Dinner's Here

Walking, then stopping.

Stopping, then walking.

From yesterday evening until noon today, the three of them—Li Jinshui, Monkey, and Er Gou—had lost track of how long they'd been walking.

All they knew was that their legs were getting heavier, their stomachs emptier, and the road ahead blurrier.

"Jinshui..." Monkey leaned against a tree, panting hard. His face was as pale as paper. "C-can you slow down...? I can't keep up..."

Li Jinshui glanced back at him, then at Er Gou, who was sprawled on the ground behind them, and frowned.

"You two, why are you so slow?"

Monkey nearly spat up blood.

"Slow? We ran out of the woods and haven't stopped once! We've been running for almost a day and a night! My damn legs are about to snap!"

Er Gou weakly chimed in from behind. "That's right, Brother Jinshui... I... I really can't walk anymore..."

Li Jinshui stopped and leaned against a tree, looking down at them from on high.

"Do you know why you're both this exhausted?"

Monkey blinked. "Because we've been running for a day and a night?"

Li Jinshui shook his head.

"Because you don't train hard enough."

Monkey: "..."

Er Gou: "..."

Li Jinshui went on. "Look at me. I'm in the late stage of the Inner Strength Realm, and I've run for a day and a night, yet I'm still full of energy. Now look at you two. One of you is at the ninth level of Body Forging, the other at the seventh, and you're already exhausted after running such a short distance?"

He held up a finger and pointed at Monkey. "You—if you'd trained more, you'd be at least at the peak of the ninth level of Body Forging by now. How can you be panting after a few steps?"

Then he pointed at Er Gou. "And you don't even need to be mentioned. You're at the seventh level of Body Forging, and this is all the stamina you've got? Aren't you ashamed?"

Monkey opened his mouth to argue, then realized he had no grounds to.

Because what Li Jinshui said... seemed to make sense?

But he clearly remembered that before Li Jinshui reached the Inner Strength Realm, he'd also made it there from the ninth level of Body Forging.

How come he hadn't been so preachy back then?

"Jinshui, back then you..."

"Back then?" Li Jinshui cut him off. "Back then, I got up before dawn every day to train and didn't go to bed until midnight. What about you? You slept in camp, ate and drank like kings, and you still have the nerve to compare yourselves to me?"

Monkey was completely speechless.

Er Gou muttered under his breath, "But... weren't you the one who took us to the brothel...?"

Li Jinshui pretended not to hear.

He turned and continued walking, calling back over his shoulder as he went:

"So remember this: there are no shortcuts on the path of martial arts. It all comes down to hard work and sweat. Take me, for instance. I got where I am today by training step by step, all on my own."

Monkey and Er Gou trailed behind him and exchanged glances. Their eyes plainly said, "Do you believe him?" and "I don't."

But they didn't dare say it aloud.

Another hour passed.

The sun shifted from overhead toward the west, and the woods began to grow dim.

Monkey finally couldn't hold back.

"Jinshui... when can we find something to eat? I'm so hungry my back's touching my belly..."

Without looking back, Li Jinshui replied, "Soon."

"How soon?"

"See that stretch of hills up ahead?" Li Jinshui pointed toward a lush, green slope in the distance. "Once we cross it, there should be some wild fruit. Maybe we'll even find game."

Monkey's eyes lit up, and he quickened his pace.

Er Gou trailed behind, panting, then suddenly said in a hollow voice, "Brother Jinshui, you've said that five times already. Every time, it's 'soon, soon, there'll be food up ahead.' But we've walked this far—where are the hills?"

Li Jinshui's steps faltered. He turned and glared at him.

"You talk too much."

Er Gou shrank his neck and fell silent.

Monkey's spirits sank too. He dragged his legs along, mechanically shuffling forward.

He really was close to giving out.

Since fleeing North-Rejecting City, he'd only had a few bites of dry rations and a few swallows of stream water.

His stomach had been growling for ages, and black spots kept swimming before his eyes.

Just as he was about to give up, Li Jinshui suddenly stopped ahead.

He raised a hand, signaling them to stop.

Monkey and Er Gou instantly tensed. Holding their breaths, they ducked behind a tree.

Li Jinshui crouched and peered ahead through the bushes.

A gentle slope stretched before them. On top was a clearing where a dozen or so Di soldiers sat in a circle, eating dried meat and drinking from their water flasks.

Seven or eight corpses lay on the ground, dressed in the tattered uniforms of Great Zhou soldiers. They didn't move.

The Di soldiers laughed as they ate, saying something in the Di language and occasionally pointing at the corpses and bursting into laughter.

"Those bastards..." Monkey whispered through gritted teeth. "Those beasts..."

Er Gou's eyes reddened again. He gripped the hilt of his blade so tightly his knuckles turned white.

Li Jinshui fixed his gaze on the Di soldiers and narrowed his eyes as he counted.

Twelve.

Two were in the early stage of the Inner Strength Realm, one was in the middle stage, and the remaining nine were in the Body Forging Realm.

The corner of his mouth slowly curled upward.

Monkey leaned closer and whispered, "Jinshui, what do we do? Go around them?"

Li Jinshui turned to him, smiling meaningfully.

"Go around them? Why would we go around them?"

Monkey blinked. "But... there are so many of them..."

Li Jinshui patted his shoulder and stood.

"Monkey, what did I just say?"

Monkey looked confused. "What?"

Li Jinshui pointed at the Di soldiers on the slope, then at himself, his smile growing brighter.

"I said, isn't dinner coming right to us?"

Before the words had even left his mouth, he was already charging!

Inch Step!

A blur flashed past. Before the Di soldiers could react, the one on the outskirts had already been felled by a single slash!

"Enemy attack!!!"

Someone screamed!

But Li Jinshui's blade was faster!

He unleashed the White Tiger Blade Technique at full force. His blade flashed like snow, and each strike took a life!

The two Di soldiers in the early stage of the Inner Strength Realm had just gotten to their feet when he cut them down, one after the other!

The one in the middle stage roared and charged at him, his curved blade chopping straight down!

Li Jinshui didn't dodge. He met the attack head-on!

"Clang!"

The curved blade flew from the man's hand. He staggered back several steps, and before he could steady himself, Li Jinshui's second strike was already there!

"Pfft!"

The blade sliced across his throat, and blood gushed out!

From the moment Li Jinshui charged until the last Di soldier fell, barely thirty breaths had passed.

Twelve bodies lay scattered across the ground.

By the time Monkey and Er Gou rushed out of the woods, the fight was already over.

They stood there in a daze, staring at the bodies, watching Li Jinshui sheath his blade, and looking at the dried meat and water flasks scattered on the ground—

Then their eyes lit up at the same time.

"Food!"

"Water!"

They rushed over, grabbed the dried meat, and stuffed it into their mouths. They snatched up the water flasks and gulped down their contents.

"Wuwu... it's delicious... so delicious..." Monkey chewed on the dried meat, tears streaming down his face.

Er Gou was even more dramatic. He ate and cried at the same time, mumbling through his food, "I'm alive again... I'm alive..."

Li Jinshui walked over to them, picked up a piece of dried meat, and chewed it slowly.

Watching them wolf down their food, he gave a faint smile.

"Take it slow. No one's going to steal it from you."

Monkey nodded vigorously, but didn't slow down at all.

Er Gou took a few swallows of water and finally caught his breath. He looked at Li Jinshui, his eyes red.

"Brother Jinshui... you're incredible... I thought... I thought I was going to starve to death today..."

Li Jinshui patted his head and, for once, didn't lecture him.

"Eat. Once you're full, we'll keep moving."

Monkey and Er Gou nodded emphatically and went right back to stuffing their faces.

Li Jinshui leaned against a tree, chewing dried meat as he brought up the panel for a look.

[Killed Northern Di soldier ×9, points +47]

[Killed Northern Di squad leader (early Inner Strength) ×2, points +20]

[Killed Northern Di squad leader (middle Inner Strength) ×1, points +15]

[Current points: 803]

His smile deepened.

This wasn't a search party. It was a delivery squad.

They'd delivered food and points.

He stared at the number and fell silent for a moment.

After reaching mastery in the Evergreen Art, he'd been saving points, wondering if he could push it straight to perfection.

Now he had enough.

He took a deep breath and silently said:

Add points to the Evergreen Art.

[Spent 788 points, Evergreen Art proficiency +788]

[Evergreen Art: Mastery (12/800) → Perfection]

Boom—

The warm current inside him suddenly exploded!

It wasn't a surge in volume, but a transformation in quality!

The inner force that had once surged like a mighty river now seemed to solidify, flowing slowly through his meridians.

As it passed through each part of him, his flesh, bones, and organs were repeatedly washed, strengthened, and transformed!

His heartbeat went thump, thump, thump, slow and powerful, each beat like a drum.

His breathing grew faint and almost imperceptible. With each breath, it was as if he could draw in the spiritual energy of the whole world.

His internal organs were nourished again and again by that inner force, growing tougher and stronger!

The Evergreen Art had reached perfection!

He opened his eyes and clenched his fist.

Power.

Power more than twice as great as before surged through him.

The peak of the Inner Strength Realm.

He was just one step away from the Pulse-Opening Realm.

He took a deep breath and pulled the <Green Emperor Indestructible Scripture (Pulse-Opening Realm)> from his clothes.

He opened it and read page after page.

A cold, mechanical voice rang in his mind:

[High-level technique detected... recording...]

[Recording complete: Green Emperor Indestructible Scripture (Pulse-Opening Realm)]

[Training requirement: Evergreen Art at perfection]

[Uninitiated → Initiated points required: 500]

Li Jinshui stared at the number, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

Five hundred points.

Just to get started?

He remembered what the Seventh Prince had said: "This technique is extremely difficult to cultivate and demands exceptional aptitude," and "The imperial family has obtained quite a few copies over the years, but only a handful have truly mastered it."

Now he understood.

It wasn't that no one wanted to cultivate it. They simply couldn't afford to.

Five hundred points just to get started, and who knew how many more it would take after that?

What was an ordinary person supposed to use to cultivate this thing?

He silently put the panel away and muttered:

"No wonder nobody learns this. Is this even something a person can train in?"

Monkey's mouth was stuffed with dried meat. He asked indistinctly, "Jinshui, what'd you say?"

Li Jinshui shook his head and stood up.

"Nothing. Are you finished eating?"

Monkey and Er Gou nodded furiously.

Li Jinshui glanced at the dried meat and waterskins on the ground, bent down to pick them up, and stuffed everything they could carry into the bundles.

"Come on. Let's take it all."

Monkey and Er Gou hurried to help pack up. Before long, all three of them were laden with spoils.

Li Jinshui hoisted the bundle onto his shoulder and headed deeper into the woods.

"We'll find somewhere up ahead and rest for the night."

Monkey and Er Gou followed, their steps much lighter than before.

"What about tomorrow?"

"We keep going tomorrow."

"How much longer do we have to walk?"

"I don't know."

Monkey fell silent.

Er Gou fell silent too.

But they didn't complain again.

Because there was dried meat in the bundle, water, and Li Jinshui, who could take on dozens of men by himself.

That was enough.

The three of them disappeared into the darkness.

Behind them, the bodies sprawled across the hillside, gradually swallowed by the night.

He bit into a piece of dried meat and looked south.

The sky was darkening, and mountains stretched into the distance.

North Plain City was still a thousand miles away.

But he wasn't in a hurry.

There was plenty of "food" along the way.