Jiang Manzi

However, the drought did not affect you much, and over these years you made quite a bit of black money through your side hustle as a petty thief.

Your thievery technique had already reached the pinnacle, and you even wanted to apply for a patent to protect it.

Sometimes you distributed the stolen money to the poor, and all sorts of legends about you stealing from the rich to help the poor already circulated throughout the jianghu.

Your brothers in the underworld even gave you a nickname, calling you the Flying Giant Cockroach.

Although you felt it did not sound very pleasant, it was somewhat of a recognition nonetheless, so you accepted this moniker.

You had no choice but to accept it, because the other nicknames sounded even more fucking terrible.

The brothers in the jianghu had been out making a living on the streets from a very early age, and none of them had ever studied or could read.

Do you have any idea how hard the older brothers tried just to come up with this nickname for you?

This major drought had a huge impact on ordinary people, scorching the earth for a thousand miles and leaving starving refugees everywhere.

Miao Jiayao's family ran out of food as well, and the whole family was in a precarious state.

Wei Xia came to beg you to give their family some food.

Over a dozen years, the hardships of poor living had completely worn away Wei Xia's innocence, transforming her into an ordinary peasant woman.

The tiny spark of extravagant hope she once held in her heart for you had long been manually snuffed out by her own hands.

Wei Xia was so starved that her face was sunken and unrecognizable, while Miao Jiayao and the old couple huddled in the corner of the bed, too starved for their eyeballs even to move.

You, who were wholly focused on cultivation, had no idea that this family had reached such a plight.

Why didn't you come to call for me sooner! Your tone carried a hint of heaviness.

After more than a decade of getting along, you had already regarded this family as friends.

Wei Xia kept her head lowered and dared not speak.

You used your true qi to impart a breath of life to their family, giving them the strength to eat on their own.

After the family ravenously devoured the food you brought, they knelt before you in tears, thanking you for saving their lives.

You left behind enough wealth for them and returned to your small courtyard to continue your cultivation.

Without the assistance of Qi and Blood Pills, you could only cultivate through medicinal baths and heavy tonics—such primitive, slash-and-burn methods.

Although the progress was slow, you were making headway nonetheless, and you could feel that you were on the verge of a breakthrough.

You decided to simply do your best and leave the rest to time.

The fifteenth year

The drought of this year had already passed.

Early one morning, peach blossoms drifted down in profusion.

You engaged in your early morning cultivation with the unwavering steadfastness of a ticking clock.

When the first ray of sunlight shone upon you, your pupils suddenly snapped open. You broke through.

You broke through to the Skin Refinement Late Stage.

The true qi within your body smashed through the barrier, abruptly increasing fivefold.

Thunderous rumbles echoed within your body.

Your physical strength broke through to one thousand two hundred catties.

The Cloud Stepping Gait broke through at the same time, and its proficiency reached the consummation level.

The Cloud Stepping Gait had been pushed by you to its absolute limit; with your left foot stepping on your right foot, you could vault over a dozen meters high.

No courtyard wall, no matter how tall, could stop you.

On this day, Miao Jiayao and Wei Xia came to find you with broad smiles.

They told you that Wei Xia was finally pregnant.

You felt extremely puzzled. Clearly Miao Jiayao lacked reproductive capability, so how could Wei Xia have gotten pregnant?

You asked Wei Xia how she became pregnant, and Miao Jiayao said they prayed to the Child-Giving Guanyin at Xuanming Temple thirty miles away, and that was how they conceived.

You asked if they had let Wei Xia stay overnight at the temple.

Miao Jiayao said happily that they did.

He also said that because both husband and wife were devout, Wei Xia staying overnight moved the Child-Giving Guanyin.

Some couples lacked sincerity and prayed many times without receiving the blessing of the Guanyin Bodhisattva.

While Miao Jiayao was saying this, Wei Xia kept her head lowered.

You knew this child was actually the seed of a monk in the temple or an incense-offering pilgrim; there were relevant historical records of such things even in the ancient times of your past life.

However, looking at Miao Jiayao's heartfelt, honest smile and Wei Xia who kept her head bowed beside him, you did not voice this matter out loud.

There was no need to interfere with the lifestyle they had chosen for themselves.

In the sixteenth year, the son of Miao Jiayao and Wei Xia was born.

On the very same day, that old couple finally laid their regrets to rest and passed away one after the other.

New birth and death often represented two sides of the same coin.

Miao Jiayao and Wei Xia asked you to choose a name for their son.

You shook your head and said smugly, This child is a gift bestowed upon you by the heavens, so let's call him Miao Liwu!

The couple was very happy. "Young Master He, does this name have any special meaning?"

"It means that the child will understand the law and know propriety, carrying heavy loads through great virtue."

You were actually able to quote a four-character idiom, making the couple think you were truly impressive.

They hoped Miao Liwu would also grow up to be a clever, educated person just like you.

The twentieth year

"Miao Liwu, you absolute moron!!"

"It's been three days, and you still can't tell the difference between 'big' and 'too'!"

You were currently teaching five-year-old Miao Liwu how to read, and you were so enraged that you cursed loudly.

Miao Liwu was truly as dim-witted as a pig, failing to learn a single character after several days.

He made you so hot-headed with anger that even your urine turned a scorched yellow.

Right while you were in the heat of anger, you suddenly felt a surge of true qi within your body.

You broke through.

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You broke through because you were angered by Miao Liwu.

You were utterly speechless.

You accidentally entered the Skin Refinement Peak realm.

Your flesh and blood received reinforcement, and your defensive and offensive powers were comprehensively enhanced.

Your physical strength reached two thousand four hundred catties.

The next realm would be Bone Tempering.

The Bone Tempering realm was basically the highest realm an ordinary person could reach.

You looked at Miao Liwu, who had mucus dripping from his nose as he ate a peach.

You felt that Miao Liwu wasn't quite so aggravating anymore.

You patted Miao Liwu on the head. "Good lad, you've got guts. Wait right here, I'll go get you a big braised chicken to eat!"

You went inside the house and brought out a glistening, oily big braised chicken.

"Thank you, Uncle Yu!"

Miao Liwu put down the peach in his hand and reached out to take the chicken.

He used his sleeve to smear the snot on his face from his left cheek all the way across to his right.

"Uncle Yu, you eat first!"

Miao Liwu tore off a large chicken leg and handed it to you.

You smiled, patted his head, took the chicken leg he handed you, and began to eat.

The twenty-first year

The peaches of this year ripened once more.

Six-year-old Miao Liwu ran over to your small courtyard right on schedule.

Miao Liwu frequently ran over to your place, and you also grew very fond of this bold, lively child.

Although Miao Liwu was a bit slow, his nature was pure and kind, making him very easy to like.

On this day, you were cultivating the martial path under the peach tree.

Miao Liwu climbed up the peach tree on his own to pick peaches to eat.

As he ate his peach, Miao Liwu stared in a daze at you, who were in the middle of cultivation.

After a short while.

Miao Liwu frowned. "Uncle Yu, I feel like my lower belly is burning."

You lifted him down from the tree.

With a brief sensing check, you discovered in astonishment that a wisp of true qi had appeared within Miao Liwu's body.

Miao Liwu had actually generated a wisp of true qi in his body simply by watching you cultivate, automatically entering the threshold of the martial path.

Holy shit! What kind of heaven-defying talent is this?

You were dumbfounded.

Miao Liwu sniffled his snot back and looked at you blankly. "Uncle Yu, am I sick?"

You pacified Miao Liwu and told him to go home.

You immediately went inside the house and began packing your luggage.

You knew you could no longer stay in Willow Tree Village; you had to leave.

With the emergence of someone with a martial talent this heaven-defying, Willow Tree Village would inevitably lose its peace.

According to convention, as the protagonist of this novel, you would undoubtedly get implicated.

Therefore, you packed your things overnight and fled.

You needed to find a new place to keep a low profile.

Before leaving, you went to see Miao Liwu one last time.

Over these past six years you had watched Miao Liwu grow up, and you had developed deep feelings for him.

You left behind a copy of the Spirit Serpent Spear Technique and a silver-gleaming long spear for him.

Finally, you even dug up the peach tree in your courtyard and transplanted it to Miao Liwu's home.

This kid loved eating the peaches borne by this tree the most.

You left Willow Tree Village.

Heading all the way west.

You traveled for more than a month.

Along the way you witnessed many different local customs and human sentiments.

You also encountered several gangs of highway petty thieves.

Before these petty thieves could even finish their robbery speeches, you hacked their pig-like brains to pieces.

At the Skin Refinement Peak realm, you were already an existence that ordinary people had to look up to.

Yet you did not grow arrogant or complacent.

Because you knew that further ahead, grandmasters would walk everywhere and beings at the Dragon Transformation Realm would be as common as dogs.

You arrived at a massive lake in the west that stretched as far as the eye could see.

This was Fragrant Moon Lake, and large and small villages were distributed along its shores.

Fragrant Moon Lake was very large, and the scenery was extremely beautiful; you decided to settle down here.

You found the village chief and bought a piece of land.

The village chief was very happy and enthusiastically introduced the place to you: "Young Master He, the folk customs in our Fragrant Moon Village are simple and honest, and the villagers love and care for one another. There has never been anything like fighting or brawling."

A villager rushed over frantically: "Village chief, Jiang Manzi broke someone's leg again!"

The village chief walked away awkwardly.

You later learned that Jiang Manzi was a twelve-year-old orphan with a towering physique and innate divine strength.

However, his brain did not work very well, and the villagers affectionately called him a big moron.

Whenever Jiang Manzi's mental condition acted up, he would beat people up and cause destruction. Since the villagers could not beat him in a fight, they could only hide from him.

Aside from Jiang Manzi, everyone else in Fragrant Moon Village was normal, so you decided to stay.

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