Zhang San, please behave yourself!

Sister Ling took Zhang San on a tour of the interior of Xiongfeng Manor.

To call it a tour was a bit of an overstatement; she had simply taken Zhang San to the dining hall and then showed him where the latrine was.

And then she repeatedly reminded Zhang San not to get lost.

Zhang San was clearly not happy, thinking to himself, I may have lost my memory, but not my intelligence!

Could I really mistake the dining hall for the latrine?

However, facing Sister Ling, whom he totally could not defeat, Zhang San remained very polite.

Finally, Sister Ling took Zhang San to collect some simple armor and a Horizontal Blade.

"The philosophy of the Town Martial Office is a total of ten words..."

"Serve the Emperor and pacify all martial arts, daring to be the impartial justice of the world!"

Zhang San listened to Sister Ling's words and nodded obediently, then fell into thought for a moment.

"The leader of our Town Martial Office is Feng Huang, the most daring man in the world!?"

Sister Ling gave Zhang San a glance, a trace of doubt in her heart.

This lad had neither strength nor education, how on earth did he join the Town Martial Office in the first place?

"Our Town Martial Office carries out the Emperor's commands to suppress all Martial Path Sects and Martial Aristocratic Families, to uphold justice for all under heaven, and to do what others have not or dare not do," she explained.

"Remember these words well, they are as important as life itself to every martial artist in the Town Martial Office."

Zhang San saw the seriousness written on Sister Ling's face and nodded repeatedly.

After that, Sister Ling had taken Zhang San to the door of his quarters, and then she left.

Zhang San looked at the closed door, filled with curiosity about his living quarters.

They shouldn't be too shabby just because I'm an Apprentice Warrior, right?

However, just as Zhang San was about to open the door, he heard the sound of water splashing from inside the room.

That sound of water, it was as if a beauty were bathing, the drops ringing clear and melodious.

Transmigrator, same dormitory, a girl dressed as a boy...

Zhang San's mind was filled with countless clichéd plotlines and... movie scenes.

Her jade-like skin emanated a fragrant glow, her alluring body laid out like a cloud-topped peak.

No!

I, Zhang San, am a decent person, how could I entertain such indecent thoughts about a female roommate I've never even met?

To begin with, I wasn't even aware there was someone in the room!

After all, it was Sister Ling who brought me here.

If there's a romantic encounter, it's mine, if there's any blame to be taken, it's on Sister Ling!

Creak—

Zhang San opened the door to his room with an air of composure.

Looking at the scene that met his eyes.

So...

Big...

The...

Head is!

In the center of the room, there stood a giant of a man, eight feet tall and built like a tower, who was pouring water over his body with a ladle.

All those royal scenes that had flashed through Zhang San's mind before now transformed into Sylvester Stallone and Mike Tyson, along with a muscle-bound Nezha!

That's right, Nezha!

Although the muscular man looked very young and still somewhat tender and youthful in the face, not even having much of a beard, clearly only a few years older than Zhang San, his physique was extremely robust and his head was two sizes larger than a normal person's.

Upon seeing a newcomer in the room, the hulking man immediately greeted with a fist and palm salute.

"My name is Wang Gouwa, Officer Bai thought my name didn't sound nice, so he gave me a new name, Wang Junwu!"

"But everyone calls me Big Head Wang."

Zhang San quickly responded with a bow, "So it's Brother Wang."

"What Brother? Just call me Big Head Wang! When we're out on a mission and things get hectic, if you call out for Brother Wang, I won't even realize you're talking to me. Better to call me Big Head Wang!"

Zhang San thought about it, and indeed it made sense.

So he called out Big Head Wang.

Big Head Wang also laughed heartily and shouted back, "Zhang... Zhang... hey, brother, what's your name again? I forgot."

"Zhang San, San as in three legs."

"Hahaha, Zhang San with three legs, got it!"

With that, Big Head Wang continued with his bathing.

The room was divided into eastern and western sides, with about three to four zhang separating them.

Some clothes and two knives lay on the bed to the east, indicating it was Big Head Wang's bunk.

The bed to the west was neat and clean, completely bare, which naturally meant it belonged to Zhang San.

"Big Head Wang, do you know where in the Town Martial Office one can learn a Qi Refining Technique? I need a cultivation technique."

Big Head Wang thought for a moment and said, "We all have merit points. You can use your own merit points to exchange for one."

"However, I don't really understand the specifics. I usually ask Xu about these things."

"Xu is a really nice guy, extremely helpful, but he isn't at the manor today; he's gone out with Wei. I'll take you to see Xu tomorrow, he'll know for sure!"

After energetically finishing his proposition, Big Head Wang suddenly remembered something.

"Zhang… Zhang… um… leg… Zhang Datui, right, Zhang Datui, do you snore when you sleep?"

Zhang San looked baffled.

What kind of memory does this roommate have?

Did you join the Town Martial Office after turning into a human from a Black Carp Demon?

"My name is Zhang San, and I don't snore."

Big Head Wang nodded, determined this time to remember the other person's name.

"I don't snore either, but I'm a light sleeper, just asking."

Zhang San smiled, suspecting that it wasn't Big Head Wang's sleep that was poor but his memory.

Just as Zhang San was also about to lie down to sleep, he was asked a piercing question.

"Zhang San, what realm are you at?"

Zhang San said somewhat awkwardly, "I haven't started refining Qi yet. To tell you the truth, I don't even know what Qi is."

"Then you're quite amazing!"

Hearing the Black Carp Demon's words, Zhang San felt like he was being sarcastically mocked.

"When I had just reached the Twelve Meridians in the Primordial Qi Realm, I barely passed the Town Martial Office's assessment to become an Apprentice Warrior. You haven't even started refining Qi and you're already an Apprentice Warrior, you must be better than me!"

Zhang San smiled, feeling a bit proud inside.

It seemed that being compared to a carp, an auspicious creature, sometimes they could indeed be complimenting.

However, as Big Head Wang turned over and began to snore, Zhang San struggled to fall asleep.

On one hand, Big Head Wang's snoring was deafening, to the point where Zhang San felt as if his bunk bed had been set to vibrate mode by the snores.

On the other hand, Big Head Wang's words had made him increasingly uneasy.

I'm just an ordinary person who doesn't even understand what Qi is, with nothing to offer aside from good looks.

And yet… not only did I join the Town Martial Office and become an Apprentice Warrior, but I also took part in an ambush on Demon Cult Followers.

It seems like I'm pretty lucky.

But the problem is, why would someone as weak as me be entrusted with such an important task, especially one as dangerous as this? It feels like someone wants me dead!

The more Zhang San thought about it, the more frightened he became. The fear of not being fully acclimated to this strange world coupled with the suspicion that there was someone in the dark wanting him dead.

Never before had Zhang San wished so much for a Golden Finger.

Isn't that a transmigrator's essential item?

Where's mine?

Three days and still not in my account!

Can Golden Fingers be unfinished business these days?

Zhang San yawned, hoping he could be granted a Golden Finger in his dreams that would allow him to soar from where he stood.

In a hazy daze, Zhang San dreamed he was six years old again.

But his six-year-old self wasn't in the original world but in the Great Sui Dynasty.

He pushed open the door to his house and built a small castle with sand at the doorstep, then undid his belt and watered the castle with Holy Water.

At that moment, an elderly man with the appearance of a sage wearing a white robe with ink-painted embroideries walked by, glanced at Zhang San, who was just finished watering.

"I see you have an extraordinary physique and innate talent. Come to the small bridge by the river behind your house at midnight tonight, and I shall teach you the strongest Tao in the world!"

Zhang San looked up at the elderly man only to find that he had already disappeared.

When the dead of night arrived, Zhang San stealthily climbed over the wall from his backyard and snuck out to the bridge, just in time to see the elderly man waiting for him on a large bluestone by the river.

"The Path of Deception, taken to its extreme,"

"The weak can only deceive themselves, but not others; the strong can deceive heaven and earth, making everything you say, do, think, or wish utterly believable. This is the strongest path in the world—the Path of Deception!"

"Do you wish to learn it or not?"

"I'll learn it!"

========

[Note 1] A small legal knowledge pop-up

According to articles 193 to 198 about financial fraud; article 210 about fraud; article 224 about contract fraud; article 266 about fraud crimes; and article 300 about organizing, using cult organizations, or using superstitions to commit fraud, as stipulated in the Specific Provisions of China's Criminal Law, deceptive acts are often illegal!

The Path of Deception mentioned in this text is only one of the main character's Golden Fingers, and we hope the readers do not overly identify with the main character, nor consider the main character's actions as correct and worth imitating. The main character's actions are driven by plot necessity and dramatic conflict. Do not imitate them.