Bluestone Grounds

Xiao Hu chattered nonstop along the way, from the old jujube tree outside the western stone house to Aunt Zhao next door, whose flatbread was especially delicious, and then to the little stream behind the mountain, where you could catch plump shrimp as long as a finger.

Lin Yi listened and responded now and then, but his thoughts remained fixed on the cultivation method etched into his mind.

The stone house was small, with one main room and one inner room. The packed-earth floor was level and solid. Though crude, the place had been swept spotless.

A stone bed stood against the wall, covered with thick dry grass and a beast-hide mattress.

Xiao Hu soon brought over a set of clothes from home: a coarse gray-brown hemp shirt and a pair of beast-hide shorts. Their edges had been worn pale, but they were washed very clean, carrying the bitter, fresh scent of soapberry.

"These were my dad's clothes when he was young. Wear them for now!" Xiao Hu tossed the clothes onto the stone bed, then dashed off in a whirl of energy. "I'll come find you tomorrow morning so we can cultivate together, Brother Lin!"

Before Lin Yi could thank him, the little fellow had already vanished in a puff of dust.

He shut the stone house door, walked around the simple room once, and finally sat down beside the stone bed.

The rough hemp clothes were nowhere near as soft as modern clothing, but compared with that drafty grass skirt, they were a hundred times better.

Lin Yi sat cross-legged on the stone bed, closed his eyes, and carefully reviewed the Bluestone Blood-Transporting Method from beginning to end in his mind.

Concepts that had seemed obscure and difficult on his first reading now became much smoother after another chew-through.

He vaguely sensed that his mind had become a little clearer than it had been during the day. The crucial sticking points that had blocked his understanding were like clumps of dirt softened by water, slowly loosening and falling apart.

His comprehension was growing. Growing every day.

Lin Yi opened his eyes and grinned. All at once, he felt a little more confidence in his future.

Early the next morning, when the sky had only just begun to brighten.

"Brother Lin! Brother Lin, get up—!"

The pounding on the door and the boy's excited voice pierced the stone house almost at the same time.

Lin Yi was startled awake from a light sleep by the commotion. He rubbed his eyes, his mind unusually refreshed.

He had already sorted out the general thread of the cultivation method during the first half of the night. He slept deeply and soundly through the latter half, and when he awoke now, his mind felt another step clearer.

"Heh, my brain works a little better again." Lin Yi muttered, jumping down from the stone bed, pulling on the coarse hemp clothes, and opening the door.

Xiao Hu stood outside, bursting with energy as if he had swallowed a bellyful of springs. Little Flame sat two steps behind him, leisurely licking her paw with the calm expression of someone thoroughly used to this.

"Come on! Eat at my house! After we eat, we'll cultivate together!" Xiao Hu seized Lin Yi and dragged him toward his home without giving him a chance to object.

Biao's house stood on the eastern side of the tribe. It was fully three times larger than Lin Yi's stone house, and several beast hides hung drying in the courtyard.

The moment Lin Yi stepped through the courtyard gate, he saw the man the entire village called "the tribe's strongest." Biao sat on a stone stool in the yard, gripping a whetstone as he sharpened a bone blade with scraping strokes.

At first sight of him, Lin Yi's steps involuntarily paused.

Biao was a full size more muscular than the other tribesmen.

His shoulders were as broad as door panels, and his arms were nearly as thick as Lin Yi's waist. His bare upper body was covered in crisscrossing scars, each one gleaming pale in the morning light like a battle record carved stroke by stroke into his flesh.

His face was square, and beneath his thick brows rested a pair of gentle eyes. Seeing Lin Yi arrive, he bared his teeth in a hearty grin.

"You're here? Don't stand on ceremony. Sit down and eat!" Biao's voice boomed like thunder, making Lin Yi's eardrums hum.

Xiao Hu had already rushed into the house like a gust of wind. In the blink of an eye, he ran back out carrying a stone bowl, which he held out before Lin Yi with both hands.

The stone bowl was as large as a small basin, filled to the brim with chunks of ferocious beast meat soaked in thick broth, a sheen of grease floating on the surface.

Several thick wheat flatbreads were stacked beside it, their golden crusts steaming with heat.

"Eat up, Brother Lin!" Xiao Hu tipped his head back, his eyes sparkling brightly.

Lin Yi looked at the "bowl" before him, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

On Earth, that single bowl would have fed him for three days.

But beneath Xiao Hu and Biao's eager gazes, he could only take a deep breath, accept the stone bowl, and start stuffing food into his mouth with gritted teeth.

The first bite of ferocious beast meat was unexpectedly delicious. The meat was firm without being tough, while the broth was rich with a distinctive fresh sweetness.

But no matter how delicious something was, once the quantity exceeded the limit of a stomach's endurance, it became torture.

As Lin Yi kept eating, he began to slow down. Xiao Hu squatted beside him, watching eagerly, and occasionally blurted out, "Brother Lin, you eat so slowly."

Lin Yi swallowed the last mouthful of broth with difficulty, feeling as if his stomach had been stretched into a bulging sack.

He supported himself against the stone table and stood, taking several deep breaths before he managed to suppress the churning fullness.

"Finished eating! Let's go! To the Bluestone Grounds!" Xiao Hu sprang up, grabbed Lin Yi, and ran outside.

Lin Yi staggered along behind him. As they passed Biao, the man built like an iron tower lifted a hand and patted Lin Yi on the shoulder.

The force of that pat made Lin Yi sink half an inch.

"Train well." Biao grinned, his exposed teeth dazzlingly white in the morning light.

Lin Yi looked back at him, then lowered his gaze to Little Flame, who sat by Xiao Hu's feet with her tail swaying lazily.

The Red Fox's amber eyes watched him quietly, still holding that unfathomable light that no one could decipher.

Xiao Hu pulled Lin Yi across the tribe's dirt paths and around several stone houses. Then the view suddenly opened up, revealing a broad stretch of level ground paved with rough gravel and sand, trampled smooth and firm.

Several thick wooden posts stood around it, decorated with faded beast hides and bone ornaments.

At the center of the clearing, Bluestones of all sizes lay scattered across the ground. The smallest were the size of fists, while the largest stood as tall as a person.

The morning sun slanted across the Bluestone Grounds, stretching the stones' shadows long and blunt.

More than a dozen people were already training there.

Some carried huge boulders on their backs as they walked slowly, each step making the ground tremble faintly.

Some sat cross-legged before low stones, lifting and lowering Bluestones larger than their own heads with both hands, veins bulging across their foreheads. Others repeatedly hammered upright blue stone slabs with their fists, each strike producing a dull thud, thud.

Lin Yi stood at the edge of the Bluestone-filled grounds as the morning breeze brushed his face, making his coarse hemp clothes flap loudly.

His gaze swept across the Bluestones of varying sizes before settling on the smallest one in a corner: a gray stone roughly the size of two fists.