Becoming a Saint From the Iron Armor Skill-Chapter 59: Forging Ahead Bravely

At this moment, a Preparatory Constable spoke up. "Reporting to the Chief Constable, your subordinate is feeling unwell. May I withdraw from this assessment?"

This Preparatory Constable was named Nan Zihan. He had trained in the Martial Dao for three years at a Martial Arts Hall and possessed strength approaching Small Success in the Skin Grinding Realm.

He had been with the City Guard Department for a year and should have been promoted to official constable long ago, but there were no slots available for the official constable assessment the last two times.

For this assessment, he had been one of the most talked-about candidates with the highest hopes of being promoted.

However, the appearance of Zhou Fang was another setback for him, and he ultimately decided to withdraw from the competition.

He had already made up his mind for this assessment: he would display some of his strength during the test and then quietly lose to Zhou Fang.

But Shen Qingshuang’s decision forced him to withdraw from the competition early.

Shen Qingshuang glanced at Nan Zihan and said coldly, "Since you don’t cherish this opportunity, I certainly won’t force you."

"Thank you, Chief Constable!" Nan Zihan said, bowing with his hands clasped as if a great weight had been lifted.

Shen Qingshuang paid him no more mind and asked, "Does anyone else wish to withdraw from this assessment?"

Another Preparatory Constable named Yun Shaou, who also came from a Martial Arts Hall and had considerable strength, spoke up. "Your subordinate was injured during my recent Cultivation. I also request to withdraw from the assessment."

Without a second thought, Shen Qingshuang said, "Granted."

Of the six Preparatory Constables participating in the assessment, only four remained in the blink of an eye.

But only three of them actually had a choice to make. The other, holding his head high with his chest puffed out in an attitude that suggested victory was in the bag, was naturally Zhou Fang.

He shot a sidelong glance at Chen Cheng and the other two. His meaning was obvious: he didn’t believe the three of them had the guts to compete with him.

He could secure the official constable slot in this assessment with ease, without even lifting a finger.

’This is actually a bit boring,’ Zhou Fang thought to himself.

The three remaining were Chen Cheng, He Zhiling, and another man named Li Sheng.

As a disciple from a Martial Arts Hall, Li Sheng was naturally skilled. He admitted his Martial Arts Power was not on par with He Zhiling’s, so after joining the City Guard Department, he pulled some strings to serve under another Chief Constable.

Li Sheng still couldn’t get over the fact that Chen Cheng had severely injured his younger brother, Li Lin, with a single punch, causing him to lose his spot as a Preparatory Constable.

For this official constable assessment, Li Sheng wasn’t aiming to win. His sole focus was to have a match with Chen Cheng. Even if he couldn’t win, he wanted to drain Chen Cheng’s stamina. If he could prevent Chen Cheng from being promoted to official constable, he would consider it revenge for his younger brother, Li Lin.

As for He Zhiling, he was waiting for Chen Cheng to make his choice. He had already decided that if Chen Cheng didn’t withdraw, neither would he.

The intentions of He Zhiling and Li Sheng were practically written on their faces. Everyone’s gaze turned to Chen Cheng.

Shen Qingshuang also turned to look at Chen Cheng. After observing him carefully for a moment, she couldn’t help but feel secretly shocked again.

She had cultivated the Bear Skin Grinding Technique, so she could tell at a glance that Chen Cheng had just recently cultivated it as well.

Moreover, judging by the toughness of Chen Cheng’s skin, it seemed he had already reached the Beginner Level with the Bear Skin Grinding Technique.

It had only been a little over two months since she gave Chen Cheng the Bear Skin Grinding Technique Secret Manual. In such a short time, he could have cultivated it three or four times at most, yet he had already made this much progress. It was truly formidable.

Skin Grinding Realm Body Tempering Methods had always been extremely difficult to cultivate. Even a Martial Artist with exceptional talent would need three to five months, or even more than half a year, to reach the Beginner Level.

It had taken Shen Qingshuang a full three months to cultivate this Skin Grinding Technique to the Beginner Level.

Yet Chen Cheng had cultivated it even faster than her. Such martial arts talent was far superior to her own. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Shen Qingshuang was so shocked that she momentarily forgot her original intention. When she gave Chen Cheng the Bear Skin Grinding Technique Secret Manual, she hadn’t actually expected him to succeed in cultivating it. Her plan was to wait until he had achieved some success with a different Skin Grinding Technique and found himself in desperate need of cultivation resources. Then, she, Shen Qingshuang, would step in and make her recruitment offer.

After all, for someone like Chen Cheng who came from a Humble Family, talent for cultivating the Bear Skin Grinding Technique was a secondary concern. The real difficulty was earning enough silver coins to purchase the necessary Medicinal Materials. It was no exaggeration to say that even if he saved for ten years, Chen Cheng might not be able to afford the ingredients for a single Herbal Decoction for the technique, let alone practice its Cultivation.

Therefore, giving him this top-tier Skin Grinding Technique was a form of temptation. It was meant to show Chen Cheng what kind of benefits he would receive by aligning with the Shen Family, thus ensuring he would follow them with unwavering loyalty and serve them diligently.

This was meant to be a long-term investment. Shen Qingshuang hadn’t expected to see short-term results, and it wouldn’t have even mattered if there were none. Just as she could give him the Secret Manual for this Skin Grinding Technique, she could also easily take it back.

But clearly, Chen Cheng had once again exceeded her expectations.

With such talent, Shen Qingshuang had already decided that she must recruit Chen Cheng, no matter what. She would do her best to nurture him so that he could become a great asset to her in the future.

Of course, the prerequisite was that Chen Cheng could pass the immediate test before him.

If Chen Cheng proved to be timid and fearful like the others, then no matter how outstanding his martial arts talent was, he wouldn’t be worthy of her investment.

She came from a great family in the Inner City and knew very well that while people with outstanding martial arts talent were rare, the world was full of people. Linji City alone had a population of over a million. Even if the odds were one in ten thousand, you could still find quite a few individuals with exceptional talent.

In Martial Arts Cultivation, the scarce commodity was never talent, but resources.

The vast majority of those with exceptional martial arts talent were simply lost among the common masses for lack of cultivation resources.

"Chen Cheng, do you wish to withdraw from this assessment?" Shen Qingshuang asked.

The Chief Constable was asking him by name. Everyone present heard the underlying meaning in her question and was secretly shocked, growing even more curious about what Chen Cheng would choose.

Chen Cheng thought for a moment before answering seriously, "I want to participate in the assessment."

If the others could hear the deeper meaning in Shen Qingshuang’s question, how could Chen Cheng not?

He had been secretly trying to guess the identity of the important figure backing Liu Yunfeng. After all this time, he had more or less figured out a few clues.

At the Ruyi Square Sub-Department, the only important figures he could possibly come into contact with were Shen Qingshuang and Zhou Xu.

Liu Yunfeng clearly wouldn’t align himself with Zhou Xu, which only left Shen Qingshuang and the Shen Family behind her.

The Bear Skin Grinding Technique Secret Manual had undoubtedly been a gift from Shen Qingshuang.

Although Chen Cheng couldn’t guess Shen Qingshuang’s exact intentions, her desire to recruit him was obvious.

If he continued to feign ignorance, he was afraid he would offend the Chief Constable, making it difficult for him to survive in the Ruyi Square Sub-Department in the future.

Besides, Chen Cheng himself couldn’t afford to wait. He needed to be promoted to official constable to obtain more cultivation resources.

In Linji City, the City Guard Department appeared on the surface to have an open path of promotion for commoners. In reality, all important positions within the department were controlled by the great families, who had long since blocked the way forward for the common people.

If he wanted to cultivate the Martial Dao and further increase his strength, he would eventually have to face the great families one day.

Competing for the official constable slot would mean offending the Zhou Family and Zhou Xu, the Official from the South City District City Guard Headquarters.

But withdrawing from the competition would naturally mean offending Shen Qingshuang and the Shen Family.

No matter which choice he made, a confrontation with a great family was unavoidable.

One might suggest quitting the City Guard Department. It seemed like a way to avoid offending either side, to lie low and seek temporary peace while cultivating the Martial Dao in secret.

But that was completely unrealistic. Without power and without resources, how could he even talk about cultivating the Martial Dao? Forget cultivating the Martial Dao—with his current Martial Arts Power, Chen Cheng would have a hard time even protecting himself.

Not to mention other potential dangers, the moment he lost his status as a constable of the City Guard Department, the Flying Eagle Gang would be the first to make a move against him.

When a Martial Artist cultivates the Martial Dao, they are also cultivating their heart. Only by pressing forward bravely can one seize a sliver of a chance at survival.