for a job this good?

Do you know how many have their eyes on this fat gig?

A tael a month—even before counting benefits. Where else can you find that?

Same for the rest of you. Out there, if you make a few dozen, maybe a hundred copper coins a month, that’s lucky. Now, you’re full and comfy so you think you can slack off, right?

Heartache!

Li Fei felt an overwhelming heartache.

For a dog-rich lord—bah—for one’s bread and butter, you should put them on the ancestral shrine. As long as you don’t cross the line, even calling him dad is fine.

Now Master Lu has a need and you can’t jump to fulfill it?

But Mo Chengshan replied, "Uh... Master, maybe tomorrow? Tomorrow we can spar—"

"Enough!" Li Fei almost burst a lung.

Absolutely unacceptable.

This is how you treat your bread and butter?

Replace him!

He had already decided in his heart to replace Mo Chengshan.

This rotten apple can’t be left in such an important place. He’s just clogging things up and smearing Feiyu Martial Arts Hall’s name.

"As guardians, how can you refuse such a simple request from Master Lu?" Li Fei said coldly.

"But—"

"No buts! If you can’t handle even such a simple request, you really let me down!" Li Fei was thoroughly disappointed in Mo Chengshan, already thinking about picking someone new.

Still, for now, it’s best to keep Master Lu happy.

With that thought, he relaxed his expression, looked at Lu Chang’sheng, and said, "I came today to inspect if my men are properly fulfilling their responsibilities. Didn’t expect this at all. Rest assured, Master Lu, once I get back I’ll send some new people over—loyal, no tricks! Just happened to be here now, so let me spar with you myself!"

Mo Chengshan and the others were furious, wanting to speak up, but hearing that last part, they wisely kept quiet.

Explain?

Wait a bit!

This much time, they could afford to wait.

Lu Chang’sheng saw all this, felt a little bad, and said, "Master Mo and the others have been good—they spar with me all the time!"

"That’s their job. Master Lu, you don’t have to save face for me. Scold them if needed, or even knock some sense into them. Just now, you said you spar with them often, so clearly you want to. For the next while, let me spar with you myself." Li Fei thought, since he had to replace people, there’d be a gap period; he couldn’t let Lu Chang’sheng lose out, so he said this seriously.