After the banquet, Oda Heizo prepared a separate villa for Zhou Ming as his residence and arranged for maidservants to attend to him, which was very thoughtful and considerate.
Unfortunately, Oda Heizo's arrangements were a shot in the dark; Zhou Ming's first command after moving into the villa was to tell all the maidservants to go to sleep and not to enter his room.
Afterward, he began his daily routine of Cultivating.
First, he absorbed a Soul crystal, increasing his Soul strength by another person's worth, reaching sixteen people's worth of strength.
Then, he used a Grassland Gu to increase his physical strength.
Almost all Gu that can increase a Gu Master's physical strength generally have one drawback: they are accompanied by intense pain when increasing the Gu Master's strength.
And the more obvious the effect of increasing strength, the more intense the pain.
For example, Gu Masters who walk the ancient Strength Dao often use beast strength Gu to increase their strength—bear strength Gu, wolf strength Gu, horse strength Gu, and so on—which can add the strength of one bear, one wolf, one horse... The enhancement of the Gu Master's body by these strength Gu is not achieved overnight; it needs to be slowly increased in multiple stages.
But even so, the effects of ancient beast strength Gu are stronger than the Jin Strength Gu and Jun Strength Gu prevalent in Beiyuan today, so the pain is also much more intense than Jin Strength Gu.
Although Grassland Gu is not a strength Gu, it also increases the Gu Master's strength and is accompanied by intense pain, requiring multiple reinforcements.
If one is too hasty, it will only be counterproductive, making the pain increasingly stronger until the Gu Master's body can no longer bear it, or even cause them to die from the pain!
At this moment, the Grassland Gu floated above Zhou Ming's head, emitting a faint green light that shone upon Zhou Ming's body.
Zhou Ming sat cross-legged, his muscles trembling uncontrollably, cold sweat beading on his forehead, enduring wave after wave of pain.
A moment later, feeling the pain intensify and become unbearable, Zhou Ming knew he had reached his limit and quickly retracted the Grassland Gu.
Wiping away a bead of sweat, Zhou Ming let out a soft breath.
"The enhancement of the Grassland Gu will take about twenty days."
"The strengthening of my own physical strength at the Two-turn level is probably its limit. Unless I am willing to use Gu like Iron Bone Gu or Copper Skin Gu, which can change my Physique, to increase the upper limit of my body's capacity to bear strength."
"But in that case, the Strength dao marks carved into my body would interfere with the Wood Path dao marks, which would not be ideal."
"As for Gu in the Wood Path that can change one's Physique, though they exist, they are, like the Grassland Gu, not common and can only be searched for slowly in the future."
...The night passed without incident.
In the following days, Oda Heizo was not in a hurry to set off for the capital to participate in The World's Greatest Warrior Tournament, and he rarely even showed up in front of Zhou Ming.
It was as if he had forgotten Zhou Ming, ignoring him completely, a stark contrast to his previous enthusiasm.
Matsui Kyoshin, Oda Heizo's personal samurai, however, came to Zhou Ming daily, taking him to tour Koriyama Castle, accompanying him throughout, and the two quickly became familiar with each other.
Although Oda Heizo never appeared, Zhou Ming remained unhurried, continuing his daily Cultivation and improving his strength as planned.
It's just that the so-called beautiful scenery and delicious food of Koriyama Castle, in Zhou Ming's opinion, were hardly worth mentioning; rather than sightseeing in Koriyama Castle, it was more like a diversion from his Cultivation.
After all, Zhou Ming's combined age from both lives was only a little over thirty, far from reaching the Heart-Nature of those old monsters who had lived for hundreds of years, whose hearts were like still water, devoid of emotion and desire.
Moreover, besides enjoying the local customs of Koriyama Castle, Zhou Ming had another matter to attend to.
In Koriyama Castle, martial arts schools like Takenouchi Dansui-ryū and Ōishi Shinpū-ryū were not exactly rampant, but certainly not rare either; counting carefully, there were dozens of them, large and small, strong and weak, with varying levels of skill.
On the third day, Zhou Ming could no longer suppress his urge to act and challenged three dojos in a row.
But this time, he did not kill anyone. With Matsui Kyoshin accompanying him, every dojo dared not neglect his arrival in the slightest, and Zhou Ming also couldn't go mad and kill indiscriminately.
The consequence of this was that in their sparring, neither side gave their full effort, stopping at the right moment. After Zhou Ming defeated his opponents, the martial arts experience he gained was also significantly reduced.
Fighting cautiously was not enjoyable at all, so after only two days, Zhou Ming stopped this farcical martial arts game and instead asked Matsui Kyoshin if there were any famous bandit gangs or mountain bandits nearby.
Matsui Kyoshin immediately guessed what Zhou Ming intended to do upon hearing this, and, greatly alarmed, he repeatedly shook his head, stating that he knew nothing.
Seeing his firm attitude, Zhou Ming knew that he definitely did not want him to leave Koriyama Castle, lest he incur Oda Heizo's displeasure.
Unable to get an answer from Matsui Kyoshin, Zhou Ming did not press him, deciding to find a way to inquire about it himself.
Unexpectedly, the next day, Matsui Kyoshin came to him and truthfully provided all the information about the bandit groups near Koriyama Castle.
Zhou Ming knew that Matsui Kyoshin had received instructions from Oda Heizo, and he secretly chuckled, not exposing him, and left the city alone that very day.
Matsui Kyoshin wanted to follow, but how could he keep up? He was out of sight after only two streets.
Time is like water in a sponge; squeeze it, and it flows away.
In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed for Zhou Ming in this world.
During this period, a very interesting change also occurred.
Oda Heizo's attitude towards Zhou Ming went from ignoring him at first to becoming anxious when Zhou Ming didn't return after several days out of the city, repeatedly sending people to find Zhou Ming and invite him back.
Zhou Ming was currently enjoying killing bandits; how could he have the leisure to bother with him?
For him, the most important goal was always to improve his strength. Besides that, so-called socializing and etiquette were all meaningless things.
How long could he stay in this world at most?
Upon leaving this world, he would likely never see Oda Heizo and these people again in this life. What was the point of putting on an act and maintaining those false relationships?
It wasn't until this day, when Oda Heizo explicitly stated that they would go to the capital together, that Zhou Ming reluctantly disengaged from the very promising work of eradicating bandits and returned to Koriyama Castle.
The next day, Oda Heizo impatiently prepared the carriages and, with a team of thirty people, embarked on the road to the capital with Zhou Ming.
Koriyama Castle is about 700 li from the capital. A team of thirty, traveling by foot and carriage, would cover about 50 li a day, so the journey itself would take more than ten days.
This was under the best-case scenario of a smooth journey with no accidents, no encounters with bandits, and normal, undamaged roads.
However, since Oda Heizo made such arrangements, he must have calculated the time, ensuring they wouldn't be late due to too much time wasted on the road.
Zhou Ming had no objections; his strength was still increasing daily, so he naturally wouldn't miss such an opportunity.
Once they reached the capital and The World's Greatest Warrior Tournament began, what awaited him would be continuous battles and slaughter. To then leisurely accumulate and digest, improving his strength, would be a luxury.
Fortunately, the journey was not boring.
Thanks to Nohara Momonosuke's abysmal governing ability and tyrannical rule, Higashiteru Island Country, though seemingly unified, was in fact still a state where a common lord was revered, but each region governed itself.
The daimyos lorded over their territories, exploiting and oppressing, disregarding human life, and imposing exorbitant taxes. The common people suffered, bandits ran rampant, committing murder and robbery, and chaos reigned everywhere.
Among the bandit groups Zhou Ming had cleared around Koriyama Castle in recent days, many were villagers who could no longer survive, driven to desperation to become bandits, transforming from the plundered to the plunderers.
And along the way to the capital, such bandit groups were equally common.
Whether it was the rattling carriages or the rather luxurious escort team, the carriages loaded with supplies all signaled to the bandits along the way that this was a lucrative target.
Thus, the bandits, stirred by the news, rushed forward one after another, and then, one after another... met their demise.
How could a group of bandits, mostly composed of displaced people, with half of them looking emaciated, possibly defeat samurai who were well-fed, well-rested, and diligently practiced their martial arts?
Moreover, Zhou Ming was also present.
Bandit groups with fewer than fifty members didn't even qualify for Zhou Ming to act. Only when the numbers were too great, potentially causing casualties among the samurai, or when a master appeared, would Zhou Ming step in.
Then it would be a massacre.
The sheer number of bandits encountered along the way was somewhat beyond Zhou Ming's expectations, so much so that he even regretted not having prepared a Soul Burial Toad or similar Gu in advance to collect the Souls of the deceased.
These were all resources!
What a waste!