The “Martial Scripture” stated this, “Inches matter when it comes to fist art, and there exists heaven and earth within the inches.”
To put it in simpler terms, it was saying that the essence of fist art lay in mastering the inches. For a practitioner of the fist arts, a couple inches could mean the difference between victory and defeat, life and death. Hence, there existed a world of difference between those who mastered them, and those who did not.
When it came to fist arts, Ye Qing had never studied under a reputable master. Gu Suitang had corrected some of his mistakes and saved him some pain, but he more or less had to figure it out all by himself. As a result, his fists were less profound than they could have been, but also more compatible with nature and free. Incomplete it might be, his fists were slowly beginning to grasp the inches and return to its primal state.
Throughout his training, Ye Qing had not employed a sliver of astral qi. It was all strength and body, fist force and fist intent alone.
It was at this moment Ye Qing heard a uniform chorus of footsteps from the depths of the black windstorm. Specifically, it sounded like countless horse hooves cantering across the yellow sand.
When he instinctively turned to look, he saw a massive group of cavalrymen riding out of the black windstorm. They were all wearing a black armor and a ghost-faced mask and riding a black horse.
He counted only a thousand or so cavalrymen, but they looked scarier than even the black windstorm. It was a kind of darkness that was blacker and deeper than even the darkest night.
“The Blackwind Army?!” Ye Qing murmured. He had no doubt that the one thousand cavalrymen before him was none other than the legendary Anomaly, the Blackwind Army.
Their formation looked flawless and uniform in movement. It was as if they were a single entity.
Neither man nor horse made a single sound as they charged. The only sound that could be heard was the rumbling horse hooves that reminded Ye Qing of a roaring river.
They looked both formidable and unstoppable. Despite numbering only a thousand, Ye Qing sensed greater destructive power and shock from them than a charge from ten thousand ordinary cavalrymen, maybe even tens of thousands.
Like an avalanche or a tsunami, the charge could not be stopped, only weathered. But was that really possible? Could anyone really survive a black storm that looked like it could crush anything and everything in its path?
“When the black wind emerges, heaven and earth plunge into darkness.” This was the description the ancient states had used to describe the Blackwind Army, and it was definitely not an exaggeration.
The Blackwind Army had built their reputation atop a tall, tall mountain of corpses. Back then, the ancient states, the powerful clans and the aristocratic families and more—no one could speak of the Blackwind Army without flinching. Today, the Blackwind Army was dead and transformed into a mindless Anomaly, but the unnatural bloodthirst and desire for destruction imprinted within every soldier’s heart still burned as brightly as before. If anything, it was madder and scarier than it was before.
When the one thousand cavalrymen were about sixty meters away from Ye Qing, a banner slowly unfurled above their heads.
The banner was square-shaped and pitch black in color. A black dragon surrounded by wisps of black wind were sewn to its fabric. Together, they formed the word “Wind”.
This was the Blackwind Army’s banner, the Blackwind Banner.
The moment the Blackwind Banner appeared, the black wind and yellow sand gathered behind their backs and transformed into a sand wave that was easily over a hundred meters tall, maybe even two hundred[1].
Moreover, the sand wave grew fiercer, louder, and scarier for every three meters the Blackwind Army moved.
“‘None can harm me while the black wind watches over me’. I can see how you earned your reputation, Blackwind Army. Come then! Let’s see if the so-called untouchable Blackwind Army can take a punch from me!”
Despite the threat he was facing, Ye Qing did not try to swerve out of the way or run. Overflowing with fighting spirit and his right arm hanging loosely beside his ribs, he actually countercharged the Blackwind Army!
As he ran, Ye Qing slowly raised his right arm. Every time it moved an inch, his aura would grow thicker, and his fist intent would grow stronger.
When his fist was parallel to the ground, his fist intent towered higher than even the nine heavens.
Ye Qing opened his mouth and let out a mighty shout. At the same time, he thrust his fist forward and vented all of his fist intent at the incoming cavalrymen.
What happened next could only be described as the heavenly lightning flirting with the earthly fire—explosive. The ground within a hundred meter radius of Ye Qing abruptly exploded and flung sand everywhere, and the sand wave behind the Blackwind Army scattered in an instant.
The one thousand cavalrymen themselves were flung all over the place. The unstoppable charge… had been stopped.
Ye Qing stood tall and proud. His fist was bleeding, and his breathing was short and rapid.
“Hahaha… now this is what I call a clash!”
He was laughing though. How could he not, when he had stopped a one-thousand-man-strong charge in one punch?
As he laughed, his breathing quickly returned to normal. He then backhanded a Blackwind cavalryman who tried to sneak up on him and flung both men and horse into the sky. A couple of Blackwind cavalrymen who were unlucky enough to exist in the way of his force also crumbled into a pile of sand.
After that, Ye Qing began slaughtering the remaining Blackwind cavalrymen like weeds. Trusting in his powerful body to protect him, he charged, smashed, hammered, blocked or split any and all enemies in his way quickly, slowly, rapidly or evenly. It looked like there was no rhyme or reason behind his movement whatsoever, and yet it was profound in a way that could not be properly described with words. His punches were rough, basic, and outright barbaric at times, and yet they also felt perfectly natural. Wherever he went, the so-called unstoppable Blackwind cavalrymen were slaughtered as easily as children. No one was a match for him.
Just a few breaths later, the one thousand cavalrymen had all dissolved into sand.
Ye Qing did not stop despite having annihilated the Blackwind Army. He continued to run and punch as he pleased.
As he moved, his hands matched perfectly with his legs, his elbows with his knees, and his shoulders with his hips.
As he thought, his qi matched perfectly with his strength, his intent with his qi, and his heart with his intent.
On the outside, his movement was so smooth and natural that it resembled nature itself. On the inside, he too achieved flawless harmony in mind and spirit.
There was a quote in “Martial Scripture” that went something : “When one’s inside and outside are compatible, and when their art and self are as one, then their fists may reach even the gods.”
When a warrior’s fists had “reached the gods”, and their techniques had become a Dao, they were considered to have mastered the fists. All who mastered the fists were known as “great experts” or “grandmasters”, a.k.a master warriors who were now qualified to start a sect of their own.
Of course, the average fist master or great martial expert had usually studied and honed their art tirelessly for decades. After all, it was no easy feat to “mold ten thousand minor arts into one major art, transform the effort of a thousand autumns into one magnum opus, regain their natural state, and evolve their techniques into Dao”, and it definitely wasn’t something that could be achieved in a short time.
Ye Qing might be extraordinarily gifted in the ways of the fist, but even he could not “reach god” or “evolve his techniques into Dao” in such a short time. In order to reach that level, one must be knowledgeable, experienced and talented in all the ways that mattered. If the warrior was lacking in even one of these qualities, then he would not be able to reach that level.
Ye Qing still had a long way to go.
The perfection that possessed Ye Qing earlier was but a moment of inspiration; a eureka moment. Thanks to it, he was able to combine the two techniques he learned from Gu Suitang, “Divide” and “Break Through”; the “Chaos Demon Ape Fist” from the “Chaos Demon Ape Body Tempering Sutra”, and everything else into one. In other words, he was no longer bound to the conventions of the technique. For example, he could throw a straight punch and swing an elbow at the enemy, and it could be “Break Through”, the “Chaos Demon Ape Fist”, or anything else he felt like at the time.
While he still had a long way to go before he could call himself a master of the fists, the moment of inspiration had opened a door for him. So long as he continued to work tirelessly toward his goal, it was only a matter of time before he reached it.
Slowly, Ye Qing’s fists grew faster, and his techniques simpler. There were no complex techniques or profound intent. There was only the simple and unadorned, the natural, and the heart. Despite not conforming to the conventions he was taught, every move he executed was perfect, smooth, flawless, and coming from the heart.
Suddenly, the young man withdrew his fists and stood still. The storm had finally reached its end, and rays of sunlight were shining down on the young man. It reflected off of him and gave him the appearance of a sun.
A hot, white sun hung high in the nine heavens.
And a young man shone as bright as the sun on the ground.
“‘Walk a hundred roads, witness a thousand red dust, and hold mountains and river in your heart. Only then may you attain martial perfection’. Looks like the ancients were true after all.”
Ye Qing stretched his arms wide and stared directly at the sun[2], a clear, bright smile spread across his face. It looked like he was giving the world a hug.
Giggle had emerged from the Dragon Nursing Nest as well. Still carrying the bottle on its head, it emulated Ye Qing and opened its arms wide to hug the world.
Now more than ever, Ye Qing was certain that his decision to travel was right. In less than three weeks, he had run into a pure-hearted Stranger and advanced another small step in the way of the fist. Now that his understanding and grasp of fist arts was measurably greater than before, his future had also become brighter and wider. This alone was worth the journey, and he hadn’t even set foot in the Death Sea yet!
“Don’t you think so, Giggle?” Ye Qing asked while turning to glance at the little fellow. In response, it giggled so loudly that the porcelain bottle on its head wobbled unsteadily.
Feeling even better after listening to Giggle’s giggle, Ye Qing lay down on his back, closed his eyes, and rested.
1. Every time you see something , it’s because the author used “数十丈” and that applies to every number between 20~99 times 3.3. It’s most likely why you were like, “How can this character move 60 meters in an instant but can’t react to this in time blah blah blah” sometimes. ☜
2. Do NOT do this you’re not a cultivator. Seems obvious but there are people who put metal in microwaves “because they saw it in a Youtube video” too, so SERIOUSLY, DON’T EMULATE THIS. ☜