Chapter 1: Chapter 1

The Yi Public House of the Great Ji Dynasty.

Chu Li rowed his boat on the lake. The wind gently caressed his face, leaving him quite refreshed.

The Yi Province was an archipelago with exactly ninety-nine islands. Chu Li was headed to the martial arts halls roughly eighteen miles from the East Garden.

Chu Li was a well-built and relatively lean man, dressed in a green gown that fluttered with the wind. His looks were average at best, but he was smart and full of bravery. While standing on his boat, he gazed upon the surface of the pond as if he was deep in thought.

Nineteen years, two months, and three days! It had been nineteen years, two months, and three bloody days!

Chu Li was a credited researcher of particle physics, an honors student with a bright future, and probably the next big scientist! However, a tiny little mistake he made during an experiment caused an explosion that cost him his life. He came to this world after reincarnating and had since been living a new life.

“Bam! Bam!” A muffled knocking distracted him from his thoughts. He directed his attention towards a shining golden carp bouncing on his boat.

He shook his head, bent his body down to pick the carp up in order to throw it back into the lake and as he rose to stand again, a tall building entered his view.

A tall building had a height of over a hundred meters, it glimmered in a bronze radiance. The building was thick and heavy, symbolizing its might and authority.

The bronze building was the Martial Arts Hall!

The front of the Martial Arts Hall was a wide training field covered in red mud, with hundreds of people training on the field. It could be seen that they were engaging each other with swords and fists, fighting and learning from one another. All in all, the place looked very lively.

Chu Li disembarked from his little boat and stepped up onto the training field. A few steps away, a good looking and beautiful young gentleman beaming with confidence suddenly appeared before him.

Relatively tall of a man, a full head taller than Chu Li, he had his arms crossed as he looked at Chu Li from above, calling out his first name, “Chu! What are you doing here!?”

Chu Li furrowed his brows. ‘Get out of the way, a good dog doesn’t block the road!”

“Hah!” The young man chuckled, “Are you here to train, by any chance?”

Chu Li smiled as he continued to walk towards his destination.

“Zhuo Feiyang, do you believe that if I lied down on the floor and began screaming, you’d basically be doomed?”

Guards from the Public House were banned from having personal fights with other guards from the same Public House. The guards from the Public House were separated into two types, the Protectors, and the Scribes. One worked for the military, and the other was for the more civil issues. They were especially warned to not have, or provoke, any personal fights. They would be demoted from their ranks if they were found to have done so or even be chased out of the province if the incident was particularly serious.

Chu Li was a Scribe without a rank, while Zhuo Feiyang was an eighth-ranked Protector. It was considered taboo for a Protector to attack a Scribe. If Chu Li were to scream right then and there, Zhuo Feiyang would be detained and punished.

Zhuo Feiyang furrowed his brows. ‘Fine! You are absolutely shameless, Chu!”

Chu Li continued to walk.

Zhuo Feiyang tilted his body to let Chu Li pass. He spoke while equipped with quite a handsome gloomy face, “You only know how to use these little tricks, Chu!”

Chu Li smiled. ‘These little tricks are more than enough to deal with you, idiot.”

Zhuo Feiyang stared daggers at Chu Li with his fist being clenched harder and harder by the minute. It seemed like he could swing it at any moment. Chu Li was still looking right at him with a face full of disdain and provocation.

Suddenly, Zhuo Feiyang’s face brightened up as a large smile replaced his gloomy face. He waved like an excited five-year-old. ‘Sister Zhao!”

A beautiful lady walked slowly towards them. Her skin was fair, and her eyes were delicate with arching eyebrows. She was a visibly elegant and gentle woman.

Chu Li’s expression slightly shifted. Zhao Ying, the woman who joined the public house around the same time as they did. She was pretty, kind, and gentle. It was difficult for a man to not fall for her.

“Brother Zhuo?” Zhao Ying stepped towards them, looking surprised. ‘Brother Chu?”

Chu Li, catching a whiff of the light and fragrant smell coming from Zhao Ying, smiled. ‘Sister Zhao, it has been quite a long time since we last met.”

Ever since he was assigned to the East Garden, he had been spending most of his time in the Tower of Wisdom, trying to hatch a plan to change his own fate through knowledge and education. It was rare for him to visit the Martial Arts Hall.

As to the reason he came to the Martial Arts Hall in the first place? He was faced with an obstacle while training on the Minute Pulse Cleansing Technique and was looking for a rare manual or training script that might have cited it.

Zhao Ying smiled. ‘Congratulations, Chu Li! Being assigned to the East Garden means you have a great job!”

Chu Li nodded as he smiled. ‘It’s not too bad.”

The East Garden belonged to the Third Lady of the Yi Public House, Xiao Qi, on an island named The Jade Guardian Island. Chu Li was noted to be the only one serving Lady Xiao Qi on the island, along with some help from Lee Yue. It was regarded to be free and relaxing there, along with having a chance to meet the Third Lady. If they were somehow acknowledged by the Third Lady, the rest of their lives would pretty much be set.

Zhuo Feiyang took a deep breath, believing that Chu Li was definitely a lucky man. Of all the places he could be assigned to, he was dropped into the East Garden! God must have truly been blind. He took it upon himself to punish Chu Li instead.

“Zhao Ying, ignore this piece of garbage. I just learned the Delusion Split yesterday, would you like to practice with me?”

“Zhuo Feiyang!” Zhao Ying furrowed her brows, thinking that the way Zhuo Feiyang addressed Chu Li was incredibly rude.

“Okay, okay, I won’t call him garbage then!” Zhuo Feiyang hurriedly apologized, and glanced at Chu Li. ‘Even though he really is one.”

“Aren’t you done yet!?” Zhao Ying angrily widened her eyes.

“It’s alright, Zhao Ying.” Chu Li smiled. ‘There is no need to bother with this arrogant fool here.”

“Li!” Anges gushed with anger.

Chu Li raised his hands as a sign of defeat. ‘Zhao Ying, come over to the East Garden for some fun. The scenery is really nice, and Lee Yue’s cooking is amazing.”

“Sure!” Zhao Ying said, with a sweet smile on her face, “I’ve been wanting to check out the place, y’know? Did you know that the East Garden…”

“Hmph! What’s there that’s so special to look at?” Zhuo Feiyang tilted his mouth. ‘It’s all flowers and grass. I’d much rather use all that time to hone my skills. Having fun wasting time with pointless things makes someone useless!”

“Ah, so according to you, Lady Xiao Qi and Master Xiao are doing pointless things, yes? And that is nothing compared to what you’re doing?” Chu Li chuckled. The West Garden belonged to the eldest master of the Yi Public House, Xiao Tieying.

Zhuo Feiyang’s face turned red really quickly as he began to smile awkwardly, as he decided to stop arguing with Chu Li.

“Zhuo Feiyang! Chu Li!” Anges voiced out in dissatisfaction.

“Can’t you guys just stop for a little? Chu Li, I’ll go to the East Garden one day. You can leave if you’re busy.”

Chu Li stared at Zhao Ying. ‘Sister, there are people out there who only seem good from the outside. It’ll take time to discover their true inner nature. Don’t be too trusting of anyone you don’t know!”

“Chu? What do you mean!?” Zhuo Feiyang shouted.

Chu Li ignored Zhuo Feiyang’s statements and bid goodbye with his palm over a fist while smiling at Zhao Ying.

Zhao Ying turned and walked away.

Zhuo Feiyang hurriedly followed her, but as he left the area, he extended his hand when Zhao Ying was not paying him any attention.

His palm almost slapped onto Chu Li’s face, confident that Chu Li would not be able to dodge it. It seemed unnoticeable, but his inner strength had been focused into the slap, making it exceedingly swift.

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Chu Li slightly tilted his head. Zhuo Feiyang’s fingertips scraped by Chu Li’s cheeks, passing right by. Chu Li felt a breeze going through, this slap was not of a light variety.

“Pa!”

A loud sound of slapping was clearly audible.

Chu Li slapped himself with his left palm and quickly hid his hand. The sound itself was loud and clear. It may not have been too powerful for a slap, but the sound was strong.

Zhao Ying flipped her head over to check but Chu Li’s facial expression did not move an inch. It was as if the slap had not hit his face at all.

Zhuo Feiyang glared at him and Chu Li gave a small smile, as he touched his cheeks. ‘Such great skill! Color me impressed!”

Zhuo Feiyang stared daggers at him.

“ZHUO-FEI-YANG!!!!!” Zhao Ying was really angry now.

“S-sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!” Zhuo Feiyang clenched his teeth, making sounds out of it. ‘I believe that Chu Li doesn’t mind it. Do you, young Brother Chu Li?”

Chu Li turned with a smirk. ‘Forget about it, Zhao Ying.”

Zhao Ying looked apologetically at Chu Li, hurriedly pulling Zhuo Feiyang away before leaving. If they stayed any longer, they were most definitely going to fight!

Chu Li stared at Zhao Ying’s beautiful back, stunned. He grasped his pulsing cheeks and activated the Omniscient Mirror to stabilize his state of mind.

If it were not for the Omniscient Mirror, he would have fallen right into Zhuo Feiyang’s plot!

This world allowed one to take pride in one’s martial art’s skills. This was the value he had been taught since he was small. Zhao Ying was gentle and kind, her protective personality in any situation would touch Chu Li.

However, he was a man and one who needed a girl to protect him was intolerable!

Zhuo Feiyang, The Delusion Split…

He passed through the crowds on the training field and walked into the Martial Arts Hall.

He untied the wooden badge from his waist and handed it over to a young man stationed before the palace. The young man inspected it and signaled him to go inside.

As he went in, multiple rows of book racks entered his sight. He walked in with confidence and stopped to pick out a book. He flipped through the book quickly and slotted it back, moving on to the next book. He repeated the process multiple times.

By doing this, he managed to flip through twenty books in a span of two hours.

It seemed as if he had known all about the library before this, being able to casually walk into the place and pick the books out like this. However this was the first time he was here, and he had read about the Minute Pulse Cleansing Technique in the Tower of Wisdom before this.

Chu Li visualized the layout of the Martial Arts Hall in his mind. Every single row, every single book. Everything was being mapped out in his mind.

He continued to walk towards the second floor and went straight to the front of the third bookshelf. He picked out the sword skill guidebook for the Delusion Split, flipped through the book once and proceeded to pull out another seven books, all of which were about the experiences of others who had learned Delusion Split.

Before he left the training palace, the contents of all thirty books had already been registered in his brain. Twenty-two books regarding the Minute Pulse Cleansing Technique, a guidebook for the Delusion Split, and another seven regarding the sword skill.

He rowed his little boat along the lake, with a soft wind blowing through, extinguishing his anger.

The thirty books he had in his mind began to rearrange and make sense in his mind.

…

The sun was centered high in the afternoon. He slowly rowed back to the East Garden.

The East Garden had a two-mile radius, separated by ornamental flower beds. Every one of these parterres consisted of a one-of-a-kind rare flower, filling the entire garden with flowery scents.

There was only one small courtyard on the island. Chu Li pushed the door, and as he walked into the small courtyard, a cooling breeze blew towards him. The large tree covering more than half the yard made the environment cooler.

Chu Li went into the east room and took out the Emerald Tipped Sword and began to slash around with the sword. As he it around slowly, it seemed like a Tai Chi sword and before long, he had already begun to sweat bullets. His forehead even began to shine with the amount of sweat that was produced.

Chu Li had a photographic memory. He only needed to read a book once to remember every detail within it. The Delusion Split he learned from the training palace was indeed powerful, but it took up a lot of energy.

“Oho?” A strong young man, with a rounded face and small eyes, walked out from the main hall.

He moved as if he was a large black bear, stretching himself as he yawned two times in a row, before he muttered, “Brother, back this early?”

Chu Li replied softly, “Mmhmm.”

Lee Yue. A rank nine Scribe. He was in charge of the East Garden along with Chu Li and personally enjoyed eating. To top it off, he had the cooking skills to back it up. Although his fighting ability was no laughing matter, he would rather be a Scribe. He dared not to challenge the Ranking Tower.

The Scribes and Protectors of the Public House were both separated into nine different ranks, but both jobs had an almost tenfold difference in pay.

The Scribes were paid very little, and even ranking up took a considerable amount of time. It took roughly three years to achieve Rank Nine, eighteen years for Rank Eight, twenty years for Rank Seven, forty years for Rank Six, and seventy years for Rank Five.

For Protectors to climb in their rankings, they merely needed to strengthen their fighting skills and challenge the Ranking Tower. Passing a level was considered as successfully climbing a rank.

Their pay was high, and they had missions outside the Public House. Their lives were infinitely more exciting than those of the Scribes, who only stayed in the Public House to serve their patrons. Even those with barely any skill would try to score a post as a Protector.

Lee Yue stretched out his neck and legs as cracking sounds rang out in the yard. He swung his fists right after, in order to train his fist.

“Brother! Stop with your sword training, and come train with me!” Lee Yue exclaimed, unable to keep his mouth shut.

Chu Li stayed silent.

“There’s no reason for you to practice sword skills! You can’t practice without your inner strength anyway, so just train your fists with me!”

“Shut up already!” Chu Li screamed, with sweat all over his forehead.

In this world, everyone began learning martial arts at a very young age,

Starting from the age of eight, and all the way to eighteen. While children were still maturing, it was seen as important for them to build their foundation, so they could train their meridians.

If they did not undergo training by the age of eighteen, their meridians would stiffen. At that point, even learning a random heart technique would be considered a miracle. One would have to spend a lot more time on training to attain the same level of efficacy.

Before he hit eighteen, Chu Li grew up in the Autumn Temple, training with the Wisdom Root Scripture. Thus he missed out on the opportunity to train his meridians.

However, despite not having prior training, his vitality was more than double compared to that of a commoner, as his innate energy was completely out of the ordinary.

Chu Li was also a particle physicist in his past life, making his general knowledge of the world immensely comprehensive.

The two factors combined were the reason he successfully mastered the scripture and completed the Omniscient Mirror.

With the incredible level of his energy, he was able to train for extended periods of time compared to normal commoners. Five years was more than enough for Chu Li to build a stable foundation for his Minute Pulse Cleansing technique.

“Haha..! You can’t even kill a chicken with that sword of yours. Why are you still training?”

Chu Li withdrew from his practice and asked, “Do you want to compete?”

Exhausted and panting, Chu Li was only able to stabilize himself by using the sword as leverage. The Delusion Split had way too high of an energy cost.