These days, going to another world is even easier than getting hit by a truck, because the one thing that can send you to another world—something you'd never even think could do it—is salt.
The image of a meteor on the glowing phone screen, shifting from gold to rainbow, was reflected in the slightly yellowish-brown eyes of the young man staring at it.
This made him hold his breath as the shooting star flashed brightly, banishing the darkness around him before being replaced by a character appearing on the screen along with 5 stars!
"Why the hell did you come out!"
A scream filled with joy echoed as the young man shot up from his bed, sending his blanket flying off him while he sat up to stare at the phone in his hands.
This caused him to tap the screen frantically until he reached the character summary page, only to reveal that all 10 characters were off-rate, and not a single one matched the banner he actually wanted!
Seeing this, he let out a massive sigh and pressed for another 10 pulls, but a notification popped up saying he was out of gems, making his head drop immediately in defeat.
"Oh no, my entire month's salary."
Before he placed his phone down on the bed and stood up, looking to his right to reveal a dark room, which prompted him to get up and step out of bed.
As soon as his feet touched the floor, he began to shake violently while his body lost all its strength, causing him to collapse and crash onto the ground below.
This made his head hit the floor slightly as his vision blurred and shook, with his face turned upwards, staring at the ceiling while his body remained entirely paralyzed.
And not long after that, he died. As for the cause of death: a heart attack.
If you think this is a documentary about a death, you'd be wrong, because if the story just ended here, I definitely wouldn't have bothered telling it.
Because what happened after I died was that I found myself waking up inside a lush green forest, but I couldn't move my body at all.
This led me to look around at the time, only to discover the reason why I couldn't move; it was because I had woken up in the body of a baby, lying inside a wooden basket beneath the sunlight.
Of course, I couldn't do anything other than cry, and then, coincidentally, an old man happened to find me.
"Who would leave such a cute little baby out here?"
A white-haired old man with a long, bushy beard, wearing a gray outfit and carrying a basket on his back, appeared before me with a wrinkled face, and he reached down to lift me out of the basket.
That made me stop crying right then, and I reached my hands out to him, which made him smile at the sight before speaking up.
"Little one, I don't know how you ended up here, but it seems we were destined to meet. Therefore, I shall name you Ah Qi, and my name is Uncle Chen. So, let's live together."
And after that, he held me close in his arms before carrying me away from that place, and from that day onward, for 10 whole years, I was raised by him on the mountain.
Of course, listening to everything I've just said, it might seem like I was a child of destiny or something along those lines, just like the protagonists in other transmigration novels, blessed with peerless talent in the martial arts world.
And you guys can probably guess that Uncle Chen definitely wasn't just some ordinary woodcutter on a mountain. And on the day I turned 10 years old, he walked over to me while I was chopping wood.
"Ah Qi."
The sound of chopping wood rang out as an axe embedded itself into a stump beneath the midday sun in the shade of the trees, revealing a 10-year-old boy wearing a gray short-sleeved shirt and long pants.
His hair only reached his chin as he turned toward Uncle Chen, revealing slightly golden-brown eyes, with sweat dripping down his forehead that prompted him to raise his right hand to wipe it away.
It made him smile slightly as he spoke up.
"What is it, Uncle Chen?"
Uncle Chen walked up and stopped right in front of me, making my still-young self stand there and look at him with the thought that it was finally time for me to learn the truth—that he might be a master martial artist who was once a legend in this martial world.
He simply chose to retire after reaching enlightenment, and now he was about to reveal himself. And in that very second, he brought out the hands he had clasped behind his back and extended his right hand, handing over a book.
Seeing that, I smiled inwardly while trying my best to suppress it, looking down at his hand and the title written on the book: Iron Body. Seeing this, I couldn't help but look up at him.
Was it out of shock? Was it out of joy? I wasn't entirely sure, but in that moment, I was thrilled.
"Take it, Ah Qi. It belongs to you now."
I reached out to take it, tilting my head slightly as I asked,
"What is this, Uncle?"
Even though I already knew exactly what it was, since I was just a 10-year-old kid back then, I had to play the part and act like I didn't know.
Hearing that, Uncle Chen raised his right hand to stroke his beard with a smile before turning his back to me and speaking.
"It is a body-tempering manual. In truth, I should have given it to you sooner, but because I was hesitating, I held off. Therefore, practice it diligently from this day onward, and I will not help you."
After saying that, he walked down the mountain to the left, leaving me to watch his back before looking down at the book. And as for what followed, there's probably no need to say what I did next.
That's right, I opened the book to read it. And the first thing that shocked me was that the illustrations on the pages didn't even have a single word of text accompanying them—only martial arts stances. And of course, I didn't understand a thing.
But the reason I was shocked in the next second wasn't because I couldn't understand it, but because my golden finger had finally appeared. It had finally shown itself after a painstakingly long wait of 10 whole years.
"Auto-Cultivation System activated."
A white rectangular screen silently appeared in front of me with a message that made my heart pound harder than my first love, letting me know instantly that from that day onward,
My life was about to change.
7 Years Later
The image of a black-haired young man lying on the porch of a solitary wooden house in the morning sunlight, resting away from the sun within the house's shade.
As the breeze blew past him, his gray long-sleeved outfit fluttered slightly, along with his short black hair, revealing those golden-brown eyes.
This led the young man, who was quietly lying there reading a book in his hand while his right hand propped his face up from the floor, to let out a small sigh as he placed the book in his left hand down and looked out toward the front of the house.
It revealed the trees surrounding this house, with only a wooden fence separating his home from the surrounding forest, while on the left side, a tree stump could be seen with an iron axe wedged into it, along with small pieces of wood that had been chopped and left behind.
The sound of leaves rustling against each other echoed all around, prompting him to heave a heavy sigh.
"It'll be spring soon, won't it."
I sat up on the floor and gazed at the quiet front yard before I spoke a word.
"System."
I stared into the empty air in front of me before the system appeared with a message that read:
"Currently cultivating Iron Body, Level 2."
My head dropped the moment I saw the message in front of me.
"It's been 4 years already, why am I still only at level 2?"
Talking about it just makes me want to cry. I spent 3 years, from the age of 10 to 13, just to break through the first level of the Iron Body technique.
Of course, throughout those past 3 years, no matter how hard I tried to comprehend the techniques in the book, all I got in return was absolute emptiness. So, I stopped caring and just let the system handle everything on its own.
Naturally, this system only functioned to cultivate. That's right, true to its name, it merely acted to cultivate—nothing more, nothing less. However it trained, it just kept training like that. Cultivating 24 hours a day, all year, all month, all day, and forever.
Whenever I asked it anything, I'd only get one answer:
"Currently cultivating."
That was the only answer it could ever give me. Sometimes, I even wondered if God was playing a prank on me. Even though other transmigrators got cultivation systems too,
They also came with extra options, whether it was combining techniques, upgrading techniques, or making the user stronger in just a matter of days. But me? It took me 3 whole years just to complete the first level.
And 4 years have passed now, yet I'm still stuck at level 2. Even though I knew I probably didn't have the destiny to be a protagonist like the rest of them,
Still, even with a system constantly cultivating for me day and night, I only managed to get this far. If I didn't have it, wouldn't I have been stuck at level one for my entire life?
Thinking about it, I could only sigh. That led me to sit there, sighing, before looking at the system and speaking up.
"If Uncle were still here, he'd definitely be disappointed if he knew I'd only progressed this much, even though 7 whole years have passed."
I turned around to look, revealing the inside of the room where a portrait of Uncle Chen with a smiling face sat on a wooden shelf, accompanied by incense, dried fish as an offering, and a glass of water.
This made me sigh once again. In truth, it seemed I was wrong about one thing: Uncle wasn't some martial arts master at all.
Even if he might have been a martial artist back in the day, he had quit being one and returned to live his life on the mountain. And he passed away when I was 14 years old.
The cause of death wasn't that someone came for revenge, or that he had provoked anyone. It was simply that Uncle died of old age. Plus, he died at the age of 122, which you could say was an even longer lifespan than the auntie next door I knew in my past life.
Therefore, if Uncle knew I had only cultivated this much after 7 years, he'd probably smack my head into the ground. Because of that, I shook my head back and forth with a smile before turning back to look at the peaceful front yard and speaking up.
"On second thought, living like this isn't so bad. I don't have to compete with anyone. I can just keep cultivating—even if it's a bit slow. No, you couldn't call it 'a bit slow,' it's incredibly slow. But at least I get to live a peaceful life."
That's right. Even if my life wasn't flashy, I liked how things were right now. So, if things continued like this, it would be fine, and I hoped it would stay that way.
A deafening explosion suddenly rang out from ahead, causing the surrounding trees to shake while I could feel the vibrations resonating through the wooden floorboards I was sitting on.
This made me fall silent for a moment, before the sky revealed a group of martial artists appearing and flying in a flurry toward a single direction.
Seeing this, I stood up and walked into the house. Not long after, I walked back out of the house, carrying a cloth bag and a straw hat.
Lifting the straw hat to place it on my head, I spoke with a smile,
"But thinking about it again, wandering the martial world for a bit wouldn't hurt."
Chapter 2
The 3 ironclad rules in the martial arts world.
Don't mess with the elderly.
Don't harm children.
And never fall in love with a beautiful woman.
These are the ironclad rules you should keep in mind when wandering the martial arts world. Otherwise, you might not get the chance to open your eyes and see the light of tomorrow—unless you're the main character, that is.
"Guess I forgot to bring a fishing rod."
The crystal-clear river flowing through the rocky stream revealed numerous fish swimming by amidst nature, with the midday sun shining down on the water's surface.
This caused the flowing water to sparkle, reflecting A Qi's face and his straw hat as he squatted there, watching the fish swim by.
On his back, he carried a cloth bag, and at the back of his waist hung an axe, its blade covered by a leather sheath.
It made his stomach rumble slightly while he stared at the fish swimming against the current, prompting him to look up and see the mountain next to the river.
This made him turn back to look, only to find an empty road; seeing this, he turned back to the fish and smiled faintly.
With that, I took off my straw hat and placed it on the ground, followed by my bag, and reached back with my right hand to grab the axe.
I looked down at the axe for a moment before looking up at the fish in the stream, using my hand to unfasten the leather sheath and dropping it to the ground.
Then, I rolled my shoulders slightly, turned around, and headed toward a tree; I reached up with my right hand to grab a branch and used the axe to chop it off.
The axe chopped down, and the branch—about two fingers thick—was severed completely, revealing a smooth, clean cut.
I turned to look at the wood in my hand, which was about the length of an arm—actually, longer than my arm, considering I'm only 172 centimeters tall.
So, I used the axe to trim off the twigs, flipped the bottom end up, and whittled it into a wooden spear, before walking back to the stream and placing the axe on my bag.
I gripped the wooden spear with my right hand, raised it, twisted my body, and hurled it! The wooden spear shot forward, generating a wave of wind around it! In that very second, the spear pierced right through a fish and smashed into the riverbed, sending a two-meter geyser of water shooting into the air accompanied by a small explosion.
I returned to my normal stance, looked at the wooden spear impaling two fish, and broke into a smile, then bent down to take off my shoes and socks.
I waded into the water while pulling up my pants, and upon reaching it, I pulled the wooden spear up with a smile; not long after that...
The crackling sound of a fire burning branches filled the air, as a hand-sized fish, skewered on a stick, roasted next to the campfire.
A soft chewing sound could be heard as I sat there munching on the fish, listening to the crackling fire and the flowing stream, with the tree's shadow shielding me from the sun.
You probably thought I was going to chop the fish with my axe earlier. Let me tell you, you would've been right—if this were in the past. I actually tried that before, and it just resulted in the halved fish floating away with the current.
Until finally, I had to wade into the water just to retrieve the severed fish. I'm telling you, it wasn't worth the effort at all. But that's all in the past now.
I took a bite of the fish and chewed slowly. It didn't take long before only the bones were left, so I placed it on the ground and turned to pick up the other fish.
I flipped it over slightly and saw the charred marks on the fish skin, along with the steam rising from the cuts in the white flesh; seeing this, I turned to my bag and used my right hand to open it.
It revealed that there were only three things inside: a set of white clothes, a stack of paper, and a bamboo water flask.
Seeing that, I took out a piece of paper and securely wrapped the fish in it, placed it on top of the cloth bag, and then folded the bag away.
Before slinging it onto my back and tying it securely to my body. Then, I bent down to pick up my straw hat, put it on, and grabbed my axe, its black iron gleaming slightly.
Seeing this, I set the axe down, turned around to put on my socks and shoes, and stood up with the axe before using my right foot to kick some dirt over the fire to put it out.
Then I walked to the river, used the water to clean the axe, wiped it on my pants, sheathed it back in its leather cover, strapped it to my back, and stood up.
Turning back toward the road, my eyes returned to the wide riverside path, paved with countless round white stones, with sunlight filtering through the trees to hit the river and the rocks.
So, I walked along that path. If you're asking why I had to rush my journey, the reason is that I was still quite close to home, only about 2 to 3 kilometers away.
Because of that, I couldn't afford to linger around here; otherwise, those martial arts experts who had just been messing around near my house might run into me.
And of course, I didn't want any trouble. Therefore, if it could be avoided, I'd avoid it.
That was why I continued my journey along the river, watching birds fly by and observing animals big and small, like deer or bears coming out to drink by the water.
A bear stood up on its hind legs and stared right at me; seeing that, I raised my right hand, tipped my straw hat slightly, and instantly sprinted away.
The bear watched me go before dropping back onto all fours to resume drinking, while I glanced back over my shoulder, let out a massive sigh, and continued on my way.
The midday sun slowly faded into a warm orange, and the flowing river reflected the sparkling orange light, accompanied by the rustling sound of leaves brushing against each other.
I stopped to look at the river for a moment, then turned to my right and looked up, revealing the orange sun that was about to disappear behind the mountain.
Seeing that, I looked around before crouching down, taking off my bag, pulling out the bamboo flask to refill it with water, and sitting by the stream to place the paper-wrapped fish on the ground.
I then raised both of my hands and said,
"Thank you, nature and the forest."
After saying that, I unwrapped the paper and started picking at the cold fish with my fingers, eating it bit by bit with my eyes closed.
"If only I had salt, it would've been much tastier."
That's right, eating plain fish is tasty enough, but if there were salt or spices, it would be infinitely better. Plus, since the fish was already freezing cold, the taste wasn't exactly appetizing anymore.
But since I already started, I had to finish it. Otherwise, the forest spirits would punish me. So, I ate the entire fish until only the head, tail, and bones remained.
I placed the fish bones back on the paper, brought my hands together in a gesture of thanks, took a sip of water, and stood up. Once I was done washing my hands and face at the stream,
I went back to grab my bag, stood up, and looked around, deciding to keep walking along the stream for a while longer until the light began to fade.
As darkness began to blanket everything around me, I glanced around, walked to my left, and looked up at a tree.
I leaped up, grabbing a branch with my hands, swung myself back and forth slightly, and propelled myself upward. Landing in a crouch on a thick branch, I looked around before climbing even higher.
I eventually found a branch about as thick as my torso with another branch extending from it, so I walked over, sat down, and tied my cloth bag to a higher branch above me, repositioning my axe in front of me.
Then, I leaned back against the branch and gazed at the sky through the small gaps in the leaves, which swayed gently in the wind.
It revealed a sky slowly turning pitch black, gradually filling with stars. Seeing this, I placed my straw hat on my chest with a faint smile.
There were only a few reasons why I chose to sleep up in a tree. First of all, I was near a road that I didn't know where it led, and I was right next to a stream.
Even though there were many trees beautifully lined up around here, overall, it was still far too dangerous to sleep on the ground in these conditions.
Whether it was bears, snakes, or tigers that might show up at night—or even those martial artists flying all over the place this morning—they could easily pop up around here, who knows.
Therefore, the safest place was up in a tree. At the very least, it wouldn't be noticeable right away. And so, after lying there watching the stars for a bit, I spoke up.
"System."
"Currently processing the cultivation of the Iron Body Technique, Stage 2."
Seeing that painfully familiar response made me sigh softly with a smile before lifting the straw hat to cover my face and saying,
"I hope you help me break through to Stage 3 tomorrow."
After saying that, I closed my eyes as the peaceful night, accompanied only by the sounds of the stream and the rustling leaves, slowly set in.
But then, the faint sound of a heartbeat coming from the river made A Qi frown as he lifted his hand to tip his straw hat slightly and turned his gaze to his right.
Looking through the small gaps in the leaves towards the river, the moon's reflection on the water's surface revealed a black-haired young woman in white martial arts robes floating along the river.
Rule No. 3: Never fall in love with a beautiful woman.
I, having peeked through the leaves, turned back, covered my face with the hat, crossed my arms, and went back to sleep. That's right, I didn't see a thing.
Even though she was a beautiful woman, she was simply too beautiful, which meant her karma and destiny were way too massive. Because of that, I could only hope she'd stumble upon some protagonist somewhere to save her life.
And with that, I lay there breathing for two to three seconds before instantly shoving the hat onto my head and sitting bolt upright.
"I really hate beautiful women."
I turned sideways and dropped down from the tree. The moment my feet hit the ground, I looked over at the lady drifting along the water; seeing her like that, I slung my axe back behind me as before and walked toward her.
I walked over and stopped next to her motionless body. Glancing to her side, I saw that a large boulder was wedging her, keeping her from floating further downstream.
Seeing that, I shook my head slightly and waded in, my shoe-clad feet hitting the freezing cold water of the night.
I walked toward her as the water level rose steadily to my knees, stopping beside her to bend down and scoop her up into my arms.
Beneath the moonlight, her pale face appeared clearly in my line of sight, while on her right shoulder...
...was a large wound that seemed to be scabbing over, surrounded by blood-soaked crimson fabric. Seeing that, I stepped out of the river and walked over to lay her down beside the tree I had been sleeping in.
Then I climbed back up to retrieve my cloth bag. Looking over her body briefly, I used my hands to rip off her right sleeve and used that piece of cloth to wipe her wound.
It revealed her slender white shoulder, which looked like it had sustained a slash wound. Seeing that, I looked around.
And that revealed some green grass not too far away, so I walked over, pulled it out from the ground, and came back to her.
I popped the grass into my mouth, chewed on it for a bit, then applied it to her wound and bandaged it up with the cloth.
After backing away to look at her for a moment, I stripped off her clothes and put my own clothes on her instead.
Before picking her back up and carrying her up into the tree where I had been sleeping. After staring at her for a while, I took off my straw hat and placed it over her face.
Then I climbed down from the tree, picked up her clothes from the ground, walked over to the stream, and tossed them in.
The clothes floated away with the current. I watched them in silence for a moment, walked along the river for a bit, and then suddenly veered left, disappearing straight into the forest.
Rule No. 3: Never fall in love with a beautiful woman. It seems like a rule telling you not to mess with women, but if you strictly follow it to the point of completely ignoring whether she lives or dies...
...what you'll find is that you'll live a peaceful life for a short while, right up until she makes it back to her master. After that, her master will return to settle the score with everyone who was in the vicinity.
The reason is simple. It's because the people who saw her and were near her refused to help her when she was in trouble, proving themselves to be demonic in nature—so leaving them alive in this world wouldn't do any good.
Her master would therefore choose to eliminate them. The reasoning is just that simple. Because of this, if you happen to run into a beautiful woman in the city, consider yourself lucky.
But if you stumble upon a beautiful woman being hunted down... whether you help her or not, you're equally out of luck. And that, my friends, is why I hate beautiful women.
Chapter 3
The next morning, amidst the morning sunlight shining down on A Qi, who was currently sitting on the green grass leaning against a cut bamboo stalk.
His right hand was weaving bamboo strips into a bamboo hat that was taking shape in his grasp.
To his left, a road was visible about a meter away; lifting the hat to inspect it, he found that the woven bamboo piece had formed a square.
Seeing this, he reached out with his right hand to pick up the axe resting on the ground, using its blade to trim the edges, turning the square bamboo piece into a circle.
He nodded in satisfaction and looked up slightly, revealing a small campfire right in front of him.
He then glanced down to his right, set the axe aside, and tossed a handful of bamboo sawdust into the fire, which quickly caught and flared into flames.
A Qi leaned forward, holding the bamboo hat close to the fire as he carefully shaped it with his hands into the form of a hat.
Then, he took another strip of bamboo and threaded it around the outer brim as a binder to keep the woven pieces from coming apart, but before sealing it off,
he put the hat down, picked up two split pieces of bamboo, tore them further, and braided three strands together to make a string before attaching it to the hat.
And finally, a brand new bamboo hat was born. Seeing this, he raised the hat to block out the morning sun.
The hat completely shielded him from the sun, not letting a single ray slip through the gaps in the bamboo. Content, he placed it on his head and shifted it around slightly.
But then, the smile on his face slowly faded slightly as he narrowed his eyes, raised his left hand to stroke his chin, and muttered,
"It's not very comfortable to wear. Is it because the bamboo I used wasn't mature enough?"
I fell silent for a moment before letting out a sigh with a faint smile.
"Whatever. At least it's better than walking under the sun without a hat."
After saying that, I stood up from the ground, tucked the axe back behind me as before, and looked at the campfire in front of me, tossing the remaining bamboo scraps into the flames.
The sawdust burned away quickly and died down, so I used my foot to kick some dirt over it to extinguish the fire entirely, then looked straight at the road before setting off.
The sound of the wind, coupled with the bamboo swaying and clattering all around, made me watch the bamboo leaves fluttering through the air with the breeze, currently drifting away to my left.
Seeing that, I watched for a moment before continuing steadily down the road, lined on both sides by countless bamboo trees so dense that I could barely see past them.
As I walked along the road, the morning sun slowly transitioned into the midday sun, prompting me to take the bamboo flask from my bag, uncap it, and take a drink.
Only a little water flowed out before it ran dry; seeing this, I lowered the flask and peered inside.
The light from the sky shining into the bamboo flask revealed a damp interior with barely any water left.
Seeing that, I capped it back up, stored it away in my cloth bag, and looked up, glancing to my right as I walked, tapping a bamboo thicket with my hand while slowly moving forward.
But then I had to stop in my tracks when a rather solid thud echoed after I tapped it with my right hand; turning to look, I found a cluster of green bamboo with massive stalks.
Seeing this, I pressed my thumb into it, denting the bamboo's surface until a crack appeared, and eventually, clear water began to slowly trickle out.
So, I took out my bamboo flask and held it underneath before applying more pressure until it pierced completely through.
Water gushed out over my hand, making me pull it back and use the bamboo flask to catch the spurting stream.
The sound of water rushing into the flask filled the air, soon shifting into a splashing sound as the water finally overflowed, prompting me to cap it.
At the same time, the water flowing from the bamboo thicket in front of me gradually slowed down until it stopped completely; seeing this, I turned my attention back to my flask and took a small sip.
As the water touched the tip of my tongue, a slight sweetness and the scent of bamboo wafted into my nose; after taking two to three gulps, I stopped, closed the flask, and wiped my mouth with my hand.
"Tastes pretty good."
I smiled slightly before tucking the bamboo flask into my bag and continuing my journey. If you're wondering why I didn't make a string to tie it to myself,
The reason is very simple. It's a bit of a hassle to tie it to my waist or hang it around my neck because it gets in the way and makes it hard to move around.
Plus, there's a chance it could snag on trees or branches, or even clank against something solid and make a loud noise, which is why I prefer keeping it in my cloth bag.
That's exactly why I chose not to make a bamboo string. And with that, I kept walking until I stopped by the side of the road.
I reached out to pluck a small bamboo twig, stripped off the leaves, and popped the little stalk into my mouth, chewing on it idly as I resumed my journey.
"Come to think of it, is there actually a village around here?"
How should I put it... I've been traveling for a day now, or two if you count today, but I still haven't seen even the slightest trace of human civilization.
As I kept walking, I tilted my head slightly and brought a hand up to stroke my chin.
"Or maybe there just aren't any villages nearby?"
It was entirely possible that there were no villages around here. So, I stopped walking, looked up, and glanced around.
I turned to my right and walked over to a rather large bamboo stalk, about three inches thick; seeing that,
I reached out and grabbed the bamboo, then used my other hand to grip higher up and pull myself up, releasing my right hand to reach even higher.
As I kept climbing higher, the bamboo swayed slightly; once I climbed high enough to see the top, I looked at the bamboo to my right, reached out with my right hand to grab it, and planted both feet firmly on the stalk I had just climbed.
Climbing up a bit further while hooking my arm around the right-hand stalk, I hoisted myself up to look ahead, and the sight before me revealed a green bamboo forest stretching out as far as the eye could see.
Seeing that made me immediately reach up to scratch the back of my head.
"It's gonna be a long way before I hit an open area, huh."
I sighed faintly and stood there thinking for a moment before deciding to climb back down. It didn't take long for me to reach the ground, where I gazed down the path and stretched my body a bit.
Raising both arms to stretch my muscles, I leaned forward, got into a sprinting stance, took a deep breath, and stared straight ahead.
In that very second, I launched myself into a sprint, cracking the ground beneath me as I shot forward. A bamboo thicket 10 meters away appeared in front of me almost instantly, prompting me to reach out with my right hand to grab it while swerving my body to the left.
While my right hand gripped the bamboo, I pulled it backward, using the momentum to veer left and dart continuously down the road!
Leaving nothing behind but a trail of drifting dust, while the bamboo stalk I had grabbed bore a clear, sunken handprint embedded in its wood.
Meanwhile, on the single road cutting through the bamboo forest, a small cloud of dust kicked up as A Qi sprinted down the path, heading towards a destination even he didn't know.
But as A Qi was speeding along his way, back over by the beautiful woman lying in the tree, a faint sound escaped her lips as she slowly opened her eyes.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves, illuminating her pale, jade-like face. Her white eyes gazed at the sunlight as she blinked a few times.
At that moment, she tried to sit up, but the pain from her shoulder caused her to let out a soft groan from her throat, her right hand immediately flying up to clutch her left shoulder.
This made her turn to look at her shoulder, only to find an unfamiliar white long-sleeved shirt. Seeing this, she swept her gaze over her clothes and raised her right arm to eye level.
It revealed the white long-sleeved shirt protecting her arms. Seeing that, she looked down at her legs and found a rather oversized pair of black trousers.
Even the clothes she was currently wearing were much too big for her. She glanced around, but the only sight before her was branches and leaves.
When a breeze picked up, the leaves rustled gently, and as she lay on the branch, she turned to see a straw hat resting on the leaves to the right of her body.
Seeing that, she slowly sat up, using her right hand to press against her shoulder, and spoke.
"Where... am I?"
She tried to look around but only found small beams of light piercing through the leaves, hitting her body and the surrounding foliage, which made her look down at herself.
She pulled the long sleeve near her shoulder down slightly, revealing her shoulder wrapped in white cloth; reaching down to touch it, she froze for a moment before speaking up.
"It seems I was saved by a nameless martial artist."
She looked up and scanned her surroundings. After observing for a while, she looked through a small gap in the leaves and spotted a river to her right.
Seeing that made her fall even more silent as the image of being attacked on her shoulder, causing her to fall from the sky and crash into the water before blacking out, flashed into her mind.
Her right hand, which was pressing on her wound, gripped the fabric tightly. But not long after, she slowly loosened her grip, took a deep breath, and said,
"I must hurry back and report to my master... that we were betrayed by a disciple."
She tried to move her body, but the pain from her right arm made her flinch, forcing her to sit still and slowly inhale.
She closed her eyes, and her breath gradually formed a white mist. Water droplets appeared on the leaves and branches around her, which then froze into ice, clinging to the tree and its foliage.
At that moment, she opened her eyes and slowly pulled her right hand away from her left arm while gently moving her left arm around. Reaching up with her left hand to grab a branch above to stand up,
she glanced over and saw the straw hat lying nearby. She paused for a moment before reaching out with her right hand to pick it up, examining it and whispering softly,
"I don't know who you are or where you came from, but since you went to such lengths to save me, I promise I will return to repay you. I swear it on my life."
Having said that, she looked down before carefully climbing down from the tree. Upon landing and standing beneath the tree, she looked around.
Seeing that no one was around, she placed the hat on her head and looked toward the road to her left, then began walking in that direction.
But after walking just a few steps, she leaped up, her body soaring to land on a tree before darting forward.
Leaving behind afterimages of herself, she glided through the air, landing on another tree before leaping into the sky and disappearing amidst the sunlight that was slowly turning orange.