Flying Swallow Steps

In a spacious courtyard lined with tall, slender wooden stakes.

A handsome young man in a gray, short-sleeved training outfit was leaping back and forth across the stakes.

His steps were light, his figure swift as a swallow.

Looking closely, one could even see a ring of sandbags tied around his ankles.

This person was Jiang Che, practicing lightness skills at home.

Half a month had passed since he returned from escorting the shipment.

Jiang Che had carefully read through the lightness-skill manual titled Flying Swallow Steps.

Then, following its methods, he planted wooden stakes in the courtyard and began training.

At first, Jiang Che kept falling from the stakes.

He could not enter the Entry Realm no matter how hard he tried.

But as his movements gradually became more practiced.

He was able to enter the Flow State.

Things improved considerably.

"Whew—"

Jiang Che jumped down and removed the sandbags from his ankles.

[Flying Swallow Steps Entry Realm (1/100)]

A line of text flashed before his eyes.

"Finally entered the Entry Realm!"

Jiang Che was delighted.

He looked at the surrounding wall, roughly two meters high, and an idea came to him.

His legs suddenly kicked off the ground, and with a swoosh, he easily leaped over the wall.

A tawny cat by the corner immediately arched its back and hissed wildly in fright.

"It can jump this high just after reaching the Entry Realm? If it reaches perfection someday, wouldn't that be incredible?"

Jiang Che was somewhat stunned by the power of the Flying Swallow Steps.

"Let's see how fast it is too..."

He used the bend at the end of the alley as his target and estimated that it was almost exactly a hundred meters away.

He took a deep breath, circulated the Qi-Blood within his body, then fiercely pushed off the ground.

A figure shot out like lightning with a whoosh, so fast it nearly left an afterimage.

A woman who had just stepped out of her home with a bamboo basket in hand froze.

"Huh? What just went past? Was I seeing things?"

She rubbed her eyes, wondering whether she had not slept well last night.

When he neared the corner, Jiang Che tapped his foot against the ground and stopped in an instant.

"Around ten breaths... less than ten seconds! Probably around eight!"

Jiang Che made a rough estimate, startling even himself.

His current speed had already surpassed the sprinting world champions from his previous life!

And by a huge margin!

"Cultivation techniques... Qi-Blood... this world is too wondrous!"

Jiang Che's eyes shone brightly.

The feeling of growing stronger without end and surpassing the limits of the human body was incomparably marvelous to him.

After all, in his previous life, Jiang Che had merely been a shut-in wearing thick glasses, sitting in an office all day and left panting after a short run.

The feeling of running freely and unleashing the power of his body was something he had only experienced in games.

Yet now, it had become reality.

Although much of his motivation for becoming stronger was to find his parents, protect his sister, and live a better life.

Deep in his heart, a desire to climb to the pinnacle of martial arts had gradually begun to grow as well!

"Power is freedom!"

"Big brother, dinner's ready!"

Jiang Ling opened the main house's door, leaned out, and called into the courtyard.

She wore an apron, and a fine layer of sweat had formed on her forehead from cooking.

"Huh, where is he?"

There was no one in the courtyard, leaving Jiang Ling rather puzzled.

He had clearly been there just moments ago.

Suddenly, a figure dropped in from beyond the wall with a thud.

"Ah!"

Jiang Ling jumped in fright. Looking carefully, she saw that it was Jiang Che.

"Big brother! Why did you jump in like a toad?"

Jiang Ling giggled.

"A toad?" Jiang Che's face twitched. "Wasn't that cool? This is the lightness skill your brother has been practicing!"

"Cool, cool. Hurry up and eat, or it'll all get cold!" Jiang Ling said as she headed inside.

Jiang Che shook his head. Why was this little sister becoming more and more like their mother?

Not only had she begun taking charge of the household, she no longer worshipped him as she had when she was little!

Jiang Che followed her into the house.

On the spacious rosewood Eight Immortals table sat a plate of stir-fried lettuce stems with pork, a plate of green peppers and eggs, a plate of pan-fried tofu, and a soup bowl of lotus root and pork rib soup.

The staple food was fluffy white rice, every grain distinct.

Jiang Che picked up a piece of stir-fried lettuce stems with pork and put it into his mouth.

The lettuce stems were crisp enough.

But the pork was a little tough.

And it seemed a bit too salty.

He took another sip of the soup.

It seemed there was no salt in it at all.

"Delicious... delicious!" Jiang Che said.

He did not want to undermine his sister's confidence.

Their family had been poor before, so their meals had always been thrown together haphazardly.

Now that their circumstances had improved, they were eating dishes they rarely had before. Naturally, she would not be skilled at making them right away.

"I asked the auntie next door to teach me. She's such a nice person!" Jiang Ling smiled, revealing a dimple.

Because their living conditions had improved so much, her face had gradually filled out, and her complexion had become much rosier.

Jiang Che nodded, hoping that auntie had really taught her properly...

He took a mouthful of rice and lowered his head to eat.

No matter what, it tasted better than Exotic Beast Meat...

As Jiang Che ate, he pondered the things that had happened lately.

Ever since returning from Hengsha City, he often thought about that servant from Li Estate.

Over the past half month, he had appeared as calm as ever.

But in truth, tremendous pressure had weighed on his heart the entire time.

He feared that they would uncover something and then come after him.

Fortunately, everything remained calm and peaceful, and what he feared did not happen.

That allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.

During that time, he had also found chances to ask Zhang Xiong and Chief Escort Sun about Li Estate.

But they clearly knew nothing.

They had even found it strange that Jiang Che was asking about it.

Jiang Che then understood that Li Estate was deeply hidden.

Although he did not know who they were or what they were plotting.

Jiang Che still felt a faint unease.

Before they knew it, the two had finished eating.

Jiang Ling immediately began clearing the dishes and carrying them to the back kitchen to wash.

Watching Jiang Ling's busy figure, Jiang Che's heart gradually calmed.

This life with family, though ordinary, was what soothed the heart most.

It was also the life Jiang Che had always longed for.

His gaze gradually became resolute.

This happy, peaceful life.

He would not allow anyone to destroy it!

Over the following half month.

After practicing the Layered Cloud Fist at the Martial Arts Hall each day, Jiang Che would return home early to practice the Flying Swallow Steps.

As days piled into months, the Flying Swallow Steps' proficiency steadily increased.

At the same time.

The Layered Cloud Fist finally reached the Minor Accomplishment Realm.

White Cloud Martial Hall, Disciple Courtyard.

[Layered Cloud Fist Minor Accomplishment Realm (1/200)]

Looking at the small line of text that appeared, Jiang Che let out a breath.

After reaching Minor Accomplishment, he felt that his fist technique had entered an entirely new domain.

Not only did his force flow more smoothly, he could even use less strength to achieve more powerful results.

"Less strength is being wasted..."

Jiang Che pondered it carefully.

"I wonder what effects it will have once it reaches Major Accomplishment Realm?"

Jiang Che was rather curious.

But over the next few days, no matter how Jiang Che practiced, his proficiency did not increase at all.

Through his master's lectures and his discussions with Zhang Xiong during that time.

He crammed in a great deal of knowledge about cultivation.

He finally understood where his problem lay.

Simply put, his Qi-Blood had not kept up.

It turned out that for the Layered Cloud Fist at the Minor Accomplishment Realm to continue improving, one needed the Qi-Blood of someone who had broken through to the Stone Skin Realm.

Without Stone Skin Realm Qi-Blood to match it, many of its effects could not be brought out.

It was like a four-wheel-drive toy car that required two batteries.

If you only put in one battery, it would not move.

Of course, only Jiang Che would encounter such a situation.

Because he had reached a Stone Skin Realm level of fist technique while merely in the Ox-Hide Realm.

For anyone else, that would have been utterly impossible.

"Looks like I can only wait slowly until my Qi-Blood is fully cultivated."

Jiang Che sighed.