Chapter 1: Chapter 1: A New Leaf

I don't know what exactly happened but the moment I opened my eyes I found myself in this strange new world.

I was taken in by surprise at first regarding what was happening all around me. It was scary at first I'm not gonna lie. I just went out to party with my college friends and seniors and then slept like a log after coming back. The moment I opened my eyes from one of the best sleep I've ever had, I found myself here.

Luckily just a few minutes after I stabilized myself information regarding the previous owner of my current body and this world started pouring into my mind. This world...though it felt unbelievable to me at first is something very similar to a fantasy world. This is a world of martial arts. Something I've only read in novels back in my world. People cultivate their bodies to inhumane levels by absorbing something called 'Spirit Qi' which is mixed in the air like various gases.

The process of absorbing this Spirit Qi energy into the body requires one to have their body and mind in sync which requires a lot of practice at first. It's something similar to meditation in my earlier world. People here call this process of absorbing Spirit Qi energy, 'Cultivation'.

Though all this would sound very enticing. The path of cultivation is one filled with thorns where one misstep is all it takes to end one's life just like the owner of my current body. He lost his life trying to break through from his current martial stage. The owner of my body had very little information regarding these stages only two to be precise because he wasn't very interested in getting stronger earlier.  The stage which I'm currently in is called the 'Infant stage'. It's divided into nine levels and I'm currently in the ninth level. The second stage is called as 'Body Tempering Stage' which also has nine levels.

The age of my current body is around nineteen years old. Being in the Infant Stage even at the age of nineteen years is something to be ashamed of because the normal age of breaking through to the Body Tempering Stage is around fourteen years if one works hard and is consistent. Even a person with trash aptitude would enter that stage by the time they were sixteen years old.

The only reason this person is still stuck in this stage was that he lost himself to debauchery. This person's aptitude was not bad at all because if things would have proceeded normally then he would have entered the Body Tempering Stage by the age of fifteen even if he cultivated slowly. His lack of control over his hormones led him to go astray as a result he discarded the martial path and started investing all his time in gambling, alcohol, and women.

One might wonder what led such a person to attempt a breakthrough after so many years...well the answer was simple. He wanted to impress one lady who caught his eye but was insulted by her because of his weak cultivation. So in order to prove her wrong and with the hope to win her over he decided to attempt a forceful breakthrough.

Needless to say, this person's family was quite wealthy. He only had his father, his mother passed away when he was born as a result his father loved him a lot and couldn't bear to raise his hand on him...and as the saying goes, 'spare the rod, spoil the child.' That's what happened.

After getting familiar with how this world works that is, Strong preys on the weak and the weaklings have no choice but to get devoured. I stood up and tried to measure my strength. I approached a nearby tree trunk and punched at it with full force. My fist mark was imprinted on the trunk and the pain which I felt was a bare minimum compared to what I would have felt if I had tried a similar antic in my earlier life.

'Cheh having such strength and potential but then wasting it all on debauchery.' I scoffed at the previous owner internally as I made my way towards the house of this person. His name was Ru Li and that's what I would be called by others from now on.

He lived in Jing Village which was one of the many small villages in the Tian Continent, one of the many countries in this martial world.

On his way back he was met with many unpleasant faces from people passing by him. Well, it can't be helped because his reputation was as such. After passing through a series of houses that gave ancient Chinese vibes he soon arrived at his residence. It was not huge but was much better than the normal houses here. His father owned a merchant company which made a lot of wealth for the family. His father's name was Zen Li, he along with his childhood friend Chu Ling created this company, and thanks to them it was now doing so well.

Uncle Chu knew his ability and was content with just managing the company but things changed when he had a child. Just like how my father pampered me, he also loved his daughter a lot and wanted her to have a bright future as a result he now wanted to make her daughter the future head of the company. 

My previous self was quite gullible. During his fourteenth birthday night, Uncle Chu told him that he's grown up now and should now experience the life of a man. He took him to a brothel as a birthday present so that he could experience the body of a woman. Ru Li was filled with excitement when he heard this because his father never allowed him to go near that place and was very thankful to his Uncle. Since that day Ru Li has been indulging himself fully by going to that place again and again.

He never once doubted his Uncle even though kept on giving him money sneakily when his father refused to give him his monthly pocket money. He used to think that his uncle just wanted him to be happy but that was far from the truth. Uncle Chu was quite happy seeing Ru Li like that because it would be only a matter of time before he would be able to make her daughter the owner of the company. Things kept on proceeding like that as a result of which Ru Li slowly and steadily became a degenerate.

The moment I entered the residence I was welcomed by our family servant Hue Chen."Young master Ru Li welcome back. Let me know if you're hungry and I'll prepare a fine meal for you." Hue Chen said politely. I was indeed quite hungry so I told him to prepare some dumplings for me and then went to the courtyard.

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The courtyard was quite big which made it suitable for practising martial arts. I looked around the area and found a table along with a scroll rack near the place. I walked towards it and picked up a random scroll from there. I opened up the scroll and it was titled, 'Earth Fist Skill'. It piqued my interest so I sat on the cushion that was placed on the ground as I put the scroll on the table and started reading the scroll.

'Earth Fist Skill is a very basic fist-fighting skill that is very easy to master by everyone in the latter stages of the infant stage and up. The strength of the technique depends on the user's Spirit Qi level and will keep on getting stronger as one progresses through his cultivation. Here are the procedures one should follow to master the technique...'

I kept on reading and completed the scroll in just about 15 minutes. It wasn't long and the illustrations were easy to memorize. First thing's first, I sat in a meditative position and started feeling the Spirit Qi present all around me as I started directing it towards my core. In simple words, the core can be explained as a container that stores the Spirit Qi. This Spirit Qi then travels to different locations of the body through various meridians as and when needed.

Soon after I was able to feel the Spirit Qi surrounding me. It felt like a cool refreshing gentle breeze enveloping my body now that I felt it myself. I then tried absorbing by inhaling. I could feel the Spirit Qi flowing inside my lungs, to my heart and then after taking a round of my whole body it came to rest inside my core. The process was called nourishing. The Spirit Qi before entering the core first nourishes the body fully and then the remaining Spirit Qi rests in the core for future use. This is one of the reasons why filling up the core takes so much time while cultivating.

After trying two or three full Spirit Qi circulations I was now personally familiar with the process. I stood up from my seat wanting to start practising the fist skill that I learned earlier but was disrupted by a voice.

"Young Master the meal is ready," Hue Chen said. It looked like he had been waiting for me to come out of my meditative state for a while now. I too just noticed that I was feeling even more hungry than before and it would be better to practice after eating.

"Alright, Hue Chen. Let's go." I said and Hue Chen slowly guided me to the dining room. Hue Chen quickly arranged the dumplings on the table for me and I soon started eating them to my heart's content. The dumplings were well made, crispy on the outside while being soft and juicy inside."

While Ru Li was eating Hue Chen who had been observing his young master since the moment he came back from the woods felt that his young master was like a totally different person now. 'Did he experience something in the forest that changed him?' he thought to himself but he soon stopped thinking about why this change happened because what was important was that his young master has changed for good. When he saw him reading that fist skill from the scroll he was happy beyond belief. 

It was normal for Hue Chen to be filled with happiness seeing his young master acting like this because apart from being just a family servant he was also their guard. Ru Li's father had saved the life of his injured self when he was on the edge of death after escaping from a brutal ambush from his enemies. Hue Chen had thought that he would die that day but was saved by Ru Li's father so he made it his life goal to serve him till his death by becoming their family servant. Zack Kurtz, Ru Li's father was not expecting him to act like that as no matter how much he refused Hue Chen kept on clinging to him, as a result, he told him to take care of his son with his life if he wants to, which Hue Chen took to his heart.

When Ru Li fell into the path of depravity Hue Chen was unable to help him, no matter how much he tried persuading his young master he wasn't willing to listen to him. Hue Chen felt like his young master has completely given up on the path of a martial artist. So seeing him turning over a new leaf made him feel so much joy that it couldn't be expressed in words.

After finishing up his meal Ru Li soon went back to the courtyard to start practising the skill which he had just learnt. The procedure was very simple. He just had to circulate the Spirit Qi from his core to his fist and while doing that take the stance as mentioned in the skill book. The stance played an important role here as it connected the body with the earth so that the fist could carry the power of the earth with it. 

I reached the centre of the courtyard and took a few deep breaths to calm my mind. I first positioned myself so that I was now in the stance as depicted in the skill book and then slowly started circulating my key from my core to my arms as I started moving my arms back ready to make it swing forward the moment the Spirit Qi reaches close to my fist and when it did I unleashed my attack.

PAT.

It sounded like the bursting of a container filled with air. The sound was enough to make me realize that it was quite a powerful punch. If I had punched the tree trunk earlier with this skill then if the tree did now break then there would definitely be a fist-sized hole in it.

Hue Chen who had been observing his young master training from the corner nodded his head inwardly as he went back to other house chores. Ru Li kept on practising this Earth Fist Skill again and again. Whenever he felt exhausted he went back to reread the scroll book to make sure he is on the right path and wasn't doing anything wrong.

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