At four in the morning, the sky was still pitch-black. Even the moon had hidden itself behind the clouds.
In the back hills of Shrek Academy, in front of a hundred-meter-high cliff, a shirtless boy sat cross-legged on a boulder. His eyes were closed, and his breathing was long and steady. With every breath, it was as if he were speaking with heaven and earth.
The mountain wind blew past, raising goosebumps on his bronze-colored skin, but he didn't notice.
Shi Hao.
He was waiting.
Waiting for a moment.
Four in the morning was when yin and yang traded places between heaven and earth. In Perfect World, this was the best time to draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and temper the body. Though spiritual energy had become Soul Power here in Douluo Continent, Shi Hao believed the principles were the same.
"The time has come."
Shi Hao opened his eyes. Two beams of light shot from his pupils, streaking through the darkness like twin trails of fire.
He stood, loosening his muscles and bones. They crackled like firecrackers. He rolled his neck and shoulders, kicked out his legs, then faced the hundred-meter-high cliff and drew a deep breath.
The cliff was made of granite, hard as iron and covered in moss and vines. A few unfamiliar little trees grew from cracks in the rock. No one knew how many years the mountain had stood there, enduring wind and rain, sun and storm, yet still towering unmoved.
Shi Hao stared at the cliff. His gaze gradually grew feverish, like two burning flames.
He slowly clenched his right fist. His muscles tensed, veins bulging. His entire arm looked as if it had been cast in molten iron, brimming with explosive power. His breathing quickened, his heart pounded faster, and his blood surged through his veins with a rushing sound.
"Arbitrary Eternity!"
His voice exploded like thunder, shaking loose stones from the cliff.
"Suppress all things!"
His second shout rang even louder. The sound waves kicked up dust from the ground and sent it billowing outward.
"Hah—!"
Shi Hao swung his right fist.
There was no fancy technique, no dazzling light—only pure power. Pure, savage, primitive, destructive power.
His fist slammed into the cliff.
"Boom!"
The deafening crash echoed through the valley. The cliff shuddered violently, stones flew, and dust billowed. At the point of impact, the granite had cracked, leaving a fist-sized dent. Cracks spread outward like a spiderweb.
The mountain didn't fall.
Shi Hao wasn't satisfied.
"Not enough! Again!"
He struck a second time.
"Boom!"
A third punch.
"Boom!"
A fourth.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom—"
Shi Hao's fists rained down on the cliff, one after another, each heavier and fiercer than the last. He used no tricks, nothing fancy—just raw, savage, reckless pounding.
Flesh and blood against granite.
Every blow opened another wound on his fist. Every blow sent blood spraying. Every blow made bone-deep pain race through his nerves and spread across his whole body.
But he didn't care.
He had trained this way in Perfect World. He used the most primitive methods to forge the strongest body. Pain meant he wasn't strong enough yet; wounds meant he still had more training to do.
"Arbitrary Eternity!"
"Arbitrary Eternity!"
"Arbitrary Eternity!"
With every punch, he shouted, "Arbitrary Eternity!" His voice grew hoarser, but his fervor grew more ferocious. His fists were a bloody mess, the skin over his knuckles worn away to reveal white bone beneath. Blood dripped down his fingers and gathered in a small puddle on the stone at his feet.
Yet Shi Hao's eyes only grew brighter, wilder.
The hundredth punch.
"Arbitrary Eterni—ty—!"
He poured every last bit of strength into his final punch and slammed it into the cliff.
"Rumble—!"
The cliff trembled violently, as if an earthquake had struck. The granite at the point of impact shattered completely, leaving a huge hollow nearly a meter across and half a meter deep. Cracks radiated outward, spreading across more than ten meters of cliff face. It looked as if lightning had struck it.
The mountain still hadn't fallen.
But Shi Hao smiled.
He withdrew his fist and looked at his mangled hands, nodding in satisfaction. "Not bad. I smashed it ten times more than yesterday."
He turned around, about to sit down and rest—
"Is this guy sick or something? Smashing a mountain this early in the morning?"
A clear female voice came from the direction of the academy.
Shi Hao looked up.
Ning Rongrong was leaning out of a second-floor window, rubbing her sleepy eyes as she stared at him with an expression of disgust. Her hair was a mess, she wore pink pajamas, and there was still a pillow crease on her face.
Clearly, Shi Hao's mountain-smashing had woken her up.
Shi Hao frowned, about to say something, when another voice spoke up.
"Another lunatic."
Zhu Zhuqing had appeared at the edge of the training grounds at some point. She wore tight black clothes, her hair tied in a high ponytail. She looked ready for her morning training. She gave Shi Hao a cold glance, her eyes devoid of any feeling, as if she were looking at a stone by the roadside.
Shi Hao's expression changed.
The words "lunatic" had stabbed into his ears like a needle.
His brows shot up, his lips curled down, and his nostrils flared slightly—the signs that he was about to throw down in Perfect World.
"Who are you calling a lunatic?" Shi Hao's voice was low and carried an oppressive force.
Zhu Zhuqing stopped and tilted her head to look at him, her gaze still cool. "You."
Shi Hao's pupils narrowed slightly. Then his lips slowly spread into a dangerous grin.
"If you've got the guts, fight me!"
Zhu Zhuqing didn't refuse.
She wasn't someone who liked to fight, but she liked being threatened even less. Besides, she wanted to see just how strong this madman who smashed mountains every day really was.
"Fine."
One word, crisp and decisive.
Zhu Zhuqing's figure vanished in an instant.
It wasn't that she was hard to see—she had truly vanished. She was so fast that she didn't even leave a shadow behind. That was the nature of her Nether Civet Martial Soul: extreme speed, extreme agility, and extreme burst power.
Shi Hao's pupils contracted sharply. His body reacted instinctively, crossing his arms in front of his chest to guard himself.
"Thud!"
Zhu Zhuqing's fist struck his forearm.
The blow wasn't heavy, but its angle was incredibly tricky. It hit the weakest point in Shi Hao's defense. Against an ordinary person, it would have been enough to shatter their guard.
But Shi Hao wasn't ordinary.
He didn't even take a step back.
Zhu Zhuqing frowned slightly. Her figure vanished again, and in the next instant she appeared behind Shi Hao, kicking toward his lower back.
Shi Hao turned and grabbed—but caught nothing.
Zhu Zhuqing was too fast, like a ghost, darting left and right, forward and back. Every attack came from a different angle. Her fists, knife-hand strikes, elbows, knees, and kicks rained down on Shi Hao like a violent storm.
Ten punches in one second.
A hundred punches in ten seconds.
Zhu Zhuqing's speed kept increasing, her attacks growing denser and denser. The air filled with the sharp sounds of blows, like someone setting off firecrackers.
She attacked Shi Hao for a full minute, landing at least a hundred punches.
Every blow struck a vital spot—his throat, temples, heart, liver, kidneys, spine...
But Shi Hao didn't budge.
He stood there with his feet planted as if nailed to the ground. His body swayed slightly, but he didn't take a single step back. Red marks appeared on his skin, and some places had even turned purple, but he didn't so much as furrow his brow.
Zhu Zhuqing's punches slowed. For the first time, her eyes flickered—not with fear, but confusion.
She had landed more than a hundred punches, each with all her strength, yet this man was like a mountain. She couldn't move him at all.
"Done?" Shi Hao grinned, baring two rows of gleaming white teeth.
Zhu Zhuqing's heart gave a thump.
She tried to retreat, but it was too late.
Shi Hao's hand shot out, impossibly fast. He was clearly slower than Zhu Zhuqing, but he timed the grab perfectly, striking at the instant when her old strength had run out and her new strength had yet to gather.
His large hand clamped around Zhu Zhuqing's left ankle.
Zhu Zhuqing's pupils shrank sharply.
Shi Hao's hand was like an iron vise, locking around her ankle so tightly that no matter how she struggled, she couldn't break free. Her body hung in midair like a fish hauled from the water, struggling frantically to no avail.
"Let go!" Zhu Zhuqing said coldly.
Shi Hao didn't let go.
His grin spread wider, and a flash of excitement glinted in his eyes—the thrill of a hunter who had caught his prey.
"Turtle Fist, first form—"
Shi Hao drew a deep breath. The muscles in his arm swelled, veins bulging like writhing dragons.
"Turtle Hammer Swing!"
He whipped his arm around. Zhu Zhuqing went flying, flung away like a stone hurled from a catapult. She traced an arc through the air, hurtling into the distance at astonishing speed.
The wind howled. Zhu Zhuqing struggled to adjust her posture in midair, trying to steady herself—
Just then, a white figure shot into the sky.
Dai Mubai.
He had just finished his morning training. From afar, he saw Zhu Zhuqing hurled through the air and didn't hesitate for a moment. He pushed off with both feet and shot upward like a cannonball, catching her in his arms.
The two of them spun several times in the air, bleeding off the force of the impact, then landed steadily on the ground.
Dai Mubai set Zhu Zhuqing down and checked her ankle. It wasn't broken, only a little swollen; it didn't seem too serious. He let out a breath of relief, then looked up and glared at Shi Hao with his tiger-like eyes.
"What are you doing?"
Dai Mubai's voice was low and oppressive. When he was angry, his White Tiger Martial Soul lent him an imposing aura. An ordinary person would have gone weak in the knees under his glare.
Shi Hao shrugged, looking unconcerned. "She insulted me first."
"What did she call you?"
"A lunatic."
Dai Mubai: "..."
He looked at Zhu Zhuqing, then at Shi Hao, the corner of his mouth twitching. He wanted to say, "But aren't you?" In the end, he swallowed the words. Saying something like that now would only inflame the situation.
"Shi Hao," Dai Mubai said, drawing a deep breath, "we're all classmates. There's no need to fight."
"She started it," Shi Hao said, as if it were obvious.
Dai Mubai turned to Zhu Zhuqing.
She said coldly, "He said, 'If you've got the guts, fight me.' I accepted."
Dai Mubai: "..."
He looked at Shi Hao's mangled fists, then at Zhu Zhuqing's swollen ankle, and suddenly felt a headache coming on.
One of them was a madman; the other, a stubborn mule.
"Forget it," Dai Mubai said, waving a hand. "Let's both take a step back. This ends here."
Shi Hao pursed his lips. "I don't mind."
Zhu Zhuqing nodded. "Neither do I."
They looked at each other, both snorted, and turned away.
Dai Mubai let out a breath of relief and led Zhu Zhuqing away. Before leaving, he looked back at Shi Hao. The boy was covered in wounds, his hands streaming with blood, yet he stood there like an immovable mountain.
"What a monster," Dai Mubai muttered.
Zhu Zhuqing said nothing, but she glanced back at Shi Hao, her expression complicated.
At the edge of the training grounds, Ning Rongrong watched from the window from start to finish. Her mouth had never once closed. Her eyes were wide, and her face was filled with disbelief.
"Zhu Zhuqing hit Shi Hao more than a hundred times, and he's completely fine?" Ning Rongrong murmured. "What is he made of? Steel?"
Beside her, Oscar had woken up at some point and was leaning out of the window next to Ning Rongrong, looking shocked. "And he threw Zhu Zhuqing away! She's so fast, yet he still caught her by the ankle!"
"That's terrifying." Ning Rongrong shrank back. "Stay far away from him from now on."
Oscar nodded furiously.
On the top floor of the teaching building, in Flender's office.
Flender stood by the window with a cup of hot tea in his hand, gazing toward the back hills with a complicated expression.
"Dean, aren't you going to do something?" Yu Xiaogang stood behind him with a clipboard covered in notes.
"Do what?" Flender took a sip of tea. "They haven't broken any school rules."
"Shi Hao smashes the mountain every morning at four, waking the entire academy." Yu Xiaogang flipped a page on his clipboard. "Seven teachers have already complained."
"Let them complain." Flender waved a hand. "They're not complaining about me, anyway."
Yu Xiaogang: "..."
"Besides," Flender said, setting down his teacup, a gleam flashing in his eyes, "Shi Hao is no ordinary boy. His physical strength far surpasses that of Soul Masters at his level. He's even stronger than some Soul Saints. If he can keep up this pace, his future will be limitless."
Yu Xiaogang nodded. "Indeed. His method of body tempering is crude, but effective. It's just..."
"Just what?"
"He keeps shouting 'Arbitrary Eternity' every day. I'm worried about his mental state." Yu Xiaogang pushed up his glasses.
Flender fell silent for a moment. "He's a lunatic to begin with. Is this the first day you've known?"
Yu Xiaogang: "..."
On the training ground, Shi Hao turned back to face the cliff.
He looked at his bloodied, battered fist and frowned. "My hand hurts a little. That's enough practice for today."
He walked over to the pool nearby and plunged his hand into the cold mountain spring, washing away the blood and grit. The water turned pale red, but the wound soon stopped bleeding—his ability to heal was far greater than an ordinary person's.
After washing his hand, Shi Hao stood up and took a deep breath.
The horizon had already begun to pale. Morning light pierced the clouds and spilled across the mountainside, illuminating the enormous hollow.
Shi Hao looked at it and nodded in satisfaction.
"Tomorrow, I'll continue."
Then he took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs—
"Arbitrary Eternity!"
His voice boomed through the valley like thunder, sending the birds in the trees flying in alarm, scattering the insects in the grass, and—
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
Every chicken in the village beside the academy was startled awake. The roosters stretched their necks and crowed, while the hens ran around in terror. The whole village was in an uproar.
An old farmer ran out with his clothes thrown over his shoulders. Seeing the mountainside in the distance, he swore furiously. "Which bastard is yelling 'Arbitrary Eternity' so early in the morning?! He's scared my chickens half to death!"
No one answered him.
Shi Hao had already gone back to the academy for breakfast.
The old farmer grumbled as he returned to his house, but the roosters kept crowing until the sun came up.
The next morning.
The old farmer got up early to feed his chickens. As he passed the village entrance, he saw a crowd gathered at the foot of the mountain, pointing and whispering.
"What's going on?" The old farmer walked over and squeezed into the crowd.
Then he froze.
A huge human-shaped hollow had appeared in the mountainside—nearly a meter deep, with a person's shape and all four limbs outstretched, as if someone had been pressed into the rock.
It was the hollow Shi Hao had made the day before. Combined with the marks from his previous blows, it had formed a perfect human shape.
"This... This is..." one villager stammered.
"The mountain god has shown a sign!" another villager suddenly fell to his knees. "It must be the mountain god!"
"That's right! The mountain god has shown a sign!" The other villagers dropped to their knees too, kowtowing like pounding garlic.
The old farmer stood rooted to the spot for a long while. Then he, too, knelt and reverently bowed three times.
"Mountain god, please bless us. Please don't let my chickens get scared half to death again."
On a distant mountaintop, Shi Hao sat cross-legged, looking down at the villagers kneeling at the foot of the mountain. He scratched his head.
"Mountain god? What mountain god?"
He thought about it, couldn't figure it out, and gave up.
He closed his eyes and continued cultivating.
"Arbitrary Eternity! Suppress everything!"
His voice echoed through the valley, and the villagers at the foot of the mountain kowtowed even harder.
"The mountain god has shown a sign! The mountain god has shown a sign again!"
Shi Hao: "...Are they crazy or something?"
Whatever. It didn't matter to him.
He was going to keep punching the mountain.
Before you continue