Chapter 3: 7 days later
"What do you mean I can't sell anymore wood?!"
"You've already sold me enough wood to last me half a year, I can't afford to buy anymore."
Zhou Fan was in an argument with Old Man Yang. After 7 days of logging and earning a silver coin each day, he has already filled up Old Man Yang's yard with wood. Zhou Fan has been cutting down trees and bringing them back every hour of the day for the last week.
"Wait at least a month and then you can bring me some more wood. Until then, find someone else's yard to fill."
Realizing that he could no longer win this argument, Zhou Fan decided to head back home and get some much needed and much earned rest.
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Heading out to the bakery, Zhou Fan calculated how long his money would last him. If he spends 6 copper a day on bread, his 7 silver will last over 100 days. He practically had no other expenses, therefore, calculating anything else would be pointless.
After 10 minutes, he returned home and had a meal that consisted of 5 slices of bread and some water. While to others it may seem like a terrible meal, Zhou Fan has been eating it for the last 4 years.
After a meal, Zhou Fan finally sat down and got lost within his own thoughts. Remembering the gray speck from 8 days ago, he contemplated what it could possibly be. Unable to come up with any thoughts, he decided to imitate what he had done the first day. Although he had tried touching the lightning tree over the last week, he could no longer feel anything. It seemed that he had used whatever was in it up. Crossing his legs, he put all his needless thoughts to rest.
Zhou Fan clasped his hands together and cleared his mind of all thoughts. After 30 minutes of sitting in that position, Zhou Fan finally fell back into the state he was in when he touched the tree. Much faster this time, he noticed a grey speck. Zhou Fan tried breathing it in but it wouldn't budge. He tried again and again with no results whatsoever. After an unknown amount of time, he finally decided to stop trying. Looking outside, he noticed the sky was already dark.
Hopping into bed and closing his eyes, Zhou Fan decided to try to gather another speck of dust tomorrow.
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The next morning, after filling himself up with bread, he decided to attempt gather another speck of dust.
On second thought, Zhou Fan felt it was inappropriate to continue calling that incredible thing, 'a speck of dust'. After thinking for a while, he decided to call it 'Qi'. He had no reason for calling it that, he just decided to make a random sound and name the speck of dust after it. Isn't that how all words were made?
Recalling the first time he absorbed the Qi particle, he remembered that he had not breathed in with his mouth but with his mind. Although he had no idea how to do that, it was better to try than to not try.
Crossing his legs and clasping his hands, he fell into his mind once again. This time, it took only 5 minutes. Within the infinite darkness of his mind, he saw the Qi particle. After 5 minutes of trying to breath in with his mind, he finally saw the Qi particle move a bit! Excited, he frantically continued to bring it in. After 10 minutes, Zhou Fan successfully absorbed it!
He felt a wave of energy spread throughout his mind and body. All the fatigue from the past few days were washed away in an instant. Luckily for Zhou Fan, no gook came out of his body this time. Instead of stopping there, Zhou Fan decided to continue absorbing Qi. In just 3 minutes, he spotted another Qi particle! Thanks to his previous experience, Zhou Fan was able to bring it in much faster this time. Once again, Zhou Fan absorbed a Qi particle and felt a wave of refreshment.
He continued this cycle for almost 3 hours before, all of a sudden, an audible cracking sound came from his body! If the sound scared him so much he almost jumped, then the sudden influx of Qi particles made him feel like his soul was dragged from his body. Within his mind, the space that had always had no more than 1 Qi particle ,had 10 at the same time! Frantically taking this opportunity, he absorbed the Qi particles at a much faster rate than usual. After 10 minutes, he finally absorbed all of the Qi particles and felt a wave of refreshment much bigger than any other he had felt before! This wave covered every inch of his body!
Like the time he had absorbed his first particle, Zhou Fan felt as if the world had opened up a new door. Opening his eyes, Zhou Fan once again smelt the nauseating smell of the gook.
"Dam* it!" He shouted, "Not again!"
Running to the river at an even faster speed than before, he made it to the river in 3 minutes! Although the first time it happened he took 3 minutes, this time, he was even farther away from the river. Before the lightning tree, it would have took 12 minutes to make it to the river from his house! Bathing in the river once again, he had a nagging feeling that he would be seeing this river for a long time to come.
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The next day, he awoke near the river. After taking a bath, he decided to sleep while looking at the stars. 3,123. That's how many stars he could see last night.
Walking in front of the tree, he suddenly decided to punch it. Halfway through his action, he realized what he was doing. Too late to retract it, his hand collided with the tree. BANGG!
Instinctually, Zhou Fan closed his eyes. However, after feeling no pain in his hand he decided to open it.
Chapter 4: Bandits
Opening his eyes, the first thing Zhou Fan saw was a fist sized imprint in the tree. Astonished, he pinched himself to see if he was dreaming.
"Oww!"
After making sure he wasn't dreaming, Zhou Fan examined his fist. It was neither bleeding nor in pain. In an attempt to make sure that the fist imprint was really his, he curled his hand into a fist and put it on the imprint. It was! After making sure he wasn't crazy, Zhou Fan didn't know what to think.
He had never heard of anyone hitting a tree so hard that their fist was imprinted into it, much less without any injury to the hand.
At this moment, Zhou Fan realized that this was no dream. By absorbing the Qi particles, he was truly becoming greater. Even after merely 8 days, he was already beyond any human. Perhaps even an ox's strength couldn't compare to his.
Zhou Fan decided that from now on he will focus his entire life to absorbing these particles. He will become even stronger and rule over the entire world. Then, Zhou Fan's mind came back to reason. Even if he could become that strong, it would take a long long time. Also, who knows if there is a limit to the particles.
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On his way home, he stopped by the bakery to grab 4 loaves of bread, enough to last him 8 days.
Entering his house, Zhou Fan immediately sat down. Crossing his legs and clasping his hands, Zhou Fan entered a calm state much faster than before. Looking into the infinite darkness of his mind he found a pleasant surprise. Instead of a single particle, there were 2. It took a mere 30 seconds to absorb both of them.
This time besides a slightly warm sensation, he felt nothing. After 5 hours, Zhou Fan heard a familiar crack. Then, within his mind, he saw 20 particles at the same time. Absorbing them all in a quick 10 minutes, he opened his eyes to find the black gook covering his body. Running to the lake in a quick 2 minutes 30 seconds, he jumped in and cleaned himself before once again sleeping on the river bank.
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Zhou Fan repeated the process of gathering Qi particles, hearing a crack, running to the river, and sleeping on the riverbank for 7 days. Over the day's, Zhou Fan decided on a name for absorbing Qi particles. He declared it 'Cultivation'. On the 8th day, Zhou Fan woke up like normal and ate a slice of bread.
All of a sudden, a foot broke through his door! Startled, Zhou Fan jumped backwards.
" Who made this trashy door", the unknown assailant said.
"Who cares, open up the door already."
"Yes sir!" Said multiple voices at the same time.
Calming down, Zhou Fan watched as the unknown assailants broke through the door and looked at him from the outside.
"Hey, someone actually lives in this pig sty" one of men's voices said.
"Get to the village square boy", the largest of the 4 men said.
"Don't try to run, the entire village is surrounded."
Still shocked, Zhou Fan complied to the mans orders. It took less than a minute to get to the town square from his house. Entering the plaza, Zhou Fan noticed more than 20 armed men on horses. Some carried bows and spears, but most carried a sword. In the middle, the only man wearing armor was barking orders to the villagers. It seemed like Zhou Fan was the last one to arrive.
"Let's make this easy", the man barked. "Men on the left, women on the right, children in the middle."
Complying, all the villagers got into the order the man told them. All except Zhou Fan, of course.
"Boy, stand in the middle NOW!
Looking at the men surrounding him, Zhou Fan felt no fear. He had been cultivating everyday for the past week. Every day, he would punch the same tree he punched a week ago. Just yesterday, he buried his entire arm into the tree from a single punch. If his arm was a little bit longer, Zhou Fan would have pierced through the entire tree.
He had experienced 9 audible cracks since the day he had touched the lightning tree. Not only had his strength and intelligence soared through the roof, he was also exceptionally more handsome. If he wasn't 10 years old, he could surely charm any women.
"Or what?" Zhou Fan taunted at them.
"Good, I was hoping somebody would resist today."
Jumping from his horse, the man who appeared to be the leader strode towards Zhou Fan, sword in hand. Reaching him in a few seconds, he instantly sliced down upon him. From his form, you could tell this wasn't his first time. He had surely committed murder many times.
Slightly moving to the left, Zhou Fan easily dodged the man's casual attack.
"Weak." Zhou Fan mumbled.
Before the man could react, Zhou Fans fist had already arrived in front of his chest. Colliding with Zhou Fans fist, the man was instantly thrown back 10 feet. When he landed on the ground, he had already breathed his last.
Shocked the surrounding bandits took a step back. Staring at their leaders mangled chest, they all had cold sweat pouring down their face. Even his leather armor was pierced.
"W-w-w-w-what the he**!"
You could see the fear in not only their eyes, but the villagers eyes. Nobody could remain calm in the face of a mangled corpse. Not even Zhou Fan. This was the first time Zhou Fan had ever killed someone. Based upon his strength, he had assumed the man would die, but upon looking at his bloody corpse, even Zhou Fans' strengthened mind was shaking. Many of the less experienced villagers even threw up.
Slowly backing up, the bandits fear was plastered on their faces. even though they had committed many massacres, the shock from seeing a single punch from a mere boy instantly decimate a grown man wearing armor was too much for them.
"R-r-r-run!!"
When someone had finally recovered enough to say that, a trigger in all of the bandits minds were set off.
Fleeing as fast as their legs could take them, they ran away at an astonishing speed. They even left behind their horses and their chiefs corpse.
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