Entering the Realm

"He's awake, he's awake!"

In the crude wooden house, Zhang Zhong's voice rang with delight, and Lady Yourong's sobbing also came to a stop.

It was fairly common for men to be wounded, bleed, and cough up blood in battle, and a few days of rest would see them mostly healed. But a weakling like Zhang Xuezhou coughing up blood was bound to cause concern.

Seeing Zhang Xuezhou finally open his eyes after a whole night, Zhang Zhong at last felt the weight lift from his heart.

"Erbaozi, I told you to eat less, just a moderate amount. Even a few mouthfuls of soup would have been fine, so why did you have to gobble down such a big piece of snake meat?" Zhang Zhong scolded.

"Please call me Zhang Xuezhou!"

Zhang Xuezhou retorted stubbornly, bringing up his proper name.

He wiped his mouth, then rolled over in bed and patted his body.

His body felt no different, and Zhang Xuezhou could not help breathing a sigh of relief. It seemed he really was blessed with good fortune in his dreams: his injuries appeared to have healed when he entered the dream again.

"Xuezhou? What, are you planning to become a boatman someday?"

Zhang Zhong disapproved of the name Zhang Xuezhou had made up for himself. As far as he was concerned, Zhang Erbao was already a fine-sounding name.

"'The sea of learning has no shore; only hardship can serve as a boat.' That's the meaning behind the sage's teaching," Zhang Xuezhou reiterated. "I'm not going to row boats for a living."

"Even so, that name of yours is no good. Hardship this, hardship that-it doesn't sound right," Zhang Zhong said.

"For a child from a poor family who wants to get ahead, hardship is the only way!"

Zhang Xuezhou sighed inwardly.

He had no particular attachment to his name, but it was his name in reality, so he had to keep it in the dream.

Zhang Xuezhou felt that only by keeping his name in mind at all times could he avoid losing himself in the dream.

Arguing over his name was clearly no promising topic, so Zhang Xuezhou glanced at Zhang Zhong and began talking about something else.

"You don't look any different from usual. Seems you didn't enter that realm or whatever?"

Of all the pots to lift, Zhang Xuezhou had picked the one that would not boil; he had clearly touched on a sore point for Zhang Zhong.

He was getting on in years, and wounds from his days as a soldier had left him with hidden injuries...

With all those factors against him, Zhang Zhong had not come across any heaven-reaching fortuitous opportunity. He was no different from usual.

His only consolation was that this stroke of fortune had ultimately shared its rain and dew with everyone, letting him reap some benefits too. Not only was he stronger now, but his body also brimmed with boundless vitality, and some of his old internal ailments had vanished without a trace.

Failing to enter the realm was a regret, but the excellent condition of his body left Zhang Zhong perfectly content.

He did not seem greedy.

Once Zhang Xuezhou had clung to his last breath and come back alive, Zhang Zhong felt that things were good. Nothing could have been better.

"It's hard to enter the realm when you're older. It's not just me; the others are the same!"

Zhang Zhong stressed that he was not the only one who had missed out.

"But Zhang Changgong and Zhang Cigong happened upon a fortuitous opportunity and each formed a seed for entering the realm," Zhang Zhong said. "If they can find a renowned master, they can become realm experts in the future!"

"Are realm experts that impressive?" Zhang Xuezhou could not help asking.

"Cooped up in the village, you naturally have trouble seeing the vast world outside," Zhang Zhong said. "Realm experts can learn Techniques and gain all kinds of abilities!"

"Techniques?"

"The martial skills you've seen so many people in the village learning are just the most rudimentary physical techniques, the foundation of martial arts. There are also Technique Methods: with an infusion of Law Power, one can soar into the sky, raise a hand and send flames billowing to the heavens, or summon howling winds, flying snow, and freezing ice!"

Zhang Zhong gestured as he went on about the realm experts he had seen.

"You must be joking, right?" Zhang Xuezhou asked in surprise. "People are made of flesh. How could they unleash fire, wind, and snow with a wave of their hands? They must have used props to pull off an illusion!"

"Don't be so quick to disbelieve," Zhang Zhong said unhappily. "If you don't believe in the wonders of Technique Methods, at least you're familiar with archery!"

"What's so special about a realm expert's archery?"

"When I was in the Flying Feather Army at the Northern Border, I saw the great general casually loose an arrow. It flew a thousand meters, and he hit his mark ten times out of ten, with enough force to pierce stone!"

"So realm experts are just a little stronger than you and can shoot a little farther!"

"What if the great general hit the hole in a copper coin a thousand meters away with every shot?"

Zhang Zhong's words made Zhang Xuezhou consider what entering the realm meant for the first time.

He was rather weak, but he was no stranger to bows and arrows.

It was precisely because he knew them that Zhang Xuezhou understood the demanding requirements for shooting an arrow a thousand meters: the heavy bow, the strength, eyesight, mental focus, calculations, and more.

It was something an ordinary person would struggle to accomplish.

Zhang Zhong had chosen the bow and arrow, something Zhang Xuezhou knew well. With only a simple account, he had made Zhang Xuezhou understand the enormous gulf between them.

Even an extra ten meters of effective range was a tremendous advantage in a duel between archers.

And the great general Zhang Zhong spoke of had a range nearly seven hundred meters greater than Zhang Baojia, Zhang Zhong, and the others.

If Zhang Baojia, Zhang Zhong, and the others fought him, they would be shot dead before they even saw him.

That was merely the power of the great general shooting casually.

For the first time, Zhang Xuezhou grew curious about entering the realm in the dream world, and felt less inclined to simply while away the days as before.

Besides receiving treatment from Doctor Ren, perhaps he could also look for some other way to break through this dream that was like a prison.

Entering the realm might introduce some variable that would let him see through the mist of his confinement and find a glimmer of light.

"Can I enter the realm?"

He could not help asking.

"You... son, it's enough if we can live our whole lives in peace and safety!"

Zhang Zhong's reply was earnest and heartfelt.

A single mouthful of Demon Beast meat meant to stimulate the body had poisoned Zhang Xuezhou and knocked him out. Zhang Zhong felt that such a drastic, stimulating method of entering the realm was unsuitable for him.

Only now did he belatedly realize that the great general had given certain people Demon Beast meat to eat, giving them a chance to soar into the heavens in a single bound, most likely by giving them a push when they were already on the threshold.

Without a sufficient foundation, eating Demon Beast meat would be like drawing water with a bamboo basket-all for nothing.

There was no shortage of cases like Zhang Xuezhou's in the village, and even more people had fallen fast asleep after eating the Demon Beast meat.

When they awoke from their dreams, those people had nothing to show for it but a fright.

Zhang Changgong and Zhang Cigong were somewhat different. The two of them had always ranked among the best of their peers in the village, and their foundations were exceptionally solid. That was how they had acquired a slight basis for entering the realm.

But whether the two could actually enter the realm still depended on finding a renowned master and learning a technique for entering it.

"In other words, besides stimulating the body, you also need some kind of training method," Zhang Xuezhou concluded. "Otherwise, no amount of meat will help?"

"That's right!"

"Father, do you have any friends who've entered the realm? Let them guide us and teach us a few methods!"

"Dragons do not dwell with snakes!"

Zhang Zhong sighed, then said nothing more in response to Zhang Xuezhou's request.

Hunters like them and realm experts who stood high above them belonged to two entirely different worlds.

He had seen realm experts, even one of the most powerful in the world today, but Zhang Zhong had only ever seen them from afar, with no connection or dealings with them whatsoever.

He had no ability to send Zhang Xuezhou to a sacred ground of cultivation, nor any way to give Zhang Xuezhou even the slightest chance of entering the realm.

Even Zhang Changgong and Zhang Cigong would have to knock on the gates of cultivation, visiting cultivation grounds far and wide to see which one would take a liking to them and accept them as disciples, so that they might comprehend the gateway to entering the realm.

"It's too difficult!"

Zhang Zhong offered no response, while Lady Yourong spoke of the many difficulties involved in cultivating to enter the realm.

This brought Zhang Xuezhou face-to-face with reality, and his thoughts immediately returned to passing the time as before.

"But things aren't entirely without hope!"

Lady Yourong thought for a long time before asking Zhang Zhong.

"Some years ago, we met a Daoist priest at Nine-Foot Slope who took money to save people. He seemed to be a reclusive master who possessed cultivation techniques!" Lady Yourong said.

"You mean that old Daoist at the Nine-Foot Daoist Temple?"

Zhang Zhong's gaze shifted slightly.

"But he only treats patients. He pays no attention to anything else," Zhang Zhong said.

"Patients?"

Zhang Xuezhou immediately perked up.

"I'm a patient!"

He muttered to himself, then pointed at himself and shouted, "I'm seriously ill!"