Chapter 1: Morning in a Small Town
Wushan Town was an ordinary small town in the Kingdom of Fenlai, located west of the ‘Magical Beast Mountain Range,’ the number one mountain range on the Yulan Continent.
As the morning sun rose, a hint of early-morning chill still lingered over the small town of Wushan. Yet, almost all the residents were already out starting their work. Even the six or seven-year-old children had mostly gotten up and begun their traditional morning exercises.
On the open ground east of Wushan Town, the warm morning sunlight filtered through the large trees beside the clearing, leaving dappled spots of light on the ground.
A large group of children could be seen—roughly one to two hundred by the look of it. The children were divided into three teams, each team lined up in several rows. They all stood silently on the open ground, their expressions serious. The northernmost team consisted of children aged about six to eight. The middle team was roughly nine to twelve years old, while the southernmost group was a team of youths aged thirteen to sixteen.
In front of this large group of children stood three sturdy middle-aged men, all wearing short vests and coarse cloth trousers.
“If you want to become a great warrior, you must train hard from childhood,” said the man at the front, his hands clasped behind his back, his head held high as he spoke coldly. His sharp gaze swept over the northernmost team. Those six or seven-year-old children pursed their lips, their dark, shiny eyes fixed on the man, not daring to make a sound.
The leading middle-aged man was named Hillman. He was the captain of the guard for the Baruch family, the rulers of Wushan Town.
“You are all commoners. You cannot cultivate powerful secret fighting energy manuals like the great nobles. If you want to rise above others, if you don’t want to be looked down upon in the future, you must train using the most ancient, simplest, and most fundamental methods—train your bodies, temper your strength. Do you understand?!”
Hillman’s gaze swept across the group of children.
“We understand!” the group of youths roared loudly.
“Very good.” Hillman nodded coldly with satisfaction. Most of the six or seven-year-old children had dazed expressions, while the eyes of the ten-plus-year-old youths were resolute. They understood the meaning behind Hillman’s words.
On the entire Yulan Continent, almost every male had to train hard from childhood. If anyone slacked off, they would be looked down upon in the future! What represented a man’s status was strength and money! A man without strength would be looked down upon even by women.
To make parents proud, to earn the admiration of girls, to live a glorious life in the future!
One must become a great warrior!
They were commoners. They couldn’t cultivate those precious secret fighting energy manuals. Their only method was to train their bodies and temper their strength from childhood! To be hardworking, to be diligent! To put in more effort and more heart than the nobles!
“In the morning, as the sun rises, all things are full of vitality. This is the best time to absorb the essence of heaven and earth and enhance our physical potential. As per the rules, spread your feet shoulder-width apart, bend your knees slightly, and bring your hands to your waist. Assume the ‘Energy-Gathering Stance.’ When doing the Energy-Gathering Stance, remember to ‘focus your attention, keep your heart calm, and breathe naturally,’” Hillman said coldly.
The Energy-Gathering Stance was a very simple yet effective method of training the body, an experience accumulated by countless ancestors over the years.
Immediately, the one to two hundred children all assumed the required posture of the ‘Energy-Gathering Stance.’
“Remember, focus your attention, keep your heart calm, breathe naturally!” Hillman walked among the youths, saying coldly.
Looking down, it was obvious that the youths in the southern team, those in their teens, were all concentrating, breathing naturally. They had all achieved a state of ‘deep, even, and steady.’ Clearly, they had made some progress in the ‘Energy-Gathering Stance.’
But looking at the six or seven-year-old children in the north, the degree of knee bend varied, their legs were loose and unsteady, clearly lacking strength and stability.
Hillman said to the other two middle-aged men, “You two take charge of the southern and central teams. I’ll manage the little ones.”
“Yes, Captain.” The two middle-aged men immediately acknowledged the order. Then, they carefully observed the central and southern teams, occasionally kicking a youth’s leg to see if they were standing steadily enough.
Hillman, meanwhile, walked toward the group of six or seven-year-old children in the north. The children immediately became nervous.
“Oh no, the big demon is coming,” whispered a golden-haired child named Hadley, who had big eyes.
Hillman stepped into the midst of this group of children. Looking at them, his face was cold, but inside he sighed. “These children are really too young. Whether in physical ability or mental maturity, they are far from enough. I can’t set too high demands on them. But physical training is best cultivated from a young age. If they train seriously from childhood, their chances of surviving on the battlefield in the future will be greater.”
And teaching little ones… guiding them, attracting them, was the most effective method! Force would only have the opposite effect!
“Stand properly, all of you,” Hillman snorted coldly.
Immediately, each child puffed out their chest and looked straight ahead.
A hint of a smile appeared at the corner of Hillman’s mouth. Then he walked to the front, took off his vest, and the muscular lines on his body made the little children’s eyes go wide. Even the youths in the central and southern teams looked at Hillman’s muscles with envy.
Besides the nearly perfect muscle lines, Hillman’s bare upper body was covered with knife scars, sword scars, and various other wounds—dozens in total. All the children stared at those scars with shining eyes.
Knife scars, sword scars—these were a man’s medals!
They all deeply admired Hillman in their hearts. Hillman, a great level-six warrior, a warrior tempered through life and death! Even in a big city, he would be a remarkable figure. In Wushan Town, he was a great man respected by everyone.
Seeing the burning gaze of the children, Hillman couldn’t help but smile slightly. He wanted these children to have admiration and desire in their hearts. That way, they would train harder and have more motivation!
“Let’s add some fuel to the fire,” Hillman chuckled inwardly. Then he walked over to a giant stone lock. This stone lock weighed at least three to four hundred jin.
Hillman grabbed the stone lock with one hand and began swinging it very easily. The three-to-four-hundred-jin stone lock seemed like it was made of wood in Hillman’s hands. The children all stared with wide eyes and open mouths.
“Too light. Rory, after training, if you have time, go make some bigger stone locks,” Hillman said, casually tossing the stone lock. It flew over ten meters. “Bang!” It landed heavily beside a large tree, shaking the ground. Then Hillman walked over to a pile of rubble.
“Hoo!”
Hillman took a deep breath, and the muscles all over his body visibly bulged. He directly punched one of the blue stones. His fist cut through the air, and the sharp whistling sound made the nearby children widen their eyes. They saw Hillman’s large fist smash heavily into the huge blue stone.
“Bang!” The heavy, low impact sound of fist against blue stone made all the children’s hearts jump violently.
That was hard blue stone!
The blue stone shook a few times, then seven or eight cracks appeared. Finally, with a “bang,” it shattered into pieces. Hillman’s fist didn’t have a single scratch.
“The Captain is still so amazing,” said one of the other two middle-aged men, Rory, with a smile as he walked over to Hillman.
Another middle-aged man, Roger, also walked over. Generally, while the children were practicing the ‘Energy-Gathering Stance,’ it was time for the three instructors to chat and relax. They just had to occasionally check that the children weren’t slacking off.
Hillman smiled and shook his head. “No, I’m not what I used to be. Back when I was in the army, I trained like crazy every day, fighting bloody battles on the battlefield. Now, I just loosen up my bones at most. It’s not as passionate as it used to be.”
All the children looked at Hillman with admiration.
That huge blue stone—he smashed it to pieces with one punch! What kind of strength was that? That three-to-four-hundred-jin stone lock—he swung it around casually! What kind of power was that?
Hillman turned around and looked at the children’s gazes, very satisfied with their reaction deep down.
“Remember this: even without relying on fighting energy, by purely training your body to its limits, it is theoretically possible to become a level-six warrior! And a level-six warrior can easily become a mid-level officer by joining the army and can easily obtain fighting energy training methods from the military! Even if you can’t become a level-six warrior, just becoming the most ordinary level-one warrior qualifies you to join the army. Remember, a man who can’t even become a level-one warrior… he is not a man!” Hillman’s expression was stern.
“If you are a man, you should puff out your chest, face any challenge, and never be afraid!”
Hearing this, the six or seven-year-old children couldn’t help but smile, trying hard to hold back their laughter. This was Hillman’s catchphrase, a sentence he often said when teaching the children.
“Stand steady, all of you. Look at the older brothers in the south. See how they stand?” Hillman scolded.
The six or seven-year-old children immediately tried their best to stand steadily.
After a while, the six or seven-year-old children began to wobble. They all felt their legs aching terribly. But they gritted their teeth and persisted. After persisting for a short while, they all collapsed and sat on the ground.
Hillman’s expression remained cold, but he nodded inwardly. The performance of these six or seven-year-old children was still very satisfactory to him.
Before long, some of the children in the central group, around ten years old, also couldn’t hold on and collapsed to the ground one by one.
“You can hold on as long as you can. I won’t force you. But if you end up inferior to others in the future, you can only blame yourselves,” Hillman said coldly.
“Eh?” Rory suddenly looked in surprise at the northern team.
At this moment, many of the ten-year-old children in the central team had already collapsed and sat on the ground. Yet, in the northern team, there was still a six-year-old child persisting.
“Linley is here for training for the first time today, right? And he’s this amazing!” Rory said in surprise. Beside him, Roger and Hillman also noticed. Hillman looked over. At this moment, only one little boy with brown hair was persisting in the northern team. This little boy was biting his lip, his gaze firm as he looked ahead, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white.
A glint of pleasant surprise appeared in Hillman’s eyes.
“Good kid!” Hillman praised in his heart. At only six years old, to be able to keep up with ten-year-old children in the ‘Energy-Gathering Stance’—this talent, glimpsed through a small part, showed the whole picture.
Linley, full name Linley Baruch, was the eldest son of the Baruch family, the rulers of all Wushan Town. The Baruch family was a very ancient family, once very prosperous. However, after thousands of years of inheritance, the entire family now only had three members: the patriarch, Hogg Baruch, and his two sons. The eldest son, Linley Baruch, was only six years old this year. The younger son, Wharton Baruch, was only two years old. As for the mistress of the Baruch family, she had died after giving birth to the younger son. Linley’s grandfather had also lost his life in a war while serving in the army.
Linley’s legs were trembling. No matter how strong his will was, the muscles that were sore to the extreme were beyond his control. He finally collapsed and sat down.
“Linley, how do you feel?” Hillman walked over with a smile.
Linley grinned, showing his little canine teeth. “It’s nothing, Uncle Hillman.” Hillman was the captain of the Baruch family guard and had watched Linley grow up since he was a child. Their relationship was naturally very close.
“Good job. Just like a man.” Hillman patted Linley’s head, messing up his hair like straw.
“Hehe.” Linley grinned, feeling very happy inside about Hillman’s praise.
…
After resting for a while, the training continued. The training intensity for the six or seven-year-old children was much lighter. But the training intensity for the ten-plus-year-old youths was terrifying.
The group of youths, including the children, rested their heads and feet on flat stones, their entire bodies suspended in the air, relying entirely on their waist strength to hold themselves up.
“The waist, the hips, this triangular area.” Hillman gestured to the abdominal area with his hands. “This area is the center of the entire human body. Whether it’s speed or strength, the core is this triangular area. This core triangular area is very important.”
Hillman spoke while walking around, carefully observing whether each youth’s posture was correct.
“Lift up! Don’t let your waist droop!” Hillman shouted.
Immediately, many youths tried their best to lift their waists upward. This was Linley’s first time doing this. His little head and feet were resting on two flat stones. But at this moment, Linley could already feel his waist heating up and aching.
“Persist, persist. I am the best.” Linley encouraged himself in his heart. Linley had always had a very good physique since childhood, almost never getting sick. Coupled with his strong will, his excellent performance was not surprising.
“Thud!” The first child fell down.
But the flat stones used for resting the head and feet were only about twenty centimeters high, so falling off wouldn’t hurt the children much. (Alchemists on the Yulan Continent had established the length units: ‘1 meter = 10 decimeters = 100 centimeters = 1000 millimeters.’)
“Thud!” “Thud!” … As time passed, one child after another couldn’t hold on.
Linley clenched his teeth tightly. He could clearly feel that his waist was sore to the limit, almost numb. “My body is so heavy. I can’t hold on much longer. Persist, persist a little longer.” At this moment, in the team of six to eight-year-olds, only Linley was still persisting.
Seeing Linley, a look of pleasant surprise and satisfaction appeared in Hillman’s eyes.
“Rory!” Hillman suddenly shouted.
“Captain.” Rory immediately stood at attention, waiting for orders.
Hillman ordered, “Tomorrow, prepare some dye. When they are doing their waist training, place a branch under each person’s waist, and smear the branch with dye. If anyone slacks off and their waist touches the branch, getting dye on their clothes, double their training task.”
“Yes, Captain.” Rory responded loudly, but the corners of his mouth twitched involuntarily, and he chuckled inwardly, “The Captain’s tricks are really numerous. Those kids are in for it.”
Wasn’t that the truth?
The faces of the ten-plus-year-old youths turned bitter. Normally, they could still slack off with small movements, but once Hillman did this, they wouldn’t be able to slack off anymore.
Hillman continued coldly, “I can tell you this: after a warrior cultivates fighting energy, the place where the fighting energy is stored is about a fist’s width below the navel. You should understand that this is also within the core triangular area. Now you should understand the importance of training this core triangular area, right? This is the core. If this area is weak, training other parts is useless.”
A good instructor was very important for children.
And Hillman was a great warrior. He knew the focus of training. He knew how to proceed step by step. He knew what level of training was appropriate for children of different ages. If the intensity was too high, it could cause the child’s body to fail and collapse.
“Fighting energy?”
Hearing this word, the youths and the resting children all widened their eyes and looked at Hillman.
The commoner children were all very eager about fighting energy. Even Linley, a child of a declining noble family, yearned for fighting energy.
“Thud!”
Linley himself finally couldn’t hold on anymore. But he still used his arms to support the ground and slowly lowered himself down.
“So comfortable!” Linley felt a tingling sensation in his sore waist as he rested. That sensation permeated deep into his muscles, as if reaching his bones. It was so comfortable that little Linley squinted his eyes slightly.
“Which number was I when I fell?” Linley suddenly opened his eyes and looked around.
All the children in the six to eight-year-old team had fallen. More than half of the ten-year-old children in the central team had also fallen. But the fourteen or fifteen-year-old youths were all still persisting. Hillman still had a cold face, saying:
“All of you must remember: the body is like a container, a wine glass. And fighting energy is like the wine! How much wine a wine glass can hold depends on the size of the wine glass. Similarly… a person’s ultimate achievement in cultivating fighting energy also depends on the degree of their physical training. If the body is too weak, even with a powerful secret fighting energy manual, they won’t be able to withstand much fighting energy in their body and won’t become a powerful warrior.” Hillman told the children many important pieces of information.
Many warriors, because no one taught them when they were young, only realized the relationship between physical strength and fighting energy later in life. But by the time they were too old, physical training had little effect.
Many predecessors had accumulated experience by taking many detours. Hillman, in his repeated teachings, like a spring breeze turning into rain, quietly engraved those important experiences deep into the minds of this group of children. Hillman didn’t want these children to take detours again.
…
After experiencing the ‘Energy-Gathering Stance,’ waist, leg, shoulder, back… and various coordination exercises for different body parts, almost all the children were collapsed and sat on the ground. Hillman’s training intensity was arranged very appropriately.
“Today’s morning exercise ends here,” Hillman announced.
The training in Wushan Town had a routine: twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.
“Uncle Hillman, tell us a story.” As soon as they were dismissed, some children immediately shouted. Every day after morning exercise, Hillman would tell these children stories about his military service or events from other parts of the continent.
Children who grew up in a small town were very eager to learn about the outside world and military life.
Hillman smiled slightly. Telling stories to the children was also a method he had thought of to keep them motivated in their training. Hillman always believed that only by making children actively desire to train would their achievements be high.
“Today, I’ll tell you about the legendary Four Ultimate Warriors of the entire continent!” A look of admiration also appeared on Hillman’s face.
The children immediately pricked up their ears and their eyes lit up. Linley, who was also sitting on the ground, felt his heart pound violently. “The legendary Four Ultimate Warriors?” Linley couldn’t help but prick up his ears and stare intently at Hillman.
A hint of excitement was in Hillman’s eyes, but his voice remained steady: “On our continent, thousands of years ago, there were four ultimate warriors. These four ultimate warriors all possessed strength comparable to that of dragons. They could single-handedly roam among a million soldiers and easily take the enemy general’s head! These four ultimate warriors were the Dragonblood Warrior, the Violet Flame Warrior, the Tigerstriped Warrior, and the Undying Warrior!”
“Warriors are divided into nine levels. I am merely a level-six warrior, and I can easily smash rocks with a palm and kick down trees with a kick! A level-nine warrior would probably be considered the number one expert even in our Kingdom of Fenlai. Above level-nine warriors are the Four Ultimate Warriors. They surpass level-nine warriors, standing at the peak of warriors, belonging to the legendary Saint-level experts!” Admiration filled Hillman’s eyes. “Legendary Saint-level experts can melt huge icebergs, make the endless sea roar in anger, cause towering mountains to collapse, destroy cities with a million inhabitants, and make the sky rain down endless meteors! They are invincible beings, supreme beings.”
Silence. All the children were stunned.
Hillman pointed to the mountain in the northeast.
“Look at that Wushan Mountain. Isn’t it big?” Hillman said with a smile.
The children, who had just been shocked by Hillman’s words, all nodded repeatedly. Wushan Mountain was a thousand meters high and several thousand meters long. In the eyes of humans, it was indeed a behemoth.
“But this Wushan Mountain, a Saint-level expert could destroy it in the blink of an eye,” Hillman said very affirmatively.
A level-six warrior could only destroy a large rock with a palm strike, but a Saint-level expert could destroy a whole mountain. This made all the children open their mouths wide and their eyes wide. Their hearts trembled, and deep down, they involuntarily felt fear towards Saint-level experts, but also filled with anticipation and longing.
“Destroy a mountain?” Hillman’s words had a huge impact on Linley.
Before long, the group of children, still in shock, went home one by one. Hillman, Rory, and Roger were the last to leave. Watching the large group of children leave in small groups, Hillman had a smile on his face.
“These children are the future hope of our Wushan Town,” Hillman said with a smile.
Rory and Roger also looked at the children. On almost every part of the continent, commoner children trained hard from a young age. Seeing these children, Rory and Roger also seemed to see their own childhood and youth.
“Captain Hillman, you are much better than Old Porter back in the day. Under your guidance, I believe our Wushan Town will become the strongest town among the dozen or so surrounding towns,” Rory said with emotion.
The strength of the instructor determined the future of a place.
“By the way, Captain, how do you know that Saint-level experts and the Four Ultimate Warriors are that powerful?” Rory suddenly asked curiously.
Hillman smiled sheepishly. “Well, actually, I don’t really know how powerful the Four Ultimate Warriors are. After all, they are legendary figures. No one has seen them for many years.”
“You don’t know, and you’re fooling the children?” Rory and Roger were speechless.
Hillman smiled slightly. “Although I’m not very clear about the power of the Four Ultimate Warriors, I do know… Saint-level Magisters, that is, Saint-level mages. They can cast forbidden spells, destroying an army of hundreds of thousands, destroying a city. If Saint-level mages are that powerful, I guess Saint-level warriors are probably not much different.”
“Besides, telling the children this is to give them more motivation. Didn’t you see the longing expressions on the children’s faces when they heard the story?” Hillman said with a triumphant smile.
Rory and Roger could only remain speechless.
…
“See you, Ray.”
“See you, Hadley.”
After saying goodbye to his good friend Hadley, Linley walked home alone. After a short walk, he saw the Baruch family mansion.
The Baruch family mansion occupied a very large area. Moss, ivy, and various other plants clung to the courtyard walls. The walls were full of the marks of time. The Baruch family mansion in Wushan Town was the ancestral home of the Baruch family. An ancestral home that had been passed down for a full five thousand years. After thousands of years of continuous repairs, it still stood here today.
But as the family declined, the Baruch family’s financial situation also worsened. In the end, they could only live off their inheritance. About a hundred years ago, the current patriarch of the Baruch family decided that the entire family would only live in the front courtyard mansion, which occupied one-third of the total mansion area. As for the rear courtyards and so on, they would no longer be maintained. This saved a lot of money.
But even so, by now, Linley’s father, Hogg Baruch, often had to sell some family items to support the household.
The tall gate of the mansion was open.
“Saint-level warrior?” Linley thought as he walked. “Can I become a Saint-level warrior in the future?”
“Linley.” Hillman’s voice came from behind. Hillman, Rory, and Roger, the three who were last to leave, had now caught up.
Linley turned around and immediately said happily, “Uncle Hillman!”
Then Linley took a deep breath, looked up at Hillman, and asked nervously and expectantly, “Uncle Hillman, you said Saint-level warriors are that powerful? Then, is it possible for me to become a Saint-level warrior?” Linley’s heart held the same longing as most children.
Hillman was stunned. Rory and Roger beside him were also dazed.
A Saint-level warrior?
“These kids really dare to think. The entire Kingdom of Fenlai has tens of millions of residents, but even so, no Saint-level expert has appeared in hundreds of years. Becoming a Saint-level expert…” Hillman knew very well the difficulty of becoming a Saint-level expert.
It required hard training from childhood, family support, personal talent, and also opportunities… and so on. How could a Saint-level expert be so easy to become?
Hillman knew very well how much hardship he had endured to become a level-six warrior, how many times he had hovered between life and death. Level-six was already this hard. Level seven, eight, and nine were even harder to talk about. As for Saint-level, Hillman probably only dared to think about it in his dreams.
But facing Linley’s eager gaze…
“Linley, Uncle Hillman believes in you. You will definitely become a Saint-level warrior.” Hillman looked at Linley and said firmly. Hillman’s encouraging words made Linley’s eyes light up instantly. A longing also rose in Linley’s heart!
This longing was unprecedented in its intensity!
“Uncle Hillman, can I train with the central team tomorrow?” Linley suddenly said.
Hillman, Rory, and Roger looked at Linley in surprise.
“Father said that to be above others, you must put in more effort than others,” Linley said, unconsciously imitating his father’s tone.
Hillman suddenly smiled. He had seen Linley’s training today. Although Linley was only six years old, his physical condition was comparable to that of a nine or ten-year-old child. He immediately nodded and smiled, “Alright, but don’t you dare back out then. You know, this isn’t just for a day or two. There’s a long road ahead.”
Linley lifted his little head and smiled confidently. “Uncle Hillman, just watch.”
This was a very ordinary morning in Wushan Town. Every day thereafter would be the same. The group of children in Wushan Town continued their hard training under the guidance of the level-six warrior Hillman. The only difference from the past was that the six-year-old Linley was placed in the team of ten-year-old children.
(This is Tomato’s new book. Today, I’ll first update nine thousand words. Starting tomorrow, I’ll update twice a day, once at noon and once in the evening. Hehe, I hope everyone will bookmark it and throw a few recommendation votes. This is quite important for a new book. Thank you~~~)