Chapter 2

Translator: Larbre Studio  Editor: Larbre Studio

Xu Yi moved slowly. Each move and each form was performed as heavily and as arduously as possible. His body was like that of a fit bull, sometimes striking, sometimes kicking, sometimes crashing into a tree!

But over and over again, it was just these three moves!

Once he started, his training went on for four hours. Except for when he paused to stuff some black herbs, which were a few inches long, into his mouth, he did not stop at all.

Xu Yi slowed down as he went on, as if he were carrying a ton of bricks on his back.

But the blood all around his body flowed faster and faster through his blood vessels. He was burning and roaring with life.

Suddenly, Xu Yi’s entire body seemed to have attained a mysterious state, free of pain and fatigue. All of his focus and energy was fixated on the roaring flow of blood coursing through his body.

Hu! Ha!

Xu Yi adjusted all the remaining strength in his body to attempt the move “Crashing Heaven’s Gate” once more. With his back against the trunk of a pine tree as thick as a large noodle-bowl, he slammed hard against it. Kacha! The large pine tree actually snapped!

Xu Yi fell onto the ground with a thud, lying limp like a giant prawn. His body was left without a shred of strength, but he was full of joy. The feeling flowed into him like a raging river into the sea.

It was clear that the final slam he’d just performed had at least the strength of one bull.

And the strength of one bull was a benchmark of the peak of the Body Forging stage.

Taking a while to catch his breath, Xu Yi sat up. With a horizontal chop of his arm, a piece of hardwood snapped. With the sharp end of the broken wood, he drew a vicious slash across his arm. A long, deep white mark appeared, but there was not a hint of blood.

He raised a fist and sent it smashing onto a boulder the size of a stone roller, and the boulder crumbled into smithereens!

“Skin as tough as hide! Bones as hard as steel! The Body Forging peak is indeed impressive!”

Xu Yi mumbled to himself as he looked down at his two hands.

In the Body Forging stage, the aim was to strengthen blood flow and to train the toughness of the bones and skin. When one’s skin was as tough as an old bull’s hide, bones were was hard as steel, and strength greater than that of a bull, one was considered to have met the peak of this particular stage.

Although Xu Yi had reached the peak of the Body Forging stage, he dared not stay too long in the forest.

He had just reached the peak, and the most important thing to do now was to stabilise this state.

He rushed back to his hut and took out the precious herbs that he had accumulated over the last two years, which were actually just a dozen strands of lower grade Wulong Grass. Grasping them in his hands, he sat cross-legged, immersed in a bathtub of boiling water. He calmed his mind and focused his senses, quietly feeling the sensation of heat within his palms spreading across his body.

Before this, he was still in the earlier stages of the Body Forging stage, and the energy in his blood flow was frothing and scattering in all directions. Now, under the guidance of these flows of heat, the energy began to gather itself, and in bits and pieces, the energy immersed into his bloodstream, tendons, and muscles.

By the time he got up, the water in the bathtub had become unbelievably murky. Upon careful observation of his body, he found that the hard and defined lines on his body had softened to their pre-training state.

But within this softness was frightening power!

Changing into clothes made from coarse cloth, Xu Yi took out a wooden hairpin and fixed his hair in place. He looked down at his reflection in a basin of water. Staring back at him was a thin and hardened face, with clear, defined features. This was a face that he was extremely pleased with.

Suddenly, his eyes were fixed on the two pieces of ginger on the broken wooden table. Without realising it, his thoughts began to wander.

The extreme hardship that he had gone through after making his way into this world six months ago, the inhumane self-torture that he went through, all flashed across his eyes scene by scene like a roll of film.

Over these six months, only he knew how much suffering and hardships he had to bear.

Even he would never have thought that because he feared death, because he feared leaving this world without any trace, a lazy soul like himself would actually be capable of such tenacity.

The two pieces of ginger in his hand were used to colour his skin yellow.

He could practice martial arts, but he could not reveal any notable progress.

The Zhou family would be glad to see a dumb mule make a fool of himself throwing kicks and punches, but they would not allow the growth of a prodigy of the Martial Way!

Six months of careful treading… Hehe, that all ends now!

With a stretch of his arm, Xu Y cast the two pieces of ginger awayi. They drew an amazing arc through the sky and flew out of sight.

Rat-tat! Rat-tat!

The sound of clattering came from far away. It was already around ten at night.

After standing still by the window for a while, Xu Yi finally moved.

He gently patted the old yellow dog who was sound asleep by the bed. He stretched under the bed and dragged out two roosters. With that, he left the hut, speeding south into the mountain forest.

Huiyin Mountain was the only large mountain within Guang’an Prefecture. It was so large that it stretched over ten thousand kilometres from east to west, and it spanned around five thousand kilometres from north to south. Spanning over three prefectures, it was rather famous, even within the vast territories of the Dayue Dynasty.

In the depths of the night, Huiyin Mountain could be terrifying. Ghoulish cries could be heard, and it was hard to see one’s own fingers in the dark. Even standing still in the forest could send chills down one’s spine and make one uncomfortable, much less travelling through the forest.

But Xu Yi seemed to ignore the pitch black darkness and the cold of the night. He accurately navigated his way around every tree in his path as he sped through the forest. Along the way, he encountered a large snake as thick as a bucket. It came from above, launching a surprise attack from the top of the tree.

But Xu Yi was already prepared. As a fist came crashing onto the snake’s head, its giant body weighing over a ton was sent flying back into the air. The snake crashed into a tree, dizzily turned away, and never dared to return.

The powerful strength within Xu Yi brought him a great feeling of carefree comfort. The wind blew against him, pulling against his large sleeves, causing them to dance in the wind.

After sprinting for a short while, he was already around thirty kilometres deep into the forest. He stopped at a forest of pagoda trees.

Calculating the time in his head, it was around midnight now. Xu Yi took out three black sticks of incense, lit them, and stuck them into the ground next to the forest in a triangular shape.

Very soon, a thick cloud of black smoke emerged from the largest pagoda tree, forming the figure of a human above the three incense sticks.

The figure had a high-bridged nose, a burly figure, and a large forehead with no hair on its head. Around the neck was a ring of crudely made prayer beads, each roughly the size of a small egg. These were the features of the fierce-looking, otherworldly monk.

In the face of such a frightening figure, Xu Yi showed no surprise but rather joy instead. Just as he was about to open his mouth to speak, the figure made out of dense smoke seemed to show signs of dissipating.

Shocked, Xu Yi immediately broke the necks of the two roosters and sent large amounts of rooster blood spurting towards the human figure. The dissipating of the figure finally stopped.

Only then did Xu Yi realize that this fearsome looking monk actually had multiple holes in his abdomen the size of bowls!

“Master!”

Xu Yi exclaimed.

“Almsgiver, this monk has already said it many times; this monk already dead. What ‘master’ is there to speak of? You protect the Liaochen’s spirit, and Liaochen imparts you the Body Forging technique. You are merely reaping the fruits of your merits. Furthermore, your six senses are not purified, and you have no affinity with the Buddha. You cannot be a disciple.”

Liaochen then put his palms together and began chanting.

Xu Yi said, “Master has taught me martial techniques and solved my troubles. I owe you for my rebirth. Even if Master will not accept me as a disciple, I will still regard you as my Master!” As he spoke, his face was flushed red with sincerity.

When it came to this, it must have been fate. His chance encounter with Liaochen happened only on the night of the third day since he had arrived in this new world.