In the clearing as the beast and the distance between them was only 9 feet apart, it lunged at its target covering the distance in a second.


    On the other hand, Long Tianyu ducked and rolled to the side dodging the beast. While the wolf had its back towards him, he dashed forward and planted a kick to its belly. The sensation of the kick wasn’t like a foot hitting flesh but hitting a piece of stone slab. Bouncing back, he watched as the wolf slowly turned around and growled even harder, offended by the weak prey fighting back.


    ‘From that sensation just now it shouldn’t be too strong, at most it should only be half a step in the 7^th rank of body tempering. I should be able to fight it’


    Having guessed the strength of the wolf, Long Tianyu flexed his muscles and prepared himself for the fight.


    Going into a horse stance, he pointed his left hand out and kept his right hand near his waist. The beast, upon seeing that its prey didn’t panic nor try to run away, covered the short distance and then lunged when it got near Long Tianyu.


    Letting his right leg fall onto his knee, he lowered his body that way and then punched upward, hitting the wolf in its underbelly causing it to yelp and roll when it landed. Similarly, Long Tianyu didn’t come out unscathed, when the wolf flew over his head its front claw scratched his right shoulder and left behind 4 bloody claw marks.


    Feeling his shoulder pulsating with pain, he ignored it and quickly put his focus back onto the beast. As soon as his eyes were on the wolf, it quickly charged at him and opened its mouth for a bite.


    Standing up straight, he bent his knees slightly and held out both of his arms in front intercepting the incoming wolf by putting his hands on the upper and lower jaw. As his feet slid across the dirt, he managed to stop himself and the beast by putting his left leg back and holding it as an anchor. When they both came to a halting stop, Long Tianyu quickly kicked out with his left leg and hit the wolf in its right leg causing it to fall forward. Kicking his knees upward with the same leg, it hit the wolf squarely in its jaw before he tightened his grips on the wolf''s fangs and threw it backwards over his shoulder.


    When the wolf landed, it shook its head side to side trying to rid itself of the dizziness from the hit to its head. This went on for a few more times as the wolf kept on lunging and biting at Long Tianyu, causing him minor wounds here and there. Even though he had landed a few hits on the wolf, no visible injury could be seen on its body, it was still lively as if his kicks and punches were child’s play to it.


    The wolf was annoyed at the prey that still hadn’t died yet from the wounds it inflicted closed its eyes. After a second went by, the white fur on its head emitted a white light and soon white smoke flowed out from it, concealing the clearing.


    Long Tianyu was stuck in the middle of the smoke, and if he could see to the end of the clearing now he could only see 3 feet in front of him. Setting his senses on full alert, he listened for any disturbance in the air.


    Suddenly a sound caught his attention from the left side. A blur closed in and swiped across his chest making a new wound appear as blood slowly dripped out and smeared onto the pendant still hanging around his neck.


    Before he could even recover, another blur passed by and left another wound, and then another until almost his entire body was covered in wounds. He tried to evade the claws of the beast, but before he could react it would disappear as quickly as it appeared from the smoke.


    Not long after successfully evading a few times, the smoke fortunately disappeared and cleared his vision as it seems like the wolf couldn’t keep the white smoke indefinitely. The wolf stared at him and grinned at Long Tianyu, enjoying his misery it howled in the air before closing in again, arrogance plastered on its face and taking its time.


    Long Tianyu couldn’t fight back or deal any real injury as his fist just couldn’t do anything against the thick skin of the beast. He needed a weapon, but he and Uncle Lei left in a hurry not able to take anything with them.


    At that moment a sudden thought struck him, he did have a weapon but forgot about it due to everything that happened today. Concealing his right arm behind his back, he circulated his qi and slowly formed a ball of darkish grey energy before forming that ball into a knife.


    The beast not knowing what its prey is doing couldn’t care less and sprinted at full speed before biting down on Long Tianyu’s left arm. Seeing as the beast clamped its jaws on his arm and pulled it backwards, almost tearing his forearm from his biceps.


    Quickly before his left arm is bitten off, he stabbed the knife made out of the strange energy into the skull of the beast with no resistance instantly killing it.


    Shoving the head of the wolf off his arm he sat down and circulated his qi to the wounds, and soon after some of the smaller ones scabbed over and fell off leaving behind a scar.


    It took a while before all of the wounds on his body healed. Now as he looked down on his chest small to large scars covered his body.


    ‘That was closer than I thought. I could have fought the wolf for a bit longer, but that strange smoke handicapped my vision. If my body wasn’t strengthened from the harmonious Moon and Sun Blossom tea, and the energy from the ring, I would not have held on for much longer’


    Taking off his tattered shirt, Long Tianyu picked up his outer robe, as his inner robe got knocked into the fire during the fight. Looking up at the sky, the moon was already starting to replace the sun, but a part of the night sky was still lit as embers flew over his head.


    Feeling his body heating up he looked towards the raging fire that is nearing the cave. Healing his wounds took longer than he thought, springing into action he immediately put on the outer robe and tore a strip of cloth from his white shirt, then tied it around his waist securing the outer robe to his body.


    Storing the wolf and the half-eaten tiger body in his ring, he started running in the opposite direction of the fire traveling through the night. He only stopped when the aftereffect of storing something larger than before in his storage ring hindered his running.


    When his head cleared up and the piercing pain disappeared it was already middle of the day as the sun rose up high in the sky. Continuing his journey, he travelled for a week straight and only stopped to cook meat or rest his tired body. Along the way he hid from beasts that exuded the same strength as the ox and the tiger, he might have been lucky, or the beasts didn’t consider him an enticing meal, so they just ignored him.


    Trekking through a dense area of trees, the sound of rushing water entered his ears. Reaching the source of the sound, what appeared ahead was a waterfall about 220 feet tall. The water cascaded into smaller ponds, causing multiple waterfalls and a cliff edge atop stretching for miles in both directions.


    Near the waterfalls was a grassy clearing big enough to fit several houses, and a river ran along the clearing making it a perfect place to settle in for a while.


    Even though he needed to leave the forest, it was still safer than being in a city if the assassins were still looking for him. Hiding in the forest where danger lurked everywhere is better than not knowing when a knife will be plunged into his back.


    ‘I’ll be safe for now; along the way I haven’t seen any beasts as strong as the ox or similar ones. There should be enough food in the surrounding area to last me a long time. I’ll leave when I’m at least in the 9^th rank of body tempering or higher’ Having made up his mind, he began settling in.


    While gathering firewood, Long Tianyu checked on the meat inside his storage ring. Sitting in the center of the clearing he made a fire and took out a piece of meat, smelling it for any sign of it going bad.


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    Only after doing a thorough inspection of the meat, did he put it on a stick and set it over the fire letting it cook. While he waited for the piece of meat to cook, he walked inside the chilly river and began cleaning the blood off his body and clothes. Taking the pendant off, he put it under the water and tried to scrub off his blood that was smeared on it. But no matter how hard he did it, the blood just wouldn’t come off, he gave up and put it back on.


    Warming his body near the fire, Long Tianyu grabbed a few clean stones nearby and formed the grey knife in his hands, he began cutting the stone into the shape of a butcher''s knife.


    Even though the grey knife could cut through rock and wood like butter, the knife ate at his qi like a hungry wolf devouring rabbit. At most he could only use it for 30 seconds before needing to refill his qi reserve.


    Making a crude handle, he tied the stone blade to it with a strip of cloth from his shirt and made a simple but sharp knife to butcher meat. He took out the half-eaten tiger body first and worked on cleaning the parts that he wanted to eat, and threw away the unneeded parts, the same goes for the wolf''s body.


    Wiping away the sweat on his forehead, he cleaned his hands and the knife in the water before putting it in the ring. While in the ring, the pile of meat that he had grew a bit larger with the addition of the wolf and the tiger flesh. Next to it was the pelt, he planned on turning it into a coat because his shirt was torn to shreds and his inner robe was burned to ashes.


    After butchering both beasts, the meat was finally done cooking over the fire, he sat down and ate it voraciously as he hadn’t eaten since yesterday. Having filled his stomach, he crossed his legs, closed his eyes and began absorbing the qi in the surrounding area, filling his qi reserve.


    He cultivated until the sky turned dark and the stars littered the vast open space. While he was focused on absorbing qi, the blood on the pendant that he couldn’t wash off was slowly being absorbed by it and soon the pendant returned to its pristine look as if there were never blood smeared on it.


    When all of the blood disappeared, a subtle white light from the pendant caught Long Tianyu’s attention.


    Immediately opening his eyes, he took off the pendant and held it in front of his eyes before it budged out of his hands and floated in the air. Seeing as the pendant is clean and no sign of his blood is to be seen, it must have absorbed his blood.


    ‘Finally coming back to life I see, was it my blood that woke you up?’


    With each passing moment, the pendant grew a bit brighter and soon it lit up an area of 3 feet around him. not long after the white light appeared, it got sucked back inside the pendant in an instant and shot that light straight back into Long Tianyu’s mind. The pendant, done with its task, floated to the ring in his right hand and entered the dark space on its own, disappearing from the world.


    When the light entered his mind, his face also tensed up as a stern voice of a man began muttering something to his mind.


    ‘Our ancestor fought so that he could carve a place in this realm for us, his descendants to call home. My son, I entrust upon you our family cultivation methods. Protect them and don’t let them fall into the wrong hands. Stay strong Tianyu’. The voice at the end turned to a fatherly soft tone like a warm palm placed on his head.


    Before he knew it, tears slowly streamed down his face. He knew his parents were somewhere in the world, but to hear his father’s voice was a first to him. Since he was little, all he knew about his parents was from Uncle Lei, that there was trouble at home.


    Wiping away his tears, he looked inside the ring for the pendant. In his surprise, instead of the usual emptiness, what now appeared was a tall pagoda reaching 330 feet tall, its dark red walls had intricate golden carvings and had 4 floors. Even when it just floated in the empty void, it gave off an ancient aura, like it had existed for hundreds of thousands of years.


    When his mind appeared in the ring, it called to him to enter its gate and see what’s inside. After giving it a careful thought, he decided to trust the voice, even though he was certain that it was his father, it’s always better to be cautious.


    When he neared the first floor, its massive gate opened outward, letting a golden light out. His mind went through the gate once the light subsided. Inside the pagoda, a brightly lit library appeared before his eyes, rows and rows of bookshelves covered the floor.


    The inside of the pagoda seemed to be larger than it appeared, as the outside of it only covered a diameter of 82 feet, but the diameter of the inside is 10 times larger and the ceiling 49 feet high. What surprised him even more is that he had a body. Whenever he entered the ring, it felt like his mind was floating in an empty void, but in here he had to use his feet, it felt as if his body was really in the pagoda even though he could still feel the warmth of the fire outside of the ring and the subtle cold wind blowing against his hair.


    Walking towards the center of the pagoda, he looked around like a curious child inspecting every aisle of the bookshelf he came across. He reached the center not long after as his mind was distracted from the spectacle. The center of the pagoda was clear of books, only a Taoism symbol covered the floor with 9 pillars around the edge of the circle.


    The pillars had golden dragons carved onto them, as all of the dragons'' heads looked at the center of the Taoism symbol, where at its center was a yin-yang symbol. Looking up the hole, he could see countless floors as it seemed like the inside of the pagoda was taller than the outside.


    When he stood on the ying-yang symbol, the pagoda trembled heavily but strangely none of the books looked like they were falling off the shelves as the dragons on the pillars came to life. Long Tianyu, thinking that this might be a trap, tried to move his body but a mysterious force held him still.


    The dragons circled him as if they were inspecting every inch of his body. Once the pagoda stopped trembling, so did the dragons as they flew back to the pillars and wrapped their body around it. Not long after the commotion, a golden light shone down on Long Tianyu before it transformed into an even larger dragon, whose head was the size of his body.


    The dragon had two horns on its head and its light grey eyes stared at him, as it opened its mouth to speak, a growling voice entered Long Tianyu’s ears.


    “Child of the patriarch, I am the guardian spirit of the Martial Library. As you are the young master of the family, you have the privilege to read all of the books in this library except for the top floor. Your father has allowed you to choose three secret cultivation methods of the clan, choose wisely.”


    When the dragon stopped speaking, 3 rows of 5 books appeared in front of Long Tianyu. Most of the books that appeared looked tattered, with some even not having a cover, while the rest looked pristine, but one thing they all have in common is that all of the books exude an ancient primordial aura.


    Ignoring all of the powerful cultivation methods that were in front of him, he clasped his hands and bowed his head.


    “Elder, this junior has questions that need to be addressed”


    When Long Tianyu spoke those words, a sigh escaped the maw of the guardian spirit.


    “Young master, I know the doubts going through your mind, but alas I am a spirit bound to the martial library. I am the master of this space, but I can''t see much outside of my confines.”


    Hearing the dragon''s words, Long Tianyu let out a defeated sigh.


    “This junior, thanks the elder for satisfying my curiosity”


    Breathing in, Long Tianyu calmed his mind, and even though his background is still a mystery to himself, he’ll unravel it slowly, bit by bit.


    Reading through all of the book titles, he had to sit down as they all made his head throb in pain from just looking at the cover. But the ones he could read sounded very powerful, especially a purple book with the title “purple qi heaven”.


    Holding the purple book in his hands, he was about to open it but wouldn’t budge no matter what he did.


    “Young master, it seems you are not fated to cultivate purple qi”


    Hearing the dragon, he shrugged and let go of the purple book, “If I’m not fated to learn it, then so be it”


    As he went row by row, a black book caught his attention. Holding the book in his hand, it felt rough on his fingers. The title resonated with him as he read it out loud.


    “Primordial God Core”


    When he held the book in his hands, a frown appeared on the golden dragon''s face.


    “Young master, I recommend that you choose a different cultivation manual. Even I can''t comprehend that book. It is one of the oldest manuals in the library, it was here before my spirit was attached to the pagoda”


    After hearing the history of the book, it made him want to cultivate it even more, and as he opened the first page of the book, without even reading it, the words appeared in his mind.


    “The primordial God Core is the first cultivation manual born out of chaos as no man created it. I, The First, only managed to understand it by listening and using my fiery eyes to look for chaos, it took me a lifetime to write the foundation. But be careful as the foundation is weak, because I didn’t get far in my cultivation due to a heart demon of mine’’


    Long Tianyu frowned as he read the first part on top of the page, “the First?”. Reading a bit further down, bold strokes of brush covered the middle section unlike the clean and precise strokes of The First.


    “I, The Second, reached the peak of my cultivation through this cultivation manual, if not for this book, I would still be an orphan on the streets. I have been arrogant all of my life, but I’ll bow down my head to ‘The First’. Like my predecessor, it took me my whole lifetime to fill in the gaps of the foundation and make it unbreakable. Don’t worry, ‘The First’ died of his heart demon, it was not the manual.’’


    When the bold strokes ended, a sharp and deadly brush stroke like a sword blade was at the bottom.


    “I, The Third was born with no sight, as my eyes were taken away at birth. It was fate as my other senses were increased. That was when my senses followed chaos, and I found the book. As I traveled the world with my sword in search of my sight, I found them at last and slaughtered them. I, The Third lay here in the blood of my enemies, for the first time in my life I saw how beautiful the sky is and how blue it is. I, at death’s door, etched onto the book my unbreaking will and completed the book with what I comprehended upon opening my eyes. It is completed for, chaos is quiet and hidden in the void”


    After reading through the first page, Long Tianyu took a breather and closed his eyes. Sitting down, he reopened his eyes and flipped to the second page.