Chapter 1

In the Jianwu Kingdom, the Qi Wang Mansion.

The Qi Wang Mansion is the most ancient and prestigious noble family in the Jianwu Kingdom. The founder of the mansion, Duke Qi, followed the Martial Emperor in establishing the kingdom, conquering vast territories, and securing titles for his family. The throne has been passed down through generations, making the Qi family the most illustrious and noble lineage in the Jianwu Kingdom!

The Jianwu Kingdom was founded on martial prowess, and the Qi family rose to prominence through martial arts. Ancestors of the Qi family, Duke Qi, had a pair of fleshy hands that were unmatched across the fifty-one states. He even transcended the limits of martial arts, cultivating divine wheels and achieving supernatural abilities, thus earning the favor of the previous emperor and being enfeoffed as Duke Qi and Duke of the State!

Naturally, the Qi Wang Mansion places great importance on martial arts. The Qi family's descendants practice martial arts diligently, and many of them enter the imperial court as high-ranking officials and generals. This has made the Qi family even more unshakable, with no one able to challenge their position.

The descendants of the Qi Wang Mansion must rise at dawn to practice martial arts, and only rest when the sun is high in the sky. Therefore, every dawn, the mansion is filled with blazing oil lamps, illuminating the area as bright as daylight.

On this day, after the Qi family's descendants finished their martial arts practice and dispersed, two servants came forward to tidy up the scattered weapons.

"Zichuan, I secretly watched the young masters practicing martial arts just now and even learned two moves!"

A towering, muscular man demonstrated two moves of free-fighting, his palms creating a whistling sound, powerful and forceful, showing a solid foundation. These were two of the Qi Wang Mansion's secret techniques, which he had learned by secretly observing and now showed off to his companion.

The "Zichuan" he referred to was his companion, a young boy with clear features, dressed in a green robe, named Jiang Nan, who was about fourteen or fifteen years old. He was handsome and had a demeanor that did not seem like that of a servant but rather like a young master from a wealthy family.

"Zhu, are you trying to get yourself killed!"

Jiang Nan looked around cautiously and whispered, "As servants, we can only learn some low-level martial arts from outside the mansion. The moves you just demonstrated are the high-level techniques of the mansion. Last time, Liu Heida was discovered stealing high-level techniques and was beaten to death by the mansion's experts, and his body was left exposed for three days!"

"Zichuan, you're being too cautious. I only learned the moves, not the techniques."

Iron Pillar patted his shoulder heavily and laughed, "I heard that Liu Heida was killed because he stole one of the mansion's four great divine techniques, the River Moon Breaking Wave Technique!"

Jiang Nan, seeing that he was not taking it seriously, warned, "Better safe than sorry..."

"Zichuan, although I am a servant now, it doesn't mean I will be one forever! If I can cultivate a strong body, I can also become a high-ranking official, second only to the emperor and above ten thousand others!"

Iron Pillar, suddenly remembering something, said seriously, "Zichuan, I heard that you bought a fox in the market? Foxes are the most bewitching creatures. If you want to keep it, I advise you to reconsider. Be careful not to be drained of your yang energy. The slums of the Qi Wang Mansion are the easiest places to attract demons. I heard that foxes and wolves have become demons and prey on young men in the slums, draining their yang energy. You, being a handsome young man and a scholar, are definitely the demons' favorite..."

Jiang Nan was speechless and laughed, "Where did you hear so many stories about demons? I just saw the fox with its fur burned and the hunter was about to skin it and eat it. It was truly pitiful, so I bought it out of compassion. Once it recovers, I will let it go."

"I heard from my mother that demons also like to eat the hearts and kidneys of young men. A strong man like me slept with a female demon in the slums and woke up the next day to find his kidneys gone. Some even had their heads bitten off and their hearts and livers eaten..." Iron Pillar continued.

Jiang Nan glared at him, but Iron Pillar ignored it and continued, "I also heard that some female demons like to absorb yang energy. A strong man like me slept with a female demon in the slums and woke up the next day to find himself drained of all his yang energy, turned into a dried-up corpse..."

After a busy day, Jiang Nan returned to his residence in the slums. The servants of the mansion were divided into different ranks. The higher-ranking servants lived inside the mansion, received the most favor, had high wages, and often received rewards, living a life of comfort and security, comparable to the young masters of wealthy families. The lower-ranking servants lived outside the mansion, doing dirty and heavy work, earning meager wages, and often facing hunger and beatings, with some even being killed.

Jiang Nan called out, and a fox with mottled fur lazily walked out of the room. The young man picked up the fox and walked towards the Luoxia Mountain outside the city.

In times of chaos, the lives of refugees are worth less than dogs!

He was not a citizen of the Jianwu Kingdom but a refugee who had fled from a disaster. His homeland had suffered a great calamity, with thousands of miles of land ravaged by floods and fires, said to be caused by a battle between two celestial beings, affecting the mortal world.

Millions of refugees fled for thousands of miles, with corpses littering the fields and ghostly fires illuminating the night. Wild dogs and wolves, having become demons, roamed the wasteland, preying on the living at night.

Jiang Nan's family was originally a prominent and scholarly family, but the disaster had caused the family to disintegrate, with masters and servants fleeing in all directions. Jiang Nan escaped to the Jianwu Kingdom and, out of necessity, sold himself into servitude at the Qi Wang Mansion.

In the Luoxia Mountain, Jiang Nan calmed himself, took a deep breath, and his chest gradually expanded, as if a large drum was hidden inside. His heart beat like a drum, thudding loudly.

A series of cracking sounds came from his body as the tendons under his skin tightened, like powerful bows, making a snapping sound with every slight movement!

He slapped the air with his palm, like a whip striking the air, producing a crisp sound!

His move was identical to the one Iron Pillar had stolen from the Qi Wang Mansion, but it was far more proficient and grand!

"The young masters of the Qi Wang Mansion are mostly fools. A simple technique like the Primordial Mountain Splitting Hand, which they take over a month to learn, is laughable!"

Despite his gentle appearance, his moves were now broad and powerful, his hands like two axes, chopping and slicing, left and right, completing the Primordial Mountain Splitting Hand in a few breaths!

The wind in the forest howled as Jiang Nan's palm and fist created a whirlwind, sweeping up dead leaves and branches. His moves were as fierce as a strong man wielding a giant hammer, clearly the work of a martial arts expert with over a decade of experience!

Like Iron Pillar, Jiang Nan had also secretly learned the Qi Wang Mansion's martial arts, but unlike Iron Pillar, who only learned the surface, Jiang Nan had grasped the essence, even surpassing the young masters of the mansion!

No one knew that the gentle and weak-looking Jiang Nan had such formidable martial arts skills!

"Zhu doesn't want to be a servant for life, and neither do I! In times of chaos, it's not knowledge that brings success, but martial prowess!"

His movements suddenly slowed, transforming into another martial arts technique of the Qi Wang Mansion. His hands sometimes embraced the moon, sometimes drew a surging river, appearing incredibly heavy, yet with a sense of the moon rising from the river, clear and bright!

A great river flows from a deep valley!

The moon hangs in the vast sky!

The great river rises with the tide!

These were three moves from the River Moon Breaking Wave Technique, one of the four great techniques of the Qi Wang Mansion, surpassing all other martial arts and considered the pinnacle of the mansion's martial arts!

The River Moon Breaking Wave Technique has ten moves, each containing a layer of martial arts philosophy, corresponding to the ten levels of martial arts. Jiang Nan had only obtained three of these moves.

He repeatedly practiced these three moves, his internal energy flowing like a surging river, waves crashing and rolling, and another part of his energy condensed into a moon, rising from his waist's energy sea, like a moon rising from the sea, slowly ascending to his forehead, shining brightly.

The moon rises and sets, in an endless cycle.

This was a sensation, not a real moon rising in his energy sea, but the energy reaction caused by the River Moon Breaking Wave Technique.

This incomplete technique, the River Moon Breaking Wave, was obtained from Liu Heida.

A year ago, Liu Heida stole the Qi Wang Mansion's technique, the River Moon Breaking Wave, but only managed to get three moves. Liu Heida, being illiterate, did not know how to cultivate it, so he secretly sought Jiang Nan's help, breaking down the technique into sentences and asking Jiang Nan to explain the profound meanings, to avoid being discovered. After Jiang Nan explained, Liu Heida would piece together the meanings and cultivate the technique.

Jiang Nan quickly realized the trick but continued to help Liu Heida, while secretly memorizing and deducing the River Moon Breaking Wave, eventually reconstructing the three moves.

When Liu Heida's cultivation of the River Moon Breaking Wave was discovered by the Qi Wang Mansion, the chief steward, Qi Yong, killed him. Jiang Nan was initially worried about being implicated, but the matter was eventually dropped, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

After a year of hard cultivation, Jiang Nan's internal energy was already quite substantial, ranking him in the middle among the many noble descendants of the Qi Wang Mansion!

"Martial arts have ten levels, with five levels focusing on physical cultivation and five on energy cultivation. The five levels of physical cultivation are skin, flesh, tendons, bones, and membrane! I have successfully cultivated my tendons through the River Moon Breaking Wave Technique, making my body several times stronger than a naturally powerful man like Zhu!"

He thought to himself, "The three moves of the River Moon Breaking Wave I obtained from Liu Heida can only take me to the third level of martial arts, the tendon level. To advance further, I must deduce the fourth move and the fourth level of the technique on my own!"

In a year, Jiang Nan, using the incomplete River Moon Breaking Wave Technique, had cultivated through the skin, flesh, and tendon levels, with a cultivation speed that was not slower, but even faster, than the noble descendants of the Qi Wang Mansion!

"As for the five levels of energy cultivation, they are divided into energy, primordial, internal energy, external energy, and divine wheel! I am now at the peak of the bone level, with six levels to go before reaching the divine wheel. It will likely take many more years of hard cultivation to achieve."

The Qi Wang Mansion has many experts, but few can reach the divine wheel level. The five levels of physical cultivation are not difficult, but the five levels of energy cultivation are extremely challenging.

Jiang Nan closed his eyes and focused, his mind rapidly deducing the profound secrets of the River Moon Breaking Wave Technique. Suddenly, he moved, performing the fourth move as he imagined it, then stood still, closing his eyes to continue refining it.

The mottled white fox lay lazily under a large tree, occasionally opening its eyes to watch Jiang Nan practice. Its once-white fur was now scorched and patchy, its tail bare and weak, as if it were suffering from a severe illness, but its eyes were as alluring as a woman's.

As night fell, Jiang Nan secretly returned to the slums outside the Qi Wang Mansion, washed up, and had a meal. In the dead of night, he felt drowsy and fell into a deep sleep.

The moon rose, and the dim light filtered through the broken window, casting a glow on the bed.

The white fox crept out from the corner, blinked its large eyes at the sleeping Jiang Nan, and suddenly took a deep breath. A strong flow of yang energy emerged from Jiang Nan's nostrils and was continuously absorbed into the fox's body!

The moonlight flickered, and a cold wind seemed to blow through the room, making it feel chilly.

The fox's scorched fur began to fall off, and new white fur grew at a visible speed, while Jiang Nan remained in a deep sleep, unaware of what was happening!

---

{Piaotian Literature

Thank you for the support of all the readers. Your support is our greatest motivation.}

Previous Page AD Start

Previous Page AD End