Mount Wuliang, Dali.
In the midst of a vast forest, Xu Xiao appeared out of nowhere, enveloped in a black cloak.
Green mountains and clear waters surrounded him, and the fresh, pleasant air lifted his spirits.
"Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils."
It was a world almost everyone knew, and the second world Xu Xiao had chosen.
The USB drive he had found contained only a handful of movies, but many more complete television series.
Leaving aside largely useless narrative dramas like The Grand Ming Dynasty, Soldiers Sortie, and Chuang Guandong, there were also a few wuxia and even xianxia series.
Among them, Jin Yong's classic trilogy had long been part of Xu Xiao's world-crossing plans.
At first, Xu Xiao had even considered going to a wuxia world to learn Internal Energy, but his practical, rational mind had suppressed the idea.
He had chosen to go to the lower-risk, higher-reward world of Chronicle instead.
Now he looked like a skeleton, and his flesh lacked nourishment. Until he found coordinates for another new world, the Internal Energy of a wuxia world had become his lifeline.
What was Internal Energy?
Xu Xiao didn't know how to answer that for other worlds, but he could readily explain it for the television-series version of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils.
Internal Energy was a special form of energy condensed through cultivation, meditation, and circulating one's power, training the sinews, bones, and skin externally and a breath of Qi internally.
It could strengthen the body and let one leap across rooftops and run along walls; it could be used to perform profound martial arts and fight a hundred enemies alone; it could heal injuries and prolong life, giving practitioners a more tenacious vitality.
How many boys had dreamed from childhood of practicing martial arts one day, roaming the jianghu alone with a sword, and settling their debts of gratitude and vengeance to their hearts' content?
But none of that mattered much to Xu Xiao. All he needed was Internal Energy to heal and nourish his body.
In Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, Wuyazi had been ambushed by his disciple and had fallen from a cliff, yet he had managed to cling to life for decades with his formidable abilities.
A'Zi, too, had been at death's door, but Qiao Feng had infused her with supreme Internal Energy and ultimately kept her alive.
That was undoubtedly what Xu Xiao longed for most.
Internal Energy might not perfectly resolve the hidden danger in his body, but it could at least let him hold on a little longer, giving him time to find other possibilities.
But that was getting ahead of things. When Xu Xiao entered the world of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, the voice of the Heavens World-Crossing Gate sounded in his ear as usual.
[Beep! The current crossing is complete. Remaining energy: 0%] [Please collect enough energy to return before you are rejected by this world's laws. Otherwise, you will be rejected by the world's will.]
The World-Crossing Gate fell silent, and a countdown appeared in his mind.
99:23:59:56
Huh, I can stay longer this time!
Xu Xiao keenly noticed the change in his allotted time.
In Chronicle, it had been thirty days, but now it was a hundred. That was undoubtedly a huge change.
Unable to figure it out, Xu Xiao put his question to the Heavens World-Crossing Gate.
He had studied it after activating it. It was somewhat like a mechanical program and ignored most questions, so Xu Xiao was only trying his luck.
This time, however, it answered immediately.
[The length of each stay and the energy consumed in crossing vary according to the degree of suppression imposed by the world.]
Oh, I see.
Xu Xiao nodded in understanding. He also remembered that after selecting this world, charging his cheat had taken a few minutes longer.
Those extra few minutes of charging probably bought me the extra time I can stay in this world, right?
Once he understood the reason, Xu Xiao thought of another question.
Would a hundred days be enough?
Martial arts were not so easy to learn, even if Xu Xiao's goal was the Northern Darkness Divine Art, and he planned to become a martial arts expert through a crash course.
But even learning the Northern Darkness Divine Art alone didn't seem all that simple, did it?
Duan Yu might have quickly learned two of its scrolls in the story, but that was because he was a prince from a noble family, born into the Dali Duan Clan. He had read widely since childhood and could apply what he learned from one subject to another.
Although he didn't practice martial arts, growing up immersed in them meant he knew more about how to train than an ordinary person.
To practice the martial arts of a wuxia world, it wasn't enough merely to understand what one read. One also had to draw on a great many Daoist and medical classics.
It wasn't just a question of whether he could learn them; he also had to make sure he didn't practice incorrectly or even train himself to death.
This is troublesome, very troublesome. Finding a good teacher won't be easy either.
In the wuxia world, people believed in the order of heaven, earth, sovereign, parents, and teacher, and that a teacher for a day was a father for life.
The bond of inheritance between master and disciple sometimes ran even deeper than the bond between a parent and their own child.
A disciple wanted a good master who would pass on everything he knew, while a master wanted a good disciple he could trust without reservation.
But speaking of knowledge of martial arts, Wang Yuyan of this world would be a good choice.
When I watched the series, they said she had read extensively on the world's martial arts and was quite impressive. I just don't know if the real person is that impressive.
Xu Xiao couldn't help thinking of the female character known as a martial arts manual.
Beautiful women always left a deep impression, especially when they had a special talent.
The television-series coordinates Xu Xiao had crossed into were for the 2003 version of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, and Wang Yuyan was a beauty among beauties.
But with his body in its current state, he seemed to have no other option but to ask her to teach him martial arts.
The thought left Xu Xiao somewhat discouraged.
He had originally wanted to gain great power so he could do as he pleased, but before his desires could be set free, something had gone wrong with his body.
It can't be helped. When heaven is about to place a great burden upon a person, it must first wear down his resolve, toil his sinews and bones, and starve his body.
Xu Xiao, don't lose heart. Aren't you already much better off than before?
After giving himself a pep talk, Xu Xiao managed to set his mind right.
He had managed to cling to life for seven years in the apocalypse by frequently reflecting on himself and adjusting his mindset.
Many ordinary people who had been lucky enough to escape that initial, difficult period of the apocalypse alongside him had either sunk into despondency or chosen a death born of despair in the days that followed.
Xu Xiao alone had made it through and lived to see the appearance of the cheat that would change his fate.
After encouraging himself, the first thing Xu Xiao did was use his Telekinesis to fly into the sky.
He needed to find signs of people and establish where and when he had landed before he could carry out the next step of his plan.
And so Xu Xiao, his hood drawn up, flew through Mount Wuliang and soon found a narrow path winding through the lush mountain forest.
A mountain path naturally meant that people lived in the area.
Without another word, Xu Xiao flew along the path, looking for signs of living people.
At the other end of the path, a handsome young man carrying a woman's embroidered shoe was making his way slowly along the mountain trail.
As Duan Yu traveled, he muttered, "How am I supposed to find the Valley of Ten Thousand Enmities and tell his mother to go save Miss Zhong?"
All of a sudden, he heard a voice from the sky:
"Excuse me, young brother, where might this be?"
Without looking up, Duan Yu opened his mouth and answered, "This is Mount Wuliang. Are you asking for directions?"
Duan Yu's mouth had been quicker than his eyes. After speaking, he looked up, and fright knocked three souls and seven spirits out of him. He let out a shout:
"A ghost!"
He promptly fainted, falling stiff as a board.