Chen Chong

In Dingshan County, the bluestone roads had been worn smooth as mirrors by the years. Low wooden storefronts lined both sides, their banners swaying lazily in the morning breeze.

Old farmers selling mountain goods squatted beneath the city walls, carrying poles laid across their feet. Their baskets held mushrooms still beaded with dew and wild pears.

The whole city was small. It took only the time for one incense stick to burn to walk from the east gate to the west, yet wherever there were people, there were people practicing fist arts.

In the west of the city stood Green Mountain Martial Academy.

Calling it a martial academy was generous. It was really just a large courtyard, its rammed-earth walls crawling with withered vines, two stone locks before its gates polished bright from use. But this courtyard was not to be underestimated. Half of Dingshan County's merchant guards, caravan escorts, and even constables from the yamen had once practiced their horse stance here.

The senior disciple's surname was Zhou. His name was Zhou Tieshan.

He was twenty-five or twenty-six, with shoulders as broad as door panels and arm muscles knotted like old tree roots. His huge hands had thick knuckles and calluses covering every fingertip. When he stood in the courtyard without saying a word, his sheer build alone intimidated several newcomers.

"Listen up." Zhou Tieshan's voice was not loud, but it landed as heavily as a stone dropped into a water vat. "The first thing you do upon entering Green Mountain Martial Academy—practice breathing."

With his hands behind his back, he paced before the lined-up students. "You think breathing is just drawing breath? Wrong. Breathing is the root, the gateway through which qi enters the body. If your breathing is wrong, your blood and qi will float. When blood and qi float, strength cannot reach the extremities, and force cannot enter the bones. First learn to breathe, sink your qi into your dantian, then talk about horse stance, then fist arts. Otherwise, you will practice all your life and still be nothing but an empty frame. You will fail to hurt others and injure yourself instead."

"Remember: without food supplements or medicinal supplements, train in moderation. Overtraining will drain your blood and qi. At best, it harms the body. At worst, it sends you to your grave."

His gaze swept over everyone like a plowshare turning the earth.

At the very end of the line stood a small, thin figure.

Chen Chong. He looked seventeen or eighteen, half a head shorter than the others, with a slight build. His features were fairly clean and pale. He did not look like someone who practiced martial arts, but rather like an errand boy filling prescriptions at an apothecary—and in truth, he was.

He stood there with fine sweat gathering on his forehead, lips pressed together, listening with exceptional focus.

It had been a week since he transmigrated into this world.

This world resembled the ancient era of Blue Star, yet was utterly different. Martial arts flourished here—but to what extent? Even a tofu seller on the street could trace two moves of Five Ancestors Fist back through their ancestors.

A civil licentiate appeared only once every three years, while every village had martial scholars. In this world, fists were reason, and true qi was law.

Chen Chong now did odd jobs at the Jichuntang Hall apothecary in the east of the city—slicing herbs, grinding herbs, drying herbs. He earned twelve copper coins a day, two coarse meals, and a spot on the communal sleeping platform.

Learning martial arts had been the former owner's long-cherished wish. Yet in a world where might ruled supreme, it was most people's wish. Who did not want to hold their own fate in their hands?

After saving for several months, he had come to Green Mountain Martial Academy. The academy took one tael of silver and taught everyone the Green Mountain Breathing Method, along with the matching Green Mountain Five Forms—a set of plain, unadorned fist techniques.

Zhou Tieshan had made it clear at the time. "The Breathing Method trains qi, and the Five Forms train the body. First qi, then form. Do not rush."

But the former owner had pushed himself too hard.

Having inherited his memories, Chen Chong knew that the former owner had ignored the senior disciple's teachings because he had worked too desperately hard.

Without food or medicinal supplements, he had trained excessively, exhausted his blood and qi, and died suddenly on the communal sleeping platform.

After taking over this body, Chen Chong had continued training for some time. The facts proved it: the former owner simply had no talent. There was a reason he had failed to even enter the gate after several months.

Chen Chong had also considered making money instead. But after observing for a while, he gave up. No matter the business, once it reached even a little scale, someone skilled in martial arts stood behind it to keep watch.

It was not hard to understand. While the neighbors stockpiled grain, I stockpiled guns; then the neighbors became my granary.

Until just now.

A panel had suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Name: Chen Chong]

[Techniques: Green Mountain Five Forms (Not Initiated), Green Mountain Breathing Method (Not Initiated)]

[Realm: None]

Then two lines of text popped up on the panel:

"Consume one tael of silver to simplify the Green Mountain Five Forms?"

"Consume one tael of silver to simplify the Green Mountain Breathing Method?"

Chen Chong froze for a moment.

One tael of silver? He touched his chest. Beneath his clothes hung a jade pendant.

The former owner's family had once been wealthy, but then his biological father became addicted to gambling, and his wife and child left him. This jade pendant was the last thing the former owner's father had given him. The former owner had always kept it as a memento, but Chen Chong could only say, Sorry, former owner.

With the jade pendant tucked away, he left the martial academy, went around two streets, and turned into a secluded alley.

The alley was so narrow that only two people could walk side by side. Several withered pomegranate branches stretched over the walls, while pooled water on the ground reflected a sliver of sky.

At the end of the alley was a pawnshop. Its storefront was small, with a faded wooden plaque hanging beneath the eaves: Ever-Pass Pawnshop. There was no one in sight. The counter stood high, with a small opening in it. Inside was pitch-black, revealing only a pair of eyes.

Chen Chong handed over the jade pendant. Those eyes leaned close to inspect it, then bit it with teeth. After a long while, one tael and more than forty copper coins were pushed out through the opening.

It matched his expectations. Chen Chong said nothing, pocketed the money, and turned to leave.

When he returned to the apothecary dormitory, it was a communal sleeping platform. A row of straw mats lay against the wall, enough for seven or eight workers. There was no one there now; they had all gone to work in the front shop after lunch.

Chen Chong sat on the bed space against the wall and took a deep breath.

"Simplify the Green Mountain Breathing Method."

The panel flashed faintly.

[Technique: Green Mountain Breathing Method (1/100)]

Chen Chong closed his eyes and followed the method's instructions—inhale and sink it into the dantian; exhale like drawing silk. With each breath, the number on the panel jumped.

"1/100" became "2/100."

He continued breathing. The number steadily climbed.

"Th-this... I can grow stronger just by breathing?" Chen Chong was dumbfounded.

He did not stop. Half an hour later, he opened the panel again.

[Technique: Green Mountain Breathing Method (Mastery 930/1000)]

[Realm: Martial Initiate (1/100)]

A Martial Initiate was just getting started on the path of martial arts. It was said that upon reaching the Skin Tempering Realm, one would become different from ordinary people—skin rough and flesh thick, strength like an ox, able to smash bricks with one punch.

Chen Chong was staring blankly at the panel when the door was kicked open with a bang.

A group of people surged in. At their head was a young man in his early twenties with triangular eyes and thin lips, dressed in Green Mountain Martial Academy's short training clothes. It was Wang Yu. Behind him came Steward Wang of the apothecary, a round-faced man in his fifties who usually wore a smiling expression, but whose face was now dark and gloomy.

"It was him!" Wang Yu pointed at Chen Chong, his voice shrill. "I saw him with my own eyes stealing Blood-Seen Sorrow from the apothecary! He took it outside to sell! It was worth more than a tael!"

Blood-Seen Sorrow was a hemostatic herb. Its yield was low, and the apothecary did not keep much of it.

With his hands behind his back, Steward Wang walked up to Chen Chong. "Chen Chong, the apothecary is uniformly closed for the day. You were practicing martial arts at the academy, yet you left early. Wang Yu saw you go to a pawnshop in the west of the city. You are only a menial worker. What did you have to pawn?"

Chen Chong opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Steward Wang waved a hand. "Search him."

Chen Chong did not move.

He knew Wang Yu had a grudge against the former owner. Wang Yu was also an apprentice at Green Mountain Martial Academy. He had likely seen Chen Chong leave early and followed him all the way.

And Steward Wang and Wang Yu were said to be distant relatives.

After searching him for a long time, they found only a little over forty copper coins on Chen Chong.

Steward Wang's expression changed. It darkened like the sky before a rainstorm. He said nothing and turned to leave.

Wang Yu tried to explain. "Uncle, he must have hidden it..."

But Steward Wang had already left the room. Wang Yu gritted his teeth and followed, shooting Chen Chong a vicious glare over his shoulder before leaving.

The door closed once more.

Chen Chong sat on the communal sleeping platform in silence for a moment, then closed his eyes again.

He continued breathing.

An hour later.

[Technique: Green Mountain Breathing Method (Perfected 1/10000)]

[Realm: Martial Initiate (2/100)]

His body felt much more comfortable. Blood and qi churned within him, and a current of warmth rose from his dantian, traveling up along his spine. But his stomach was hungry too, growling loudly.

Chen Chong got up and went to the apothecary's small kitchen. It was where the menial disciples' meals were prepared. The stove was built from brick, the iron pot black and gleaming, with several bundles of dry firewood and a vat of pickled vegetables piled in the corner.

Half a pot of coarse rice porridge remained, with a small dish of salted dried radish beside the stove. There was no great feast of fish or meat, but filling his stomach would not be a problem.

Chen Chong served himself a bowl of porridge and ate it with the dried radish. The porridge was warm, and the pickles were crisp.

As he ate, he looked at the line reading "Green Mountain Breathing Method (Perfected)" on the panel.

Outside the window, dusk was falling over Dingshan County. A few distant barks drifted over, along with the exhalations of someone practicing fist arts somewhere nearby. "Hah!" The sound was deep and heavy, like muffled thunder rolling over the eaves.