"Boss." A burly Armed Escort, with arms nearly as thick as Leo Young's calves, walked up to him and said politely, "The brothers have been traveling for half a day and are all tired. Let's rest for a while. What do you think?"
Leo Young nodded slightly. "Head Escort Liang, you can make the decision."
Head Escort Liang gave a slight nod and immediately called out. The Armed Escorts dispersed, but not without leaving two men behind to stand guard.
On closer inspection, this team of escorts was surprisingly not carrying any cargo. They were escorting only one person: Leo Young. A group of more than ten protecting a single individual—such a lineup could hardly be described as luxurious; it was an outright waste.
Outlaws of the greenwood weren't brain-dead maniacs who killed on sight. They wouldn't attack worthless targets, like poor scholars heading to the capital for exams. Unless they happened to run into someone with certain... proclivities, who would bother robbing them? In the end, killing them or letting them go would both just cause a whole mess of trouble. The same logic could be applied to Leo Young's situation... one could only say that the person who paid for the escort was truly thoughtful.
Although Head Escort Liang called Leo Young "Boss," it wasn't Leo Young who had hired him.
As the 'protagonist' of the first playthrough, Leo Young's backstory was quite clear. At only sixteen years old, he hailed from the noble Ling Clan (Note 1) of Hongzhou's Tianwu Prefecture. Since childhood, he had no interest in fighting and killing, so he never practiced martial arts. Instead, he was sent to study at the Qilin Cave Academy. Until some time ago, when the Ling Clan was suddenly attacked by an unbelievably powerful individual and annihilated. Out of a total of four hundred and seventy-one people in the main family, including servants, only thirteen escaped. The incident became a shocking, unparalleled tragedy that shook the imperial court.
What level of martial skill would it take to slaughter over four hundred people, allowing only thirteen to escape?!
Even killing four hundred pigs running wild wouldn't be an easy feat...
Several waves of martial artists and coroners came, hoping to find some clues from the wounds and the state of the bodies. But in the end, they could only come up with a single sentence.
—The assailant is skilled with a long saber, possesses immense strength, and has unfathomable power.
And that was it.
There was nothing to be done. Every master in the entire Ling Clan had been killed in a single strike, either beheaded or cut in half at the waist. There were no other signs of a struggle. In other words, no one had managed to even land a single counterattack...
The original protagonist, Leo Young, who was studying away from home, was utterly stunned. He immediately abandoned his literary pursuits for martial arts, wanting to avenge his family with his own hands... This was, of course, not a rational choice. Martial arts training benefits most from an early start. Failing to train in his younger years, trying to start now at the age of sixteen was truly a bit late.
Rather than practicing martial arts, it would have been better to find a way to earn an official title or to live in anonymity.
However, he was just a sixteen-year-old boy who had suffered such a calamity. Expecting him to think with absolute rationality was asking too much. Ultimately, it all served the game's plot.
When Leo Young transmigrated, the original body had already arrived at the residence of the Qin Clan, located near the Qilin Cave Academy. The Qin and Ling clans were old family friends. After learning of Leo Young's intentions, the head of the Qin Clan wrote a letter of recommendation for him, intending to introduce Leo Young into a martial arts sect.
This was the 'Choose Your Sect' part of the game's opening. Different sects had different storylines and martial arts systems. Of course, becoming a lone wanderer was also an option.
Leo Young, who had only seen the promotional material and had no walkthroughs, was completely in the dark. Naturally, he couldn't start as a lone wanderer. After some thought, he chose Zhenwu Mountain, a famous major sect in Shenzhou.
The reasons for this were quite simple.
Firstly, Zhenwu Mountain cultivated Daoist classics, and its techniques were balanced and moderate, which suited Leo Young's unique traits.
Secondly, Perfected Master Zhou of Zhenwu Mountain was still alive. He was an unparalleled master in Shenzhou, guaranteed to be in the top three and contending for the number two spot. Moreover, as the leader of Shenzhou's martial world, Zhenwu Mountain wouldn't shun Leo Young like a plague, as smaller sects might.
One could even say that protecting someone like Leo Young—with his innocent background and newfound fame—was an act of absolute political correctness for Zhenwu Mountain. It would help build the sect's image and demonstrate its sense of responsibility—assuming, of course, that their fists were hard enough.
And so, the head of the Qin Clan wrote a letter and hired a team of Armed Escorts to see Leo Young to Zhenwu Mountain to become a disciple. They had now been traveling for the better part of a month. After this short rest, they would reach Zhenwu Mountain by dusk.
Taking advantage of the leisure time, Leo Young found a clean spot, sat down cross-legged, and began to cultivate his internal energy.
Most of the Ling Clan's assets had been consumed in the towering flames. What little remained was mostly devoured by local jackals and wolves; it would never reach the hands of Leo Young, who was studying away from home.
In terms of game mechanics, unless a player spent achievement points at the start on special talents like 'Family Legacy' or 'Unspoken Secret,' they would inherit nothing.
The Qin Clan, mindful of their past friendship, treated Leo Young quite well.
Their cultivation techniques were never taught to outsiders. And although they could have used their connections to find some good techniques for him, Leo Young ultimately didn't waste the effort. Since he would be learning Zhenwu Mountain's techniques anyway, he simply chose the most basic 'Qi Nourishing Scripture' to build his foundation.
This technique could be called the greatest classic in the world. Since its appearance eight hundred years ago, it had been modified by various great masters into more than forty different versions. There was even a joke among the martial world that a warrior's cultivation prowess was judged by whether their modified version of the Qi Nourishing Scripture was worthy of being passed down, and how far and for how long it was transmitted.
The version Leo Young was currently practicing had been modified by Han Hao, the Grand Tutor of the former dynasty.
[Qi Nourishing Scripture (Han Hao)]
[The greatest classic of all time. It nourishes the body and trains the mind, greatly improving the practitioner's aptitude.]
[Cultivation Formula: 20x]
(x is Constitution)
[Internal Breath Lethality: D-Lower]
(Affects the power of Internal Breath)
[Internal Breath Solidity: C]
(Affects the rate at which the power of ranged attacks decreases)
[Internal Breath Explosiveness: D]
(Affects attack speed)
[Overall Physique Enhancement: D]
(Affects the practitioner's physique)
[Internal Art Special Effects: When switching techniques, it can be perfectly converted into any other type of Internal Breath. Cultivating this technique permanently increases Constitution. The closer the Constitution value is to 15, the faster the growth]
[Internal Art Breakthrough Effect: When breaking through to a new realm, if your Comprehension is less than or equal to 10/12/15/18/20, you gain 1 point of Comprehension.]
[Final Experience Multiplier: 2.93]
(Depends on the player's Comprehension, unique traits, martial arts knowledge, and technique mastery)
[Current Realm: Utterly Clueless (8317/20000)]
This technique had a rather subtle effect. It could increase the special attribute of Constitution, but the effect wasn't a case of 'the lower the better' or 'the higher the better.' Instead, it was most effective for those in the middle. This was easy to understand: constitution that was too poor was basically a lost cause, at least for this version of the Qi Nourishing Scripture. Constitution that was too good didn't need this technique to improve it. In the end, it was those who were neither here nor there who benefited the most.
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on Patreon. with 40 advanced chapters available on Patreon
patreon.com/Ms_Medusa