by Gore, A. P.
Was he set up for failure?
Sweat ran down his head as he looked around for a place to rest. Currently, he stood below a bunch of trees that stopped sunlight from reaching the ground. It was like they formed a wall of wood.
Stupid. He was acting stupid. Why was he looking around with his eyes when he had a divine sense?
His divine sense spread around him, enveloping everything nearby.
Wait, there was a lake behind the wooden wall of trees. The trees had formed a wall that wouldn’t even let a slim snake pass. But it wasn’t an issue for Wei with his divine sense. Physical objects were like paper walls for him.
Well, his divine sense could penetrate through the trees, but his physical body couldn’t. Even with his Foundation Realm body cultivation, the trees didn’t budge. Maybe he should try something new. Taking a fighting stance, he punched and when his fist was a hair’s width away from the weakest part of the trees, he burst five blood pearls in his arm.
His punching speed suddenly increased by four times, and his fist slammed into the wood like a hammer, sending a small crack into the thick wall of trees.
“Dammit!” The rebound force almost cracked his bones, but he smiled. There was a crack, and if he burned another ten blood pearls, he could break through it.
“Again.” He punched again, this time burning twenty blood pearls and making a hole through the wooden wall.
“Again.” Blood streamed from his wounds, but he continued punching and finally made a hole large enough to fit himself through.
The water was refreshing, and after entering it he felt a rare sense of tranquility after so many stressful days. Since reincarnating, he had been constantly running, killing, fighting, and nearly dying. He had even reached the Foundation Realm in his body cultivation but hadn’t had time to check the Earth Constellation divine art he’d received after fully opening his Yangming of stomach and Taiyin of spleen meridians.
At the center of the small lake, a Two-Layered Sweet Apple grew, and it had just ripened. This fruit didn’t help in cultivation, but it was known for its heavenly taste and a fasting effect it left on one’s body. After eating it, one wouldn’t need to eat for at least a month.
As he relaxed in the refreshing and cold water, he munched on a Two-Layered Sweet Apple. The fruit had a peculiar taste. It was as sweet as apple and as juicy as melon. After continuously running for five hours, he’d needed this. It was like finding a soft bedroll to rest after a full day’s menial work. It reminded him of the days he’d spent in the Heavenly Firmament Sect, doing menial work in the foundry. Those bastard artificers had made apprentice like him work like horses, and they didn’t get enough food to replenish their energies. In those days, he’d considered his rag-patched bedroll the most comfortable thing in the whole world.
Sighing, he dipped his head below the water and let it run through his long black hair and clean it. He wished Fei’er’s could be here, moving her soft fingers through his long hair. It was bliss when her fingers massaged his scalp. She was the best. Without her around, he hated his hair. Sometimes he wondered if he should cut it short. Maybe after becoming the most powerful man in the world. Because if he did it before then, he would be condemned as a heretics.
As he let the cold water calm his mind, he accessed the information about the Basic Movement Art, reading the information he had gathered once again. When he reached the end, realization struck.
Damn, there was a line at the end that mentioned the skill could be practiced using hard work or by comprehending the essence of running. Fuck! This was supposed to be comprehended, not rote learned.
He was doing it wrong. Maybe he should drown himself in the small pond. How could he miss such a thing? In the future, he should read things more carefully. Suddenly he remembered another skill he hadn’t even looked at.
With a thought, a divine art’s information appeared in his mind. It was the Blood Earth Force Divine Art.
“What a weird name,” he muttered as he went through the description.
It was a divine art that protected one’s body using the essence of earth in one’s blood. In the body Refinement Realm, he’d completed the Earth Constellation, and this was the divine art that had come with it. This divine art had three levels. In the first level, he would have to master his own blood and form a film of earth essence energy around his body. Once mastered, he could conjure a shield to withstand a brutal attack. Per the description, it could withstand a few attacks from a peak body Foundation Realm cultivator at early completion of first level. The second level allowed him to use this shield on others and conjure up to three shields simultaneously, each one capable of taking a few blows from peak body Marrow Cleansing Realm cultivators.
The third level was a mysterious level and he didn’t have any knowledge about it yet. With it, he could protect up to twenty people at a time. At this level, he could decrease the strength of the force shield to conserve energy. Also, the receiver of his shield didn’t need to be around him to gain the protection. It would also protect against up to a peak body Heart Blood Realm cultivator.
Anyway, that was for the future. At his current cultivation level, he could only practice the first level of this weirdly named divine art.
“There’s the catch,” he muttered, sending air bubbles upward off the water.
Shaking his head, he pushed his head up out of the water. In his current state, he couldn’t practice this divine art.
Every divine art or martial skill level was further divided into four completions. Early completion, middle completion, late completion, and peak completion. To reach early completion of this divine art, he needed a gravity field that had three times the effect of the earth’s gravity. In the Martial Realm, it was quite possible. Many sects had gravity chambers created for disciple training using arrays or formations, but it would be impossible to find one in the Mortal Realm.
So, this divine art was a dud for him currently, but he had learned something in his detour of bathing. Now he wondered if he burned blood pearls in his legs, would he gain more speed? Maybe practicing the Basic Movement Art wasn’t impossible in the body Foundation Realm.
A youth in a golden robe jumped out of the woods with two old people following behind him. “You there! How dare you eat the Two-Layered Sweet Apple I’ve been painstakingly waiting to grow.” The youth was in layer three of the qi Foundation Realm, and the old people were in layer four of the qi Foundation Realm. They all had a mirror symbol embroidered on their chests, so they belonged to the Destiny Mirror Sect.
“Scram before I get out of this lake.” Wei closed his eyes. He didn’t want his mood dampened by these three ants.
“Young master Qun, this kid must not know who he is messing with. Let me get rid of him.” Pulling his sword out, one of the old man charged at Wei.
Wei frowned. He wanted to avoid trouble, but trouble always came looking for him.
Damn!
Chapter 21
Black Alley Town
Li Wei stopped at the first sign of life. Three men and two women, dressed in dark brown robes, were heading in the direction of Black Alley Town, each carrying a bucket on their back. Green leaves and colorful flowers peeked out from the buckets—common herbs that mortals farmed. These people must be locals farming herbs for their masters.
Black Alley Town must be nearby.
Pressing his palms to his knees, he gasped for breath. His legs were on fire, and he had lost a fifth of an inch of sole from his leather shoes. Running for two days straight had taken a toll on his physical and mental strength. On top of that, he had killed the three morons he’d met near the lake. They’d brazenly attacked him, so he’d just killed them. At first, he’d wanted to beat them, scare them away, but the young master had tried to kill him with an Explosive Talisman, so Wei had to kill him.
Rich fellas. They’d had three bottles of Foundation Refirming Pills on their bodies. Being part of an alchemy sect had its perks. But killing them had left a de
ath ring on his shoulder. It was a low-level killer tracking martial skill, and unfortunately Wei’s cultivation hadn’t reached the Houtian Realm so he couldn’t erase it from his body. He should be able to find a pill to erase it in Black Alley Town.
Shaking himself, he glanced at his clothes. They were dirty again from all that running, and yet he hadn’t achieved the basic threshold for the Basic Movement Art martial skill. To practice this martial skill, one had to run fifty miles in an hour, and that was nearly impossible even after burning blood pearls in his legs to gain a boost of speed.
Damn, even with his layer two body Foundation Realm cultivation, he could only run twenty-eight miles per hour. The best he could do was maintain a burst of speed for a few minutes, but then his speed tapered off with time. In the last two days he had tried everything he could. He’d even tried burning blood pearls, but he couldn’t reach fifty miles per hour.
It was impossible to comprehend the essence of running, so he was trying to brute force his way into level one of the Basic Movement Art.
Sweat dropped like water when he raised his head and headed toward Black Alley Town. Dust fell from his clothes as he trudged toward his destination. His legs shook, and he was barely holding up. He must have lost at least six pounds of body fat. If someone saw him, they wouldn’t believe he was a cultivator, and that too in the body Foundation Realm. It had been ages since he’d sweated like this. In fact, he’d sweated like this only when he’d practiced the One Sword Strike martial skill back in the Heavenly Firmament Sect. But that sweat was clean, like water. Right now, he sweated like a pig dunked in a muddy lake.
Well, those were tough days. Most of those days, he’d had to live on a bowl of porridge and a few dry pieces of meat that tasted worse than anything. An apprentice refiner was the lowest dreg in the Heavenly Firmament Sect.
After walking for another hour, he finally saw the tall stone walls of Black Alley Town and he felt like he’d reached the heavens. Despite being called a town, this place had twice the population of Old Martial City.
A sea of people stood in a line opposite the metal gate that led into town. Although he was dying to lie on a comfortable bed, he still dragged his body to stand at the back of the line. Despite being managed by criminal overlords, the town had strict rules and no one dared to break them.
The line moved quickly, and in ten minutes’ time he could see the winding paths leading into town. He even spotted a couple of buildings that looked like beautiful inns. When he was about to step through the town’s gate, a man in expensive silk clothes barged in front of him and stopped him.
“Go away, beggar. Young master Fuji will take this spot.” He tossed a silver coin in Wei’s face.
Wei was too tired to be bothered by this nonsense. Yet he looked at the lackey for a moment and then turned his gaze toward a nearby youth in a golden robe. Young master Fuji. He had gloating frog eyes, arrogance protruding from them. A metal spear hung on his back, but it looked overly heavy for his five-foot-three body. His cultivation had only reached layer six of the qi Refinement Realm, and yet he acted like a major player.
“Get lost.” With a flick of his palm, Wei pushed the lackey away. The lackey was just a layer five qi Refinement Realm cultivator biting off more than he could chew. With a slight nudge, that lackey was pushed back by a dozen of steps. His face remained open for a moment before he realized what had happened.
“You are courting death.” The furious words sounded from behind Wei, and a spear rushed toward his head.
Snickering, Wei grabbed the spear coming for him. With his divine sense continuously spread around his body, he didn’t need to look at the spear to catch it.
With a flick of his wrist, he yanked spear around ahead of him, and young master Fuji came along, attached to it with his jaw hitting his chest.
Smirking, Wei snapped the wooden handle of the spear in two. It wasn’t even low-tier Bronze Grade wood, and this stupid man had tried to flaunt it in front of Wei. With his twelve hundred pounds of force, it snapped like a twig.
Young master Fuji looked at Wei in horror. His legs gave out and he fell on his ass. “You . . .”
Ignoring him, Wei headed toward the huge gate. He had no time for young wastrels like that one. In fact, he despised them, and didn’t want to involve himself in any feud.
“How dare you insult my young master.” A roar echoed in the air, and the boorish lackey with the long beard and huge sword jumped in front of him.
“Get lost.” Wei sent a palm at the ill-mannered man’s chest and sent him flying away. With his physical strength alone, he could kill this man, but he restrained himself.
“Insolent brat. You dare to attack lord Fuji’s personal attendant? You will die.” Four men jumped out of a bush and surrounded Wei.
Damn! “This is unending.” Wei clenched his fist and wondered if he should kill a few stupid people. All four were layer nine qi Refinement Realm cultivators, but killing them was as easy as killing a mosquito.
“Die, you fool.” All four of them charged Wei.
“Mad Elephant Stomp,” roaring in his mind, Wei stomped his foot on the ground and a deep pit appeared below his foot, and a crack spread around him. A shockwave spread from the crack, and the four idiots fell like fruits dropping from a tree hit by a storm.
Cries echoed in the air when the stupid lackeys of young master Fuji couldn’t get up. Mad Elephant Stomp was a tyrannical martial skill, and it attacked with a furious force, enough to break bones in a cultivator’s body.
Ignoring them, Wei headed toward the gate. This was enough drama, and he needed to get in and take a break. All the running had made his body ache everywhere, and he needed a bath and rest.
But before he could go inside, a soft sound struck his ears. “You there wait for us.”
Damn these mother-lickers. Cursing, Wei turned back and spotted two girls in red standing ten feet away from him. One wore a mature expression while the other pinched her nose and stared at him like he was disgusting garbage.
“What do you want?” he asked, arching his brows. Those were the Sun clan girls he had seen before.
“Fellow cultivator, we’ve been waiting for you for many days. How about we have a chat somewhere else?” The girl with the mature face asked him nicely.
Ten minutes earlier.
Sun Nuan observed the young man in drags stomping his foot on the ground and breaking four layer nine qi Refinement Realm cultivators’ bones like shattering a glass. Seeing this man here, a few complex emotions surfaced in her mind. Could it be him? Same nose, same facial features. This young man felt like the kid she knew from her childhood.
“Elder sister Nuan, did you see the hole he created?” Sun Hua said.
She focused her attention on the two-foot-deep hole he had left where his foot struck, screaming his cultivation, and gasped.
He wasn’t someone to trifle with.
“Aiya that’s the thief, elder sister Nuan. I smell the Two-Colored Poison Repelling flower’s scent coming from his body. Let’s attack and take back our herb.” Sun Hua, her little sister, spoke while pouting, her hands rested on Sun Nuan's metal spear.
“Hua’er. Did you miss his attack power?”
“What attack? I could kill those four with a single slash of my saber.”
Sun Nuan rubbed her ears. “Stupid girl, he is dual-cultivating body and qi. His attack didn’t even use a strand of qi.”
Hua’er had a strange expression on her face. Body cultivation was something no royal family member could practice. They were banned from even speaking about it.
“That skill is the Mad Elephant Stomp, a low-tier Silver Grade martial skill.” She flipped her hair back. “Nothing impressive.”
“Indeed, it is, but the pit he created is much deeper than a layer six qi Refinement Realm cultivator can produce. I can sense strong essence energy emitting from his body, and he is at least in the Foundation Realm of body cultivation.” Sun Nuan squinted, but she couldn’t
guess that young man’s body cultivation, and if she couldn’t sense it that meant it was much higher than hers.
“Ah-ha, it makes sense now.” Sun Hua brushed her nose and marched forward.
“Stupid girl, what are you doing?” Before Sun Nuan could grab Sun Hua’s hand, she was standing ten feet away from the young man. “You there! Wait for us.”
Before Sun Nuan could say anything, they had reached the young man, and she had to change her approach. “Fellow cultivator, we’ve been waiting for you for many days.” She paused and observed minute changes in the young man’s face. Dust and dirt couldn’t hide his firm jaw and hint of fair skin. His sharp eyes spoke a lot. He wasn’t someone to trifle with. “How about we have a chat somewhere else?”
“Not interested.” With a scowl, the young man turned back and stepped through the metal gate.
“You dummy, wait there!” Sun Hua charged behind him and extended her hand to grab his shoulder but hesitated. She hated unhygienic things, and the young man was covered in dirt from head to toe.
Sun Nuan ran behind the young man. “Fellow cultivator, please wait.”
“What?” He glared over his shoulder.
“We want to buy the herb in your possession. We will pay you double of what you will get from the local market.” Sun Nuan added.
“Not interested.” Saying this, the young man walked around her.
“Stop there.” An old man holding a thick wooden stick stepped in front of the young man. “You are courting your death.” The old man had cultivation at layer one of the qi Foundation Realm, and at a glance, Sun Nuan knew he wasn’t a match for the young man.
The young man looked up, his eyes red like a fierce beast. Then, without warning, he attacked with a palm strike. Wind rushed with his palm as it struck old man’s stomach.
