Tap!
Tap!
Gripping the ground with his feet, he stepped forward, backward, left, then right…
His body followed his mind, and his mind obeyed his will.
As he clenched his fist, he shifted his steps and punched forward repeatedly!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A series of fist winds were produced, slow at first but getting faster.
They followed Su Jingxing's movements, whirling, sweeping up sand, and sometimes petering out into wisps of internal force and dissipating into the air.
The philosophy of Seven Steps Fist dictated that footwork and fist techniques were of equal importance.
When used in conjunction, they complemented each other to maximize the power of the technique.
The technique—designed to help one dodge and move about quickly—required one to take a step at a time.
If one were to go completely on the offensive and take multiple steps consecutively, the difficulty would keep on increasing due to the additional footwork required.
After familiarizing himself with every move of the fist technique, Su Jingxing tried to launch an attack. Unidirectionally, he moved forward on continuous footwork and punched.
In the end…
Plop!
As though he had walked into a thick trunk, he lost his balance and fell to the ground.
The attempt failed!
If he wanted to take two steps at once, he might have to attempt the breakthrough a gazillion times.
When encountering such barriers during technique cultivation, one could only rely on themselves to make the breakthrough.
One had to try repeatedly, even if it meant having their internal force and power twisted into one.
Forceful attempts at breaking through would not only harm the body, but also the mind.
Of course, Su Jingxing wouldn't want that.
If one time didn't work, he would try two times. If two times didn't work, then he would try three times…
Time passed by as Su Jingxing continued his attempts.
So engrossed he was in practicing martial arts that he forgot to return to the dormitory.
He only realized the night was over when morning light emerged.
"It's dawn already?"
Su Jingxing stopped practicing and swiped at the sweat on his face.
Even after a whole night of labor and martial arts practice, he was not tired in the least.
Needless to say, the Essence Energy Pills had been very effective.
Big Brother Dabao will surely tease me for not being back all night.
As Su Jingxing walked down the mountain, he thought about moving out of the dormitory.
He was sitting on over 200 Essence Energy Pills, which was enough to fetch a handsome sum on the black market.
The way things stood, living in the dormitory was starting to prove inconvenient.
He made up his mind; he would visit the black market that night to sell his wares.
…
Su Jingxing mulled over the thought until he reached the dormitory.
To his surprise, Kong Dabao was out at this time in the morning.
Without dwelling on the thought, Su Jingxing picked up a towel and a basin before making his way to the public bath, where he took a shower.
After returning to his room, he slipped into a fresh set of clothes and headed for the canteen.
He was famished after a night of martial arts practice.
Su Jingxing had three servings of breakfast before getting up and leaving the canteen.
It was his day off, but by force of habit, Su Jingxing headed for the working area to see if he could cover anyone's shift.
In a sense, he was the most dedicated worker among the dozens of workers in the crematorium!
…
"Hey, Little Su, do you happen to be free later?"
Someone called out to him as soon as he stepped into the working area.
He turned to find Team Leader Gu Bo waving at him from a short distance away.
"Absolutely. I'm always free," answered Su Jingxing, walking up to Gu Bo in brisk steps. "Is there a shift that needs covering, Team Leader Gu?
"Heh, you addicted to covering shifts or something, kiddo?"
Gu Bo was a man of large build in his primes. He was 35-years-old but could easily pass for 27. His square face was well-defined and bore a resolute expression. He wasn't exactly handsome, but he had a manly aura and was right up the alley for certain older women.
"Nah, I'm just bored," said Su Jingxing, laughing drily.
Not like he could tell him about the benefits he could reap from getting close to corpses.
"You are a funny guy," said Gu Bo, breaking out into a laugh. He then motioned at Su Jingxing. "Come, we'll talk as we walk."
He started walking ahead.
Su Jingxing followed.
"Little Su, you might think I'm talking too much, but let me tell you this—right now, you are at the perfect age for learning. It doesn't matter what you learn—there's no harm in picking up a thing or two," said Gu Bo as he walked.
"Unlike me. It's too late for me to learn anything."
"Now that I'm old, my brain is all rusty, and manual labor is all I could do to make a living."
"If you don't learn new things, you could even end up like Feng Tiejian—he really lives up to his nickname of 'sleazebag'. There's no hope for him now."
"When he just came here, he still had the sense to save his money. Nowadays, all he thinks about is fooling around with women."
"It's okay if he ends up marrying one of them, but he's never content with just one woman. "
"You must not end up like him, Little Su…"
He never stopped rambling along the way.
Su Jingxing wasn't in a position to refute, so he only nodded or uttered an affirmation every now and then.
After a few months of interaction with the other team members, he was already familiar with their personalities.
Team Leader Gu Bo was a forthright man, but also a chatterbox.
Once he found a topic, he could keep the conversation going all by himself.
After his transmigration, Su Jingxing had pretty much learned everything about the Original Su Jingxing from Gu Bo.
In time, Su Jingxing got used to it.
This time, Gu Bo did not ask him to step in for anyone. Instead, he was asked to assist Gu Bo with retrieving some bodies from Forestry Town, a town that was a dozen of lis west to Qinghe City.
It was a field mission!
Most of the bodies that arrived at the crematorium had been delivered there, but some of them had to be retrieved by Su Jingxing and the other members of the Corpse Collection Teams.
Su Jingxing had already been on such field missions several times.
However, all the previous trips had been within the city. The location this time was not only outside the city, but all the way over at Forestry Town.
This was the first time Su Jingxing had left the city after his transmigration
Forestry Town, as its name suggested, was a town that managed a forestry station.
In the Yu Nation, the smallest administrative division unit was "town" and not "village".
These towns did not function purely as residential areas. Instead, they each specialized in an area that provided necessary products for the cities. They were functional towns.
Forestry Town, for instance, was responsible for providing timber, rare mountain-exclusive cooking ingredients, herbs, and other things for Qinghe City.
There were also Farm Towns, Fishing Towns, Mining Towns…
Every day, there would be trucks going back and forth between these towns and Qinghe City.
A corpse transportation truck had been arranged for Su Jingxing and Gu Bo on their way there.
Gu Bo drove while Su Jingxing took the ride.
The two of them chatted as the truck moved steadily across a dozen lis of mountain road. Soon, they arrived at Forestry Town.
After entering the town, they got in contact with the person who called them—a manager named Zhou Hongsong.
Zhou Hongsong guided the two of them to an empty cabin where the corpses were stored.
"Thank you for the help, Team Leader Gu. The corpses are all here," said Zhou Hongsong with a sad look on his face. He pointed at the ten corpses lying in a row on the ground and sighed. "Please do what you have to. I'll call for the relatives of the deceased."
"Alright," replied Gu Bo.
"I'll be right back," said Zhou Hongsong.
He nodded at Su Jingxing, before turning away to carry out his task.
When he was far away, Su Jingxing carefully inspected the ten corpses on the ground and sighed. "What a tragic way to go. They didn't even get to die in one piece. As compared to them, our lives as Corpse Collectors almost seem too good to be true."
The ten corpses belonged to members of the Forestry Town Mountain Patrol Team. They had left for the mountains the day before yesterday, and hadn't returned since.
Earlier that morning, Forestry Town had sent out a search team, who found what remained of their corpses.
After piecing the remnants together, the death of all ten people was confirmed, and blamed on fierce beasts residing in the mountains.
"Tragic indeed," said Gu Bo with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
Sensing that Gu Bo had more to say, Su Jingxing looked up at him quizzically. "Is something the matter, Team Leader Gu?"
"Well, I don't think this was the work of beasts."
…