30. The Cycle of the Martial World

Chapter 30: The Cycle of the Martial World

Heroine had a candy Cheng Yun had given her in her mouth. Only after all the girls had gone upstairs did she ask, "Those young women... are they students in your world?"

Cheng Yun, who had been watching the show, nodded. "Mm."

Heroine blinked. "Can women in your world also attend school?"

"Didn't you study too?"

"My father taught me. I never went to school."

"Equality between men and women." Cheng Yun summed it up in four words. After a pause, he continued, "In our world, there's nine-year compulsory education. Everyone has to attend school for at least nine years. If parents don't let their children complete nine years of compulsory education, they're violating the Compulsory Education Law. After those nine years, there's also high school and university. As long as most people can pass the entrance exams, they'll finish those too."

"Equality between men and women..." Heroine murmured those words, barely remembering to eat her candy.

"What's wrong?" Cheng Yun looked up at her.

"Nothing! Nothing's wrong!" Heroine immediately came back to herself, concealing the momentary daze and weakness in her expression. "That compulsory education thing... What happens if someone's family is poor? If they can't even afford food, forcing them to study isn't helping them, is it?"

"Tuition for compulsory education is very low. I remember the least I ever paid was five yuan. And if your family is truly too poor to afford tuition and living expenses, then usually, as long as you report it to the government and the education bureau, there'll be grants and all kinds of subsidies." Cheng Yun continued, "It's even better for ethnic minorities in impoverished border regions. Not only do they attend school for free, they also get food and lodging covered. The state even gives them money, rice, cooking oil, and clothes—and adds bonus points to their college entrance exam scores."

"It's that good?" Heroine said in disbelief. "The officials in your world must be insane!"

"Don't say that you can't understand it. A lot of people in our world don't understand it either." Cheng Yun smiled and shook his head. He said no more and lowered his head to continue watching the television series.

Heroine sat alone on the sofa, staring blankly into space.

After a while, she rose and said, "I'll go upstairs and rest first. I have to get up early to work tomorrow."

"Mm."

After work that evening, Cheng Yun went to see Old Mage as usual. They had agreed that Old Mage would engrave the rune program for him that night.

This rune program was said to have been standard equipment for the army of a certain country two hundred years ago. At the time, every soldier in that country had to have a set of rune-array programs engraved onto his body, and this rune program was the most basic component. It consisted of several basic restorative spell runes. Its function was to continuously output restorative energy to repair every injury on the bearer's body, including the slightest muscle fatigue, bone wear, and even deformation, all to keep the soldiers in good condition.

Old Mage thought it over, made some modifications, and redesigned its appearance so that it would suit Cheng Yun.

"Originally, this rune program took the form of a muscular human outline, which fit military culture rather well. But it wouldn't be quite appropriate on you." Old Mage tapped the air, and the illusory images of two designs appeared. "Since I had to modify it anyway, I redesigned it. Redesigning the appearance while keeping the rune composition unchanged in such a short time is something very few people can do."

Cheng Yun looked at the two designs in the air. One was indeed the outline of a muscular human figure, like a burly man, while the other was a blazing sun surrounded by flames, very simple in design.

"This is the Jia Nuo Kingdom's coat of arms—a blazing sun. I picked it at random," Old Mage said.

"Your country?"

"Mm... my former country."

"Oh, I don't mind," Cheng Yun said.

"Then I'll begin. Where do you want it engraved?" Old Mage asked. "I'll use Bai-Niao pigment, which has the mildest reaction and the best environmental adaptability, to draw it. So, before activation, the design will be approximately red. The restorative energy itself emits a green glow, so when the rune program is activated, it'll probably turn yellow or something similar. To avoid attracting attention, you'd better not have it engraved somewhere exposed."

"Then... my back." Cheng Yun didn't play basketball very often anymore, so he rarely went shirtless. Besides, it wasn't as if he could have it engraved on his butt!

"Mm, take off your clothes," Old Mage said.

Cheng Yun stripped without hesitation, revealing a fairly well-built body, then lay facedown on Old Mage's bed.

"Because I'll be engraving it by hand, the process will take about three or four hours. I'll cast an anesthetic spell on you, and then you'll fall asleep. Once you wake up, it'll be finished," Old Mage said.

"Why does this feel like surgery? There won't be any risks, right?" Cheng Yun asked in surprise.

"Hmm, there is a chance of failure, but there's no danger," Old Mage said. "As you know, our civilization has developed to the point where rune programs are extremely complex and precise. Normally, no one can manually engrave a rune program. Even I might fail."

"What happens if you fail?"

"We do it again. In any case, it'll be finished when you wake up."

"All right. Go ahead and do your best. Don't feel pressured." After saying that, Cheng Yun fell silent.

Old Mage smiled faintly.

When Cheng Yun woke again, Old Mage was standing nearby, tidying the things in his hands. They were several unfamiliar, small, precise crystal instruments with the texture of surgical knives.

"Finished?" Cheng Yun felt a chill on his back. He took out his phone and checked the time. Only two and a half hours had passed. "That went pretty smoothly!"

"Mm, it did. But it seems you dreamed again. I could sense your emotional fluctuations."

"Somewhat." Cheng Yun touched his back, but felt nothing. "What does it look like?"

"Like this." Old Mage pointed, and two mirrors materialized in the air, reflecting the image of Cheng Yun's back before him.

A simple blazing-sun design about the size of an egg appeared on his upper back. It looked like a tattoo, though much fainter, and was a somewhat strange shade of red.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." Old Mage said, "I'll leave tomorrow morning and return at ten in the morning on the fifth."

"Okay."

****************

It had just entered autumn, and the weather in Yuzhou was turning cool.

The man's name was Ji Qinglin. In his youth, he had become famous after fighting a martial arts master from the Western Regions alone and killing him with a palm strike in the desert. He later became a renowned powerhouse of the martial world, and his fame reached its peak after he became involved in the Qing Su Armory case. Yet for some unknown reason, he later vanished from the martial world. There were rumors that the descendants of that martial arts master had sought revenge and killed him.

The whereabouts of a former top expert had resurfaced. He had apparently started a family and hidden himself away in a remote mountain village. The news spread through the martial world like ink dropped into clear water, rapidly blooming outward.

At the time, Heroine Yin was working as an escort for a group of traveling merchants near the border between Hengzhou and Yuzhou. When she heard the news, she immediately realized that her chance to make a name for herself had arrived! Thus, she gritted her teeth and spent a "fortune" on a good blade. Traveling day and night, she reached the mountain village called Wei Ya Village in two days.

Quite a few martial artists from Yuzhou had already arrived. Heroine Yin could even pick out several familiar faces—most of them people who had once been hired alongside her or had crossed hands with her for one reason or another.

Yet Ji Qinglin, whose temples already showed streaks of white, seemed not to have lost his edge. He killed three young challengers in succession, intimidating everyone. For a time, no one dared step forward to challenge him!

Heroine Yin took a hard, cold steamed bun from her bosom and stuffed it into her mouth whole. After a brief rest, she stopped hesitating, gripped her blade, pushed through the crowd, and looked toward Ji Qinglin. In that instant, her eyes could contain no one else!

"Senior, this junior is Yin Dan." Her single-layered clothes fluttered in the cool mountain wind, and her presence was imposing!

There was nothing more to say!

Her eyes were like blades, and her movements were as fast as lightning!

One held a mottled, rusty iron sword, while the other wielded an Autumn Water Wild Goose Feather Blade. In an instant, the two collided.

Ji Qinglin's movements were agile, and his formidable skills were no exaggeration. In the early stages, he forced Heroine Yin into retreat after retreat, and before long, he left that dreadful sword wound across her face.

But he had not set foot in the martial world for many years. Every attack and dodge carried a hint of stiffness. Moreover, how could his strength in his twilight years compare with that of Heroine Yin in the prime of youth? Not to mention, three consecutive battles had already left him at the end of his strength. Heroine Yin only had to hold out a little longer before fatigue showed plainly on him. In the end, during his counterattack—one that seemed to stake all the pride of his youth—Heroine Yin narrowly won by a single move!

Ji Qinglin fell to the ground, his face ashen. His blood gradually spread through the hollows in the dirt. Heroine Yin stood before him, as if she had already foreseen his imminent death.

Their gazes seemed to meet by chance.

At that moment, Heroine Yin was deeply shaken!

There was none of the resentment or unwillingness she had imagined in Ji Qinglin's eyes. Of course, neither was there calm indifference. What filled them was mostly sorrow and helplessness, along with a fear of fate that could not be resisted. It was as if he had already imagined this moment a thousand times in his mind and had made all the necessary preparations.

Following his gaze, Heroine Yin finally saw his current family—and the resentment she had imagined should have appeared in Ji Qinglin's eyes.

A plainly dressed but still beautiful woman held back two young sons, who were shouting and trying to rush forward to avenge their father. Beside her stood a teenage daughter, frozen in terror.

An entire family had been destroyed just like that.

Some people came to examine Ji Qinglin's injuries. Some approached Heroine Yin to speak with her. Others wore regretful expressions, and a few even looked eager to exchange a couple of moves with Heroine Yin.

But Heroine Yin felt dazed and disoriented. In the end, she did not even know how she had left that place.

She had left behind all her life savings. After buying the blade, she had been left with only three silver ingots, whose overall purchasing power in modern times would probably have been equivalent to ten or twenty thousand yuan.

The sky was gloomy that evening. She found a dilapidated temple, huddled in a corner, and stared blankly outside as her thoughts wandered uncontrollably. She began to ponder what the martial world really was. In the end, she felt that all heroes and great men were like wooden puppets on a stage, performing acts for storytellers to use as entertainment. At least the storytellers could earn a few coins for tea. Martial artists, however, had to stake their entire lives.

She seemed to see her own fate as well.

From this incident, from the look in Ji Qinglin's eyes, and from those familiar yet unfamiliar martial artists who had gathered to watch...

When thunder that filled the sky turned into a steady downpour, the mountain forest rapidly grew colder. Heroine Yin huddled alone in the dilapidated temple in the early autumn, shivering as she experienced the first doubts of her life about her path and beliefs.

Three days later, she shouldered her blade and walked out of the temple. Her slender figure was swallowed by the mountain forest in an instant.

She had achieved the fame she had wanted.

In the early morning, Cheng Yun sensed it too. This battle had indeed been extremely important to Heroine Yin's life and had left a deep impression on her. It could be called a turning point in her life.

Then... he turned over and went back to sleep.