Chapter 3

Night fell.

The moonlight bathed the Yunyu Mountains in a silvery glow, as if mercury had spilled over the long, continuous range.

On the outskirts, a low mountain peak stood.

On the slopes and at the summit, numerous simple stilt houses were built. Wild grass and vines entangled and grew in abundance, with dense forests standing tall, creating a dirty and chaotic environment.

This was one of the peaks where the live targets of the Yunyu Sect resided.

At a certain area on the peak, dozens of stilt houses formed a cluster, with a large open space in the middle, spanning several acres. In this open space, clotheslines crisscrossed, and live targets gathered in groups, either standing or sitting. Some live targets sat on round stones, bare-chested, grinding herbs to apply to their bruised and swollen wounds, wincing in pain; some were cleaning their vine armor; others were eating from earthen bowls.

The live targets also chatted in small groups.

"Today, I almost got crippled. That new disciple, though young, has strength like a mountain collapsing and a sea surging, unstoppable. Just one punch from him, and I felt the air around me being sucked away, flying back several steps, nearly breaking my vine armor. It was terrifying, and even now, I still feel a lingering fear."

"Ouch, ouch, my old injuries are acting up again, aching and unbearable. If only I had some wine, I could drink and fall into a drowsy sleep, avoiding the torment of pain."

"Old Chen, you’ve made it. After a few more months, you’ll be allocated some farmland and livestock, and even a wife to live out your days in the mountains. We all envy you greatly."

"Heh~~~ It’s hard to say. I still have to endure a few more months of beatings. I don’t know if I can make it through."

...

In the middle of this open space, a slender figure was leaping and moving, punching and kicking, seemingly practicing some martial arts. However, each move was weak and lacked power, like a mere show.

"Whoosh! Ha! Hm! Ho!"

Xiaohan was exercising.

Under the moonlight, Xiaohan exhaled and moved his limbs, practicing the basic physical training technique for new disciples of the Yunyu Sect, the 'Barbarian Bull Bone Strengthening Fist'.

When new disciples practiced this technique, their bones and muscles would produce a thunderous sound, each move fierce and powerful, like a wolf or a tiger, sweeping through like a storm, with the force of a thousand thunderbolts. However, when Xiaohan practiced, it was a different story.

"Whoosh~~~" After a few moves, Xiaohan suddenly leaned back and lay down, panting heavily, drenched in sweat. He felt dizzy, his vision blurred, his legs weak, and his strength completely drained.

"No... no... I can’t master this 'Barbarian Bull Bone Strengthening Fist'. I’m too far from it. I probably won’t be able to do it in my lifetime," Xiaohan lamented in his heart. "To strengthen the body, one must supplement it. One must eat a lot of meat and fish every day, absorbing nutrients from black chickens, ginseng, deer antlers, bird's nests, bear paws, and polygonum. One must also bathe in medicinal water and take pills. I’ve heard that new disciples in the 'Tendon and Skin Strengthening Stage' must take a large number of 'Tendon Strengthening Pills' and 'Skin Strengthening Pills', and when they reach the 'Bone Strengthening Stage', they must take 'Bone Strengthening Pills'. Only with good food, medicinal baths, and pills can one remove impurities from the body, refine the physique, solidify the foundation, and clear out blood stasis. Only when the body is as strong as a tiger, with full and powerful limbs and bones, and tough tendons, can one practice the 'Barbarian Bull Bone Strengthening Fist' to further strengthen the body and temper the bones and muscles."

"My body is too weak. Although I have memorized the moves of the 'Barbarian Bull Bone Strengthening Fist', my physical condition can’t keep up with even a little practice, and my strength is completely drained. Forcing myself to practice would only ruin my body."

"If that 'White Tiger Bone Strengthening Pill' hadn’t been stolen by that bastard Qi Shi, I might have had a chance in martial arts. Forget it, everything is predestined. The pill being stolen is just how it is. No amount of regret or hatred will change anything. If I, Xiaohan, truly have the ability, that bastard Qi Shi will one day fall into my hands, and I’ll make him suffer."

"Xiaohan, what are you doing, bouncing around every day?" A live target in his thirties walked over and said. "Do you want to practice? It’s just a delusion! Think about it, the leftovers from the new disciples are better than what we eat. Not to mention those miraculous pills. You’re just wasting your time. As a live target, you should accept your fate. Don’t waste your efforts. Just surviving in this chaotic world is hard enough. Look at me, I’ve been a live target since I was a teenager, and now I’m thirty. In a year or two, I’ll be done. Then I’ll be allocated some farmland and livestock in the back mountains, and that’s how my life will end..."

"Xiaohan, you’re so tough, enduring being beaten through your vine armor by new disciples multiple times without dying. You’re born to be a live target. Just endure it, and in ten or eight years, it’ll be over. Endure a bit more, and your life will pass like this," another live target said, holding a bowl of food and speaking to Xiaohan while eating.

"You deserve to be live targets for life!" Xiaohan thought to himself, not bothering to argue with them. In the Yunyu Sect, most live targets had lost their dignity, hoping only to survive to their thirties, living a mediocre life if they didn’t die. In reality, Xiaohan knew that even if they survived the live target life, the long-term beatings by new disciples would leave them with internal injuries, with their organs damaged and their vitality drained. Many retired live targets would suffer from various diseases in middle age and die a miserable death.

"Alright, alright, don’t lecture me. I know what I’m doing," Xiaohan said, recovering a bit of strength and jumping up with a flip.

"Medicine residue, medicine residue, come and get your medicine residue!" At this moment, a few old women carrying baskets and holding trays entered the area of the stilt houses.

The live targets ran over, grabbing the medicine residue from the trays. Xiaohan also walked over in a few steps.

For live targets, medicine residue was the most precious resource. This residue, left over from the new disciples, outer disciples, and inner disciples, could no longer be used for practice. However, live targets could boil the residue into a medicinal broth, using it to bathe and heal their wounds, slightly supplementing their bodies and improving their physical condition and immunity.

Xiaohan queued up in front of an old woman, grinned, took off his clothes, and grabbed several large handfuls of medicine residue from the tray, wrapping it in his clothes and taking it away.

After receiving the medicine residue, Xiaohan ran back to his stilt house.

He boiled water and prepared a wooden tub.

Soon, he had a large tub of medicinal bath ready.

Xiaohan carried the tub of 'precious' medicinal liquid to the simple outdoor terrace, stripped off his clothes, and climbed into the tub.

The hot medicinal liquid immediately enveloped Xiaohan, making his entire body relax. His limbs, skin, and bones felt as if they were soaking in a warm spring, warm and tingling, incredibly comfortable.

His body was nourished.

However, this pleasant feeling lasted only a short time before it disappeared. The medicinal effect of the residue had run out.

"Damn, it’s just medicine residue. The body absorbs a tiny bit of energy and then it’s useless," Xiaohan sighed weakly, gazing at the starry night sky, lost in thought.

"Am I, Xiaohan, really going to be a live target for the rest of my life? Can I never return to Earth... sigh..." Xiaohan’s eyes were hazy, muttering to himself.

In fact, Xiaohan did not belong to this world. He was a small otaku from the Earth’s Huaxia country. Three years ago, due to a car accident, his soul had crossed over to this world, possessing the body of a live target named Xiaohan. At that time, the live target Xiaohan had been beaten to death by a new disciple, with his organs shattered and no chance of survival. Just before he died, the soul-crossing Xiaohan completed the soul transfer.

Since then, the soul-crossing Xiaohan had inherited the memories and the lowly status of the live target Xiaohan.

Because it was a soul crossing, Xiaohan’s soul power was stronger than that of ordinary people, making his nerve reactions much better than those of the live target Xiaohan. In his life as a live target, Xiaohan relied on his excellent nerve reactions to dodge the punches and kicks of new disciples time and time again.

Later, Xiaohan began to secretly learn the 'Barbarian Bull Bone Strengthening Fist'. Although he didn’t achieve much, it improved his limb coordination and slightly enhanced his physical condition. When dodging attacks from new disciples, Xiaohan could perform some high-difficulty evasive moves, such as the iron bridge, diving, side-lying, and backflips.

Xiaohan soaked in the bath for a while, lost in thought, then climbed out of the tub, dried his body, and walked to the corner of the room, squatting down and pulling out a rough stone jar from under the bed.

The stone jar was covered with a slate, and it seemed to contain some treasure.

Xiaohan rubbed his hands, lifted the slate, reached in, and pulled out an old, worn sheepskin scroll.

Under the dim oil lamp, Xiaohan carefully examined the sheepskin scroll.

The edges of the scroll were frayed, soft, and yellowed, like an ancient artifact. It was covered with crooked writing and three diagrams.

The three diagrams depicted three naked men in strange poses, with red lines resembling tadpoles running through them, and some text annotations on the side. The writing was faint and barely legible.

"Beating Endurance Technique..." Xiaohan licked his lips. "Damn, I thought it was some world-shaking martial art. For two years, I’ve practiced it every night, but it’s just a trick. It only makes me more resistant to beatings, nothing more!"

Xiaohan had found this sheepskin scroll two years ago while helping an old woman in the mountains with errands, buying winter clothes, and passing through a desolate town. He had found it in an abandoned hut.

At the time, Xiaohan was overjoyed, thinking he had found a secret manual of a world-shaking martial art. He was so excited that he couldn’t contain himself.

Back at his residence, Xiaohan devoted all his available time to studying the diagrams and text on the sheepskin scroll, neglecting sleep and meals.

However, perhaps the so-called 'world-shaking martial art' recorded on the scroll was incomplete, or perhaps it wasn’t a 'world-shaking martial art' at all. After two years of diligent practice, Xiaohan’s strength hadn’t increased by even a pound, and he hadn’t reached the 'Nourishing Body Stage', 'Tendon and Skin Strengthening Stage', or 'Bone Strengthening Stage' that he had heard about from the new disciples.

The only benefit was that he had become mysteriously more resistant to beatings.

Each time he practiced the three diagrams on the scroll, his resistance to beatings seemed to improve slightly.

In the past two years, Xiaohan had been beaten by top new disciples several times, his vine armor shattered, and he had been thrown far. Normally, once the vine armor was broken, a live target’s body couldn’t withstand the new disciple’s powerful blows. Being hit would either cause immediate death or severe injuries, leading to a bedridden state and eventual death.

However, each time Xiaohan’s vine armor was shattered, he never died. He would only have bruised and swollen injuries that would heal after a while.

"Damn~~~" Xiaohan touched a large, black bruise on his chest, wincing in pain. This was the work of Qi Shi from today. If any other live target had been hit by Qi Shi, they would have died instantly. But Xiaohan was unharmed. "It hurts, it hurts to death~~~ Damn, even if I can endure beatings, I’ll eventually be killed one day."

Xiaohan felt bitter and threw the sheepskin scroll away.

After a moment, he sighed heavily, bent down, and carefully picked up the scroll, saying to himself, "Forget it, forget it. If it weren’t for this 'world-shaking martial art', I would have died many times over."

Xiaohan put the scroll back in the stone jar, covered it with the slate, and hid it under the bed.

He then went to the terrace, using the moonlight to practice the three diagrams and poses depicted on the scroll.

He took a deep breath, stood with his feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing forward, knees straight, hands hanging naturally at his sides... palms facing inward, backs of hands facing outward, eyes lightly closed... tongue touching the roof of his mouth, body relaxed, mind at peace, all thoughts cleared, breathing naturally...

Soon, Xiaohan was completely immersed in a strange state, almost losing himself in it.

...

PS: Brothers, I need to climb the rankings, please give me some recommendation votes.

Let more people see our demon god!

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