Chapter 4: The Essential Arts of Peace

  Half a month's time has passed in the blink of an eye.

  In the early morning, the golden sunlight shines through the gap of the tent and falls on the ground, shining brightly.

  Wang Can opened his sleepy eyes, rubbed his slightly sour and swollen eyes with his hands, got out of bed and stretched, put on his clothes, and then got up to wash. Wang Can currently lives in the military camp, due to Liu Bi and Gong Dou's reasons, a separate tent was allocated for him, which is his office and residence.

  After breakfast, Wang Can sat in his tent, holding the Taiping Yizhan bestowed by Liu Pei, and carefully studied it.

  He is now either training soldiers on the campus or staying in his tent reading books.

  Since the Yellow Turban Army defeated the government troops, all the government troops around Ruan City have disappeared without a trace, as if they were afraid. Wang Can felt that this matter was somewhat strange and told his thoughts to Liu Bi, but after all, he was a minor character, and Wang Can's words were not taken seriously by Liu Bi and Gong Du. The two Yellow Turban leaders just nodded, indicating that they knew about the matter, and then ordered Wang Can to intensify military training and strengthen their own strength, without believing Wang Can's words at all.

  Wang Can shook his head and threw off the complicated thoughts in his mind, focusing on studying the Taiping Yizhi in his hand.

  It wasn't until now that Wang Can realized how terrifying the Southern Immortal was. That old man's Taiping Wantu for Zhang Jiao was simply an encyclopedia.

  The Taiping Yulan is divided into three volumes: the Heavenly Geography Volume, the Medical Divination and Astrology Volume, and the Military Deployment Volume. It encompasses geography, astronomy, medicine, pharmacology, military affairs, as well as mysterious and unfathomable divination, it's simply awesome to the extreme, even Wang Can, a modern special forces operative with rich scientific knowledge, can't fully understand it, truly profound and mysterious.

  Zhang Jiao obtained the Taiping Yizhi, but after studying it, he understood some of the medicinal properties for treating illnesses and saving people. Relying on his limited medical skills, he deceived the common people into following him in rebellion. Liu Bei and Guan Yu were even more incompetent, unable to recognize a single character, so they found a few literate individuals to read aloud from the Taiping Yizhi. However, they encountered a few bookworms who only knew about Confucian classics and ignored the divine book. Wang Can sneered inwardly; although he had no interest in astronomy, geography, medicine, divination, or astrology, he believed that studying military formations was essential for leading troops and fighting battles.

  "Adult?"

  Outside the tent, a soldier called out in a low voice.

  "Come in!" Wang Can remained still, his head still lowered, carefully studying the Taiping Yijing on the desk.

  "Is there something?" Wang Can felt that the light in front of him was blocked by a shadow, and he raised his head. He immediately closed the Taiping Yulan book on the table, but when the cover page closed, a flash of surprise flickered across Wang Can's eyes before returning to calmness.

  The soldier glanced at the Taiping Yemu on the case table, and a scorching color flashed in his eyes, but he immediately lowered his head and said respectfully: "Sir, things are like this. The soldiers have been training continuously for half a month, their bodies can't take it anymore, they're extremely tired, I'd like to ask if we can have a day off."

  The soldier looked up slightly while speaking and caught a glimpse of Wang Can's face sinking like water, thinking to himself that the situation was not good.

  Wang Can heard this and sneered coldly: "You are their representative. May I assume that you also want to rest?"

  The soldier hastily shook his head: "Sir, I absolutely did not mean it, absolutely did not mean it!"

  Wang Can smiled and said, "Well, it's best not to have this idea. Since they think so, ask which ones don't want to participate in training anymore, let them roll away, and then they can rest forever."

  The soldier's mouth was wide open, revealing an extremely surprised expression: "Sir, I have a few words to say, but I don't know if I should say them."

  "If you've got gas, let it go!" Wang Can said irritably.

  The soldier said: "As the commander of a hundred men, you should have at least a hundred soldiers under your command. However, there are many commanders but not enough soldiers, so only over 70 soldiers were assigned to you. With such high-intensity training, the soldiers can't take it and may leave you to join other commanders. This situation is very unfavorable for you, please reconsider."

  Wang Can praised: "You indeed understand many principles, not simple, not simple."

  Upon hearing Wang Can's praise, the soldier happily said: "I have attended a private school and read some books, so I know some principles."

  "Uh-huh, you've read the book, very good, very good!" Wang Can nodded in satisfaction, but his face suddenly fell and he said in a low voice: "You've read books and understand the principles, but all of this is just petty cleverness. You fundamentally don't understand the purpose of my training soldiers like this."

  The little soldier respectfully said: "Your humble servant is foolish, please instruct me, sir."

  His right index finger lightly tapped the table, and he said in a low voice: "What I want is a brave soldier who is not afraid of death, not a deserter. If they can't even bear this hardship, let alone go to the battlefield with bare arms and kill the enemy. Although the training is very hard, sweating all day, clothes are wet, but the gain is that you can survive on the battlefield. Now it's hard, in order to survive on the battlefield; now sweating, in order not to bleed on the battlefield. You tell them my words, those who want to stay will stay, and those who want to leave will leave early. I believe there will be people willing to stay."

  "Yes, sir!" The soldier's expression changed, his face solemn, and he bowed to Wang Can before walking out.

  After the soldiers left, Wang Can opened Taiping Yulan and kept rubbing his hand on the cover page of the book, touching a wrinkled bulge.

  There was a mystery, and Wang Can's heart moved.

  He was also at the moment when the soldier came in, because the soldier stood in front of him, blocking part of the sunlight that shone in, while another part of the light shone on the title page of the book. At this time, Wang Can turned over the title page again, facing the incoming light, so that the shadow of the objects on the title page was transmitted out.

  Fortunately, Wang Can had sharp eyes and caught a glimpse of the shadow part on the door leaf.

  Wang Can picked up a small knife and opened the cover page of Taiping Yemu.

  The cover page was a double-layered interleaving paper, and after being opened, a thin, smooth, light yellow silk fabric appeared between the papers. Wang Can caught a glimpse of it, his heart skipped a beat, his mouth wide open, he suddenly lifted his head to glance at the tent, seeing no one had come in, he let out a long sigh of relief. He silently scolded himself for not being vigilant enough, and having made no preparations, if this matter were to be discovered, the things hidden inside the book would probably no longer be his to possess.

  Quickly rolled up the yellow silk, then walked to the entrance of the tent and ordered the soldiers to guard the tent. King Can returned to the tent again, took out the yellow silk.

  Above the silk, embroidered with five big characters: The Secret Book of True Martial Arts.

  Martial arts secret book? Is this the practice method of the world's most powerful martial art? Wang Can's heart surged with a huge wave, staring blankly at the words on the silk.

  "Wow~~~"

  Wang Can took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

  On the silk, apart from the "True Martial Scripture", there were no other words. The entire silk was composed of small people embroidered with great beauty, from top to bottom. These small people were divided into three groups, each group having nine small people, and each small person had a different posture. On the body of these small people, there were many red dots. Wang Zhan had studied acupoint charts in his past life, so he naturally understood that these red dots were the acupoints on the small people's bodies. His gaze fell on the first small person, and after a glance, he continued to look down. After finishing looking at all twenty-seven small people, Wang Zhan's eyes shone with great joy. The different postures made by these twenty-seven small people must be the methods for cultivation.

  It's not actually Zhang Jiao, Gong Du and Liu Bi's fault. When they got the Taiping Jing, they couldn't help but think of Nan Hua Xian Ren, with this preconceived notion, they read the book with a sense of reverence, never thinking that there was a hidden layer in the cover page.

  Zhang Jue, Gong Du and Liu Bi owned a precious mountain but didn't know it, instead they let him get a great bargain.

  Wang Can stared at the twenty-seven small people on the silk, and then an incredible expression appeared on his face again.

  The first group of nine little people's postures are still relatively normal, within the normal range of cognition; The second group of nine little people's postures are a bit strange and look very eerie; The third group completely exceeded Wang Can's cognition, each little person's posture is extremely difficult and hard to understand.

  Wang Can shook his head and focused his gaze on the first little man in the first group.

  For him, let's first cultivate the little people in the first group.

  Wang Can carefully sized up the first little man, committing to memory the pose he had made, then and only then did he tuck the silk fabric into his belt, such an important thing could only be kept close at hand, or else he wouldn't feel at ease.

  Outside the tent, footsteps sounded hastily.

  "Sir?" a soldier called out softly.

  Wang Can put away the Taiping Tian Shu on the table, his expression returned to calm, and said: "Come in!"