Chapter 3

Watching Zhou Gongzi leave from a distance, Xu Yi remained prostrate on the ground, motionless, his hands deeply embedded in the soil.

Though he had only been in this world for two years, he had inherited all the memories of the original owner of this body. Every word spoken by Zhou Gongzi struck his heart like a steel knife.

It turned out that Xu Yi and Zhou Gongzi were sworn enemies!

From the time of Xu Yi's great-great-grandfather, the Xu family produced an extraordinary martial arts genius, Duke Mingde, which led to the revitalization of the Xu family.

It was also from that time that Zhou Gongzi's great-great-grandfather, who had fled to Guang'an to escape famine, became a servant of the Xu family.

The servant status was passed down from father to son, and over the years, the Zhou family had served the Xu family for three generations.

Then, during the time of Xu Yi's grandfather, the Zhou family produced an extraordinary son, Zhou Daqian, the second uncle of Zhou Gongzi, who was a martial arts prodigy. At the age of thirty, he achieved great success in martial arts and was admitted to Lingxiao Pavilion, one of the three major sects in Guang'an Prefecture. He led the Zhou family to break free from their servitude and established the now prominent Zhou family.

One could say that the Xu family had been generous to the Zhou family!

When Zhou Daqian's martial arts talent was revealed, Duke Mingde had already passed away, and the Xu family had no successor. Xu Yi's grandfather chose the martial arts classics left by Duke Mingde and gifted them to Zhou Daqian, providing him with financial support, which enabled Zhou Daqian to achieve the status of a supreme martial arts master.

After all, human resources are limited. As the saying goes, "poor in literature, rich in martial arts." No matter how talented an ordinary person is, without financial support for precious herbs and martial arts classics, a genius can become an ordinary person.

Of course, Xu Yi's grandfather's help was not entirely selfless. He merely hoped that Zhou Daqian would achieve great success in martial arts, and the Xu family would benefit the most from it.

Mutual benefit and reciprocity are common human nature.

However, Zhou Daqian had the nature of a wolf in the middle of the road. Once he became a noble, his former servant status seemed like a venomous snake gnawing at his heart, and his hatred for the Xu family grew day by day.

At that time, Zhou Daqian had already joined Lingxiao Pavilion and held a prestigious position, while the Xu family lacked strong support. Zhou Daqian began to covet the Xu family, and the fate of the Xu family was sealed.

However, the Xu family had once been the masters of the Zhou family. Even if Zhou Daqian harbored murderous intentions, he was concerned about his reputation, so he used a slow and painful method.

Through a fabricated case, he caused the death of the Xu family's patriarch, leading to the complete decline of the Xu family.

Over the next twenty years, under the suppression of the Zhou family, the Xu family's fortunes declined rapidly.

Eventually, the Xu family's wealth was depleted, and Xu Yi's parents were tricked into performing hard labor for the government, which led to their deaths from overwork.

With the Xu family's decline, Xu Yi naturally lacked the resources to practice martial arts and focused on studying classics and history from a young age. At the age of sixteen, he secured a position as a teacher in the village school of the Xu family.

However, when the Zhou family received the news, Xu Yi lost his only means of livelihood.

The Zhou family sought to eliminate the Xu family completely!

Fueled by anger and fear, the scholar Xu Yi died, his body still warm when another soul crossed time and space to become the present-day Xu Yi.

Xu Yi, "undead," the Zhou family continued to play cat and mouse, targeting the few remaining acres of land the Xu family owned, leading to the current turmoil.

Killing the ancestor, murdering the father, and harming the mother, Xu Yi's hatred for the Zhou family was boundless!

Reaching out and brushing the ground, Xu Yi twisted his waist and swiftly stood up, spitting a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva onto the ground. His tightly pressed lips parted, revealing a significant gash.

He opened the door and let out the old yellow dog, took out the cooked meat and rice from the tilted but still sealed iron pot, and enjoyed a hearty meal with the dog.

After lunch, Xu Yi did not go out again. He tidied up the stove, went into the mountains, hunted a few wild animals, and carefully prepared a meal, which he and the old yellow dog enjoyed together.

After dinner, he sent the old yellow dog back to its bed by the low bed and stepped out again. The night was deep, and a slanted moon hung in the blue sky, casting a clear glow.

Xu Yi closed the door and took a step, landing a dozen feet away. After a few quick movements, he was deep in the forest, finding a grove of elm trees and assuming a stance.

"Whoosh!"

"Ha!"

"Whoosh!"

"Ha!"

Xu Yi's movements were extremely slow, each move heavy and deliberate. His body moved like a strong ox, sometimes charging forward, sometimes kicking, and sometimes colliding with trees!

He repeated these three moves over and over again!

He practiced for two hours, only pausing occasionally to eat a few inches-long black herbs, never stopping for a moment.

Xu Yi's movements became slower and slower, as if carrying a thousand pounds.

The blood and qi in his body flowed faster and faster, burning brighter and brighter.

Suddenly, Xu Yi reached a mysterious state, free from pain and fatigue, with all his energy focused on the flowing blood and qi in his body.

"Whoosh! Ha!"

Xu Yi summoned all his remaining strength and performed the move "Furious Charge to the Heavenly Gate," his back suddenly pressing against a pine tree as thick as a bowl. With a crack, the massive pine tree broke!

Xu Yi fell to the ground with a thud, soft and limp like a shrimp with its tendons removed, completely drained of energy. Yet, an endless wave of joy surged through him.

He clearly knew that his final charge had at least the strength of an ox.

And the strength of an ox is one of the marks of the peak of the Body Tempering stage.

After a moment's rest, Xu Yi sat up, reached out, and horizontally chopped a piece of hard wood, which broke with a snap. He took the sharp end and fiercely slashed his arm, leaving a long and deep white mark without a trace of blood.

He clenched his fist and fiercely struck a boulder the size of a millstone, which shattered with a loud noise.

"Skin like ox leather! Bones like hard iron! The peak of Body Tempering, well-deserved!"

Xu Yi looked at his fleshy hands and muttered.

In the Body Tempering stage, one strengthens blood and qi, and forges bones and skin. When one's skin is as tough as an old ox, bones as hard as iron, and strength surpasses that of an ox, it is considered a great achievement, reaching the peak of the stage.

However, Xu Yi, having achieved the peak of Body Tempering, did not dare to stay in the forest for long.

His immediate priority was to stabilize his new realm.

He rushed back to the thatched cottage, took out the precious herbs he had accumulated over two years—only a dozen low-grade black dragon grasses—and held them in his hands. He sat cross-legged in a bathtub filled with boiling water, focused his mind, and quietly sensed the heat from his hands spreading throughout his body.

The boiling blood and qi, which had been scattered due to his newly achieved realm, gradually converged under the influence of the heat, slowly seeping into his blood vessels and tendons.

When he stood up, the clear water in the bathtub had become murky. Carefully examining his body, the originally hard lines had returned to their pre-practice softness.

But this softness contained astonishing energy!

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