The three of them walked along the mountain path, carrying their lanterns. The surroundings were pitch-black, and the weather was so cold that even the ground was frozen. The steps along the mountain path were almost fully covered in pure white snow, making it basically impossible to discern the shape of the step itself. It was only under the faint yellow light of the lanterns that one could vaguely see a few of the markers for the mountain path. It was extremely hard to move forward; every step taken left an imprint that was half a foot deep in the snow.
The sky was empty of both the stars and the moon, leaving a lead-like layer of clouds. In the forest on either side of the mountain path, there were no sounds from any of the insects. The only thing one could hear was the cold whistle of the wind.
Today's job was clearly going to be much more difficult than before. Even just bringing water up the mountain was not going to be an easy task.
Yan Liqiang and his two companions had each brought along a farming shovel from their own yard. As they went up the mountain, they shoveled the snow off the mountain path, creating a narrow path that could lead someone up or down the mountain.
Yan Liqiang was at the very front, leading the way. Using his brute strength, he would thrust his shovel deep into the snow and then push sideways with one side of the shovel pressed against the step. Like that, a large pile of snow would be lifted and the snow would fall onto the side of the mountain. With Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng on the sides using their shovels to clear the rest, people would basically be able to walk on that step. Following that, Yan Liqiang would move up another step and they would clear the next step up. The three of them moved upwards, step by step, heading towards the mountain peak.
"Wait til I get famous within the Divine Sword Sect, that Bastard Huo will regret it! I won't forgive him…" Gu Zexuan cursed under his breath as he worked. "At least you're good-natured Liqiang, being able to continue doing this for the past few months. If it were me, I don't think I would last seven days…"
"The mountain path is a little difficult to navigate today, it's usually not this bad…" Yan Liqiang said calmly as he used his shovel to messily push the snow aside. Since he had just entered the Martial Warrior rank, Yan Liqiang felt like there was an endless amount of strength in his body. The coordination between his body, hands, and eyes was without peer and this task of shoveling snow while they went up the mountain felt as easy and effortless as shoveling leaves. The change he had undergone in a day was exactly like the one he had undergone when he just passed the Horse Stance stage; he wasn't the same person anymore.
Yan Liqiang's biggest achievement after these few months of cleaning the toilets was discovering that the so-called cultivation could completely be absorbed into day-to-day life. As long as one had the will, there were all sorts of ways to improve oneself.
For example, his task of bringing water up the mountain. After these few months, Yan Liqiang felt like his strength, reaction time, pacing, and body composition had all improved by a large margin. Both his Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps and Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist had improved by another level, and his eyes, hands, legs, and body were even more harmoniously coordinated. Even when he was sweeping out the toilets, Yan Liqiang could, little by little, let go of the anxiety in his heart to become incomparably calm and focused.
This type of work was technically miscellaneous, but Yan Liqiang viewed it as cultivation.
Just like now when Yan Liqiang was shoveling snow, he used the stabbing stance of the spear technique when he pushed his shovel into the snow. When he pushed the snow to the side, he used outward parry stance of the spear technique. These were the three basic moves of the spear technique. As he worked, he could cultivate, and as he cultivated, his heart could be enlightened.
Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng both didn't find anything strange about Yan Liqiang. They also did not know that after only a day, Yan Liqiang had already become a Martial Warrior. The two of them followed Yan Liqiang, and only felt that Yan Liqiang's strength at hand was almost extraordinary. Every time he cleared a step, Yan Liqiang's movements were smooth and sharp, like a free-flowing stream or a floating cloud. There was actually a pleasant sort of rhythm to the entire thing.
Just like this, the three of them shoveled out a path up and down the mountain in the middle of the dark night.
When they arrived at the toilets on the top of the mountain, all three of them all had ice-coated eyelashes. When Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng both saw the toilet, they were completely astonished. This was because that toilet was definitely not the same as they had imagined; it was way too clean. Clean enough that the two of them suspected that maybe someone had already cleaned it.
That toilet was not only clean; it also did not have any strange smells around it.
"Did someone already clean this toilet?" Gu Zexuan looked at Yan Liqiang with surprise. "Did the older martial brothers from Tianqiao Peak take pity on how hard you were working and they cleaned it themselves?"
Yan Liqiang smiled a little. "It has not been cleaned yet!"
"Then why is it so clean?"
"If you want to know why, then come with me down the mountain to get water. I'll tell you on the way!" Yan Liqiang laughed heartily. He put down the pile of tools he had in his hand and picked up two buckets with a lantern hanging from them before heading down the mountain. Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng followed suit, each with their own bucket in hand.
With Yan Liqiang's current eyesight, he felt that even without a lantern, he would still be able to see the mountain path clearly. However, since he didn't want to expose his skills, he would still bring a lantern with him as a tool to keep up the façade, especially if the weather wasn't good.
"Liqiang, tell me, why is the toilet so clean?" Zhao Huipeng, who rarely ever spoke, asked this curiously after he caught up. Gu Zexuan was also paying attention, wanting to hear Yan Liqiang's explanation.
"When my grandfather was a wandering physician, he traveled from the north to the south, and he once came across a very interesting situation. He was at a small town and he saw that the inn he was staying at had two different horse carriages parked next to each other. One of the horse carriages was in new condition, clean and tidy, but the other one was a little old, and there was even a hole in the window that hadn't been repaired…" Yan Liqiang thought for only a brief moment before he explained the classic 'broken window theory' [1] from his previous life to Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng using words and examples that they could understand.
After explaining the broken window theory, Yan Liqiang summarized, "Therefore, if I wanted the toilets to be this clean, then the easiest way is for me to make it cleaner than it was before. Then if someone uses the toilet, they will automatically pay attention at all times to not dirty it. If the toilet was originally dirty, then the people who use it won't even pay attention, not caring if it gets dirtier. This is human psychology…"
Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng thought that Yan Liqiang's explanation was very interesting and they were enthralled while listening to him, loudly exclaiming their interest. Afterwards, Gu Zexuan clapped his hands together joyfully. "I know now, it's how the strong grow stronger and the weak get weaker. Is it that sort of philosophy? For strong people like the Divine Sword Sect's direct and core disciples, they were already like the Seven Heroes and Three Braves. Still, everyone around them are trying to curry favors, offering them the best resources and the best conditions for cultivation, which is why they will naturally grow stronger and stronger. However, for others like us external disciples without any sort of background, we can be put down and trodden upon at anyone else's whim and therefore, we'll just get weaker and weaker…"
"Your reasons are sound, but we're not exactly broken carriages!" Yan Liqiang smiled a little. "If a carriage is broken, then a carriage cannot repair itself and piece the broken parts. We're people. Therefore, we can constantly strive to be stronger, and strive to improve oneself. Just like how that Huo guy sent me here to clean toilets, if I had bemoaned my fate and did my task perfunctorily to a base standard each day, then the toilets at Tianqiao Peak's would've become the first broken window for me here at the Divine Sword Sect. Seeing this broken window would've meant that in the future, anyone would be able to look down on me. But, if I repaired that broken window by using every single resource and all the money I had at my disposal to fix it, then tell me, who would dare to go out of their way and pick on me without any reason?"
"I'm quite amazed by you!" Gu Zexuan sighed. "I never imagined that you would be able to spout so much logic and reasoning over a simple little task like cleaning a toilet. Previously, I wondered why you would put in so much effort into cleaning a toilet, but now I realize that you, Liqiang, have your own way of thinking about things. I feel ignorant…"
Zhao Huipeng glanced at Yan Liqiang with an admiring gleam in both of his eyes, seemingly moved on an emotional level. After Zhao Huipeng heard Yan Liqiang's words, he felt like his heart had lit up and he felt like he was enlightened all of a sudden.
...
When they came down to the small stream where the water buckets were usually filled, because the stream flowed slowly, there was ice on the surface. Yan Liqiang used a rock to chisel through the ice before they could successfully get the water.
The three of them filled up their buckets and then carried them up the mountain together. Rinsing and repeating...
With the three of them fetching water, it was obviously faster than Yan Liqiang doing it by himself. Within half an hour, after a couple of trips up and down, they had already managed to successfully fill up the water tank for the toilets. And, after only thirty minutes, that tank already had a thin layer of ice that was frozen across the top.
The three of them broke the ice and continued their work.
Even though it was the first time that Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng had come to clean the toilets, the two of them were deeply moved by Yan Liqiang's story and thus their enthusiasm was at a high as they worked alongside Yan Liqiang. Following Yan Liqiang's example, they cleaned all the toilets until they sparkled like new, laughing and chatting all the while. Even if all three pairs of hands had been chilled red by the freezing water, no one really cared.
While using the earth vinegar mixed with water to wipe the floor of the toilet, Gu Zexuan said in sudden realization, "Liqiang, I feel like Zhao Huipeng and I both fell for your trap. After we finished mixing that earth vinegar you had us make to remove the strange smells from the toilet, it was only you who ended up using it. We took the earth vinegar to the local market recently and couldn't sell a single bottle…"
"Hahaha…" Yan Liqiang laughed loudly. "If you want to sell earth vinegar, you'd have to do some advertising for it…"
"Eh, what advertising?"
"It means it needs to be widely publicized. Just wait and see, you can't rush this…"
...
It was already getting a bit dark once the three of them completely finished cleaning up the toilets and exited the area. However, just as they were walking out, Yan Liqiang found that someone had already been standing outside.
That person was bald, with a full beard across his face and he looked like he was in his fifties. Even though it was a cold day, he didn't seem cold; he was casually wearing a short shirt with his chest bare outside the toilets. His gaze swept keenly across the three of them as they were walking out before it finally landed on Yan Liqiang's face, his eyes flashing brightly.
Just when Yan Liqiang was still guessing who this person was, Gu Zexuan's face had already changed beside him, hurriedly saluting with extreme politeness. "Greetings to Hall Master Su from Gu Zexuan, external disciple…."
Hearing that this person was a Hall Master in the Divine Sword Sect, Yan Liqiang and Zhao Huipeng didn't dare to tarry, making their salutes as well.
The man smiled a little, looking at Yan Liqiang. "It's been a full one hundred days since you started cleaning Tianqiao Peak's toilets, and you haven't slacked for a single one. Every day, you clean the toilet so very thoroughly. Don't you feel like it's a dirty, tiring task?"
"Tianqiao Peak's older martial brothers aren't dirty at all in my eyes. Therefore, I don't feel dirty or tired to be of service to the older martial brothers on the peak. I only want to be able to do what I can do well." Yan Liqiang said evenly.
"Hahaha, nice choice of words…" Hall Master Su laughed loudly. "From tomorrow onwards, you'll have a new task. Tianqiao Peak still needs a servant, and that's you. Go to Gray Hall this afternoon to complete the paperwork…"
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