After Ye Wen moved into the Innate Mansion, his days became fairly routine. He got up early each morning and began practicing the Thirty-six Forms of Invincible Leg and the Seventy-two Forms of Demon Subduing Fist.
If a Houtian Martial Artist saw Ye Wen practicing his martial techniques, they would surely be astonished. Many of the moves in these techniques were extremely tricky, and their execution depended on strength, flexibility, and speed.
Many people thought some of the moves were impossible to pull off. But Ye Wen performed them with ease, turning every strike into a vicious killing move. Anyone caught by one would either die or be injured!
Once ordinary Martial Artists reached the Xiantian realm, they would gather their energy in their fists or weapons. People at the same rank could easily spot this and defend against it. Only exceptionally sharp martial techniques and powerful Martial Dao cultivation methods could produce especially abundant Origin Energy and make the resulting attacks formidable!
A good cultivation technique could give a Martial Artist an enormous boost. Talent was just as important, though. No matter how good the technique, someone with mediocre talent would never cultivate to the Xiantian Sixth Rank!
Martial Cultivation was considered the orthodox path because Martial Artists were stronger than other cultivators at the same rank. Every time a Martial Artist advanced by one rank, the improvement fed back into their body. As their cultivation rose, their body grew stronger too. Other cultivation systems, such as magic, left their practitioners much weaker than Martial Artists of the same rank.
Ye Wen was now like a Martial Artist who had cultivated the highest-grade technique. Other Martial Artists needed to channel energy through their meridians and acupoints to unleash powerful attacks. But Ye Wen's body had been strengthened by the division of his Pre-cancerous Cells. He didn't need to circulate Origin Energy through his meridians to unleash attacks on par with others of the same rank.
After finishing his cultivation, Ye Wen would seek out Old Man Zhang's granddaughter, Zhang Jingyi, every afternoon and search through the old bookshelves with her.
After their first meeting, Zhang Jingyi had been a little displeased with Ye Wen. But later, she had thought it over and realized everyone had secrets of their own. There was no need to keep digging until she got to the bottom of things. It was only human nature for him to lie to hide his secret. If anything, prying into someone else's secrets made her the one who seemed despicable!
So the next day at noon, Ye Wen went to find Zhang Jingyi, feeling nervous, and said,
"I want to learn more about history, but I only have so much time. With such a huge collection of books, I'm afraid I'll have a hard time finding the ones I want. Could you help me look?"
Zhang Jingyi seemed delighted to hear that Ye Wen hadn't gotten angry over her pettiness. She readily replied,
"Sure, no problem. What books are you looking for? I'll look with you and read them with you."
And so, the two of them spent each day together from noon until nightfall, then went home separately.
Looking at Zhang Jingyi's beaming smile, Ye Wen couldn't help giving her another glance. She was beautiful, every bit as beautiful as Mo Ruxue.
But she was the quiet, gentle sort of girl, one who would only pout a little even when she was angry. She was resilient and thoughtful, always considerate of others. She never spoke or acted aggressively, and she was kind and gentle, with a pure, good heart.
She was the perfect girl Ye Wen had once dreamed of. He hadn't met anyone like her on Earth, yet he had found her on the Ancestral Star.
He was lost now, unsure how to face his own feelings. Most of the time, he simply avoided the question. He chose only to spend time with Zhang Jingyi, reading.
Zhang Jingyi had spent a lot more time with Ye Wen lately. As she read with him each day, she found that some of his ideas were fresh and interesting.
With every different historical tale, Ye Wen noticed things others didn't. He was insightful in conversation and treated her with great respect. Zhang Jingyi began to admire him.
She often praised him as a brilliant scholar, saying that if he hadn't pursued martial arts and had instead studied under her grandfather, he would surely have become a literary master.
Ye Wen couldn't help feeling secretly pleased. After all, he was a top student from one of China's 985 universities, with a complete, systematic education.
Once they became more familiar, Old Man Zhang took an even stronger dislike to Ye Wen. The boy had extraordinary talent for scholarship, yet refused to study literature and insisted on pursuing Martial Dao.
What was more, he had been glued to Old Man Zhang's granddaughter every day lately, making the old man jealous. So he never gave Ye Wen a warm reception.
Ye Wen would often trade barbs with Old Man Zhang. Whenever the old man flew into a foul-mouthed tirade, cursing him as a crude Martial Artist, Ye Wen would make himself scarce.
During this time, the Grand Princess summoned Ye Wen several times. Her words increasingly revealed a sense of distance and estrangement. Grand Princess Mo Ruxue had once openly said she wanted to see the cultivation technique Ye Wen practiced. Ye Wen could only dodge the request with jokes and banter, turning the Grand Princess down again and again.
Ye Wen couldn't understand why this woman kept fixating on his cultivation technique. Her father was the City Lord of Demon Suppressing City; what kind of cultivation technique couldn't he find? These strange signs made Ye Wen uneasy, and he had already started thinking about leaving the Innate Mansion.
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