Moonwaste City.
The Yue Family's Keep.
Qian Kuai, a tough looking man in his forties, was one of the housekeepers of the Yue Family and a top notch fighter with the strength of nine bulls.
He had trained many vile servants in the past, among them, Qian Yonglai and Qian Yongfu were the more talented of the bunch. Because of that, they were adopted by Qian Kuai and shared his surname.
Yonglai and Yongfu would often share the blood money they earned with Qian Kuai. In return, he treated them well and arranged for them to serve the vicious Young Master, Yuejue.
The day was coming to an end, and Qian Kuai was starting to grow impatient.
"Go and send someone to check the mass grave. Yonglai and Yongfu have taken a whole day to dump a body for the Young Master. Don't they plan on collecting this month's salary? I'll have to teach them a lesson when they return, so they don't get cocky after serving the Young Master, and forget to respect their adopted father."
"Understood, housekeeper Qian." Said Qian Yong, a fighter with the strength of six bulls, he had served Qian Kuai for a long time. He replied and left immediately.
The sky was dark when Qian Yong brought Yonglai and Yongfu back to the housekeeper's quarters. All their limbs were twisted and snapped, their faces were filled with terror. When they saw Qian Kuai, they looked at him with looks of worship.
"Father, help!" They both screamed.
Qian Kuai stared at them contemptuously when he saw that they had been badly beaten. He turned to Yong and asked coldly.
"What happened?"
"I have no idea. When I arrived there, the brothers were on the verge of being eaten by magical beasts. They mumbled some nonsense on the way back, but I couldn't understand what they were saying." Qian Yong replied.
"Father, it's the boy...the boy...A few days ago, he damaged Master Yuejue's carriage. He didn't die and now has five bulls of strength. He was the one who did this to us. Please, father you must beat that bastard!"
"That's right! He even took the money we were going to give you. You have to avenge us!"
Their eyes were bursting with evil fury. Their faces were ugly and twisted as if they wanted to skin Xuanyuan alive.
"I won't let this go. A lowly, commoner dared to attack men from the house of Yue. That's an insult to our house!"
"Father, you must take some men to the mass grave tomorrow and find the bastard. Then cut off his limbs and torture him! Make him beg for death!"
"Cut off his dick...."
All kinds of vile ideas were spouted from the brothers' mouths.
Qian Kuai realized what happened after the brief explanation. A few days ago, that boy only had one bull of strength at best. Even though Qian Kuai didn't aim to kill him with his whip, ordinary people couldn't endure the power of his strikes. It had only been a few days, yet the boy had already healed and gained five bulls strength. He couldn't fathom the reason behind Xuanyuan's sudden gain in strength.
Looking at his foul-smelling adopted sons, Qian Kuai was disgusted. He waved his hand and said.
"Someone get them out of here and take care of them. Tomorrow I'll go to the mass grave and look for myself."
*****************************
Near the edge of the Beastly Forest.
Xuanyuan was lucky and managed to hunt down a wild boar that weighed six hundred jin. The sky was still light as he made his way back to the tree house, passing by the mass grave. The servants were lucky and hadn't been eaten yet, but they were screaming out as ravens pecked at their faces. Xuanyuan smiled to himself but didn't pay much attention to them. He went straight home after that.
When he was home, he butchered the boar using his dagger. He was a bit vexed that the dagger didn't show any more of its strange powers like when he faced the magical bear, it was still razor sharp though. But he didn't dwell on the topic.
The six hundred jin boar was partly made into a fresh meal and partly into dried meat. This would be his food for the next ten days.
After eating, Xuanyuan sat cross-legged on the bank of the stream, wearing only his underpants. He continued reciting the technique and started to think about taking a trip to Moonwaste City since he had run out of clean clothes. With his savings and the coins he took from the servants he defeated, he now had 4,636 fighter coins. There were so many luxurious things that he could buy.
When the night fell, Yun Zhenluo sat on a smooth stone near the tree house and watched Xuanyuan as he practiced quietly. She was smiling, her eyes dreamy. The past few days had been the most carefree days of her entire life.
Xuanyuan did not realize yet, but a disaster had already befallen him.
The spiritual Qi from the universe was being absorbed into Xuanyuan's body. He could feel that his skin had become smoother and his strength continued to grow. It was like his body was breathing in the Qi from the air. He was sure that even if his nose and mouth were covered, he would still be able to breathe through his skin. The abilities of a practitioner greatly exceeded his imagination from his previous life.
He could also feel the strength of his muscles roaring with power from under his skin.
Three more days flew by. Just as Yin Zhenluo had predicted, Xuanyuan had reached nine bulls of strength.
A boy who never studied martial arts before could increase his power nine-fold in only six days. It was an incredible achievement.
There were many people who cultivated for decades and were still unable to exceed the fighter realm. They could only enjoy stronger bodies and longer lives. Xuanyuan had reached the peak of the fighter realm in only six days.
A persons talent and determination was what made the difference. Qian Kuai from the Yue Family was a middle-aged man, but he was still lingering within the fighter realm. You could imagine how difficult it was for people lacking talent to advance through the martial path. It was not possible to have great achievements without some talent.
With his increasing strength, Xuanyuan started to eat more and more everyday. He could gulp down ten jin of meat in a single day. That was because when you practice, you had to provide the body with nutrients to strengthen itself. Otherwise, the body would eventually break down. Yun Zhenluo said that practitioners of higher realms didn't eat meat, they used elixirs and pills restore their strength. Elixirs were pure, as opposed to meat. There were many impurities inside most meat which kept the body from fully absorbing the nutrients.
But meat was enough for Xuanyuan right now. It gave him the strength he needed to quickly recover.
Guxing had always stayed by Xuanyuan's side during the past few days. It also benefited from eating the meat and absorbing the Qi that gathered around Xuanyuan. Its fur had become much more shiny and its body grew a size larger.
Xuanyuan estimated that Guxing now had six bulls of strength, it was a lot stronger than before. With such sharp teeth, Xuanyuan wouldn't dare to receive a bite from Guxing.
Just when Xuanyuan finished the day's practice, he could hear angry shouts coming from a few hundred metres away.
"That damn kid dared to attack housekeeper Qian's adopted sons. What an insult to the Yue Family! Master Yuejue was furious and ordered a search around the mass grave. Now we have to find him, even if it means we have to tear down the trees and overturn all the earth. It's such a bloody chore."
"We already searched for three days. If we find the kid, we'll show him a living hell!" Both these people were filled with hatred. Since they knew that Xuanyuan had five bulls strength, the men they sent were all quite powerful.
"Ha, Housekeeper Qian said, ‘Whoever finds the kid will be awarded with three hundred warrior coins.’ Let's hurry and find him."
They cursed as they searched, but they suddenly noticed that a boy and a wolf were approaching them.
When they realized it was Xuanyuan, they were trembling with excitement.
"Hahaha, we finally found you. You son of a bitch, wasting so much of our time and insulting the house of Yue. Are you itching to have your ass kicked?"
"A disgusting scum like you can't even repay your sin if you die a thousand deaths. Why don't you kneel down and kowtow to us. If you do it a few hundred times and give us all your your money, maybe we'll spare your life. Right, and we'll skin the wolf and give its fur to Master Yuejue. He'll like that."
These two men's strength far exceeded Qian Yonglai and Qian Yongfu. They had five and six bulls of strength! Xuanyuan would have panicked three days ago, but he now had nine bulls strength, and he could shatter rocks into powder with a punch. He could crush then like he would an insect.
"If you two kneel down and kowtow to me a hundred times while giving me all your money, perhaps I'll spare your life. Or else, Guxing wouldn't mind feasting on your flesh. Meat is better when its fresh, after all." Xuanyuan smiled coldly. He looked at them like he was watching a pair of performing monkeys.
The stronger of the two grew angry, he was about to yell, but Xuanyuan was faster and gave a swift slap to the air. That slap created a white stream of air which shot through the air towards the man. When stream of air struck the man with six bulls of strength, a cracking noise occurred and a few of the man's yellow teeth flew from his mouth. He started to drool a mixture of blood and saliva from the gaps in his mouth. The man spun through the air a few times, and he fell heavily onto the ground and passed out.
At the same time, the other man screamed with pain. Guxing had tore a large piece of fresh meat from his bottom. The wound was so deep, you could see the white bone from his pelvis. Blood was gushing out from the wound and the man cried out like a child. It was very easy for Guxing to handle him after reaching six bulls of strength.
Xuanyuan felt cocky. He searched them and found 600 warrior coins and 2,400 fighter coins. The servants from the Yue Family were all loaded!
"Haha..." Xuanyuan was smiling from ear to ear. He couldn't be happier.
The man bitten by Guxing wasn’t in any mortal danger, but he had fainted from the pain.
Xuanyuan took out his dagger and was about to kill them, but he stopped himself at the very last moment. He mumbled to himself with a sigh, "Screw this, I shouldn't kill other people. I should be the one to forgive them. They'll survive if they're lucky and they might change their ways." He grabbed their legs and threw them into the stream and their bodies followed the current downstream.
Yun Zhenluo, the beautiful fairy, was silently watching Xuanyuan. Her face seemed expressionless as if she neither approved nor disapproved of his actions. At last, she said disapprovingly,
“He's a child after all. He's too naive."