【Heaven rewards diligence, and your persistence and hard work bring you genuine progress.】
【In the punches you throw every morning, you feel the scorching heat of the sun.】
【In the punches you throw every evening, you feel the alternation of the sun and moon.】
【An ordinary fist evolves through repeated practice, and your understanding of martial arts and fist techniques deepens.】
【Seven years of uninterrupted fist practice have transformed the "Qi and Blood Long Fist." Congratulations, you have comprehended the "Qi and Blood Tyrant Fist."】
【Your fist technique roars like the sun.】
【Your qi and blood are as domineering as a furnace.】
【Having successfully advanced to the Blood Exchange Realm, your strength has undergone astonishing growth. From now on, you will fear no demon or monster below the Innate level.】
【The young girl watched as you shattered a piece of blue steel stone with a single punch, her face frozen in shock, utterly dumbfounded.】
【She seemed to misunderstand something, thinking you were hiding your true strength. Despite your repeated explanations that it was just an ordinary punch, she remained unconvinced.】
【The girl's attitude toward you changed.】
【She earnestly and sincerely asked you how you managed to deliver such astonishing punches without any profound martial skills or supreme techniques.】
【She no longer referred to you by your surname, Xu, but instead called you "Mr. Xu."】
【The knowledgeable are teachers. Being older than the 16-year-old Wu Yingxue and possessing martial skills far beyond her comprehension, she directly sought your guidance in martial arts.】
【You felt slightly troubled. All your strength came from sheer perseverance, and you didn’t know how to teach that.】
【Wu Yingxue handed you a bottle of True Qi Pills.】
【The pills significantly increased the success rate of a Blood Exchange Realm martial artist reversing from the Postnatal to the Innate stage.】
【Suddenly, you felt a desire to be a teacher.】
【You began to teach Wu Yingxue based on your own experience, not for any other reason but simply because you were kind.】
The days of recuperation passed slowly.
As the saying goes, it takes a hundred days to heal broken bones.
To ensure her strength returned to its peak and to return to the capital in perfect condition to investigate the truth behind the ambush, Wu Yingxue stayed hidden at Xu Xi's home to rest.
Layers of mountains and shaded forests.
Located at the border of the Great Qian Empire, Qingniu Town offered a clear view of the majestic outline of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, like a heavy shadow pressing down, making it hard to breathe.
For Wu Yingxue, who had grown up in the imperial capital, this scenery was both novel and eerie.
The Hundred Thousand Mountains.
Also known as the Hundred Thousand Demon Caves.
Within them existed tens of thousands of different types of demons and monsters—real, bone-crunching, blood-drinking, utterly evil beings.
In the past, Wu Yingxue had only read about them in storybooks, but now, seeing the Hundred Thousand Mountains with her own eyes, she realized the demons were far more terrifying than described.
Moreover, life at the border of the Great Qian Empire was much harder than she had imagined.
If it weren’t for the ambush and being wanted by the authorities, the young girl might have returned to the capital long ago, unwilling to endure such a torturous life.
"Mr. Xu…"
"Are we eating this again today…?"
Qingniu Town.
Warm sunlight bathed the land, quiet and still.
Wu Yingxue's words, like a stone thrown into a calm lake, shattered the summer silence, filled with reluctance.
The uneven wooden dining table held two bowls of rice porridge and a plate of seemingly appetizing meat.
However, the girl’s gaze at the porridge was merely disdainful.
Her gaze at the meat, on the other hand, turned to outright fear and hesitation. If Xu Xi hadn’t been sitting across from her, she might have flipped the table in frustration.
This was tough!
"Demonic flesh? How can anyone eat that?"
"Of course, it’s edible," Xu Xi replied calmly.
Wu Yingxue didn’t believe him. In the past days, she had tried it once, and the taste was indescribable.
But seeing Xu Xi chew the meat with gusto made her doubt her own judgment.
Maybe it really was delicious?
Maybe last time was just a fluke?
Should she try it again?
The 16-year-old girl was tempted. Her stomach growled, and she couldn’t help but pick up a piece of braised demon meat with her chopsticks, tossing it into her mouth to test the flavor.
So sour!
So tough!
"Blech! Blech!" Wu Yingxue spat it out, her face twisted in disgust.
She couldn’t fathom how Xu Xi could swallow the demon meat without changing his expression, remaining utterly calm.
Nor could she understand why the other townsfolk, upon receiving demon flesh from Xu Xi, would show such joy.
"Mr. Xu, why don’t you and the others in town eat something better?"
"From what I know, the Great Qian Empire has had favorable weather in recent years. Life shouldn’t be so frugal."
Faced with the girl’s confusion, Xu Xi slowly swallowed the black, unidentifiable substance in his mouth.
When he opened his eyes, they were sharp and clear.
"There’s no particular reason, and it’s not as complicated as you think. It’s simply that we can’t afford better."
"Qingniu Town lies at the border between the Hundred Thousand Mountains and the Great Qian Empire."
"Officially, Qingniu Town is part of the Great Qian, but it’s too dangerous here. Few merchant caravans are willing to come."
"And the annual spring and winter demon tides further devastate the town’s crops and livestock. In the end, this is what you see."
Was demon meat disgusting?
Absolutely.
Xu Xi didn’t deny it.
Most demon flesh was either toxic or tainted with demonic energy. Even the few edible types were hard to swallow.
But it was this small portion of edible demon meat that allowed countless border towns like Qingniu Town to survive in such harsh conditions.
Wu Yingxue was stunned for a long time.
At 16 years old, having grown up in the imperial capital, she couldn’t comprehend why such suffering existed.
She asked again, "If life here is so hard, why don’t people move to safer counties?"
"You don’t know?" Xu Xi glanced at the spirited yet naive girl.
At this moment, Wu Yingxue had reclaimed her spear.
The spearhead was sharp, the shaft gleamed, and paired with her red-and-white robes and light armor, she looked both heroic and utterly detached from the mundane world.
"Right, you’ve probably never encountered this before."
Xu Xi paused, then delivered a shocking statement the girl had never heard before.
"The reason is simple: the imperial court doesn’t allow it."
"When it comes to household registration and the common people, the Great Qian Empire has strict regulations."
"Especially for towns like Qingniu Town, which border the Hundred Thousand Mountains, moving is absolutely forbidden."
"Violators face severe punishment."
The calm words carried a heavy impact.
Wu Yingxue’s pupils contracted, her entire body trembling violently. "This… this is forcing the people here to…"
The girl couldn’t bring herself to say the cruel word.
It was too horrifying.
Too terrifying to utter aloud.
This clashed violently with her childhood belief that under the Great Qian’s protection, humanity lived in peace and happiness.
Holding onto a faint, inexplicable hope, she asked one last question:
"Hasn’t the imperial court sent anyone to help?"
Xu Xi replied calmly, "Yes, they send people every year to collect taxes."