One morning, three months later, Tiger Girl woke from her dream and looked at Ye Lang, who was still asleep before her. A faint smile appeared on her face. Was it happiness? No one could say for sure—perhaps not even she herself knew why she was smiling.
Tiger Girl's little tail swayed, tracing across Ye Lang's body as she caused a little mischief...
After that, she carefully slipped out of Ye Lang's embrace. She did not want to wake him, though she knew that when he slept, he was like a dead pig—no amount of calling could wake him unless he woke up on his own.
Still, his daily routine was fairly steady and regular. He usually went to sleep around ten at night and got up around five or six in the morning.
As usual, after Tiger Girl prepared breakfast and such, she began practicing martial arts in the courtyard. However, unlike three months ago, her moves had changed somewhat.
Her style was still as fierce as ever, broad and sweeping, yet there were now traces of an exceedingly subtle softness within it. It was this softness that made her moves more complete. Not only did it not make her seem weaker, it instead made her appear even more powerful and fierce.
The path of utmost hardness and pure yang, the sort that drove a sword toward extremes, was not suitable for Tiger Girl. Though she possessed inborn divine strength, she was still a girl, and there was a gentle side to her nature. Adding the slightest hint of yin softness would instead make her better.
However, that yin softness truly was only the tiniest trace. Unless one was an expert, one simply could not see the mystery within. They would only feel that Tiger Girl's moves were overwhelmingly domineering, worthy indeed of a woman of the Tiger Clan.
And that tiny bit had not come from Tiger Girl suddenly attaining enlightenment. It came from the guidance of an expert—an expert whose mind contained the entire Martial Arts Treasury. Though he had not mastered every martial skill, he had studied the strengths and weaknesses of all kinds of martial arts, and could spot another person's flaws at a glance.
Having been with Tiger Girl for so long, he had long since become familiar with her martial arts beyond familiarity. He knew her strengths and weaknesses like the back of his hand, and immediately began experimentally guiding and correcting her.
Through his experiments, he confirmed that the martial arts of this continent were powerful. No, they should be called extraordinarily powerful. So many years of inheritance and refinement had developed their martial arts to an unimaginable level. Therefore, if he wanted to rely on the martial arts within the Martial Arts Treasury to become invincible under heaven, it would by no means be easy.
That was the truth. For anyone to become invincible under heaven was no easy matter. Even for a heaven-sent genius, even with countless extraordinary encounters, becoming the number one person under heaven would still not be easy.
The martial path had always been a grueling road. No matter how many trump cards one held, it would never be simple.
Ye Lang understood this principle. He would cultivate bit by bit, improve himself bit by bit, and advance toward the goal of becoming invincible under heaven.
In truth, he did not want to be invincible under heaven. He merely wanted to possess absolute self-preservation ability. This was only one of his strategies. He needed to set his goal a little higher, so that he would keep working hard and would not slack off.
This was one of his little life tricks, and of course, it was also many people's. If one wanted to score eighty points, one had to set the goal at one hundred.
He was currently cultivating Internal Energy and martial arts. From the day he recovered his memories, he had already begun cultivating.
Although this body needed to start all over again, he had already experienced cultivation once before, so his progress this time was extremely fast. Three months were enough to equal the three years he had spent before. Back then, much of his time had been spent learning and feeling his way through the dark.
Still, at this level, he had at most gained the ability to protect himself. He could not yet swagger around before others. Besides, he believed one should keep a low profile, so there was no possibility of swaggering anyway. Of course, that was only in terms of martial arts; in other areas, there was no guarantee.
Nor did he choose to cultivate magic and Battle Qi at the same time, becoming some impressive dual cultivator of magic and martial arts. He only cultivated Ancient Martial Arts and Internal Energy.
For one thing, he did not want to divide his attention. He remembered a saying left behind by an ancestor of the Martial Arts Treasury: greed for too much leaves one unable to chew it; one must proceed step by step.
For another, he understood that whether it was Battle Qi, magic, or Internal Energy, they were essentially the same thing. All cultivated oneself and brought forth the body's potential. The difference was that Battle Qi emphasized cultivation of the physical body, while magic focused on the spirit. As for Internal Energy, in his words, it could also be considered a type of Battle Qi, only more delicate, cultivating even the meridians.
Of course, that was only the general situation. In his terms, most Battle Qi belonged to external techniques, a small portion belonged to Internal Energy techniques, and an extremely small portion cultivated both inside and out. Yet without exception, none of them cultivated the meridians.
Beyond those reasons, there was another, most important and most obvious reason: his body possessed no Talent Attribute whatsoever. Whether he cultivated Battle Qi or magic, he would receive no bonus from it. That was no better than cultivating Internal Energy, which likewise received no Talent Attribute bonus.
These were Ye Lang's thoughts. Yet sometimes, the course of events could become very strange. Even he himself probably could not have imagined what he would become by the end of his cultivation. Only by walking forward step by step could he learn the outcome. There might be twists and turns, detours, and obstacles along the way, but he had long since prepared himself for them.
Without that resolve, he would have no need to cultivate at all. He could simply remain his Prodigal Son, and his life would not see much turmoil. But once he lost the Ye Clan's protection, he would have no ability to protect himself.
As for Ye Lang's martial arts, no one would know of them even many years later. It was not because he wished to conceal anything, but because his achievements in another field were rather outstanding. There was simply no need for him to reveal his martial arts, and that too was something he had never expected.
To him, it seemed somewhat like planting willows without intent, only to find shade beneath them. Others would learn of it only many years later. For now, Ye Lang merely kept a low profile, acting as a very ordinary Prodigal Son, a minor young dandy. No one knew what abilities he truly possessed, because they never had the chance to see him display them—and he could not be bothered to show them off.
On a whim today, I'd like to recommend Xiao Xiao's old books, including, of course, those that ended badly or stopped updating. Xiao Xiao actually still likes those two books very much, and may fill them in if there is a chance!
Also, Alchemy Frenzy had already been published in traditional Chinese back in October, one step ahead of the electronic edition. Its results were fairly good. Barring any surprises, it should run for one or two million characters, perhaps even more, so brothers and sisters, please do not worry about the issues mentioned above...
Lastly, give me some recommendation votes. The ratio of clicks to recommendations is looking a little unbalanced...
Before you continue