Chapter 1

Early morning.

Creak!

Yang Lin pushed open the door, took a deep breath of fresh air, and his mind instantly became much clearer.

"Without industrial pollution, the air is really fresh..."

Plop plop!

Just then, a cart pulled by an ox passed by, the old ox's tail swaying, creating a breeze behind it, and a strand of cow hair spiraled towards Yang Lin.

"...What a load of bull!"

Yang Lin quickly raised his arm to cover his nose, and with the other hand, he vigorously fanned the air.

"Have you heard? Another person was killed by a demon in Anping Alley. Just like before, all the blood was drained."

Two aunts were chatting while boiling water and tidying up at the street corner, their voices trembling slightly.

"Whoa!"

"Five or six people have died already. Why haven't the people from the Six-Fan Gate come to eliminate this demon?"

"Hehe, they protect the big shots in the inner city. They don't have time to care about us in the outer city!"

"A blood-sucking demon? I heard there was one last year outside the city. Wasn't it said to have been killed? How did it come back?" Someone joined the conversation.

"Who knows? Maybe it's the same one from last year! You can't trust what the officials say!"

"Ah! My husband has recently found a job outside the city. I need to get him back quickly, or if something happens... how will I live?"

"Your two half-grown boys, if Old Wang doesn't go out to find work, how will you live?!"

…

Some people were considering whether to move elsewhere, after all, demons were something ordinary people couldn't deal with.

But, where could they move to?

The outer city was still part of the city. Although demons occasionally caused trouble, as long as the commotion was significant, the Six-Fan Gate would quickly send someone to deal with it.

If they left the city, ordinary people without land or power would have no way to survive.

Someone sighed, and then sighs echoed throughout the area.

Listening to the neighbors' discussion, Yang Lin frowned, looked at the sky, and turned back to close the door, returning to the house to boil water and cook.

Yang Lin is sixteen years old this year and has been in this world for a year since he was transported here.

There is no one else in his family. From the memories of his previous life, he learned that his parents took a job outside the city last year and never returned, leaving him only three dilapidated houses in the southern part of the city.

Over the past year, Yang Lin had also thought about starting a business using the knowledge and mindset of a person from his original world.

However, reality gave him a cold, hard punch!

In this world, at least in Lijiang County, no matter what business you want to do, you can't avoid the various gangs.

The entire outer city is divided among gangs, and ordinary people, even if they just want to be self-sufficient, must pay protection fees.

All the channels that can make money, and even those that can't, are controlled by various gangs.

No matter what business you do, as soon as it starts to show some success, the gangs will force their way in, taking the majority share and leaving you just a taste of the profits.

More often, they will take away your means of making a living, turning you into their free laborer, giving you a few steamed buns each day as charity.

Yang Lin had tried doing business before. For the first few days, he made some money, but then he was targeted by the Tianlang Gang. Not only did he lose his business, but he almost lost the three houses his parents left him.

After that, Yang Lin became "honest" and "diligently" worked.

It was impossible to be truly honest, but there was no need to blindly charge into a wall.

There are thousands of paths in the world, and if one doesn't work, try another!

After failing in business, Yang Lin decided to practice martial arts!

This is a world of martial arts, where martial artists are supreme. They can tear apart tigers and leopards, split stones, and it is said that powerful martial artists can even split mountains and rivers, and shatter the void.

Martial artists defy the law, and although the government can maintain order, there are always martial artists who defy the law in secret, and incidents of martial artists fighting and killing each other occur frequently.

Especially in local county governments, various gangs with martial artists as their core can even challenge the government openly.

In Lijiang County, the outer city is divided among dozens of gangs, and the inner city, besides the county government, has three powerful families that can rival the government.

Although it is a world of martial arts, not everyone can practice martial arts.

To practice martial arts, you must first be well-fed and well-nourished!

Eating meat three times a day is just the basic requirement, and you also need medicines to strengthen your foundation or treat injuries accumulated from practicing martial arts.

Ordinary people can barely afford to be well-fed and well-clothed, and if they force themselves to practice martial arts, the most likely outcome is not becoming powerful but suffering from various ailments.

Yang Lin considers himself an ordinary person, but he is not ordinary.

After breakfast, Yang Lin returned to the inner room, stood straight with his feet together on a specially cleared space in the middle of the room, and closed his eyes.

One second later, Yang Lin suddenly opened his eyes, raised his arms, and the rhythm in his heart began—

First section, stretching exercises—

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Two, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

…

Four, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!

Second section, chest-expanding exercises—

…

Eighth section, cool-down exercises—

…

Two, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Finish!

After completing the eighth set of radio calisthenics, Yang Lin was not out of breath, but he felt a strange thrill in his heart.

Following this strange thrill, Yang Lin continued to do the radio calisthenics, one set, two sets, three sets... ten sets.

After ten sets of radio calisthenics, Yang Lin felt a burning sensation all over his body, with his shoulders, waist, and legs twitching and feeling sore and swollen. His clothes were drenched in sweat.

He walked to the kitchen, scooped hot water from the pot into a large wooden tub, added cold water to test the temperature, and then stepped into the tub, letting out a contented sigh.

Resting his head on the edge of the tub, Yang Lin's mind stirred, and a golden light, visible only to him, shot out from his brain, transforming into a golden heavenly book in mid-air.

This golden heavenly book came with Yang Lin when he was transported, and its cover was blank.

With a thought, the golden heavenly book opened, and on the top left corner of the first page, a row of golden words appeared—

Martial Art: Eighth Set of Radio Calisthenics (Mastery)

As his gaze fell on these words, a series of shadowy figures rose from the text. Upon closer inspection, they were numerous three-dimensional images of people in various poses, arranged in eight rows, and the faces and figures of these people were none other than Yang Lin himself!

When he was first transported, Yang Lin discovered this golden heavenly book in his mind, but after various attempts, he found no clues.

It wasn't until his dream of getting rich and powerful was shattered, and he was bored and started practicing radio calisthenics to exercise, that he discovered the golden heavenly book had the ability to record and correct martial arts, and display the progress of cultivation.

Recording martial arts means presenting them in the form of three-dimensional images, which are 360-degree, all-angle, and easy to follow when practicing.

The dozens of images recorded in the heavenly book actually differ significantly from the version Yang Lin initially practiced.

Yang Lin compared them and found that practicing according to the version recorded in the heavenly book, he would feel a strange thrill in his heart, as if it was telling him—You're doing it right!

When he does it right, his cultivation progress increases the fastest. The cultivation progress is divided into beginner, intermediate, mastery... There are no specific numerical values, but strangely, Yang Lin can clearly feel how much longer it will take to break through.

Yesterday, Yang Lin had a premonition that the eighth set of radio calisthenics was on the verge of a breakthrough, so he took a day off today.

If he doesn't practice according to the version recorded in the heavenly book, it won't cause any problems, but the cultivation progress will be much slower, or even not increase at all.

Practicing according to the version recorded in the heavenly book also provides the best physical training effect. Over the past year, Yang Lin has felt his stamina, muscles, and height increasing day by day. He has grown over ten centimeters and is now over 1.7 meters tall, and his physique has become more robust.

The neighbors would always say, "The Yang family boy has grown up, tall and strong, handsome and imposing," and even some aunts were trying to set him up with potential partners.