Chapter 9

The four words 'begin cultivation' were like a spell.

Wutie seemed to be energized, his neck held high, he took large strides and ran forward swiftly, reaching the location Lao Tie mentioned in just a short quarter of an hour.

Along the way, he tumbled and fell countless times, his body covered in mud and moss, and draped with countless spider webs, looking dirty like a mud monkey. Wutie placed Lao Tie on a mound, his hands on his knees, panting heavily as he looked at him.

"You little guy... Are you on a high? Running so fast?" Lao Tie chuckled, "I don't know, which white... "

He chuckled dryly, his eyes glowing a dark red, "Who said you can't cultivate? You don't have any missing limbs... The problem is, even if you did have missing limbs, why can't you cultivate?"

"I, I... Father taught me the 'Heaven-Breaking Fist,' but I..." Wutie panted, stammering, "I... can't even complete a set of punches. My body is too weak..."

Lao Tie's eyes glowed red, and countless fine, invisible rays of light quickly scanned Wutie's body.

"Show me," Lao Tie said dryly.

Wutie looked at Lao Tie, gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and straightened his back. He spread his legs, one fist in front and one behind, assuming a solemn and imposing stance.

"Hey, Ha!"

"Hey, Ha!"

Wutie shouted loudly, meticulously performing the Wu family's foundation-building secret fist, the 'Heaven-Breaking Fist.'

When Wutie threw the first punch, his muscles suddenly twitched, and Lao Tie snorted coldly.

When Wutie threw the second punch, the veins under his skin swelled up, and Lao Tie snorted coldly twice.

When the third punch was thrown, the blood in Lao Tie's eyes glowed brightly, and he spoke with a high-pitched voice, "Enough, I understand. This 'Heaven-Breaking Fist' has extremely high physical requirements... Each time you perform it, it's like self-mutilation."

He chuckled, "Which idiot created this fist? But..."

The blood in his eyes dimmed, and Lao Tie fell silent for a moment, muttering, "Perhaps, this is the right choice. But, whether it's right or not is none of my business. Strategic analysis is not my job."

The blood in his eyes suddenly brightened, and a large patch of blood light erupted from Lao Tie's eye sockets, forming a light screen about ten meters wide around Wutie.

In the light screen, a figure appeared, wearing a fully enclosed white tight suit, the armor shimmering like white crystal. A soft and melodious female voice suddenly sounded, "Foundation Form, First Form, Begin!"

The figure moved extremely slowly, leisurely spreading its legs, extending its arms, and slightly turning its body, assuming a not very wide stance.

Wutie was shocked, staring at the figure in the light screen.

He was even more startled by the soft and melodious female voice.

There were only he and Lao Tie 'two people' here, and this female voice was clearly not Lao Tie's.

"What is this?" Wutie exclaimed.

"What are you staring at? Follow along," Lao Tie snorted impatiently, "It's a painstaking effort... Follow along quickly, I'm exerting myself."

'Exerting yourself'?

Wutie looked at Lao Tie's pale, unchanging skull face, stuck out his tongue, "Foundation Form, the name isn't very impressive!"

Lao Tie's eyes glowed red, "I could call this set of moves the 'Heaven-Destroying, Immortal-Slaying, Universe-Collapsing Great Demon Fist,' or the 'Primordial Chaos-Collapsing Great Power'... Is it interesting?"

"A lesson for you... The name isn't important, what's important is the content!"

"Second lesson... Don't doubt me, if you doubt, you'll get hit!"

With a 'slap,' a blue light flashed on one of Lao Tie's white teeth, and a fine electric current fiercely struck Wutie's thigh. His skin and muscles suddenly twitched as if pierced by countless fine needles, and Wutie screamed in pain, sitting down on the ground.

"Foundation Form, First Form, Begin!" Lao Tie shouted dryly.

Wutie looked at the figure in the light screen, wobbled to his feet, and assumed the same stance.

There was no pain like lead in his bones or the feeling of his muscles being torn when he performed the 'Heaven-Breaking Fist,' nor the violent, surging, uncontrollable hot energy erupting from his internal organs.

When Wutie secretly practiced the 'Heaven-Breaking Fist' on the Wu family training ground, the hot energy surging from his internal organs had made him spit blood several times.

Wutie assumed the first form of the Foundation Form, and he heard the 'crack' of several tendons being stretched, felt a few bones shift, and his arm muscles felt a bit sore and pleasantly numb.

Following the figure, he maintained this strange posture for a minute. The figure's lower body remained still, while its upper body slowly changed to a new posture, its arms spreading like a bird's wings.

"Foundation Form, Second Form, Begin!"

Wutie followed the figure's movements, hearing the subtle sounds of tendons in his shoulders and neck, and feeling the muscles in his back become itchy and warm.

"Foundation Form, Third Form, Begin!"

...

One form after another, the movements were slow and gentle. The soft and melodious female voice had a mysterious charm, and without realizing it, Wutie's movements became especially natural and harmonious, and his breathing rate changed unconsciously.

With each breath, Wutie seemed to inhale some strange substances from the air and expel some useless waste from his body.

Sweat continuously seeped from his pores, carrying a faint, pungent smell.

By the eighteenth form, Wutie was drenched in sweat, his skin flushed, and white steam rose from his head. He squinted, feeling dazed, and his body went limp, sitting on the ground and falling asleep.

He slept for an unknown amount of time. When he woke up, a blind mouse about a foot long had fallen beside him.

These blind mice had extremely poor vision, almost blind, and fed on various mushrooms and moss in the caves, growing quite plump. After a quick meal, Wutie felt full of energy.

He had never felt this good before, and Wutie even felt a sense of renewal in his body.

"Hold me, look in the right direction, and move forward!" Lao Tie shouted, "Listen carefully, pay attention to your breathing, one-two-one... one-two-one... one-two-one... march!"

Wutie picked up Lao Tie and took large strides in the direction Lao Tie indicated.

After just a few steps, he slipped and fell, throwing Lao Tie several steps away.

Wutie got up without a word, ran to Lao Tie, picked him up, and continued marching forward.

Forward, forward, forward...

In this wondrous realm, the central basin was about a thousand miles in diameter, and outside the basin was a vast expanse of sandy desert. The basin was shaped like a bowl, and under Lao Tie's guidance, Wutie moved continuously toward the center of the basin.

The red light ahead gradually brightened, and the temperature around him gradually increased.

The moss on the ground gradually thickened, and large mushrooms began to appear in clusters. Various plants with many branches, which Wutie had never seen before, also began to appear, forming dense forests in some areas.

"This is, fern!" Wutie carried Lao Tie forward, practicing the Foundation Form during breaks. When he encountered something he didn't recognize, Lao Tie would teach him the names and characteristics of these plants.

"These ferns are all mutated species, growing with just the heat and light from the lava." Lao Tie's eyes shot out a red light, scanning a fern, "This is an edible fern... Remember its appearance and characteristics, it can save your life sometimes!"

Which ferns were edible, which were highly toxic, which could paralyze, and which could self-destruct and kill...

Which mushrooms were delicious, which would surely kill if eaten, which had accompanying venomous snakes or spiders, and which were most favored by small insects...

Which venomous snakes had the most potent venom, which were the fastest, which had the strongest constricting power, and which could spray venom to injure...

Lao Tie was a vast repository of knowledge, and Wutie gradually absorbed various knowledge from him.

"You know more than the teacher." One day, Wutie finally broke through the eighteenth form of the Foundation Form. After completing the eighteenth form, he didn't fall asleep but smoothly performed up to the twenty-seventh form before feeling hot and weak, sitting on the ground.

Although he was tired and sitting down, his spirit was good, and Wutie didn't fall asleep.

He looked at Lao Tie, sincerely praising him.

"Of course, I am..." Lao Tie's eyes flashed red, and his tone became very low, "a professional."

"What kind of professional?" Wutie looked at Lao Tie curiously.

These days, walking with Lao Tie in this vast wondrous realm, Wutie had learned a lot of new and interesting knowledge from Lao Tie, and the gloom in his heart had dissipated a lot.

The hatred for his father and brother was deeply buried in his heart, and the word 'revenge' was carved in blood on his heart. Wutie's behavior and mannerisms had somewhat returned to those of a normal teenager.

"Professional... saving lives and healing injuries." Lao Tie's tone became a bit strange, "I am the ninth-generation medical-type ancient divine weapon, Bian Que!"

Wutie stared blankly at Lao Tie.

He didn't understand what Lao Tie was saying.

"Bian Que, you don't know?" Lao Tie's eyes glowed red.

Wutie shook his head.

"Ancient divine weapon... you should have heard of the fame of 'ancient divine weapons.'" Lao Tie snorted.

"I haven't heard of it." Wutie shook his head again, honestly.

"I like honest kids... come, stand up, Foundation Form, First Form, Begin!" A fine electric current flashed on Lao Tie's teeth, striking Wutie's belly, making him 'yell' in pain and jump up.

"Not the Foundation Form first form, but, start running, young man!"

"Run with passion and a full heart, let me see the results of your practice over the past few days!"

"Run, run around me, yes, run... run happily, young man!"

A thin layer of electric light enveloped Lao Tie, and fine electric currents fiercely struck Wutie's body.

Wutie 'yelled' in pain, staggering and running around the mound where Lao Tie was, his muscles and internal organs spasming and trembling due to the small electric currents.

The electric currents emitted by Lao Tie carried a strange life force, and Wutie's physical functions were slowly improving.

Little by little, the more he ran, the more energetic he became. Wutie panted heavily, his breath carrying a faint, pungent smell.

Running for nearly an hour, Wutie never thought he could run for so long without stopping.

Finally, he was exhausted and fell to the ground.

A venomous snake as thick as a bowl suddenly rushed out from a fern forest, baring its fangs and biting down on Wutie.

A red light flashed, and the snake's head disappeared, its body breaking into hundreds of pieces, 'crashing' onto Wutie's body.

"Quickly eat, then, continue moving forward!" Lao Tie laughed stiffly, "You have great potential, young man. It looks like we can reach our destination several days earlier. Quickly eat and drink, then, continue moving forward!"

Wutie grabbed a piece of snake meat and tore into it with large bites.

In the past two days, he had seen Lao Tie's skills and was not surprised by the snake's gruesome fate.

Move forward, practice the Foundation Form, run, be hit by electric currents and scream, eat and drink, and continue moving forward...

"Here, right here, right below!" After ten days, Lao Tie suddenly shouted, making Wutie put him down.

Wutie's clothes were completely tattered, and he was only wrapped in a few large fern leaves around his waist, barely covering his body. The originally thin and weak boy had become more robust in just these ten days, with a thin layer of muscle visible on his chest, arms, and legs.

"There's nothing here." Wutie looked around after putting Lao Tie down.

This place was near the center of the basin, about a hundred miles from the exact center.

The ground was thick with soil, covered in a thick layer of moss, and surrounded by large mushroom clusters and fern forests. In the shadows of the mushrooms and ferns, countless green eyes appeared and disappeared.

Spiders, venomous snakes, lizards, and other cave-dwelling creatures...

"Old Tie, there's nothing here." Wutie instinctively moved closer to Lao Tie.

"Of course there's something here, you just can't see it." Lao Tie laughed, "Young man, start working hard. Right under your feet, to be precise, one and a half meters in front of your right foot."

"Dig a hole, dig down, work hard, young man!"

"I can make you cultivate... you have already started practicing the Foundation Form."

"But, the Foundation Form has a big problem." Lao Tie chuckled dryly.

"What problem?" Wutie asked urgently.

He wanted revenge, he wanted to find the enemies who attacked the Wu family and take revenge. He had to cultivate, and only cultivation could bring strength.

He couldn't cultivate before, and the Foundation Form was his only hope. The Foundation Form couldn't have any problems!

"The Foundation Form is too gentle. Gentle means low efficiency, so the progress is very slow."

"You are already eleven years old, and it might take you twenty years to complete the foundation, which is too slow."

"Below, there is something to speed up your cultivation." Lao Tie's eyes shot out red light, drawing a two-meter circle at the location he mentioned.

Wutie said nothing, jumped over, and started digging with his hands, throwing the soil and rocks far away.

Lao Tie watched Wutie silently, watching him dig out the soil and rocks with his hands, one by one, and throw them far away.