Chapter 54

Despite the fruitless trip to Diancang Mountain, Lin Sha returned to Dali City under the setting sun with a very pleasant mood!

Finally, he had the chance to closely interact with martial artists. Although they were just two low-ranking disciples guarding the mountain gate of the Diancang Sect, it temporarily satisfied his curiosity.

Although the two fools weren't very powerful, he carefully felt their strength during their conversation. Their bones and muscles were only at the level of ordinary martial artists, far from the level of Ming Strength, but he clearly sensed a different kind of force within them. He didn't know how powerful it was or if it was what was called internal strength.

Leaving aside the details, the next day, the logistics camp set off for Kunming with the purchased goods, escorting the large carts.

On the way back, they continued to practice various logistics transportation methods. By the time they returned to Kunming, a month had already passed.

With the experience of this escort mission, the money earned was substantial, enough to improve the camp's food for over half a month.

For subsequent escort missions, he deliberately made arrangements, ensuring that each of the seven-grade battalion commanders took turns leading the escort to train the troops' logistics transportation skills.

As for Lin Sha himself, he completely put aside the camp's miscellaneous affairs. Apart from overall supervision, he focused entirely on how to obtain internal strength techniques.

He hadn't forgotten that day when Commander Hu Guozhu suddenly came to inspect, and the young fatty Hu Dashao stayed behind to talk to him, telling him that the guards around Commander Hu were Diancang Sect experts.

He was immediately excited and somewhat regretted not finding an opportunity to test his skills against Commander Hu's guards, who didn't seem that strong.

However, the young fatty Hu Dashao poured cold water on him. The guards around his uncle, Commander Hu, were personally dispatched by the Pacifying West King. They only took orders from the Pacifying West King, and even his uncle couldn't command them. If Lin Sha rashly challenged them, he might be killed on the spot with no one to appeal to!

Lin Sha was immediately stunned. After a long while, he came to his senses and begged the young fatty to help him think of a way. He was indeed interested in those high-flying martial artists and would naturally want to meet them if he had the chance.

The young fatty didn't beat around the bush and directly gave him three paths:

The first method was to directly join the Diancang Sect or the Five Immortals Sect. To avoid trouble from the authorities, Lin Sha would have to resign from his current position and join the two major sects as a commoner.

This was the most direct method, but also the most disadvantageous for Lin Sha!

His current status and position were entirely due to his official identity. If he lost his official status, who would still know who he was? Even if he could join the two major sects, he would definitely start as the lowest-ranking miscellaneous disciple and wouldn't know how many years it would take to obtain the true teachings, or if he would ever get them in his lifetime!

How could Lin Sha be willing to risk his future on a gamble?

Winning the bet would only make him an elite disciple of the two major sects, and whether he could smoothly learn internal strength or achieve success was uncertain. Losing the bet would mean all his previous efforts would be in vain, and he would lose his personal freedom, being dispatched and arranged by the sect like a puppet.

His thoughts were very selfish and practical. He didn't want to give up his current stable life, but he also wanted to learn the internal strength techniques he had longed for. So, he came up with a compromise: try to join the two major sects and see if there was a chance to become an outer sect disciple, like the lay disciples of the Daoist and Buddhist sects!

This trip to Dali gave him a chance to test this.

The Diancang Sect's mountain gate was in Dali, which he had already learned from the young fatty.

Unfortunately, this test yielded no results. The Diancang Sect indeed recruited a batch of disciples every year, but they had to be between five and ten years old. For an adult like him, who was almost twenty, there was no chance unless he brought his own skills to learn from a master!

He did have many internal martial arts manuals to exchange, but he was afraid they wouldn't be valued, or worse, they might play dirty!

This path wasn't completely cut off, but the chances were slim and not very feasible.

Now, thinking calmly, even if he was willing, Old Wu wouldn't be.

After all, they were descendants of Liaodong, and he was currently making a name for himself in the Green Standard Army. Giving up a promising future just to learn martial arts, how would Old Wu think, and how would Lin Sha continue to survive in Yunnan Province?

Offending the biggest boss in Yunnan Province, even if the two major sects accepted him as an inner sect disciple, they would have to give him up for the sect's interests, which Lin Sha absolutely could not accept.

The second method was to quickly make a name for himself in the Yunnan Province Green Standard Army, gain Old Wu's favor and promotion, and then naturally have martial artists around to protect him. From there, he could try to obtain internal strength techniques from these martial artists. If done properly, there would be almost no negative consequences.

Unfortunately, in a relatively stable environment, it wasn't easy to advance in the military.

Without war, there were no military achievements. Without impressive military achievements, one needed either strong support from a superior or to patiently accumulate seniority and naturally rise.

Lin Sha didn't have the conditions for either at the moment!

Although Hu Guozhu showed some appreciation for him, it was only a certain level of appreciation. It wasn't like in political novels where being noticed by a high-level leader immediately led to rapid promotion and wealth. At least, he needed to show sufficient ability and strength, and there needed to be a suitable opportunity for them to accept him into the core circle.

Although the young fatty Hu Dashao helped to push him, he was just a battalion commander of the logistics camp, not a battalion commander of the front-line forces of the Yunnan Province Green Standard Army. The stakes that could make people take him seriously were too few.

As for accumulating seniority to get promoted, that was a joke. He was a new recruit in the military, with no seniority to speak of.

Relying on normal military promotions was simply not feasible!

The third method was a bit more unconventional and required Lin Sha to have strong combat skills.

That was to show a sufficiently martial character, and in his spare time after completing the logistics camp's normal training tasks, continuously challenge the martial arts schools and gangs in Kunming City, building a formidable reputation through his fists!

When his reputation as a martial artist with strong skills spread, and the young fatty Hu Dashao mentioned it to his uncle, transferring to the front-line forces of the Green Standard Army wouldn't be difficult. At that time, the opportunities to meet Hu Guozhu would increase, and Lin Sha could naturally challenge the guards around Commander Hu.

As for how he would obtain the internal strength techniques, the young fatty Hu Dashao didn't know his plans. Even if he did, he would only shrug and let Lin Sha handle it himself.

Lin Sha pondered in the main tent and finally decided that the third method was the most reliable and most in line with his actual situation. He had absolute confidence in his own strength...

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