《The First Pillar of The Heavens》
Chapter 1 The Youth
In the County of Ju, resides a village far away from any other towns or villages. It¡¯s a humble village as most of the residents are farmers and hunters, barely making ends meet. It¡¯s quite large as there were a hundred houses, surrounded by farmland.
On a hilltop near the village, stood a tree with a youth sitting on one of its branches in a lotus position cultivating, his eyes closed. The youth looked to be 13 years of age and seemingly taller than his peers, his height was about 5.6 feet and towered over children his age.
You could see his developing muscles under the coarse robe from working on the farm his whole life. Underneath the dirt and grime on his face is a handsome face with some baby fat still attached to it and his short black hair waving and moving with the breeze.
Opening his eyelids, he let the sundown light bask his eyes, making them shine like stars revealing light-blue-colored eyes. Sword-like brows gave him a valiant and heroic look, as he sat on the branch looking at the sundown, he closed his eyes again. Shortly after closing his eyes, a small bird flew and perched on his head, mistaking it for a tree branch. Breathing out, the youth reopened his eyes, scaring the bird away.
¡°Finally, I have reached the 1st rank of body tempering, my skin is much tougher now, even a blade won¡¯t pierce my skin easily¡¯¡¯. Standing up, the youth stretched his aching body from working on the farm all day.
Taking a step forward, he let his weight carry him down the tree and land softly on the ground. Standing up from the landing, he walked towards the tree trunk where a straw basket leaned against it.
Taking a look inside the basket, various vegetables lay inside as he had foraged them while on the farm. Looking at the sundown and seeing it disappear into the ground, he started moving his legs, making his way home to the village outskirts. After a short 10 min walk, he arrived at the village gate where an uncle stood guard and greeted him.
¡°Ah little Tianyu, back from the farm soon?¡¯¡¯
¡®¡¯Hello Uncle Zheng, I couldn¡¯t stay for too long either as Uncle Ji forced me to go home¡¯¡¯.
¡®¡¯Be careful, little Tianyu. there have been demon beasts attacking the merchants traveling on the road lately. Go home now, don¡¯t make your uncle Lei worry, alright?¡¯¡¯
¡®¡¯I''ll be careful when I''m traveling through the forest, don¡¯t worry Uncle Zheng¡¯¡¯
Passing by the gate, he kept on making his way home until he was blocked by a figure standing in his way. The boy looking down on Long Tianyu who stood in his way, is even taller and larger than him, about 1,83m tall, and has his arms crossed. ¡°Long Tianyu, you should be begging me to forgive you right now. I just reached the 2nd rank body refinement. If you don¡¯t, then be prepared for a beating¡¯¡¯
Long Tianyu, looking back at the youth, didn¡¯t reply, He only stared at the boy opposite him and put the basket down. Cracking his knuckles and bending his knees into a horse stance. His chest was facing to the side, and he had both of his hands in a fist toward the youth challenging him.
Similarly, the tall youth also went into a horse stance with his left hand behind his back and his right hand facing backward toward Long Tianyu. After a short moment, the tall youth made the first move and with swift speed shuffled forward and punched toward Long Tianyu''s face.
Long Tianyu tilted his head back to avoid the approaching punch, narrowly missing it. He then responded by striking the tall youth''s elbow from below.
Quickly pulling his arm back, the youth shouted at Long Tianyu. ¡°You vicious bastard are you trying to cripple me.¡±
Long Tianyu replied by sending an elbow toward the tall youth''s face. Quickly blocking the attack, the tall youth was pushed a feet backward. ¡°You said you were at the 2nd rank of body tempering, that meager punch won''t cripple you¡¯¡¯
¡°You said that, but who knows how much strength you used, you have more strength than me, I won''t fight you anymore. Who knows, I might go home with a few broken bones¡¯¡¯
¡°Hahaha, brother Xiong Han, you know I didn¡¯t mean to hurt you that badly¡¯¡¯
¡°Brother Long Tianyu, the last time you said that I went home with a broken nose, you got scolded by my mother for that remember?¡¯¡¯
¡°Brother Xiong Han, you know fists have no eyes when I punch, surely they are going to hit something right, do you remember last month you broke one of my ribs forcing me to rest and I couldn¡¯t earn money for a week forcing Aunty and Uncle to feed me, you even got spanked for it by Uncle¡¯¡¯
¡°Brother Long, please forget about that embarrassing moment¡¯¡¯
Thinking about that time, Long Tianyu couldn¡¯t help but laugh out loud, forcing Xiong Han to hide his embarrassed face.
¡®Although Xiong Han is not my blood brother, he and I grew up together. When they found Uncle Lei and me near a farm they cared for and provided for me, treating me like their son since I was a baby¡¯
¡°We need to hurry home before my mom gets angry, she made dinner and told me to invite you since Uncle Lei and Dad are out hunting for demon beasts, and Brother Long, have you heard about the news yet¡¯¡¯
Long Tianyu shook his head to the side ¡°What news? I was out all day working on Uncle Ji''s farm¡¯¡¯
¡°I was wandering around the village center today when I saw a carriage being pulled by two vermilion fire horses, entering the village center and going to the most expensive inn we have. Curiously, I peeked into the inn to see a kid our age talking to the owner about buying all the rooms they have. Only after the kid and his guard went upstairs did I go talk to old man Kang at the front desk about why some rich kid arrived at our village. I couldn¡¯t get much out of that damned old man Kang but from what he said there would be some event happening over 3 days in the village. The village is buzzing with life because of the new visitors. Let¡¯s go to the village chief tomorrow, I know the village chief respects Uncle Lei a lot, so maybe we can get something out of that old man¡¯s mouth with you asking him¡¯¡¯
¡°I guess we''ll see if the village chief is willing to spill the beans tomorrow, let¡¯s hurry home before Aunty gets mad¡¯¡¯ Grabbing the basket off the ground, Long Tianyu and Xiong Han walked side by side towards the inner part of the village where relatively richer villagers live.
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Walking through an alleyway, at the end of it stood a middle-aged woman, ¡°Little Tianyu, are you hungry? I made a lot of food today, so make sure you eat a lot, and you rascal, I heard you were sneaking around the village center today, what were you up to?¡¯¡¯
¡°Nothing Mom, I was just looking here and there like I always do¡¯¡¯
Looking suspiciously at Xiong Han, his mother soon stepped to the side, letting them both inside the courtyard. Handing the basket in his hand to Xiong Han¡¯s mother, ¡°Aunty, I picked these herbs and vegetables on the way back from work, I¡¯ll give you half¡¯¡¯
¡°Little Tianyu, I won¡¯t accept them, and you are still in your growing phase, you need all the nutrition you can get¡¯¡¯
¡°Then, I¡¯ll keep them Aunty¡¯¡¯
leaning the basket against the kitchen door, Long Tianyu stepped inside the kitchen to a table full of food, mostly vegetable dishes and one meat dish, but even then, there was little of it.
Xiong Han, putting a piece of vegetable in his mouth, muttered ¡°Sigh, when will Father and Uncle Lei be back with a giant demon beast, then we can eat meat until our bellies explode¡¯¡¯
¡°Long Tianyu, how long have Father and Uncle Lei been in the forest for? I think today marks the 128th day of the month, so tomorrow the count of a new month will start¡¯¡¯
While stuffing their face with food, Xiong Han¡¯s mother''s voice could be heard from outside the kitchen. ¡°There is more food inside the pan, so eat slowly, I will be back later¡±
Stuffing a sliced piece of bamboo root into his mouth, Xiong Han asked Long Tianyu ¡°Hey, what do you think that event is in 3 days?, I think it might just be a group of merchants passing by and deciding to trade with our village¡¯¡¯
¡°That kid could be the young master of that merchant group. I think we¡¯ll know once we ask the village chief tomorrow,¡¯¡¯ Replied Long Tianyu, stuffing a piece of stir-fried bamboo shoot in his mouth afterward.
Arriving at his small house with quite a large courtyard, Long Tianyu placed the basket near the door. Lighting a fire close to the center of the courtyard where he usually cooks, taking off his outer robe and shirt standing in the center of the courtyard he closed his eyes and began moving his body into stances. After an incense of time he opened his eyes, a frown appearing on his face.
¡®Every time I cultivate, my body gets more and more painful as if 1000 needles are stabbing in my body. I don¡¯t understand if there is something wrong with my body or if it is for a different reason. At first, cultivating to the 1st rank is as easy as stealing candy from a child, but how come after that step it only became harder and harder? My cultivation speed was slower when I began, but still faster than everybody else in the village, even Uncle Lei and the village chief told me I had great talent in cultivation. I''m already halfway to the 2nd rank, I guess by tomorrow I will be in the next step. I¡¯ll ask Uncle Lei what is happening to my body when he gets back¡¯
Setting those thoughts aside, Long Tianyu went into the house, grabbing an item underneath his pillow. Looking at the weathered blue cover of the book, it depicted a blue flame.
¡®Uncle Lei gave me this book and said it was his cultivation method, he acquired it in an abandoned cultivation clan¡¯ Azure Flame, reading out the title of the cultivation method, Long Tianyu flipped to its first page reading the text.
¡°The Azure Flame will strengthen the body and pave the way for a cultivator. This book will only be able to help you reach the 7th rank of body tempering, the 8th and 9th rank require a special cultivation method¡±
¡°The body tempering realm is the first step to becoming a cultivator. Mortals are born with a weak body. Only through tempering can the body accommodate qi and use it to further strengthen itself. The first 3 ranks are to strengthen the skin, muscle, and tendon with every rank requiring the body to be moved into 10 unique stances each rank¡±
¡°4th rank are the organs, refining the heart, lungs, liver, spleen, and kidney. With each organ refined, the body will discard the impurities from within itself. The 5th rank is opening the meridians and the most important one to a cultivator. There are 12 main meridians in the body accompanied by 361 acupoints. A normal cultivator with average talent will only be able to open his 12 main meridians and a few acupoints. A truly talented cultivator will be able to open at least more than 200 acupoints, and those that can open all 361 are a genius that could only be found amongst 10000¡±
¡°Each acupoint is connected to one of the main meridians, the more acupoints that are found and connected to the main meridians, the more qi they can store inside the body and the faster qi can be absorbed or used. Qi in this stage of cultivation is only usable to heal the body and not suited for combat as the body isn¡¯t strong enough to endure the power of qi used in that way¡±
¡°The bones are the 6th step in the body refinement realm, what good is the use of strength when the bones crack and break under that strength? Refine the bones by making small cracks on every bone in the body so that they can heal and become even stronger, only until every bone in the body is as strong as gold¡±
¡°The 7th step is ridding the blood of impurities, with each impurity washed out of the blood, it will make the body stronger in each aspect and faster. The 8th and 9th ranks are the sense and the mind, they can only be cultivated by a special method¡±
Flipping to the second page on it was a drawing of a figure in a stance. Walking outside, Long Tianyu placed the book on the ground in front of him, following the first stance in the book. He could feel his skin tighten, following the instructions on the third page.
Long Tianyu smoothly moved his body into the next stance feeling his skin get tighter once more. Closing his eyes and concentrating, he remembered every stance required for the 1st rank. Doing all 10 stances sweat could be seen on his body. Flowing from the 10th move of the first rank Long Tianyu transitioned into the second rank first stance.
After doing the fifth stance, Long Tianyu¡¯s face contorts into pain, ignoring the pain, he slowly lowers his body and tucks in his arms. Every muscle in his body trembled nonstop, causing him to grit his teeth.
His eyes were still closed, as he thought about who his parents were and why they abandoned him, leaving him, for Uncle Lei to raise him on his own. Every time he got angry thinking about the matter, he¡¯d always get into an argument with Uncle Lei. The argument always ends with Uncle Lei telling him not to be angry at his parents, that they love him very much, and that his parents couldn''t do anything in the situation that they were in.
He wanted to find his parents and ask why they abandoned him. This is one of the many motivations that give him the strength to keep on fighting this pain and get stronger.
Gritting his teeth through the pain, Long Tianyu punched out with his right fist completing the 6th form. After a few long breaths, he tried to perform the 7th stance causing his muscles to give out. Lying on the hard ground, he opened his eyes and looked up to the clear sky, wondering what mysteries and adventures were outside the village. ¡®I want to get stronger so that I can see what is out there in the world and pursue immortality¡¯
Slowly standing up, Long Tianyu dusted himself and walked towards a nearby vase the size of his body filled with rainwater, sticking his face inside the vase, he drank the cold rainwater and cooled his body down for a bit. Splashing some water on his face, he walked back and sat down in front of the book. Flipping through the pages, Long Tianyu focused on the stances to imprint them in his memories.
Looking through the stances again and again, Long Tianyu¡¯s eyes slowly closed. In his mind, the figures in the book came to life performing all 30 stances. It may look like the stances are simple to do, but only those who are in the stance will know how hard it is to change the body into a different stance, the littlest of movements must be perfect, and no mistake made. If one did the movements sloppily it would simply do nothing, and the body would not get stronger.
Looking at the stances of the figures, he began to notice the smallest of perfect movements transitioning smoothly from one stance to another stance. Long Tianyu, in an epiphany, didn¡¯t notice that outside of his mind, his body was unconsciously moving along with the figures in his mind.
Chapter 2 Five Mountain Peak sect
Long Tianyu, inside his mind, didn¡¯t know how much time had passed, all he knew was the figure repeating the 30 stances in front of him, it was then that he got woken up by someone.
¡°Brother Tianyu, wake up, did you cultivate all night again? I know you want to get strong, but you also need to let the body rest¡¯¡¯
Xiong Han, shaking Long Tianyu, looked worriedly at him, he tried everything to wake him up. Slapping his face, did not work, splashing him with water, and even screaming in his ears, did nothing.
Getting increasingly worried, he contemplated whether he should bring Long Tianyu to the village doctor and have him examined. Xiong Han, out of ideas, leaned closer and puckered his lips. ¡°Maybe if I kissed him, he would wake up. Brother don¡¯t hate me after this, here I come¡¯¡¯
Suddenly opening his eyes, Long Tianyu was greeted by Xiong Han¡¯s face inching closer to his own, slapping him away, sending the giant¡¯s body flying 4 feet away and landing near the entrance. Pointing his finger at Xiong Han, ¡°bastard, I know we are brothers, but I don¡¯t see you in that way. I will only kiss a jade beauty¡¯¡¯
Xiong Han stood up and rubbed his left cheek, facing Long Tianyu, he shouted at him, ¡°You Tianyu dog, since when did you get so strong, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve reached the 2nd rank body refinement already¡¯¡¯
Taking a closer look at his body, Long Tianyu could feel that his body was stronger and lighter. Immediately performing the first 10 stances with ease, he did the stances for the 2nd rank, reaching the 10th stance with ease too.
He smoothly transitioned from the 10th stance, 2nd rank to the 3rd rank, 1st stance, as if he had practiced it a hundred times. Long Tianyu focused and carried out all the stances, finally exhaling at the end of the 10th stance 3rd rank.
Xiong Han watched his brother perform all 30 stances and looked at him in awe, shocked that Long Tianyu reached the third rank so fast.
¡°Brother Long Tianyu, we cultivate in the same method, right? So, how have you reached the 3rd rank so fast, I remember yesterday you were just at the 1st rank?¡±
Smirking, Long Tianyu in an arrogant voice said ¡°Brother Xiong Han, I''m stronger than you now, so that means I''m just more talented than you¡¯¡¯
Xiong Han, readying his fist, came closer to Long Tianyu, even if he lost against his brother Tianyu he would punch that annoying arrogant smile on his face away.
¡°Calm down, Brother Han, I truly don¡¯t know either, all we can do is ask Uncle Lei when they return, and what are you so early here for?¡¯¡¯
¡®¡¯More rich kids from other towns have arrived in the village today, and I came to get you so we can ask the village chief what¡¯s going on, have you eaten breakfast yet?¡¯¡¯
Long Tianyu shakes his head to the sides, grabs his shirt from the ground, and throws it into a nearby washing basket. Going inside the house, he picked up a pair of better-looking clothes, putting on clean brown pants and a grey shirt. Long Tianyu undid his hair that reached just beneath his shoulders, loose running his fingers across it, he could feel the slight grease on it, walking outside he breathed in the morning air letting his muscles relax.
Xiong Han walked inside the courtyard with 4 buns in his hands that he just bought from the aunty selling them close by and shouted. ¡°Brother Tianyu, a whole merchant group came to the village just now, they are outside the gate talking with Uncle Zheng and the village chief¡¯¡¯
Tearing a bit of the excess cloth tied around his waist, he pulled a bit of his hair back and tied it into a loose ponytail, letting his bangs hang loosely in front of him.
Splashing cold water on his face, Long Tianyu swiftly washed his face and hair. Grabbing the robe from yesterday, he put it on and tied it by the waist with a strip of cloth. His face clean of the dirt and grime, revealed a handsome face.
grabbing two buns out of Xiong Han¡¯s hands, he walked outside of the courtyard. ¡°The Village gate, you said right? I have some money on me. Let¡¯s go and see what the merchants have to offer¡±
Taking a bite out of the bun, Long Tianyu closed the door and began walking to the village gate.
Xiong Han, walking beside him, also began eating his bun. ¡°Hey Brother Tianyu, what made these merchants come to our backward village? I think that the village chief must have done something good¡¯¡¯
¡°We¡¯ll know when we get there, and ask him, don¡¯t you think?¡¯¡¯ finishing his first bun and starting on the second one, Long Tianyu kept on thinking about that strange dream he had of the figures performing the Azure Flame''s cultivation method.
¡°Xiong Han, we cultivate in the same method, did you get any strange dreams while you were cultivating?¡¯¡¯
¡°Strange dreams? No, we have been only cultivating for 2 months, and I haven¡¯t experienced anything strange yet. Is it because of the dream that you rose to the 3rd rank so fast, if so, then I must sleep more¡¯¡¯
Arriving at the gate, Long Tianyu and Xiong Han could see the Village chief talking to the person in charge of the merchant group. Walking to the side, they both squat down next to a wall finishing the last pieces of their buns while waiting for the village chief.
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Long Tianyu and Xiong Han, tired of waiting, played some games with the children of the village. Noticing the village chief walking away from the gate and walking in their way, Long Tianyu tapped Xiong Han''s shoulder, catching his attention.
¡°The village chief is done talking, it''s our turn now. Let¡¯s go before another task takes away the village chief¡±
Approaching the old man, Long Tianyu greeted the village chief. ¡°Village Chief Yang, what is going on? We never get so many visitors¡¯¡¯
An old, weathered voice replied. ¡°Ah, Tianyu boy, I was just looking for you, the news will be out today, either way, why not tell your boys now? Tianyu, the town is getting so many visitors because of your Uncle Lei. He found a spirit demon beast egg in the Lightning Forest¡±
¡°Last week a hunter in your Uncle Lei¡¯s group returned with the egg. We have no power to protect the egg or sell it to a cultivator without them just stealing it. I gave it as a gift to the Five Mountain Peak sect. The sect patriarch decided to hold the disciple test here. They will arrive tomorrow, so go and cultivate. If some of the villagers¡¯ children get accepted as disciples, our village will prosper. Now go, I have many more things to do¡¯¡¯
Walking through the gate, they arrived at the hilltop not long after, looking out into the village, Long Tianyu and Xiong Han leaned against the tree. overlooking the busy merchants setting up shops and tents.
Looking to the west, Long Tianyu saw the silhouette of a beast the size of a house being dragged by 10 men on a cart and at the forefront of the group is a middle-aged man, with black hair and an average face wearing a brown robe.
¡°Uncle Lei is back, come let¡¯s go and see what they have hunted this time¡¯¡¯ Standing up, Long Tianyu ran towards Uncle Lei, arriving at the gate shortly after. Getting closer to the beast, he heard Uncle Lei talking with the village chief.
¡°Lei boy, you¡¯ve finally come back, with this tier 9 demon beast, if we sell its fur and claws, we can buy a scholar to come here and teach the children. The meat of the beast will be divided amongst the hunting party¡¯¡¯
¡°Village chief, we took longer than normal to come back, it''s because of this beast. It was stronger than we thought¡¯¡¯
From behind him, Uncle Lei heard Long Tianyu call out to him. ¡°Uncle Lei, you¡¯re back¡¯¡¯.
Turning around, he saw Long Tianyu walk toward him. ¡°You rascal, how have you been and how far have you gotten in your cultivation?¡¯¡¯
¡°I just reached the 3rd rank today, but I have a few questions that I want to ask you about my cultivation¡±
¡°You''re at the third rank already, which is fast considering you only began cultivating a month ago. Hmmm? Village chief, I''ll be going now. My body is tired, and I want to rest. Tianyu, Little Han, follow me. I have a gift for both of you¡¯¡¯
Uncle Lei began walking, with Long Tianyu and Xiong Han following behind him. Arriving at home, Uncle Lei began removing his sword from behind his waist, leaning it against a wall, and sat on a nearby stool.
Reaching into his inner robe, he pulled out a few silver teals and gave them to them. Long Tianyu''s hands trembled a bit from the amount of money in his hands.
¡°Uncle Lei, where did you get so much money from, there are at least 10 silver teals here. You didn¡¯t rob people, did you, Uncle Lei?¡¯¡¯ Somehow in some way his uncle lei always had money somewhere on his body.
¡°Damn rascal do I look like a thief to you, it¡¯s the money I saved up from hunting demon beasts. Go and buy some cultivation pills for both of you, a sect elder is coming to overlook the test tomorrow, so the stronger you are, the better your chances of getting accepted. Don¡¯t get swindled by the merchants, buy the Tiger Fire pill, if you mention the pill name to a merchant, they¡¯ll have it in stock¡±
Stoking the fire, Uncle Lei sat alone in the courtyard, asked himself if it was a good idea to let Long Tianyu cultivate and go into a sect where danger lurks. ¡°Was it a good idea to let the young master start cultivating, it should be something the patriarch wanted too for his son to grow up strong. We should still be safe here, it is the most remote village I could find, and they won¡¯t find us here¡¯¡¯
Long Tianyu and Xiong Han walked along the many stalls set up and saw many new items they had never seen before. Holding two bottles of pills, Long Tianyu sighed. ¡°These two bottles of pills are so expensive, half the money is spent on just these two bottles, but they should be able to let me cultivate to the 4th rank of body tempering¡±
As the sun started going down over the horizon and they found nothing that interested them, Long Tianyu and Xiong Han left the makeshift market outside the village. After splitting off with his brother, Long Tianyu arrived home shortly to the smell of grilled meat.
Walking inside the courtyard, he saw Uncle Lei adjusting the fire and seasoning the meat. As he entered the courtyard, Uncle Lei''s voice could be heard. ¡°Tianyu, go and wash your hands, food is almost ready¡±
Placing the two bottles of pills on a table near Uncle Lei, Long Tianyu pulled up his sleeves and washed his hands and face from the water vase. Once Long Tianyu sat down, Uncle Lei handed him a knife. ¡°Let¡¯s eat the meat, it should be cooked now.
¡°Uncle Lei, have you ever come across a cultivator above the 9th rank body refinement realm, and what is that realm called¡¯¡¯
¡°Did you know those above the 9th rank don¡¯t even consider us cultivators? Qi gathering comes after the 9th rank of body tempering. You gather heaven and earth''s qi at that stage to strengthen the body¡± Uncle Lei explained parts of the next stage while eating.
After eating his fill, Long Tianyu grabbed one of the bottles containing the Tiger Fire pill. Opening the bottle, a bitter medicinal smell assaulted his nostrils, making him cover his nose and stretch his arm away.
¡°Uncle Lei, maybe I got swindled by a merchant, this doesn¡¯t smell like a medicinal herb¡¯¡¯ Long Tianyu said, looking back at Uncle Lei.
¡°Tianyu, that is the Tiger Fire pill, don¡¯t complain and just eat it¡¯¡¯ said Uncle Lei calmly.
Sitting down in the lotus position, Long Tianyu grimaced at the bitter smell coming from the bottle. Pouring out one pill and setting the bottle aside, he took a deep breath and put the pill in his mouth.
The intense bitterness from the pill almost made Long Tianyu throw up the food he had just eaten. Fighting back the urge to vomit, he closed his eyes and let the medicine slowly melt and flow through his organs. As the medicine traveled along his organs, it felt like they were on fire.
After the burning sensation ended, he could feel his organs cooling down. The medicine only took time to set his organs ablaze and strengthen them.
¡®I can feel that my body is a bit stronger and lighter¡¯ Breathing in and out, Long Tianyu noticed a foul smell coming from his body. Moving his arm, he could feel a crust on his skin breaking off.
Long Tianyu stood up and took off all his clothes except his underwear. Standing over the barrel of water, he cleaned every inch of his body. When his body looked spotless of the black crust, he looked at the moon high up in the sky and decided to stop cultivating today.
Chapter 3 Sect test
Standing still in the courtyard, Long Tianyu took a deep breath, the morning dew still fresh in the air. Holding a white inner robe and black outer robe on his shoulder. Putting on the clothing, he inspected himself from his head to his feet. The white inner robe was hidden under a black robe with a silver dragon coiling around his right sleeve.
The clean clothing made, Long Tianyu look like a noble kid from the city instead of a countryside bumpkin. ¡°Tianyu, I want to see how far you have gotten in your cultivation¡¯¡¯ Uncle Lei¡¯s gentle voice could be heard from next to him.
Long Tianyu, tying his hair up, turned his head to see Uncle Lei holding meat jerky and a few buns in his hand. ¡°Uncle Lei, where did you get these clothes from? They seem like they would cost 100 teals of gold,¡± Long Tianyu said in astonishment.
¡°Tianyu, the sect will arrive soon, I want to see how much you have grown in the last three months¡± Freeing his hands, Uncle Lei put his right arm behind his back, waiting for Long Tianyu to make his move.
Long Tianyu readied his body and immediately sent out a punch to Uncle Lei''s chest. Only to see Uncle Lei move his chest slightly to the left and dodge the punch.
Uncle Lei responded by just pushing Long Tianyu to the right with his free hand still in the same position.
Long Tianyu sliding across the floor stopped himself by planting his feet down and pulling his chest forward to stabilize his center of gravity.
¡®Uncle Lei only pushed me, and I almost crashed into the wall, if I hadn¡¯t stabilized myself there it could have been bad for me¡¯ Looking back at Uncle Lei, Long Tianyu covered the small distance and performed a set of kicks only for them to miss or be blocked.
Breathing in and out, Long Tianyu catches his breath for a moment and thought of a plan on how to land a punch at least, without stopping his fists came at Uncle Lei again.
Easily deflecting the attacks, Uncle Lei used an opening in Long Tianyu¡¯s flurry of attacks to trip him up. Landing on his back, Long Tianyu slowly stood up, wiping off the dust on his back, he slowly walked closer to Uncle Lei.
When there were only 3 feet between them, Long Tianyu took a step and did a roundhouse kick with his right foot, and saw it miss Uncle Lei¡¯s head, he immediately planted his right foot down and shifted his torso sideways along with his elbow out intending to hit Uncle Lei in the chest.
Uncle Lei caught the elbow within his right palm, but didn¡¯t expect Long Tianyu to unexpectedly force his body forward, making him take a step back.
Long Tianyu twisted his body and along with it, his left fist hoping it would catch Uncle Lei by surprise and land. But alas, he felt his fist not hitting his uncle but a firm palm instead.
Laughing out loud, Uncle Lei smiled brightly, ¡°So teaching you how to fight in the forest was not a waste after all, but now it¡¯s my turn, get ready¡¯¡¯
Not underestimating a 9th rank, Long Tianyu immediately went into a defensive stance. Uncle Lei only shifted his body forward, but he felt an immovable force like a mountain crashing on him, allowing no escape. While stuck in the pressure, Long Tianyu didn¡¯t notice the fist coming for the center of his chest. When the pressure faded, he felt a light tap on his chest.
¡°Tianyu, your father would be proud of you if he could see your progress, now let''s eat¡¯¡¯
While grabbing a bun and meat jerky, Xiong Han''s voice could be heard outside the courtyard. ¡°Brother Tianyu, come quick, someone from the sect has arrived¡¯¡¯
Glancing back at Uncle Lei and seeing him nodding, Long Tianyu left the courtyard with a bun and jerky in each hand. Outside the courtyard, Xiong Han was shocked when he saw Long Tianyu in his new clothes.
¡°Bro Tianyu, are you sure you''re not some lost child from a cultivation family or something? You look like you don¡¯t belong here and you¡¯re too damn good looking maybe, I should beat your face a bit to make it fair¡¯¡¯
¡°Hehe I have always been good looking, you just haven¡¯t noticed yet, let¡¯s go before they leave¡¯¡¯
On the way, Long Tianyu shared half of his breakfast with Xiong Han, quelling their hunger. Arriving at the village center, a crowd of people surrounded a huge square, on it stood a person wearing grey robes intertwined with red flames directing some people to prepare the square for the examination.
¡°Brother Tianyu, that person must be from the sect, right? he doesn¡¯t look that powerful¡¯¡¯
¡°We don¡¯t know unless we fight him, who knows he might even be above the body tempering stage, now let''s just wait¡¯¡¯
While waiting for the sect examination, Long Tianyu heard the nobles murmuring to each other as someone arrived. Looking toward the direction where the murmurs began, the crowd split apart like the sea, allowing a youth wearing white robes and a light blue color in the shape of gentle waves across the robe to walk to the edge of the square, making the area around him devoid of people.
Walking a bit closer to the commotion, Long Tianyu approached a well-dressed youth. ¡°Brother, may I know who that person is?¡¯¡¯ he said while pointing at the youth in white.
¡°And why should I tell you that, it doesn¡¯t matter today is the day I change my fate, so I¡¯ll be a magnanimous person and tell you. Everybody outside this village avoids him because they don¡¯t want to get involved in the county clan war¡¯¡¯
Frowning, Long Tianyu looked back at the youth, ¡°County clan war, what is that?¡¯¡¯
The noble just sighed ¡°I forgot you¡¯re a village bumpkin, listen well the county of Ju is ruled by 3 clans, the Xiang clan, the Wang clan, and the Zhou clan. Each clan has been fighting for control over Ju County with the Xiang clan being the strongest, but lately, misfortune after misfortune has been plaguing the Xiang clan, causing them to be the weakest of the 3. Lately, there has been a rumor that the Wang and Zhou clan is planning to get rid of the Xiang Clan. That kid is the adopted son of the Xiang clan patriarch, now don¡¯t bother me anymore¡¯¡¯
¡°Brother Han, let¡¯s meet the famous son of the Xiang clan¡¯¡¯
¡°What, wait haven¡¯t you heard¡¡¯¡¯ before Xiong Han could even complete his sentence, Long Tianyu already started making his way to the youth in white, he could only awkwardly follow behind his brother with all eyes on them.
The youth frowned at the two unsuspected visitors to his side, ¡°don¡¯t you know who I am¡¯¡¯
¡°Truth to be told, we only heard about you just now, young master of the Xiang Clan¡¯¡¯ Long Tianyu replied with a calm laugh.
¡®Damn this kid is handsome maybe I should be like Brother Han and just beat him up to make it fair for us¡¯ Long Tianyu thought while looking at the face of the youth.
¡°I must admit you¡¯re brave by standing next to me, you could be mistaken for being my ally, aren¡¯t you afraid of being killed by the two clans¡¯¡¯
¡°I may not know much but I''m sure the governor won¡¯t allow the clans to kill innocent villagers indiscriminately¡¯¡¯
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The youth in white laughed out loud at Long Tianyu¡¯s bold statement, clasping his hands ¡°I must respect you for your bravery, not many people willingly put themself in danger, the name is Xiang Yingjie¡¯¡¯
¡°My name is Long Tianyu and the big guy behind me is my brother, Xiong Han, I¡¯ll call you brother Yingjie, you can also just call us by our surnames¡¯¡¯
¡°Brother Tianyu, I hope you won''t regret this decision of yours¡¯¡¯
They didn¡¯t have to wait long before a shadow covered the village center, looking up. The pristine hull of a ship could be seen slowly descending until it was 10 feet off the ground. The boat of ancient design had runes darting across the hull as it floated above the square, an elder in a fiery red robe jumped off the ship, followed by a middle-aged man holding a book.
As the elder landed, the disciple bowed, ¡°Disciple greets the elder¡±
The elder looked around the square filled with thousands of people, nodded and shouted,
¡°Bring the examination tools¡±
10 disciples wearing different colored robes descended off the ships carrying two magical tools. While the disciples were busy with the examination tools, the elder looked towards the crowd. ¡°I am an outer sect elder, I will be explaining the rules of the examination. The first rule is you must be under the age of 16, the second rule is your cultivation rank must be at or higher than the 1st rank of body tempering stage, and that is it, now line up in front of the table¡±
The elder, done explaining the rules, walked to the center of the square and took a sword off his hip. Removing the scabbard, the elder gently let go of the sword, letting it float upright in the middle of the square. Nodding toward the middle-aged man, he stood to the side and closed his eyes with the disciples silently standing behind him.
The middle-aged man walked to the center and shouted, ¡°The first test is to test your cultivation rank, the second test is to test the grade and element of your spirit root, the last test is to test your physique, but it is not required to join the sect¡¯¡¯
After explaining what the tests are, the middle-aged man sat at the table on the north of the square. When he sat down 2 disciples walked from behind the elder and stood by the first and second examination tool.
The crowd, once a sea of people, is now a line of youths with most of the nobles and the rich at the front while the poor can only bite their lips and stay in the back bitterly waiting for their turn.
Long Tianyu and his two brothers were somewhere in the middle of the line waiting for their turn with nothing else to do he patted Xiang Yingjie''s shoulder ¡°Brother Xiang Yingjie, me and Brother Xiong Han don¡¯t know much about cultivation, you came from a city do you know what kind of test it would be¡¯¡¯
¡°I''m not sure every sect has a different method of accepting disciples into their sect, but what is always tested is the spirit root of a person¡¯¡¯ looking at the blank faces of Long Tianyu and Xiong Han he forgot that this is a backward village far away from any city or town.
He sighed, ¡°The first stage of cultivation is not even considered a rank, and a person in this stage is but merely a mortal with strength that is the body refinement stage. Above that is the qi condensation stage, where cultivation truly begins¡¯¡¯
Xiang Yingjie, closing his eyes and contemplating for a second, opened his eyes, ¡°The spirit root is what allows us to absorb the qi around us and is also accompanied by an element that we were born with. The most common elements are fire, earth, water, wood, and metal, but there are also rare elements that only appear in 1 person out of 10000¡±
¡®I didn¡¯t know that there would be so much more to cultivation than I thought, but that only makes it more exciting¡¯ Long Tianyu was about to thank Xiang Yingjie but was stopped by him.
¡°I¡¯m not done yet. Besides spirit root, there is also the physique of a person aiding them in their cultivation, giving them a unique power of their own. Lastly, there is also the empty spirit root¡¯¡¯
Long Tianyu looked at Xiong Han with a confused look, the word ¡®empty spirit root¡¯ clearly meant something.
It took a while for Xiang Yingjie to find his words, ¡°an empty spirit root is a spirit root without an element and can¡¯t absorb the worldly qi. There is a 1 in 1 million chance for a person to be born with it, they will be stuck in the body tempering stage for their whole life, not even stepping half a foot into the qi condensation stage¡¯¡¯
Long Tianyu clasped his hands and bowed to Xiang Yingjie, ¡°brother Yingjie, thank you for sharing your wisdom with us, we owe you one, and what is your cultivation at?¡±
¡°We¡¯re brothers now so don¡¯t worry too much about it and I''m half a step into the qi condensation stage¡±
Long Tianyu and Xiong Han looked visibly shocked at their newest brother''s cultivation. Patting Xiang Yingjie''s shoulder. ¡°Brother Xiang Yingjie, Xiong Han and I might have to depend on you if we get into the sect¡±
Xiang Yingjie only smiled weakly, ¡°My meager strength won¡¯t protect us in the sect, there is always someone stronger than me, so all we can do is get stronger¡±
At the end of his words, anger could be seen on Xiang Yingjie''s face. Long Tianyu noticed the change and decided not to mention it. Sometimes it''s better not to probe into people¡¯s secrets.
When the sun had risen to midday, it was finally their turn. Xiang Yingjie went up first, and walked up to the middle-aged man, busily writing in the book ¡°name and age¡±
¡°Xiang Yingjie, 10 years old¡± receiving a nod from the middle-aged man, he walked up to the first examination tool, a slender pillar about 10 feet high stood before him with a hand cut out and 9 black gems embedded from bottom to top.
Placing his right hand on the groove, a bright light filled the pillar. As the pillar glowed brightly, the 9 gems were filled with light. Before the disciple standing next to the pillar could open his mouth, the elder standing by the side did not react, until now. Opening his eyes, the elder laughed out loud, ¡°child you said you were 10 years old and already half a step in the qi condensation stage, do go on with the examination¡±
This time the elder didn¡¯t close his eyes but kept a close eye on Xiang Yingjie.
Xiang Yingjie calmly walked to the next tool. A white sphere sitting on a silk cushion in a box the size of a human head had countless golden runes dart across its surface. Placing his hands on the sphere, it glowed a bright blue color.
The disciple standing next to the table loudly announced ¡°middle-grade spirit root upper water element¡±
The elder nodded and mumbled ¡°That old man of the sea stabilizing pavilion would be happy to have him as a disciple¡±
Xiang Yingjie calmly walked to the last test, a sword engraved with runes and texts gave off a warm glow. Holding the handle, Xiang Yingjie felt the world around him spin for a moment but quickly stabilized his body.
Swinging the sword in a downward motion, slight ripples spread out from it like waves. Breathing heavily, Xiang Yingjie quickly let go of the sword, letting it float back into its original position.
The elder smiled and waved for Xiang Yingjie to come closer, ¡°Child, you have the endless sea physique, it¡¯s a unique physique allowing you to have a stable dantian and a large reserve of qi. Are you willing to join the Five Mountain Peak sect?¡±
cupping his hands and bowing, Xiang Yingjie calmly opened his mouth, ¡°Junior is willing to join the sect¡¯¡¯
The elder smiled and nodded for him to stand behind him with the rest of the accepted youths. Xiong Han climbed the steps onto the square. The middle-aged man looked at him with disinterest and said, ¡°Name and age¡±
¡°Xiong Han, 11 years of age¡¯¡¯ receiving a nod, he walked up to the first test, following Xiang Yingjie''s steps, he placed his hands on the groove, lighting only two gems, showing his 2nd rank in the body refinement stage.
After testing his cultivation, he walked to the second test, placing his hands on the sphere, it glowed a brown and silver color. The disciple standing next to the sphere was visibly shocked even more than when Xiang Yingjie''s spirit root got tested, ¡°Middle-grade spirit root, middle earth, and metal element¡¯¡¯
The elder once again laughed out loud, ¡°Another talented child has been found by me, that Core foundation pill is as good in my hands¡¯¡¯
A grin appeared on Xiong Han¡¯s face knowing he¡¯d be accepted into the sect. He walked to the last test, gripping the sword with a slight discomfort on his face, but it quickly went away, he breathed in and out, then swung the sword downwards. Once the blade was swung, a heavy aura came out of the sword sweeping the dust off the square and cracking the floor where he stood.
A bright smile appeared on the elder''s face, ¡°It is my lucky day, child, you have the earthen beast physique allowing you to have the strength to smash mountains and a body as strong as bronze. Are you willing to join the sect¡¯¡¯
Xiong Han quickly walked up to the elder and bowed, ¡°Junior is willing¡¯¡¯
Receiving a nod from the elder, Xiong Han walked to Xaing Yingjie.
Seeing both of his brothers succeed, he felt calm. Walking up the stairs, he approached the middle-aged man ¡®¡¯Long Tianyu, age 13¡¯¡¯
Receiving a nod from the man, Long Tianyu walked in front of the pillar. placing his hand in the groove after a moment, 3.5 gems lit up as he expected. Standing in front of the orb, Long Tianyu took a deep breath before placing his hand on it, after 5 seconds, no color appeared on the orb.
The disciple next to the table sighed, ¡°No spirit root in the body, I''m sorry, but you must walk off the platform¡¯¡¯
Long Tianyu stared blankly at the orb only after being reminded again by the disciple, did he moved. Looking at Xiong Han and Xiang Yingjie, he could see that they were about to ask the elder to give him another chance, but before they could, he shouted at his brothers, ¡°Bro Han, Bro Yingjie don¡¯t worry about me. Cultivate and get stronger, don¡¯t forget about your brother here, and bring wine when you come down from the mountains¡¯¡¯
Walking off the platform, Long Tianyu neither felt sad nor angry, only a sort of unexplained calm.
¡®So, what if I have no spirit root, I will still try to break that barrier and enter the qi condensation stage and build my path, even if it takes my whole life, I will still try. Even if I die, I would say I have not backed down and walked my path¡¯
Chapter 4 Determination
Just as the sun slowly disappeared on the horizon and the moon reached higher and higher for the sky. The Five Mountain Peak Sect ship flew up into the sky and began making its way back home.
Back at his home, Long Tianyu sat in the courtyard in a lotus position by the fire cultivating while a pot of soup simmered above the fire for dinner. A moment passed by as the fire crackled, and the flames roared. Long Tianyu breathed out black smoke and coughed up a black ooze.
¡®Sigh, finally I have reached the 4th rank of body tempering, the first half was simple but in the second step it felt as if all my organs were about to burst aflame and explode, luckily that did not happen. When will Uncle Lei be back? It¡¯s already quite late¡¯
While waiting for Uncle Lei to come back, Long Tianyu grabbed a nearby stick and began shifting hot coals underneath the pot so as not to overcook the ingredients in the soup.
Scooping a bit of the soup into his bowl, Long Tianyu began eating. He¡¯ll just save some later for Uncle Lei. Bringing the bowl close to his mouth, he suddenly felt all the hair on his body shiver as if a beast was staring at him from behind.
Taking a sip from the bowl acting as if nothing happened, Long Tianyu''s mind raced. ¡®Is it Uncle Lei, no it can¡¯t be he wouldn¡¯t give off such a dangerous aura and if it was him I would have heard the door opening. Maybe it¡¯s just my mind playing tricks on me, no that can¡¯t be it either, it feels too real to be a trick.¡¯
While Long Tianyu had hundreds of thoughts racing in his mind, a masked person slowly appeared out of the shadow behind him holding a sword in his left hand. As the masked man approached Long Tianyu, he unsheathed his sword.
Long Tianyu, pretending to take another sip of his soup, heard a blade leaving its sheath, quickly reacting to it, he spun around and threw the soup toward where the sound came from. As the bowl shattered, all he saw was the darkness and the rough outline of the courtyard.
Breathing out, Long Tianyu relaxed his body. Standing near the fire, his ears twitched for only a second as he heard a sharp whistle aiming for his neck behind him. Rolling forward, he barely dodged the blade as bits of his hair slowly descended near where he stood.
¡°Come out, I have done nothing wrong for you to kill me¡¯¡¯ Long Tianyu shouted into the empty space in front of him. After what felt like an eternity, the space distorted and a figure clad in black clothing and dark red armor appeared, and on their left chest a symbol of a coiled serpent with two horns on its head was carved into the armor.
A coarse and old voice spoke to Long Tianyu, ¡°Heh brat, listen closely, somebody paid us a lot of money for your head, it took us 10 years to find where you were hiding, turns out you were here, hiding amongst lambs¡¯¡¯
Seeing as the man did nothing, yet Long Tianyu spoke up, ¡°Who paid you to kill me and why¡¯¡¯
¡°Kid, I do not care for what reason they want you dead, all I know is if you¡¯re dead then I get paid¡± Without wasting another word, he slashed his sword horizontally.
Long Tianyu didn¡¯t even see the sword move, only a gleam could be seen before he felt a stinging pain in his chest. Looking down, all he could see was blood continually gushing out of his wound.
Stumbling backwards, Long Tianyu saw the man stabbing toward his chest. Seeing death inching closer and closer until it pierced his chest. And as the blade cleanly went through his body a mysterious power hidden deep in his body came to life. As the power roared to life, a dragon''s roar came out of his body, setting the world still. Time stood still for a moment as if the heavens were blinded for a second.
The man foreseeing a life of riches and beauties by his side was instantly stopped by a pressure coming off from his target. His body was frozen, all he could see was the golden eyes of the youth in front of him.
Using all his power to move even a step closer to the youth¡¯s heart, all it did was freeze his body even more and it felt as if the heavens were crushing his body.
Long Tianyu slowly pulled out the sword from his chest, as his golden eyes locked onto the attacker. Holding the sword by its blade, Long Tianyu broke off the tip and approached the man. Being only an arm¡¯s length from the man, he casually swiped the sword¡¯s tip across the assassin¡¯s neck leaving a clean red line behind.
As soon as a drop of blood leaked out of the assassin¡¯s neck, time moved again, returning to its normality.
When the assassin¡¯s lifeless body fell on its knees so did Long Tianyu, his head looking down. Swiping his hands across the wound on his chest, he could feel fresh blood constantly spurting out, before fainting.
As Long Tianyu''s breathing became slower and slower, a man landed in the courtyard from the sky, kicking the dust off the ground in the next moment, he reappeared next to Long Tianyu.
Holding the cold and bloody body of Long Tianyu, Uncle Lei quickly channeled qi to his right hand, allowing a black ring above a jade ring on his index finger to shudder for a moment and then fall like ash onto the floor the moment a wooden box the size of his hand appeared in his palm.
Opening the box with his qi, a blinding light lit up the courtyard for a second. After the light dissipated, a pure white round pill gently lay inside the box surrounded by golden talismans.
¡°Death reverting origin pill, young master, I can only do so much. Whether you live or die, it''s all up to you now¡± Gently placing the pill in Long Tianyu¡¯s mouth, Uncle Lei quickly went inside the house.
Dashing straight for the center of the room, he shattered the stone floor with a kick of his foot. Reaching his hand into the newly made hole, he pulled out a gold ornate box the size of a fist. Inside the box was a black ring engraved with golden runes and figures of beasts, immortals, and a pillar in the center stretching across the whole ring.
Taking the ring out of the box, a sudden cold sweat covered Uncle Lei¡¯s forehead. Struggling to hold the ring steady, it flew out of his hand as if it had a mind of its own. The ring hovering above Long Tianyu gently went to his right hand and inserted itself into his index finger before turning invisible.
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Releasing a sigh of relief, Uncle Lei carried Long Tianyu on his back and looked back to the house where he had raised Long Tianyu before leaping out of the courtyard and running towards the northern side of the village, leaving it shortly after.
In the wilderness, Uncle Lei looked around cautiously before leaping again and landing somewhere else, repeating this process for a few days. High up in the sky, a golden raptor circled Uncle Lei, and where Uncle Lei leaped the raptor would follow.
After a few days of nonstop running and jumping, Uncle Lei¡¯s stamina slowly depleted until he came across a river. Blue clear water streamed westward and even some fish could be seen swimming in the water.
Laying Long Tianyu on the ground, Uncle Lei sat in a lotus position recovering his nearly depleted qi reserve. After an incense of time, he stood up and walked to the river, scooping a handful of water and drinking it voraciously. Taking out a water gourd from the jade spatial ring, Uncle Lei held it under the water for a few seconds, filling it up. Once full, he took it to Long Tianyu¡¯s still-unconscious body and held it close by his mouth, letting water flow out from the gourd into his throat.
Putting the gourd aside on the ground, Uncle Lei sat down again recovering his strength. After the sun slowly sank beneath the earth, Long Tianyu opened his eyes and immediately ducked and rolled 2 feet away from where he lay down.
After confirming that there is no immediate danger, he rubbed the temples of his head, not remembering much on the night of the attack. One moment he was evading a blade and after that, the same blade pierced his body. By that moment his mind went blank.
¡°Tianyu, come here¡¯¡¯ a weak voice called out to him from a nearby tree.
Looking towards the voice, Uncle Lei sat beneath a tree leaning his back on it. His body was bleeding from several wounds and his left arm was missing.
¡°Uncle Lei¡¯¡¯ Long Tianyu shouted while rushing towards his side. While supporting Uncle Lei''s body, he took a quick look around the area. Twenty bodies could be seen strewn everywhere around the river, all wearing the same clothing and red armor from the assassin that attacked him.
Grabbing hold of Uncle Lei¡¯s right shoulder, Long Tianyu carried him, trying to get far away from the slaughter by the river. Before he could even take his fifth step, the glint of a blade in the forest''s darkness ahead of him flew at his head.
Twisting his head sideward, he barely dodged the sword. If he had been a second slower, the sword would have pierced his head.
Quickly moving his body again Long Tianyu still holding onto Uncle Lei turned around only to be met with countless yaksha masks in the darkness of the forest.
After a few seconds went by, the same figures walked out of the darkness surrounding Long Tianyu and Uncle Lei, all of them wielding a different weapon.
Before they could attack, Uncle Lei quickly pulled out a talisman from his storage ring and threw it in the air. From the golden talisman, a transparent bubble formed around them repelling the oncoming arrows.
Before Long Tianyu could let out a breath of relief, a mountainous pressure locked onto him and the bubble. Withstanding the pressure he could barely keep his body up, it felt like thousands of Jin were placed on his body.
As the sun began to disappear on the horizon a deep voice could be heard coming from the tree line ¡°Impressive for a mere ant to resist my pressure for so long too bad I''m done playing now ¡°
Barely lifting his head Long Tianyu looked at the voice. A man wearing the same armor and clothing except instead of a red shoulder armor piece, it was black with a red two-horned serpent symbol on it.
As the man spoke cracks began to form on the bubble and the talisman started to waver in the air. As more cracks appeared, Uncle Lei¡¯s weak voice called out to Long Tianyu ¡°Tianyu put me on the ground I must tell you something¡±
As they sat facing each other Uncle Lei weakly smiled ¡°Tianyu in all of my life I have not married and could not get a child of my own, I have dedicated all of my time to serving the clan. As I saw you grow up I couldn¡¯t be happier to see you turning into a man worthy of the name Long, a true dragon. Although I''m not your father I have always considered you as my son. Remember Tianyu you are the proud son of the Long Clan, the first to inherit the seat as patriarch¡±
Reaching into his robe Uncle Lei grabbed an elongated pendant and opened his palm showing it to Long Tianyu ¡°Tianyu, I was a nameless orphan on the street struggling every day wondering when I would survive until my next meal. It was your father that took me in and gave me the name Lei Jiahao. When you get back to the clan tell your father that servant Lei failed his mission and put the young master in danger.¡±
As more and more cracks appeared on the bubble Uncle Lei placed the pendant in Long Tianyu¡¯s palm before he could utter a word another golden talisman appeared in Uncle Lei¡¯s hand glowing a bright gold color.
Seeing the talisman the man shouted ¡°Noooooo, you useless pawns, help me burst this bubble before they get away¡¯¡¯
As the rest of the assassins began hacking away at the bubble, Uncle Lei made a slashing motion with the talisman in the space to his right. As his arm moved a white qi blade sliced in between the space opening a gray rift large enough to fit just one person.
With his dantian empty Uncle Lei could only use a secret method to use his life essence to keep the rift open.
¡°Uncle Lei we can escape together¡± Long Tianyu desperately shouted as he saw the strange rift.
¡°Tianyu I can''t, I have to hold the rift open and besides someone has to hold them back, now go!!!¡¯¡¯
Before Long Tianyu could open his mouth and retaliate, Uncle Lei threw Long Tianyu into the rift. Inside the rift Long Tianyu looked back only to see Uncle Lei¡¯s body disintegrate into dust before the rift closed leaving him inside this strange world.
Observing around him he could see that it was the same world, but everything here was coated with a light gray color and occasionally a black line would fly by his head and sometimes a red one or sometimes a different color would appear around him.
As he kept flying somewhere unknown Long Tianyu''s eyelids felt heavier and heavier until he closed his eyes. Floating in this unknown world he began to feel the strange space here. He could feel the wind, yet it was not touching his skin.
Long Tianyu began to understand something mysterious as if this place was a world in between the real world, the same yet so different.
In this state of comprehension, Long Tianyu''s body naturally sat upright in a lotus position. His body took deep and long breaths. As he slowly unraveled the mysteries of this other space, he felt the world sometimes pull and stretch or get close or extremely far away.
Long Tianyu in this state didn¡¯t notice that he was out of the void and back in the world. As soon as his body appeared inside a cave big enough to fit 5 people a strong force inside his body began greedily absorbing the qi around the area scaring away small animals.
While Long Tianyu was in his cultivation, time passed, and it was soon daytime as the sun rose in the sky. After an hour, the sunlight pierced the tree leaves and shone on the side off a giant rocky hill.
Hearing the chirping of birds and warm light from the hole in the roof shining down on his face, Long Tianyu opened his eyes and immediately held his hands in front of him in a defensive position. Observing the surroundings to see if there is any sign of the assassins from last night.
After waiting for a few more minutes and still seeing no signs, Long Tianyu relaxed his body but kept his senses on alert. Sitting back down in a lotus position, he examined his body for any injuries, only to notice that he had somehow entered the sixth step in the body tempering stage.
Taking a closer look he could see qi overflowing in every one of his 12 main meridians including the 361 acupoints. As qi flowed through the acupoints in his body they shined like stars inside his body.
Standing up he took a deep breath and opened his palm still holding onto the pendant with the name engraved on it, ¡°Lei Jiahao, Uncle Lei don¡¯t worry I will avenge you and I will not stop until I perish, or they die that is a promise¡± at the end of his words tears fell like a stream down his face. After a while, he wiped away the tears and tucked the pendant back inside his inner robes.
After kowtowing three times, Long Tianyu stood up and walked to a nearby wall. As he stared at the rough and gray wall, he began punching at it with all his might, ensuring that his bones would crack determined to become stronger and avenge Uncle Lei.
Chapter 5 the first pillar of the heavens
As the sun rose above the horizon the morning dew was still fresh in the air and silence in the forest as if every being in the forest was still waking up. it didn¡¯t take long for the silence to be broken by a shout scaring away a few birds perching on a nearby tree.
Long Tianyu stood facing a tree with his face calm except for his trembling lips. After an incense of time went by he sighed and opened his eyes looking at the deep fists groove on the tree. He turned his head around and observed the area only to see that most of the trees surrounding the cave were either half-broken or completely splintered.
¡°It has been a few weeks already and I have only managed to temper the bones in my hand and arm. The past few weeks have been just me fracturing my bones, healing them, and resting then repeating every day¡± Shaking his head Long Tianyu stretched his body.
After stretching and feeling his muscles relax he felt a rumble in his stomach and feeling hunger attacked him he began walking deeper inside the forest away from the small clearing he made by cultivation.
¡®I hope that there is something in the traps I made¡¯ he thought after following a set of trees and retracing the path when he explored the area. Along the way, Long Tianyu kept his senses on high alert for any animals but also demonic beasts.
At the end of the path, a simple cage trap leaned against a tree. Observing from a distance away Long Tianyu noticed that the bait he placed down was missing but the trap was undisturbed.
Letting out a sigh Long Tianyu grabbed a few pieces of fragrant fruit out of his robe and placed them under the cage. Satisfied with the new bait he began walking in the other direction. Soon a giant tree with a trunk the size of a 3 grown adult came into his vision.
Long Tianyu Stared at the tree for a few moments before he climbed the tree by jumping on the low-hanging branches the thickness of a thigh. Long Tianyu climbed higher and higher, he soon saw a view of the forest. Everywhere he looked the forest filled his vision only to be broken by the occasional hill and mountains in the far distance reaching high into the heavens with its visible peaks covered in snow.
Still taking in the sight of the forest he was soon disturbed by a rustling sound nearby. Slowly approaching the noise, he saw the culprit. A bearded lizard the size of a newborn baby with marks on its body resembling a fiery fire.
As Long Tianyu slowly, silently, got closer, he saw the lizard enjoying a batch of eggs inside a nest. Before the lizard notices Long Tianyu, he jumps toward it and kicks it off the branch. Seeing the lizard fall to its death, Long Tianyu grabs the remaining eggs inside the nest before descending the tree.
As his feet touched the ground, Long Tianyu saw the lizard''s body bleeding from its mouth. Grabbing the lizard by its tail, he grinned at finally having some meat to eat.
¡°Finally, some meat, I have been eating nothing but wild vegetables¡± While making his way back to the cave. on the other side of the forest a demonic beast with gray fur ferociously bit down on the neck of a white tiger killing it before dragging it in the direction of its home.
Arriving at the place he had called home for the last few weeks, Long Tianyu quickly made a fire and cleaned the lizard before sticking it on a sharp stick and roasting it by the fire. He also placed the eggs near the fire to cook them. While waiting for his food to be ready, Long Tianyu sat near the warm fire, crossing his legs.
Closing his eyes he circulated his qi and soon a small black ball of energy floated atop his palm. Manipulating the ball, he transformed it into a thin blade horizontally across his right fist.
¡®¡¯Somehow, I comprehended this strange energy since I came out of that rift. I only managed to form this ball after experimenting with the energy before forming a blade¡± After a few seconds, Long Tianyu dispersed the energy causing it to disappear.
¡®¡¯I can only keep up the energy for 5 seconds before my qi is depleted, luckily the qi here is plenty¡¯¡¯
After eating his meal, Long Tianyu entered the cave and sat down to replenish his qi reserve. Concentrating on absorbing the qi in his surroundings, the subtle glow on the black ring on his finger went unnoticed.
Inside the spatial space of the black ring, a stone pillar stood still in the center countless runes darting across its surface and floating around the giant pillar. On its body were lifelike engravings of beasts and immortals. As if it came to life a primordial aura filled the space of the ring causing it to tremble before calming down.
Nearby the giant pillar a white jade pendant moved up and down as if floating with the waves of energy coming from the pillar.
Long Tianyu, oblivious to the chaos inside the ring continued his cultivation till the next day only stopping when the sunlight shone on his face.
Walking outside, Long Tianyu took a deep breath, savoring the morning air. After stretching his body, he walked to a nearby tree and examined it first. Then, gathering his qi to form the black blade from yesterday on his right fist, he quickly slashed it across the tree, cutting it cleanly in half without any problems.
Stepping back in surprise, Long Tianyu didn¡¯t think the strange energy would be so sharp. Quickly dissipating the energy before his qi was depleted, he clenched his right fist only to feel a bulge on his finger.
Looking at his right hand, the ring on his index finger gave off a primordial aura. Looking closer at the ring, Long Tianyu noticed a pillar in the center with runes engraved on it.
Trying to read the runes on the pillar only made his head throb in pain. Looking away from the runes, a warm glow caught his attention. Looking on the inside of the ring a row of words slowly appeared with the glow.
¡°Within this ring resides the first pillar of the heavens. I as the invincible Immortal warn whoe¡¡¡¡..¡±
As Long Tianyu read the text a booming voice echoed in his head causing him to hunch over and clutch his head in pain soon after a pressure forced one of his knees to buckle.
¡°So, you¡¯re the descendant of that brat¡±
Still holding onto his head Long Tianyu felt his blood dripping out of every orifice. Clenching his teeth he slowly stood up with every movement, tearing his muscles apart and cracking his bones.
Standing tall, Long Tianyu gripped the ring with his left hand and pulled with all his might, forcing the ring to come off. Even after using the meager strength that he had the ring didn¡¯t budge.
The voice boomed in his head again¡± Hahahahahahaha, you passed kid¡±
the moment the voice disappeared so did the pressure on Long Tianyu. Breathing in heavily he wiped away the blood on his nose before quickly trying to take off the ring.
Before he could even try, the ring became hotter and hotter causing another bout of pain to appear on his face. the pain is as if his soul were set on fire and oil kept on being added to it and burned brighter and hotter every second.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
As the ring burned the voice spoke in an ancient language before the skies turned dark and heavenly thunder clouds appeared on the realm raining down lightning.
¡°Kid from this day onward you are to be the owner of the first pillar of the heavens¡±
As soon as the voice disappeared, so did the dark clouds reverting the sky to normal.
Long Tianyu clutching onto his right hand passed out soon after from the pain. As he lay there on the ground sound asleep a soothing energy came out of the ring and surrounded his body.
As Long Tianyu opened his eyes a clear blue sky greeted him. Feeling the soft grass on his body he stayed like this for a few moments more before raising his upper body and examining his surroundings.
Turning his head around a beautiful grass field surrounded his vision. The grass swayed with the soft wind that is neither cold nor hot, just the perfect temperature. Standing up he could see that the grass field stretched as far as his eyes allowed him to see. Deciding to walk forward he felt tranquil. Soon on his path, a humble bamboo hut appeared in the distance with a cherry blossom tree swaying with the wind. Every time the tree swayed the pink leaves gently flow with the wind.
For some strange reason, Long Tianyu didn¡¯t rush toward it but kept walking with steady steps. With every step, he could see more details appear, and as he got closer to the bamboo hut a flowery scent carried by the wind entered his nostrils. Looking to the right he saw a garden filled with flowers and strange plants of all sizes and colors. Ignoring the scent Long Tianyu kept on walking forward.
Standing next to the hut he could see tools hanging on a rack nearby, probably for the garden, and a table next to it. On the table, a tray holding an intricate tea set and two cups of pinkish tea releasing steam into the air.
Staring at the two cups of tea a sweet plum blossom scent caused Long Tianyu to stare at them for far too long and soon his eyes turned a pinkish hue. He stood there frozen as if in a daze.
¡°hahaha kid don¡¯t stare for too long if you want to stay alive¡±
With a light laugh from the deep voice Long Tianyu''s eyes soon returned to normal. And quickly looking away he noticed that the endless grassy field soon ended a bit further from him and in its place stood a cliff.
At the edge of the grass field, a man sat there with their back towards Long Tianyu.
¡°kid bring me a cup of tea will you, my throat is starting to dry¡±
Compelled by the voice Long Tianyu''s body moved on its own and walked to the edge with the tray in hand. The man wore pure white armor inlaid with jade and a sword leaning next to him.
Setting down the tray Long Tianyu sat on the left side of the man. Looking in front of him and down what filled his eyes was the world at the edge of the cliff.
As soon as he sat down the man turned his head to look at Long Tianyu. Quickly opening his mouth Long Tianyu asked the man ¡°Who are you and where am I¡±
¡°You young kids sure don¡¯t know any manners now huh? You must serve the elders first before asking questions¡±
Before Long Tianyu could pick up the teacup a hand reached for it ¡°hahaha relax kid I¡¯m not that strict. Let us enjoy the tea before I answer your questions¡±
Carefully holding the teacup in his hands Long Tianyu glanced at the man¡¯s face. He looked middle-aged and had a handsome face with sword-like brows and fierce eyes that said I won¡¯t go down without a battle.
¡°Kid, I like women, ok? I don¡¯t swing that way and besides you''re too young¡±
Nearly dropping the cup in his hands Long Tianyu felt like punching the man beside him.
¡°Elder I also like girls and besides you¡¯re too ugly for my taste¡±
¡°You dare call me ugly, brat speak carefully before I beat you black and blue¡±
A subtle smile appeared on the man¡¯s face before he took a sip of the tea.
Seeing the man drink the tea Long Tianyu Brought the cup close to his mouth and smelling in the same sweet plum blossom scent, Long Tianyu didn¡¯t dwell on the scent too long this time.
drinking the tea, the light sweetness coated the inside of his mouth leaving a pleasant aftertaste and making his breath steady. Only after a few moments, a rush of qi entered his body forcing Long Tianyu to concentrate otherwise the massive amount of qi would overfill and explode his body.
As the qi entered his meridians they slowly expanded and each time the qi consolidated around the acupoints and meridians new qi would rush in to occupy the empty spot and expand it once more. After an incense of time, the qi in Long Tianyu¡¯s body finally calmed down.
¡°Kid be grateful I even allowed you to drink a leaf from the harmonious Moon and Sun Blossom tree, I only have a few leaves, but I had to dilute it a thousand times for you. only one leaf on the tree will have absorbed the pure yin qi from the moon and yang qi from the sun it takes 50,000 years for one leaf to mature¡±
¡°Thank you for the opportunity. I, Long Tianyu owe the elder a debt,¡± Long Tianyu said while bowing his head.
¡°Don¡¯t go back on your words kid, you might regret it when the times come. Now out with your questions. Your face is practically screaming, ¡°Who am I?¡±
¡°Where am I, I was in a forest just a few moments ago,¡± Long Tianyu asked while reaching for the teapot to pour himself another cup.
Before his hand could even reach for the handle another hand had already snatched it away.
¡°Kid don¡¯t be too greedy your body is still weak drinking too much of the tea will harm your body. To answer your question your body is still in that forest, but your mind is here. Soon you will come to find out what this place is¡±
¡°if my mind is here then what happened to my body? Won''t I be in danger then?¡±
Pouring the tea into his cup the man drank it before answering ¡°You¡¯re body is fine I only pulled your consciousness to this space. Kid, I don¡¯t have much time anymore you only have two questions left¡±
¡°My first question is still the same who are you and my second question is what is the first pillar of the heavens¡±
¡°I can''t tell you my name, but I can tell you my title, people call me the invincible Immortal I have never lost a fight or battle. As for your second question, you will have to find that out yourself¡±
¡°But what is my purpose here then, why am I called here¡±
¡°Hmm I guess you could call it a great-great-great grandfather passing down the family heirloom to their grandchild¡±
Visible confusion appeared on Long Tianyu¡¯s face after hearing the invincible Immortal¡¯s words.
¡°Grandfather? What do you mean by that and family heirloom¡¡ " Before Long Tianyu could complete his sentence, a rough hand ruffled his hair.
A weak smile appeared on the invincible Immortals face
¡°Tianyu, stay strong and safe¡± With a flick of his hands Long Tianyu''s consciousness disappeared from the strange realm. Pouring another cup of tea the Invincible immortal savored the taste of it before a deep voice broke the tranquil silence.
¡°Old friend is it your time to go¡±
Silence filled the air for a few moments before the invincible immortal let out a light sigh ¡°Brother, I¡¯m sorry that I made your hard life even harder. You are a noble race but deciding to stand next to me only made your people scorn you. I made you suffer through endless hardship¡±
The voice let out a laugh that shook the cliffside. As the laugh subsided the somber voice now filled with energy replied ¡°Brother, we were born on the same day and time. We were both hated by our family. I never regretted fighting through the hardship standing side by side¡±
At the end of the sentence, the wind intensified and blew the cherry blossom leaves towards the cliff edge.
The invincible Immortal let out a light laugh after hearing his brother¡¯s words. Standing up he stared at the world beneath his feet. Before plucking a leave floating in the air and holding it gently between his thumb and finger.
A satisfied smile hung on the Invincible immortal¡¯s face ¡°Then I''m glad it was you who fought by my side, I have no more regrets now. Brother look after my grandson¡±
¡°don¡¯t worry brother I will be there to take care of him in your place¡±
At the end of his words, the wind came to a gentle stop carrying the last of the cherry blossom leaves with it into the horizon.
As the leaves floated further and further into the horizon The invincible Immortal¡¯s body slowly disintegrated into a golden energy starting at his feet and rising upwards ¡°Then I will leave him in your hands¡±
Before his body fully disappeared into nothingness the invincible immortal looked at the leaf on his finger tenderly ¡°Meifeng, will you brew a pot of plum blossom tea for me and sing me gentle lullabies again¡±
With those words, he let go of the leaf in his hands letting it float in the air toward the horizon following the rest of the cherry blossom leaves. Soon his hands disappeared and as his head disintegrated the smile never left his face.
The voice watching his brother pass away in front of him stood silent and as the silence carried on for a long time, his spirit soon left the realm and back into his body.
The giant body of the voice soon woke up and soared into the sky tearing the clouds and space into shreds roaring out his anger and helplessness watching his brother die while he couldn¡¯t do anything to stop it.
As the painful roar of the noble beast ended the body of the voice broke through the clouds. A white dragon the size of a small mountain landed on the rough, rocky ground. He took a breath before laying his massive body on the ground. Closing his eyes a teardrop gently fell on the ground. And as the teardrop landed on the rocky ground it soon transformed into a beautiful garden of grass, priceless plants, and herbs.
With each breath of the dragon, the nearby plants swayed with its breath. Up in the air, the aftermath of the dragon mended itself back to normal as if nothing had ever happened.
Chapter 6 Spatial Ring
Outside the strange space, Long Tianyu still slept soundly not disturbed by anything at all. What might have seemed like a long time inside the strange space only a few moments have passed in the real world.
As he slept through to the next day Long Tianyu only woke up when the bright light of the sun shone down on him. Feeling the warm light, he soon raised his upper body and stretched a bit before bending his knees and flipping forward onto his feet.
Standing up straight Long Tianyu opened his eyes and stretched his body fully causing it to make popping noises. After feeling satisfied he rubbed his eyes and circled his qi throughout his body and as he did, he felt that he had more qi than usual. If his qi before could only fill a teacup now his qi is more than enough to overfill a giant water pot.
He felt a 30% increase in his qi reserve, his meridians once small and narrow now larger carried more qi and it flowed smoothly along his every meridian.
Feeling the overwhelming amount of qi, he remembered the strange dream he had, and remembering the words of the Invincible Immortal only made it seem stranger and more mysterious. Thinking it might just be a weird dream of his since he always thought about getting stronger but that thought was quickly shot down by the increase in qi inside his body and the pain before his mind entered the strange realm.
To confirm if it was a dream or if he met his great-great-great-great grandfather. Long Tianyu tried sending his mind inside the ring. To his surprise what appeared before his eyes was a dark space. Taking a quick look around it seemed like nothing was inside it but emptiness. Before Long Tianyu withdrew his mind from the space inside the ring a white glow caught his attention.
quickly looking in the direction of the dim glow he thought about moving closer to the light and was again surprised by the strange sensation of his mind moving across the dark space but his body not moving an inch.
As his mind traveled across the dark space it took what seemed like forever before the dim white glow turned into a white light illuminating 0.5 li of the dark space and dissipating around the edge.
Squinting his eyes Long Tianyu stared into the center of the light trying to find what the source of the light was. After staring for a few seconds, he decided to move closer to the center. Strangely as he got closer to the center, the bright light didn¡¯t cause any discomfort to his eyes and soon he saw what was causing the white light in the dark space.
At the center of the light, a pure white jade pendant stood there floating in its light and illuminating the darkness around it. Reaching the pendant Long Tianyu looked at it from a distance cautious of it, not knowing if touching it was going to cause harm to him.
The pendant as if sensing its kin instantly teleported right in front of Long Tianyu causing him to back up a good distance from the pendant. The pendant ignoring Long Tianyu¡¯s caution teleported back right in front of his face. This time seeing the pendant up close Long Tianyu didn¡¯t move away but quickly grabbed it with his mind only to see it disappear.
Confusion filled his mind about where the pendant went he looked around everywhere in the space to see nothing no white light indicating where it was. As he was searching for it, outside the dark space a white jade pendant appeared in the palm of his left hand.
Feeling something in his palm, Long Tianyu pulled back his mind out of the space inside the ring. Opening his palms the exact pendant seen inside the ring was neatly in his hands with a white string attached on the top of it.
¡®How did the pendant appear here when it was inside that strange space, it disappeared when I grabbed it with my mind what if I sent it back inside, would that work?¡¯ having that thought he soon put it to action as he willed his mind to move it inside. After trying a few times and it still didn¡¯t work Long Tianyu was about to stop but then he thought about using some of his qi along with his mind to move it inside.
After trying a few times to use his qi outside of his body to no avail he took a deep breath before straining his mind and condensing his qi near the center of his chest to come out of his body and envelop the pendant. Feeling his qi circulating and forcing it to bend to his will to go outside of his body, forced the meridians around his chest area to swell larger.
While Long Tianyu¡¯s focus is on forcing the qi out, blood slowly trickled down his nose and his head pulsed with pain. But his effort didn¡¯t go to waste as a small strand of his qi escaped his body and moved according to his mind and soon the strand touched a part of the pendant attaching itself to it.
With a strand of his qi attached to the pendant, a connection to the qi strand and the pendant was formed at the same time. As soon as he felt this connection he willed his mind to move the pendant back inside the dark space.
In an instant, the pendant disappeared from his palms and appeared inside the dark space. Seeing the pendant disappear, Long Tianyu laughed out loud scaring a group of birds nearby away. Before he could confirm if the pendant was even in the ring a stinging pain pulled back his enthusiasm.
Coughing out blood from his mouth Long Tianyu felt his chest swelling as if his meridians were about to pop due to the amount of rampaging qi centered around his chest. Thinking quickly, he dispersed the qi back to the rest of his body. But Long Tianyu did it too quickly causing an immense amount of pain to assault him as the qi didn''t flow smoothly and equally to the rest of his meridians.
Inside the ring and in the strange realm the white dragon slept soundly before being woken up by a rumbling sensation. Sending out its consciousness the dragon saw the grandson of his brother attempting to use the ring and recklessly store a pendant while not even having the strength to do so. Looking inside the boy¡¯s body, the dragon laughed and shook the mountain where he was sleeping.
¡°Good, good you need to have guts to grow strong, let this uncle help his nephew overcome this predicament¡±
Long Tianyu, feeling his meridians swell larger and larger inside his body soon fell to the ground and coughed out more blood. As blood dripped out of his nose his head kept on pulsing, causing a wave of pain every time it happened. While clutching his head the sensation of his meridians slowly tearing apart caused him to cough out blood once more.
As soon as his meridians were on the cups of bursting, a fiery yet gentle qi came from the ring causing his tense face to slowly disappear as the pain subsided.
As the qi enveloped his body a cool feeling covered every inch of his body. Wherever the qi went Long Tianyu¡¯s meridians healed and the still rampaging qi in his body calming down and stabilized. The qi lastly went to his head and healed his mind if his mind before was a raging fire and burning everything in its way now it¡¯s a calm and deep ocean.
After a while the fiery qi disappeared and what was left was an itchy feeling across his body. Laying there on the ground Long Tianyu took deep breaths and closed his eyes before opening them after.
Stolen story; please report.
¡®That was way too dangerous and reckless of me to lose my focus while my qi was rampaging in my body¡¯ Remembering how he almost died made Long Tianyu let out a small laugh.
After staring at the blue sky for a few moments he raised his right hand in front of him and looked at the ring. Sending his mind inside the ring, a white jade pendant floated in the darkness this time without its brilliant white light.
Trying to take off the ring, this time it didn¡¯t resist him and came off his finger easily. Holding the ring in front of him Long Tianyu called out to his supposed grandfather, ¡°Grandfather, are you there, grandfather thank you for helping me?¡±
Hearing no reply Long Tianyu shrugged putting the ring back on his index finger and thought to himself ¡®Even though I don¡¯t know if he is my grandfather, I''ll accept it for now until I can get back to that mysterious place.
¡®I don¡¯t even know if he is my grandfather, all I can do now is accept it and treat him like one. Either way, he gave me an opportunity and by his tone it sounded like he was on his deathbed, and he might be my only family left. My parents might not even be real, and my family might not even exist. Uncle Lei might have just told me those words to make me not give up on life¡¯ Long Tianyu thought before clenching both of his fists and letting out a sigh.
Wiping away the blood on his face, he looked at his wet and bloodied clothes before taking off the outer robe leaving his inner robe somewhat clean from the protection of the outer robe although with a few red dots of different sizes still visible on his white inner robe. Cleaning his hands with the outer robe Long Tianyu sighed before slinging it over his shoulder.
Walking back to the cave he threw his outer robe on a nearby rock and then sat down to examine the changes to his body. Now that he had more qi, Long Tianyu could do a thorough inspection of his body. As the qi circulated through his body he felt another 10% increase in his meridian size. Feeling the overflowing qi inside his meridians a smile crept on Long Tianyu¡¯s face.
What might have seemed like a dangerous situation was also an opportunity to increase his strength. After thoroughly inspecting his body and finding nothing wrong with it by the looks of it, his body is stronger than before by 25%. His muscles were brimming with life and looked a bit more sturdy and thicker, although his cultivation didn¡¯t increase a hint of a golden glow shone across his bones.
¡®With the increase in my qi reserve, I can cultivate faster by healing more of my bones or only healing one bone faster at a time¡¯ Thought Long Tianyu as he kept on circulating the qi through his meridians.
Not dwelling on those thoughts for too long his mind entered the spatial ring. Taking out the white jade pendant and holding it in his palm and its smooth surface felt cold in his hand.
¡°Why were you inside the ring and why do I feel like there is a connection between you and me¡± Long Tianyu muttered to himself before wearing the pendant around his neck. He looked at it a bit before tucking it inside his robes.
Standing up Long Tianyu walked to a wall with cracks covering almost every inch of it. Seeing two shallow fist-sized holes he made while training made him think of Uncle Lei¡¯s killers. Shaking away those thoughts he lowered his body into a horse stance and began punching the wall with all his strength. He struck with his right fist first then his left, keeping the rhythm going.
Only after counting to 200 punches did, he stop and look at his fist. the skin on his knuckles and fingers looked bruised and scraped but no blood. Every time he tempered his bones against the wall in the past 3 weeks his fingers would look mangled and bloodied with even white bones sticking out of the flesh and it took a day and night to heal the injuries due to his meager qi.
Now with a thought a rush of qi went to his fist and soon they began itching. After the itchy sensation disappeared it was replaced by a cool feeling. Looking at his fist in its healing state, the bruises disappeared, and the scraped skin fell off, being replaced by new skin. What took a day and night to heal no matter the state of his fist now only took an incense of time to heal.
Satisfied with his new amount of qi and body, Long Tianyu sat down again and grabbed a stone the size of the same pendant hanging on his neck from the ground. Holding the stone he began circulating his qi and formed them around his fingers, holding the stone this time instead of his chest and unlike last time, Long Tianyu controlled the amount of qi that would not harm his meridians.
Expecting no result due to how close it was the last time, Long Tianyu was pleasantly surprised by how easy he could do it now. If it was him forcing his qi to move to his will outside his body last time, then now it was like a gentle nudge.
Looking at the qi the size of a hair strand floating in the air and then gently entering the rock. Feeling the connection between his mind and the qi inside the stone he ordered it to fully envelop the stone and used his mind to store the stone.
Seeing the stone disappear in an instant, Long Tianyu smiled thinking that what his grandfather gave him was pretty good. After the stone appeared inside the spatial ring a slight headache attacked Long Tianyu making him scrunch his face.
While waiting for the headache to disappear he looked around the ground searching for a bigger stone to continue his test on what the limits are for storing stuff.
After the headache subsided Long Tianyu went through the same process as before and successfully stored the stone inside the ring again. Looking at two stones floating inside the dark space he could see them as clear as day even though what surrounded them was darkness. Same as before, a headache attacked him again but this time it felt slightly stronger and lasted a bit longer.
Thinking to himself, Storing items causes a side effect and depending on the size what is being stored the side effect gets stronger¡¯ As soon as the headache subsided Long Tianyu went on with his testing until the next ray of lights shining across the world.
Still sitting on the ground in the same position Long Tianyu dozed off before abruptly waking up. On his face, heavy eye bags could be seen making him appear like a panda.
Recounting the tests yesterday only made him remember the headaches he got from storing larger and larger stones and in the end he managed to store a stone the size of his body before he instantly got knocked out.
Running his hand across his hair and feeling the grease on his hands, he decided his plans for today. He would go to the nearby river, clean up himself, and then hunt for food.
Satisfied with his plans and tests from yesterday he looked inside the ring and saw a neat row of stones from small to large floating in the darkness. Pulling back his mind he grabbed his outer robe before going outside of the cave and taking a deep breath of the morning air.
As the fresh air filled his lungs Long Tianyu¡¯s qi flowed to form a greyish-black ball of qi in his right palm before the ball transformed into a short dagger. Feeling his qi rapidly depleting he held what looked like a knife more than a dagger and swung it around for a bit before throwing it in the air letting it disintegrate.
Calculating how much qi he had and how much his qi depleted he could only use it for 30 seconds before his qi is used up. That is much better than last time, he could only use it for 5 seconds and his qi would have dried up and the blade now has a handle instead of just placing it across his fist.
Slinging his outer robe on his shoulder he began walking the same path that he always took. Passing by the familiar tree and soon reaching the trap, this time lady luck was on his side. Quickly running up to the trap a rabbit appeared inside it while the fruits disappeared.
Grabbing the rabbit by its neck Long Tianyu exerted a bit of force and snapped the rabbit''s neck. Holding the dead rabbit in his hands, Long Tianyu thought about if food could be stored inside the ring.
Not giving too much thought to it he simply followed the same process and not long after the rabbit disappeared from his hands and appeared inside the ring.
Grabbing a few pieces of fruit he gathered on the Long Tianyu remade the trap and as he was walking to the river the same headache from yesterday appeared but it was less intense and more bearable.
Shortly after storing the rabbit the side effect went away, allowing him to have a clear thought again. While on the way he also stored fruits and eatable vegetables that he came across luckily smaller items like that didn¡¯t cause him any side effects.
Before long, a river could be heard in the distance, increasing his pace Long Tianyu quickly came to the river he found a while ago. Stripping himself of his upper clothes and shoes he brought his shirt, inner robe, and outer robe near the edge of the river. Getting near the water he could see fish swimming in small groups near the center of the river. At the edges the river is crystal clear, only the center is a bit murkier making it hard to determine its depth.
Squatting down Long Tianyu began cleaning the blood out of his clothing, causing the clear water to turn a reddish hue. After a while, he hung them on a nearby branch, satisfied with the cleanliness of the robes he took off his pants and underwear.
Standing completely naked in the shallow part of the river, the cold water rushing along his feet made him shiver. His broad shoulders and well-toned muscles made him look older than his age.
Chapter 7 Dangerous Forest
Walking back to the cave Long Tianyu carried his wet shirt on his shoulder while his robes were in the ring. Alongside the robes, there were also a few fish that he caught with the wooden spear that he made.
While on his way he thought that it was strange no demon beast had attacked him. Didn¡¯t dwell on it for too long unless he jinxed himself and got attacked by a demon beast. He arrived soon after at the clearing and immediately started making a fire and brought out the cleaned and descaled fish from the ring. When the fish appeared, it looked as if it was just freshly killed and cleaned, surprised Long Tianyu also grabbed the rabbit.
By now the cleaned rabbit should have cooled down and be a bit warm from the sun but it still felt cool in his hand as if he just pulled it out of the river. Sticking the fish and the rabbit on a stick he grilled them over the fire until they were done. While his food was cooking his mouth watered at the 5 fish and rabbit glistening over the fire.
Holding the stick that held the rabbit Long Tianyu sat on a nearby fallen tree and devoured the rabbit but left one leg over. Storing the leg, he wanted to see if food would go bad inside the ring if it didn''t then he could store more food for when he wanted to leave the forest.
Done eating the rabbit he pulled out his inner and outer robe of the ring and placed them close by the fire to dry them faster.
Uncle Lei taught him a lot about surviving in the wild and not only to survive but also to thrive on the land. Grabbing the rest of the fish he devoured them in one sitting, even spitting the bones right at his feet. Satisfied with his meal, he walked to a sturdy tree and began cultivating.
With every kick against the tree, small cracks would form on his shin, and soon a crashing sound echoed through the forest as the once sturdy tree fell over and landed on the ground blowing away the leaves on the ground into the air.
Stumbling his way to the fallen tree, Long Tianyu sat down and leaned his back against the thick body of the tree. Healing his left leg he still can¡¯t overcome that feeling of itchiness whenever he is treating his bones.
Standing up he began walking slowly to see if there were any cracks that he missed. Moving just fine he began the same process for his other leg.
When the sun hung in the middle of the sky Long Tianyu finally completed breaking and healing all the bones in both of his legs. The hard part is how to form small cracks on the smaller bones inside the body without completely breaking them.
Putting that problem into the back of his mind he walked into the forest intending to find more food and search for a way out of the forest. Reaching the trap, he saw white fur sticking out of the holes. Quickly dashing his way to the trap Long Tianyu eagerly opened it.
Removing the cover a horned white rabbit was gnawing on the fruit and completely ignoring the culprit that set the trap.
Long Tianyu swiftly reached for the scruff of the rabbit. When his hand neared the white fur the small demon beast immediately turned around and jumped at his attacker.
Caught off guard Long Tianyu saw the pointy horn of the rabbit closing in on his chest. Taking a step back he swiftly caught the rabbit''s head and putting a bit more strength into his hand he crushed its head.
The horned rabbit is the first demon beast he has come across since entering the forest. He found that strange for a forest this large there should be plenty of demon beasts. Storing the rabbit, Long Tianyu made his way to the tree where he caught that lizard.
Reaching the tree, he began climbing it, nimbly jumping from branch to branch and stepping on footholds. When he reached the middle of the tree a tremor shook the tree. Nearly losing his foothold and falling to his death he grabbed hold of a sturdy-looking branch.
The tremor didn''t stop as it only got stronger each time a second went by. Holding onto the branch for dear life Long Tianyu decided to climb higher and find a bigger branch to sit on. Slowly making his way upward he soon reached the top where he sat on a thick branch.
Sitting atop the branch he saw the same view as last time a forest that seemed to stretch endlessly into the horizon only this time a dust cloud could be seen rising into the sky. While staring at the dust cloud, a cacophony of beastly roars and animal noises reached his ears.
As the clouds of dust approached Long Tianyu, the horde of beasts shook the tree, causing loose leaves to fall. Looking down, he could see the beasts that he recognized and some that he had never seen before. With the tree shaking so much, he nearly lost his footing.
When the beast hordes passed him and the tremor started to subside, he breathed a sigh of relief. Before he could relax, an explosion boomed in the distance, causing a wave of wind to blow all the trees in his surroundings backward, causing him to lose his grip and fly with the wind.
While in the air, Long Tianyu¡¯s mind raced. As he flew toward another tree of the same height, he maneuvered himself to land against the thickest part of the tree itself.
Bracing himself for the impact, he crashed against the tree, knocking the air out of his lungs. Grasping for breath, he grabbed the nearest branch and held on tight. Only when the chaos subsided did Long Tianyu breathe a sigh of relief, but even before a second could go by, a roar shook his eardrum and caused the tree to shake before it became calm again.
Climbing up the tree, Long Tianyu saw what the cause of the chaos was. Two towering beasts, a bit taller than the trees, were staring each other down. Although some of the trees were about 60 to 70 feet high, the beasts were still taller than that, about 10 feet taller but still shorter than the tallest tree in the forest.
A tiger and an ox were standing still far in the distance, as if waiting for one of them to make a move. The tiger had orange fur with black stripes covering its body, and on its head were stone slabs covering it like a helmet. Seeing as the ox hadn¡¯t made a move yet, it roared, causing a hill and its surroundings to tremble. Soon a yellow qi covered a chunk of earth on a small hill nearby. It then ripped the hill in half and flew towards the tiger. As the chunk of earth got closer, the yellow qi split it into even parts and smoothed itself over the tiger''s body.
Now, as the earth covered the tiger¡¯s body like armor, it grew confident and took a step forward. The ox, not to be outdone, shook its body and roared into the sky, and not long after, the black fur on its body turned a fiery red color with red qi swirling around its horns. As soon as the transformation was done, a dark red flame appeared in between its horns and lit them up.
Long Tianyu, looking at the two beasts in the distance, couldn¡¯t believe his eyes, if not for the warmth he felt from the fire between the oxen''s head. He had seen big demon beasts before, but those were only the size of a small house, he had never seen anything like this before.
The tiger, confident in its armor, made the first move, as it jumped and tried to sink its claws in the back of the ox.
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As the tiger was in the air, its opponent stood on its hind legs and smashed the tiger down to the ground. And as the tiger rolled away, it stood up and swiped at the ground as more yellow qi covered the ground, a new piece of earth flew towards the damage repairing the cracks on its underbelly armor.
With its armor repaired, the tiger covered itself in yellow qi, causing the earth on its body to turn a slightly golden color. This time instead of jumping at its target the tiger ran, and with each step it took, the earth trembled and the trees in its path were knocked over.
The ox prepared itself and breathed out steam from its nostrils before intensifying the flames on its horn and ran towards the tiger meeting it head-on. The tiger, knowing that it can''t win against the ox in that way, ducked to the side and tore at the belly of the ox, its claws digging deep inside the body.
Bleeding from the wound, the fiery beast turned around and covered itself in more fire, then dashed at the tiger with incredible speed, the ground and trees in its path were scorched black from the fire. Not letting its target escape, the ox formed a fireball between its horns and threw it forward.
As the fireball got closer, the tiger swiped at it with its right claw, dispersing the flame ball, but what it didn¡¯t expect was for it to explode and blind it for a split second. The ox took its chance and increased its speed, and not long after a booming sound is heard as the ox smashed its horns against the tiger, sending it flying towards a hill.
The tiger¡¯s massive body impacted against the rough ground of the hill and shattered its peak as the dirt slid down and covered the tiger¡¯s body. Its organs shook from the impact and just lay under the dirt, not moving.
Cautiously the ox stood still and waited for a reaction from its opponent. It didn¡¯t have to wait long before a yellow qi burst through the dirt and caused the earth to tremble.
Long Tianyu on the same tree watched the fight, holding in his breath as if he made any movement the two beasts would barrel towards his position. He could have run away, but this might be a once in a lifetime moment he thought. It made his blood boil, and his mind spun as excitement filled his body for what he could see more from the world.
From the burst of yellow qi it shook the dirt of the tiger as its armor now shattered and crumbled to the ground. Slowly standing up, the tiger tried to recover from the impact, but before it could even stand up. The ox ran with all its might, intending to impel the tiger with its horns and end the fight.
Right before its horns could pierce the tiger, a stone spike shot out from the ground and pierced the ox in its chest. A painful roar escaped the ox''s mouth as it stopped and backed out of the spike, leaving a bloody hole with blood flowing out like a river from the wound.
The ox staggered backwards as it used the fire on its head to cover the wound. Right when it was done taking care of the gaping hole, another spike grew from the ground and aimed at its hind leg, trying to incapacitate its mobility.
Barely jumping out of the way, it was distracted as a shadow covered its head and a sharp row of teeth clamped down on its neck. The tiger now having a hold on its opponent between its teeth also slashed at the ox¡¯s belly with its claws and tore into the back of the ox leaving behind deep claw marks.
Howling in pain, the ox jumped up and down, trying to shake off the tiger''s hold. It only made the tiger dig its fangs deeper inside the ox¡¯s flesh and its claws only held on tighter.
Seeing as the tiger wouldn¡¯t let go, it calmed down and stopped thrashing as it didn¡¯t work. Instead of giving up, the ox increased the fire on its body, letting it grow larger and stronger. It was now a game of endurance, either you let go of me or I burn you to ash.
As the flames roared, they soon spread to the trees, and with the abundance of dried trees, the flames spread in every direction and consumed everything in its path.
After a while, the tiger got bolder with its attacks and ignored the rising flames. Even with wounds on its body, the ox had a strong tenacity and stood tall. As time passed, the flames only got hotter, and not long after, visible fatigue appeared on the tiger¡¯s face and its hold on the ox weakened.
Grasping at its opportunity, the fiery beast increased the fire¡¯s temperature. The tiger couldn¡¯t hold on for long anymore as yellow qi burst out from its body and a spike shot out from the ground underneath the ox¡¯s head.
Already expecting an attack, the spike missed as the ox moved its head to the side. Finally, as the tiger''s last attempt at killing the ox failed, it couldn¡¯t hold on anymore and let go.
Throwing the tiger far away, the ox¡¯s front leg buckled as blood dripped from the gaping hole, even with the flames covering the wound it couldn¡¯t completely stop it from bleeding. Looking at the tiger, its stone helmet was glowing a bright orange color, still sizzling from the heat, and most of its armor scorched black from the flames.
Both beasts recovered some of their stamina before standing up and were ready to fight again. This time the tiger was visibly weaker as the fire affected it more than the ox. Charging forward, the ox shot out a few mini fireballs and ran with all its remaining strength.
The fireballs flew in different directions, as the ones in front of the tigers were swiped away, the rest that flew over its head exploded on its back, causing the armor there to chip away, revealing burned skin. Forming a single horn on its head, the tiger having no other choice also charged at the incoming ox.
At the last moment as both of them were about to make contact, the ox stopped its momentum and lowered its head, causing its horn to be underneath the tiger''s head. Fatigued and dizzy, the tiger couldn¡¯t react to the ox¡¯s as it pushed its head upward and could only accept it as the blazing horns pierced its head.
Shaking of the limb tiger, the ox let out a victorious roar and transformed back to its black fur. As the flames dissipated from its body, deep claw marks covered its body showing that the fight was much closer than it was.
After celebrating its victory, the beast then tore apart the tiger¡¯s stomach with its mouth and searched for something inside. A short time later, the ox pulled out its head and on its tongue a marble the size of a fully grown adult¡¯s head was swallowed instantly.
As the marble entered the beast''s body, it shuddered before an enormous amount of qi flowed out of its body and healed most of its wound. Letting out steam from its nostrils, the ox walked away satisfied with its gains, leaving the tiger''s body behind.
The fight left the area devastated, and the fire still burned strongly spreading its flames. Staring at the body of the tiger, Long Tianyu thought about getting closer and maybe getting some of its meat, but before he could even move an inch, a shadow flew over his head. Not long after the shadow arrived, it swooped down and grabbed the beast''s body in its talon before rising in the air again.
All Long Tianyu saw was the blur of its shadow before it disappeared. As the body of the beast disappeared, all of the hairs on his body stood up. Calming down, he slowly made his way down the tree and only when his feet touched the hard ground did Long Tianyu breathe a sigh of relief.
Having seen enough excitement for today, he made his way back to the cave. Along the way, he thought about the journey he needed to make out of the forest, as the fires were spreading towards the cave, and with the demon beast that he couldn''t even see, Long Tianyu decided to find a way out of this forest before he gets eaten by something larger than himself.
¡®I¡¯m still too weak, even standing far away, I could still feel the strength of the demon beasts. If I want to see more of the world, then I need to be strong enough to fight them and protect myself¡¯
While walking along the way, he saw the corpses of unfortunate demon beasts that were trampled on in the stampede. Thinking that he got lucky, Long Tianyu searched for acceptable parts that still looked eatable and put them inside his storage ring.
When he reached the clearing, the first thing that he did was sit down and look at his gains from this trip. Inside his ring, at least 7 catty¡¯s worth of meat floated neatly a short distance from the rocks.
Looking at the fire consuming the forest behind him, he calculated that he had a few hours before it reached the cave. Pushing a log to the center of the clearing where he made his fires, he took out the wet robes and hung them on the log and then began making a fire.
As the fire came to life, Long Tianyu took out a few pieces of meat and roasted them by the fire while his robes were drying.
While the meat is cooking, a rustling sound caught his attention from behind him. Standing up, he looked towards where the sound came from. What greeted his eyes was a wolf about his height, holding a half-eaten white tiger in its mouth.
The wolf let go of its food and walked out into the clearing, revealing its bloodstained gray fur and on its head a patch of white fur stood out. Growling towards the intruder to its home, the wolf inched closer to Long Tianyu, intending on not letting him escape. Why would he let a perfect prey go as it sensed that the human in front of it is weaker than itself?
Long Tianyu tensed up when the wolf came closer and tried to converse with the demon beast, ¡°Brother wolf, I didn¡¯t know this was your home, we don¡¯t have to fight. How about I get my stuff and then leave?¡±
The wolf ignored his words and kept inching closer, baring its fangs not giving Long Tianyu any choice.
Seeing as he had no choice, Long Tianyu breathed out and prepared himself for the fight as he didn¡¯t know how strong the beast was.
Chapter 8 New Home
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 7th 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 9th 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.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
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.
Chapter 9 Primordial God Core
Reading the second page of the cultivation manual, Long Tianyu¡¯s heartbeat raced as it was an introduction to what the Primordial god core is.
¡°The Primordial God Core is not just one, as it is nine cores inside a singular body. Since the birth of the world, every human was born with only one dantian. But with the Primordial God Core, one can create nine extra natural cores inside the body. With each creation of a core, it will consume more qi and priceless treasures. As the body can only hold one core, one must also cultivate the body to be strong enough to hold nine cores. When you eventually create your second core, be wary of the heavens as you are breaking the law of the world and so your heavenly tribulations will also be much deadlier and arrive quicker.¡±
Under the already ancient text was another row of words that seemed to be written not too long ago.
¡°Although the Primordial God Core is powerful, there is a flaw to it as it doesn¡¯t absorb spiritual qi but chaos qi. I, the Void Venerable, found a way to counteract the flaw, I made a breathing manual to use alongside it, where the core will accept spiritual qi¡±
When Long Tianyu flipped to the third page, a blank piece of paper greeted him in his confusion. He flipped through all of the pages, and it made him even more confused as they are all blank.
¡°Elder, this junior seek your wisdom.¡±
Bowing his head, Long Tianyu asked the golden dragon for help as he didn¡¯t know what to do in this situation.
The dragon chuckled at Long Tianyu¡¯s confusion.
¡°Young Master, look closer and focus your eyes¡±
Doing as the golden dragon said, Long Tianyu calmed his mind and focused his eyes on the third page. After a while, he finally noticed a difference in the blank page as thousands of words showed themselves to him and directly entered his mind.
While the ancient scripture flowed into his mind, inside the strange realm where the white dragon resided, a few dark strands of qi streamed out from its deepest part to Long Tianyu.
The White dragon noticing the energy disappearing from the realm smiled. ¡°Brother, so that¡¯s where you hid that book. Looks like the brat is following in your footsteps¡±
When the dark strands of qi left the ring and entered his body, he let out a painful grunt as the strange qi forced its way inside and shoved away the spiritual qi aside. Once near where the dantian was supposed to be, the dark qi formed into a pea-sized seed and floated next to a transparent root.
Long Tianyu breathed in and out heavily as the seed was formed. Wiping away the cold sweat on his forehead, he looked at the blank page again as now it was filled with words. Flipping to the third page, it was also filled with text, but as he tried to read the first letter. His body convulsed and his mind trembled as his body outside the ring coughed out a mouthful of blood.
Before there was more harm done to his body, a golden qi forcefully closed the black book and woke him up.
¡°Young master, you bit more than you can chew, let this be a lesson for you to be cautious around unknown cultivation manuals. Here is the heavenly void venerable breathing method as it seems like you managed to learn something from the Primordial God Core Cultivation manual.¡±
Looking up Long Tianyu saw two books fly from the top floor and land next to the Primordial God Core manual. One of the books had the same black cover and golden title as the manual, while the other one had an azure cover.
¡°The azure book is a manual on how to turn one''s body into a Primordial dragon, as it is one of the strongest body cultivation manuals in the martial library. I chose it because it is more compatible with your physique¡±
¡°This junior thanks the elder for the guidance¡±
Having chosen his Cultivation manuals, he thanked the golden dragon, and before he could read the next two books, the pendant that was once pure white is now a pale white slowly floated down to his eye level.
¡°Young master, the pendant is the key and the manual on how to use the library. I won¡¯t always be here to help you as I need to maintain the core of the library.¡±
With its tasks done, the golden dragon slowly faded away into nothingness leaving Long Tianyu alone in the center of the library.
Clasping his hand, he bowed in the direction of the golden dragon before grabbing the pendant and tying it on his waistband, before picking up both books.
Flipping to the first page of the Azure book, a fierce and domineering aura washed over him before it quickly went away. After reading through the first few pages, he stopped as the 4th page wouldn¡¯t even budge.
¡°The primordial dragon physique is too domineering, having the strength and indestructible body of a true dragon is just too strong. But it also requires me to find a hundred different herbs and medicines to even barely reach the 1st stage, and I would still require the scale of a dragon to complete the 1st stage. ¡®sigh¡¯ Where would I even find that, I¡¯ll solve that problem when I get there. For now I need to find those herbs before proceeding¡±
Placing the azure book to the side, he grabbed the black book with the title ¡®The heavenly void venerable manual¡¯ and read its introduction.
¡°My name is the void venerable, I came across the Primordial God Core manual when I managed to escape from my enemies into the chaos void. In the void, I crippled my cultivation and began anew using the Primordial God Core as my foundation. I left when my 6th core was created, and with my new-found strength I killed my pursuers. In the void, there were plenty of chaos qi, but it was rare as a phoenix feather outside of the void.
Even after getting closer and closer to the peak of cultivation, I was still stuck at the 6th stage, that was until I had an enlightenment and created this breathing manual. After a hundred years I finally managed to reach the 7th stage. Even without the Primordial God Core, my cultivation manual is equally strong¡±
After what felt like a few minutes went by, he closed the book and closed his eyes before he began comprehending what he just read, putting it into action following the first few pages of the breathing method.
He had to breathe in qi using his pores as his dantian hadn¡¯t formed yet, then chant the manual to refine the qi to a purer form. His first few attempts failed as he sometimes misspoke a word in the sutra, or he had forgotten one.
After the fifth try, he finally felt a change as his pores absorbed a teacup worth of qi. But it felt different from how he did it as it felt more natural and the qi was also cleaner in a sense, the difference felt like day and night. When the qi entered his body, instead of going to his meridians, it flowed to a pale transparent root three finger widths below and two finger widths behind the navel.
Once near the root, the qi stimulated by the chant began removing the impurities, and all that¡¯s left is a singular drop of qi in its purest form. When the drop of qi was sucked in by the root his body trembled, as the transparent broke apart into specks of light.
Before they all gathered towards where the root was and formed a sphere the size of a fingernail. After the sphere appeared, his body stopped trembling, but now it felt like it was on fire as his blood boiled, and soon the qi that was saturated in his meridians all flowed towards the sphere.
When the qi neared the sphere, it went through the same process and all of its impurities were removed before they got sucked in. Due to the quantity of qi in his meridians, the sphere grew from the size of a fingernail to a soccer ball.
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While the sphere got larger, he experienced a splitting headache and black blood flowed out from his orifices. After what felt like an eternity, the pain stopped and was replaced by a cool chill.
Exiting the ring, he breathed out a cloud of impurities. Opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was the clear night sky devoid of clouds. Looking in a different direction, he could see a dragonfly 32 feet away clearly, even while it was pitch black all around the clearing.
As he began noticing the small things, like him hearing the breathing of a rabbit not far away from his position. While he admired the surroundings with his new perception, a foul odor caught his attention.
Quickly taking off his outer robe, the source of the smell revealed itself to him as impurities caked his body from head to toe. As soon as he noticed that he dashed to the river and jumped in it, cleaning the black impurities off his body. Once most of the impurities were cleaned off, he then took off his clothes and washed them before cleaning the rest of his body.
Standing in the river, Long Tianyu noticed some small changes to his body. His height increased by 2 inches from his original 5 feet 6 inches and his muscles appeared to be a bit more toned.
Sitting stark naked next to the fire, he hung his clothes near it to dry as he had nothing else on him to wear. Breathing in, he inspected his body for any other changes that he had not noticed yet. To his surprise, a white transparent sphere floated near his navel, and pale roots that looked like meridians were under his skin. The roots and the sphere appeared to be intangible as he didn¡¯t feel them both in his body. His mind felt clearer, almost like a veil being removed, and his mind expanded a bit, like his thoughts were faster and more precise, while he had read a lot of books in a short time, he could remember every word except for the three cultivation books that the golden dragon gave him.
With his shallow knowledge of cultivation, he entered the library and held the pendant in his palm, before a stream of information entered his mind and explained how to use the library and what he needed to do to ascend the pagoda, as the first floor only contained the weakest martial arts and cultivation manuals.
Once all of the information was crammed inside his head, he filtered the first floor to just a shelf containing books explaining cultivation. With this thought, the first floor rumbled as all of the bookshelves shuffled and changed their position before a shelf detached itself from the main bookshelf and floated to the center.
He went through all the books on the shelf and began reading them one by one, and with each book he read, his knowledge expanded on the world of cultivation.
From what he read, the stages of cultivation are qi condensation -> qi stream -> qi river -> qi sea -> foundation establishment, cultivation manuals are split into inner and outer cultivation. Inner cultivation focuses on increasing one''s cultivation while outer cultivation focuses on combat power and skills. The three books he chose were inner cultivation manuals, while outer cultivation is martial arts.
A grin plastered his face as he had just passed one of the roadblocks in his cultivation journey, entering the qi gathering stage. It was oddly easy how he skipped the last few ranks of the body tempering stage and immediately entered the next stage.
That doubt was quickly thrown out, if his father was able to give him the martial library and hide it in the pendant, then surely he is no normal human or cultivator. So why should he be any different from his father?
With one doubt cleared, another came as quick. If he had no spirit root, then how did his dantian form? A body without a spirit root won¡¯t have the building blocks required for a dantian to be created.
Then the transparent meridians in his body must have been his spirit root, and why the Five Mountain Peak Sect couldn¡¯t find it was due to their treasures not being strong enough.
Pushing those matters to the back of his mind, he began searching the library for any information on the dark grey qi. Even after searching for a while, all that he found was books explaining the five elements. Finding no other relevant information, Long Tianyu gave up and thought that maybe he could find the information that he needs in the upper floors.
Using the void venerable breathing method, he cultivated all through the night. When the embers died down and the sound of fire cackling stopped, Long Tianyu breathed in the morning air before standing up and putting on his dried clothes.
After a full night of cultivating, his dantian was only filled with 10% of qi. If he wanted to break through the next rank, then he would need to gather enough qi to fill his dantian before refining it and removing the impurities. With the void venerable manual, he can skip that part as the qi is automatically refined when it enters his dantian.
The first few pages of the book taught him how to create his dantian and how to break through the ranks of qi condensation. Ranks 1 through 3, a cultivator would need to refine their qi into a gaseous state before breaking through the 4th rank and then refine the qi gas to a solid state until the 6th rank. The last 3 ranks are spent on expanding the dantian.
Although his qi looked different as it was more golden than before and felt more powerful. He couldn¡¯t compare his qi with other cultivators as he was alone in the forest.
Adding wood to the dying embers, he then stuck a piece of meat on a stick, setting it over the rising fire and grabbing two sweet potatoes out of the storage ring, sticking them in the warm ashes.
He had tried to find any information for rings capable of storing items inside them, but even after going through all of the shelves he found nothing but cultivation methods or martial arts manuals.
Setting the ring aside, he had a lot of work to do today, mainly cleaning the tiger and wolf pelt for clothing, he also needed to make a bigger fire to cook all of the meat inside his storage ring. It was tedious to make a new fire every time he was hungry, so why not cook it all at once if food inside spatial rings doesn¡¯t spoil.
Dividing the task for the day, he began by entering the forest and gathering firewood. After a while, a pile of dried twigs and branches was placed close to the fire. Satisfied with the amount of fuel, he first removed the cooked meat and potatoes before slowly adding a handful of the pile into the fire.
Once the fire roared back to life, he stuck all of the pieces of meat onto sticks and placed them by the fire. In total, there were about 25 meat skewers by the fire slowly roasting.
After enjoying his morning meal, he stood by the river cleaning his hands and face before taking out the pelts with the stone knife he made. With the knife he began scraping off the bits and pieces of meat while also cleaning the pelt with water. Occasionally while cleaning, he had to glance back to the fire so as not to burn anything.
Once the sun hung in the middle of the sky, he was finally done with cleaning both pelts and right in time as all the meat was cooked, as a meaty aroma lingered around his nose.
Long Tianyu quickly stored the meat in the ring and threw dirt on parts of the fire as he did not need that big of a fire. While he hung the pelts on a tree branch and waited for the pelts to dry, he sat down and began cultivating until sunset.
As the sun disappeared in the horizon, he stopped cultivating due to the fire dying down, and he needed to eat. Cooking all of the meat in one go was a wise decision as he just grabbed a big piece of meat and cut it into bite-sized parts.
Having filled his stomach, he checked on the pelts and wrung them to see if it was still wet. Seeing as there were minimal water coming out, he cut a slit on the edge of the pelt and stretched it before putting a thick branch in the slit.
After his work was done, Long Tianyu leaned against a tree and watched the river as the moonlight reflected off of it. Whilst watching the beautiful scenery, a glint in the waterfall caught his attention.
Walking to the roaring waterfall, he noticed that the glint was coming from one of the smaller waterfalls. As he got closer to it, a walkway on the side of the rocky wall revealed itself to him leading into the waterfall.
Stepping onto the walkway, the sound of water splashing against rocks entered his ears. Holding his right hand behind his back, he circulated his qi ready to form the grey knife if anything jumped at him. A bend appeared at the end of the walkway leading into the wall.
At the bend he peered around the corner to see a cave big enough to fit 10 people inside. The cave was lit by the moonlight, and even if the moonlight wasn¡¯t here, he would have no trouble seeing in the dark.
Looking around the cave, he soon found out what the glint was, as at the end of the cave there were two skeletons. Walking deeper inside the cave, holes and gashes littered the cave as if a fight had broken out in here. Reaching the two skeletons, it confirmed his theory as one of the skeletons was embedded in the wall with a spear while the other was pierced through the chest into the ground, like the sword was thrown.
The skeletons had nothing on them except for their clothing, their fingers and clothing moved unnaturally, most likely their valuables were stolen, which means he can''t be far from a village or town.
¡®Why steal the other things but leave the sword and spear alone?¡¯ his thoughts were answered as he tried to pull out the sword and spear.
Even when his body is in the qi condensation stage, he couldn¡¯t pull them out. After putting all of his strength into it and seeing as the spear wouldn¡¯t budge, an idea came to his mind.
Doing as he always did when storing something in his ring, he wrapped half of his qi around the spear before storing it inside the ring. Seeing as it succeeded, he smiled brightly, he now finally has a weapon. The grey knife is strong, but it also uses his qi very fast, in a life or death situation, every bit of qi will keep him alive.
Doing the same to the sword, he now had them inside his storage ring, and waited for the aftereffects to arrive, but even after waiting for a while, nothing happened. Then it must have been that it only happened because he hadn¡¯t reached the qi condensation stage yet.
Slightly bowing his head, he paid his respect to the two skeletons before exiting the cave. As soon as he arrived at the fire, he sat down and recovered his lost qi.
Chapter 10 Green Ocean of the Xia Empire
In a clearing near a waterfall stood a humble wooden hut, its walls covered with mud to protect whoever was living inside from the cold, as a white blanket covered the world.
The green grass now covered in white snow moved as a gush of wind pushed it back. A youth clad in animal pelts held a spear, a head taller than him in his hands, while a rusted sword hung on his waist behind him. The width of the sword was three fingers wide and the blade itself was a bit longer than his arm and was a two-handed handle.
The youth standing still in the snow had his eyes closed as he concentrated on the point of the spear. Even though the straight blade of the spear had a chip in it and rust spots everywhere, it never lost its deadly aura. When a snowflake touched the tip of the spear, the youth thrust it forward, breaking the air and causing a sound like thunderclap to reverberate in the area.
Long Tianyu opened his eyes to see that his spear had pierced a snowflake, a wide smile covered his face and his laugh echoing in the quiet clearing.
¡°Finally I have reached small proficiency in the 9 thunder spear martial arts¡±
4 months ago, he found the spear and sword, since then he had begun training in using them. In the martial library, he searched for martial arts that used the spear and sword, while doing that, he found out that all of the books on the first floor were yellow grade.
The 9 thunder spear and the three sword strike martial arts fit him the most, as he needed to learn how to use both weapons and the pendant graded them as the strongest martial arts amongst the yellow grade in the first floor.
Reaching small proficiency in the 9 thunder spears required him to learn the first 3 moves, flash of thunder, thunder rain from the sky, and thunderclap.
Both of his arms still trembled from the third move ¡®thunderclap¡¯ as he stored the spear in his ring. The same couldn¡¯t be said for the sword as the martial arts required a fine control of his movements and the sword. The three sword strike martial arts only has three pages that explain the moves, while the rest only show illustrations on how his body should move.
The first sword strike, ¡®blood draw¡¯ required him to make 10 sword moves before he could even use the strike, if he didn¡¯t, then it wouldn¡¯t have any power behind it. He had learned 8 moves already, but on the 9th move his body gave out and caused the web in between his thumb and index finger to split. The second strike ¡®limb sever¡¯ required 20 moves, and the last strike ¡®death¡¯ required 30 moves.
In those 4 months he cultivated during the night, while during the day he would hunt or work on his humble little home. Last month he reached the 2nd rank of qi gathering, being in the 2nd rank, it increased his overall strength by 20%. His qi would also recover faster as, instead of gathering specks of qi, now his dantian easily gathers qi like breathing.
Even though he can gather qi at a much faster rate, he now also requires twice as much qi before he can even step into the 3rd rank.
White mist exits his mouth as he breathes out, Long Tianyu stretched his back as he had been practicing the 9 thunder spear all morning. Looking inside his ring, he had many more animal pelts as he had been eating a lot, due to when eating demon beasts, he had found out that he can substitute them for the herbs and medicine required to cultivate in the primordial dragon physique.
Only certain strong demon beasts will allow him to progress as he had hunted like crazy when he found out. But even after eating hundreds of beasts he only managed to strengthen the skin on his fist.
He needed to strengthen every part of his body to reach the last step of the 1st stage in the primordial dragon physique, then he had to use a dragon scale as the material to forge his body.
Clenching his fist, he had to make a decision, stay and slowly grow stronger, or leave and face the dangers, but grow quickly.
After a few moments, he looked back to the small hut and the waterfall. With steady steps he turned around and made his way into the forest, leaving the place he called home for a few months, everything he had was in his ring.
He would need to face them, either way it was only a matter of time before they found this place, and if by then he was still stuck in the qi condensation stage then he would only be a lamb for the slaughter.
¡°I can''t hide forever, Uncle Lei¡¯s killers are still roaming out there. How would I find them if I stay holed in here forever?¡±
This choice has been plaguing him since the second month, hiding or fighting. Ultimately he chose the latter.
As the snow crunched under his feet, and the sight of barren trees filled his vision. He traveled along parts of the forest he had known as he had hidden in these places to hunt or forage.
He walked in one direction, not knowing if the way he was going would lead him out of the forest, or lead him deeper into it, but he had to trust himself and just follow his guts.
After a few hours of traveling along the dead trees and snow, he would be entering parts of the forest he didn¡¯t know, while also leaving another home. Setting his feet down, he walked forward, not even looking back.
During his journey, he never stopped cultivating during the night, always diligently strengthening himself. There were even days when a snowstorm hindered his journey, and he had to stop and brave through it.
As a month went by, of him just traveling through the forest, he finally saw a different sight a few days later. The dead trees were replaced by a white snow plain with the occasional cluster of trees with its pale green leaves blowing with the winds.
Seeing as the forest ended here, he finally knew that he was going the right way. After a few more days of traveling, he found another change, but this time it was not a pleasant one, as he could smell blood in front of him not far away.
Deciding to keep on heading forward, he followed the smell of the blood. Not long after a frown appeared on his face as a road lay ahead of him but also bloodied carriages and human bodies strewn across the area.
Looking from afar, he could see claw marks on the carriages and sword slashes. When he reached the site, he could still smell blood, meaning this happened not too long ago, and by how dark the blood had become, he concluded that it should have happened a few hours ago.
Inspecting the body¡¯s, he saw sword gashes and bite marks. Looking at all of the bodies, they either had both wounds or only one, and as he saw the state of the carriages with nothing inside them, he quickly came to an answer.
¡°Bandits controlling some kind of beast must have attacked this convoy, and seeing as how most of the bodies had expensive clothing on them, it must have been a merchant convoy.¡±
While he had found out what had happened here, his ears twitched as he picked up the sound of whimpering coming from one of the carriages further ahead. Making his way forward, he found where the sound was coming from.
Looking inside the empty carriage, he saw at the back wall trembling slightly and was also the source of the sound. When he got closer to the wall, a misty breath came out of a gap. The wall had a clumsy rectangle cut out of it, and on the side edges were a finger hole.
Pulling the rectangle away from the wall, a girl sat in the hole, her hands holding her knees. The girl was about 2 years younger than him and dressed too lightly for winters like these. She had long black hair with a few locks of white sticking out, she seemed to be half a head shorter than Long Tianyu. Her eyes were closed, her fingers and lips were turning purple as her face was pale as a ghost, she trembled slightly every time a gust of wind entered the carriage.
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Gently calling out to her, Long Tianyu grabbed two of the demon beast pelts he kept in his ring and placed them on the floor. After she didn¡¯t respond to his calls, he put his hands under her knees and back, carrying her out of the hole before placing her on the pelt.
With the cold only getting worse as night fell, Long Tianyu placed one of the pelts on top of her like a blanket before carrying her out of the carriage and walking away from the merchant convoy.
Along the road he looked for any signs of the bandit still hiding out somewhere but after a while, not noticing anything, he dropped his caution and kept on walking until he couldn¡¯t smell the blood anymore. Not far from the road, Long Tianyu cleared an area of snow and quickly made a fire.
Carrying the girl, he placed her as close to the fire as possible without burning her and then sat down himself. Stoking the fire to make sure it doesn¡¯t go out, he grabbed a few more pelts and layered them on her.
Closing his eyes, he began gathering qi and cultivating as he was close to filling his dantian to half. When the night was at its coldest, Long Tianyu checked on the girl, and as she was breathing normally now and her body temperature rose, he breathed a sigh of relief.
When the sun rose, so did Long Tianyu as he checked on the girl sleeping soundly. Yesterday he couldn¡¯t see her face that well, so seeing her fair complexion, he couldn¡¯t describe her as anything else but beautiful. Shaking the blush of his cheeks, he took out a waterskin from his ring, he warmed the water first, then placed the opening near her mouth, letting warm water flow into her mouth.
Sitting by the fire, he soon heard the sound of shuffling as the girl woke up, opening her eyes. Long Tianyu stared at her face as her eyes looked cloudy, while she stared back at him.
Their eyes met but she didn¡¯t seem to notice him as panic flickered across her face when she felt the warm fire. As she was about to flee, Long Tianyu stopped her and opened his mouth.
¡°don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not a bad guy, I¡¯m not going to do anything to you¡±
Covering half her face with the pelt, her eyes doubted him. Long Tianyu noticed her thoughts and laughed lightly. ¡°If I were a bad guy then you wouldn¡¯t be sleeping under a warm blanket and a fire to heat you up¡±
The girl hesitated for a bit before lowering the pelt and bowed her head, thanking him. ¡°My name is Long Tianyu, and what is yours?¡±
As she didn¡¯t answer him, he quietly waited, not rushing her as she was having trouble making a decision. ¡°Not answering? Then I might just have to call you mute girl¡±
The girl panicked again at his joke as she hastily moved her mouth to speak. ¡°M.. My name is Yue Xin¡±
¡°Yue Xin, nice to meet you, and what happened to the merchant convoy you were with? If it''s uncomfortable, you don¡¯t have to answer¡±
The girl hesitated again before answering him with a hint of fear in her voice. ¡°I was sitting in the carriage travelling with the merchants, I always hid in the little hole when the head merchant got angry at me. And then I heard the sounds of shouting not long after¡±
Long Tianyu frowned before asking another question. ¡°Is that why you were dressed so lightly because the head merchant punished you?¡±
At that question, a teardrop fell from Yue Xin¡¯s eye before quickly hiding her face in her knees. ¡°I am blind, so I always mess up the tasks given to me¡±
His frown deepened as Long Tianyu knew why she was dressed so lightly in the winter when, even he would die if he stayed that long in the cold with almost no winter coat on. ¡°Then he deserved what he got, as there are no survivors except for you. But what will you do now?¡±
Yue Xin didn¡¯t answer as she didn¡¯t know what to do now, she would just get the same treatment as with any other merchant group, and she couldn¡¯t survive on her own either.
¡°How about you travel the world with me and grow stronger together with me, we might even find a way to regain your sight? Although there will be danger as well¡±
He did not know why he was so trusting towards this girl, but it might be because of pity, and also likely that he was captivated by her beauty. Even heroes have a hard time passing the beauty¡¯s gate.
¡°I have been living in misery all of my life, a little danger doesn¡¯t scare me, and if there really is a way for me to regain my sight then I will join you but, won''t I be a burden to you?¡±
Hearing her answer, a grin plastered his face as he chuckled lightly, trying to cheer her up. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am quite capable, even if Buddha was here, I would come out victorious¡±
Yue Xin, hearing his joke, she also chuckled lightly, covering her mouth with her hand, as this is a first for her to be able to be so relaxed. ¡°Then I¡¯m relying on you, Mr. Stronger than Buddha¡±
While chuckling, a rumble came from her stomach as she had not eaten yet, and the headmaster also punished her by not giving her any food.
A blush appeared on her cheeks as she fidgeted under the blanket before pulling it up, hiding her red face. Long Tianyu, seeing her blushing, blushed himself and scooped a handful of snow throwing it at his face.
Feeling the chill, he calmed down and brought out a few pieces of meat that were still warm like they had just come out of the fire, from his ring. Cutting a piece of, he handed it to her.
¡°I¡¯m sorry I don¡¯t have any bowls and utensils, bear with it for now until we get to a town¡±
Accepting the food, she nodded her head and tore small bits of the meat before putting it in her mouth.
While he ate, Long Tianyu went inside the martial library calling out to the golden dragon. ¡°Elder, are you there, I need your help with my questions?¡±
In only a breath of time, a transparent golden energy transformed into a golden dragon in front of him. ¡°Young master, the guardian spirit is at your service¡±
¡°Could I take a look again at the collection of cultivation books that my father allowed me to look at in the beginning, and how do you let a blind person cultivate without being able to read the text on it? I want to give it to a friend¡±
The golden dragon frowned at his words as the second part is easy and doable, but the first would require him to sacrifice some of his qi. ¡°Young master, that was your father giving his permission for you to choose one of those books. Even I don¡¯t have the right to give them out, I can expend some of my qi to give you a book from one of the upper floors. It won¡¯t be any weaker than a cultivation method manual from the major sects. As for your second question, you need a heavenly jade knowledge strip to record the text in a book, as the jade strip allows the information inside to be transmitted into the mind, she just needs to hold it for it to work¡±
¡°Then Elder, this junior requests your help¡± he asked while bowing his head.
¡°Young Master, I will only be able to do this once as the martial library has its own rules. I am merely its protector and keeper, do you trust the person, and do you have anything in mind?¡±
¡°Elder, I don¡¯t know if I can trust them yet, but I will deal with the consequences. The book should be compatible with a girl, I don¡¯t know what her spirit root, physique, and elements are¡±
Nodding his head, the golden dragon body moved as it flew up into the upper floors, and after a while it came back holding a jade slip in its hand. ¡°Young master, this is the Moon Blossom manual. It is an inner cultivation manual and is gentle in nature, she would be able to switch to a stronger manual in the future¡±
Accepting the blue book, he bowed to the golden dragon before leaving the ring. While he was finding a book for Yue Xin, she had finished eating her food and was waiting quietly for him.
¡°Yue Xin, I have a cultivation manual here for you. I¡¯m a man of my words, so I will help you get stronger¡±
Knowing how rare and valuable cultivation manuals are, she hastily shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t accept it, it''s too valuable and we just met, you shouldn¡¯t trust me that much¡±
Seeing her refuse, he laughed lightly before grabbing hold of her hand and placing the jade slip in her palms. ¡°Since I¡¯m the older one here, it¡¯s my job to take care of you and if you really won¡¯t accept it then, when you regain your sight you can repay me in whatever you want, and I¡¯ll accept it¡±
hearing the sincerity in his voice and the amount of trust he has in her, she caved in and held the jade slip in her palm tightly. ¡°Then, thank you big brother, don¡¯t regret it ok¡±
After a few minutes went by, her face tensed up as beads of sweat trickled down her head. Soon a vortex greedily absorbed the qi in their surroundings. When all of the qi inside Yue Xin¡¯s body gradually calmed down, impurities flowed out from her pores. As if her body didn¡¯t allow for anything filthy to toucher her, a gentle light radiated off of her burning away the impurities.
Her appearance changed as her dantian settled down inside her body. Although her height didn¡¯t change, she became more beautiful, and her hair grew an extra few inches.
Quickly looking away, Long Tianyu slapped another handful of snow onto his face. He gave her a few minutes to get used to her new body before telling her his plans. ¡°Yue Xin, do you know where we are?¡±
¡°Big brother, we are in the outskirts of the green ocean.¡±
¡°Green ocean? I have never heard of that place before¡±
Surprise appeared on her face, as far as she knew, everybody she came across knew what the green ocean of the Xia empire was. ¡°Big Brother, it¡¯s what the citizens of the empire called it, as it is a forest that stretches across five kingdoms and countless counties¡±
If the forest was that vast, then he must have been lucky and chosen the right direction. ¡°No wonder it felt like I was walking through an endless forest¡±
¡°Then you must have been lucky, Big Brother, as I heard that there were also really strong demon beasts in the forest that can swallow a human whole¡±
Grateful that he didn¡¯t doubt his own decision, he changed the topic. ¡°Is there any nearby town or village?¡±
Xue Ying thought hard before answering as she didn¡¯t know how far they were from civilization. ¡°When I snuck out during the night, I overheard the head merchant talking about the convoy nearing Iron Vein Town¡±
Finally, after spending five months in the forest, he stood up and threw snow on the fire, ready for a change of scenery.
Chapter 11 Iron Vein Town
Following along the carriage tracks in the snow-covered road, two silhouettes stretch across the snow as the shorter shadow follows the taller shadow. While the sun hung high in the sky, the relentless bitter cold still lingered on the world.
Long Tianyu and Yue Xin had been traveling for an hour on the road, while he led the way, Yue Xin held onto his sleeve as he had lost her once when she wandered off the road into the snow field, not long after beginning their journey.
Turning his head around, he saw her covered in the fur of animal pelts to combat the cold, all that he had on him was some kind of demon beast fur. She diligently followed him with her eyes closed due to the sunlight reflecting off the snow, which stung her delicate eyes.
Not long after being on the road, he soon saw black smoke billowing into the sky. Using the smoke like a landmark, he occasionally looked up to see if the way they were going was right.
¡°Yue Xin, we''re almost there, hold on for a bit longer¡±
She only nodded at his words and quietly followed him, he did not mind that she wasn¡¯t talking much, they had walked on the road in a mostly quiet tone, except for the occasional gust of wind breaking the silence.
Standing atop a hill, he saw the source of the black smoke, a town the size of a small mountain stood in the snowy plains with light grey walls protecting the houses inside. From his viewpoint, he could see more than 5 hundred houses, close to a thousand, and that is not even counting buildings that seemed like stores and storage houses.
What stood out the most in the town were 7 smokestacks constantly spewing out black smoke and fire, looking down, a small forest stood in their way with the road cutting into it. Making their way through the forest, some parts of the forest were sparser than others, as he saw a convoy of carriages slowly move on the road.
When he looked up at the sky through the leaves, he saw the black smoke covering most of the sky. In the distance, the sound of horses and merchants shouting reverberated in his ears. Leaving the darkness of the forest, rows of stalls selling various items and carriages lined along the road extending behind it even.
Atop the walls were guards who looked into the bustling market outside of the gates, making sure that no troublemakers disrupted the flow of business. The town had two entrances for each gate, one to enter and one to exit. Next to the carriage was a smaller entrance fitting only one person where people lined up to enter the town.
While a smooth flow of carriages and people exited the town, a thorough inspection of each cart at the entrance slowed the traffic to a snail''s pace and a plaque in black letters hung atop the entrances, ¡°Eastern Gate¡±
Exiting the forest, they both caught the attention of a few nearby shopkeepers due to the demon beast pelts that they wore and the direction they came from. Ignoring the gazes, Long Tianyu wandered the market searching for a shop suitable to sell the pelts.
Tucked in a corner of the market, a carriage that had been turned into a shop had all kinds of demon beast skins hanging on its walls, and the smell of fresh meat spreading in every direction. Getting closer to the stall, a chopping sound could be heard as a man with gray hair slammed down a cleaver the size of his head on the chopping block.
Cleanly splitting apart a giant piece of meat, the man noticed Long Tianyu and Yue Xin as they didn¡¯t exactly wear the usual clothing around here.
¡°What can I do for you, sir? I must say you have great luck to be able to hunt so many early stage, rank 1 demon beasts in the outskirts. It would have been my lucky day if my hunters even managed to bring me a half-eaten carcass, hahaha¡±
Hearing the boisterous laugh, the shopkeeper mistook Long Tianyu¡¯s age. Although it can''t be helped as he is taller and has a more defined body than his peers, it was also an advantage as he won''t be treated like one, either.
Letting a chuckle escape from his mouth, Long Tianyu tore off his right sleeve made out of crimson fur, showing it to the shopkeeper. ¡°How much silver teals can I get for this piece of fur, as it was a pain in the ass to hunt that red bear¡±
The shopkeeper''s face became visibly shocked as he saw the crimson fur. Taking it off Long Tianyu¡¯s hand, he pinched the strands of hair, feeling the texture, and brought them close to his nose, smelling them.
¡°Sadly, this is only a juvenile Crimson Claw Bear demon, I can give you 30 taels of silver if you sell it to me¡±
If that bear, twice his size, was only a juvenile, then his luck must have almost run out as he remembered the sharpness of its red claws slicing a tree, like a hot knife through butter.
Without even negotiating the price, he exchanged the crimson hide for 30 silver teals. Holding the sack with more money than he had seen in his life, he soon found a stall selling a wide variety of clothing.
A woman at the entrance smiled at them as they entered the large tent. While he searched for his clothing, he left Yue Xin in the shopkeeper''s care as he didn¡¯t know how to choose clothing for girls.
Simply grabbing a white inner clothing, then a pair of white inner and black outer robe. He found another shopkeeper and asked if he could use their storage room to change into the clothing.
After a few minutes went by, Long Tianyu walked out of the room wearing his newly bought clothing and tied a red strip of cloth to his waist. Holding the demon beast pelts in his arm, he searched for Yue Xin in the tent.
¡°Sir, behind you¡±, hearing the shopkeeper call from behind him, he turned around to see Yue Xin walk through a curtain. Once again he was captivated by her, even when she only wore a simple light blue inner and a dark blue outer robe, she is worthy of being called an immortal jade beauty.
Lightly coughing, he looked away and grabbed a wide rim straw hat with a veil to protect her eyes. But deep down, he knew that it was only an excuse to hide her beauty, so as not to attract any unwanted gazes.
Paying a silver tael for the clothing made the shopkeepers turn pale as they didn¡¯t have the change for it, a tael of silver was worth a thousand bronze coins. Scratching his head, he told them to give him all of their bronze coins and they could keep the rest.
Walking out of the tent, he held a string with 100 bronze coins in his hand. With the amount of silver that he had on him, it could feed a family of 5 for 10 years. Looking back, he saw Yue Xin already grabbing hold of the red cloth on his waist.
Making their way back to the old man, he sold all of the pelts in his arm. The ones inside the ring, he wouldn¡¯t dare take out in case someone finds out what the ring is capable of and kills him for it. He had to be careful when using it inside cities or towns, if a cultivator stronger than him saw it, then all he could do is wallow in regret and fight for his life.
While he was exchanging the pelts for coins, behind a nearby tent, a figure peeked at them. The man hiding in the shadow quickly sprinted away, when he saw Long Tianyu place the string of coins into the bag where he kept the rest of his money.
Long Tianyu happily strolled the markets with Yue Xin after having better clothing to wear, and when he found something interesting, he would tell her in detail, not leaving her out of the fun.
When the sky darkened, the shopkeepers would light lanterns, illuminating their wares and showering the market with a warm glow. The market is still lively as if the passage of time couldn¡¯t quell the hustle and bustle.
Stopping at a food stall, they sat facing each other at a table. Ordering some simple food, he focused on his hearing and listened to the people around him talk. Word of mouth is the fastest way to gather information, and the best way to do it is to get to the right place and simply open your ears.
Waiting for the food to come, he poured a cup of water for Yue Xin, as a table next to them started to talk about something that caught his attention.
¡°Old Li, today at work I heard some of the guys talking about an alchemist residing in the Purple Cloud association building, do you think that¡¯s true?¡±
The man called Old Li wore rough clothing and had an ordinary face. On his clothing were black smudges and he smelt like burned coal.
¡°Bah, those greedy merchants are only doing it to grab attention. They and the Red Steel Forge have been butting heads since they settled here. I¡¯m not surprised if this is one of the Purple Clouds tactics¡±
Drinking a cup of wine, the man talking to old Li popped a peanut in his mouth before talking again. ¡°The rumors might be true, I have seen the young master of the Purple Cloud Association talk to a man in red robes before they disappeared to the back of the association¡±
¡°If it''s true, then we will see the association sell new pills soon, but how did they manage to secure an Alchemist. Even the king has to pay his respects to a rank 1 alchemist¡±
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While listening to the conversation, the waiter placed two plates of food on the table. He then placed a bowl and chopsticks in Yue Xin''s hands and filled her bowl with stir-fried beef. Only when he saw her eat did he begin eating.
After hearing the conversation, he planned to enter the town tomorrow and visit the Purple Cloud Association. He wasn¡¯t a stranger to pills as he had seen Uncle Lei bring them home before, but the quality of the pills was questionable.
He had heard of alchemists before, when peddlers would share bits and pieces of news from the outside world to his village. Even when scouring the first floor of the Martial Library, he couldn¡¯t find any book mentioning alchemy.
After filling his stomach with food, Long Tianyu placed his bowl down and glanced at Yue Xin as she also placed her utensil down. Tossing a few coins on the table, he guided Yue Xin back to the forest where they had come from as he needed a hidden place to take out the rest of the pelts.
While on the way, he bought a brown cloth and a rope before making a simple backpack. Wearing the bag diagonally across his back, he placed the bag of silver inside but secretly used his spatial ring to store it instead.
When he was wandering the market, a solution popped in his head on how he could use the ring without grabbing too much attention. The snow crunch under his foot as they left the warmly lit market back into the cold and dark forest.
Carefully sweeping the snow and making a way for Yue Xin, his ears twitched when he could hear a few extra pair of feet walking on the snow behind them. Breathing out, he feigned ignorance and slowly made his way close to the forest.
In his mind, he carefully thought about why people would sneakily follow them in the darkness of the night. As far as he remembers, he didn''t offend anyone in the market.
¡®Did the assassins find me? No, that can¡¯t be them, they wouldn¡¯t make another mistake and give me a chance to escape. Did someone recognize the ring? No, that can¡¯t be it either¡¯
Breathing out, Long Tianyu turned around and scooped Yue Xin in his arms, causing her to yelp in surprise before dashing for the tree line in the distance.
Behind him he could hear people shouting. ¡°Shit he¡¯s making a run for it, call out the hounds.
Including the noise of running, there was also the sound of barking chasing them from behind. When he neared the forest, a shadow lunged from his side and bit down on his right arm, dragging him to the ground.
Holding Yue Xin in his arms, he protected her from the fall before rolling a few feet away to make space. Once Long Tianyu came to a standstill, he immediately took out the rusty spear and held it in his left palm while protecting Yue Xin with his bleeding right arm behind him.
Not long after rolling in the snow, the footsteps that were following him revealed themselves. Seven men wearing black coarse clothing walked up to him, holding single-edged curved sabers in their hands.
Swiftly darting his eyes around, he spotted four brown dogs circling him, baring their teeth and growling at him. Pointing his spear forward, Long Tianyu opened his mouth when he saw the hounds and their weapons, he thought about yesterday. ¡°Are you the bandits that ambushed a merchant convoy yesterday along the outskirts of the green ocean?¡±
Silence filled the air, except for the growling of the hounds, before the one-eyed man at the front laughed widely. ¡°So you found our little handywork huh? Doesn¡¯t matter if you know we did it or not. You are going to die here either way, my little birdy here saw you hold a lot of silver in that bag of yours, hand it over and we might even let you go.
From their tone, Long Tianyu knew there was no other way out than to fight. The thought of running away didn¡¯t even come across his mind when he could hear the soft breathing against his back.
The man seeing the determination on Long Tianyu¡¯s face smiled even wider. Whistling in the air, it sent the dogs into a frenzy as they all dashed towards their target.
Long Tianyu quickly swept his spear in a half circle in front of him, pushing away three of the dogs charging him. Before turning around and grabbing the front leg of the hound jumping at him with his right arm and throwing it into the air.
Stabbing his spear in the air, he missed the hound''s head as he didn¡¯t aim correctly and grazed its back leg instead. Focusing back onto the three dogs, he extended his spear forward.
The Hound jumped to the side, escaping Long Tianyu¡¯s spear before lunging at him. changing his grip to a reverse hold on the pole, he turned the but of the spear forward, hitting the dog in its stomach, sending it flying backward.
While he was dealing with the left dog, the one in the middle closed in and clamped its maw on the left side of his stomach. Letting out a grunt, he held his right hand out, intercepting the hound coming from his right side and held its jaw closed.
Moving the qi in his dantian to his right hand, he crushed the jaw of the beast before holding its lower mouth and throwing it to the left. Letting go of the spear, Long Tianyu similarly circulated qi to his left hand before forming it into a fist and striking the head of the dog with its maws on the side of his stomach.
When his fist struck its head, a cracking sound could be heard as the beast fell limply to the ground unmoving. Picking his spear up from the ground, he clutched the wound on his stomach before letting go. In that momentary distraction, Long Tianyu didn¡¯t notice the hound that he grazed with his spear lunging at him from behind.
Before he could turn around, Yue Xin dashed and held onto his back, a painful groan escaped her mouth as the beast left a deep claw mark on her back. Letting go she smiled weakly at Long Tianyu with a teardrop forming at the corner of her cloudy eyes.
¡°I can''t let Big Brother protect me all the time, otherwise I would feel too guilty¡±
He could see a trace of light green in her eyes from this close, her face was exposed to the chilly air because the straw hat had flown off her head when they fell. He called out to her softly, his face plastered with remorse as he saw the wound on her back. "¡¡¡Yue Xin"
Breathing in and out, Long Tianyu clenched his right hand tightly, Blood dripped from his fist as his fingernails dug into his fist. Facing the remaining dogs and the seven bandits, he reached his right hand into the bag, taking out the sword from his ring and stabbing it into the ground.
When the clouds parted and revealed the full moon in the sky, the last two dogs sprinted at the same time, closing the distance quickly. Lowering his body, Long Tianyu waited for the hounds to get closer.
Once the dog with its jaws crushed neared him, he slightly rotated his left wrist, causing the rusted spear blade to face the moonlight. Performing the first move of the 9 thunder spear martial arts, a light flash filled the dog''s eyes as it blindly ran into Long Tianyu¡¯s spear, not even knowing how it died. In the first move, the light reflected off its blade when it was held at a certain angle, making the opponent blind for a split second, coming and going like a flash of thunder.
Shaking the hound''s body off his spear, he quickly circulated his qi when the last dog jumped at him and aimed its jaws for his neck. The grey knife formed quickly in his right hand, but this time its blade was a bit longer and looked more like a short sword.
From a distance, the grey sword was nearly invisible in the night''s darkness. He reached out with his right arm, allowing the final dog to leap into the grey sword. When the dog''s body hit the ground, the sword broke free and disintegrated into the air. He heard a clapping sound and turned his attention back to the bandits.
The man at the front clapped his hands for a few seconds before unsheathing his saber and stabbing it into the ground. ¡°Impressive, surviving three lower rank 1 Fanged Mountain dogs and 1 middle rank. Even I, one-eyed Wu would have it hard fighting against them, but your luck ends here, bastard¡±
With a nod of his head, the bandits unsheathed their sabers and ran at him. Long Tianyu breathed in deeply, holding the spear with both hands, his heart pounding against his chest as this would be the first time he needed to kill a human being.
¡®My Combat experience fighting against demon beast won''t help me here, I need to be careful¡¯
Taking a few steps forward, he used the range advantage of his spear to stop the first bandit in its track. Using the blade of the spear he cut a gash across the second bandit''s chest to the left pushing it back.
Blocking the saber of the fourth bandit with the spear¡¯s shaft, he hooked his right foot on its back knee and then pulled his leg back causing the fourth bandit to fall forward. Seizing his chance he held his spear blade down and spun in a full half circle upwards cutting the bandit from its lower left stomach to its chin.
Falling over backwards the fourth bandit held his neck as blood continuously gushed out. The sixth bandit ran past him towards Yue Xin in the distance, ignoring Long Tianyu.
Holding the shaft of the spear in his right palm he pulled it back and filled the muscles in his right arm to the brim with qi before throwing it. When the spear left his palm it tore his sleeve into shreds, traveling in the air it pushed the snow in its course away in a spiral motion.
In a split second, a scream filled the air as the sixth bandit''s left leg was torn off by the spear. 3 feet next to Yue Xin, the weapon was embedded into the ground leaving only half of its pole exposed to the chill air.
¡®I lost over 15% of my qi in one throw. After that move, I should have somewhat more than one-third of my qi remaining¡¯
Turning around he faced the remaining 4 bandits, his right arm pulsating from the amount of qi that was pumped into his muscles. Shock and fear filled the bandit''s eyes as they stared at Long Tianyu¡¯s calm face.
¡°Boss Wu, he is in the qi gathering 2nd rank, we won¡¯t be able to defeat him. Let¡¯s retreat and come back with the rest of our brothers¡±
One-eyed Wu scoffed at his underling''s words and glared at them, ¡°So what if he¡¯s in the 2nd rank, I am in the 2nd rank too. I¡¯ll be right behind you guys, continue fighting him¡±
The bandits reluctantly followed their boss''s order and slowly closed the distance. Long Tianyu took a few steps back and pulled the rusty sword out of the dirt. Once the bandits neared him, they increased their speed and surrounded him.
The first bandit swung his saber diagonally with a loud shout in front of Long Tianyu before another shout came from behind him. Raising the rusty sword he parried the saber before turning around and knocking the blade downwards with the butt of his sword.
The bandit who was pursuing him from behind staggered forward after losing his footing. Long Tianyu grabbed the bandit''s neck with his left hand, circulated qi into his grasp from his dantian, and snapped the neck in his hand.
Throwing the limp body to the side, he dashed forward and in quick succession clashed his sword against the saber. At the corner of his eyes, he saw the glint of a blade aimed at his neck.
Ducking his head backwards he barely managed to dodge the saber before he felt a kick to the back of his knees. Rolling forward Long Tianyu recovered from the fall and stood back up.
Seeing only two bandits in his sight he felt a rush of wind behind him. Reacting quickly, he lowered his body out of the way of the saber and twisted his waist along with his sword around. Feeling the dull edge of the blade cut across the stomach of the bandit he then kicked the body away, making space for himself.
¡®One more behind¡¯ With that thought he felt another rush of wind behind him, but this time he couldn¡¯t move in time. The bandit saber cut across his back, as he felt the warmth of his blood seeping out.
Turning around he clashed his sword with the bandit¡¯s blade before an opening appeared on the left side of the bandit. Taking his chance he kicked the enemy in front of him down, and when it fell on the snow, Long Tianyu leaned forward and pierced the neck of the bandit with his sword.
Standing up he pointed the tip of his sword against the last of the boss Wu¡¯s underlings, and seeing as its brothers died too easily the bandit threw his saber away and sprinted away in the opposite direction.
Holding the sword like a spear he aimed it at the back of the running bandit and only used 5% of his qi to throw the sword this time. Long Tianyu only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the sword piercing the neck of the last bandit in the distance.
¡°Brother!!!!!!!!!!!¡±, hearing Yue Xin¡¯s shout, he snapped his head around and quickly found where it came from. One-eyed Wu held a sword to her neck as he grinned widely, ¡°Hahahaha, throw that bag of money over here or otherwise I¡¯ll slit this little lady¡¯s throat¡±