Reborn in Coiling Dragon
Dusk was dim, the setting sun red as blood. On the banks of the Yellow River, the gold-rimmed sun hung perfectly round, its dazzling rays piercing the eyes, dreamlike and unreal. The last rays of the setting sun fell upon the earth, merging with the dull yellow desert in a brilliant golden glow that seemed to swallow heaven and bathe the sun.
The evening sun slanted down from the western hills, casting everything on the ground in a hazy rose-colored light.
Someone once said, "If a person often gazes into the distance, he isn't looking for anything. He's just lonely."
"Six years old already. I should have realized it long ago. The War God, the High Priest, the Yulan Continent... Such familiar names." The words came with a sigh from a cold, handsome-faced child.
Six years ago, Xue Yuefeng had come into this world, born here. Everything about it felt both familiar and strange. From what he saw and heard the people around him say, he learned that this was an entirely new world, no longer the blue planet he had once known.
This place was called the Yulan Continent, a small material plane among the universe's countless planes.
A world both familiar and strange-that was exactly what it was. It was familiar because he had learned that his current world belonged to a book he had once enjoyed, "Coiling Dragon." In modern terms, he had transmigrated. Unfortunately, Xue Yuefeng felt not the slightest excitement. After living here for six years, he knew the exact date: year 9806 of the Yulan Calendar.
He didn't know why he had come here, but he knew he could never go back. Perhaps he could if he reached the level of an Overgod one day, but that goal was truly too far, far away.
The Yulan Continent had three great danger zones: the foremost mountain range, the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts; the second mountain range, the Sunset Mountain Range; and the foremost forest, the Dark Forest. All three covered incomparably vast areas. The Mountain Range of Magical Beasts nearly ran the length of the continent from north to south, stretching over ten thousand li. Countless magical beasts lived within it, including Saint Domain magical beasts with the power to "destroy heaven and earth." The mountain range had also given rise to different divisions across the continent.
West of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts lay twelve kingdoms and thirty-two duchies. The many kingdoms and duchies there were divided mainly into two factions: the Holy Union, led by the Fenlai Kingdom, and the Dark Alliance, led by the Black Lion Kingdom. Because the Holy Union belonged to the Radiant Church and the Dark Alliance to the Dark Church, the two sides were constantly at war.
"East of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, however, there are four great empires, six great kingdoms, and numerous duchies! The four empires are the largest and are unaffected by the Radiant Church or the Dark Church. In the four empires, imperial authority is supreme. Any one of them can compare to the Holy Union."
"The four great empires are the Yulan Empire in the center, the Rhine Empire in the southeast, the Luo'ao Empire in the east, and the O'Brien Empire in the north."
In a humble tavern at the edge of Yellow Sand Town, a small town in Deke County City of the Northwest Province, one of the O'Brien Empire's seven provinces, several burly men drank the tavern's crudely brewed barley wine and stuffed unidentified beast meat from their plates into their mouths, covering their lips with crumbs. In the O'Brien Empire, where everyone revered martial prowess, mercenaries, warriors, and the like could be seen walking about almost everywhere, while magicians were relatively rare.
"Luo Feng, you bastard, I'll beat you one day! You're just a bastard with no father or mother! Once I become a Warrior of the First Rank, I'll definitely beat you!" In the open area to the east, the warm morning sunlight filtered through the trees beside the clearing, leaving mottled patches of light on the ground. A large group of children had gathered there, perhaps thirty or forty by a rough count. They were divided into two groups: one had over twenty children, while the other had only two lonely figures, one of whom looked to be just two or three years old.
At the center of the children stood a sturdy-looking boy and a child with a very thin, frail-looking body. Both wore sleeveless shirts and coarse cloth trousers.
"Han Mu, I'm warning you again. If you bully my little brother again, next time I won't just give you a beating. I'll cripple you on the spot," the somewhat frail-looking child said coldly.
"Luo Feng, you little bastard, I'm not afraid of you! Just you wait. I'll become a Warrior of the First Rank before you do. Then I'll make both you brothers get on your knees and beg for mercy!" Han Mu said, struggling to save face despite his bruised and swollen face.
"All right, I'll be waiting." With that, he kicked him again, sending the strong-looking Han Mu flying several meters. "Luo Fu, let's go."
Luo Feng was Xue Yuefeng, who had inexplicably been reborn from the blue planet he had once lived on. In his previous life, he had been a gifted classical instrumentalist admired by everyone at his university. In this life, he lived in hardship. His parents had died in the Magical Beast Forest the previous year, leaving him with a two-year-old brother.
At that moment, the town's guards arrived at the clearing and began their customary morning training. This was a habit of the O'Brien Empire's people, who all revered martial prowess.
"If you want to become a great warrior, you must train hard from childhood." The middle-aged man at their head spoke coldly, his hands behind his back and his head held high. His stern gaze turned toward Luo Feng and his brother. Luo Feng said nothing, keeping his eyes fixed on the man. As ordinary commoners, the brothers rarely had a chance to receive instruction from the captain of the guards.
"You're all ordinary people. You can't cultivate using powerful Battle-qi manuals like the great nobles. If you want to make something of yourselves and avoid being looked down on in the future, you must train using the oldest, simplest, most basic methods. Temper your bodies and build your strength. Only then can you become qualified warriors."
"In the morning, the sun rises and all things are full of life. This is the best time to absorb the essence of heaven and earth and improve our bodies' potential. As usual, spread your legs shoulder-width apart, bend your knees slightly, and hold your hands at your waist to assume the Qi-Gathering Stance. While holding it, remember to concentrate, keep your mind calm, and breathe naturally."
The Qi-Gathering Stance was the simplest and also a very effective way to train the body, a method drawn from the experience their predecessors had accumulated over countless years.
Almost every man on the Yulan Continent had to train hard from childhood. Anyone who failed to do so would be looked down on in the future! Strength and money were what determined a man's status! Even women would look down on a man without strength.
If they wanted to make their parents proud, win the admiration of girls, and live glorious lives in the future-
They had to become great warriors!
Once he had finished speaking, the guards began their morning training, while the captain walked over to a huge stone lock weighing three or four hundred jin. Grasping it with one hand, he began swinging it around with great ease. In his hand, the massive stone weight moved in smooth, flowing motions, as though it posed little strain at all.
Luo Feng watched from the side, a little shocked. This was still only the simplest form of physical strength, yet it made quite an impression on him, who had only just started out. It strengthened his resolve: since he had come here, he would live an extraordinary life and write a legend for this continent.
Luo Feng took a deep breath, the muscles all over his body visibly bulging. A man who was already in his twenties by normal reckoning couldn't be like these children, each settling into a horse stance. He punched the nearby tree instead. His fist tore through the air with a sharp whistle, making the children nearby widen their eyes. Bang! His fist struck the heart of the tree, but failed to punch through it. Even so, the heavy, muffled impact made every child's heart jolt. After all, he wasn't even a Warrior of the First Rank yet, so accomplishing this was already quite impressive.
"Big brother, you're amazing! If only we had a Battle-qi manual at home. Then you'd definitely be a Warrior of the First Rank by now," Luo Fu said in his childish voice as he came to his senses and ran over.
"Even without Battle-qi, just by training the body to its limits, it's theoretically possible to become a Warrior of the Sixth Rank! A Warrior of the Sixth Rank who joins the army can easily become a mid-ranking officer and obtain the army's Battle-qi cultivation method! Even if you can't become a Warrior of the Sixth Rank, as long as you become an ordinary Warrior of the First Rank, you'll be qualified to join the army. Remember, a man who can't even become a Warrior of the First Rank isn't a man!" Luo Feng repeated the words Hillman had used to instruct others in the original book.
"Mm, big brother, I'll definitely become an outstanding warrior." With that, he darted off to the side to continue practicing his horse stance.
In truth, Luo Feng had always kept one thing to himself: their family did have a Battle-qi manual. His father, Luo Jie, had stumbled upon it during a mercenary assignment, and afterward his strength had broken through from that of a Warrior of the Third Rank to a Warrior of the Sixth Rank. Unfortunately, he had still died at the claws of a Seventh-Level Magical Beast, a raptor, and their mother had died of grief as a result. Little Luo Fu naturally knew nothing of this, and Luo Feng wasn't ready to tell his brother yet.
Having read the whole book, he naturally knew that the body was like a container, a wineglass, while Battle-qi was like wine! How much wine a glass could hold depended on its size. Likewise... a person's ultimate achievement in Battle-qi cultivation also depended on how thoroughly they trained their body. If the body was too weak, even with a powerful Battle-qi manual, it couldn't hold much Battle-qi, and the person couldn't become a powerful warrior. Many warriors, lacking guidance in their youth, only came to understand the relationship between bodily strength and Battle-qi later on. But by the time they were too old, training their bodies had little effect.
In fact, in the early stages, let alone a mere Warrior of the Sixth Rank, even a Warrior of the Ninth Rank was trash. The first step in cultivation was to become a Saint Domain expert who had comprehended the Laws. Of course, all that was still a long way off for him, so for now he was desperately laying a solid foundation for his future, working hard to train his body.
After the Qi-Gathering Stance and coordination exercises for every part of the body-the waist, legs, shoulders, back... almost all the children had collapsed onto the ground. Luo Feng, too, stopped hitting the tree. Time had slowly passed in this way. "That's the end of today's morning training," the guard captain announced.
"Luo Fu, come on, let's go home." Luo Feng looked fondly at his brother, his only family left in this world, and called out to him with a smile. "Okay, big brother, let's go home," little Luo Fu said, running over.