Unabridged Thread for Stellar Transformations by I Eat Tomatoes currently Translated by he-man
Unabridged means do not post in this thread unless you are posting a chapter of this book here.
Chapters are intentionally 1 chapter behind in this thread so that I can capture he-man edits on the previous chapter.
All discussions related to this book should be done here
Introduction by He-Man
- Name: Stellar Transformations (星辰变 -- Xingchenbian)
- Genre: Web fanta-xia, i.e. stories about fantastical and chivalrous events which are written and distributed via the Internet. (The actual Chinese term for the genre is Xianxia 仙侠, which has no equivalent in English and literally means chivalrous stories about people who practice to become immortal beings.)
- Author: I Eat Tomatoes (我吃西红柿) -- one of the hotshots of the fantasy genre in China.
- Synopsis: In a galaxy far away, there is a kid with an innate inability to practice internal techniques. In order to gain the respect of his father, he resolutely chooses to follow the more difficult and painful path of practicing external techniques. As the years go by, he grows up, but what really changes his life is a mysterious meteoric crystal stone -- the Meteoric Tear. This stone fuses with the young man’s body unnoticed, and he seems to undergo drastic transformations as a result. After that, everything is changed. Eventually his father knows that the son for whom he hasn’t really shown a lot of consideration possesses astonishing abilities. And there’s a lot more to come.
- Trivia: This fiction was made into a popular MMORPG with the same name in China and has spawned a bunch of copycats.
- Length: 18 books, for a total of 680 chapters (book1 22 chapters; b2 24 chaps; b3 24 chaps; b4 27 chaps; b5 34 chaps; b6 16 chaps; b7 16 chaps; b8 16 chaps; b9 15 chaps; b10 48 chaps; b11 68 chaps; b12 70 chaps; b13 47 chaps; b14 64 chaps; b15 48 chaps; b16 64 chaps; b17 32 chaps; b18 45 chaps.)
I choose to translate this novel into English because I’ve got really bored with traditional wuxia fictions; furthermore the plot is fast-paced and incorporated some wacky stuff from Western sci-fi and cosmology, which happens to be my favorite subject, into Chinese wuxia.
It’s been quite some time since I used English on a regular basis so you will possibly find quite a few weird phrases, made-up words and grammatical errors in my translation. Please bear with them. There are also terms which will be left in pinyin and explained in a separate glossary post because they would sound plain silly if translated. Feel free to tell me if you have better choices.
Although this is a lengthy novel, its chapters are pretty short and the wording is FAR LESS complicated and polished than that of Jinyong novels, so I think anyone with above average English and Chinese skills can translate it without much difficulty. If you want to translate any chapters, you’re welcome to jump on board. If you don’t have the original or don’t like to read it on Chinese websites, I can email it to you too. Just send me a message. The more the merrier.
Ok, enough with the intro. It's time I got started. Hopefully I can finish 1 chapter or 2 today or by tomorrow.
- Chinese text: http://www.n6xs.com/read.asp?id=23266
- Chinese text with Book & Chapter Breakdown http://www.kuaiyan.com.cn/book/0/15/
- Vietnamese text: http://truyen.hixx.info/truyen/truye...en.html#truyen
Thread Quick Link
Book 01: Qin Yu
Book 02: Meteoric Tear
Book 03: Four-in-Nine Heavenly Tribulation
Book 04: Stellar Transformations
Book 05: The Blood-red Cave
Book 06: The Nine Demons Hall
Book 07: Guests from all sides
Book 08: The Return of Qin Yu
Book 09: Nine Swords Immortal Mansion
Book 10: Towering Fury
EPUB files
Book 01: Qin Yu
Book 02: Meteoric Tear
Book 03: Four-in-Nine Heavenly Tribulation
Book 04: Stellar Transformations
Book 05: The Blood-red Cave
Book 06: The Nine Demons Hall
Book 07: Guests from all sides
Book 08: The Return of Qin Yu
Book 09: Nine Swords Immortal Mansion
Book 10: Towering Fury
KINDLE/MOBI files
Book 01: Qin Yu
Book 02: Meteoric Tear
Book 03: Four-in-Nine Heavenly Tribulation
Book 04: Stellar Transformations
Book 05: The Blood-red Cave
Book 06: The Nine Demons Hall
Book 07: Guests from all sides
Book 08: The Return of Qin Yu
Book 09: Nine Swords Immortal Mansion
Book 10: Towering Fury
Giant eBook Compilation..up to end of Book 10
EPUB
Kindle/MOBI
Glossary (this post is going to be updated continuously as the story goes on)
*** C ***
- Cun: 寸 -- unit of length in the story, ~ 3.33 cm.
*** D ***
- Da: 大 -- big -- friendly way to call someone older and close to you. For example: Da Shan
- Dacheng stage: 大成期 -- basically means the stage of completeness. The final stage, it’s after the Dujie stage.
- Dongxu stage: 洞虚期 -- basically means the stage of hollowness. It’s between the Yuanying stage and the Kongming stage.
- Dantian: 丹田 -- the energy center of a person.
- Dujie stage: 渡劫期 -- basically means the stage of overcoming tribulation. It’s between the Kongming stage and the Dacheng stage.
*** H ***
- Houtian: 后天 -- Post-Heaven, i.e. something that is Acquired.
*** J ***
- Jin: 斤 -- unit of mass in the story, ~ 0.6 kg.
- Jindan: 金丹 -- solidified internal energy in the form of a compact golden ball, representing a high level of martial arts, vital to the practitioner. This is a Taoist term, literally meaning Golden Ball.
- Jindan-stage: the stage at which a practitioner’s entire internal energy is condensed and solidified into a jindan.
*** K ***
- Kongming stage: 空冥期 -- basically means the stage of void and darkness. It’s between the Dongxu stage and the Dujie stage.
*** L ***
- Li: 里 -- unit of length in the story, ~ 0.6 km.
- Liang: 两 -- unit of mass in the story, perhaps ~ 50 g.
- Liu Xing -- 流星 -- Qin Yu's fake name, which literally means Meteor.
- Loose Immortal: 散仙 -- basically means a wandering, free immortal. In this story it means a person who keeps practicing using their yuanying without their physical body after the body has been destroyed by a tribulation.
*** N ***
- Neidan: 内丹 -- literally means an internal ball. This is a variant of the jindan, formed by animals which practice the Xiuyao way. The term 'jindan' is often used to refer to the 'neidan' in the story.
*** Q ***
- Qian Long continent: 潜龙大陆 -- literally means the Hidden Dragon continent.
- Qi Men Dun Jia: 奇门遁甲 -- roughly means The Mysterious Gates Escaping Technique -- an ancient Chinese metaphysical art. (You only need to know that much. But if someone feels interested in it then here's the wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_Men_Dun_Jia)
- Qin Yu: 秦羽 -- Qin as in Qin Shi Huang; Yu as in Guan Yu -- main protagonist; also called endearingly Yu'er or Xiao Yu.
*** S ***
- Samadhi flame: 三昧真火 -- a term half borrowed from Buddhism; literally means the true flame of meditative concentration.
- Shangxian: 上仙 -- literally means a superior immortal being.
- Small Round: 小周天 -- xiaozhoutian -- an important path for energy circulation in Qigong.
*** T ***
- Tribulations: tests/punishments that a practitioner has to undergo upon reaching certain levels of power.
4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation: 4 thunderbolts, aka the Minor Heavenly Tribulation. (Xiantian --> Jindan)
6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation: 6 thunderbolts. (Yuanying --> Dongxu)
9-from-9th Heaven Tribulation: 9 thunderbolts, aka the Major Heavenly Tribulation. (Dujie)
*** X ***
- Xian: 仙 -- immortal beings, or related to them, or supposed to be related to them.
- Xiantian: 先天 -- Pre-Heaven, i.e. something that is Innate.
- Xiao Hei: 小黑 -- literally means Little Black, Qin Yu's black eagle and a secondary protagonist.
- Xiumo: 修魔 -- basically means practice to become a devil -- the supposedly evil way of Xiuzhen, kind of similar to the Dark Side of the Force.
- Xiuxianist: 修仙者 -- people who practice martial arts to become immortal beings. They are mostly based on Taoists. You can think that they are Taoists on steroids.
- Xiuyao: 修妖 -- basically means practice to become a demon -- the animal way of Xiuzhen, used exclusively by self-aware animals.
- Xiuzhen: 修真 -- roughly means pursuing universal truths through practicing martial arts.
- Xiuzhenist: 修真者 -- roughly means a person who pursues universal truths through practicing martial arts. It is a much broader term than Xiuxianist but oftentimes they are used interchangeably.
*** Y ***
- Yuanying: 元婴 -- literally means the child of essence; a vital, solid body of internal energy in the dantian which looks exactly like a miniature version of the practitioner; when a jindan’s energy reaches a certain level in both quality and quantity, it will transform into a yuanying.
- Yuanying-stage: the stage at which a practitioner’s entire internal energy forms a yuanying.
*** Z ***
- Zhang: 丈 -- unit of length in the story, ~ 3.33 m.
*** Stages in practice (in ascending order of power) ***
Xian (immortals) + Mo (devils) + Yao (demons):
Houtian --> Xiantian --> Jindan --> Yuanying --> Dongxu --> Kongming --> Dujie --> Dacheng --> ...
Stellar Transformations:
Houtian --> Xiantian --> Nebula --> Meteor --> Core --> Planet --> Dujie --> Star --> ...
*** Weapon levels (in ascending order of quality) ***
Mundane (incl. normal iron -> black iron -> black gold) --> Xian grade (incl. low -> middle -> high) --> holy class (incl. low -> middle -> high -> top) --> ...
(to be updated)
Book 1: Qin Yu
B1C1: Qin Yu
It is a day in the winter. After heavy snows, the whole Yan City seems to be covered in a silvery coat. A very large city, Yan City can accommodate several million people, and so the mansion of the person who is in charge of the 3 counties comprising the Eastern region -- ‘East Vanquishing Prince’ Qin De -- is located in the city.
The East Vanquishing Prince mansion occupies an extremely large area with its main entrance kept open all the time. The main entrance is also very large, enough for 6 or 7 people to enter at the same time.
Moreover, two bare-chested vigorous men who are about 2 meters tall and look as if they are carved from rock are standing on the left and right hand sides of the entrance with their eyes coldly glancing at the crowds of passersby. Each of them is carrying a huge blood-red battle knife on his muscular tiger-like back. At first sight, the knives are at least 1.5 m long.
It is a winter day, the ground is totally covered by snowflakes, the temperature is frighteningly low and even the rivers have frozen, yet these 2 men are bare-chested.
Nevertheless this is not the most shocking thing. What is even more frightening is that there is a ferocious tiger standing beside each of them.
The tigers are red like flame from top to toe and are about 2 m long. Every time they sweep their iron-whip-like tails, they cause the air to tremble. Their eyes radiate cold rays of light. These tigers are called ‘Fierce Tigers.’
Suddenly, 2 men walk out from the East Vanquishing Prince mansion. They are also bare-chested and leading a fierce tiger each. They have come to change shifts with the other two.
Outside of the mansion, people all wittingly bypass it whether they are members of powerful families, aristocrats or commoners in Yan City.
In a secluded courtyard in the East Vanquishing Prince mansion, a middle-aged man dressed in green is sitting on a stone bench. A lovely boy is sitting on his legs. 12 people are standing in front of him. These 12 people are either old men or beautiful women or young men, but they have one thing in common -- they are all dressed in purple.
‘Father, what have you called up so many teachers for?’ asks Qin Yu, who is just 6 years old and is sitting on his father’s thighs. Idly kneading a snowball in his hands, he looks at his father Qin De with doubtful eyes.
Qin De caresses Qin Yu’s head lovingly then looks up and turns to the 12 people. He suddenly says: ‘You have taught Yu’er for some time. All right, don’t be hesitant. Let me know if you have any judgments.’
The 12 people look at each other. Then a white-bearded man takes a step forward. ‘Your Highness,’ says he, ‘having observed Third Prince from every aspect, we see that Third Prince has some interest in unconventional skills, but has absolutely no interest in such matters as the way of ruling. According to our judgments, it is impossible for Third Prince to become a perfect ruler.’
It seems a bit subjective for them to make such an assertion after having stayed in contact with the boy for only several days, but Qin De has no doubts nonetheless.
He gives a deep sigh, looks at unwitting Qin Yu and says with a forced smile: ‘I see. Yu’er is like his mother. He has no interest in worldly power. But in terms of practicing martial arts he is…’
Saying up to here, Qin De suddenly stops. He then waves his hand and says: ‘This period of time must have been troublesome for you. You all can now leave the mansion.’
‘Your Highness, we take our leave!’
The 12 people bow in unison then leave the secluded little courtyard in turn.
Now there are only Qin De and his son Qin Yu in the courtyard. Qin De remains silent. After a while, he looks at Qin Yu with meaningful eyes. Anyway, 6-year-old Qin Yu is still unable to understand the meaning of this.
‘What’s the matter with father? Why isn’t he talking?’ wonders he. But he is very clever so he does not disturb his father. Having been without his mother since he was very little, in his heart father is the most important person in addition to his 2 older brothers.
After some time, Qin De is still sitting. Qin Yu has been sitting quietly on his father’s thighs all along.
Suddenly a cry of a crane rises.
A white Xian crane is flying towards them. On the Xian crane is sitting a handsome middle-aged man with an elegant, lofty demeanor. The Xian crane takes only a short while to arrive at the courtyard.
As soon as he sees this middle-aged man, Qin De stands up and asks hurriedly: ‘Brother Feng, there’s something wrong about Yu’er’s dantian. I wonder if you can think of…’
Seeing Qin De like that, Fengyuzi naturally knows what is wrong with his good friend. He only sighs and says: ‘As I said earlier, there’s absolutely no hope of success for Yu’er in practicing martial arts, Your Highness. His very strange dantian can’t accumulate internal energy so of course he can’t practice martial arts. This kind of dantian is innate and there’s not even a chance of finding it in millions upon millions of people. So I have no solution either.’
Hearing this outcome, Qin De slowly sits down and contemplates for a long time.
‘Father, what is internal energy? Why can’t my dantian accumulate internal energy? Just now those teachers also talked about a ruler or something. What did they mean?’ asks 6-year-old, wide-eyed Qin Yu doubtfully.
He remembers what was said not long ago clearly.
Qin De smiles bitterly inside, but he still soothes Qin Yu: ‘Yu’er, don’t ask too much. You dislike studying this and that, and want to go to Misty Villa, don’t you?’
Qin Yu’s eyes immediately shine with excitement, looking like bright stars in the night sky. He says: ‘Ah, so I don’t have to study those boring books anymore? Misty Villa, I love the hot spring, love looking up at the stars, and love watching the sun rise.’
Qin De smiles: ‘Alright, alright, alright, Yu’er, if you like, I’m going to give you Misty Villa. There’re also 1000 crack soldiers who will be yours to command. If you want something, just tell your father directly.’
‘Ah hah, this is awesome. Wow, Misty Villa is mine now. I’ll be able to soak in the hot spring every day. It’s going to feel very good,’ says Qin Yu. His cheeks are red with excitement.
The smile on Qin De’s face is totally forced but Qin Yu still does not notice anything unusual.
‘It’s good that you like it. Yu’er, you should get some sleep first. Whenever you want to go to Misty Villa, you only need to tell your Grandpa Lian,’ smiles Qin De while tapping Qin Yu on the head.
‘Goodbye Father. Goodbye Uncle Feng.’ Qin Yu waves his hands then goes to his room.
Qin De smiles and watches Qin Yu enter the room. His face then suddenly hardens. With a shake of his body, he seems to turn into a wisp of green smoke and disappears from the courtyard. Fengyuzi also disappears after him gracefully like a floating cotton fiber.
…
In a secret room of the princely mansion, there are 3 people at the moment -- Qin De, Fengyuzi and a scholar who is dressed in black and holding a folding fan.
‘Your Highness, you have really made the decision?’ The black-dressed scholar looks at Qin De and asks him doubtfully.
Qin De nods: ‘Since Yu’er can’t become a leader or an expert of the Xiantian level, it is better if he doesn’t take part in this. That strange dantian of his, alas, perhaps the only thing I can give him is 10 odd years of happiness and quietude. When the time comes for us to put my plan into action, Yu’er won’t be able to have a peaceful day either.’
Fengyuzi thinks for a while then decides to speak out.
‘Your Highness, must this plan of yours be executed? You should know what consequences that plan will bring about once it’s carried out, should you not?’ asks Fengyuzi once again.
Qin De’s face hardens immediately. His eyes flash with cold lights. He says: ‘It doesn’t matter if it is for the ancestors of the Qin clan or for Jing Yi, this plan must be carried out. Jing Yi left me 3 sons, although there’s something wrong with Yu’er dantian. But Feng’er and Zheng’er are good at martial arts and literature respectively, enough to make this matter of importance successful. Xu Yuan, has the first move ‘Shadowy Chess’ been started?’
The black-dressed scholar Xu Yuan waves his fan a couple of times then folds it and says with a smile: ‘Don’t worry, Your Highness. I have everything in the palm of my hand.’
‘Good. Very good,’ Qin De’s eyes radiate killing intent.
******
The place where East Vanquishing Prince Qin De lives is called the Qian Long continent, which has a large area. To this day no one has ever been able to measure it.
This is due mostly to the fact that the easternmost part of the Qian Long continent is occupied by an immense wilderness. The wilderness has many high mountain ranges and is covered by thick forests. It also has countless demonic beasts. The deeper one goes into the wilderness, the more dangerous the beasts he will encounter. Therefore, not even the powerful people honorably styled ‘Shangxian’ on the Qian Long continent have been able to explore this Immense Wilderness fully.
On the west side of the Immense Wilderness, there are 3 big kingdoms, ruled respectively by the Chu dynasty, the Ming dynasty and the Han dynasty.
The populations of the 3 kingdoms amount to approximately 10 billion people. The continent’s area is even more shockingly large. Of the 3 dynasties, Chu is the most powerful, but there is a very special clan within its kingdom -- the Qin clan.
The Qin clan occupies the 3 counties comprising the Eastern region out of the Chu kingdom’s 12 counties. It has a heritage that has been passed down for several hundred years. Its footing in the 3 Eastern region counties is so profound that even the Chu Emperor will find it extremely difficult to deal with the Qin clan. Moreover, the clan has a unique corps called the Fierce Tiger Corps.
Fierce Tigers, crimson from head to toe and having a fairly large body, are a particular type of tiger. The method of breeding them on a large scale is the most important secret of the Qin clan.
The Qin clan has charge of an army of 600,000 men, 50,000 of whom belong to the Fierce Tiger Corps. Every soldier of the Corps rides a Fierce Tiger. Having astonishingly strong attacks itself, coupled with the mounted soldier, the tiger becomes even more difficult to defeat.
The roars of the 50,000 Fierce Tigers alone can cause a lot of damage to the enemy’s morale. The 50,000 Fierce Tiger soldiers can easily annihilate a large army of over 100,000 ordinary cavalrymen.
The power of martial arts is of paramount importance on the Qian Long continent. Each of the 3 big kingdoms here has at least one Xiuxianist who serves as a national guardian. In the eyes of commoners, Xiuxianists are godlike. Once their flying swords are drawn, they can behead a person from hundreds or thousands of li away; using their swords, they can fly up to the ninth level of the sky. Are such feats not what only immortal beings are capable of?
******
Misty Villa is built on Mount Donglan. The mountain is 3,000 m high and therefore can be considered a high mountain.
2 years has passed.
Qin Yu is now an 8-year-old boy. He has grown taller quite a bit. His eyes occasionally radiate wisdom but deep in the eyes there is a hint of sadness. At this moment Qin Yu is walking on a mountain road alone with a black young eagle standing on his shoulder.
‘Xiao Hei, it’s been 2 years. My father has only visited me once in 2 whole years.’ Qin Yu nips his lips then talks to the young eagle on his shoulder.
He found this young eagle 1 year ago while going about on Mount Donglan and conveniently brought it along. Having the eagle as a friend, he has not been very lonesome. His father was his everyday friend before he turned 6. But it has been 2 whole years since then and he has only seen his father once.
The black eagle flaps its wings and gently caresses Qin Yu’s childish face, making him laugh immediately.
After walking for a while, he suddenly sees a pregnant woman ahead of him who is arduously carrying firewood. He promptly turns to the eagle and says: ‘Xiao Hei, let’s help this auntie, OK?’
Xiao Hei flaps its wings at once and shakes a couple of times on Qin Yu’s shoulder. Without delay Qin Yu runs very fast to the woman while laughing.
‘Auntie, allow me to carry the firewood for you.’ Qin Yu says to the woman.
Hearing that, she puts down a bundle of firewood and wipes the sweats on her face. When she sees that Qin Yu is only a boy, she says laughingly: ‘Thank you, little kid. Your auntie here can carry it by herself. It’s still about 1 li from here to our hamlet.’ Saying to here, she puts the firewood on her back again and continues to advance.
‘I’m not a little kid. I’m 8 years old already. I’m sure I can carry the firewood.’ Qin Yu looks at the sweats on the woman’s face. With just 2 actions he abruptly snatches the firewood from her and puts it on his back.
A bundle of firewood is nothing to an ordinary people, but to an 8-year-old boy it is very heavy. However, because Qin Yu often soaks himself in the hot spring in Misty Villa, his body is much stronger than that of a normal 8-year-old child, and he is actually able to carry it on his back.
‘Auntie, you see, aren’t I carrying it? Humph, you still call me a little kid?’ says Qin Yu proudly. His childish little face is covered in dust at the moment, looking very dirty.
The woman is amazed briefly. She soon says with a smile: ‘Your strength is really not bad. But there’s a li to go. I’m sure you can’t go on till the end, kid. You’d better let auntie carry it.’
‘Who says I can’t go on till the end?’
Seeing the woman reach out her hand, Qin Yu hurriedly starts to run forward. Then he turns his head around and says: ‘Auntie, I’ve run about this Mount Donglan many times. I know there’s a hamlet just over a li from here. It must be your hamlet. Let’s go. Hurry up. Hah, you’re not as fast as me!’
The pregnant woman smiles broadly: ‘This kid, what family is he from? Having a son like this, his parents must be very happy.’
At first it is not difficult for Qin Yu to carry the bundle of firewood but after going some length he feels his own legs start to weaken. After all, he has been going on a mountain road while carrying firewood on his back. Even though Qin Yu surely is strong, he is also merely 8 years old.
After a while, his legs suddenly tremble.
‘Kid…’ says the woman alarmingly.
‘Don’t worry, this is a piece of cake,’ says Qin Yu after turning his head around and struggling to put on a smiling face. Those words make him sound like a strongman. But the mountain road does not agree with them. Qin Yu’s foot hits a stone and he cannot help stumbling.
Then his whole body falls to the ground with a thud.
The woman immediately walks up. She takes hold of the firewood and helps Qin Yu stand up. His little face is now full of dust and looks very dirty. Feeling deeply wronged, he turns to the woman and says: ‘Auntie, actually… I can still carry it. Just now I only tripped on a stone.’
‘Alright, auntie knows you can still go on. But the hamlet is up ahead. I thank you very much.’
The woman puts the firewood on her back. Seeing that Qin Yu is not injured, she helps him clean his face. Then she carefully warns him again and again to go home. Only after Qin Yu has nodded and promised that he will does she return to the hamlet.
Qin Yu looks at the hamlet which is about 100 m in front of him and says with a frown: ‘Xiao Hei, it’s time to go home.’ Then he immediately smiles: ‘But it’s much easier for auntie now. She’ll arrive at the hamlet soon.’
His smile is brilliant. It is a smile from the bottom of his heart.
At a secret place nearby, 3 people look at each other. They are experts who secretly protect Qin Yu.
He is East Vanquishing Prince’s son, and Third Prince, no less, so how is it possible for him to run around alone on a big mountain?
‘Third Prince is still a kid, but he is already so kind. I can’t understand why His Highness sent Third Prince to Misty Villa. He only visited it once in 2 years. Every time seeing Third Prince sit alone at the top of the mountain for a whole night, seeing his small body engulfed in the cold wind of the night, I felt unhappy,’ groans one person in a low voice.
Another man nods and says: ‘Whenever Third Prince looked up at the sky, his expression made my heart ache. His Highness he… Alas!’
‘Enough! What His Highness wants to do is not what we can understand. Our duty is only to protect Third Prince well.’
Suddenly, on the mountain road, a swarthy man of an imposing build with eyes as large as copper bells is coming up at a high speed on a crimson tiger. He says loudly as he sees Qin Yu: ‘Third Prince, First Prince and Second Prince have arrived!’ Qin Yu is so excited that his eyes glitter. He runs to the swarthy man at once and jumps on the tiger’s back. His face has reddened with excitement. He says hurriedly: ‘Uncle Wang, hurry up, let’s go. Let’s get back to Misty Villa!’
The man hugs Qin Yu carefully then drives the Fierce Tiger to descend the mountain at top speed, leaving behind a dust cloud.
End of b1c1.
B1C2: Resolution
Misty Villa is located on the mountainside of Mount Donglan. On the surface it is patrolled and guarded by a group of ferocious soldiers, but how many experts it has in secret is not known to outsiders. Moreover, because Misty Villa belongs to East Vanquishing Prince, only people who think their lives are too long would come here to cause trouble.
Outside of Misty Villa, there are 2 huge stone lions and 2 soldiers who wear black armors standing upright on the sides of the main entrance. They glance outward constantly and look like 2 lone, proud pine trees. Their large, strong bodies have a natural air of murder. That murderous air is what only soldiers who have really gone through bloody battles can possess.
‘Third Prince!’
The 2 black-armored soldiers kneel down suddenly and say respectfully.
Qin Yu quickly jumps down from the tiger’s back. The black eagle is standing firmly on his shoulder. Qin Yu is obviously very happy and excited at this moment. He runs through the entrance at a very fast speed and at the same time he says laughingly to the 2 soldiers: ‘Uncles, please stand up quickly.’
The 2 black-armored soldiers stand up. There is a hint of fondness in their eyes as they see Qin Yu’s small body rush into the main yard.
‘Ha-ha, big brother and second brother must be soaking in the hot spring.’ Without thinking much, Qin Yu runs directly toward the hot spring in the west garden of Misty Villa. He even murmurs: ‘Humph, humph, I’m obviously the master of Misty Villa. How dare these 2 guys enter the hot spring without my permission?’
After a short while, Qin Yu has arrived at the villa’s west garden.
He stands akimbo then suddenly points with his right hand. Glaring at the 2 people in the hot spring as if he is indignant he says: ‘Hey! You daredevils! I’m the master here. How dare you get into the hot spring without my permission? Ah…’ Qin Yu could only utter a loud cry before a hand reaches out and pulls him. He loses balance at once and falls toward the hot spring.
‘Hey, I haven’t taken off my clothes!’ cries Qin Yu. His body falls into the hot spring with a loud splash, sending out countless sprays of water. The black eagle, which is standing on Qin Yu’s shoulder, has to flap his wings hurriedly to have the luck to avoid falling into the hot spring. Otherwise this mighty eagle would have become a soaked chick.
‘Ha-ha, Xiao Yu, don’t you dare be so arrogant to your older brothers. You’ve gone too far. While your brothers work their butts off day in day out, you soak in this hot spring, and it’s the hot spring of Misty Villa, no less!’ says a juvenile very indignantly, but there is a hint of amusement deep in his eyes.
‘Pfff!’
Qin Yu forcefully spits out a gulp of water. His whole body is drenched. He looks angrily at the juvenile before him.
‘Second brother, so it’s really you. I knew it was you. Only you would pull me into the water. Big brother would never do that.’ Qin Yu quickly takes off his gown and pants. He jumps into the hot spring wearing only a pair of shorts and looks resentfully at his second brother Qin Zheng.
Qin Zheng is still just a 12 year old juvenile, but there is always an amiable, smiling expression on his face. He always makes people he deal with feel as if they are bathing in a spring breeze. Only when he is with his siblings can Qin Zheng fool around as a juvenile.
‘You said big brother? Ha-ha, he fell asleep quickly already,’ says Qin Zheng laughingly.
‘Qin Zheng, you think your big brother is like a pig? How could I have gone to sleep so fast?’ says a cool and collected young man who just moments ago was lying with his eyes closed on the other side of the hot spring. After opening his eyes and saying so to Qin Zheng, he turns to Qin Yu with a smile and says: ‘Xiao Yu, this Misty Villa’s hot spring is really unusually effective. Last time I only soaked in it once yet my wounds got much better. Now only their dim marks can be seen. If I soak in it for some more days, maybe my whole body would be like yours.’
This is Qin Yu’s big brother Qin Feng, who is already 16 years old. Due to practicing martial arts, he looks as if he is 18 or 19 years old. Big brother Qin Feng is the person Qin Yu adores the most. The last time they met, he saw with his own eyes that big brother could blow a tree as large as an adult’s thigh into smithereens with a single punch, and so he has been very envious of his martial prowess.
Hearing big brother talk about the unusual effects of the hot spring, Qin Yu stands up in a very mischievous manner, sticks out his little chest, raises his little head and says proudly: ‘Of course, there’s no question that Misty Villa’s hot spring is unusually effective. Humph, can’t you see who Misty Villa’s master is? It’s none other than your little brother!’
‘This brat!’
Both Qin Feng and Qin Zheng burst out laughing.
As Qin Yu has not seen his big brother and second brother for a long time, they enjoy messing around together. But Qin Feng and Qin Zheng give Qin Yu a slight advantage because they both dote on this little brother of theirs. They all lack a mother so naturally they care more about their little brother.
After playing for quite some time, Qin Yu lies down comfortably and quietly in the hot spring. Qin Feng and Qin Zheng also lie down.
‘Aren’t you very busy, brothers? How could you have time to visit me?’ asks Qin Yu.
‘Father, he…’ Seeming to notice that he has said something wrong, Qin Feng immediately says: ‘It’s nothing really. It’s just that there’s no business in the army for the moment so I returned. Father also allowed this. Then I found second brother and brought him along.’
Qin Zheng also nods and says to Qin Yu with a smile: ‘That’s true. You may not know that to find the time for this visit I had to try hard. But even so, I only got a half-day break. After half a day, I’m hurrying back.’
‘Me too, after a half day I’m leaving with second brother,’ says Qin Feng apologetically.
‘Oh, only a half day,’ responds Qin Yu. He is obviously a bit disappointed. His earlier excitement and mischievousness are totally gone.
Qin Yu has 3 relatives -- his father and his 2 older brothers. Father is so busy that he has only visited him once for the last 2 years. It is so hard for him to meet his brothers this time, but after a half day, he will be all by himself again, or perhaps, to be more exact, he will still have Xiao Hei, which is standing beside the hot spring.
Qin Feng and Qin Zheng exchange a look. They both feel powerless.
Qin Yu suddenly smiles and stands up. ‘Big brother, father went over there in the Immense Wilderness. He taught you a lot about the art of war, didn’t he?’ asks he immediately, ‘I know father is very good at marshaling forces. Grandpa Lian told me so.’
‘That’s right. Father’s art of war is terribly good. When he and I were carrying out land battle chess drills, it took me a half year of practice to barely meet his demands.’ Qin Feng seems to be remembering those days. He says unconsciously: ‘Father’s art of war is truly extremely good!’
‘Big brother!’ Qin Zheng looks at him. Qin Feng’s heart skips a beat. He cannot help smiling bitterly inside. He knows he was careless about what he said.
Qin Yu does not seem to take notice of that. With a very excited expression, he starts to talk with Qin Zheng and Qin Feng about what has happened to them these days. The 3 brothers chat in the hot spring for a long time. Then only after having a dinner party do Qin Feng and Qin Zheng leave.
Outside of Misty Villa, Qin Yu, dressed in a black brocade robe, follows his 2 brothers with his eyes as they are going away and waves his hands.
‘Goodbye, big brother, second brother!’ Qin Yu’s eyes twinkle nonstop.
Qin Feng and Qin Zheng turn their heads around and smile to Qin Yu. Then they jump onto 2 Fierce Tigers. There are about 100 crack soldiers behind them, who are also riding Fierce Tigers. In a short time they have already disappeared on the mountain road without a trace.
……
At a place down the mountain road, Qin Feng and Qin Zheng are riding 2 Fierce Tigers side by side.
‘Big brother, this time you were careless with your words. Xiao Yu doesn’t like stuff like scheming or policy making. Also, because of his dantian’s problem, he can’t practice to become a military commander. So, he can’t do well in both military and literary arts. Father’s energy has been spent on the two of us whereas Xiao Yu couldn’t see him in a whole year. He’s been all by himself. You said father and you had conducted land battle chess drills for a half year. What do you think he felt about that?’ says Qin Zheng to Qin Feng. He is obviously very annoyed.
Qin Feng says with a forced smile: ‘Second brother, I wasn’t paying attention at the time. After that I regretted saying so as well.’
Suddenly, Qin Feng’s face hardens. He says: ‘Second brother, because of his dantian’s innate problem, Xiao Yu can’t do well in martial and literary arts. He won’t have enough power to protect himself. We two must protect Xiao Yu well. We mustn’t let anyone bully him.’
‘If anyone dares to bully Xiao Yu, I’m going to make them regret being born!’ says Qin Zheng with a trace of cruelty in his eyes.
In a short while, the 2 brothers and the bodyguards behind them have left Mount Donglan and rush for Yan City.
……
Late at night, on Mount Donglan, a small, thin body is sitting on the top of the mountain in cold breezes. A black young eagle is standing quietly on his shoulder. Qin Yu is watching the starry sky in this way, but there is a look in his eyes that is much more mature than that of other children of the same age.
Every day, he either reads books in the study alone or ponders alone. This has given Qin Yu a mind far superior to that of an 8 year old kid.
‘Xiao Hei,’ Qin Yu suddenly utters, but his eyes are still looking up at the starry sky. The black eagle on his shoulder makes some movements, its pitch-black eyes move around a couple of times, but it does not understand what its owner just called it for.
Qin Yu suddenly has a faint smile on his face, a sparkling happy smile: ‘Xiao Hei, do you know? When I was very little, father often stayed with me and cared a lot about me. After those 12 teachers came, he let me follow these teachers to study. Even though I didn’t like those things, I tried hard to force myself to study them so that father would be happy. I learned those characters very fast, and father even called me a prodigy, but after that…’
He pauses for a moment then continues.
‘I remember very clearly, when I was 6, in the secluded courtyard of father’s mansion, those 12 teachers said something like I wasn’t fit to become a ruler. Then Uncle Feng said my dantian was problematic and couldn’t accumulate internal energy, making it impossible for me to pursue martial arts. After that I came to Misty Villa. From then on father no longer paid attention to or cared about me. At that time I didn’t know what a dantian is, and didn’t know what a ruler is. So I even thought that father really let me come here to play. But…’
Qin Yu lowers his head and nips his lips. His eyes look very depressed. ‘In these 2 years, I also asked people like Uncle Wang about the meanings of dantian and ruler. I think I already understand why father no longer paid attention to me.’
Qin Yu pauses again and looks up at the starry sky.
‘I really don’t like those books on scheming and policy making. In fact I forced myself to study them. I really, really want to see father smile and to hear him accept and praise me, but those scheming books, those cruel books… I, I forced myself and suppressed my dislike to read them. I know all about those schemes and stratagems, but I can’t bring myself to execute them! I can’t carry them out. Father, I really can’t!’
Qin Yu cries bitterly in a low voice. His thin and weak body quivers. Xiao Hei, standing on one side of him, moves its eyes around and cleans Qin Yu’s face with its little wings.
Qin Yu leans his head and looks at the young eagle on his shoulder. Then he embraces it tightly to his bosom. The eagle remains silent in Qin Yu’s bosom as if it knows its little master’s mood at the moment. ‘Xiao Hei, I really want to hear father’s praise, want to see his happy smiles, really want to…’ mumbles Qin Yu in an increasingly low voice.
……
At a secret place on the top of the mountain, the 3 experts who secretly protect Qin Yu sigh endlessly.
Suddenly -- a meteor cuts through the starry sky, radiating dazzling rays of light. For a moment in the sky the meteor’s brilliance surpasses that of any star.
‘Meteor!’
Qin Yu’s eyes suddenly shine. He immediately releases Xiao Hei from his bosom, stands up, closes his eyes tightly, puts his hands together before him: ‘I wish father cared about me, just like how he treats big brother and second brother. I’m not afraid that he would spank or chastise me. I only want him not to ignore me.’
Qin Yu slowly opens his eyes and looks at the meteor, which has arrived at the horizon.
‘Father once said a wish made before a meteor would come true. He couldn’t have fooled me. It’ll definitely come true.’ Looking into the starry sky, Qin Yu’s childish face has a resolute expression.
Suddenly, a brilliant idea springs to Qin Yu’s mind.
His eyes brighten. He pats his head: ‘Ah, I was such a fool. Martial and literary arts; martial and literary arts; I can’t do well in literature, but won’t I succeed in martial arts either? Uncle Wang said there are many internal energy techniques in the world. Maybe some of them are suitable for my dantian. Even if none is, who says practicing internal techniques is indispensable in martial arts?’
Qin Yu after all is only an 8 year-old child. Even though his mind has matured a lot thanks to reading many books all by himself, he is still a child. Because Fengyuzi said in the past that one with a dantian problem could not pursue martial arts, a fixed idea was formed in Qin Yu’s mind. Only at this moment does he awaken.
Is it really impossible for one with a strange dantian to pursue martial arts?
‘Well, with resolution, an iron pestle can be ground down to a needle. This principle was said by father. As long as I try hard, I’ll be successful,’ says Qin Yu to himself while nodding repeatedly. His eyes are filled with unparalleled confidence as well as determination.
‘Xiao Hei, let’s go. Let’s return to the villa!’ Qin Yu does just what he says at once. Because he now has a goal, everything becomes different.
The black eagle on Qin Yu’s shoulder also seems to be very happy and repeatedly flaps its wings. As Qin Yu is skipping toward Misty Villa, 3 black silhouettes appear briefly and chase after Qin Yu like 3 wisps of black smoke.
End of b1c2
B1C3: Midnight Discussion
‘Who is it?’ asks a black-armored soldier at the entrance of Misty Villa in a cold voice. The other black-armored soldier also looks at the silhouette far away. Only after a while can these 2 black-armored soldiers see clearly that the person coming is Third Prince Qin Yu. They cannot help feeling startled, but they still kneel down as usual and say respectfully: ‘Third Prince!’
Because Qin Yu has been running, there are small drops of sweat on his forehead, but his eyes are shining with excitement. His whole face has reddened. He says: ‘You two please stand up,’ and even smiles at the 2 black-armored soldiers. After that he hurriedly skips into Misty Villa.
These 2 soldiers look at Qin Yu’s back with doubtful eyes.
‘When Third Prince went to watch the stars on top of the mountain, he usually waited until after the daybreak of the following day. Why did he return so early this time?’ says the black-armored soldier on the left side doubtfully.
The soldier on the right side also shakes his head in confusion. He obviously does not know the reason.
******
Lian Yan is the person whom Qin Yu calls ‘Grandpa Lian.’ He is an old man in the Qin clan. The current East Vanquishing Prince Qin De was brought up by him, so his voice in the Qin clan is still very influential. 2 years ago, Qin De let him go to Misty Villa to take care of Qin Yu.
Like a gust of wind, Qin Yu rushes right to the outside of Lian Yan’s room. Then he immediately knocks the door powerfully with his little fists.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! ...
‘Grandpa Lian, hurry up and open the door. I’m Xiao Yu. I have something to talk to you about. Quickly open the door,’ shouts Qin Yu hurriedly. After a short while, there is lamplight in the room. ‘Xiao Yu, your grandpa fell into sleep just a moment ago, but you already woke him up,’ says a benign voice. Then the door opens.
A kind old man in his sixties wrapped in a coat appears before Qin Yu.
‘Ah, Xiao Yu, what’s the matter? Your head is sweating a lot.’ Lian Yan is startled upon seeing Qin Yu. Qin Yu wants to say something but because was running hard not long ago, he can only gasp for breath. Lian Yan says hastily: ‘Come on, get in the room first and talk later.’ As he is saying, he leads Qin Yu into the room.
The 2 of them sit down at the table in the room.
‘Calm down. There’s no hurry. Let’s talk about it after you have caught your breath,’ says Lian Yan hurriedly as he sees that Qin Yu wants to say something. Qin Yu takes a deep breath then stares at Lian Yan and says very resolutely: ‘Grandpa Lian, I want to practice martial arts.’
‘Practice martial arts?’ Lian Yan is slightly taken aback. After that he asks laughingly: ‘Xiao Yu, why do you want to practice martial arts?’
Qin Yu is slightly jolted. But then he says with happy laughter: ‘There’s no reason. It’s just that every one of those uncles in Misty Villa is so formidable, so I want to be like them too. Grandpa Lian, can I practice martial arts?’
Qin Yu’s desire for his father’s affection is buried at the bottom of his heart. He only thinks that when buried in his heart, it will become a goal for him to unceasingly strive for later.
‘Xiao Yu, do you know what martial arts are?’ asks Lian Yan instead of answering.
Qin Yu shakes his head and says: ‘I only know martial arts practitioners are very formidable. I don’t know much about anything else. There seems to be stuff like internal energy as well.’ As an 8 year old kid, even though Qin Yu has read quite a few books, there are still too many things he does not know about.
‘Then I’ll give you a detailed introduction first,’ says Lian Yan with a smile.
Qin Yu’s eyes immediately brighten. He stares at Lian Yan and starts to focus his attention on listening.
‘First I’ll talk about the experts in the world. They are divided into Houtian experts and Xiantian experts… Standing above Xiantian experts are Shangxian,’ says Lian Yan laughingly, ‘On the Qian Long continent, there are as many Houtian experts as fish in a river. It’s impossible to count them. But as for Xiantian experts, there are no more than 100 of them in the whole Chu kingdom.’
‘100 people?’ says Qin Yu in surprise, ‘Isn’t the population of Chu kingdom 4 billion? How can there be so few Xiantian experts, only one in several tens million?’
Lian Yan sighs and says: ‘To become a Houtian expert, one only needs a suitable practice method. But to become a Xiantian expert, it is extremely difficult. There are 2 requirements that must be met to become a Xiantian expert: First, you must max out your Houtian level. And second, you must have some intuitive enlightenment on the natural way of heaven.’
Qin Yu asks doubtfully without delay: ‘What is this natural way of heaven thing?’
Lian Yan immediately laughs out loud: ‘The natural way of heaven is not an object but rather a kind of conception that you can only grasp on your own and is very hard to explain in words. Some people were at the peak of the Houtian level for 10 years, but because they lacked intuitive enlightenment, they couldn’t finish the last step and therefore couldn’t become Xiantian experts in their lifetimes. But if they had become Xiantian experts, their lifespans would’ve increased to 500 years.’
‘500 years!’ Qin Yu’s jaw drops.
Seeing Qin Yu’s adorable expression, Lian Yan laughs: ‘It’s very hard to become a Xiantian expert. But if you can become one there’ll be a lot of benefits. The Xiantian energy inside a Xiantian expert’s body essentially differs from that of a Houtian expert. They are on 2 wholly different levels.’
……
‘Ah, Grandpa Lian, higher up than Xiantian experts there are Shangxian, aren’t there? How formidable are they?’ asks Qin Yu with glittering eyes.
If Xiantian experts are so good, then how fantastic will Shangxian be?
‘How can it be easy to become Shangxian?’ Lian Yan sighs: ‘Upon seeing them, even emperors have to salute and hail aloud ‘Shangxian’ very respectfully. But these emperors are afraid of being killed by Shangxian as Shangxian can fly to the ninth level of the sky with their flying swords. Basically they aren’t considered mortals!’
‘Fly to the ninth level of the sky?’
A picture spontaneously appears in Qin Yu’s mind in which he stands on a flying sword while flying on the ninth level of the sky. Little Qin Yu’s heart cannot help being bewitched by that sort of pleasure and liberty. Unconsciously, a desire to become a Shangxian has been planted in his mind.
‘The whole Chu kingdom has near 100 Xiantian experts, but… in the last 100 years it hasn’t seen a new Shangxian. Moreover, in the whole Chu kingdom, there are no more than 3 Shangxian. 2 of them became Shangxian more than 300 years ago. In the last 300 years, only your Uncle Feng has been able to become a Shangxian.’
‘Uncle Feng?’ Qin Yu remembers his own Uncle Feng. That white-clad Uncle Feng who often rode a white crane is actually a Shangxian?
Lian Yan continues: ‘However, if you want to become a Shangxian, you’d best go to the Overseas Immortal Islands to learn from a master there. But who else knows the location of the Overseas Immortal Islands, except for each country’s Shangxian? If commoners can see a Shangxian, will they have the qualifications to ask the Shangxian about the location of the Overseas Immortal Islands?’
‘Even if the location is known, the Overseas Immortal Islands are really too far from the Qian Long continent. Every year, over 10,000 people on the Qian Long continent went in search of the Overseas Immortal Islands to learn martial arts. They were all outstanding people, but there are too many hidden dangers in the ocean, so only 1 in 1000 people could reach the Overseas Immortal Islands alive,’ says Lian Yan emotionally.
Qin Yu’s eyes immediately shine. He asks: ‘Grandpa Lian, 10 people reached the Overseas Immortal Islands every year, then why are there so few Shangxian on the Qian Long continent?’
According to Qin Yu’s understanding, each year had 10 Shangxian, then should the Qian Long continent not have too many of them?
But the number of Shangxian on the whole Qian Long continent is too small. In the last several hundred to 1000 years, there have been less than 10 Shangxian altogether.
‘How could you become a Shangxian just by reaching the Overseas Immortal Islands?’ says Lian Yan while shaking his head, ‘Shangxian are so special. How is it possible for everyone to become a Shangxian? Even if the method of practice is made known to everyone, only 1 in 1000 people will have the necessary aptitudes for practicing it.’
‘Ah, doesn’t that mean it took almost 100 years for one of the people who arrived at the Overseas Immortal Islands to become a Shangxian, since there were only 10 of them every year?’ Qin Yu immediately feels how hard it is to become a Shangxian.
Lian Yan suddenly stands up and looks outside the window.
‘Shangxian? It’s such a dazzling name. Countless experts on the whole Qian Long continent went crazy over it. Countless experts all wanted to become Shangxian. To be able to behead a person from thousands of li away as soon as the flying sword is drawn, what kind of magic power is this?’ There is a hint of desire in Lian Yan’s eyes. Then he says emotionally: ‘Even your father has also been in constant need of a Shangxian’s help. If one more Shangxian helps your father, perhaps his goal will possibly be achieved.’
Qin Yu’s heart suddenly beats faster.
‘Father’s goal?’
At the same time, a warm current flows through his whole body. Qin Yu immediately feels that his whole body is full of vigor. ‘If I practice martial arts and become a Shangxian, father will be very happy. When the time comes, I’ll be able to help him as well.’
Thinking of himself becoming a Shangxian, being able to help his father, and being able to gain his praise and respect, Qin Yu’s heart, which is lonesome and longs for father’s love, heats up.
‘Because of father, I’ll definitely become a Shangxian,’ thinks Qin Yu, nipping his lips. His eyes radiate resolution.
End of b1c3.
B1C4: Father and Son
It is already late at night. Cold wind is whistling outside, but in the room Qin Yu is so excited that his whole body feels very hot.
‘Grandpa Lian, please tell me how to practice martial arts. I want to practice. I’ll definitely become a Shangxian. Even if I can’t become a Shangxian, I’ll become a Xiantian expert!’ Qin Yu’s eyes shine with an extreme resolution.
Qin Yu has started to picture future scenarios in his mind. He can even imagine his father looking at him with approving eyes.
What he wants is none other than his father’s love. Father’s commend, father’s smiles, even father’s criticism or punishment can all make Qin Yu feel the existence of his father’s love. He only wants father’s love.
Now he has found the method to get back the father’s love that was lost, that is, to try hard to practice and, like his big brother Qin Feng, to become a powerful valiant martial artist, or even… a mortality-transcending Shangxian.
Qin Yu looks at Lian Yun with expectation.
‘Xiao Yu,’ Lian Yun does not know what to do, but he cannot say nothing so he has no choice but to speak the truth, ‘if you want to become a Xiantian expert, you must practice internal techniques. Internal techniques break through the barrier between the Houtian level and Xiantian level. But your dantian is innately unable to accumulate internal energy, how can you practice internal techniques? And how can you become a Xiantian expert?’
‘My dantian has a problem, but people like Uncle Wang said that there’re a shocking number of internal techniques in the world, maybe I’ll be able to practice one of them. Even if I can’t do internal practice, there’s still external practice, isn’t there? I’ll be able to become a Xiantian expert all the same!’ says Qin Yu promptly.
He absolutely cannot accept that he is unable to become an expert.
Because… in this 8 year old kid’s pure heart, this is the only possible way to recover his father’s love.
‘External practice? It merely uses various methods to train the body nonstop, making it stronger and faster. But this is an unpopular path. To this day, even among the people with great natural strength, even though they trained to make their bodies more formidable, no one has been able to become a Xiantian expert through external practice. A person who only uses external techniques to train his body basically can’t become a Xiantian expert.’ Not wanting to let Qin Yu waste his effort, Lian Yan is frank with him.
‘There’s not been even one? Is there really no hope?’ Qin Yu is startled. He goes pale immediately.
The last hope has disappeared, Qin Yu’s heart freezes.
Seeing Qin Yu’s pale face, Lian Yan feels an ache in his heart: ‘Ah, he’s still a child!’
Lian Yan immediately says: ‘Xiao Yu, in fact, external techniques are very formidable too. External techniques are all about muscle power, which is very durable and unlike internal energy, which is used up so fast. Moreover…’ In order to comfort Qin Yu, Lian Yan continuously thinks of the advantages of external techniques. After hearing Lian Yun’s words, Qin Yu’s eyes slightly flash.
‘Moreover, external techniques are difficult to practice, but the body after all is the basis of a person. In the Fierce Tiger Corps, there’s a man with great natural strength who only does external practice. He can lift an 800-jin stone block with one arm.’
‘800 jin? One arm?’ Hope erupts in Qin Yu’s heart again. He can imagine that if he were to have such great strength, wouldn’t raising a broad ax and chopping at people be as simple as cutting barley?
‘That’s right, 800 jin. With 1 arm he can lift an 800 jin stone block. His weapon is a one-legged copper man. On the battlefield, not even Xiantian level experts were as valiant as he was. Every time he brandished that one-legged copper man, a large batch of enemies was smashed.’ Lian Yan unceasingly talks about the advantages of external techniques.
Finally, he concludes: ‘None of those who practice external techniques has become a Xiantian expert, but if you can reach the peak of the Houtian level and your body is trained to its limit, your power will be very formidable. You won’t be weaker than Xiantian level experts.’
After seeing a better look on Qin Yu’s face, Lian Yan secretly utters a sigh of relief. There is no doubt that he has watched Qin Yu grow because he knows Qin Yu’s character.
‘Can a person who has practiced external techniques to the peak of the Houtian level compete with Xiantian experts?’ asks Qin Yu again.
Lian Yan nods repeatedly. At this moment, how can he dare to deny? If he had shaken his head, Qin Yu would have been even more grieved.
‘Grandpa Lian, you said no one has reached the Xiantian level by practicing external techniques?’ asks Qin Yu. Lian Yan nervously nods, but Qin Yu becomes excited. He waves his fists and says: ‘Good. Since no one has reached the Xiantian level, I definitely will!’
Lian Yan is immediately stunned.
‘That no one has been able to achieve it doesn’t mean it’s unattainable. I believe in myself!’ Qin Yu’s eyes shine brilliantly.
Lian Yan forces a smile.
External techniques?
Practicing them is really incalculably more difficult than practicing internal techniques. External techniques are all about training the body. If a person is to reach the peak potential of his body, he will have to use various training methods, which, undoubtedly, will cause the body to undergo countless transformations. That kind of pain is not something that ordinary people can endure.
How can Lian Yan be willing to let Qin Yu endure that kind of pain?
‘Xiao Yu, practicing external hard techniques is very painful, even more painful than taking 100 lashes a day. You’re East Vanquishing Prince’s son, you’re protected, there’s no need for you to take such a great pain,’ advises Lian Yan. He really does not have the heart to see such a little boy suffer.
Qin Yu slowly shakes his head.
‘No!’ Uttering only one word, he shows no room for discussion.
Lian Yan does not know what to do. He thinks: ‘Why are this Qin clan’s people all like that? No matter the outward appearances, the most basic in their characters is to be endlessly resolute. None of them will turn around once they identify their goal. His father is like that. Now he’s also like that.’
Qin Yu suddenly smiles. He knows his Grandpa Lian cares about him.
‘Don’t worry, Grandpa Lian. Maybe there’re still internal techniques that I can practice. Please find some internal techniques for me to try. Only if I really can’t practice internal techniques, will I practice external techniques.’ Qin Yu walks to Lian Yan’s side, embraces him around his shoulders and says: ‘Don’t worry, Grandpa Lian, the villa has the best doctor, various experts and the fantastic hot spring. Why are you worried?’
Lian Yan strokes Qin Yu’s head. His face has a faint, kind smile.
He certainly knows Qin Yu does not want to worry him.
‘All right, Xiao Yu, you should go to sleep. Just leave this matter to me,’ says Lian Yan.
But Qin Yu suddenly raises his head and says: ‘Grandpa Lian, please find me one more expert who does external practice. It’s better to have an instructor.’
‘Don’t worry. This grandpa knows,’ says Lian Yan laughingly. Qin Yu immediately laughs and gives Lian Yan an affectionate smack on the cheek. Then he skips toward the outside of the door and shouts: ‘Goodnight Grandpa Lian. I’m going to sleep too!’
When his voice stops, he has already gone out of the room.
Lian Yan immediately brings out his brush and paper and writes a letter…
******
Qin De is standing in the study of his mansion in Yan City.
He raises his head and looks outside through the window. It is getting light at the moment.
The black-clad scholar Xu Yuan has come. His hand is holding a letter. He walks to Qin De’s side and says with a smile: ‘Your Highness, this is the letter that Uncle Lian delivered using pigeons. It’s about Xiao Yu. You should take a look at it.’
Qin De receives the letter and reads all of it at once. As he is reading, there is a complicated expression in his eyes. After a long time, he still has not put the letter down.
‘Your Highness…’ Xu Yuan quietly calls him. Qin De sobers at once. A stream of internal energy in the form of a flame issues from his hand, which burns the letter to ashes instantly. After that, still with a grim expression, he says coldly: ‘Xu Yuan, take all the secret books on internal techniques and external techniques in the mansion, make a copy of each of them then send the copies to Misty Villa.’
Xu Yuan is startled. He knows Qin Yu cannot practice internal techniques. He also knows how precious these internal technique secret books are. Even if compared with the secret books in the Imperial Palace of the Chu dynasty, East Vanquishing Prince’s internal technique secret books will still be much more valuable.
Is it not such a waste to give so many secret books to Qin Yu, who is unable to practice internal techniques?
‘Your Highness, you mean all of them? Even including the Ancestral Dragon Art? But Xiao Yu, he can’t practice internal techniques…’ asks Xu Yuan again.
‘Didn’t you hear what I said just now?’ says Qin De coldly. Xu Yuan nods and does not say anymore. He can see that Qin De is having a load on his mind, and can also guess Qin De’s mood at the moment.
‘Also…’ sighs Qin De, ‘Yu’er wants some experts of external techniques, right? Bring all the 3 great external experts in the Fierce Tiger Corps along. In addition, find all the external experts in the 3 Eastern region counties and bring them along as well.’
‘Yes!’ responds Xu Yuan to the order.
Qin De pauses for a while then suddenly says: ‘Xu Yuan, send an order to the Immense Wilderness telling General Zhao Yunxing to go to Misty Villa. If Yu’er chooses him to be his teacher, he will stay at Misty Villa for a year.’
‘General Zhao Yunxing?’ Xu Yuan is shocked.
Qin De nods then walks outwards the study. Xu Yuan suddenly says after him: ‘Your Highness, returning to Yan City this time, why don’t you go to Misty Villa to meet Xiao Yu? The last time you saw him was already more than a year ago. Shouldn’t we squeeze out a day’s worth of time for a trip?’
Qin De is slightly jolted. He says calmly: ‘That’s not necessary.’ After that he immediately walks out of the study. Xu Yuan follows Qin De’s back with his eyes then shakes his head and sighs: ‘Could it be all the Qin clan’s people are like this? Every one of them is so stubborn. Because of the oath at that time, even the love between father and son is ignored?’
Xu Yuan lets out a sigh and also goes out of the study, leaving behind on the floor only the ashes of the burnt letter.
End of b1c4.
B1C5: Secret books on practicing
The sky is clear and the weather is nice. At the hot spring in the west garden of Misty Villa,
‘Ah, it feels really good!’
Qin Yu, dressed in a pair of shorts, is lying in the hot spring. Regardless of winter or summer, one needs not worry about the temperature while in the hot spring. Misty Villa’s hot spring is different from other hot springs because it has fantastic effects. According to a medical expert’s research, this hot spring has quite a few substances which are beneficial to the body.
‘Xiao Hei, come down here!’ Qin Yu suddenly reaches out his hand, grabs Xiao Hei and playfully pulls it into the hot spring.
Xiao Hei immediately flaps its wings hurriedly but when it escapes, its plumage is already drenched, which makes it really look like a soaked chick. With its body dripping water, Xiao Hei looks ‘bitterly’ at Qin Yu, as if it is blaming the little master for teasing it.
Seeing Xiao Hei’s appearance, Qin Yu immediately raises his head and laughs out loud: ‘Ha-ha, Xiao Hei, you’re really adorable, soak in the hot spring with me, will you? It feels very good. You will become a mighty eagle that flies to the 9th level of the sky later. As you can go up to the sky, you must be able to go into the water. Otherwise, you’ll be too useless.’
Qin Yu starts to play with Xiao Hei. But it flaps its wings to remove the water on its body. It even stares at Qin Yu, as if it is very discontented.
‘Xiao Yu.’ Lian Yan, smiling to the point where his eyes narrow, is coming along the corridor of the west garden. He walks around the rockery and appears before Qin Yu. Qin Yu turns to him at once and smiles brilliantly: ‘Grandpa Lian.’
‘I have a piece of good news for you,’ says Lian Yan mysteriously. Qin Yu is immediately presently surprised: ‘Good news? Could it be father has come?’ Despite thinking so, he does not say it, and he looks wishfully at Lian Yan.
Lian Yan says with a smile: ‘The books on practice methods that you want have arrived.’
Qin Yu is a bit disappointed, but when his mood has recovered from that disappointment, he jumps out of the hot spring and quickly gets dressed. His eyes are full of excitement: ‘Grandpa Lian, where are the secret books? Please take me to them quickly.’
Since no one can help him, he must work hard by himself.
‘Follow me.’ Lian Yan laughs as he leads the way. Qin Yu follows Lian Yan with excitement, but he has made a resolution in his heart. In the past, Qin Yu was ignorant so when he had nothing to do, he just read books in the study, watched the stars late at night, soaked in the hot spring or played with Xiao Hei.
But the current Qin Yu has got a goal. His whole body is full of enthusiasm and even his temperament has changed distinctively.
In Misty Villa, there is a secret floor under the north garden.
This underground secret floor consists of 13 secret rooms. Lian Yan leads Qin Yu into one room. In the room, there is a bed, a long table, a chair and other everyday objects. It is obviously very simple.
At present, there is a delicate black case on the table.
‘Xiao Yu, those secret books are in this case,’ says Lian Yan while pointing to the case. As soon as Qin Yu hears that, his eyes shine. He rushes forward, wishing to open this black case. This act however makes Lian Yan jump in fright.
‘Xiao Yu, don’t open it!’ Quick as a flash, Lian Yan’s right hand suddenly moves like an illusion. He grabs Qin Yu in a move, lifts him up then puts him at his back. He says very solemnly: ‘Xiao Yu, this is not an ordinary case. It can’t be opened like that!’
Qin Yu looks doubtfully at Lian Yan.
‘Xiao Yu, you’re too little. You still don’t know how precious these secret books are.’ Lian Yan shakes his head and says laughingly: ‘You should know, in terms of value these secret books even surpass those in the Chu dynasty’s Imperial Palace. Therefore this case’s structure is also very peculiar. Forcing it open or carelessly opening it will destroy all the secret books inside.’
As Lian Yan is saying, he successively stabs the case 12 times with his fingers. His hands look like illusions and every stab hits a different place.
‘Bang!’ With a noise, a keyhole unexpectedly appears on the case.
Qin Yu’s eyes pop out of his head. He can remember very well that just a moment ago the case did not have a keyhole. He even thought that it was what it looked like -- nothing but a normal case with a lid that can be shut. He did not think that its internal structure was so unusual.
‘Even if someone else takes it by force, they won’t find the keyhole and, moreover, they won’t have the key either.’ As he is saying he takes out a golden key and puts it into the keyhole. With a click, the case automatically opens.
Qin Yu immediately sticks out his head to see.
Qin Yu can tell at a glance that the black case has various very thin books inside. Most of those books have about 10-odd pages each. The thinnest has only several pages while the thickest has only over 20 pages. However, even though they are thin, they actually fill the case.
‘The internal technique secret books inside are all first-class. There’re 68 of them. There’re also 28 external technique secret books. Xiao Yu, later on, when you want to read these books, you must go to a secret room and make sure not to bring them outside. Do you understand?’ says Lian Yan to Qin Yu solemnly.
Qin Yu nods affirmatively.
‘All right, you’d known the characters even before you turned 6. In the last 2 years you also read a lot of books. You can read these secret books yourself. Take your time reading them. Grandpa is going first,’ says Lian Yan with a smile then leaves the secret room.
After Lian Yan has left, Qin Yu takes all the secret books out and puts them on the table. There are 96 secret books in total, which cover the whole long table.
Seeing the secret books before him, Qin Yu’s eyes shine like never before.
Ode to the Yellow Crane, 100-Sentence Chapter, Song about the Gold Cauldron, Song about Gold Mining, Comment on the Water Element …
Any one of these various internal technique secret books can drive martial artists mad. The Qin clan has a long, rich history so even if the secret books of the 3 big dynasties are put together, they still will not be able to compare to the Qin clan’s. Quite a few of these Qin clan’s secret books have not been seen elsewhere for several hundred years.
‘Ancestral Dragon Art, it seems father let me see it when I was little?’ Qin Yu looks at the last secret book. It is the thinnest but at the same time is the most valuable. The Ancestral Dragon Art is written on gold paper. The 3 big characters Ancestral, Dragon and Art even make readers feel as if they are under pressure.
After looking at the 68 first-class internal techniques, Qin Yu turns to the 28 external technique secret books.
Iron Sand Palm, Vigorous Diamond Palm, Dragon’s Talons Hand, Iron Cloth Gown, Diamond Cover, Violent Training of the Thirteen Great Protectors, The Conqueror’s Divine Fist …
28 kinds of secret external techniques are all placed in front of Qin Yu.
At first Qin Yu randomly picks up a book then starts to read it slowly. In the secret room, he is totally absorbed in the various precious secret practice books, which took the Qin clan no one knows how many generations to collect…
End of b1c5.
B1C6: The only choice
In the secret room, Qin Yu is skimming through the books at will. It takes him only 2 hours to skim through all of the 28 external secret books once.
‘Grandpa Lian was right. Practicing external techniques seems to be very painful.’ The eyebrows on his little face move together tightly.
Having seen the 28 secret books, Qin Yu has some understanding of external practice. Practicing external techniques is to use various methods to strive to make the human body stronger. It means nonstop training, overcoming the maximum fatigue and surpassing the body’s limits unceasingly.
Practicing internal techniques is only to absorb the holy energy of the universe, so during practice there will be no pain, and after practice the practitioner will feel fresh and cool. But practicing external techniques is to discover the body’s limits and to make it go through the hardest training, so it is extremely painful and difficult. This is basically the difference between the 2 ways of practice.
External practice is painful and tiring but the practitioner cannot become a Xiantian expert. Generally, only commoners and poor people, who do not have an advantaged background, will choose to practice external techniques. The real children of powerful families all practice internal techniques, but how about Qin Yu?
He has 68 first-class internal techniques, each of which is extremely outstanding, but can he practice?
‘First I’m going to look at the internal techniques. Even though my dantian is rather weird, maybe I’ll be able to practice some of them.’ Qin Yu decides to try his luck. Filled with hope, he opens a secret book, but he is dumbfounded at the first glance.
Shenting acupoint, Baihui acupoint, Fengchi acupoint, Qimen acupoint … Sanjiao Shou Shaoyang channel, Shou Taiyang channel, Shen Zu Taiyang channel …
‘This…’ Qin Yu’s eyes pop out.
He has read many books and has also heard of these names, but the thing is … he knows the Fengchi acupoint, but does not know its position in the human body. Even though those books have illustrations, they are merely graphic outlines with no more than several channels.
Internal techniques cannot be practiced carelessly. If the energy enters a wrong channel, the practitioner will die.
‘Looks like I need to go to the study and read the books on channels at once. At least I must know where the channels and acupoints are,’ says Qin Yu with an unwilling look on his little face. Then he tidies up the books and goes out of the secret room.
6 days later, Qin Yu enters the secret room again.
‘Ha-ha, this time I’m totally confident. I’m going to try all the 68 books out to see if I can practice any of them.’ Qin Yu’s face is full of excitement. After all, he is only an 8 year old boy who often dreams about becoming an expert.
In the 6 days of studying channels and acupoints, in order to fully understand them, Qin Yu also told the servants of Misty Villa to specifically make him a human-sized wooden statue of a man, and also asked old Dr. Weng Xian, a medical expert with relevant professional knowledge at Misty Villa, to draw clearly all the channels and acupoints onto the statue.
Having used a combination of the books, the wooden statue, and often inquiring of old Dr. Weng Xian, Qin Yu finally prepares to start practicing internal techniques with full confidence.
‘What am I going to practice first? So it’s this one, Comment on the Water Element.’ Qin Yu randomly chooses a secret book as he talks to himself. This Comment on the Water Element was very famous several hundred years ago, but now only few people know about this first-class practice technique.
According to the technique, Qin Yu sits down with legs crossed and starts to practice.
The first step of internal practice is to have the energy feel, that is, to be able to feel an extremely small strand of the universe’s holy energy that one absorbs. In fact, any living ordinary person in the world has been absorbing holy energy unconsciously, but because the amount of it is too small, they basically cannot feel it.
Practice, is to absorb consciously as much as possible.
After 2 hours, Qin Yu has lost his composure and cannot persevere with practice.
‘Energy feel, energy feel, Grandpa Lian said talented people can have the energy feel as soon as they practice. I’ve been practicing for 2 hours, why don’t I have any energy feel?’
After exercising for a while, Qin Yu sits quietly practicing the Comment on the Water Element again.
……
2 days later,
After having breakfast, Qin Yu continues to practice. He is very stubborn. He has always been practicing the same Comment on the Water Element again and again. Actually, to have the energy feel, it does not really matter what internal secret book he uses.
Stubborn,
Qin Yu sits down with crossed legs. He starts to picture energy moving in his channels. Afterwards, Qin Yu stops thinking. His mind is a vague blank. He goes on like that…
Suddenly -- Qin Yu feels an extremely faint stream of energy slowly moving in his body. After more than 2 days of perseverance, he finally succeeds at this moment. But, in an instant, there is a surge of excitement in his heart. That tranquility in his heart and that vague blankness in his mind immediately disappear. And at the same time Qin Yu can no longer feel the energy stream.
‘Be cool, be cool,’ talks Qin Yu to himself. Then he uses the method of the Comment on the Water Element trying to re-enter the state that he achieved just now. After a while, Qin Yu can really feel a faint energy stream in his body again.
At this moment, using the method of the Comment on the Water Element, Qin Yu starts to let the energy flow a Small Round in his channels. As it flows, Qin Yu feels this energy stream more and more clearly. After circulating the energy in a Small Round, Qin Yu wants to make this stream of holy energy merge with his dantian.
But … ‘What is this? My dantian really can’t accumulate internal energy?’ Qin Yu is dumbfounded. He discovers that the holy energy which has just run a Small Round dissipates into the outside world from inside the body. The dantian is empty as before.
‘It looks like Uncle Feng was right. My dantian is different from those of other people. It basically can’t accumulate internal energy. In practicing internal techniques, the internal energy is stored solely in the dantian. Since my dantian can’t store it, what’s the point in keeping practicing?’ At this moment, Qin Yu finally understands.
Even though there are countless different internal energy techniques in the world, they all share one characteristic -- all of the internal energy that is absorbed and transformed is stored at the Qihai acupoint, which also means it is stored in the dantian. If the dantian is unable to accumulate internal energy, then what is the use of practice?
Suddenly, Qin Yu inattentively notices that golden Ancestral Dragon Art book. Among these internal technique books, only this secret book, which is written on gold paper, looks extremely glamorous. Qin Yu reaches out his hand and gets the Ancestral Dragon Art.
The Ancestral Dragon Art is very thin, with only 3 pages. But the writing on the gold paper is in small characters and the 3 gold pages have a lot of contents.
Qin Yu attempts to practice according to the pithy method of the Ancestral Dragon Art. In a short while, he feels an energy stream in his body. This Ancestral Dragon Art is really fantastic -- the amount of holy energy absorbed is much greater than it was just now. Moreover, the circulation speed of the energy is extremely high. But when Qin Yu channels the internal energy he wants to store into the dantian, the same situation arises.
The dantian seems like a funnel -- all of the internal energy poured into it will be gone, and it is unable to store anything.
Qin Yu looks as if he is at his wits’ end.
Afterwards, he laughs and thinks: ‘Well, it looks like I can’t slack off. I even thought that there wouldn’t be pain and wanted to find a way to practice internal techniques. But this dantian is just like a funnel, draining all the internal energy it has. How can I possibly practice internal techniques?’
However, he looks as if he cares nothing at all.
In fact, he has prepared himself for failure earlier. After all, the first person who said he is unable to do internal practice was Fengyuzi, one of the 3 great Shangxian of the Chu kingdom. When such a person makes an assertion, it is very unlikely to be wrong.
‘External techniques, yeah, from now on, I’m going to practice external techniques with all my power.’ His eyes glitter. After reading those 28 external secret books, he laughs: ‘No one on the Qian Long continent has practiced external techniques to the Xiantian level. Let me be the first to reach the Xiantian level through external practice!’
Qin Yu after all is an 8 year old kid. He still has the disposition of a child as before.
Using external techniques to reach the Xiantian level is truly something that has never been done before. How formidable would a Xiantian level external expert really be? This is an enigma.
……
2 days later, in the morning, in Qin Yu’s study,
Qin Yu is holding a book and reading it quietly. On his sides, there are 2 huge bookcases. At first glance, these 2 large bookcases have at least more than 1000 books of various kinds. Xiao Hei is also sitting around in the study so as not to disturb its little master.
‘Third Prince, 8 external experts have arrived. They are led by Lord Vice-Manager of His Highness’s mansion. He said he brought them here for you to choose an external technique master,’ says a servant respectfully after walking to the outside of the study’s door.
Qin Yu’s eyes immediately brighten. He puts the book down at once. His heart has a burst of excitement. At that time he and Lian Yan already talked about this. Lian Yan also sent a letter to inform the people in the mansion. When East Vanquishing Prince Qin De knew about this, he specifically arranged for some great experts in the army and several great external experts of the 3 Eastern region counties to go to the villa together.
‘They’re finally here after 2 days. Kang An, be quick and lead the way!’
‘Yes.’ Kang An immediately leads the way respectfully. Qin Yu goes out of the study and follows him to the west garden.
End of b1c6.
B1C7: Master selection
Not far from the hot spring in the west garden there is a training ground. By this time, quite a few people have gathered on it.
‘Uncle Lian, any of these 8 great external experts this time is tiptop. 4 of them are from the army. The other 4 are extraordinarily formidable external experts of the 3 Eastern region counties. You see, that silver-haired old man is the Eagle Claw King. Furthermore…’ The leader of the group this time, Vice-Manager Li of the Prince’s Mansion, briefs Lian Yan on the experts in a somewhat flattering manner.
Lian Yan inattentively nods and casts a glance at the 8 great external experts. His eyes do not stop on such few people as that so-called Eagle Claw King for so long as a second.
In practicing external techniques, whether it is about the fingers, the claws, the legs, or the feet, whichever part that is trained will be different from that of an ordinary person. For example, the fingers of the people who practice claw techniques are fairly thick, as well as having quite a few corns. These few people do not fit Uncle Lian’s ideas in the least.
‘Oh?’ Uncle Lian’s eyes suddenly brighten and stare at the last of the 8 people -- a black-clad cold man.
This man cannot be considered muscular. His muscles are also not developed so much as those of the other people, his hands have no corns whatsoever, etc. Judging by appearances, he basically does not look like an external expert. But Uncle Lian’s eyes are fixed on this black-clad man for as much as 3 seconds.
That black-clad cold man suddenly turns his head and looks Uncle Lian in the eye. A lightning bolt seems to suddenly issue from his eyes.
‘Zhao Yunxing! So it’s you, General Zhao. Who could’ve thought His Highness would be willing to invite you to come? If Xiao Yu can have you as his master, it won’t be difficult for him to become an expert later,’ says Uncle Lian with a smile. He knows Zhao Yunxing very well.
With the same cold expression, Zhao Yunxing says: ‘His Highness said Third Prince can choose whoever he wants to be his master. This depends on Third Prince’s vision. Senior Lian had better not advise him in secret. Otherwise … even if he chooses me, I won’t accept him as my disciple.’
‘I know this, of course. Everything will depend on Xiao Yu’s own selection,’ says Lian Yan laughingly while nodding.
These 8 great external experts are all extremely formidable. Anyone who has practiced external techniques to the level of these 8 people can also be considered an external great-master. Whoever Qin Yu chooses, it will be pretty good nonetheless. But Lian Yan secretly has some expectations in his mind. He hopes that Qin Yu will choose Zhao Yunxing because he knows Zhao Yunxing’s capabilities.
In a short time, footsteps can be heard from the outside. Qin Yu, with a hint of excitement on his face, suddenly arrives in a rush. As soon as he sees the 8 great experts before him, his eyes glitter.
‘Xiao Yu, you can choose 1 of these 8 great external experts to be your master,’ says Lian Yan laughingly.
Qin Yu looks carefully at every one of them. Among the 8 great experts, the one who stands out the most is that man who looks like a bear. That large man’s arms are thick enough to be comparable to Qin Yu’s waist. If he throws a punch, Qin Yu has absolutely no doubt about its power.
Immediately, Qin Yu becomes even more excited.
‘Choose just one? Why can’t I choose all 8?’ Qin Yu turns to Lian Yan and asks doubtfully. His little brow wrinkles.
Lian Yan is astounded. The 8 great experts including that cold man Zhao Yunxing also raise their eyebrows. The corners of their mouths cannot help curving upwards into a faint smile.
‘Ahem,’ coughs Lian Yan. After that he says to Qin Yu earnestly: ‘Xiao Yu, practicing is unlike studying. In studying you can have several teachers. But you can’t learn martial arts like that. For example, if you learned several internal techniques at the same time, you’d become demented and lose your rationality.’
‘But aren’t I going to learn external techniques?’ Qin Yu asks in reply.
‘It would be worse with external techniques. External techniques are about training the body, forcing it to break through its limits unceasingly. Every external expert has his own set of methods, which have been put into practice by countless people and therefore can guarantee that you won’t collapse training your body. But … if you learn from several masters at the same time, those methods will get mixed up. That…’ says Lian Yan with a sigh while shaking his head. It is very obvious what he means.
Moreover, in addition to this reason, there is another reason that is even more important.
‘Among the 8 of us, perhaps no one is willing to share the same disciple with another,’ says a muscular bald man laughingly. The other people also nod with a smile.
These 8 people are all great-master level external experts. Any of them is very aloof and proud. How can they be willing to share one disciple? But even after hearing Qin Yu say that, none of them minds. After all he is still 8 year old.
‘I understand,’ nods Qin Yu repeatedly.
Suddenly, a hint of craftiness flashes in his eyes. Lian Yan’s heart immediately skips a beat. He knows that even though Qin Yu is kind-hearted, he also likes to play pranks. And quite a few of those bodyguards and servants at Misty Villa became the victims of his practical jokes.
‘Uncles, I heard from Grandpa Lian that the 8 of you are external experts and I can choose my master from you. But shouldn’t each of you give me a demonstration right now, so that I’ll make a good choice?’ Qin Yu winks at the 8 great external experts with his big eyes.
Is this not only right? Without seeing their demonstrations, how can he choose?
‘Ha-ha, you’re right. I’ll give a demonstration at once. What should I show you? I, Man Dong, have many special skills.’ That muscular man walks out, who has the largest build among 8 people and looks like a bear. He is holding a one-legged copper man in his hand. Man Dong thinks for a while and laughs: ‘All right, I’ll show you my strength.’
Man Dong puts the one-legged copper man on the ground. In a glance, he takes a fancy to the huge blue rock that is used to decorate the west garden. That blue rock is approximately waist-high and about 1000 jin in weight. Man Dong walks up to it and grabs its 2 sides with his hands.
‘Hum!’
Man Dong utters coldly. Qin Yu can see a visible breath come out of his nose. The muscles on Man Dong’s arms stick out. Various muscle tissues, which look like earthworms, twist together. Those muscles and tissues resemble those of a rock sculpture and contain in them a fantastic, terrifying strength.
‘Up!’
Man Dong shouts loudly. That huge blue rock really flies up in a single throw of his hands.
Qin Yu is stupefied. Lifting a 1000 jin huge rock is already shockingly difficult. But this man named Man Dong threw such a rock up. The strength in his hands is absolutely greater than 1000 jin. The rock flies 2 meters up in the air then falls down heavily.
Man Dong takes a horse stance stably, reaches out his hands and stops the blue rock in a single grab.
Because the blue rock is falling down, the force of impact it has on Man Dong’s hands is greater than its own weight, but he still stops it as firmly as before. This shows clearly how great his strength is.
‘So awesome,’ says Qin Yu with his eyes popping.
Man Dong laughs and says unconcernedly: ‘Each of my hands has 800 jin of strength. With both hands, lifting over 1000 jin is just like child’s play.’ Man Dong was born with great natural strength. He is one of the 3 great external experts of the Fierce Tiger Corps and is nicknamed Macho Bear.
‘Awesome, awesome. Who’s next?’ Qin Yu gets excited at the moment. Having seen such a demonstration, how can he not be excited? As soon as he thinks that he will have such strength later, he becomes even more excited. But Qin Yu does not know that Man Dong is an innately strong man. If Qin Yu wants to reach that level, it will be difficult.
A very thin man with a hooked nose which looks like a hawk’s walks out and says: ‘I practice the Iron Sand Palm.’ Qin Yu takes a look at his palms. They are really different from those of ordinary people -- they are very rough and even have a blue color. As that hook-nosed man is saying, he walks to the side of the blue rock and suddenly throws a palm strike.
The blue rock suddenly shakes once then starts to shatter into pieces with a loud sound. In the end, there are several tens chunks. Such palm force is just extremely astonishing.
Qin Yu’s little jaw drops. He looks at that grim, hook-nosed man in shock. If such palm force hits people’s bodies, who will be able to withstand it?
End of b1c7
B1C8: Zhao Yunxing
Qin Yu however does not know that any of the 8 people who came this time has reached the great-master level of an external technique school. They are all frighteningly powerful and can win against any other experts who have also reached the peak of the Houtian level. Perhaps only Xiantian experts can restrain them.
By this level of external techniques, the limbs have already become as hard as steel and are even sharper than weapons, so to smash a blue rock is also very ordinary. But to reach this level of external techniques, not only does it take great effort, it also takes talent. After all, there are more than a billion people in the 3 Eastern region counties, but no more than 10-odd people have practiced external techniques to that level.
Qin Yu looks carefully with eyes popping. One after another, the external experts go up to demonstrate their own special skills.
……
Bang!
The silver-haired old man grabs a piece of blue rock which is about the same size as a brick with one hand. He exerts the strength of those 5 fingers and immediately that piece of blue rock is pinched into powder. After that, the silver-haired old man haughtily returns to his original place. He says unenthusiastically: ‘Eagle Claw Art.’
This is the sixth external expert to demonstrate.
The next to walk out is the muscular bald man. His body’s naked top half looks like it is radiating threadlike golden light rays.
‘Iron Leg Art,’ says the bald man with a smile. Then he does a lash of his leg in a relaxed manner.
‘Phew!’ The air is cut through in an instant, creating an urgent shrill whistle. A visible gust of air lashes out in a straight line and hits a stone broken from the blue rock precisely. That blue stone is immediately struck and rolls away a good length.
Merely depending on the terrifying speed of his leg, he created a gust of air that rolled a blue rock fragment far away. If that leg is really used to kick people, what will result from that?
‘Awesome,’ praises Qin Yu secretly. Then he casts his eyes on the last external expert -- that black-clad cold man. Since the beginning, the black-clad cold man has only been standing and watching the other external experts’ demonstrations. His eyes have always been very calm.
‘Why aren’t you demonstrating?’ Qin Yu waits for a while but he still does not see this cold man perform, so he cannot help asking curiously.
Zhao Yunxing shakes his head and says indifferently: ‘My claw technique is inferior to the Eagle Claw King’s, my strength is inferior to Man Dong’s, my leg technique is inferior to this brother’s, so why should I make a monkey of myself?’
Qin Yu is taken aback.
‘But then you should have some special skills, shouldn’t you?’ Qin Yu looks carefully at the black-clad cold man before him. He wants to figure out his special skills by judging from his body. But Qin Yu is defeated. He basically cannot see anything special about this black-clad man.
‘Special skills?’ Zhao Yunxing gives a laugh then looks at Qin Yu seriously. A hint of chilliness flashes in his eyes. He says coldly: ‘My special skills are only carried out when I have to kill someone. But … even if I become your master, I won’t teach you my fatal special skills.’
Qin Yu nevertheless is not frightened by Zhao Yunxing’s imposing manner. Instead, he asks doubtfully: ‘You won’t teach me your special skills then what will you teach me?’
‘Body training,’ says Zhao Yunxing in a flat voice.
Qin Yu suddenly laughs: ‘All right, I choose you.’
A hint of amazement appears on Zhao Yunxing’s face, which has been grim all along. Even the other 7 external experts all look at Qin Yu in surprise. They cannot understand why Qin Yu did not choose them and chose a man who only teaches ‘Body Training’ instead.
‘All right, Third Prince already made his choice. From now on Zhao Yunxing is Third Prince’s master.’ Vice-Manager Li immediately declares aloud.
The other 7 external masters all walk up to Qin Yu in surprise. That rough large man Man Dong says loudly: ‘Third Prince, why didn’t you choose me? I can definitely teach you to become strong like a bull. If you hold a broad ax, you will kill a bunch in a hack.’
Seeing the 7 curious great external experts before him, Qin Yu says with a smile: ‘He-he, this is a secret.’
At this moment, Zhao Yunxing has also come. As he looks at Qin Yu, a faint smiling expression appears on his face. He also asks: ‘I’m very curious too. Why did you choose me to be your master? Third Prince, can you say your reason?’
Qin Yu slightly raises his head and says proudly: ‘Foolish. Does this even need to be explained? You’re really a bunch of fools.’ As he is saying, he turns around to leave. Lian Yan, who has been standing aside, also walks to him. He goes beside Qin Yu and asks: ‘Xiao Yu, why did you choose Zhao Yunxing?’
Qin Yu immediately whispers mysteriously to Lian Yan: ‘Grandpa Lian, isn’t that obvious? Just take a look at their manner and you will know. Among the 8 people, that Zhao Yunxing stood last but no one dared to approach him. Moreover, Zhao Yunxing looked at the other people’s demonstrations as if he didn’t care at all. This decided the matter, didn’t it? Moreover … Grandpa Lian, you see, Zhao Yunxing’s eyes are also different from other people’s ~~~ he-he!’
As he is saying, he leaves the west garden. The 8 great external experts all have an astonished look in their eyes. They are experts so their hearing is very good and they all heard what Qin Yu just said.
‘Sure enough, Third Prince has an attentive mind. Perhaps I can still really accept a right disciple. But … I don’t know how his willpower is.’ There is a hint of amusement in Zhao Yunxing’s eyes.
The other 7 great experts all understand and praise Third Prince’s intelligence.
‘General Zhao, we’re returning to the camp now.’ The 3 great external experts of the Fierce Tiger Corps including Man Dong immediately fold their hands in salute and say. Their expressions are very respectful and sincere. When it comes to this General Zhao, in the eyes of these few experts of the army, even Xiantian experts cannot compare to him.
‘Brother Zhao, congratulations on getting such a good disciple. We also take out leave.’ The Eagle Claw King and the other people also fold their hands and say in a slightly respectful manner.
Internal experts are a circle, and external experts also have a circle of their own. On the whole Qian Long continent, there are so many external experts, but in this circle, Zhao Yunxing is classified as a royal-class figure and is respected by the other external experts. Furthermore, Zhao Yunxing is also very formidable in military arts. The fact that East Vanquishing Prince Qin De is willing to let Zhao Yunxing go to teach Qin Yu for a year originally amazed Xu Yuan for a long time.
……
The second day, on the huge training ground of Misty Villa, Zhao Yunxing, dressed in black training clothes, is standing still aloof.
‘Master!’ Dressed in a training suit, Qin Yu runs up to Zhao Yunxing’s face with excitement and says respectfully.
Zhao Yunxing slightly nods and says: ‘In the future you’ll have to be on the training ground by 6 am. It’s 8 o’clock now already. You’re late by exactly 2 hours. First, as a punishment, I’m going to ask you to run from Misty Villa to the foot of the mountain then run from the mountain’s foot to Misty Villa.’
Qin Yu is slightly startled. He says indignantly at once: ‘Master, this is the first day. You didn’t tell me I have to be here by 6 o’clock before.’
‘As far as my orders are concerned, they are beyond question. The only thing you have to do is … obey.’ Zhao Yunxing coldly stares at Qin Yu. He has absolutely no intention of compromising. Qin Yu nips his lips and immediately says: ‘Yes, Master!’ After that, he starts to run down.
Misty Villa is located on the side of Mount Donglan. The distance between the villa and the mountain’s foot is about 2000 m. Moreover, returning is much harder than running down the mountain and is not something that an 8 year old kid can endure.
As he sees Qin Yu starting to run, Zhao Yunxing smiles faintly to himself and slightly nods. Then he resumes his cold look. Zhao Yunxing also starts to run after Qin Yu. He runs in a relaxed manner as if he is taking a walk. His whole body is like the wind and each step covers several meters. Zhao Yunxing conveniently runs behind Qin Yu.
Qin Yu’s eyes glitter. He closes his mouth tightly and starts to run.
In the past he often climbed the mountain. Since he came to Misty Villa, he has also often run -- 1000 m every time. This has given Qin Yu a very good endurance. In addition, he has frequently soaked in the hot spring of Misty Villa. As a result, his body is far stronger than those of other children of the same age.
During the 2000 m down the mountain, because it is a downward journey, Qin Yu is not very tired. After finishing 2000 m, he is only short of breath. Then he runs upwards.
It is easy to descent from the mountain, but to ascend it is hard.
After running only several hundred meters, Qin Yu finds it extremely painful to breathe. In order to take a step he has to strain every nerve. But Qin Yu can feel that Zhao Yunxing is running beside him.
Qin Yu’s essential characteristics are persistence and pride. Therefore he immediately clenches his teeth and perseveres.
He has reached his limits … Breathing has become arduous. His whole chest is taking in fresh air very quickly like a pair of bellows.
‘I’m already finished?’
Having reached his physical limits, Qin Yu is in extreme pain: ‘Father.’ As soon as he thinks of his father, Qin Yu clenches his teeth and persists. The pain becomes greater and greater. Qin Yu even feels as if he is dying. But suddenly … as if he has passed the top of a mountain, his breathing becomes a bit easier.
After getting through his physical limits this time, Qin Yu keeps running in a state that is close to his new limits.
When he has been running over 1000 meters and can see the main entrance of Misty Villa, Qin Yu has reached his physical limits the second time.
‘I’ve arrived at Misty Villa.’ Qin Yu relaxes his concentration and wants to stop to have a rest. But --
‘Run to the training ground.’ Zhao Yunxing says behind him in an ice-cold voice. Zhao Yunxing is breathing comfortably. Even his voice has not changed a bit. Every ordinary person will be short of breath after walking up a mountain. But Zhao Yunxing’s breath is absolutely still the same.
‘Phew phew ~~~’ Qin Yu does not say anything. He is gasping for breath. He clenches his teeth and finally reaches the training ground. As soon as he gets to the training ground, he feels his legs become weak. He is so tired that he wants to sit down.
‘Keep standing. You’re not allowed to sit down.’ Zhao Yunxing arrives at Qin Yu’s face like a flash. He looks at Qin Yu indifferently. His expression is still the same as it was before he went down the mountain.
Relying on his distinctive pride, Qin Yu keeps himself standing then looks at Zhao Yunxing.
Zhao Yunxing nods and says: ‘As you was able to run till the end, you must’ve felt your physical limits. Very well, having finished the run on your first try, you are my disciple from today onwards.’ Zhao Yunxing’s meaning is very clear -- if Qin Yu had not finished the run, perhaps he would have left right away and would have taught Qin Yu no more.
Qin Yu only looks at Zhao Yunxing. It is not that he does not want to say anything, but at this moment he is simply speechless. Who could have thought that the first run would be so severe?
‘Every external technique, whether the Iron Sand Palm, the Iron Leg Art, or something else, is about training a single part of the human body, making it as hard as steel and giving it terrifying offensive force. They are nothing but attacking methods. It doesn’t matter what external technique it is, the body is the basis; the body is the cornerstone. If a person who is quick like lightning and can lift 1000 jin practices any external techniques, whether the Conqueror’s Divine Fist or the Iron Leg Art, he will definitely be much more formidable than a tubercular patient will,’ says Zhao Yunxing boldly.
At this moment, Qin Yu’s breathing has slowed down. Hearing Zhao Yunxing’s words, he immediately says: ‘Master, I understand that the body is the basis. A good body is like uncut jade, it can be cut into many good things. And a weak body is like impure jade, even with excellent craftsmanship, nothing good can come from it.’
A faint, rare smile appears on Zhao Yunxing’s face. He says: ‘Very well. You understand very well. I can only teach you for a year. In this year, I’m going to train you in every aspect of the body, strength, agility, explosiveness, defensive ability, and so on. I’m going to make your body undergo transformations nonstop. As for attacking methods, I’m not going to teach you. I can only teach you the method to train your body to perfection. As for how to attack or kill with this body, you’ll have to figure it out yourself.’
‘My training method is … the Limit Training Art. While you were running just now, you must’ve felt the existence of the physical limits. But compared to my training, it was just child’s play. Of course, you can choose to give up. I won’t mind that. Those soldiers of mine should be much more strong-willed than the little kid that you are.’ Zhao Yunxing looks at Qin Yu and says coldly.
There is determination in Qin Yu’s eyes.
Limits?
Qin Yu finds he himself likes that kind of feeling when he transcended his limits. He really likes it.
‘Master, let’s get started.’ Qin Yu looks squarely at Zhao Yunxing. Zhao Yunxing raises his eyebrows. He is amazed that this boy is so strong-minded. There is a faint pleased, smiling expression on his face.
But Qin Yu suddenly puts on a painful face and looks at Zhao Yunxing while blinking. He says pitifully: ‘Master, can you let me rest for a while? After all that running I’m really very tired. First I’ll have a drink of water, then soak in the hot spring, then let Grandpa Weng give me a short massage. My muscles are very tired.’
Zhao Yunxing is startled. His face stiffens. At this moment the expression on his face is very splendid. It can be said that he finds Qin Yu’s request … both funny and annoying.
End of b1c8
B1C9: The essentials
‘Before training, I have to tell you what the essentials of my training method are. A year later, when I return to the army, you’ll have to continue to train according to them.’ Zhao Yunxing stares at Qin Yu with an ice-cold face and says.
Hearing the words ‘essentials,’ Qin Yu’s eyes shine immediately. He concentrates his mind on listening.
‘There are countless external techniques in the world. However, most of their training methods went away from the correct path,’ says Zhao Yunxing indifferently. At this moment, he looks as if he is an emperor giving directions on national matters and criticizes the other external technique training methods for being worthless.
‘Qin Yu, bear in mind that in practicing external techniques, you must study the art of medicine thoroughly!’ Zhao Yunxing stares at Qin Yu and says solemnly.
‘The art of medicine?’ Even though Qin Yu is very curious, he still memorizes it.
Zhao Yunxing continues: ‘Why practice? First, it is to live long healthily. Second, it is to enhance the offensive force. If people who practice external techniques want to make their own fists and feet become hard like diamond, they accomplished that indeed. But... even though their fists are hard, can that hardness really compare with that of a battle knife that is made of black iron?’
Qin Yu listens with so much attention that he frowns deeply.
Black iron is relatively valuable. Weapons made of it are also much harder and sharper than weapons made of normal iron. The hardness of a black iron battle knife is definitely superior to that of external experts’ fists and feet.
‘For example, that Man Dong has reached the peak of strength training. His strength is great and his muscles are strong. But … his movements are too slow for an external expert. With only a dagger, I can slit his throat in an instant!’ says Zhao Yunxing coldly. His body automatically gives off a murderous air.
At this moment Qin Yu basically does not doubt Zhao Yunxing’s words. Instead, his eyes brighten and glare at Zhao Yunxing and he listens to every sentence.
‘Studying the art of medicine can help you understand over 100 muscles in the human body and their respective functions. If you only train a part, this will bring about bad consequences. You may have great strength while your agility is low; or you may have strong hands and feet while your body is not agile; or you may be nimble, but the toughness of your body is inadequate…’ says Zhao Yunxing boldly.
At this moment, Qin Yu fully understands what Zhao Yunxing means. He immediately says with excitement: ‘Master, I already understand. It’s vital to train all the muscles, isn’t it?’
‘No.’ Zhao Yunxing shakes his head and says: ‘Even if you want to train all muscles, do you know how to do that?’
Qin Yu is astounded.
There are so many muscles in the whole body. To train every single one of them is not something that can be done by only practicing. It will require the research of no one knows how many human generations to be accomplished.
‘Moreover, even if you knew that method, it’d still be impractical. Hardness and softness must be used in combination. It is also like that in the path of external techniques. You can’t train only one part but at the same time you can’t gobble up everything. If you train everything, in the end you will accomplish nothing due to the inadequate allocations of your energy.’ Zhao Yunxing shakes his head and says.
Qin Yu is puzzled.
Training only one part is not right. Training every single part is not right either. Then how to train?
‘In a perfect body, strength, flexibility, toughness, explosiveness and agility must all be at a high level; reactions must be quick and resistance to attacks must be strong.’ Zhao Yunxing talks about so many requirements in succession. For a moment Qin Yu is dumbfounded. With so many requirements, how should he train?
Seeing Qin Yu’s stunned expression, Zhao Yunxing gives a rare laugh and says: ‘Don’t worry. I have my own method for you to train.’
Qin Yu suddenly remembers that Eagle Claw King and that Iron Leg expert. Since that claw could easily pinch a blue stone into pieces, how terrifying must the strength of the fingers be? But why does Zhao Yunxing still says that he will not train any particular parts of the body?
‘Why shouldn’t I train my hands and feet like that Eagle Claw King, Master?’ asks Qin Yu in reply.
Hearing Qin Yu’s question, Zhao Yunxing is very happy instead. He says: ‘Qin Yu, what you asked is justifiable. If you want to practice such techniques as the Eagle Claw Art and the Iron Sand Palm, you will have to train the strength of the fingers. And besides, you will even have to smear your hands with medicinal wine regularly to let them absorb the wine’s medicines. In addition, you will have to train nonstop to make your hands hard like steel.’
Qin Yu nods as he is listening.
He has read the practice methods of those external techniques. It is true that the practitioner has to train his strength nonstop; at the same time, he has to apply medicinal wine to make his hands become extremely hard, and so on.
‘Those who practice in this way simply are … idiots!’ Zhao Yunxing suddenly scolds. He disdains this training method very much.
‘Master, the Eagle Claw Art is very formidable. Why are they idiots?’ Even though Qin Yu is more mature than other children of the same age, he is still only a kid. He saw the capabilities of the Eagle Claw Art and the Iron Sand Palm so he cannot understand Zhao Yunxing’s meaning.
Zhao Yunxing says proudly: ‘Eagle Claw Art? Iron Sand Palm? They applied those medicinal wines that are even toxic to harden their skin completely in the end. Their hands can’t even feel pain now. They are simply nothing but a pair of gloves. Qin Yu, look at this.’
Zhao Yunxing extends his right hand. His hand is smooth and even feels... soft.
A white light flashes. A near transparent pair of gloves appears on Zhao Yunxing’s hands. He says indifferently: ‘Gloves made from heavenly silk. Even though they are considered fairly rare, they are also classified as worldly objects -- on the same level as black iron. You only need to spend a lot of money to get them.’
Qin Yu was born into a Prince’s mansion so he naturally knows.
There are many goods. The relatively mundane ones among them such as steel are seen very often. Even though such things as heavenly silk and black iron are rare, they are not considered treasures either.
Treasures … are generally obtained from the Immense Wilderness.
For example, there are some extremely formidable magical beasts in the Immense Wilderness which are more fearsome than Xiantian experts, and even than Shangxian. Only those beasts’ skins, claws, horns, etc. are first-class treasures.
‘Although heavenly silk’s toughness is average, it is still tougher than the hands of the people like the Eagle Claw King.’ Zhao Yunxing gets a chunk of blue rock. He exerts the strength in his right hand and the chunk is easily crushed into powder. He crushes it even more thoroughly than the Eagle Claw King did.
Zhao Yunxing looks at Qin Yu and says: ‘Qin Yu, my fingers are stronger than the Eagle Claw King’s. You must train the strength of your fingers. But you mustn’t let your skin become hard. Do you understand what I mean?’
Qin Yu nods. But he asks doubtfully in reply: ‘Master, you mean I must protect my hands well and prevent them from becoming similar to the hands of the people who practice the Iron Sand Palm, the Eagle Claw Art and the likes? But … what’s the point of this? Moreover, how about the body? Could it be I’ll have to wear armor to fight the enemy?’
Zhao Yunxing’s eyes glitter. He nods in approval. Having a bright disciple makes teaching much easier as he can understand many things when a hint is dropped.
‘Protecting the hands well and keeping them from hardening completely are for the sake of offence. The hands can hold knives and swords. Using various kinds of weapons helps protect the hands well. Keeping the sense of touch of the hands in a perfect state is what an expert must do. Many experts even soak their hands in milk every day,’ responds Zhao Yunxing.
Qin Yu suddenly sees the truth.
In offence, it is important to use weapons. Knives, swords and the likes are all used with the hands. A hand with the sense of touch kept to perfection naturally handles a knife or a sword much more accurately than a hand which has hardened so much that it has lost the senses of touch and pain.
It takes perhaps only a moment to kill a person and therefore no carelessness is allowed.
‘As for the legs, their explosiveness and agility must be high, and they must be sensitive. It doesn’t matter whether you’re fighting an expert or in the middle of a large enemy army, if your legs are extremely agile and terrifyingly sensitive, you won’t get a scratch even when surrounded by an army,’ says Zhao Yunxing.
The legs determine a person’s body-maneuvering skill therefore their agility, explosiveness and sensitivity are important.
At this moment, Qin Yu is even more excited. He seems to see himself flashing around like an illusion in the middle of a large army, killing as fast as a wave of the hand, while the enemies cannot touch him. To have such a body-maneuvering skill and such agility, the legs are of unparalleled importance.
‘The hands must be agile. They are inferior to the legs in strength but you can hold weapons and attack at will with them. The legs have much more muscle strength than the hands and arms so their offensive force is extremely strong. Moreover, they determine your body-maneuvering skill and movements. These body parts are crucial. But the torso is the core subject…’
In the first day of training, Zhao Yunxing teaches Qin Yu the essentials of his own training method.
Qin Yu listens to him carefully and learns every sentence he says by heart…
End of b1c9.
B1C10: Limit training (1)
After discussing for nearly 2 hours, Qin Yu has fully understood the principles of his master’s training method. At the same time, he admires him even more. He can totally judge that, if he practices according to Zhao Yunxing’s method, he will definitely have a perfect body.
Strength, agility, sensitivity, flexibility, toughness and so on will work together perfectly.
If a craftsman is to do a good job, he shall need good tools.
Qin Yu is going to train until he has a perfect body then he is going to practice offensive skills, fatal skills and the likes. Having good steel, why worry that a good knife cannot be made of it?
Afterwards, the training begins…
……
On Mount Donglan, there is a beautiful round lake 100 m from Misty Villa. Zhao Yunxing is standing at the side of the lake. There is a mechanical pendulum clock beside him. This pendulum clock was made by a great mechanics expert. Because the making of the clock is loaded down with trivial matters, only noble families can afford it.
The pendulum clock is a 24 hour one. There are 60 minutes in an hour.
‘Quick, swim faster!’ Zhao Yunxing coldly says.
A silhouette is swimming nonstop in the round lake. It is Qin Yu. According to Zhao Yunxing, even though swimming is common, it is an extraordinarily good method for training the body’s coordination, flexibility and toughness. Therefore Qin Yu was ordered to swim nonstop in the lake.
‘I so wish to stop.’ Qin Yu clenches his teeth and continues to throw his arms forward. His legs also flap against the water in coordination. He has been swimming 10 round trips. A round trip in this lake is about 200 m in length. 10 round trips amount to 2000 m.
In the past Qin Yu often soaked in the hot spring in the west garden. The middle of the hot spring is also very deep and Qin Yu often swam in it. His swimming technique is very good but this is nonstop swimming. Moreover, he has to finish within a predetermined limit of time. To Qin Yu, this is really painful.
His arms and legs are aching. His head is pounding.
‘Father!’ As soon as he thinks about his father’s smile, Qin Yu clenches his teeth and persists. Even though he has reached his limits, he still does not give up.
‘Hurry up. A bit faster,’ urges Zhao Yunxing coldly in an unsentimental manner.
There is a hint of firmness in Qin Yu’s eyes. He stares rigidly ahead. Hearing Zhao Yunxing’s voice, Qin Yu constantly asks himself in his mind to speed up. Right at this moment, his pounding headache suddenly eases a bit, and his arms and legs seem to have strength again.
Qin Yu feels clearly that a stream of power suddenly comes into being in his body. He does not know where this stream of power comes from but it is generated automatically. Qin Yu’s eyes have a hint of excitement.
He has overcome his limits.
He enjoys this kind of feeling. Every time he transcended his physical limits, a stream of strength was generated again from the deepest part of his already exhausted body. He even felt his body’s transformations. That was due to the potential stored up in the deepest part of his body.
‘All right, you’re 3 minutes late.’ Zhao Yunxing looks at the pendulum clock and says indifferently.
Qin Yu comes ashore with a lot of difficulty. At this moment he can no longer move. His arms, in particular, are basically unable to move. His legs are aching severely. In this state, Qin Yu gasps for breath, trying his best to take in fresh air and to make himself recover a bit faster.
‘You’re 3 minutes late. As a punishment, now you’re going to run to the west garden from here then squat down deeply empty-handed 100 times on the training ground of the garden.’ Zhao Yunxing immediately dictates.
‘Run to the west garden from here? But …’ Qin Yu is breathless and speechless. He looks at Zhao Yunxing in disbelief. At this moment his legs basically cannot run. But Zhao Yunxing just really told him to run and then do 100 deep squats.
‘You have something to say?’ asks Zhao Yunxing flatly in reply.
‘Yes, I have. Surpassing the body’s limits can train the body. But if surpassing them too much, my body will collapse. I feel that I already surpassed my limits. At the moment I can’t continue training anymore. Master, when I was swimming just now, I experienced those limits 2 times in a row. I don’t feel I can go through the limits once more.’ Qin Yu looks straight at Zhao Yunxing and says directly.
Zhao Yunxing says indifferently: ‘I’m the master. My orders must be obeyed. If you think that my training has any problems and don’t like to train, I can leave immediately. I don’t care about lazy disciples like you.’
Qin Yu’s expression slightly changes.
Then he casts a look at Zhao Yunxing. He takes a deep breath and tries hard to urge his legs into running. When he takes the first step, his legs swell up and ache terribly. But after running for a while, the legs get stronger and stronger instead.
‘Oh, what is this?’ Qin Yu is astonished.
At his back, Zhao Yunxing smiles faintly: ‘This brat. How can’t I determine your true limits? When you were swimming, you used your arms much more than your legs. The muscles of the legs are basically more developed than those of the arms. Since your arms could persist, your legs can at least undergo another round of training.’
As soon as he remember that Qin Yu just criticized his method, Zhao Yunxing is even more amused.
‘This brat,’ he laughs, shakes his head and keeps following Qin Yu.
……
In the evening, in the hot spring of the west garden,
After going through a day of limit training, Qin Yu is lying in the hot spring. He feels that his muscles are aching and tingling. He can even feel that the muscles are slowly transforming. There is an expression of enjoyment on his face. Very emotionally, he spreads his arms and yells: ‘Ah, my goodness, this is real enjoyment, ah!’
Xiao Hei also flaps its wings nonstop on the side as if it is very excited.
Zhao Yunxing comes with a cold face, stands on the side of the hot spring and says: ‘This Misty Villa’s hot spring is very effective in healing. It is very good for your body. Also, after soaking for 6 hours, you’re going to see Old Dr. Weng and apply some medicinal wine. If you can absorb a little of the wine’s medicines, it will do your body good.’
‘Yes, I know…’ At this moment Qin Yu is very happy. He waves his hands at will as he is saying.
Zhao Yunxing does not mind that. He turns around and leaves.
……
On the training ground, Zhao Yunxing is standing upright. Qin Yu also came some time ago. This time he was not late. Strangely enough, even though he reached his limits in training yesterday, thanks to the curative effects of the hot spring, and add to that the effects of the medicinal wine, he is actually full of vim and vigor today.
‘No wonder most of the people who could reach the peak of external techniques were children of rich or powerful families.’ Zhao Yunxing sighs with emotion and thinks.
In practicing external techniques, the practitioner surpasses his limits unceasingly, but his body simply does not only generate strength, it also needs to absorb energy. Children of rich families can eat very nutritious foods and special medicinal meals, combined with precious medicinal wines. Moreover, they can ask medical experts to rid their bodies of fatigue through massage.
Having such conditions makes practicing external techniques automatically different than usual.
‘Now, we’re going to carry out strength training. Grasp that iron stick and do 100 deep squats first.’ Zhao Yunxing points to an iron stick at will. That stick cannot be considered very thick. It perhaps weighs about 10 jin. It is, of course, light to adults, but to 8 year old Qin Yu it is a different world.
‘Hum!’
Qin Yu exerts the strength of his arms and lifts the iron stick to his chest in a breath. He even says laughingly: ‘Master, it’s very light.’
‘Finish 100 squats before saying so,’ says Zhao Yunxing coldly.
Qin Yu immediately starts to squat down deeply. At first he finds it very easy. Is it not just squat down and stand up repeatedly? But after doing 30 squats, he feels his legs start to ache. After 10 more squats, his feet get cramp.
Doing 100 squats?
Qin Yu is already feeling unwell at the time of the fortieth.
‘Phew!’ He takes a deep breath and stops for a short time. When the muscles of his feet have recovered, he continues to squat down. But it gets more and more painful to do so. Qin Yu’s eyes glitter. He continuously clenches his teeth and perseveres.
After going on to the seventieth squat without a break, he even feels that his legs can no longer stand up.
‘Hah!’
Suddenly, he utters a low shout and exerts the strength of his back. And unexpectedly, he manages to stand up. Qin Yu’s eyes are blazing with rays of light -- rays of excitement.
‘Hah!’
With another shout, Qin Yu stands up again.
Every time that he shouts is every time that he strives to squeeze out a bit of strength hidden deeply in his legs. His legs gradually heat up. One after another, streams of strength emerge from the depths of his muscles. What is happening is almost a miracle. When Qin Yu utters his last shout, he unexpectedly has finished the hundredth squat!
Even though his legs are shaky as if he can fall down anytime, his eyes are blazing with excitement and madness.
Zhao Yunxing secretly nods from one side.
‘Now it’s time for finger strength training.’ Zhao Yunxing’s expression is as cold as ever. He basically does not allow Qin Yu any time to rest and immediately gives the order. In fact, Zhao Yunxing created a good training plan for Qin Yu. At this moment, his legs feel the most tired but his hands have not reached their limits, therefore Zhao Yunxing goes on with the finger strength training.
‘How can I train the finger strength, Master?’ Even though Qin Yu has almost no strength left in his legs, he asks Zhao Yunxing laughingly as usual.
Qin Yu increasingly loves that exquisite feeling when he transcended his limits. The instant that he transcended his limits, he felt a passion of life. Yes, it was a passion. A blaze of this passion was that madness he showed at his limits. That kind of feeling was very exquisite.
End of b1c10.
B1C11: Limit training (2)
‘The best way to train finger strength is to practice the One Finger Meditation while doing a handstand. But your finger strength is still too weak at the moment, so you’re going to train according to the method of the Iron Sand Palm first. These are heavenly silk gloves. You’re going to wear them. When training the finger strength you must not injure the muscles and skin of your hands.’ Zhao Yunxing already prepared a pair of heavenly silk gloves for Qin Yu.
Qin Yu happily receives the heavenly silk gloves and puts them on at once.
‘This is white sand taken from a beach. You have to shovel your hands into it by force. Don’t stop. Only stop when I say that you can.’ Zhao Yunxing points to the sand in an iron cauldron not far on his side and says.
‘Yes, Master!’
Qin Yu takes this training session to be a game instead. But his legs are really aching badly. Only by enduring the pain and clenching his teeth, does he arrive at the side of the iron cauldron. Qin Yu, wearing heavenly silk gloves, shoves his hands downward nonstop. Every time he shoves, he tries hard to reach the bottom.
‘Ah!’
Qin Yu cannot help letting out a groan. His fingers are protected by the heavenly silk gloves, but the gloves only prevent the sand from touching his finger, therefore when a hand is shoveled into the sand, the force of the impact affects the hand full on.
As he is shoveling very fast like that, the forces caused by the white sand hurt Qin Yu’s fingers more and more badly. He cannot help reducing the depth of his shoves. In the beginning he shoved his hands to the bottom of the cauldron but now he withdraws them when they are halfway to the bottom. This makes the training much easier for him.
‘Shove to the bottom. Don’t slack off.’
Zhao Yunxing says coldly.
Qin Yu is startled but he has no choice but to clench his teeth and persevere.
Even though Qin Yu loves that feeling when he transcended his limits, the nerves of the fingertips are linked with his heart. The continual pains in his fingers make him suffer greatly. After all, he is only an 8 year old kid. Moreover, he is East Vanquishing Prince’s third son, who has an exalted, wealthy status and has never experienced that kind of pain before.
‘Pu!’
Suddenly the hands are shoved down to the bottom. The acute pain causes tears to come out of Qin Yu’s eyes uncontrollably.
Zhao Yunxing is coldly watching. He sees the 8 year old kid before him keep shoveling his hands into the sand nonstop with staring tearful eyes, but he seems to have no compassion and still urges incessantly…
Qin Yu can shed tears, but he has to keep shoveling.
……
Having been training every day for a half year, add to that his increasingly redoubled appetite, Qin Yu’s body is now much stronger than in the past.
At the lower end of a waterfall on Mount Donglan,
‘Hah!’
With a flying kick, Zhao Yunxing unexpectedly deposits several huge rocks below the water. At this moment, an area on which a man can stand formed by those several rocks has appeared under the waterfall. Because the waterfall comes down from high above, when it hits the rocks on the surface, countless white sprays are scattered around.
‘Your legs must be steady as a mountain and move like lightning. This is not a large waterfall. Having been doing deep squats for so long, your legs should have enough strength for you to take a horse stance under the waterfall.’ Zhao Yunxing points to a blue rock and says: ‘Stand on it. You must stand firmly.’
‘This is not a large waterfall?’ Qin Yu looks at the waterfall that dives down from very high above. With huge momentum, the water smashes the rocks, making rumblings that dash to the sky. If this waterfall is not considered large, then which waterfall is?
Having been doing deep squats for a half year, Qin Yu’s leg muscles are so much stronger than they were in the past.
‘Yes!’ Qin Yu immediately and slowly stands on the edge of the blue rocks. Because the water comes downward, the pressure on the edge of the rocks is not large. Qin Yu takes a horse stance on the edge of the rocks and he can withstand the pressure fairly easily.
‘Stand in the center,’ says Zhao Yunxing coldly.
Qin Yu has no choice but to slowly move his legs and go towards the center of the rocks. The nearer it is to the center, the greater the water’s momentum. Qin Yu feels that his body is already swaying but he must reach the center.
‘No good!’
Qin Yu feels himself shaking. His feet can no longer hold him up. In an instant, he is thrown into the lake.
‘Continue!’ says Zhao Yunxing indifferently.
……
In the evening, Qin Yu is lying in the hot spring. He narrows his eyes leisurely. Every day, the time when he is in the hot spring is when he enjoys himself the most. He did not have this kind of feeling in the past. But now, he trains to his limits every day, so when he enters the hot spring again with his body aching and tingling all over, he feels very comfortable.
Xiao Hei has grown a bit in the last half year. But some golden feathers suddenly appeared on the top of its head. The other parts of its body are still covered in black feathers. Xiao Hei grows much more slowly than ordinary eagles. At this moment, it is rocking carelessly beside the hot spring.
Qin Yu has fallen into sleep. He is sleeping in the hot spring.
Every day, he trains during the daytime then soaks in the hot spring for 6 hours in the evening. He specially set a deck chair in the hot spring so that he can sleep while soaking in it. After midnight, he has medical expert Weng Xian massage him and apply medicinal wine for him. Then Qin Yu can read books.
It can be said that he does not waste a single minute.
2 silhouettes suddenly appear beside the hot spring. They are none other than Lian Yan and Zhao Yunxing. The 2 of them are watching Qin Yu, who is sleeping like a log.
‘Xiao Yu isn’t even 9 yet. He’s still a kid.’ Seeing the glistening saliva coming out of Qin Yu’s mouth and his still childish little face, Lian Yan feels very sorry for him. Having raised Qin Yu since he was very little, Lian Yan totally considers him to be his own grandson.
Zhao Yunxing gives a faint, rare smile, looks at Qin Yu and says with a nod: ‘Xiao Yu is an exceptionally resolute kid. The training I’ve given him definitely pushed him to his true limits. When he surpassed a limit, his body would be near the point of breaking down. I couldn’t have thought he would be able to persist… At that time, when His Highness let me train the army, I carried out limit training in a 100,000 strong army. But only 1000 of them could persist for a year and fully reached the peak of a regular soldier.’
When Zhao Yunxing was in charge of training the army at that time, most of the soldiers were ordinary soldiers. Unlike Qin Yu, they also were not able to eat precious medicinal meals, soak in a hot spring to relieve fatigue, and have a professional medical expert massage them, etc.
But … those soldiers were all adults whereas Qin Yu is only a kid. That such a kid has been able to persist makes Zhao Yunxing feel both amazed and satisfied.
Seeing how Qin Yu looks in his sleep, Lian Yan and Zhao Yunxing leave with a smile, leaving behind only a sleeping Qin Yu, who totally does not know that he just had visitors. He slightly opens his little mouth and gives a happy, sweet smile. From a corner of his mouth, that thread of saliva glistens.
Perhaps … in his dream, he is meeting his father.
Father, 2 years has flown by, but he has not visited Qin Yu once.
……
Running while carrying heavy objects, squatting while carrying heavy objects, keeping a horse stance under the waterfall, continuously performing explosive movements while being hindered, practicing unarmed fighting techniques in water, exercising while carrying heavy objects all day long, training the flexibility and toughness, training the finger strength, training the reactions and sensitivity, training the agility…
Those are the various training techniques that Zhao Yunxing uses according to a certain rule to train Qin Yu extensively. Under the tutelage of Zhao Yunxing, Qin Yu continuously transcends his physical limits. His body’s capabilities also improve at a very fast speed.
One year later,
9 year old Qin Yu is bare-chested and wearing pants. His whole body is not bulging with muscles but it is almost perfectly streamlined and he looks like a hunting leopard.
‘Xiao Yu, you’re very strong-willed. In limit training, everything else is unimportant. The most important thing is to be strong-willed.’ Zhao Yunxing looks at Qin Yu and gives him a smile that has never been seen: ‘It’s time your master returned to the army. Remember, the limits, challenge the limits, and surpass the limits. As long as you try hard nonstop, you’ll eventually be successful.’
Qin Yu looks at the master before him. During the last year, Qin Yu even felt very angry that his master was too merciless -- every training session was every time Qin Yu shed tears nonstop. But today, when he sees the delighted smile on his master’s face, he suddenly understands everything.
‘Master, I definitely won’t disappoint you.’ Qin Yu looks at Zhao Yunxing and says resolutely.
Zhao Yunxing smiles at him and nods. Then he suddenly turns around and leaves in strides, immediately going out of Misty Villa. Following a roar of a Fierce Tiger, Qin Yu’s eyes slightly redden. He knows, from today onwards … he is going to train all by himself.
End of b1c11.
B1C12: Aurora (1)
The Immense Wilderness is covered with high mountain ranges and thick, vast forests. Many magical beasts are hiding deep in it. The wilderness has a large area, which basically no one can measure. The 3 Eastern region counties declared to the outside that they have a 600,000 strong army in total whose 400,000 are stationed on the border with the wilderness.
The other 200,000 soldiers are stationed outside the Black Water mountain range. In the Black Water mountain range there are approximately 200,000 bandits. This is the number one place for bandits in the world. Because these bandits are very familiar with the terrain of the Black Water mountain range and have the advantaged geographical position, the 200,000 soldiers whom East Vanquishing Prince controls have always been stationed outside the mountain range to frighten the Black Water bandits.
In Tiefeng City on the border with the wilderness, there is a forbidding mansion. At this moment, East Vanquishing Prince Qin De is quietly reading a book in a room of the mansion.
‘Your Highness,’ standing outside the door, Zhao Yunxing bows and says.
‘Yunxing, come on in.’ Qin De basically says at once without raising his head. Then Zhao Yunxing enters the room with his body bent. He stands quietly on one side of the room waiting for Qin De to talk first. He holds East Vanquishing Prince Qin De in nothing but high esteem.
Qin De puts the book in his hand down and turns to Zhao Yunxing. He says with a smile: ‘Yunxing, you have taught Yu’er for a year. Tell me, does Yu’er have any prospects on the path of external techniques?’
‘Your Highness, Third Prince is exceptionally hardworking and persistent. His willpower is stronger than that of many adults,’ says Zhao Yunxing immediately. Hearing that, Qin De’s face has a faint smile. Zhao Yunxing continues: ‘But Third Prince’s aptitude can only be considered above average whereas most of those who have reached the peak of external techniques are highly talented people. But thanks to having the nourishment of Misty Villa’s hot spring and eating precious medicinal meals frequently, Third Prince still has a chance of reaching the peak of external techniques.’
The peak of external techniques is the peak of the Houtian level and close to the Xiantian level. Anyone who has practiced external techniques to that extent can even give early-phase Xiantian internal experts a good run for their money.
‘How long will it take?’ asks Qin Yu in reply.
Zhao Yunxing considers carefully for a while and says: ‘Perhaps it will take 30 years. And this will only happen if Third Prince is to persevere all along. On the path of external techniques, the closer one gets to its late phase, the harder it gets to improve. Take, for instance, strength. After practicing for 10-odd years, Third Prince won’t have any difficulties lifting 300 or 400 jin with one arm. At the peak of external techniques, he should have 700 or 800 jin of strength in one arm. But it gets harder and harder toward the end. 30 years, won’t be far from the truth.’
Qin De shakes his head and sighs: ’30 years is too long. But if he can protect himself after 10-odd years, this could still be considered not bad.’
‘All right, Zhao Yunxing, you should return first.’ Qin De says with a smile. Zhao Yunxing immediately bows and says: ‘I take my leave, Your Highness.’ After that, he goes immediately, leaving only Qin De in the room. After a long time, a deep and low sigh rises in it …
******
Qin Yu is standing in a horse stance under the continuous attack of the waterfall. He is persevering on the blue rocks under the waterfall.
Feeling the hitting force of the waterfall, Qin Yu secretly rejoices. Luckily for him, when he just started training, Zhao Yunxing attached great importance to the body’s resistance to attacks. In addition, he has consistently been having medicinal wine applied to his whole body. These occurrences have given Qin Yu a fairly high resistance to attacks. Otherwise, he basically would not have been able to withstand the hitting force of the waterfall.
‘Persist.’
Qin Yu constantly asks himself in his mind. Zhao Yunxing is no longer here so there is no one to demand him. At one time, Qin Yu also had the thought of slacking off. After all, he has been training all by himself so even if he had slacked off no one would have reprimanded him. Moreover, he is still a kid.
But … as soon as that thought appeared, it was strangled into nothingness by him.
His big brother, his second brother, and even his father, none of them is lazy and none of them is a weakling.
As a son of the Qin clan’s and a son of East Vanquishing Prince Qin De’s, he naturally must not become a weakling either.
Strive!
‘Persist! Persist!’ Feeling his legs starting to weaken, Qin Yu continuously encourages himself in his mind. He even feels his legs trembling. Whenever he persists for a long time, there is strength flowing out from the depths of his muscles.
Suddenly -- Qin Yu’s legs go numb and he is thrown into the lake with a loud splash.
……
On the training ground, there are 6 hung sandbags. Qin Yu is quietly standing amid them.
‘Hah!’
Qin Yu shouts loudly and hits a sandbag with a powerful punch. Almost at that moment, he smashes 3 other sandbags. Those sandbags immediately swing and hit the other sandbags. In an instant, all of the sandbags are swinging around.
Their trajectories are totally irregular. A sandbag which originally comes toward him from the front can collide with another sandbag resulting in a major change in the way it moves.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
With glittering eyes, Qin Yu quickly strikes any sandbags coming at him with his hands. This is to train his reaction speed. Reaction speed and arm muscles are related. At the same time it and the practitioner’s reactions are also related. And through training, the reactions can be improved.
When experts fight each other to the death, the ones with faster reactions, even by a mere blink, will take the others’ lives.
Due to Qin Yu’s quick attacks, those sandbags swing increasingly faster. In a while, he feels the pressure building up. Suddenly, he is hit in the back. He immediately loses balance and 3 or 4 other sandbags collide with his body all at once.
Thud!
Qin Yu immediately falls onto the ground but he stands up after a roll.
‘Ss~~~’
Qin Yu gasps in surprise then looks at his knees. At this moment, they have been torn badly by friction and are oozing blood. There is some sand and gravel on the ground. Obviously the knees hit the sand and gravel as he fell down.
‘Why hasn’t it been swept clean?’ There is nothing Qin Yu can do. He himself gave the ground a sweep before training. Who could have thought it was not swept clean?
‘Continue.’
Disregarding the injuries, Qin Yu sweeps the sand and gravel away. Then he rushes to the middle of the sandbags and starts the reaction training again.
……
In the middle of the courtyard, wearing only a pair of shorts and lying on a chair, Qin Yu is holding a book. His whole body is covered in medicinal wine. At this moment, there are several bright lanterns in the courtyard, one of which is beside Qin Yu. The lanterns are bright enough for him to read the writing of the book.
Even though Master Zhao Yunxing left, Qin Yu has not lowered any requirements in the least. He has even made them stricter. Every day he trains from dawn till dusk. In the evening, he soaks in the hot spring until midnight to absorb its nourishment and let the body recover. This period is also Qin Yu’s sleep time.
At the moment, after being applied with medicinal wine by Weng Xian, it is his reading time.
‘I haven’t been watching the stars on the top of the mountain for so long.’ Qin Yu shakes his head and looks into the boundless starry sky with a faint smile, ‘but watching the stars in the courtyard is not bad. Xiao Hei, do you think so? Hey, Xiao Hei, are you an eagle or not? Why do you grow so slowly? Why do you have golden feathers on the top of your head?’
As he is saying, he strokes Xiao Hei, which is next to him.
Xiao Hei’s eyes glitter. It flaps its wings repeatedly as if it does not allow Qin Yu to stroke its head. Then it raises its head proudly, looking very haughty.
Qin Yu bursts out laughing immediately.
‘Alright, I’d better read books seriously rather than waste time on you. Tomorrow I’m going to have to continue training.’ Qin Yu immediately reads the thread-bound book he is holding. It is a medical book. Qin Yu can remember clearly Zhao Yunxing said if he wanted to become a real external expert, he had to become familiar with the art of medicine.
At the side of the courtyard’s door, Lian Yan is hiding in shadow and kindly watching Qin Yu.
Especially when Lian Yan heard Qin Yu say he did not want to waste time playing with Xiao Hei, he felt sorry for him even more. Qin Yu is only 9 year old, yet he does not waste a single minute of a day. He has planned to get the most out of every minute. Everything he has done is for his painful training. But what has he been training for?
The last time Qin De visited Misty Villa was a long, long time ago.
While he is reading the book, he does not notice that it is getting light. Some cakes beside Qin Yu’s chair were already eaten up by him unwittingly.
Qin Yu puts the book down and looks up. He stretches his sluggish waist very happily and says with a broad, radiant smile on his face: ‘A day starts off with dawn. A new day has come. Qin Yu, try hard! Try hard and you’ll succeed.’
The training of a new day has started … …
End of b1c12
B1C13: Aurora (2)
In the hot spring, Qin Yu is standing with a resolute expression in his eyes.
Of course, he is not soaking in the hot spring. Rather, he is carrying out the explosiveness training under water resistance. Explosiveness training under water resistance is useful for the body’s explosiveness. Compared to explosiveness training in lakes, explosiveness training in the hot spring is different because, firstly, the water of the hot spring also has resistance like that of the lakes, and secondly, it can nourish Qin Yu’s body nonstop. This is killing 2 birds with 1 stone.
Punch! Withdraw the fist!
Kick! Withdraw the leg!
Qin Yu punches and kicks very fast in the water and he explosively exerts all his strength in every attack to reach the fastest speed. As soon as Qin Yu takes a horse stance, he does not sway even in the water. He has this ability only thanks to having been working on the horse stance for a long time.
The water is rolling. It has its own path of movement. Every time Qin Yu attacks he tries to make his fist or foot reach the fastest speed, so very naturally the way his fists cut through the water and the way his legs move start to change. How should the path of his punch be?
Direct?
Curved?
Neither is correct! Nothing is absolute. Being direct must be coupled with being curved. Everything is for making the punches faster and stronger and minimizing the water resistance they experience. Everything is for pursuing an increasingly stronger offensive force and an increasingly faster attack speed. Qin Yu attacks nonstop.
At the moment, there are even small pieces of iron tied to Qin Yu’s arms and legs……
……
On the training ground, Qin Yu, dressed in a pair of shorts, is standing in a horse stance. There is a bodyguard man beside him. The man is holding a wooden stick. At the moment, Qin Yu is training his resistance to attacks. Only by being hit nonstop and absorbing medicinal wine can the body become tougher and tougher. If Qin Yu reaches the peak of resistance training, he will even be able to withstand real weapons.
‘Uncle Yang, a bit harder,’ says Qin Yu to the man beside him, Yang Shan, very discontentedly.
Yang Shan promptly advises: ‘Third Prince, it’s nearly enough already. It’s time you finished this hit-taking training.’ Seeing the various stripe-like red marks on Qin Yu’s body and then the unconcernedly expression on his childish face, Yang Shan is very distressed. When Qin Yu was 6, Yang Shan and his colleagues went to Misty Villa together with him. For the last 3 years, they have been watching this kid grow. Who among them would be willing to hit him?
But Yang Shan was forced to hit Qin Yu, because this is the attack resistance training in external practice.
‘I let you hit me, then hit me. Alright, I’ll hit myself.’ Qin Yu shakes his head and gives a laugh. As he is saying he signals for the wooden stick.
As soon as Yang Shan sees that, he quickly moves back. Determined not to let Qin Yu hold the stick, he says hurriedly: ‘Alright, alright, I’ll continue to hit you. A bit harder, is that right? I know.’ Yang Shan does not dare to let Qin Yu hit himself. If Qin Yu hit himself, he would do it with all his strength. Yang Shan remembers that day when Qin Yu’s body was even damaged entirely.
Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! … …
The stick hits Qin Yu’s body continuously. He is standing in a horse stance with his lips closed tightly and taking the hits unflinchingly without letting out a groan. One after another, stripe-like red marks appear on his body, which makes Yang Shan feel unhappy. Even though he is now a soldier, when he was 9, he was still tending cattle at home. But Qin Yu, who is East Vanquishing Prince’s third son, does not waste any minutes and practices nonstop in order to reach the limits of the human body.
Qin Yu’s eyes glitter like stars. From the look in his eyes, it can be estimated how great his determination is -- a determination that is as unshakable as a great mountain.
……
‘Xiao Yu, today’s training load was a bit too much. Tomorrow reduce it a little bit.’
Qin Yu is lying on a bed. An old man with his head full of white hair is talking to him in a deeply concerned manner while massaging him. This old man is Weng Xian, a medical expert. He was one of the very best medical experts of East Vanquishing Prince’s mansion. When Qin De dispatched him to Misty Villa, the people in the mansion were amazed that their master was willing to send such a medical expert to a villa.
‘No matter, Grandpa Weng, if you massage me with your very special techniques, add to that the medicinal wine, I’ll be back to normal the next day.’ Qin Yu curls his lips. He does not care at all.
Weng Xian’s hands do not move very fast but they follow a pattern, either flapping, or kneading, or poking, or stroking. The various techniques are all different from each other. Moreover Weng Xian’s hands are also smeared with medicinal wine. With the help of his special secret massage techniques, this medicinal wine’s effective medicines fuse with Qin Yu’s body very fast.
Weng Xian shakes his head with a smile as he sees Qin Yu’s unconcernedly expression. At the same time he cannot help charging his secret massage techniques with internal energy.
‘It feels so good.’ Feeling bursts of warm energy entering his body one after another, Qin Yu cannot help shouting leisurely.
Weng Xian gives a smile. If he is not willing, even if a person has a higher status, he will not use all his power like this -- withholding not even a bit of internal energy. But Weng Xian cares a lot about Qin Yu. After all, seeing the kid train so hard every day, how could he not soften up and become fond of him?
‘Alright, Xiao Yu, later on you don’t need to risk your life training. That Zhao Yunxing guy was too much. What the devil is limit training? If it wasn’t for Misty Villa’s hot spring and my helping you to dredge your channels, fusing the effective medicines of the wine with your body, how could a kid like you have stomached it!?’ says Weng Xian with a sigh. Obviously he is very discontented with Zhao Yunxing.
Qin Yu smiles brilliantly at Wang Xian and says: ‘I know. You’re the best, Grandpa Weng. You should go to bed a bit earlier. Goodbye, Grandpa Weng!’ Weng Xian immediately smiles and nods. He also advises Qin Yu once more. Then Qin Yu leaves Weng Xian’s habitation.
Tonight, the sky has many stars and is very bright.
‘Master already left. Along with the everyday training, my body has become stronger and stronger. The training load must be increased. Moreover … I should add some other training methods.’ Looking into the starry sky, Qin Yu thinks.
After that, he goes into the secret floor under the north garden. He is very familiar with how to open its various protecting devices.
He enters the secret room where the secret books are being kept. Various secret books are lying on the table. Qin Yu has not tidied up these books. After all, only he and Lian Yan know how to open this secret room. Qin Yu immediately looks at the 28 external secret books.
These external secret books have various different training methods. Qin Yu wants to find some suitable methods for himself in them.
Suddenly, Qin Yu’s eyes are unconsciously attracted by the only golden book among those secret books. In the 96 secret books, only one book is written on gold paper so it is incomparably eye-catching. It is the Ancestral Dragon Art.
An idea suddenly springs to Qin Yu’s mind.
‘At that time I couldn’t practice internal techniques, but by now I’ve been training my body for over a year. I’m much stronger than in the past. Maybe my dantian’s problem has automatically disappeared,’ thinks Qin Yu. After all, generally, people who have problems with their health can automatically cure their illnesses by practicing martial arts.
But Qin Yu forgets that his dantian’s problem is different from ordinary people’s problems. It is not an illness. Rather, it is an innate disability.
But Qin Yu is still a kid. Moreover, he has always hoped that his power would increase quickly. Therefore, it is normal for him to have such an idea.
‘No matter what, I’m going to try it out first. In any case, several hours can’t be wasted.’ Qin Yu immediately sits with legs crossed on the table. He gets the Ancestral Dragon Art then starts to practice according to the contents of the first page. He enters an ethereal state of mind then his mind goes into a vague blank …
In only a short while, Qin Yu feels that the holy energy of the universe absorbed by him has formed a warm stream in his body. Moreover, compared to the stream of over a year ago, this stream is fairly bigger.
‘As expected, when the body becomes strong, I absorb the universe’s holy energy quite faster. Let’s start circulating it.’ Qin Yu immediately uses his mind to make that warm stream move in his body. According to the Small Round path of the Ancestral Dragon Art, the stream continuously changes direction then blends with the dantian.
Qin Yu becomes excited. He carefully tries to feel if this small stream of internal energy will be dissipated or not.
‘You must not dissipate. You must not.’ Qin Yu hopes for the best so his attention becomes even more focused. He uses his entire mind to feel this small stream of internal energy. In limit training, the thing that is trained the most is the mind. Having been training for so long, Qin Yu’s mind is much stronger than those of ordinary people. It is also much stronger than it was when Qin Yu just started his limit training.
He feels clearly the internal energy starting to disperse in the dantian. Then it goes away through the body in all directions.
‘Gee, failed again.’ Qin Yu groans.
Suddenly --
‘That’s not true!’ It is as if Qin Yu has just discovered a world-shaking secret. He focuses his entire mind on the dispersing lines of internal energy. Most of those internal energy lines dissipate into the air through the body, but unexpectedly a small number of them fuse with the body’s flesh and bones.
To draw an analogy, Qin Yu’s flesh and bones are like sandy soil and those internal energy lines are like a stream. The stream flows on the sandy soil, but a small part of the water is still absorbed by the soil. This is a fact. Even though Qin Yu’s internal energy flows to the surroundings, part of it is still absorbed by him.
Qin Yu’s eyes immediately glitter.
‘Very good. Very good. Very good.’ Qin Yu is so excited that his whole body trembles. ‘Even though absorbing the effective medicines of the medicinal wine can reinforce the body’s flesh, how can it compare with internal energy? I can’t accumulate internal energy, but my flesh can absorb internal energy. The stronger my flesh becomes, the faster I practice external techniques!’
At the moment, Qin Yu is extremely excited. He can even hear his intense heartbeats.
‘Father, I’ll definitely succeed.’ Qin Yu’s eyes radiate rays of light. Never for a moment has he been so confident.
Above the bleak, dangerous path of practicing external techniques on which Qin Yu has been treading, dawn is breaking……
End of b1c13.
B1C14: High-speed transformations (1)
Thanks to his internal energy fusing with his flesh, Qin Yu’s flesh and bones immediately undergo transformations nonstop. Absorbing internal energy, the flexibility and toughness of the flesh as well as its potential continuously heighten. This allows Qin Yu’s body training to improve at such a fast speed which no one could have thought possible.
As time goes by……
Qin Yu’s overall power also increases at a very fast speed……
About a half year later.
Zhao Yunxing has left for a year. Qin Yu is already 10.
On the side of Mount Donglan, with eyes which look like those of a falcon, Qin Yu is staring forward while running in long strides. Bystanders basically cannot imagine that each of his arms is wearing a 5-jin iron piece of armor and each of his legs is wearing a 10-jin iron piece of armor. His iron undershirt also weighs about 20 jin.
Qin Yu is running at his fastest speed. He simply does not stop.
The difficulty of weight-carrying running varies depending on which body parts the weights are fastened to. If he only carries a weight on his back, at least his legs can still run a bit easily. But if there are more weights fastened to his arms and legs, the legs will require a great amount of his strength to run.
Also, this is the method Qin Yu uses to train the explosiveness of his arms.
With the top of the mountain already in sight, Qin Yu cannot help having a hint of a brilliant smile on his face.
‘For the last half year my strength has improved more than it did in over a year of training before. The muscles’ potential and toughness both have heightened greatly. Moreover, absorbing internal energy is much better for the muscles’ flexibility and toughness than the other training methods. Well, keep striving!’ Qin Yu’s eyes are full of excitement. For the last half year, he has been doing internal practice every day. Even though his dantian cannot accumulate internal energy, the flesh of his body has absorbed part of the dispersed internal energy.
At this moment, Qin Yu’s muscles’ explosiveness, flexibility, toughness and even potential have all increased quite a lot.
The 3 great internal experts who have always been following Qin Yu in secret are all extremely astounded.
These 3 great internal experts have always been safeguarding Qin Yu secretly. They have been worried that when Qin Yu trains alone he might get injured due to continuous running or faint. If something happened, they would spring to his aid. But for the last half year, they have only seen Qin Yu raise the level of his training nonstop. The degrees by which the training load increased even shocked the 3 great internal experts. However, Qin Yu has really been able to endure.
Under the waterfall,
Still carrying the same weights as before, Qin Yu is standing in a horse stance under the waterfall, enduring the constant attack of the water.
‘Hah!’
Under the attack of the waterfall, Qin Yu is punching continuously at a very fast speed while uttering low shouts. His punches are fast like lightning and every punch hits the water. This is how Qin Yu is training the offensive force of his arms. The water sprays are being scattered around even more due to his attacks. Sunlight shines down on them, creating dazzling 7-colored rays of light.
Once Qin Yu takes a horse stance, he is as stable as an old pine.
‘When the weights increased, the pressure on the legs really increased a lot.’ Qin Yu nips his lips and tries hard to make his legs stand more stably.
At this moment, not only are Qin Yu’s legs enduring the hitting force of the waterfall, they are also enduring the pressure of the weights on his body, so it is extremely hard for him to persist. But carrying the weights also increase the force of gravity on Qin Yu, stabilizing his center of gravity quite a lot. Under the constant attack of the waterfall, Qin Yu’s legs endure more and more pressure.
If he wants to reach his limits, he must persevere.
Reaching the peak of his physical limits, Qin Yu feels clearly warm streams coming out from the depths of his muscles one after another. Thanks to them, his legs have strength again. Because his flesh has been absorbing internal energy, every time Qin Yu transcends his limits like this time, he feels that the released strength is considerably greater than in the past. This has also enabled him to progress much faster.
Night,
Qin Yu is sitting with eyes closed and legs crossed on the table. He continuously absorbs the universe’s holy energy, changes it into internal energy and channels it into the dantian. Soon afterwards, the internal energy disperses and goes away in all directions. But Qin Yu’s trained muscles still absorb it nonstop like a hungry and thirsty traveller on the road.
After a night, Qin Yu opens his eyes.
‘Just as I thought, when the training load increases, the amount of internal energy absorbed by the muscles also increases. Today the amount of internal energy absorbed is about a fifth of the total.’ Qin Yu’s face is full of excitement. His internal energy disperses very fast. Most of it disperses into the air and only a very small part is absorbed. It is already a very high proportion that he can absorb a fifth of the total at the moment.
Qin Yu suddenly gets up. He immediately feels that his whole body is full of power.
As the internal energy is absorbed into the flesh, it greatly heightens the potential of the flesh.
‘A new day has come. Let’s continue training,’ smiles Qin Yu, then dashes out of the room.
……
Training day after day, Qin Yu’s body has also been changing quietly. As his age increases, he has reached puberty!
Puberty,
This is the stage during which the human body develops at a very fast speed physically.
Immediately, Qin Yu’s appetite increases greatly, enabling his various bodily functions to improve even faster. The whole year from age 10 to age 11 was the year during which Qin Yu progressed the most in the last 3 years of training. During this year, his bones grew and his muscles developed. Moreover, the amount of internal energy his flesh absorbed increased a lot every day.
Qin Yu is 11 now. He has reached about 1.6 m in height. His overall power can be said to have increased exponentially.
On the training ground, Qin Yu, dressed in black training clothes, sits down at his convenience, taking a very rare break.
Because he is wearing training clothes, just by looking at him, basically no one can tell that he is wearing two 10 jin arm guards on his arms, two 20 jin leg guards on his legs and a 40 jin undershirt. All in all, he is carrying 100 jin. However, to Qin Yu who has gone through 3 years of limit training, this is simply nothing.
‘This puny strength is still very far from alright.’ As soon as Qin Yu remembers the 8 external experts at that time, he feels he himself is sadly lacking in power. That Man Dong could lift 800 jin with one arm and carry 1000 jin easily with his whole body. Compared to him, Qin Yu is indeed much weaker.
However, Qin Yu forgets that he has only been training for 3 years. If he had not discovered the fantastic effects of internal practice after Zhao Yunxing left, it would have taken him a minimum of 6 or 7 years to reach his current level. Moreover, the path which Qin Yu takes is different from those of the other external experts.
To assess a body, not only does one need to look at strength, he also needs to look at many other things such as flexibility, toughness, agility, explosiveness, attack resistance, and so on.
Qin Yu’s strength is weaker than Man Dong’s. But in terms of speed alone, that wild man Man Dong is even inferior to Qin Yu because Qin Yu is extremely agile. Moreover, his body’s flexibility and toughness are also very good and far superior to ordinary external experts’.
How much water a wooden cask contains rests on its lowest plank rather than the highest. To keep a balance between different attributes is very important!
Qin Yu is sitting in a chair. At first glance, his whole body looks like that of a mighty leopard.
Thanks to 3 years of training, add to that his reaching puberty, Qin Yu is already 1.6 m tall now. He has also become a juvenile from a kid. Moreover, this is a juvenile who is even much more capable than ordinary adults. At the moment, this juvenile is contemplating.
‘Master said, in external practice, first I have to train until my body becomes perfect. Then I will learn different fighting techniques using this body. But close-quarters fighting techniques can’t be mastered in a mere day or two. I should start to learn them right now.’
Qin Yu’s eyes shine with wisdom.
For the last 3 years, he has read many medical books and other books in the study. The more books he read, the better his rationality became. And the way he considers a matter now is to the point. Thanks to that, he understands what Zhao Yunxing said at that time even more.
‘From now on, I’m going to use half of the daytime to train my body. During the other half I’m going to try to figure out my own offensive methods.’ Qin Yu suddenly stands up and leaves the training ground at once. He goes toward the study. His body is still carrying 100 jin of weights. During the 24 hours of a day, Qin Yu seems to never take off the weights, except when he has to take a bath.
The basics of a perfect body have already come into being. But how does he capitalize on this body to attack?
Zhao Yunxing has his own techniques. Qin Yu can certainly have his own custom-made techniques as well. Only the techniques which are created based on his body are the best, most powerful offensive techniques. What Qin Yu must do now is figure out this kind of offensive techniques!
End of b1c14.
B1C15: High-speed transformations (2)
As time goes by, except when Qin Yu trains, he spends most of his time trying to figure out the offensive techniques of his own. He determines to break down what he must do in order to figure out his offensive techniques into 3 aspects: body-maneuvering skill, close-quarters offence and weapons.
Body-maneuvering skill,
Body-maneuvering skill and defensive dodging are related. It is also connected to close-quarters offence, pursuit and fleeing. Qin Yu’s requirements for his body-maneuvering skill are as follows: quick like lightning, sensitive like a cunning hare. To do research for his body-maneuvering skill, he has to study the art of Qi Men Dun Jia, and study various other body-maneuvering skills.
Close-quarters offence,
During the course of his training, Qin Yu found that he is fond of challenging his limits and fond of being burning with excitement. Therefore when it was time for him to choose his way of offence, he chose to practice …… close-quarters combat! In close-quarters combat, life or death can be decided in a mere moment. It is extremely dangerous but also full of the passion of life.
Weapons!
Until now, Qin Yu has not decided his weapons of choice. Each of the 18 standard weapons such as the knife, the spear, and the staff has its own merits, but Qin Yu likes to use his own fists and legs even more. At least he still has not decided what weapons he is going to select.
In the study,
Qin Yu is reading a book with the name Book of Changes.
‘Oh, this chapter’s principles seem to … seem to be quite similar to the body-maneuvering skill Nine Appearances of the Cloud Dragon on page 3 of the Ancestral Dragon Art book,’ mumbles Qin Yu. Then he puts the book down and spontaneously starts to organize some knowledge he just acquired in his mind.
The principles of various body-maneuvering skills and of Qi Men Dun Jia continuously float through Qin Yu’s mind……
‘The composition of Liuyi, Sanqi, Bamen and Jiujing forms the circumstances of Qi Men. Bamen becomes Du, Shang, Jing3, Xiu, Sheng, Si, Jing1 and Kai. Qi Men Dun Jia is divided into Tianpan, Menpan and Dipan, which are called Sancai…’ Some most basic concepts of Qi Men Dun Jia start to take root in Qin Yu’s mind.
Even though they are the most basic ones, they are the foundation. Countless formation arts and escaping techniques have been developed from these principles.
Various mysterious, profound body-maneuvering skills are all more or less influenced by Qi Men Dun Jia.
Because Qin Yu practices external techniques, there is no internal energy in his body. Therefore, he cannot practice ordinary arts of lightness and body-maneuvering skills. He can only create a body-maneuvering skill for himself. The 68 internal secret books all have some internal-energy-based unarmed fighting techniques, knife techniques, body-maneuvering skills and so on.
Even the 28 external secret books also have various offensive techniques.
Like an ocean which contains the water of 100 rivers, Qin Yu reads all the various offensive techniques of the 96 internal and external secret books then combines them with the general principles of Qi Men Dun Jia and the Book of Changes which he already learned. Looking for some hidden essentials of his future body-maneuvering skill is exceptionally difficult but as soon as his body training is finished Qin Yu makes great efforts to research regardless of day or night.
……
To reach the peak of external techniques, it is vital to study the art of medicine. This is what Zhao Yunxing said on the first day he taught Qin Yu. At the moment Qin Yu is reading medical books. For the last 3 years, he has read many medical books and his knowledge has also increased greatly.
‘Every bit of strength and every attack must make the enemy pay the biggest price. If I make a chop at the opponent’s stomach, I’ll only hurt his stomach at best. But if the same chop hits the opponent’s throat, he’ll die.’
Qin Yu puts the book down. His eyes glitter.
The human body has various vital points. Qin Yu knows very well about the body’s joints, the intersection points of the channels and the movement paths of blood and energy. Attacking the vital points is to attack the crucial acupoints, to attack the physically weak parts, or to break the joints of the body using grappling techniques, and so on.
In short, Qin Yu’s offensive principles are: each and every bit of strength causes the heaviest damage and no amount of strength is wasted!
Each of his arms has only 100 jin of strength, but his offensive force must reach the offensive power level of experts with 200 jin of strength in one arm, or an even more formidable level!
To do this, he must try hard using various techniques -- using body-maneuvering skill; attacking vital points; taking advantage of the surroundings and time; taking advantage of the opponent’s psychological changes; and so on. Qin Yu is very confident because he has a body in which agility, explosiveness, flexibility, toughness and so on all exist in perfect harmony. Moreover, he also has various secret books he can consult.
At midday, on the training ground,
Various mechanical wooden dummies have been put on the training ground, forming a wooden dummy lane. This is the highest achievement of mechanics grand-masters. To fight through the wooden dummy lane is highly difficult. It is not something ordinary people can do. Today, Qin Yu decides to use the wooden dummy lane to practice his close-quarters offensive techniques.
Qin Yu is standing stock-still before the wooden dummy lane. Suddenly, he charges into it. A slight move in one part can affect the whole thing. Soon after he touches a wooden dummy, the other dummies in the lane all start to move. Qin Yu only has calmness in his eyes.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! ……
His hands, aimed directly at the wooden dummies’ joints, attack quickly like a flash. His legs mostly defend, but if an opportunity arises he breaks the wood in one kick. Qin Yu is moving very fast, but only because he is not carrying weights at the moment. Qin Yu knows very well that if he puts on those 100 jin of weights, he simply will not be able to defeat this wooden dummy lane.
Having taken off the 100 jin of weights, Qin Yu is surprisingly agile. But … there are too many wooden dummies in the wooden dummy lane. He is even hit in the head by a nearby wooden dummy. Soon after he gets hit, he is attacked several more times in quick succession. Qin Yu has no choice but to do a roll and run out of the lane immediately.
‘Not bad. Every wooden dummy’s joints are similar to the human body’s joints. Practicing this way is much more effective.’ Qin Yu’s eyes glitter. He charges into the wooden dummy lane again.
The wooden dummy lane is no more than a relatively easy training method in Qin Yu’s plan. There is still the higher-ranked copper dummy lane. The copper dummies, of course, are not only made of copper. Rather, they are wooden dummies with an outside layer made of copper and iron. In this way, obviously a copper dummy’s offence and defense both are stronger than a wooden dummy’s by a level.
……
Qin Yu has not determined what weapons he is going to use in the end. Late at night on the same day, in the secret room, Qin Yu is carefully reading the offensive techniques in every secret book. Most of them use the knife or the sword. A small number of them also use strange weapons.
‘Huh?’ Qin Yu suddenly opens an internal secret book. When he reaches the chapter about swordsmanship, there is a passage in it which catches his attention: ‘Even though our school’s Afterimage Sword is an assassination style of swordsmanship, in terms of close-quarters assassination swordsmanship, the number one is still the Yu Clan’s One Sword. It does not matter who the target is, assassin Yu Shi has never failed. In those days, this assassin was the legendary top assassin of the assassination organization Heavenly Net.’
Qin Yu is startled.
Heavenly Net -- Qin Yu has heard of this name. This is an extremely old assassination organization with a history longer than even a millennium. Its influence has spread throughout the whole Qian Long continent. Not even one of the 3 big dynasties on the Qian Long continent has a history as long as that of the Heavenly Net. This assassin Yu Shi was known by reputation as the legendary top assassin so his killing techniques must have been terribly good.
Suddenly --
Qin Yu’s eyes pop out of his head.
‘Yu Clan’s One Sword, Yu Clans’ One Sword, ah, the back side of page 3 of the Ancestral Dragon Art book seems to talk about it.’ Qin Yu read the Ancestral Dragon Art book carefully before. It has 3 gold pages. Nearly half of the contents are about an internal secret technique. Another half is about the body-maneuvering skill Nine Appearances of the Cloud Dragon, the unarmed fighting technique Flame Dragon Fist, and the sword technique Heaven-Splitting Ultimate Yang Sword. That so-called Yu Clan’s One Sword is only described a bit at the end so Qin Yu did not take much notice of it at that time.
Only now does he know that the obscure Yu Clans’ One Sword in the Ancestral Dragon Art book is actually the sword technique of the so-called legendary number one assassin.
The internal technique Ancestral Dragon Art absorbs the universe’s holy energy at an extremely high speed. Among various internal techniques, it is undoubtedly the number one. The body-maneuvering skill Nine Appearances of the Cloud Dragon, the unarmed fighting technique Flame Dragon Fist, and the sword technique Heaven-Splitting Ultimate Yang Sword are all terrifyingly formidable but to practice them requires practicing the Ancestral Dragon Art in coordination. Therefore Qin Yu can only see them without practicing.
Opening the last page, Qin Yu finally looks at the piece of information about the Yu Clan’s One Sword.
‘Ah, I didn’t think that it even had the practice method of the Yu Clan’s One Sword.’ Qin Yu’s eyes brighten as he goes into ecstasies. No one could have thought that there would be the practice method of the Yu Clan’s One Sword in the Ancestral Dragon Art book. Qin Yu immediately starts reading carefully. But the more he reads, the paler he looks. In the end, he even looks a bit pasty.
End of b1c15.
B1C16: High-speed transformations (3)
The Yu Clan's One Sword is an extremely cruel sword technique. This technique has only been passed down in the Yu clan. But for some unknown reason, it is also seen in the book of the Ancestral Dragon Art.
In every generation of the Yu clan, all the male newborns are considered heirs apparent of the Yu Clan's One Sword. When the children have just been born, their appearances are spoiled. Worse still, the Yu clan then secretly orders its servants to take each child to a slum separately.
The child will be tormented by the servant, add to that he will be discriminated against due to his disfigurement, and he will suffer all kinds of unfriendliness in the world. His disposition will change to an extent where he will extremely detest the world. When he grows up, the Yu clan will bring him back. He will be taught internal techniques, depending on his specialty. At the same time, he will undergo special training to learn the Yu Clan's One Sword.
The special training is very simple -- training to kill people. In the beginning, the clan will train its heirs apparent with corpses, letting these candidates stab the corpses in the vital points nonstop with their short swords. Each corpse will be stabbed into minced flesh but only when it has gone completely rotten will it be thrown away. After they can hit the enemy’s vital points easily with eyes closed, they will continuously carry out missions.
The Yu Clan's One Sword kills in one hit. It has only 2 moves altogether -- conceal the sword, draw the sword.
If the sword of a Yu Clan's One Sword user is not drawn, nothing will happen. But as soon as it is drawn, it will surely kill.
Simple, very simple, extremely simple, yet it is called the number one assassination sword technique.
‘Getting disfigured in infancy, then getting tormented, getting discriminated against continuously, unloved and unsupported by anyone, becoming associated with corpses every day after growing up, stabbing corpses into minced flesh nonstop until they are rotten. This kind of sword technique is really too twisted and disgusting.’ Qin Yu’s expression is very unpleasant to look at.
As soon as he thinks about the disfigurement of the babies and the use of corpses in training, Qin Yu feels very disgusted with this so-called Yu Clan's One Sword. Training assassins in this way really is too twisted.
‘The murderous air, is the most freakish and shocking thing that the Yu clan’s heirs possess!’
The Ancestral Dragon Art book’s last judgment on the Yu Clan's One Sword makes Qin Yu startled. After thinking for a while, Qin Yu totally understands why the Yu Clan's One Sword is so fearsome and why it is called the number one assassination sword technique.
Qin Yu’s expression is full of astonishment: ‘Formidable, formidable, the planner of the Yu Clan's One Sword training is really too formidable. Those babies are disfigured in infancy so they have completely warped minds. When they grow up, they train by stabbing corpses and stay close to corpses every day. Eventually, they carry out missions nonstop. Babies of this kind have savageness at the bottoms of the hearts from childhood. When they stay close to corpses every day later, the savageness increases terrifyingly. When they kill someone, just by having an outburst of savageness at that moment they can greatly discompose the opponents.’
Qin Yu takes 2 deep breaths and calms down.
Because Qin Yu is usually alone, he is in the habit of pondering over some matters.
‘This Yu Clan's One Sword is called the number one assassination sword technique because of 2 reasons. First is, the user has to cultivate a terrifying air of savageness. Second is, the sword is drawn in the simplest manner.’ Qin Yu concludes to himself, ‘The savageness that is cultivated at the bottom of his heart from childhood will become utterly terrifying in his adulthood. When he kills someone, that air of savageness will probably discompose the opponent greatly. At the right moment, drawing the sword extremely fast, he can kill the enemy in one hit.’
The Yu Clan's One Sword has only 2 moves: Concealing Sword and Drawing Sword.
This is very noteworthy. Concealing Sword is to make people unable to feel the existence of the sword. Drawing Sword is to make people simply unable to react. At the same time the enemy must be killed in one hit. No error is allowed.
‘Cultivating that terrifying aura is to increase the certainty of success when drawing the sword. Actually, without that terrifying aura, the Yu Clan's One Sword is still a formidable assassination sword technique!’ Qin Yu praises it highly in his mind. This Concealing Sword, Drawing Sword process is very simple but it is incomparably refined.
However, Qin Yu knows: without that fearsome air of savageness, the Yu Clan's One Sword is only a relatively formidable assassination sword technique and cannot be called the number one assassination sword technique.
‘I don’t want to be warped like that. But the so-called Concealing Sword, Drawing Sword of the Yu Clan's One Sword totally tickles my fancy.’ Qin Yu is very excited, ‘In normal situations, I’ll conceal the sword and engage in close-quarters combat. But when I have no choice, I’ll draw the sword. Alright, my weapon is going to be a short sword.’
Using fists and legs to fight is what Qin Yu likes the most.
Qin Yu selects the short sword because it is also used in close-quarters combat. The moment the sword is drawn, it can directly take the enemy’s life. Life or death to be decided in a moment -- Qin Yu loves this kind of passion-burning, blood-boiling fighting method.
In close-quarters combat, he will tear the enemy’s muscles apart and distort their bones, or attack their vital points with his fists.
The hand can become a fist, a claw, a palm, a chopper…
The leg can become a whip, a knife, a stick, an ax…
‘Close-quarters combat is the most exciting thing.’ Qin Yu looks at a wooden dummy which were created based on the entire human skeleton before him. Immediately, he changes his hands into claws and tears a couple joints of the dummy into pieces in one grab. At the same time, his hands move like illusions, and in just a moment, all the joints of the wooden dummy have been completely shattered into tiny bits.
……
In the hot spring in the west garden,
Qin Yu is strolling in the water like a wandering dragon. At the same time he punches continuously. Other people can even see the unceasing blurs of his fists under water. Qin Yu’s punching speed is extremely fast.
After nearly 3 years of training, Qin Yu has almost grasped the characteristics of water. When in water, he can make use of its forces. Water basically cannot become a hindrance to him. When in water, Qin Yu is like a fish, very difficult to hold.
‘Xiao Yu.’ Lian Yan enters the west garden with a smiling expression.
Bang!
Qin Yu suddenly takes a leap. He unexpectedly gets out of the water directly. As soon as his hands are propped up against the ground, he does a flip and falls onto the ground in a beautiful manner.
‘Grandpa Lian.’ Qin Yu goes toward Lian Yan while laughing. Suddenly … a gust of wind blows onto his body. He unconsciously makes a swinging movement with his body, and all of a sudden he unexpectedly appears beside Lian Yan. This speed was terrifyingly fast. Lian Yan cannot help being shocked.
Qin Yu’s eyes suddenly glitter with astonishment. His whole body stands stock-still as if he has been struck by lightning.
‘Just now, just now …’
Qin Yu is extremely amazed by what has just happened. When he was in the water, he tried every means to make use of its forces to increase his speed. After he got out of the water just a moment ago, when the wind reached him, he was thinking about Lian Yan, so he unconsciously acted as if he was still in the water -- he once again attempted to make use of ‘water’s forces,’ but in fact it was the wind.
‘Water resistance, wind resistance, air resistance … actually they are all resistance, except that water resistance is much stronger. I can make use of water’s forces then why can’t I make use of the wind’s forces to prevent strong winds from becoming a hindrance when I’m moving fast?!’
Qin Yu gets even more excited.
‘Xiao Yu, you…’ Seeing this situation, Lian Yan is startled. Qin Yu simply does not look up. He waves his hands and says: ‘Grandpa Lian, let’s talk later.’ As he is saying, he totally immerses himself into his enlightenment. He shuts his eyes completely.
He uses his body to feel the wind’s resistance even more clearly.
Speed!
In the end, how fast can a person be? When running at normal speeds, he feels as if there is no wind resistance. But when dashing at very high speeds, the faster he goes, the stronger the resistance he experiences. And when he reaches top speed, the air resistance reaches a shocking level.
‘If I even consider these kinds of resistance to be assistance rather than hindrances, then how fast will I be?’ Thinking about this matter, Qin Yu immediately has a goal. This period of time, he has always been searching for his own body-maneuvering skill. At this moment, Qin Yu suddenly understands that this is perhaps the way for his body-maneuvering skill.
He closes his eyes and slowly walks about to feel the wind’s resistance, just like how he felt water resistance in the water before.
But air resistance and wind resistance are obviously weaker than water resistance. It is much harder to go along with the forces of the wind. However, Qin Yu has previous experience with water, so at this moment he is learning about the wind through feeling much faster than normal. At the same time, he consciously combines the principles of Qi Men Dun Jia with his knowledge of the wind.
……
Day after day,
Enduring the water pressure under the waterfall, long-distance running while carrying weights, training the finger strength, reaction training in the sandbag formation, training the body’s toughness with wooden sticks … practicing close-quarters combat in the wooden dummy lane, practicing the Yu Clan's One Sword on a model of the human body, through feeling developing the body-maneuvering skill which makes use of wind’s and air’s forces …
Absorbing internal energy to enhance the flesh’s solidity, toughness and potential,
As Qin Yu’s appetite is redoubled, his bones and flesh also transform at very high speeds. Qin Yu, who is experiencing his period of bodily growth, uses several near perfect forms of limit training to enable his own body to quickly approach a state of perfect harmony. His overall power also increases at very high speeds.
His body-maneuvering skill is also nearing completion. The air resistance and wind resistance he experiences when he moves at his top speed has become increasingly smaller.
……
In the mansion of East Vanquishing Prince in Tiefeng City,
Qin De is looking at a military map on the wall. The map has various markings of different colors. The 3 Eastern region counties are black and the other regions of the Chu kingdom are red. As Qin De is looking at the military map, his eyes radiate killing intent. Every day he looks at this map while standing still for nearly 4 hours.
‘Your Highness, there is a message from Misty Villa.’ Black-clad Xu Yuan arrives.
Hearing the words ‘Misty Villa,’ Qin De finally shifts his attention away from the map. He turns his head and says unenthusiastically: ‘Say it, what’s the message?’
Xu Yuan immediately replies: ‘Your Highness, the message says that the 3 internal experts who have been specifically protecting Xiao Yu in secret according to your order at that time have decided to return to the army.’
Qin De cannot help feeling doubtful. He knows those 3 people very well. Even though they are only Houtian experts, when working together, their offensive force is very powerful. Moreover, they are very loyal and absolutely do not dare to disobey his orders at will.
‘Say, what’s the reason?’ asks Qin De in a cold voice.
Xu Yuan takes a look at the letter in his hand again. With a strange expression he says: ‘The letter says, Your Highness originally sent these 3 internal experts to secretly protect Xiao Yu. But, but…’ Saying to here, Xu Yuan seems to have something he cannot express.
‘In the end what’s the reason? Quickly say it!’ asks Qin De while staring at Xu Yuan.
With a strange expression Xu Yuan can only say: ‘Your Highness, this letter says, you chose the 3 internal experts, but now they basically can’t keep up with Xiao Yu’s movement speed, therefore they have no way to protect Xiao Yu secretly.’
‘What? Can’t keep up? How is it possible?’ Even if Qin De was calmer, at this moment his eyes would still pop out of his head.
This year, Qin Yu just turned 12.
End of b1c16.