Important Update: New website and chapters at imreallyavillain.ml. (I've recently run into issues with the hosting provider I am using (000webhost - avoid!) so I'm migrating everything yet again. Sigh. Sorry for the inconvenience. Should be up and running in a few days).
Not long after Xu Zimo left, and a light whisper suddenly sounded out from the corner.
"Did this little fellow discover me? It can't be!"
On his way out, Xu Zimo had taken a yellow-level chakra technique from the first floor of the pavilion.
Central Yuan Continent's martial and chakra techniques were divided into eight levels.
Universe, eon, star, planet, heaven, earth, profound, yellow!
Universe was the highest level and yellow was the lowest.
Xu Zimo Na's chakra technique was called the Sword-Drawing Technique.
It was a very simple chakra technique that consisted of only one move — to draw the sword!
It was simple and brutal. The sword would be drawn, and the head would drop.
If your horse was fast enough, even an Immortal Emperor couldn’t catch you!
If you drew your sword fast enough, even an Immortal Emperor’s head could be chopped off!
After Xu Zimo left the pavilion, he began to communicate with the bead inside his body, using the divine chakra-rank power he had stored inside to begin tempering his body.
His body’s five viscera and six bowels as well as his qi meridians and chakras all strengthened at a rate visible to the naked eye.
From time to time, Xu Zimo could hear his body crackling.
His rank also began to soar.
The first stage of the mortal chakra rank.
The second stage.
...........
The ninth stage of the mortal chakra rank.
His cultivation rose all the way up to the ninth stage of the mortal rank and stopped just before breaking through the first chakra gate.
Xu Zimo wasn't in a hurry to cross over into the spirit chakra rank, and this type of instantaneous growth would make his cultivation foundation a little unstable.
Every skyscraper needed a strong foundation — Xu Zimo decided to refine his cultivation for a while before advancing.
Within True Martial Saint Sect, there was a gravity tower dedicated to disciples honing their physique.
It was ten stories high, where the gravity increased about tenfold for each story.
Xu Zimo was halfway to the gravity tower when he was suddenly stopped.
"Brother Zimo, wait for me!" Not far away, a short, fat man came running over, panting.
He had short hair, a lollipop in his mouth, and saliva hanging out of the corner of his mouth.
"Brother Zimo, why are you here? I’ve been looking for you all day," he asked, as he skillfully wiped his mouth and licked the lollipop with satisfaction.
"Ruhu. It's been a long time." As Xu Zimo greeted the teenager in front of him, he felt a sense of nostalgia.
The little fat man, whose full name was Lin Ruhu, was the grandson of the Third Elder of the True Martial Saint Sect, and a scoundrel friend of his whom he grew up with, causing trouble everywhere.
Since childhood, Lin Ruhu was his follower, and always obeyed Xu Zimo’s words.
In his previous life, Lin Ruhu had always stood behind him, but in reality, his cultivation talent hadn’t been lesser than Xu Zimo's at all — it might have been even greater.
At the time, Xu Zimo had thought that it was his unique and hegemonic aura, as well as his heavenly personal charm, that captivated Lin Ruhu and made him worship himself.
Until that battle. That battle when, at the critical moment, Lin Ruhu had used his body to block Chu Yang’s sword.
He had held the youth in his arms, his body covered red with blood, and cried, "Why! Why?"
It was only then that the dying youth had spoken the truth and confessed to Xu Zimo why he followed him.
When they had been ten years old, they had sneaked out of the clan to play, but unfortunately came across a hanging-eyed white tiger.
At that time, he had shielded Lin Ruhu behind him and allowed him to flee.
Lin Ruhu had asked him, "Why did you protect me?"
Xu Zimo could have easily left him alone and run away.
At the time, Xu Zimo had just casually replied, "Because we are brothers, I am your big brother and you are the little brother.
As the little brother, you should be at the back. As the big brother, I naturally must protect you!"
At that moment, although Xu Zimo didn’t know it himself, this slightly fat teenager had sworn to himself.
"Just like you protected me, I will always guard from behind you! Even if the sun and moon turn over, and the blue seas turn into mulberry fields."
Xu Zimo sighed. "True enough. Love between brothers is deeper than the love between men and women.”
Hearing Xu Zimo's words, Lin Ruhu felt a bit puzzled. ''What's been a long time? Didn't we just meet yesterday?"
"Nothing, nothing." Xu Zimo smiled and shook his head. "I'm headed to the gravity tower to cultivate. Do you want to join me?"
Lin Ruhu was about the same age as Xu Zimo — he, too, was at the age to begin cultivating.
"Sure." Lin Ruhu nodded innocently. As long as Xu Zimo asked him to do something, he would hardly refuse.
...........
As the two walked towards the gravity tower, Xu Zimo thoughtfully looked at Lin Ruhu.
Saliva hung from his mouth, and he gave the lollipop a suck every now and then.
He reminded, "Ruhu, you should eat less lollipops, wipe your mouth and pay attention to your image."
"What's wrong with this image of me?" Lin Ruhu asked, confused.
Xu Zimo thought a little more. Teenagers, at this age, would usually have just started getting interested in the opposite sex and would be concerned about how girls their age viewed them.
He tried to persuade him in this direction. "You should have someone you fancy. How can she like you when you’re like this? Listen to my words. Clean yourself up a little bit, and you just might be able to get the girl's heart."
"Why should I have her heart?" Lin Ruhu asked, still confused.
"Affection requires two people — two hearts," Xu Zimo replied.
"No way." Lin Ruhu shook his head, then said in confusion, "If she doesn't want to be with me, I'll just force her to."
"A forcibly twisted melon is not sweet," said Xu Zimo, "and your grandfather will force you into confinement."
"A twisted melon may not be sweet, but it quenches your thirst," Lin Ruhu said seriously. "If she doesn't want to be with me, I'll still force her, and then my grandfather will put me in confinement.
“And when I get out of confinement, I'll continue to force her, even if I end up getting killed by my grandfather.
“What's there to talk about liking someone, when I don’t even have the courage to go to prison and die for her?”
"Lying on the grass and wasting your time — you're a genius, right?" Xu Zimo stopped in his tracks, his hair flying messily in the wind.
"Why is it that such nonsense somehow makes sense? Why can’t I refute it?" [1]
...........
The two soon arrived at the gravity tower. It was oval-shaped and looked somewhat similar to a pagoda.
The two entered and noticed that there were already many disciples cultivating inside.
Gravity tower wasn’t free to use. Disciples needed to complete tasks to earn contribution points, and then they could consume these contribution points in exchange for time spent cultivating in the tower.
With Xu Zimo and Lin Ruhu's status, however, they had no shortage of minor things like contribution points.
The first floor of the gravity tower had twice the normal gravity, and, as you went up, it would increase by about a factor of ten.
[1] There definitely is some Chinese idiom thing going on here that I can’t understand. From what I know, “lying on the grass” is a synonym for wasting time, so I tried incorporating that.
How was the chapter? Let me know in the comments below!Important Update: New website and chapters at imreallyavillain.ml. (I've recently run into issues with the hosting provider I am using (000webhost - avoid!) so I'm migrating everything yet again. Sigh. Sorry for the inconvenience. Should be up and running in a few days).