The Su Family Young Master's courtyard was unusually quiet. Su Yang stood beneath the ancient pine tree at the centre of the training ground, his feet firmly planted upon the earth while his body maintained an extremely strange posture. His legs were bent slightly, his waist remained straight, and his arms stretched outward before slowly curving inward as though he were embracing an invisible dragon.
This was the Dragon Stance, one of the most difficult foundational stances within the Su Family's external martial arts inheritance. Unlike ordinary standing exercises, the Dragon Stance required the practitioner to simultaneously control his muscles, tendons, bones and Qi-blood while maintaining a delicate balance between tension and relaxation. For most practitioners, maintaining the posture for half an hour was already extremely difficult.
Su Yang had been standing there for nearly two hours.
His muscles bulged beneath his clothes while veins appeared across his forehead and neck. Sweat continuously rolled down his face before dripping onto the ground, yet he refused to move. His breathing remained slow and controlled as he continuously guided the raging Qi-blood within his body through every part of his physique.
Every circulation caused his muscles to tremble slightly.
Every tremor brought another wave of pain.
Yet Su Yang endured it silently.
The image of the receiving hall appeared within his mind once again.
Liu Ruyan's calm expression.
Han Yu's mocking smile.
The countless disciples of the Jade Sword Palace looking at him as though he were nothing more than a cripple.
Even the expressions of pity from the surrounding Su Family guards remained deeply engraved within his memory.
Su Yang's fingers slowly tightened.
"Five years."
His eyes gradually became sharper.
"I only need five years."
His posture suddenly changed.
His waist twisted while his shoulders sank, causing his entire body to resemble a coiled dragon preparing to strike. The Qi-blood within his body surged violently, travelling through his muscles before converging toward his spine.
Boom!
Su Yang's body trembled.
The Dragon Stance had reached its most difficult stage.
This was precisely why the technique was considered one of the Su Family's hardest external martial arts foundations. It didn't merely strengthen the muscles. It forced the practitioner to coordinate every part of the body while gradually allowing Qi-blood to penetrate deeper into the flesh.
With sufficient accumulation, the process could eventually assist the practitioner in breaking through the various stages of external body cultivation.
Su Yang gritted his teeth and continued.
His original plan had been relatively simple. He would steadily temper his body, accumulate enough Qi-blood and eventually reach the Marrow Cleansing Realm. Once his marrow pathways were sufficiently strengthened, he could begin condensing True Force through the pathways connected to his spine.
That plan had been reasonable.
It had also been safe.
Now it was no longer enough.
Liu Ruyan had already reached the Major Accomplishment of the True Essence Realm. Based on her current talent and the resources provided by the Jade Sword Palace, reaching the Xuan Gang Realm within five years was entirely possible.
Even if she failed to enter the Human Martial List's top fifty, she would still possess frightening strength.
Han Yu was even more terrifying.
Rank forty-two on the Human Martial List.
An early Xuan Gang expert before the age of thirty.
Su Yang understood what that represented.
The Human Martial List wasn't something ordinary martial artists could enter simply through luck. The strongest fifty positions were almost always occupied by monsters supported by powerful sects, ancient families or extraordinary inheritances.
Many of those geniuses had begun cultivating from the age of nine or even earlier. They possessed powerful masters, abundant resources and access to cultivation methods that ordinary martial artists could only dream of.
Compared to them, Su Yang's progress appeared almost laughable.
Yet he didn't feel despair.
Instead, a strange calm gradually settled within him.
He had already lived with the word cripple for years.
He had already experienced countless people looking down upon him.
Another five years of pressure meant nothing.
"If five years isn't enough..."
His eyes flashed with determination.
"Then I'll make every day worth several years."
His muscles suddenly contracted.
The Dragon Stance reached its limit.
Crack!
A faint cracking sound echoed through his body as his bones shifted beneath his flesh.
Su Yang immediately released the posture and staggered backward several steps. His breathing became rough while sweat covered his entire body.
He wiped his forehead and looked toward the sky.
The sun had already moved considerably from its original position.
He had spent another entire morning cultivating.
Yet instead of resting, Su Yang turned toward the weapon rack and picked up a heavy iron sword.
His body was already exhausted, but his eyes remained determined.
Five years.
That was his promise.
And he intended to keep it.
----‐---------
That night, Su Yang sat alone inside his room with the heavy iron sword resting beside him. His body was exhausted from the day's training, yet his mind remained restless. He had cultivated the Dragon Stance until his muscles were almost numb, practiced several fist techniques until his arms trembled and repeated the basic movements of his sword physique cultivation until his body could barely move.
Still, the humiliation from several weeks ago remained impossible to forget.
Su Yang slowly lowered his head.
Around his neck hung a simple jade ring attached to a thin black cord. It was an old object that had belonged to his mother, and because it possessed no obvious Spiritual Qi or unusual fluctuations, everyone within the Su Family had always treated it as an ordinary heirloom.
Su Yang had worn it since childhood.
He rarely paid attention to it.
Tonight, however, his fingers unconsciously wrapped around the jade ring.
"Han Yu."
His grip tightened.
"Rank forty-two."
His expression became complicated.
"Liu Ruyan."
He remembered the moment she had accepted the five-year challenge. There hadn't been any hatred in her eyes. Somehow, that made it worse. She hadn't feared him.
She hadn't even considered him a genuine threat.
To her, the five-year appointment was merely a polite way to end the engagement without completely humiliating the Su Family.
Su Yang slowly clenched his fist.
"Do you really think I'm destined to remain a cripple?"
His Qi-blood began stirring within his body.
His emotions caused his breathing to become heavier, and the faint Internal Energy he had painstakingly accumulated through the Qi Eating Method began circulating unconsciously.
His grip tightened around the jade ring.
A sharp pain suddenly appeared in his finger.
"Hiss!"
Su Yang instinctively loosened his hand.
A tiny cut had appeared across his finger.
A single drop of blood slowly emerged before landing directly upon the jade ring.
Nothing happened at first.
Su Yang frowned and reached toward the wound with his other hand.
Then the jade ring trembled.
His expression froze.
A faint crimson glow appeared across its surface.
"What?"
He stared at it in disbelief.
The blood that had landed upon the jade ring slowly disappeared as though absorbed by the jade itself.
At the same time, the Qi-blood within his body suddenly surged violently.
The jade ring seemed to respond to it.
A strange warmth spread from his palm toward his arm before travelling directly into his chest.
Su Yang's pupils contracted.
The ring was heating up.
Not gradually.
Rapidly.
Within only several breaths, the originally cold jade became almost scorching.
"What's happening?"
Su Yang immediately attempted to pull it away.
The black cord snapped.
The jade ring fell into his palm.
Instead of becoming cooler, however, the crimson light became even brighter.
Countless extremely fine patterns began appearing across its surface. They were so ancient and complicated that Su Yang couldn't understand even a single one.
The room suddenly became silent.
Then a strange fluctuation erupted from the jade ring.
Boom!
Su Yang's entire body trembled.
His Qi-blood was pulled toward the jade ring as though an invisible force had suddenly appeared within it.
He instinctively tried to resist, but the connection had already formed.
His Qi-blood entered the jade ring in a thin stream.
Instead of being devoured, however, it seemed to activate something dormant inside.
The crimson light gradually transformed into a faint golden radiance.
The jade ring floated above his palm.
Su Yang's eyes widened.
"A spatial treasure?"
He had seen similar objects within the Su Family's collection, although genuine spatial treasures were extraordinarily rare.
But this wasn't merely a simple storage artifact.
The moment his consciousness touched the jade ring, an enormous space suddenly appeared within his mind.
It was like a vast cave stretching endlessly into darkness.
Yet the interior wasn't empty.
Ancient stone walls surrounded the space while mysterious carvings covered every surface.
Su Yang's breathing stopped.
Four enormous symbols appeared upon the walls.
The Azure Dragon occupied the eastern wall.
The White Tiger stood upon the western side.
The Vermilion Bird spread its wings across the southern wall.
The Black Tortoise rested upon the northern wall.
Above them were four seasonal scenes.
Spring.
Summer.
Autumn.
Winter.
The four symbols and four seasons seemed connected through a mysterious cycle, while countless ancient characters flowed between them.
Su Yang remained completely motionless.
He didn't understand what he had discovered.
He only knew that the object he had worn around his neck for more than a decade was far more extraordinary than anyone within the Su Family had ever imagined.
His consciousness slowly moved deeper into the spatial cave.
At the centre of the ancient chamber floated several jade slips.
One was surrounded by faint sword intent.
Another carried an aura that made his blood instinctively tremble.
Several more were sealed beneath layers of restrictions that he couldn't even begin to understand.
Su Yang cautiously approached the first jade slip.
The moment his consciousness touched it, two ancient characters appeared within his mind.
"Four Seasons."
His breathing became heavier.
Another jade slip slowly floated toward him.
This one carried the faint image of four divine beasts.
Su Yang stared at it for several breaths before his heart began beating faster.
He didn't know what these inheritances represented.
He didn't know who had left them behind.
He didn't know why the jade ring had chosen to reveal itself to him tonight.
But for the first time in his life...
Su Yang felt as though the heavens had finally answered him.