Wrathful Impact Heaven's Gate

Xu Yi moved with extreme slowness. Every move and stance was incomparably heavy. His body was like a bullock's—sometimes lowering its horns, sometimes raising its hooves, sometimes ramming trees!

Over and over, there were only three forms!

He trained for two full hours. Aside from occasionally stuffing a few inch-long black medicinal herbs into his mouth, he did not pause for even a moment.

Xu Yi's movements grew slower and slower, as though he were walking beneath a thousand-pound burden.

The blood and qi throughout his body raced faster and faster through his veins, burning ever more fiercely.

Suddenly, Xu Yi entered a mysterious state. There was no pain, no exhaustion. All his Essence, Qi, and Spirit were fixed upon the blood and qi galloping through his body.

Huff! Ha!

Drawing upon the last of his strength, Xu Yi unleashed another move of Wrathful Impact Heaven's Gate. His spine slammed fiercely against a pine tree as thick as a large bowl. With a crack, the towering pine snapped in response!

With a thud, Xu Yi collapsed facedown on the ground, limp as a prawn with its sinews pulled out, not a shred of strength left in his body. Yet boundless joy came surging forth like a great river pouring into the sea, vast and unending.

He clearly knew that his final strike just now had possessed at least the strength of one ox.

And the strength of one ox was one of the hallmarks of the Body Tempering Peak.

After catching his breath for a moment, Xu Yi sat up. He chopped sideways with his hand, and a piece of hardwood snapped at once. Gripping its sharpened end, he viciously slashed it across his arm. A long, deep white mark appeared on his skin, yet not a trace of blood emerged.

He swung his fist and smashed it hard into a millstone-sized boulder. The boulder exploded with a boom!

"Skin like oxhide! Bones like hard iron! The Body Tempering Peak truly lives up to its name!"

Xu Yi stared at his two fleshy palms and murmured.

The Body Tempering Stage strengthened blood and qi, tempered bones and skin. Once one trained until one's skin resembled Old Niu's hide, one's bones resembled hard iron, and one's strength exceeded that of one ox, one had achieved great mastery and entered the peak realm.

Having reached the Body Tempering Peak, however, Xu Yi did not dare linger in the forest.

His peak realm had only just been achieved. His most urgent task was to stabilize it.

He rushed back to his thatched hut as though flying, took out the precious medicinal herbs he had accumulated over the past two years—only a dozen or so low-grade Black Dragon Grass stalks—and held them between his palms. Sitting cross-legged in a bath barrel filled with boiling water, he calmed his mind and focused his spirit, quietly sensing the warmth in his palms spreading throughout his body.

The blood and qi that had previously scattered and boiled due to his newly attained realm gradually gathered under the pull of those threads of warmth, seeping bit by bit into his blood vessels and sinews.

By the time he rose, the clear water in the bath barrel had become murky beyond recognition. Examining his body closely, the lines that had been somewhat hard and rigid had returned to the softness they possessed before cultivation.

Yet astonishing power lay concealed within that softness!

After changing into clothes made of coarse cloth, Xu Yi took a wooden hairpin and secured his topknot. Looking down at his reflection in the water basin, he saw a lean, hard face and sharply defined features. He was very satisfied with this appearance.

Suddenly, his gaze settled upon two pieces of ginger on the broken wooden table, and his thoughts drifted away on the wind.

The utmost hardships of the six months since he had entered this world, the inhuman self-torment—scene after scene floated past his eyes like frames of film.

Over these six months, only he himself knew how much suffering he had endured.

Even he had never imagined that, out of fear of death, out of fear of dying silently and without a trace, his pleasure-seeking, work-shirking soul could erupt with such astonishing ruthlessness.

The two slices of ginger in his hand were what he used to dye his complexion yellow.

He could practice Martial Arts, but he absolutely could not reveal his achievements.

The Zhou Family would gladly watch a foolish donkey make a fool of itself with flashy but useless moves, but they would never allow a Martial Arts genius to grow!

Six months of treading on thin ice—hehe, it ended here!

With a flick of his hand, Xu Yi tossed out the two pieces of ginger. They traced an astonishing arc through the air and actually flew beyond his sight.

Bang! Bang!

The sound of wooden clappers came from afar. It was the Second Watch.

Xu Yi, who had stood before the window for a long while, moved.

He gently stroked the old yellow dog sleeping by the bed, reached beneath the low bed, and pulled out two roosters. Then he left the house and charged south into the mountain forest at high speed.

Huiyin Mountain was the only great mountain within Guang'an Prefecture. It stretched over ten thousand li from east to west and covered five thousand li from north to south, spanning three prefectures. Even within the vast territory of the Great Yue Dynasty, as boundless as a sea of sand, it possessed some small fame.

Huiyin Mountain at night was terrifying. Owls shrieked and ghosts wailed; one could not distinguish five fingers even with a hand held before one's face. Let alone traveling through the woods, merely standing in this forest for a moment would leave one chilled to the bone and uneasy all over.

Yet Xu Yi ignored the darkness and chill, precisely evading every great tree in his path as he raced onward. Along the way, he even encountered a giant python as thick as a water bucket, which launched a surprise attack by pouncing down from a towering tree.

But Xu Yi had long been prepared. He blasted a punch into the python's head, sending the thousand-pound beast flying backward into a tree. It was struck so senseless that it no longer dared pursue him.

His immense strength brought Xu Yi an incomparable sense of exhilaration. The forest wind howled, pulling his loose robes behind him like a banner.

After running for nearly the time it took an incense stick to burn, he had gone more than thirty li into the forest and stopped at the edge of a Yin Huai Forest.

Silently estimating the time, Xu Yi saw that it was nearing the Third Watch. He took three black incense sticks from his robes, lit them, and planted them in the soft earth at the forest's edge in a triangular formation.

Very soon, a dense cloud of black mist drifted out from the largest Yin Huai tree and took human form above the three incense sticks.

He had a high nose, deep-set eyes, and a burly frame. His enormous head was bald, while a string of rough prayer beads circled his neck. Every bead was as large as a chicken egg. He was a savage-looking foreign monk.

At the sudden sight of this horrifying transformation, Xu Yi was not frightened but delighted. Just as he was about to call out, the human figure formed from the thick mist showed signs of dispersing.

Xu Yi was greatly alarmed. He immediately wrung the necks of the two roosters, spraying a great gush of chicken blood toward the figure that was about to disperse. At last, the dispersing figure stabilized.

Only then did Xu Yi discover that the ferocious monk had a bowl-sized hole in the middle of his lower abdomen!

"Master!"

Xu Yi cried out.

"Benefactor, this poor monk has said many times that this poor monk is already dead. How can there be talk of master and disciple? You protect this poor monk's yin soul, and this poor monk teaches you the body-tempering method. It is merely that the benefactor planted a good cause and received a good fruit. Furthermore, the benefactor's six roots are not yet purified and he has no affinity with Buddha. He cannot enter the gate of emptiness."

Liao Chen pressed his palms together, transmitting a thought.

Xu Yi said, "Master taught me cultivation methods and resolved my doubts. Your grace is akin to granting me a second life. Even if Master will not acknowledge me as a disciple, I will certainly honor you as my master!" His face was filled with utter sincerity as he spoke.

It was also the will of heaven that he had formed this bond with Liao Chen on the evening of his third day in this world.