Chapter Seventy-Five: Though That Fellow Is a Beast

[Answers to two common reader questions.

Question: Some friends have asked why the powerful figures behind the Sun and Moon Sect do not help the protagonist...

Answer: 1. As I have written before, these figures are indifferent to worldly affairs, merely playing at life and observing the mortal realm. They care so little even for their own deaths—why would they interfere to alter another’s fate? If you don’t mind the trouble, you can reread chapter seventy-two (Penguin Reading seems to have it as seventy-three).

2. Each of these great figures has their own story, which will be relevant to the plot with the protagonist later on. Since this involves the main narrative, I won’t spoil anything here.

3. If you simply cannot make sense of it...then just treat it as part of the setting. Otherwise, how could I, your lazy author, keep writing~~~(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)っﾟ✄╰ひ╯.

Question: Why did the protagonist seem to lose his wits in the last chapter?

Answer: Protagonists with high intelligence...have all gone to meet Brother Cheng...

PS: The above Q&A does not count toward the word count. After the book launches, I’ll include it in an “Author’s Note.” The following main text is 2,200 words—100 more than usual (*︾▽︾). I have an engagement tonight, so today’s update is early~~~Wishing everyone a pleasant read~~~(✿︶‿︶)]

...

“Congratulations, Young Master Jiang, on achieving perfection in the Clay Embryo Realm.”

Within a small pavilion in the Chen family estate, Jiang Lin—bandages wrapped around his waist (beatings courtesy of Miss Chen), plasters on his neck (bites, again courtesy of Miss Chen)—sat beside Chen Huo, who looked like a mummy.

“Though I do not know exactly what happened, I still must thank Madam Chen.”

Jiang Lin rose and offered a cupped-fist salute. As for bowing, he’d rather not...

Madam Chen looked at Jiang Lin and nodded, gently stroking her daughter’s long hair.

“Our family’s training ground is also called the Spirit-Tempering Field. Since you practice our Shattering God Fist, you must undergo certain trials. Only by bravely facing your fears can you meet the gaze of the divine and shatter gods with a single punch!”

“Bravely facing fear? Give it your all?”

“Young Master Jiang, what did you say?”

“Nothing...” Jiang Lin cupped his hands again. “I was lucky, nothing more.”

“You are too modest, Young Master Jiang.” Madam Chen stood and gave a formal bow in return. “The Shattering God Fist is exceedingly dangerous; my daughter was reckless. Please forgive us. If we had ruined your martial path, it would have been an unforgivable sin.”

“It’s fine, really, I don’t mind.”

Jiang Lin took a sip of tea and waved his hand. Madam Chen had already explained what had happened, so he now understood how perilous his ordeal in the illusion really was.

Still, things had turned out well.

“If you do not object, in a couple of days I shall help you train toward the second realm of the Martial Path in my daughter’s stead.”

“Well, thank you for your kindness, Madam Chen, but I must leave tomorrow on a mission. The second realm will have to wait for another day.”

Truthfully, Jiang Lin could have stayed a few more days, but seeing Chen Huo beside him—wrapped up like a mummy and confined to a wheelchair—he immediately lost his nerve.

“If that is your wish, so be it. Still, please take your training seriously. Over the next few days, your fist intent will stabilize, but after that, you must practice the Shattering God Fist’s stance a hundred times each day—no less.”

“A hundred times???”

Madam Chen smiled and nodded. “Yes, and not once fewer. If your fist intent runs too strong, it will no longer flow smoothly—your new clay embryo realm will be shattered, and your very life could be in danger.”

Jiang Lin’s brow twitched. Even though, if his path were ever cut short, he could be revived—his cultivation and realm fully restored—this was exactly what made it so frustrating.

It was like a game’s save point: now that he’d reached perfection in the first martial realm, his body had “saved” his progress. But if he neglected to do a hundred stance routines and died, even after resurrection, he’d have to practice another hundred times, or else he’d just die again...

Damn it! Isn’t this a rip-off?

Isn’t Pegasus Meteor Fist better? If he just saved up a few more years’ worth of infamy, he could buy it—so why train this Shattering God Fist...

For a moment, Jiang Lin just wanted to return the technique...

“It will be arduous at first, but after...”

Jiang Lin’s eyes lit up. “Afterwards, there’s no need to practice?”

Madam Chen smiled. “Afterwards, you’ll be used to it...”

...

“My daughter and I will go practice our fists now. My husband will keep you company, Young Master Jiang.”

“Take care, Madam Chen.”

Madam Chen took her reluctant daughter by the hand and left the pavilion, her daughter looking back at every third step. Only Jiang Lin and Chen Huo remained.

“Mother... Father doesn’t like Xiao Lin. They’ll end up fighting.”

Once they had walked some distance, Chen Jia spoke plaintively.

“You...” Madam Chen sighed and gently tapped her daughter’s forehead. They say girls in love lose all sense—her daughter hadn’t even started, yet her intelligence was already at zero.

“My dear, if you keep throwing yourself at him, no matter how much he likes you, he won’t treasure you.”

“Who says I like him...” Chen Jia’s cheeks turned crimson as she turned away. “No! I must go back! Otherwise, that scoundrel will be bullied by Father.”

“But if you go back now, will that martial fortune still gather around Jiang Lin?”

“I...”

The girl pouted and stomped playfully. As much as she wanted to be with that rascal Jiang Lin, her mother had a point.

There was more her mother hadn’t said: Jiang Lin’s first martial realm was the strongest clay embryo realm in all the Nine Provinces. As long as he didn’t progress to the second realm, no one’s clay embryo realm would surpass his.

And as reward for having the strongest realm—martial fortune would gather from all directions!

But if she stayed by Jiang Lin’s side, even if all that fortune arrived, it wouldn’t so much as glance at him, but would instead be drawn to her.

The reason was simple: Chen Jia was the first genius since ancient times to have achieved the strongest realm from the clay embryo to the sixth—the Martial Courage Realm.

Her mother had her claim she was in the seventh, the Golden Body Realm, to avoid arousing suspicion among other martial artists.

Though in duels she would claim a higher realm, this made her seem less extraordinary—even if she still thrashed her opponents, it saved her from much unwanted attention.

“They’re coming.” Gently embracing her daughter, Madam Chen looked up at the waves of martial fortune converging from all directions. “Jia’er, tell me, will Jiang Lin accept them, or will he scatter them as we do?”

“A true warrior relies on himself, never on something as insubstantial as martial fortune. That rascal may be shameless, but he has that much pride.” Chen Jia muttered as she looked to the sky.

...

Wutong Province, Gan Earth Fist Sect.

Countless pure martial artists, each with a tree strapped to his back, punched the ground with all their might as an elder shouted, “One... two... three... four...”

With every punch, supreme fist intent filled the sect grounds.

“Rest for the time it takes an incense stick to burn. Everyone, bathe in place.”

“Yes!”

On the plaza, all the martial artists deftly took out large bathtubs from their storage pouches, filled them halfway with hot water from “Super Capacity” thermos bags, as if preparing to boil themselves alive, added pre-prepared bath herbs, and, naked, leapt in.

“Ah... bliss...”

“A bath a day, a moment in paradise...”

“Indeed... absolute joy...”

In the summer heat, each warrior with a towel on his forehead, hands draped over the tub’s edge, gazed at the blue sky and white clouds, savoring the beautiful scene and the songs of birds.

Some, sporting eight-pack abs, floated rubber duckies in their tubs; some read fan fiction; others vied to see who could blow the biggest bubbles underwater...

Amid this contentment, someone suddenly shouted, “Look! Martial fortune!”

Everyone looked up—the sky was filled with martial fortune, all rushing in one direction...

This could only mean...the strongest martial realm had just been achieved. Judging by the volume of fortune, it seemed to be the strongest third martial realm...

“Damn it! That’s what you get for reading fan fiction! For playing with rubber duckies! And you lot—later, burst your bubbles with your mouths! Everyone, use your true energy to squat in those tubs! As the number one fist sect in Wutong Province! It’s been twenty years! Twenty years since we’ve produced a strongest martial realm! Get moving!”

The elder, thoroughly exasperated, grabbed a mace and began whacking everyone over the head...