One Month [Seeking Recommendation Votes!]

Reason-Settled County and Yangshuo County were only forty or fifty li apart in a straight line. But with waterways crisscrossing everywhere and few bridges, one had to make considerable detours. Large groups could hardly travel through, and even scattered refugees had to take many needless roundabout paths.

After leaving Centipede Mountain.

On the third day.

Chen Jichuan followed Bao Zhongliang's group of more than a hundred people. Before noon, they finally reached the checkpoint set up by the Li River Gang.

There was a routine inspection and questioning of travelers.

It looked intimidating, but it was not actually very strict. So long as they carried no weapons, most were allowed through.

Reason-Settled County had fallen.

Mausoleum-Building County looked as though it would fall soon as well.

The Li River Gang was badly short of people now and welcomed all comers.

Chen Jichuan and Chen Shaohe had long since thrown away their two Goose-Wing Sabers, so they passed through easily as well.

When they were nearing Yangshuo County's city walls, the two brothers quietly slipped away and gathered together.

"Fourth Brother."

"Where are we going now?"

Chen Shaohe looked over the desolate surroundings, where not a trace of human habitation could be seen, and spoke up.

They were already within Yangshuo County's borders.

They had just emerged from Black Prison, destitute and penniless, without even a single copper coin on them. Now that they had reached Yangshuo County, they had no choice but to face the issue of—

Money!

As the saying went: with money, one could travel the world; without money, one could not take a single step!

Without a penny to their names.

They could do nothing.

But earning money was not their most urgent concern right now. First, they needed to familiarize themselves with Yangshuo County. That was also for their own safety.

Making money?

Chen Jichuan possessed medical skills revered as divine in the Great Yan World, and he could scale eaves and run along walls. He could use medicine as a cover, then pay visits by night to the mansions of rich, heartless households and powerful nobles.

Earn money openly.

Steal money in secret.

Gold and silver would be no problem at all.

The only thing he needed to watch out for was safety.

For the former, he needed to know where to draw the line.

The saying, "I only regret killing Hua Tuo," rang like thunder in one's ears. It showed that not everyone held famous physicians or miracle doctors in reverence.

The latter demanded even greater caution.

Altered Humans might be rare at present, but who could say for certain that there were none inside those grand estates? Moreover, martial artists ran rampant nowadays, and skilled fighters were far from uncommon.

If he slipped up.

It would be fine if he could run.

But what if he could not?

"Dancing in shackles."

"With skills in hand, yet earning money is not so easy."

Chen Jichuan shook his head and said to Chen Shaohe, "Let's first find somewhere outside the city to settle down. Yangshuo County has many rivers and lakes, as well as quite a few peaks and hills. We can make a living by fishing and hunting. Once we know Yangshuo County better, we can make other plans."

Just so.

They could use this time to train diligently and catch up to the standards of the Great Yan World as much as possible.

Besides.

Whether it was the Wusheng Sect or the Li River Gang, both were powerful and difficult to handle.

If they wanted to overthrow them.

They would have to plan carefully.

But they could not take too long either—

"The Wusheng Sect has Black Prison, and Black Prison has Spirit Stones."

"Once the Wusheng Sect figures out how to use the Spirit Stones, whether they cultivate a great number of Altered Humans or train a batch of top-tier experts, they will become even harder to deal with."

And so.

Chen Jichuan and Chen Shaohe settled down on Begonia Mountain, more than ten li from Yangshuo County's city.

Begonia Mountain bordered the Yi River, and there was a lake not far away. Over a hundred households were scattered along both riverbanks and beside the lake, forming what was known as Begonia Village.

The brothers lived in an inconspicuous mountain hollow deep in the sparsely inhabited Begonia Mountain, without causing a ripple.

In their daily lives.

They fished.

They hunted.

They took their catches to a market seven or eight li away, exchanging them for white rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and other daily necessities.

At the same time, they occasionally went into the county seat to stroll around, listen, and observe. They gradually gained a much deeper understanding of Yangshuo County and the Li River Gang.

Their martial training never stopped either.

Because they had no money, they could not buy Medicinal Herbs.

There were also many training implements, such as iron sand, iron plates, iron posts, sharp blades, and so on. All of them required money.

As for equipment, they could only use trees, stone posts, millstones, gravel, and the like as substitutes.

Without Medicinal Herbs, they could only grit their teeth and use Origin Force in their place for now.

Fortunately, they never lacked meat, white rice, or salt each day. Compared with the conditions in Black Prison, this was truly far better.

And so.

During the day, they trained, hunted, and fished. At night, they entered the Great Yan World to ponder Manifest Force and Hidden Force.

Days passed one by one in reality.

Years slipped away one by one in Great Yan.

Origin Force was consumed bit by bit, with no sign of returning.

Time flashed by.

In the blink of an eye.

Another month had passed.

On this day.

The sun shone brilliantly.

East of Begonia Mountain, deep within the forest.

Chen Jichuan set his clothes aside and stood completely naked. In one hand, he held a brick cast from copper and iron, one chi long, six chi wide, and one and a half cun thick. Gripping the middle of the iron brick with one hand, he used its outer edge to strike every part of his body from the side—

Bang!

Bang!

First came his upper and lower arms, alternating left and right, from light to heavy, one hundred strikes each. Next came his upper and lower legs. When striking his left leg, he held the brick in his right hand; when striking his right leg, he held it in his left. Then came his chest and abdomen, again alternating left and right. The hand holding the brick followed the same pattern as when striking his legs. Finally, he struck his rear shoulders.

As he struck each part of his body, Chen Jichuan filled himself with qi.

He struck once about every breath. After each strike, he exhaled once, then filled himself with qi again to receive the next blow.

Huff!

Inhale!

Huff!

Inhale!

Once he had struck his limbs and torso, Chen Jichuan went on to strike his knees, elbows, crown, forehead, and the back of his head.

The banging rang out without end.

Had an ordinary person seen it, they would surely have thought Chen Jichuan's entire body had been forged from steel. Its sturdiness was simply outrageous.

Chen Jichuan himself did not notice.

The Body-Striking Technique he was practicing used blows and strikes to toughen the tendons and flesh.

He started with wooden bricks, then switched to kiln-fired bricks, and only at the end used iron bricks.

When striking every part of the body, one had to coordinate with the Orifice-Sealing Qi-Fixing Method. Otherwise, the internal organs would inevitably be injured, and one's life would not last long.

The hardest parts of the Body-Striking Technique to train were the head, knees, elbows, and similar areas.

But Chen Jichuan had long cultivated the Iron Head Technique, Overlord Elbow Technique, and Iron Knee Technique. His head, elbows, and knees were all already toughened.

Practicing them alongside the Body-Striking Technique made his progress even faster.

The iron brick struck the crown of his head, producing a faint metallic clang.

Chen Jichuan's bare, gleaming head had already been trained to rival metal and stone.

"Huff!"

"Huff!"

By the time the sun stood three poles high.

The Body-Striking Technique was complete, and every part of his body hurt.

Chen Jichuan mobilized Origin Force to restore those areas.

"Again!"

"Keep going!"

He then continued practicing, deep in this forest where no one ever came: the Iron Bull Technique, Jade Belt Technique, Water-Splitting Technique, Golden Shovel Finger, Iron Broom Technique, Golden Blade Exchange Palm Technique, Eagle Claw Technique, Iron Head Technique, Iron Arm Technique, Iron Knee Technique, Groin-Strengthening Technique, Overlord Elbow Technique, Jar-Lifting Technique, Mountain-Pulling Technique, Foot-Shooting Technique, Leg-Kicking Technique, Pipa Technique, and one martial art after another.

Once the heat was right.

He put on a sand vest, tied sandbags to himself, and practiced the Land-Flying Technique, Flying Technique, Eaves-and-Walls Method, Wall-Running Technique, Lightness Technique, Window-Piercing Technique, Gecko Wall-Crawling Technique, Tumbling Technique, Leaping Method, Thread-the-Needle Technique, Darting Technique, and other lightness skills and movement techniques.

The blazing sun hung overhead.

Sweat poured down like rain.

After decades of diligent practice in the Great Yan World, he already knew every trick and secret by heart.

In reality.

All Chen Jichuan needed to do was have his body walk that process again.

With Origin Force assisting him.

His progress was astonishingly swift.

Chen Jichuan ran through the forest, sometimes leaping, sometimes darting, sometimes high, sometimes low. At times he went south to north, at times west to east.

He trained tirelessly.

For the month since arriving in Yangshuo County and settling on Begonia Mountain, Chen Jichuan had trained like this every day.

Origin Force was being consumed at a visibly rapid pace, enough to make one's heart ache. But compared to the swift growth of his strength, that small ache was nothing.

Strength.

Speed.

Reaction.

The all-around enhancement, the visible improvement, intoxicated Chen Jichuan.

Though it was bitter, he found joy amid the bitterness.

Running through the forest.

Running beneath the scorching sun.

The mountain paths were difficult, and Chen Jichuan wore a sand vest and sandbags that weighed a full eighty or ninety jin.

After running seventy or eighty li in one breath.

Even he was somewhat out of breath now, panting heavily. It felt as if a ball of fire burned in his chest, and even the air he drew in was scorching hot.

The feeling was anything but pleasant.

Chen Jichuan persevered and kept running forward.

After another two or three li.

Suddenly.

There was a disturbance ahead.

"Someone?"

Chen Jichuan's face was flushed red and his head drenched in sweat. He prepared to avoid them as he usually did.

So he stopped first.

He hid behind a tree and waited for the people ahead to pass by first.

As he rested.

He poked his head out to look ahead, wanting to see who had come into this deep mountain forest.

"Hm?"

At this sight.

His spirits immediately rose.

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There will be another chapter tonight. Starting today, there will be two updates every day, one in the morning and one in the evening, still at eight in the morning and eight at night.

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