Chapter Four: At Last, the Door to a New World Opens

Chapter 4: At Last, the Door to a New World Opens

By the time the sun was high in the sky, the morning lessons at Mount Hua had concluded.

“Congratulations, Senior Brother, on finally mastering the basics! Your year of hard work has paid off.” Lu Dayou was the first to rush up to Zheng Jian, grinning from ear to ear. Now seventh in the sect’s rankings, Lu Dayou was as lively and energetic as ever, much like his depiction in the original novel, and shared a close friendship with Zheng Jian.

Zheng Jian waved him off, fully aware of his own shortcomings. Although he bore the title of eldest disciple, he was far from being among the top martial artists in the sect. Lao Denuo, who had joined with prior skills, and his second junior brother Linghu Chong were both somewhat ahead of him. Now, having finally stepped into the realm of internal energy cultivation, at least he wasn’t dead last anymore—a small consolation for the vast army of transmigrators.

“Seventh Brother, you’d better work harder too, or Little Junior Sister will surpass you!” Zheng Jian teased.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough. Scatter, all of you. This is a place of peace—what sort of conduct is this, making such a racket?” The moment Master Yue spoke, the group dispersed like startled birds.

Just as Zheng Jian was about to leave, Master Yue called after him, “Zheng Jian, stay behind.”

Zheng Jian turned and stood respectfully. “Master, what are your instructions?”

Master Yue’s expression softened. “Zheng Jian, when your mistress and I first brought you up the mountain, you became the lead disciple of this generation at Mount Hua. Yet you struggled for so long to grasp internal strength, causing me no small amount of worry. But now, you have finally taken that crucial first step. From here on, you must train diligently and not slacken. I know you have always wanted to learn swordsmanship, but internal energy is the foundation of swordplay. Without it, sword techniques are like a tree without roots. That’s why I have withheld them from you until now. But today, I will teach you the sword techniques of Mount Hua!”

Zheng Jian was overjoyed. In truth, he cared little for the so-called debate between energy and swordsmanship, influenced as he was by the legendary “Nine Swords of Dugu.” He had long yearned to learn the way of the sword. Yet Master Yue, adhering to the philosophy of using internal energy to guide the sword, had refused to teach him until he succeeded in cultivating his inner strength. Now that his master had relented, how could Zheng Jian not be delighted?

“Yes, thank you, Master!” Zheng Jian was elated, already picturing himself roaming the martial world, sword in hand.

Seeing his expression, Master Yue began to doubt whether he had overestimated this boy. Yet, having spoken, he could only pinch his nose and let the matter rest.

…

On the practice grounds, Master Yue stood with a steel-blue sword, his expression solemn as he spoke in a clear voice, “Zheng Jian, today I will impart to you the nine forms of Mount Hua’s sword technique: ‘White Clouds Emerge from the Ravine,’ ‘A Phoenix Comes in Glory,’ ‘Heaven and Earth Inverted,’ ‘White Rainbow Piercing the Sun,’ ‘Green Pines Greet the Guest,’ ‘Golden Wild Goose Soars Across the Sky,’ ‘Boundless Falling Leaves,’ ‘Distant Green Mountains,’ and ‘Ancient Cypress Stand Tall.’ Remember, these must never be shared with outsiders. If you do, I will not forgive you!”

Zheng Jian readily agreed. He knew that besides these nine forms, there was one unparalleled move, the “Ning Clan’s Peerless Sword,” but this was a secret never revealed by Mistress Ning Zhongze, and rarely seen. For now, however, these nine forms were more than enough for him to master.

A flash of purple energy appeared on Master Yue’s face as he gathered the power of “Purple Mist.” Then, with a sweep of his body, the sword forms began.

“The first form: White Clouds Emerge from the Ravine!”

In Zheng Jian’s eyes, Master Yue seemed to leap into the air, sword extended, bursting into a dazzling flash of light. As Master Yue moved, the sword forms flowed one after another, filling the practice grounds with an intense, murderous aura.

“Whoa, this is incredible!” Zheng Jian stared unblinkingly at Master Yue, doing his best to memorize the forms.

At first, he hadn’t held much hope for the Mount Hua sword technique, for compared to the countless exquisite sword forms in the original novel, this set seemed all too ordinary—except for the final move, nothing about it seemed particularly profound.

Yet in Master Yue’s hands, the power of these techniques nearly blinded Zheng Jian. “So, the philosophy of the Energy School isn’t wrong after all. With deep internal strength, even ordinary sword forms can become formidable.”

“The second form…”

…

After a while, Master Yue sheathed his sword, the purple glow fading from his face. His gaze fell on Zheng Jian. “How much have you memorized?”

Zheng Jian’s excitement was obvious, but when questioned, he froze. He’d been so caught up in admiring Master Yue’s prowess that, looking back, he’d only managed to remember about half.

Master Yue could see that Zheng Jian had not memorized much. With a sigh, he said, “I’ll demonstrate it once more, more slowly this time. If you still can’t memorize it… then you might as well give up!”

Zheng Jian could only groan inwardly. In his previous life, teachers would painstakingly explain knowledge over and over again. Here, to learn a sword technique, you got one demonstration, and remembering half was already impressive—or so he thought. But in Master Yue’s eyes, it wasn’t even a passing grade.

Just how extraordinary were those legendary prodigies with photographic memories?

Determined not to slack off, Zheng Jian followed Master Yue move for move. After all, this was his first step toward becoming a true young hero.

…

All day, Zheng Jian practiced the sword. His diligence today reminded him of when he first arrived at Mount Hua.

By dusk, he was dragging his exhausted body back.

Aching back, sore waist, cramping legs—this was Zheng Jian’s reality at the moment. He felt utterly drained.

“Senior Brother, greetings!” He ran into Lao Denuo, who, although already middle-aged, had joined Mount Hua later and thus greeted Zheng Jian respectfully.

“Greetings? What’s so good about me?” Zheng Jian retorted grumpily. He knew this guy was a schemer and usually ignored him. Now, weary to the bone, he had even less patience for him.

Lao Denuo’s face stiffened, and he stood frozen in place.

At that moment, in Zheng Jian’s mind, the system that had lain dormant all day suddenly sprang to life. “Resentment from Lao Denuo: +10.”

Zheng Jian was startled, then overjoyed. “So this is how the system works?”

System: “Resentment System Activated!”

Zheng Jian felt as if the door to a new world had swung open before him. Overwhelmed with excitement, he ignored the disconcerted Lao Denuo, forgot his fatigue and soreness, and hurried straight to his room, feeling that he was finally about to soar.

Back in his room, Zheng Jian locked the door, leaned against it, and calmed his racing heart before carefully examining the new negative emotion points panel in his mind.

Where once the system panel was empty, several new options had appeared: Shop, Lottery Wheel, and Resentment Income.

With a flutter of excitement, he opened the shop and saw only three items available; the rest were greyed out and unreadable.

“Inner Strength Fruit, price: 500.”

“Mastery of Five Mountains Sword Technique, price: 1000.”

“Purple Mist Skill, price: 3000.”

Then Zheng Jian looked at his resentment balance: 10.

In that instant, Zheng Jian understood everything!

“So, my true calling is to be the Great Demon King Lü?” He was well aware of Lü the Demon King, the most infuriating troll on the internet in his past life. Now he realized that his own resentment system functioned much the same!

…

(End of Chapter)