My Path Is Not Lonely

"Is this the Origin Mulberry Field, Plot B, Number Eleven?"

At the southeast end of Emerald Cloud Valley, Shen Mu followed directions from the gang members guarding the Origin Mulberry Fields along the way. At last, he reached the field he had been assigned to guard.

The Origin Mulberry Field covered only about ten mu. Every Origin Mulberry Tree growing there was thick enough for one person to wrap their arms around. Palm-sized Origin Mulberry Leaves grew in dense layers, and unripe Origin Mulberry Fruits hung from the branches, swaying gently in the breeze.

Shen Mu stood beneath an Origin Mulberry Tree. A glimmer of sunlight filtered through the leaves, and he felt his mind grow peaceful.

After entering society in his previous life, he had been trapped among steel and concrete. The scene before him was an immense and unexpected delight.

"Picking chrysanthemums beneath the eastern hedge, I calmly gaze upon the southern mountain."

Just ten short words, yet they described a dream beyond the reach of so many young people cooped up in rented apartments in the city.

Beside the Origin Mulberry Field he had been assigned to guard stood a Bamboo Shed. In front of it was a bare patch of earth, without a single blade of grass.

Shen Mu pushed open the shed's door. Inside, it covered about twenty square meters. A bed had been put together from bamboo strips, and tea things sat on the table.

What truly drew Shen Mu's gaze was the crudely made long saber hanging on the shed's western wall, along with messages left by the gang members who had guarded the field before him.

"This saber was left behind by Song Yong of the gang. I guarded the Origin Mulberry Field here for three years, mastered the Army-Breaking Saber Technique, and reached Fourth Stage Boiling Blood. I leave this saber in the hope that the next person will take good care of it..."

"Borrowing Brother Song Yong's saber, I, Qi Xian, guarded this place for four years. I achieved minor mastery of the Army-Breaking Saber Technique and reached Fourth Stage Boiling Blood. I have other prospects now, so I leave this saber in the hope that the next person will treat it well..."

"Ge Hanfeng. I guarded this place for five years, using this saber to achieve great mastery of the Army-Breaking Saber Technique and reach Fourth Stage Boiling Blood. I leave this saber and the tea things in the hope that the next person will take good care of them. May your path not be lonely..."

After reading the words left on the wall by those three predecessors, Shen Mu's expression turned complicated.

Those three brief messages bore witness to twelve years spent guarding this place by three people he had never met.

A smile tugged at his lips. He couldn't help recalling his own college days: moving into the dormitory, all the little things he had experienced, and the hand-me-downs left by the senior students.

One senior had left a magnet, a water card, and a note. It read: "Use the magnet to swipe the water card. No matter how long you use the hot water, it'll only deduct ten cents."

Another had left a USB drive containing all sorts of dirt on the head teacher, saying that as long as you didn't go too far, you could use the information to get him to do you a favor.

Yet another had left a pair of binoculars, bringing the girls' dormitory two hundred meters away within easy view.

One senior had even gone out of his way to get a key made for the dormitory's front door. After that, no one had to worry about the dorm manager locking them out, no matter how late they came back...

The seniors had left, but their legacy lived on. My path is not lonely indeed.

He took the long saber off the wall, his expression turning a little strange.

The saber was the very height of shoddy craftsmanship. You could call it a saber, but it looked more like a long, narrow bar of iron.

"I suppose when Senior Song Yong was assigned to guard this place, he was only at First Stage Boiling Blood and couldn't afford to buy a proper saber?"

"But for me, this thing is actually pretty useful. I can use it to practice the Army-Breaking Saber Technique while tempering my body and digesting beast meat..."

How could Shen Mu fail to guess what Song Yong had intended? He simply hadn't had the money back then, so he'd found some iron and hammered it into the shape of a saber...

Who would've thought this saber would pass through three people's hands and reach its fourth owner?

Still, having this iron bar saved him the money he would've spent commissioning a saber to practice the Army-Breaking Saber Technique.

"If I run into them in the gang someday, I'll have to buy them a drink."

Shen Mu thought to himself.

He could understand what the three men had felt as they left, and the care they had shown for whoever came after them.

The kindness was small, but he had accepted it all the same!

Shen Mu pushed open the shed's window, took out the Body Tempering Formula and the Army-Breaking Saber Technique, and studied them carefully.

The Body Tempering Formula only covered the second through fourth levels, but it was more than enough for him at present.

Once he advanced to the fourth level of body tempering, he would become a core member of the Firewood Gang and qualify for a higher-paying post.

That was why the three predecessors who had stayed in the Bamboo Shed had left after advancing to Fourth Stage Boiling Blood.

The formula consisted of only a few hundred words. Shen Mu spent an hour committing it to memory.

Then he took down the long saber called Moon Embroidery, stepped outside the Bamboo Shed, and began practicing according to the Army-Breaking Saber Technique.

The Army-Breaking Saber Technique emphasized broad, sweeping movements. Every form required Shen Mu to pour his strength into it, charging forward with the resolve to face death without turning back. When still, he was as immovable as a deep pool or a towering mountain; when in motion, he was like a tidal wave crashing down.

Practicing the Army-Breaking Saber Technique drained his stamina at a terrifying rate.

Shen Mu spent a full hour on it, pausing now and then to rest and gather his strength, before he finished practicing every move in the technique. By then, sweat had soaked him from head to toe.

"I never expected that even though the Army-Breaking Saber Technique is only a simplified version of the Yellow Grade beginner martial skill, the Demon-Subduing Saber Art, it would be this difficult to practice..."

Shen Mu panted heavily. The effort had drained him no less than a full day of body tempering at the Martial Arts Arena.

Only then did he understand what Mao Shouzhuo had meant when he said that once you reached First Stage Boiling Blood, the beginner body-tempering methods you had used before would no longer work.

That was because after reaching First Stage Boiling Blood, his body had been nourished by blood qi, making it a whole level stronger.

Ordinary body-tempering methods were no longer suitable for someone who had entered the Boiling Blood Stage.

He now needed to make body tempering more difficult, keeping his body under intense strain so he could maintain the same rate of digestion.

He was in the middle of the Origin Mulberry Field, where the only sounds around him were cicadas and birds. Nothing else disturbed the quiet.

Shen Mu savored the breeze against his face. Taking advantage of his break, he sank his consciousness into his mind to observe the Martial Dao Tree.

"Huh?"

When Shen Mu focused his mind and saw the change in the Martial Dao Tree, he couldn't help letting out a surprised exclamation.

The second root of the Martial Dao Tree was already one percent covered by Scarlet Mist.

That meant he had begun advancing toward Second Stage Boiling Blood. Once the Scarlet Mist solidified the second root, he would be able to use the surging blood qi he had nurtured to break through to Second Stage Boiling Blood.

But the change in the Martial Dao Tree wasn't in its roots. A tree that had previously consisted of nothing but a trunk had now sprouted a hazy, illusory branch.

Four leaves grew on the branch, and a flower bud sat at its tip. A wisp of Scarlet Mist was already spreading along it.

"What's going on?"

Shen Mu couldn't help feeling puzzled.

The Martial Dao Tree had sprouted a branch, and Scarlet Mist had appeared on it as well. Clearly, this was the tree showing a second ability.

"Could it be...?"

Shen Mu thought back to his recent practice of the Army-Breaking Saber Technique. If he wasn't mistaken, that must have caused the change in the Martial Dao Tree.

"I get it. The Martial Dao Tree's branches correspond to changes in my martial skill training."

"As long as I keep practicing the Army-Breaking Saber Technique, Scarlet Mist will fill the branch on the Martial Dao Tree too. When the branch is completely solid, will that mean my mastery of the martial skill has advanced?"

"I wonder what will happen when Scarlet Mist spreads to the first leaf."

"But now that I've been assigned to guard the Origin Mulberry Field, I have plenty of time to practice the Army-Breaking Saber Technique. It shouldn't take long before I figure out what happens when the Martial Dao Tree's branch is fully solid."

After steadying his mind, Shen Mu rose and resumed practicing the Army-Breaking Saber Technique.