Volcanic Age

At the training grounds.

“Zhou Xuchuan!”

“Yes!”

Hearing the call of Tie Xiong, a third-generation member of Mount Hua and an instructor of Wild Goose Hell, Zhou Xuchuan replied with a loud voice and walked up front.

“I have been notified that you have reached the fifth stage of the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art as of yesterday. Is this true?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then starting today, you participate in fist art training.”

Before reaching the fifth stage of the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art, physical training usually consisted of running up and down Wild Goose Hell and practicing the horse stance.

After around a year, when most disciples reached the fifth stage, they would start their next stage in physical training as well.

“Yes, sir.”

The pride of Mount Hua was its sword arts, but that didn’t mean that it lacked martial arts of other areas. They also had other techniques, albeit not as strong as its sword arts.

Most of them were not difficult to learn, and they were intended to be used in cases where the practitioner was without a sword to protect themself. They were quite basic.

“In the martial world, there is a phrase that goes: hundred-day spear, thousand-day saber, and ten-thousand-day sword.”

It was a metaphor that stated that the sword was the hardest and most time-consuming to learn among weapons.

“The fist art also contains the essence of Mount Hua, and it will be a good foundation to learn the sword art. So do not complain and study!” Tie Xiong spoke in a grave voice.

Zhou Xuchuan didn’t complain and joined the others in training the fist arts.

Oho, most of the time, the disciples are disappointed that they can’t use the sword right away… that’s a good attitude.

Tie Xiong inwardly admired Zhou Xuchuan’s attitude as he looked at the little boy’s back.

*

After that, there was a change in Zhou Xuchuan’s everyday life. He woke up early every morning and cultivated near a plum tree. That attracted the attention of the others.

Most of the fourth-generation members were children who couldn’t even be called youths yet, and children were curious creatures.

Naturally, in their little society, cultivating near a plum tree alone was bound to attract attention.

“Hey, flower boy.”

When he opened his eyes after cultivating, he found that a group of people were in front of him. They were all children around his age.

“I heard that the plum tree is your only friend, right?”

Giggle-!

“A wise man once said that there is no purer evil than children,” Zhou Xuchuan muttered, his face colored in sadness.

“What’s he saying?”

The kid that appeared to be the boss of the group looked puzzled after hearing him speak. Zhou Xuchuan wordlessly stood up and continued speaking with his eyes filled with melancholy.

“Normally, I would be saying, ‘this big brother cannot be bothered to fight you so leave while I’m still in a good mood.’”

“What?”

“However, you will continue to pick a fight with me regardless. The world is made of such chains of resentment. That is why I shall sever the chain before it can start.”

Zhou Xuchuan’s words were too hard for the children to understand, and in the little society of children, using difficult words was bound to make one look conceited or cocky.

Originally, they were here to tease Zhou Xuchuan, who was by himself, but they felt pissed now that he kept acting like this.

“Come, you villains! I have trained my fists so that I can sever the chain of hatred!”

Zhou Xuchuan kicked off the ground. He wasn’t that fast, which was natural since he had just started cultivating the Plum Blossom Life Art and the Plum Blossom Fist.

“Wh-what the heck? He’s crazy!”

The boss kid panicked and threw a punch at Zhou Xuchuan, who was coming at him. He was pretty quick to respond.

“Haha.”

Zhou Xuchuan laughed as though he found it interesting and lightly dodged it. The boss kid was above him in terms of speed and power, but he was still a kid. He was not a match for Zhou Xuchuan, who possessed memories of his previous life. Zhou Xuchuan could easily predict how he was going to move and attack.

“Whoa?”

The boss freaked out and quickly tried to turn around, but it was already too late. Zhou Xuchuan kicked him in the chest.

“Keghk!”

The kid shrieked and fell back.

Zhou Xuchuan held his head up high and spoke in a sad voice.

“This is the fist of the martial world.”

“What are you saying? That was a kick just now!”

Zhou Xuchuan used to be a quiet kid. That was because he had lived a life under pressure. He had lived a mundane lifestyle filled with training, and when he was in his middle years, he was concerned about other people’s image of him, and he naturally formed a gloomy personality.

That personality had undergone a slight change after his regression. To be precise, he started releasing what was suppressed. He wanted to be more liberal in his new life.

…Just that it was expressed in a weird direction.

“Cough, cough- Get him!” the boss kid shouted while grabbing his stomach. The other children all shouted and jumped at Zhou Xuchuan.

“Haha, this is the Plum Blossom Fist! Take my Plum Blossom Fist!”

Zhou Xuchuan faced off against the children wholeheartedly.

Obviously, fighting against these children was nothing more than playing around. The children fighting him used all their power in their respective ways, but from his perspective, their movements were so simple and easy to see that he could practically dodge them with his eyes closed.

Zhou Xuchuan slipped past the children that charged toward him and toyed with them.

“Aaagh!”

“Gwergh!”

The children shrieked and fell down.

Zhou Xuchuan smiled benevolently as he looked at the children.

“Do you… want to be secret friends with this uncle?”

“Hieeek!”

A lunatic was here.

***

Losing a fight was an extremely humiliating matter to children, especially boys. Even more so if the opponent they fought was young and had a smaller build than them.

The children who had picked a fight with Zhou Xuchuan found it embarrassing and didn’t tell anyone that they had lost against him. They had rushed against him, the youngest member of the fourth generation, a nine-year-old kid, as a group, and got defeated without being able to do anything. They would lose all face if it was revealed.

On the other hand, Zhou Xuchuan watched them in fear that they might tell someone about it.

“Ufufu, that’s children for you.”

Thanks to that, this commotion didn’t turn into a big deal, and Zhou Xuchuan was satisfied that he didn’t catch the eyes of someone powerful.

“But still, I should reflect on this. I couldn’t hold myself back and acted impulsively. Maybe it’s because of my body, but I feel like I’m aging in reverse.”

Zhou Xuchuan thought about the event that occurred not too long ago and couldn’t help but smile, even as he reflected on himself. It had been a long time since he had gone wild like this so freely. Even before his regression, he had never been this impulsive.

“Now then, there are no more hindrances, so let’s go back to cultivation.”

The boss kid and his lot that picked a fight with him belonged to the top group among their peers. They were afraid that Zhou Xuchuan would tell the tales of his heroic feats to others and prevented others from approaching him.

Thanks to that, Zhou Xuchuan was able to train near a plum tree by himself without minding the gazes of others.

***

A month passed since he started practicing the Plum Blossom Life Art and learning the Plum Blossom Fist.

“Haha!”

The achievements he made in that time were tremendous.

“I managed to accumulate half a year’s worth of internal energy in just one month!”

The Plum Blossom Life Art’s qi accumulation was tremendously fast. Thanks to breathing alongside the plum tree, he only needed one month to accumulate half a year’s worth of qi.

He formed his dantian at the age of eight, and he had accumulated one year’s worth of qi by cultivating the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art to the fifth stage during the past year.

However, he had done half of that in just a single month. It would have been strange if he wasn’t happy about it.

Currently, Zhou Xuchuan’s internal energy totaled to a year and a half’s worth.

“I think this should be okay for the Plum Blossom Fist as well.”

Zhou Xuchuan lightly swung his fists.

Swish-!

He had a better understanding of the Plum Blossom Fist than the instructor. He just wasn’t used to using it with his current body, but after training intensively a few times, he had learned almost all of it in less than a month.

In his original life, he had taken nearly a year from what he could recall, but now, he had reached that stage in less than a month.

Hm, I guess all that’s left is boring repetition.

Even if he had the complete understanding, it was meaningless if his body couldn’t handle it. Unless he possessed the legendary Heavenly Martial Physique, his body wouldn’t be able to keep up if he pushed himself. He was a nine-year-old child who was still growing. He would ruin his body if he tried to be too greedy.

If his body could keep up, then forget the Plum Blossom Fist, he would’ve snatched a sword from somewhere and started practicing sword arts.

He couldn’t do that now, so he had no choice but to take one step at a time, to train his body using the Plum Blossom Fist Art.

Zhou Xuchuan felt that his progress was slow, but in the eyes of others, he was crazy fast. Originally, anyone other than a prodigy would see slow progress at the beginning of cultivation because of their lack of understanding regarding cultivation.

I’d better go through my plans for now.

He could execute the Plum Blossom Fist without having to think hard as he could practically perform the techniques subconsciously. There was no need to think about the sutra or the trajectory of his punches.

Instead, Zhou Xuchuan thought about a few of the events that would occur in the future.

“I really don’t want to remember, but the most memorable events that happened were…”

Zhou Xuchuan’s face turned dark. He remembered an event that would occur in five years, when he would turn fourteen. In his mind, it had happened decades ago, but he still couldn’t forget that day.

That was because… he was no longer able to see his master, Liu Zhengmu, after that.

Liu Zhengmu, the Gentle Smiling Swordsman.

It was a title given to him because he always had a soft and gentle smile on his face.

Zhou Xuchuan knew about Liu Zhengmu more than anyone else, including what would happen to him in the future.

Master…

Liu Zhengmu was a great figure and a martial artist worth respecting. This wasn’t Zhou Xuchuan’s subjective opinion. Whether it came to his considerate personality, his kindness, and the gentle smile on his face, Liu Zhengmu was totally flawless in terms of character. His martial prowess was exceptional as well.

Mount Hua disciples could attain the title of Plum Blossom Swordsmen—a title only awarded after a battery of tests that evaluated a person’s martial prowess, wisdom, and character. As such, their reputation within Mount Hua was very good, and they were models that all members of the sect yearned to follow.

Liu Zhengmu was exceptional enough to become a candidate for the Plum Blossom Swordsmen. He passed a multitude of tests as well, and he worked hard to obtain the title.

However, he was unable to become a member of the Plum Blossom Swordsmen because of one reason: the chronic illness he had for a long time. No…actually, nobody knew if he actually had a chronic illness or not.

Liu Zhengmu had made great strides in studies of martial arts from a young age, and he was just as good at performing them as well. However, he got tired more easily than others, and his physique was weak. That was his innate constitution. It was bad to the point that when he was just admitted to the sect, he was often bullied by his peers for being weak.

Even so, Liu Zhengmu didn’t succumb to their bullying and put in several times the efforts of others to train his body and overcome his weakness. And even though he had an innate disadvantage that gave him a hard time, he had actually succeeded.

The problem was that his weak constitution did not improve with age. While he fortunately didn’t suffer from any big sicknesses, he often came down with a fever.

The conditions to become a Plum Blossom Swordsman were very strict and meticulous. Because of his tendency to fall sick easily, he ultimately didn’t make the assessment.

That was also the reason why Zhou Xuchuan didn’t have any apprentice brothers or sisters. Liu Zhengmu’s condition meant that he didn’t have the leisure to accept any other disciples apart from him.