"Hey, Liu Feng!" A young man with a large belly called out, rushing to sit beside me in the bustling cafeteria. Even that short dash through the cafeteria seemed to leave him breathless. "I didn't see you anywhere in the tournament stands?"
Despite his weight, I was surprised he was tired. After all, he was a cultivator too.
Maybe this was a side effect of a martial technique he might be practicing.
Unlike the emptiness of the week before, the cafeteria was filled with hustle and bustle. It now resembled a mess hall, abuzz with conversations about cultivation. Some used the time to read while they ate. A few peculiar guys even balanced themselves on sticks while dining.
Perhaps that last one was some sort of training method?
"I was using that time to rest," I replied to the plump youth.
Since I had Liu Feng's memories, I should know who this guy was as they were friends. However, Liu Feng had not bothered remembering the guy's name.
Liu Feng had assumed he would be out of the Outer Sect after the tournament and would be a useless waste of time to bother remembering the name of some no-name loser. At least that was what Liu Feng considered him. This was kind of ironic because, by that view, Liu Feng himself should also be a loser.
But I wasn't here to judge how much of an asshole the previous owner of this body was. He had his faults and was young. At least he hadn't gone around making enemies, or bullying people who would have come for revenge down the line.
"I almost didn't recognize you with the short hair," the fat guy said.
At that moment, an overwhelming sensation surged through me, and the world around me seemed to freeze. A rush of adrenaline flooded my veins, causing my heart to skip a beat, then another, until it seemed to hang suspended in the air, its rhythm silenced momentarily. The faint hum of life's constant motion faded into a distant echo, leaving only a profound silence in its wake. Every detail, every nuance, became magnified in the clarity of that suspended moment.
Had he noticed anything strange? Liu Feng was known to take care of his hair.
"Anyway, the tournament was exciting. It's a shame that most of us couldn't get through, but the participants this year were above average. Even some of those who lost were taken in by the Outer Elders as personal disciples," he sighed and shook his head.
"Yeah, shame," I nodded.
It seemed like no one gave a shit about me cutting my hair. They barely even noticed, which kind of made sense. I was just paranoid about it, and even Liu Feng had rarely talked with people from the outer sect.
The closest person to Liu Feng in the outer sect had been this chubby guy, and even then he wouldn't have gone as far as to call him a friend. At best, the chubby guy was an acquaintance but often acted more like Liu Feng's errand boy. Liu Feng had been more concentrated on training so he could enter the inner sect and make real friends, his thoughts, not mine.
He was kind of stupid for thinking that. What made Liu Feng think the people from the inner sect would look at him in a better view than he looked at the outer sects?
Though I didn't agree with his ideals, I could understand where he came from. Liu Feng grew up in the Liu Clan where he always had to kiss ass to get cultivation resources. He had grand dreams, and there was no low he wouldn't stoop to if it helped advance his cultivation. Sadly even that demeanor was nothing special amongst cultivators.
"How many passed the exam to go into the inner sect?" I asked.
"Bin Bao passed by winning the tournament, and Wen Da due to the talent he displayed," he sighed, jealousy reeking out of his voice. "Hundreds of participants, and only those two passed."
Neither of those names sounded familiar. I shrugged, "Did anything else happen?"
"Well, you know, just the usual. At least the tournament was tame this year. Only three people got their cultivation broken, and only one was killed in an accident," he shrugged. "Also, one of them who had their cultivation broken started a blood feud between his and the opponent's clans on the outside."
What the hell? They were something... What could I even say to that?
Thankfully, I hadn't participated too much in that whole mess. There was a good chance I won't participate in the tournament even in the next year.
Getting my cultivation broken didn't sound good, and even if I won, there was a good chance some of my defeated opponents would take offense and call thirteen generations of his ancestors.
At the Body Tempering stage, we didn't have Qi yet, so breaking the cultivation essentially meant breaking the body in ways that someone would no longer be able to advance as a cultivator.
I would rather spend my time reading and talking with interesting people than starting feuds and getting my cultivation crushed.
"You dare!" Suddenly, someone yelled and stood up on one of the tables. "I will have your whole Yuchin Clan killed by tomorrow!"
"Come and try it, you Tang bastard!" Yelled out someone else, putting his hand on the sheath of his sword.
Yep, this was the time for me to get out of here.
Standing up, I walked toward the counter, delivered my tray of leftover food, and asked, "Can I have two hot cups of tea? Make them as hot as possible.."
The server behind the counter nodded and handed me a tray with two still-steaming cups of hot tea while taking my own.
"Thank you," I smiled.
The man behind the counter had a small smile of his own. He nodded while handing over my previous tray to the dishwashers and turned back to me, "Have a nice day."
"You too."
I had never seen any of the other fellow cultivators who dined in the cafeteria thank them. Those who worked in the kitchen might be mortals or body-tempering cultivators at best. But it was always a good idea to respect the people who made your food.
As someone who had briefly worked in the service industry as a part-time job after high school, the service staff sometimes got their revenge against rude customers.
The yells and hollering in the distance alerted everyone else to what was happening, and soon disciples crowded around the two bickering disciples.
Unlike them, I walked the opposite way and out of the dining hall while being careful no one knocked down my teacups.
Once outside, I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with the fresh morning air. After staring at the towering library in the distance I went down the stairs with a smile.
Even if, in the future, I never got that far in cultivation, I would at least end up with amazing glutes by walking up and down stairs so many times.
...
Once again, my rule of never even being in the vicinity of trouble worked, and I arrived at the library without being hassled or starting a blood feud.
The journey up and down the stairs had become easier. All this walking had amounted to something, and I was barely winded.
People went in and out of the library, and I had to look around until I caught sight of the old janitor putting some books on a shelf.
Like the cafeteria, the library was packed with people now that the tournament was no longer ongoing.
I waved at the old janitor and put his cup of tea on the empty seat of the long table. I took my cup of tea and walked away while he smiled and sent me a brief nod.
Others looked at me weirdly, but I acted like I didn't notice their gazes and got back to reading about some martial techniques.
Since I already had an attacking fist technique, I needed a movement technique, defensive technique, and maybe stealth if I could find it.
Maybe I should try and get a kicking technique? In case my arms got broken or something. However, using my legs in a fight where my arms were broken would be dangerous since my legs would be better used to run away from danger rather than breaking them.
I looked around a bit, gathered all the books about movement techniques, and planned to read them all and figure out which was the best.
Learning four new martial arts was pushing it a bit. It would take some time to master them enough to be battle-ready. Also, to be more efficient I had to be careful and pick the best martial arts I could while at the same time making sure they were compatible with each other.
Liu Feng had considered Mortal Grade martial arts inferior and not worth wasting time learning, and he wanted to learn Earth-grade martial arts. In his eyes, spending the same time learning Earth Grade martial arts was better than wasting time learning Mortal Grade martial arts that he wouldn't use anymore after getting to a certain stage.
He was right in a certain way, as learning a hundred Mortal Grade techniques was still worse than learning one Earth Grade one. It would be better to master one good technique than many bad ones.
But he took it to the extreme and thought too far into the future. One could not start running before they could even walk.
It was stupid when one thought about it this way, but I used to suffer from the same mistakes in my youth. The early twenties, when one felt like they had the world in their hands and could do anything.
Of course, those years ended with me setting ambitious goals and overworking myself. When I didn't overwork myself, I felt like a failure. That was what happened most often when people set strict schedules for themselves.
Nobody should treat themselves like a robot, instead they should treat themselves like they would a friend they care about.
...
Hours passed, and I finally found some technique manuals that sounded promising and were compatible with the Piercing Fang Fist that I already practiced.
"What has got you so worried, young man," the old man's voice interrupted my thoughts.
He had a smile on his face and a cup of tea.
Was that the tea I had given him? It was still emitting some steam from the heat, but it should have turned cold by now. No, wait, maybe he had some technique to heat it?
Whatever, now wasn't the time to be distracted by such things.
"I'm trying to figure out what techniques I should pick. Any suggestions?" I asked. "Also, do you know where I can find techniques that help with scouting or stealth?"
The old man leaned over and hummed, "Even mortal-grade techniques that are related to scouting or stealth are rare. At least rare enough that you will never see such books on the first floor."
"Still, any suggestions?"
The old man shrugged, "That would be me holding your hand through this. Make your own choices. At least they will be your own mistakes. That's how you learn. The only advice I have for you is that you shouldn't choose something just because it has a cool name."
The old man took a sip of his tea and looked me in the eyes intensely with the wisdom he rarely showed, "Sometimes the enemy of a good choice is the expectation of a perfect one. There is never a perfect choice in life."
"Since I already know the Piercing Fang Fist, I was thinking of something that would complement it well. Elemental techniques are out of the question since I lack Qi, and they often counteract each other too much. So, I was considering something like the Rushing Bull Step, a technique where one kicks off the ground to move at incredible speed," I explained.
Among the myriad of options, none seemed as fitting for the Piercing Fang Fist as the Rushing Bull Step.
Liu Feng might have been somewhat naive about certain aspects of life, typical of his age. But he was also a diligent young man who had honed the Piercing Fang Fist to near perfection. Mastering another technique to the same level would require years of dedication. Thus, it seemed more practical to enhance the existing technique rather than starting from scratch.
Perhaps acquiring an Earth-grade technique could be worth the change, but for now, this was the best I could come up with. Additionally, the Rushing Bull Step lacked elemental vulnerabilities that plagued techniques like fire against water or wood against fire.
"A sound choice," the old man acknowledged, leafing through the martial manual's pages. "The only weakness is that it can only move in a straight line, which is a major weakness in case you want to escape or evade."
"I have an idea to cover that weakness," I replied confidently.
I needed an overwhelming offensive capability to compensate for my inexperience in combat and hunting beasts. It was the best path to survival, coupled with a defensive technique, it would be pretty useful unless confronted with a vast difference in skill and power.
"You seem to have gathered more than movement techniques here," the old man eyed the other books.
"Yeah, I was also trying to find some scouting and stealth techniques," I admitted, hoping for guidance.
"Well, teaching stealth techniques would be like training assassins. The Sect does not want its disciples killing each other, and scouting techniques are rare in itself. You usually need Qi to use them," he explained.
That complicated things a bit, but I couldn't help but smile.
The array of technique combinations seemed limitless and added excitement to the whole thing.
"At least you have techniques that seem simple enough, and would help you learn even when it comes time for you to get higher grade techniques," the old man muttered under his breath.
I sent him a curious look, "How?"
"Your movement martial art requires kicking, and your attack martial technique requires punching. Even at Earth Grade, while you might need to add Qi and move it a certain way, the basics still stand. Most movement techniques require kicking, and most fist techniques require punching. So it won't be like you'll be learning everything from scratch," the old man smiled.
Ah, that made sense.
"So I'm basically putting myself down a road with barely any knowledge," I sighed but still smiled.
This felt like choosing what I wanted to study in college. How could you expect to know what you wanted to do for the rest of your life when you have barely lived it?
"That's life, kid," the old man shrugged and returned to his duties.
I chuckled.
This really felt like college now.
If I wanted to change what I wanted in the future, it would be like changing professions, "Some things never change."
I took the Rushing Bull Step Technique manual and walked out of the library. The sky was red, and the sun looked ready to set.
But training in the cold nights never hurt anyone... Well, it did average people, but not cultivators.
The forest around the sect was still the best and most private place to train. So once I arrived there, I put the already-read book down and started using the technique written there.
I crouched down, closed my eyes, and concentrated on the thighs.
The book said a bunch of things with little meaning about how someone should concentrate all their strength on their thighs. So that was the only body part I focused on, and by the time I opened my eyes, my thighs had bulged up to almost twice their size.
"What the actual fuck?!" I released my hold on the ground and shot forward like an arrow.
The world around me blurred, and the air stung my eyes.
I put my arm up to cover my eyes, and the next thing I heard was the crunching sound of a tree breaking and the pain in my forearm.
I came to a skidding halt and looked at the trail behind me as I tried to stop myself.
There was a broken tree, and where I had kicked off from were two holes on the ground with cracks around it.
"Damn! This is amazing!"
Rushing Bull Step wasn't flashy compared to many other movement martial techniques, but it was useful and compatible with my other techniques.
"They call this not flashy?" I grinned.
I felt like a damn anime character, kicking off the ground and causing the earth below me to crack. Well, it didn't crack as the dirt had just shifted to make it look like that, but still!
It took a while for the excitement to die down, and when it did, the numbness on my thighs, the pain in my forearm I had bashed against the tree, and the tension in the joints behind my knees finally settled in.
Slumping to the ground, I massaged my thighs as they felt like I just had a horrifying leg day at the gym.
But despite the pain, this was exhilarating in some ways. This was the first time I had used the technique, and the more I did the more my body would get used to the movements and my muscles would grow to adapt to it. Meaning I would be able to grow stronger and faster!
I stared at the broken tree, "It almost looks like I punched through it like last time..."
Wait... what if?
Standing up once again, I brushed the dust off my clothes. The broken trees were a stark reminder of the first super-powered punch I had unleashed in this world. The tingling sensation and excitement still coursed through me whenever I recalled it.
Surrounded only by trees, I turned away from the shattered trunk and crouched, pulling my fist backward. Like a bullet, I shot forward, though the wind pressed against my eyelids like a pressurized hose. Closing my eyes, I gauged the distance between myself and the tree, initiating the Piercing Fang Fist.
My punch collided with the solid tree before I could fully extend my arm, a testament to the inherent challenge of estimating distance without sight. An explosion followed, accompanied by the crash of multiple trees. When I opened my eyes, a trail of destruction lay before me.
"Holy shit! Awesome!" I exclaimed.
"So this is what they meant by saying some techniques were compatible," I chuckled, attempting to suppress the mad cackle bubbling in my throat. The last thing I needed was for potential observers to think I was deranged.
Of course, I hadn't fully unleashed the potential of the Piercing Fang Fist. Imagine the power when that happened!
"I gotta try again!"
Crouching down, I face-planted into the ground, tasting grass. "Huh?"
As the excitement waned, the fatigue and muscle cramps from utilizing such a potent technique set in. The movement had sent my body into shock.
Despite the painful muscle cramps threatening to bring tears to my eyes, only one thought persisted: I couldn't attempt that technique combination again today.
Should I even bother returning to the dorms tonight? It was evident that no one cared. Even if I wanted to return, I doubted my legs could carry me.
With those considerations weighing on my mind, I slumped back and attempted to fall asleep on the grassy ground. The setting sun gave way to a starry sky.
Would there be a level of cultivation where one could reach the stars? Some said that cultivation was endless. Well, I wasn't going to find answers to such questions tonight.
The soft-cool wind brushed through my body, bringing a comfortable sensation as the grass beneath felt more inviting than any modern mattress. Sleep enveloped me effortlessly, a welcome respite from exhaustion.
Sometimes, exhaustion made sleep a wonderful experience.
It felt like the blink of an eye when sunlight gently kissed my face, rousing me from slumber. "Damn, I was too tired to even dream," I muttered groggily.
Standing up, I stretched, finding that yesterday's painful muscle cramps had faded into dull aches.
I also reeked of grass and needed a change of clothes. Fortunately, the sect provided a place for outer disciples to exchange their dirty or destroyed uniforms for fresh ones.
Should I return to the dorms like this? I needed a shower, but the hassle of bathing in this world involved lugging a large tub of water up the mountain to the shower rooms. It would be simpler to use one of the many ponds scattered around.
Moreover, I was finding excuses to return to training as soon as possible. Yesterday had been exhilarating, moving at such speeds. However, I needed to acclimate my eyes to the wind pressure first... one thing at a time.
Ensuring I had everything, including the book on the Rushing Bull Steps, I prepared to find a pond.
With a single jump, I landed on a tree branch, and then another jump brought me atop a tree. Surprisingly, I maintained incredible balance without stumbling, a skill unique to cultivators.
I should try shit like this more often. Though techniques and other wonderful things had kept me quite busy.
There was no rest needed when having fun!
In the distance, several clear ponds shimmered nearby. It didn't take long to find one with crystal-clear water.
As I approached, I paused and called out, "Is anyone in there?"
I looked around and ensured no jade-like beauty lurked nearby. By xianxia cliché standards, encounters with such characters often led to them attacking the protagonist. The protagonist would survive by sheer dumb luck, and later would be revealed she was many levels above him. As for me, I would never survive such a thing, considering the vast power discrepancy.
There was no way I would allow myself to die due to something stupid like that after just arriving in this world.
Disrobing, I stood naked as the day I was born... or as Liu Feng was born. After confirming privacy once more, I dipped into the clear pond. The water's chill, exacerbated by the morning air, bit at my skin, and a chill went through my body. But I quickly got used to it.
Leaning against the pond's edge, I relaxed with the cold rocks pushing against my back like a comforting massage.
Doing something I love every day. Was this what it felt like when those people blabbed about doing what you love, and it would feel like you never worked a day in your life?
It would be a blessing if these days lasted forever.