Opening his eyes, the first thing Zhou Fan saw was a fist sized imprint in the tree. Astonished, he pinched himself to see if he was dreaming.
"Oww!"
After making sure he wasn't dreaming, Zhou Fan examined his fist. It was neither bleeding nor in pain. In an attempt to make sure that the fist imprint was really his, he curled his hand into a fist and put it on the imprint. It was! After making sure he wasn't crazy, Zhou Fan didn't know what to think.
He had never heard of anyone hitting a tree so hard that their fist was imprinted into it, much less without any injury to the hand.
At this moment, Zhou Fan realized that this was no dream. By absorbing the Qi particles, he was truly becoming greater. Even after merely 8 days, he was already beyond any human. Perhaps even an ox's strength couldn't compare to his.
Zhou Fan decided that from now on he will focus his entire life to absorbing these particles. He will become even stronger and rule over the entire world. Then, Zhou Fan's mind came back to reason. Even if he could become that strong, it would take a long long time. Also, who knows if there is a limit to the particles.
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On his way home, he stopped by the bakery to grab 4 loaves of bread, enough to last him 8 days.
Entering his house, Zhou Fan immediately sat down. Crossing his legs and clasping his hands, Zhou Fan entered a calm state much faster than before. Looking into the infinite darkness of his mind he found a pleasant surprise. Instead of a single particle, there were 2. It took a mere 30 seconds to absorb both of them.
This time besides a slightly warm sensation, he felt nothing. After 5 hours, Zhou Fan heard a familiar crack. Then, within his mind, he saw 20 particles at the same time. Absorbing them all in a quick 10 minutes, he opened his eyes to find the black gook covering his body. Running to the lake in a quick 2 minutes 30 seconds, he jumped in and cleaned himself before once again sleeping on the river bank.
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Zhou Fan repeated the process of gathering Qi particles, hearing a crack, running to the river, and sleeping on the riverbank for 7 days. Over the day's, Zhou Fan decided on a name for absorbing Qi particles. He declared it 'Cultivation'. On the 8th day, Zhou Fan woke up like normal and ate a slice of bread.
All of a sudden, a foot broke through his door! Startled, Zhou Fan jumped backwards.
" Who made this trashy door", the unknown assailant said.
"Who cares, open up the door already."
"Yes sir!" Said multiple voices at the same time.
Calming down, Zhou Fan watched as the unknown assailants broke through the door and looked at him from the outside.
"Hey, someone actually lives in this pig sty" one of men's voices said.
"Get to the village square boy", the largest of the 4 men said.
"Don't try to run, the entire village is surrounded."
Still shocked, Zhou Fan complied to the mans orders. It took less than a minute to get to the town square from his house. Entering the plaza, Zhou Fan noticed more than 20 armed men on horses. Some carried bows and spears, but most carried a sword. In the middle, the only man wearing armor was barking orders to the villagers. It seemed like Zhou Fan was the last one to arrive.
"Let's make this easy", the man barked. "Men on the left, women on the right, children in the middle."
Complying, all the villagers got into the order the man told them. All except Zhou Fan, of course.
"Boy, stand in the middle NOW!
Looking at the men surrounding him, Zhou Fan felt no fear. He had been cultivating everyday for the past week. Every day, he would punch the same tree he punched a week ago. Just yesterday, he buried his entire arm into the tree from a single punch. If his arm was a little bit longer, Zhou Fan would have pierced through the entire tree.
He had experienced 9 audible cracks since the day he had touched the lightning tree. Not only had his strength and intelligence soared through the roof, he was also exceptionally more handsome. If he wasn't 10 years old, he could surely charm any women.
"Or what?" Zhou Fan taunted at them.
"Good, I was hoping somebody would resist today."
Jumping from his horse, the man who appeared to be the leader strode towards Zhou Fan, sword in hand. Reaching him in a few seconds, he instantly sliced down upon him. From his form, you could tell this wasn't his first time. He had surely committed murder many times.
Slightly moving to the left, Zhou Fan easily dodged the man's casual attack.
"Weak." Zhou Fan mumbled.
Before the man could react, Zhou Fans fist had already arrived in front of his chest. Colliding with Zhou Fans fist, the man was instantly thrown back 10 feet. When he landed on the ground, he had already breathed his last.
Shocked the surrounding bandits took a step back. Staring at their leaders mangled chest, they all had cold sweat pouring down their face. Even his leather armor was pierced.
"W-w-w-w-what the he**!"
You could see the fear in not only their eyes, but the villagers eyes. Nobody could remain calm in the face of a mangled corpse. Not even Zhou Fan. This was the first time Zhou Fan had ever killed someone. Based upon his strength, he had assumed the man would die, but upon looking at his bloody corpse, even Zhou Fans' strengthened mind was shaking. Many of the less experienced villagers even threw up.
Slowly backing up, the bandits fear was plastered on their faces. even though they had committed many massacres, the shock from seeing a single punch from a mere boy instantly decimate a grown man wearing armor was too much for them.
"R-r-r-run!!"
When someone had finally recovered enough to say that, a trigger in all of the bandits minds were set off.
Fleeing as fast as their legs could take them, they ran away at an astonishing speed. They even left behind their horses and their chiefs corpse.