It was as if she had grown up in a fleeting moment.
The girl's youthful innocence had suddenly diminished, no longer carefree and naive, replaced by a slightly heavy sense of loneliness.
She was about to leave.
Carrying only her spear and a bundle, she set off alone on her journey back.
"..."
Tonight, the moonlight was bright, and the stars twinkled, forming a dazzling pattern in the sky, as if a grand spectacle was watching over the girl's growth.
Wu Yingxue looked up at the night sky, her eyes glistening, and asked Xu Xi one last question.
"Sir, how many stars are there in the Milky Way?"
"Probably several billion, or maybe even more."
So many?
The girl was clearly startled by this number.
"If I had the time, I’d love to count them all one by one…" she said, her words tinged with a naive charm, as she tightened her spear and bundle to prevent them from falling.
With a light leap, her spirited figure jumped onto the rooftop.
Her cloth shoes made the tiles clatter.
Under Xu Xi's gaze.
The girl suddenly turned back, giving him a radiant smile, so bright and beautiful that it seemed to light up the night sky, dispelling the earlier heaviness.
Her eyes were as clear as crescent moons, and her voice as pure as flowing water.
Her hands were clasped behind her back.
She stood on tiptoe.
"Mr. Xu, please live well in this world where good and evil are indistinguishable."
The girl's farewell was peculiar, and after saying this, she immediately used her qinggong (lightness skill) and swiftly disappeared into the thick night.
Such a farewell was something Xu Xi had never seen before—so vibrant and lively.
Had the girl suddenly changed her nature?
No.
Xu Xi thought it was more accurate to say that the 16-year-old girl had finally shed her disguise, revealing her true self.
"She’s gone, and it’s time to return to the thrilling script of battling heaven and earth."
Xu Xi gazed at the night sky for a long time.
Suddenly, he chuckled softly and turned back into the house.
Wu Yingxue's arrival had been an accident, and he believed that after this, the two of them would hardly cross paths again.
Xu Xi prepared to return to his previous life, gradually venturing deeper into the region of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, relying on life-and-death battles and real combat to continuously refine his martial arts and techniques.
In addition.
The annual spring and winter demon tides in Qingniu Town were also a target he needed to take seriously, as they were beneficial for honing his skills in group combat.
...
[Time passed, and after her injuries healed, Wu Yingxue, who had been staying at your place, left.]
[The young princess carried a strange accusation on her shoulders, which weighed heavily on her heart, and she was determined to uncover the truth.]
[You watched her disappear into the night, silently offering her a few words of blessing.]
[Your life returned to its peaceful rhythm, back to the solitary martial arts routine you had before the girl appeared.]
[Training, combat, more training, more combat.]
[Your life was a two-point line, and though the process was painful and torturous, your persistence paid off. Your strength improved every day, greatly boosting your confidence and forming a positive cycle.]
Gathering strength, charging forward, throwing a punch, and decisively crushing the enemy!
In the region near the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
Xu Xi's figure flashed, his feet stomping heavily on the ground as he dashed forward at an almost imperceptible speed, closing in on a tiger demon.
His five fingers spread open, moving from top to bottom.
"Boom!" His palm pressed against the tiger demon's head, slamming it into the ground with such force that a crater formed, sending dust and sand flying and shaking the leaves off hundreds of trees.
"Roar!!!"
The tiger demon, suffering from the heavy blow, roared in anger, struggling to rise. But the figure suppressing it erupted with even more intense energy, wielding a blade that unleashed a thunderous roar, cleanly severing the tiger demon's head.
The battle was over.
Xu Xi had emerged victorious.
He stood still, his eyes slightly closed, replaying the previous battle in his mind:
"Whether it’s fist techniques or blade techniques, under the dual influence of persistence and martial practice, they’ve all evolved from their original forms."
"《Qi and Blood Long Fist》has become《Qi and Blood Tyrant Fist》."
"《Five Thunder Blade》has become《Nine Thunder Blade》."
"But—"
Xu Xi shook his head: "It’s too low. The martial arts techniques I obtained from the real world have a starting point that’s far too low."
"There aren’t many martial arts experts in the real world, and powerful manuals are even rarer."
"Even with the help of martial practice, the evolution of these techniques is extremely inefficient in terms of cost-effectiveness."
"If I could find some decent martial arts techniques and then use martial practice to evolve them, that would be true invincibility."
The question was:
Where could he find sufficiently excellent and high-level martial arts techniques?
The only lead Xu Xi could think of.
Was Wu Yingxue, who had already left.
But he had already asked, and the martial arts techniques the girl practiced were all special types restricted to the royal bloodline, and they were all incomplete.
For royal descendants like Wu Yingxue, only after breaking through to a new realm could they obtain the subsequent parts of their techniques.
This was one of the measures the Great Qian Dynasty used to prevent the leakage of their techniques.
"Never mind, it’s not a big deal."
"Martial arts techniques are just external methods; qi, blood, and the body are the core principles."
"Time will bring me the answers I seek. Even if I can’t obtain high-level martial arts techniques, through persistence and martial practice, I can still achieve greater martial prowess."
"In the future, when my own realm improves, creating my own martial arts won’t be impossible."
Xu Xi shook the tiger blood off his palm and took a few steps back.
With one hand, he grabbed the tiger demon’s thick tail.
He slung it over his shoulder and, step by step, dragged the heavy corpse back to Qingniu Town, leaving a long, dark trail behind him.
Most demon flesh was inedible, but this tiger demon happened to fall into the edible category.
"Ah, it’s Brother Xi coming back!"
"This lad is such a good person. Niu, go help your Brother Xu."
"Alright, Mom, I’m on it!"
The autumn and winter seasons had arrived.
The weather had turned cold, and food was scarce.
Xu Xi ventured into the Hundred Thousand Mountains, and while honing his martial skills, he would engage in battles to obtain large amounts of demon flesh.
These demons, for some reason, were all massive in size, many as large as houses.
Xu Xi killed demons every day.
Every day, he obtained new demon flesh.
Naturally, he couldn’t eat all of it alone, so he often shared the demon meat with the people of Qingniu Town.
After all, when he first arrived in Qingniu Town, many had helped him.
"The situation in Qingniu Town is getting worse every year."
"This year’s winter demon tide hasn’t even truly begun, and it’s already reached last year’s scale. If this continues, it’s hard to imagine what will happen."
Xu Xi sighed as he handed the tiger demon’s corpse to Niu for butchering.
He gazed toward the Hundred Thousand Mountains, where even in the desolate and bleak autumn and winter, the deep, oppressive blackness of the endless mountain ranges remained undiminished, exuding a terrifying sense of dread.
It pressed down on the Great Qian Dynasty.
It pressed down on countless towns like Qingniu.
It pressed down on everyone living on the border.
Xu Xi had a premonition that, perhaps, it wouldn’t be long before a great storm would come crashing down.