Overcome with joy, Li Xing
left the cabin after breakfast.
Instead of heading toward town, Li Xing followed the road northwest of the cabin and the highlands.
When he reached a stone bridge,
Li Xing stopped.
Looking at the house across the bridge, he said, "So that's Old Turner's house! Isn't it pretty nice!"
From a distance, the house across the bridge was a two-story building that ran east to west. Although it had no enclosed yard, the campfire outside the door and the benches beside it showed that Old Turner's family treated the area outside the house as their yard!
"Come to think of it, Little Jerry's family is the only one living somewhere this remote. It doesn't matter whether they have a yard or not!"
As Li Xing talked to himself, he noticed the door of the house across the bridge open.
Old Turner emerged from the house, stretching his back and loosening up his body every now and then.
Old Turner walked around in front of his house to loosen up, and before long, he noticed Li Xing standing on the other side of the bridge.
When Li Xing saw that Old Turner had spotted him, he waved a greeting from afar.
But then he saw the man walk straight toward him.
After a short wait, Old Turner arrived in front of him.
"Young man, why don't you come across the bridge and visit my home? I'm always happy to have guests."
Li Xing politely declined. "No, thanks, Brother Turner. I was just passing by and wanted to go down by the bridge, take it easy, and have a cold bath!"
As the weather grew warmer, the well water was too icy.
So Li Xing had thought of taking a cold bath in the river by town.
"Oh! The water here isn't shallow. It's about five or six meters deep. I don't usually let Little Jerry come near it, so if you're going in for a swim, make sure you're prepared!"
Old Turner warned him.
"Thanks for the warning, but I want to try out the 'Miracle' I just comprehended!"
Then Old Turner watched as Li Xing stripped off his clothes and leaped naked from the bridge!
Watching Li Xing act so recklessly, Old Turner was a little worried for a moment.
He went to the edge of the bridge and shouted down.
"Li Xing, how are you? Are you all right?"
Li Xing's head appeared above the water.
He shouted back to Old Turner,
"I'm fine! The water down here is clear, and the current's gentle. It's very comfortable to swim in!"
"You scared me to death! I'm glad you're all right!"
Old Turner breathed a sigh of relief.
Watching Li Xing swim below, Old Turner reflected, Young people these days really know how to have fun! I've lived here so long, so why didn't I ever think of trying this?
In fact, for Li Xing, the dive was also something of a test. His body had developed anew, and the strength he now possessed was simply incomparable to what it had been before.
He could clearly sense and feel himself growing stronger day by day, and it seemed he was even stronger than Captain Shi Aimin, who had been enhanced in one go with an injection.
The moment Li Xing hit the water,
Just as I thought, this kind of impact doesn't hurt my body anymore! Li Xing thought, while his mind recalled the time he had recklessly charged off a three-meter diving platform.
As the cool river water washed over Li Xing's body, the intense desire brought on by his body's renewed development also flowed away with the river to who knew where.
Once he felt he had finished washing, Li Xing called to Uncle Turner, who was watching from the bridge.
"Uncle, move aside. I'm coming up!"
Old Turner heard him. "Move aside? What for?"
Li Xing's figure suddenly vanished from the water.
Then an afterimage leaped out of the water and landed beside Old Turner.
The sight scared Old Turner witless!
Trembling, he said, "What was that? Is that the 'Miracle' you said you'd just comprehended?!"
"That's right, Old Turner."
As Li Xing got dressed, he grinned broadly and said, "This is the 'Miracle' I, Li Xing, just comprehended! It's called 'Gale Leap'!"
"Gale Leap!"
Still astonished, Old Turner looked at the distance between the bridge and the water.
He murmured, "Can it be taught? No, can I learn it?"
Li Xing smiled. "If you want to learn, that's possible! But I plan to teach these things to students after the academy is built. I still have quite a few things to take care of lately. Once I'm done with them, it should be about time!"
"So you really are going to teach the townspeople what you know for free, Li Xing!"
"Don't say that, Brother Turner! How is it free? The people who come to learn will all have contributed to building the academy! Those from outside town can come learn too.
"They just have to pay!"
Old Turner: ...
What's gotten into him? Yesterday he was going on and on about teaching his knowledge to those who came after him. How has he changed his tune today? Old Turner pondered, glancing at the water beneath the stone bridge.
"Don't tell me that bath in the river woke you up!"
Had Li Xing woken up? In a sense, he had. After what had happened yesterday, Li Xing had been forced to face a very important question: what kind of life did he want to lead?
Having experienced society before transmigrating, Li Xing clearly understood that ideals were a luxury. Even being a so-called idealist depended on having one's material needs met first.
Only when his material needs were met could he pursue his own "superstructure."
So, after the Turner brothers had laughed at him,
Li Xing no longer forced himself to pay for his ideals simply because he had transmigrated.
"I have to make a living, don't I, Brother Turner!"
Old Turner: ...
Damn, why do I feel like I've done something wrong? At that moment, Old Turner suddenly felt a little uneasy for some reason.
Seeing Brother Turner's complicated expression, Li Xing reassured him.
"Don't worry, Brother Turner! I'll definitely teach you! Not only will I teach you this Miracle, I'll teach Little Jerry too.
"But first, everyone in town needs to help me build the academy on the highlands. Only then will I have a place to teach, right?"
"Right, right, right!"
After a brief chat with Old Turner and an agreement, Li Xing turned and said,
"I'll leave it at that, Brother Turner. I still have to help out at the smithy later! I'll be going now."
Seeing Li Xing dressed and ready to leave,
Old Turner said, "All right, then..."
Before he could finish, Li Xing vanished from where he stood.
The next second, an afterimage appeared at the edge of the cliff in the highlands.
Li Xing stood at the cliff's edge and shouted,
"Brother Turner, I'm off!"
Old Turner tilted his head back and watched Li Xing wave from above!
Old Turner reflected,
"It hasn't been that long, and I'm already Brother Turner again! Congratulations on getting stronger, Brother Li Xing!" Old Turner murmured to himself.
Looking at the flowing water beneath the bridge, Old Turner thought of Li Xing's sudden change.
"Big brother! Did we do something wrong?"
The river beneath the stone bridge flowed on as before. The freshly risen sun reflected off its blue surface, making it appear even clearer and brighter. Everything was as it had always been, the scenery unchanged.
On the highlands,
thanks to Gale Leap, Li Xing headed straight across the highlands toward the cabin. It greatly shortened the time it took to travel between the stone bridge by Jerry's house and his cabin.
And so, with Gale active, Li Xing returned to the cabin at tremendous speed.
"It looks like mastering Wind Walk lets me quickly recover what I expend using skills."
In plain terms, his recovery outpaced his consumption.
After getting ready,
Li Xing locked the door, took the scabbard, and set off for the center of town.
Destination: the smithy in the town center! Forward!
Then Li Xing used Wind Walk and raced toward the town center.
A fierce gust of wind blew past,
and a figure suddenly appeared on the street in the town center.
That dashing figure, that handsome face, that smooth glide—
they drew bursts of cheers from the young women and the uncles and aunties around him.
Only the man himself knew the price of that dashing glide!
That's right, it was the shoes on his feet.
Their soles had come unglued!
From the first paycheck after his graduation to his first time mastering a skill after transmigrating, this pair of TOO BE NO.1 casual shoes had witnessed Li Xing's transformation from an ordinary worker into a transmigrator.
After so many years of hardship, they had finally fulfilled their purpose.
As a result, their owner arrived at the smithy where he was apprenticing, taking awkward little shuffling steps like a clown.
Inside the smithy,
Uncle Turner saw Li Xing's strange way of walking and voiced his curiosity.
"What happened to you? Did you hurt your butt? Why are you walking so awkwardly?"
Li Xing sat down on a guest chair and waved a hand.
"It's nothing, Uncle. My shoes broke, so I can't walk normally."
"Weren't you wearing hunting boots last night? Why did you change back?"
Li Xing said helplessly,
"I couldn't help it. It's too hot. They made my feet feel stuffy and uncomfortable!"
"What are you going to do, then? Want to use mine?"
Uncle Turner made the suggestion with the air of someone ready to enjoy the show.
Li Xing shook his head helplessly, indicating there was no need.
He thought, Uncle, why have you started teasing me too?
After thinking for a moment,
Li Xing asked Uncle Turner for two lengths of rope and a smooth, treated wooden board. He took out his tool hammer and used a full set of Void Creation hammer techniques.
Before long, he had made a pair of wooden clogs.
He took off his shoes and socks and put on the clogs.
"Hmm! Just right. They'll do for now!"
Uncle Turner watched Li Xing make a pair of shoes out of wood.
After getting up and taking two steps, Li Xing also hopped a few times.
Uncle Turner murmured, "Every time I see your 'Miracle,' I find it incredible!"
Looking at Li Xing's satisfied smile, Old Turner raised a question.
"Can you work in those wooden shoes? If they really won't do, go find a suitable pair of shoes at Aniekra's!"
Li Xing took Uncle Turner's advice and agreed.
"True! How about I leave a little later today? I'll go get a pair of boots first!"
"No need. There should be a suitable pair of boots there. Just go there and take a pair!"
After hearing that, Li Xing hurried to his feet and gave Uncle Turner an OK sign.
"Got it! I'll go right over. Wait for me a little while, Uncle."
Just as Li Xing was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something!
"Damn!
"I think I forgot about Little Jerry!"