Prologue
Sitting on the edge of a one-thousand-year ancient forest of Qinling mountain range, Randengsi Village was located in the Baoji City of Shanxi Province. It was in a region of mountains and streams, tree-lined with rich green and lush vegetation. It was such a place with beautiful scenic and simple folkway that made this city like a paradise. It was also famous in the whole province of Shanxi, and also famous due to Randeng Temple with a long history built in the Northern and Southern Dynasties on the back of the mountain in the village.
Now the sun was about to set, reflecting the Randengsi Village.
It was now midsummer, but still so green among the mountain forests and fields, such scenic was so beautiful just like the scroll painting, which made people feel so amazed.
A slender teenager with thick eyebrows and big eyes was holding a straw stem askew in his mouth. He was singing while walking out of the only livestock slaughterhouse in the village. There was a slight smell of blood on him after he had slaughtered pigs and there was a fresh piece of pork liver in the basket in his hand.
And this teenager was named Li Mu, he was 14 years old this year.
Li Mu had just graduated from junior school ranking No.1 in the school during the senior high school entrance examination this July.
Li Mu was an orphan and had no parents. He was adopted by the abbot of the ancient Randeng Temple when he was so young, and there was only one abbot in the temple, however, this abbot was not a monk but an old faker in the countryside.
And the old man and the young man were living with each other in the ancient broken temple.
When Li Mu was not at school, he was living in the ancient Randeng Temple. He would always watch the ancient Buddhas and drink the mountain spring. He was so welcome among the villagers because he had thick eyebrows and big eyes exposed as well as he looked dignified and strong as he smiled, what was more, the old faker who had adopted him was so prestigious in Randengsi Village, as a result, he was always eating and drinking in his neighbors when he was young. To be precise, he was growing up in so many families in the village.
When he was 10 years old, Li Mu was forced by the faker grandpa to slaughter pigs as a part-time job in the slaughterhouse of the village, and now he had done this job for four years.
And the old faker gave the reason to Li Mu that it was useful for him to cultivate to be with murderous spirit.
"I’m just a junior student, so why do I need this spirit? And I think the pig killer uncle Qin must be the peerless killing god if it is useful to cultivate the murderous spirit… Well, I think that faker must be crazy."
As Li Mu thought about this, he felt a little annoyed.
Li Mu had slaughtered more than 100 pigs in four years. As he thought about this, he felt that it was so wicked as if his hands were stained with blood.
"Woof, woof…woof."
And it was a black and white Siberian Husky with eyes of different colors that was following him. It was so fat and lovely.
Li Mu found this dog at the gate of the school three years ago. At that time, it was a baby dog born after only several months. It was abandoned and so thin that was almost starved to death.
Li Mu took it to the ancient Randeng Temple and kept it till now.
And after three years, this husky had become tall and strong with extremely high skeleton just like a little cow. Now it became a big curse in the village and just acted like the bully among the pye-dogs and domestic dogs of more than 60 in Randengsi Village. It always took its dog team to cross the whole village and howled in the mountains and forests, making the chicken and ducks fly in disorder with their feathers flying all over the sky. But luckily enough, this husky had not been killed and made as dog hot pot by the villagers while they were complaining since Li Mu and his grandpa enjoyed great popularity in the village.
And Li Mu called it General.
The general of the dogs.
"Woof." General stared at the fresh pork liver tied with straw rope in Li Mu’s hand and was drooling slowly there. It was murmuring intimately and following Li Mu here and there, ingratiating itself with him.
It was about more than 20 minutes’ walk from the slaughterhouse to the ancient temple at the back of the mountain.
It was such beautiful scenic along the road and the setting sun was just like the gold.
As Li Mu met those villagers who were back from the farm work, he was always greeting them actively with great enthusiasm.
Those uncles and aunts were always good to Li Mu ever since he was very young and treated him as their own relatives. Li Mu felt so grateful toward those simple and kind-hearted villagers since he ever had dinners in each family of them.
As those villagers saw him, they would reply with smiles since they liked Li Mu so much.
The sun was sinking in the west.
Some people shook their heads and signed as they saw Li Mu and General disappear on the mountain road in the distance.
"Well, that’s a pity. Li Mu is good at studying with some inner intelligence. He is the best student in our village and ranks No.1 in the high school entrance examination, but I don’t know why Master Li doesn’t want him to continue to study in the high school?"
"Absolutely, it’s said that the headmaster from the best high school in the city has ever come to Randeng Temple by himself. He wanted this boy to study in his school for free and even wanted him to be in the Yulin class with monthly living expense… However, Master Li refused all of these."
"I guess Master Li wants Li Mu to inherit his skills."
"I don’t think Master Li’s skills like geomancy, health keeping, demons elimination, and ghosts catch are useful in this modern society, and I don’t think it’s a good idea for the boy Li Mu to learn about these. Master Li is really skillful at these, but some people say that he has a mental illness and that will be so terrible when he’s attacked by this disease. Well, Li Mu will be so pitiful since he has to take care of him carefully."
And those villagers were keeping talking and they felt sorry for Li Mu.
…
…
"Hello, old man, I’m back."
As Li Mu entered the gate of the temple, he greeted him loudly.
But there was no response of the old faker from the backyard of the meditation room as usual.
Li Mu didn’t take it for granted. He kicked General and let the husky play by itself, then walked to the kitchen directly.
And there were only Li Mu and the old faker in Randeng Temple. The meditation room was so quiet and deep now.
Just now Li Mu trotted and went back to Randeng Temple, thus, he felt slightly sweaty now. He hid the pork liver in the jar after entering the kitchen, in case General stole and ate it at any time. After that, he took a slurp of well water and finished it thoroughly.
Then he threw the water ladle away and began to practice on the open space in the temple as usual.
And it was Zhenwu Boxing.
And the martial art was called Xiantian Skill.
The names were really frightening.
And it was the old faker who taught Li Mu those two kinds of skills.
At that time when Li Mu began to learn to walk, he was forced to practice them by the old faker. Zhenwu Boxing was a series of skills and tricks in martial arts while Xiantian Skill was a kind of breathing method. He had been practicing them for totally 11 years till now, and it had become a usual practice for him; he would practice them for one hour both in the morning and in the afternoon.
According to the old faker, Zhenwu Boxing was from the immortals, and one could crush the mountain and break the tablets after achieving mastery through a comprehensive study of the eighteen styles of Zhenwu Boxing. One could even smash an armored car so easily even though he had just learned a little. However, the twelve-stage Xiantian Skill was more powerful since it could cause qualitative changes to people by cleaning the marrows and renewing the muscles. When anyone
But the question was that Li Mu couldn’t even smash a piece of wood with Zhenwu Boxing even though he had been practicing it for 11 years. It only enhanced his vital capacity. He could find no attractive power from it, though the old faker had always described so.
And the old faker had his own explanations for this.
According to what the old faker said, the earth was currently at the Power-ending Age. As a result, the energy of heaven and earth was exhausted, so did the Spiritual Qi in the air. Thus, there was no proper condition for practice. And that was why he could not master the two Cultivation Methods he imparted to him.
How could he find an excuse like this?
What a liar!
And Li Mu didn’t even bother to unmask the old faker.
He was even angrier about the fact that the old faker still forced him to practice since there was no way to practice them successfully on the earth while he had already admitted so.
Li Mu had always wanted to resist for the first few years when he was five or six years old, however, he had to continue with tears when he was badly bruised from flogging as the old faker beat him with a stick. Later, he had grown up and the old faker had to take the soft way instead of the hard way since he could not defeat Li Mu. Therefore, he would pretend to be attacked by mental illness, talking nonsense and running naked once Li Mu didn’t take his advice. As a result, Li Mu was neither able to cry nor to laugh and had to bend the knees to continue to practice.
And later Li Mu had been used to this.
Anyway, he could regard them useful to build up a good physique and improve his health to some degree with reluctance and treated them as children’s radio gymnastics to practice for two hours every day.
Came the noise when he practiced.
After finishing practicing a set of Cultivation Method, Li Mu felt so hot all over his body.
Especially the viscera which made him feel so hot and dry as if they were burning, but he also felt so comfortable.
And Li Mu had been accustomed to this.
After practice in the evening, he went to the door of the meditation room at the back yard, stripped to the waist.
"So, old man, what do you want to eat for supper, I’ve finished practicing now. I’ve got the fresh port liver from the slaughterhouse, so, what about your favorite wax gourd and pork liver soup noodles…" Li Mu began to work since he was six years old, and he was forced to cook by this bad old faker, and it was Li Mu who cooked for recent years.
"It’s a big day today. Don’t hurry to cook, let me tell you something very important."
An unusual and serious voice came from behind the curtain of the meditation room.
"What is the big day?" As Li Mu heard so, he thought for a while and scratched his head. It was July 14 of 2017 today, and it was not the public holiday nor the traditional lunar holiday, or the international day of commemoration… It was quite normal today, so why it was big?
"Sit at the door of the meditation room and listen to me." It was so rare when the old faker became so serious this time rather than to be obscene as usual, "Later, I will tell you something important. Now listen carefully, don’t interrupt me before I finish."
"Oh? Ok." Li Mu had doubts in mind but he still sat down at the door of the meditation room with crossed legs.
He had a bad feeling.
Because every time when the old faker said there was something big happening before, it was actually when he was attacked by the mental illness.
And maybe this time was no exception.
"Here’s the thing. To put it simply, there’ll be one unprecedented large Transmitting Array built on the Ziwei Star Region where several super martial art sects are located outside the solar system so that it will be convenient for them to develop the south part of the galaxy. However, the pulse of the immortal power of this formation is going to pass the earth, and the earth is about to be removed. I have to take you away from the earth, but before you leave, I have something to tell you so that you can get used to life there quickly…" And it was the clear voice of the old faker from the meditation room.
"Whhhhhh…what?"
Li Mu was stunned.
"The earth will be removed?"
"The Ziwei Star Region?"
"And super martial art forces?"
As expected, the old faker was attacked by the illness again.
And obviously, it was more serious this time since he could even talk nonsense like this.
Maybe later he would say that aliens from the five galaxies of the Milky Way would invade the earth and rob the national treasure giant panda if he continued.
"Well, old man, you can stop first… Ok, I think we’d better put aside the trivial matter of earth demolition first. Your health is more important, and maybe you’ve got a fever, so, what about letting me send you to the hospital first?" Li Mu tried to make himself sound sincere as he talked.
Because according to the previous experience, he had to accept what the old faker said rather than denying stiffly when he was suffering the illness, or else, this old guy would get crazier.
Bang!
A slipper flew out of the meditation room and hit right on Li Mu’s head.
"Damn, don’t interrupt me. I’ve told you just now. Now the formation has already started and time is limited, you shouldn’t talk nonsense. Why are you making me feel so angry? Just shut up and listen to me carefully…" It was the angry voice from the old faker as he cried out from the meditation room, "Damn, I’m not sick. You are a person of limited outlook and experience… Shut up!"
Wiping the shoe prints on his forehead, Li Mu was neither able to cry nor to laugh.
This old man must be attacked by serious mental illness today, he was so furious and even spoke English.
"All right, calm down, you can continue and I will not interrupt you…" said Li Mu as he was appeasing him.
Then the old faker was still feeling angry and continued to speak as he was breathing heavily, "Let me talk in short, everyone knows that those super martial art forces from Ziwei Star Region are so bad, the so-called removal is the excuse to deal with the public opinion of the Ziwei Star Region, and finally they may destroy the earth directly, so it won’t be long before the earth is destroyed… But the good news is that the early-stage preparations of building the super large Transmitting Array will take some time, and perhaps it’s more than 20 years according to the calculation method on the earth… Let me send you away from the earth to a lower-level Martial Art Star. In this way, it will be convenient for you to steel yourself, and maybe you can reach a higher level in learning Zhenwu Boxing and Xiantian Skill within 20 years, which means you might be able to gain the power to break the barriers of the planet and find a method to save the earth."
"So…it is, well, I get it. Don’t worry, grandpa, I will surely practice those two magic skills you’ve delivered to me even if it is not for the earth but for you and the fellow villagers in Randengsi Village…" Li Mu found that the old faker was attacked by the serious mental illness and he had to cooperate.
"All right, it’s good that you can understand it." And the voice of the old faker came out from the meditation room again, and then he added, "Damn, it’s a kind of fate that we’re together, and you have to be independent in the future. However, I’ve to remind you again, do you know what the most important for martial artists when they make a living wandering from place to place among the stars?"
Well, this old faker was a little deep in the act.
Feeling speechless, Li Mu had to cooperate with him.
Then he pretended to be thinking for a while carefully and said seriously, "A martial artist has to forge ahead with determination, and has to strive for the front line with heaven no matter what difficulties he meets. He also has to focus on righteousness first when he strives for life in the world and helps his friends at the loss of his life. Moreover, he will never retreat facing the evil even at the cost of his life for justice without hesitation…"
Before he finished the words.
Bang!
The second slipper flew out of the meditation room and hit right on his head.
"Stupid… How can you forget what I’ve taught you before? Why are you saying helping others at the loss of your life and sacrificing yourself for justice? It’s wrong, absolutely wrong! Damn, you are going to piss me off. You must remember the first principle that you have to space when you cannot win as you are in the world. You have to admit to be defeated or acknowledge your impotency… Life is more important at any time, safety first and it’s more important to live."
The old faker was furious. He felt so disappointed as if Li Mu had no capacity for improvement.
Li Mu didn’t know what to say.
And the old faker continued with sincere words and earnest wishes, "My son, I’ve already taught you all of my skills during the past years, they are so amazing in the universe. Though I’ve always been tough to you and forced you to do many things that you are unwilling to do, leaving your childhood incomplete. However, I did all this for your own good. You will understand how precious those skills will be when you reach the lower-level Martial Art Star, and you must appreciate me for all this…"
Hearing this, Li Mu twitched his mouth.
To be honest, he may feel moved if he didn’t know that the old faker was talking nonsense.
How could he persuade the old faker into going to the hospital since he was so seriously ill now?
Then the old faker spoke again, "Well, I will not talk about this any more. Don’t let me down when you are in the world independently… Come in now, let me send you away."
Li Mu giggled.
This was a good chance.
When he entered, he would find a way to get close to the old faker, tied him up and sent him to the hospital.
Li Mu opened the door of the meditation room and entered directly.
But who knew that the moment when he entered, he felt dazzled suddenly and something unexpected happened. The ground behind the curtain was not actually earth. Li Mu seemed to have stepped into an abyss as he missed his step and fell directly downward. Then there was a strange buzz in his ear, making him totally weightless…
"Damn, that’s so villainous. You must be crazy, old faker. When did you dig such a deep pit in the meditation room…"
Li Mu cried out in grief and indignation.
But his voice stopped abruptly.
As if he had vanished from this world.
"Aha… I made it… I’ve spent 10 years to carve this Nine-star Sky Array and activated it with half of my blood. Well, this is a favor to this brat. I’ve finally sent this boy away. Well, I’m totally liberated… Aha, I can go back finally… Let me change the array coordination… Aha, I don’t want to stay in this damn earth any longer since it lacks Spiritual Qi, aha…"
The frantic laughter of the old faker reverberates in the meditation room.
However, suddenly there is a sound of footsteps coming outside Randeng Temple at this moment.
"Hello, General, is Brother Mu in the meditation room?" A girl’s pleasant voice sounded.
And General, as tall as a little cow, was wagging its head and the tail to lead the road with a flattering smile.
And there was a beautiful girl of thirteen or fourteen followed behind.
She was a slender girl and almost 170 cm tall with black hair, fine look and white skin. Her smile was revealed before she spoke and there was a vaguely discernable bulge before her chest beneath the snow-white T-shirt. She was wearing the tight jeans which reflected her long straight legs as well as the attractive, curvy, and slim figure. She was really a beauty. Even the quite Randeng Temple had become radiant and enchanting because of her appearance.
Li Mu could definitely recognize her if he was here now. This girl was Wang Shiyu, the commissary in charge of studies in his junior school, the campus belle and also his former desk mate.
"Woof… woof." General jumped with excitement and wagged its tail wildly. It led the road with flatter and entered the meditation room directly with joy.
Wang Shiyu followed it closely and entered without hesitation. She smiled and said, "Hello, Brother Mu, are you there? It’s Mr. Chen who asks me to come here. He hopes you can continue to study at high school…"
However, in the next moment, the screams of the girl and the dog sounded in the meditation room at the same time.
And then, their voices vanished completely.
There was a long silence before the old faker’s voice of grief sounded—
"Oh no… Damn dog… Ah, this girl… How can you enter…? Damn, I’ve no chance to stop them since I’ve lost so much blood. The array has been activated again before I’ve had the time to adjust the array coordination… Oh my god, this ordinary girl and the foolish dog have been sent away too. They have wasted all my remaining spirit blood… What a disaster! What shall I do now since this array can be used only once? I’ll be trapped here on the earth without the array and the spirit blood. Jesus, are you joking with me?"
It drove the old faker mad.
And after a long while, the old faker’s voice sounded when he soliloquized in the meditation room.
"Damn, that will be so interesting. Your dog and girl have all been transmitted… You will feel it so interesting on that planet… You must practice Xiantian Skill to the perfection within 20 years so that you can break the barrier of the star and help me out, or else, I will stay and be buried with the earth here."