The Eternal Heart - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Great Progress

Translator: Alsey

Editor: Chrissy

“How is this possible?! Not only did the [Metal Plow Fist] breakthrough to its initial form, but it appears to be in a mature and very stable state on top of that…”

Chen Yu paused where he currently was as he found it incredulous.

Previously, his [Metal Plow Fist] was only at the basic form, so it would probably take him several months if he wanted to cultivate it to its initial form.

That wasn’t the only surprising thing about it.

After practicing for two hours, Chen Yu felt that the qi and blood in his body was increasingly rich and powerful. Not only that, he felt a kind of feeling that the pair was flowing and multiplying without end.

Normally.

When Chen Yu continuously practiced for an hour, his body would be drenched in sweat and he would feel exhausted. Now, after practicing for two consecutive hours, he actually felt very relaxed.

After his body was transformed, it seemed to not know how to be tired. With respect to the restoration of his physical strength, it was even more astonishing.

Two hours… four hours… six hours.

Whoosh! Boom, boom! Boom, boom, boom…

Chen Yu’s boxing technique was bold and unrestrained without a decrease in its might. He was also carefree and lacked inhibition.

One night passed by unconsciously.

Chen Yu trained the [Metal Plow Fist] diligently, practically through the whole night. Throughout the course of doing so, he only took a rest for a moment to go hunting for food when his stomach was hungry.

After one night.

Chen Yu’s [Metal Plow Fist] had a kind of satisfactory feeling, as though he was not too far away from the realm of perfection.

What was even more pleasantly surprising was…!

He had originally been stuck at the later-stages of the Body Tempering Realm for a long time. After a painstaking night of cultivation, his path of martial arts cultivation was faintly drawing near to the upper boundaries of the Body Tempering Realm.

“It really is difficult to imagine…”

Chen Yu inhaled deeply as he opened up his somewhat trembling hands.

At this moment, he distinctly felt his own improvement. There was a steady and powerful pulsation coming from his heart, which brought about an incomparable sense of conviction.

That “crystal heart” that had merged with Chen Yu not only transformed his physical constitution, but some mysterious changes had also happened to his body’s innate martial arts cultivation.

On top of that, Chen Yu had been stuck at his present stage for a long time. Under accumulated knowledge and slow deliverance in cultivating the [Metal Plow Fist], it could even be said that he had made rapid progress with this low-leveled martial arts boxing technique!

…

A marble-white hint of the dawn sky came into view over the horizon.

Chen Yu stopped practicing as he swiftly returned to the outer sect encampment with a look of excitement and joy on his face.

Based on the degree of progress today, it wouldn’t be a problem for him to ascend to the “Connective Meridian stage” in two months.

As long as he could breakthrough to the Connective Meridian stage within the time limit, Chen Yu could establish himself in the sect.

He even felt that after his body transformed, his own innate skill in the path of martial arts definitely wasn’t inferior to that of a few rumored monstrous geniuses in the sect.

At this moment.

Chen Yu’s stomach started rumbling with hunger again.

He couldn’t refrain from laughing bitterly. It was as though his food intake had increased more than tenfold after that mysterious crystal had merged with him.

Fortunately, the outer sect disciples of Yunyue Sect had a dining hall where everyone shared a meal together.

Early in the morning.

There were already some figures in the dining hall.

Chen Yu didn’t take so many things into consideration. He grabbed a large steamed bun in his left hand and half a pig trotter in his right as he gobbled big mouthfuls of food down.

He attracted the sidelong glances from other outer sect disciples with how he was wolfing down his food this way.

“When did this boy become a rice bucket…”

“I think Wang Lingyun oppressed him for too long, so he needs to vent once in a while.”

A few disciples poked fun at him in the dining hall.

The number of outer sect disciples in Yunyue Sect was normally limited to around three hundred individuals.

That was because of the elimination system detailed in the sect rules: those who did not breakthrough to the Connective Meridian Realm either within three years or when they fully turned sixteen would be expelled from the sect.

Therefore, many of these outer sect disciples knew Chen Yu, and also knew of the grudges between him and Wang Lingyun.

“Humph! I don’t know how Mu Xueqing fell for this rice bucket either.”

A horse-faced youth with an unpleasant look on his face walked over.

Chen Yu looked at him from the corner of his eye before his gaze shifted to the greasy pig trotters in his hands. He still felt that the latter was more attractive to him, so he didn’t take any note of the young man.

This manner of disregard irritated the horse-faced youth and sent his blood into a boil.

He was secretly bewildered. Chen Yu normally held restraining fear towards him, and didn’t dare to offend him easily.

“Tsk, tsk. This Feng De entered the sect just over a year ago, yet his cultivation has already reached the peak of the Body Tempering Realm. I never thought that he would be wooing ‘Mu Xueqing’ as well.”

The horse-faced youth was even more enraged when he heard the ruminating laughter coming from a few outer sect disciples nearby.

The horse-faced youth was called Feng De. He was considered to be a newcomer who had pretty good aptitudes amongst the outer sect disciples.

Bang!

A large pig trotter smashed in front of Chen Yu’s dining table. Meat fragments splattered everywhere and interrupted his meal.

Chen Yu frowned as he looked at the horse-faced youth with a provoked look on his face.

“Feng De, what is the meaning of this?”

Chen Yu was somewhat unhappy since his meal was interrupted.

But he felt somewhat helpless towards such provocative behavior as well. Using reason to educate him would definitely get him nowhere.

That was because Yunyue Sect encouraged competition between its disciples. As long as human lives and serious destruction weren’t involved, it wouldn’t be a great issue.

Similar kinds of provocations were extremely common. Chen Yu of the past endured it silently as much as possible.

“Feng De is only here to revere Martial Brother Chen’s mighty disposition. As expected, the person ‘Mu Xueqing’ took a fancy to is different. He’s so bold and unconstrained even when eating…”

Feng De clasped his hands together with a look of ridicule on his face.

“Hahaha…”

All of the disciples nearby burst out in a wave of laughter.

Chen Yu frowned slightly, but he didn’t know as he still nibbled on the food in his hands.

But Feng De had no plan to let Chen Yu get away with it just like that. The other party’s disrespectful attitude from before made him very unhappy.

He intended to take this opportunity to teach Chen Yu a lesson. Maybe it might make Mu Xueqing, the “fairy in his dreams”, remember his name.

As Mu Xueqing’s admirer, Feng De once attempted to hit on her, but he never would’ve thought that the other party didn’t even remember his name.

Feng De greatly lost face because of that even, and was sullen for a very long time.

Now that he had run into Chen Yu, he was fairly distraught. Nonetheless, he felt happy because Chen Yu actually dared to contradict him.

“Mu Xueqing…”

All of a sudden, Chen Yu was stumped for words as he heaved a sigh in his heart.

Many people in the sect thought that Mu Xueqing had taken a fancy to him, and was even walking with him.

But in reality, that really wasn’t so.

Had Chen Yu wooed Mu Xueqing before? Indeed, there was such a matter!

Was Mu Xueqing the lover of his dreams? That wasn’t wrong either!

After all, how many young men wouldn’t be tempted by such a beauty who was exquisitely fresh and pure, and on top of that, had outstanding innate talent as well?

In reality, though, Chen Yu hadn’t succeeded in wooing Mu Xueqing; he merely walked a little closer with her.

That was because the two were both from Xiangyang City and came from large clans, so they knew each other since their childhood days. They could be considered childhood sweethearts, albeit barely.

In the past, this little beauty Mu Xueqing was rather dependent on him, so their relationship could be considered rather intimate.

However, ever since entering Yunyue Sect, Mu Xueqing had started to keep her distance when faced with his wooing, but she didn’t reject him straight to his face.

But relative to the other disciples, the relationship between Chen Yu and Mu Xueqing could be described with the word “intimate”, which gave rise to the flames of envy in many people’s hearts.

“Come, Brother Chen! I’m treating you to this pig trotter…”

Feng De grabbed a pig trotter and thrust it at Chen Yu’s face, breaking the latter’s brief recollection.

Such a frivolous movement on his part was undisguised humiliation!

Every single disciple watching the heated scene nearby loudly cheered as they didn’t want to miss a good “fight between rivals in love”.

“Feng De is already at the peak of the Body Tempering Realm and isn’t that far away from the Connective Meridian Realm. His innate martial arts skill is even better…”

“This Chen Yu has already been the outer sect’s footstool for a very long time. I’m afraid he’s going to lose out again.”

Those nearby shook their heads, but they didn’t think highly of Chen Yu.

“Get lost!”

Chen Yu dodged the pig trotter and subconsciously struck back with a punch.

Huff!

That punch faintly produced the sound of a thunderclap as he naturally exhibited the [Metal Plow Fist’s] formidable power.

“You still dare to retaliate?”

Feng De laughed coldly. He was intentionally infuriating Chen Yu, so that the other party would make a move. It was just that he never thought that the other party would attack so quickly.

Formless Palm!

Feng De whirled his palms and bent his legs slightly as he used an exquisite style to block Chu Feng’s attack.

This move of his contained a counter revolving momentum, with a follow-up move afterward. He would first cushion the other party’s attack and, like a bowstring, bounce it back with thunderbolt-like momentum.

But Feng De’s calculations failed.

Boom, bang!

Their fists met, producing a deep sound resembling muffled thunder that terrified everyone.

Ah!

Feng De shouted out as he felt a wave of acute pain and numbness throughout his entire arm.

Bang!

In the next instant, Feng De’s body flew back in a distressed state, flipping a table over as he smashed into it.

What?!

Every single outer sect disciple at the scene either looked startled or had their mouths agape.

Under everyone’s watchful gaze, Chen Yu… had actually sent Feng De flying with a punch?

In a split second, the entire dining hall was covered with stifling silence. One could only hear the metallic sound of tableware falling to the ground.

After a long time.

“Ah? This is too unusual!”

“Feng De’s martial arts cultivation and innate talent easily beat Chen Yu’s own. Even the martial arts skill [Formless Palm] that he just used has a higher level of profoundness…”

All of the outer sect disciples were in an uproar, and many people felt somewhat unconvinced.

After all, they subconsciously thought higher of Feng De.

“Huh?”

Chen Yu looked at his own fist. He seemed to be slightly sluggish sending Feng De flying with a single punch.

He was somewhat in disbelief that this was the punch he had launched.

Ba-dump, badump! Badump, badump!

In the midst of the pulsation of his heart, vigorous vitality, qi and blood rushed forth, filling him with an unprecedented sense of reality, as well as a powerful thought.

“I only used sixty to seventy percent of my power in that single punch just now. The [Metal Plow Fist’s] maturity and formidable power might not be too far away from perfection…”

Chen Yu was immediately well aware of the situation in his heart.

In just a single day, not only did his physical constitution transform and his power increase greatly, the maturity and power of his martial arts boxing technique had risen by a large chunk.

Both factors combined brought about a dramatic increase in his combat abilities!

“How is this possible?! My [Formless Palm] has recently broken through to the initial form…”

Feng De crawled up from the ground as he found it difficult to accept this reality. He then mumbled in a low voice, “It must be because he struck first and gained the upper hand. I haven’t used my full strength yet.”

Those who were watching the battle acknowledged this point as well.

Chen Yu suddenly made a move, giving him the advantage by striking first.

“Again!”

Feng De bellowed as the veins throughout his body bulged out. His palms turned over mystically as he attacked Chen Yu’s shoulder.

Metal Plow Fist!

Chen Yu faced the attack with a sneer. His fists whistled like metal balls, with a grandeur far more astonishing than before as he welcomed Feng De head-on.

Boom, bang! Boom, bang! …

In the blink of an eye, they had crossed blows three times, giving rise to a series of ear-splitting sounds.

The first punch.

Feng De stumbled three steps back. He wasn’t sent flying this time, but a hint of dark red was smeared across his face.

The second punch.

Wah!

Feng De turned pale as he spat out a mouthful of blood with a look of shock plastered across his face.

The third punch.

Bang!

Feng De’s body was sent flying backward once more and knocked two dining tables down.

The expressions of amusement and mockery on the faces of the disciples, who were looking on passively and enjoying the fun along the sidelines, gradually froze up.

They saw Chen Yu closing in on Feng De step by step before their very eyes.

Feng De had lost all sensation from his arm and simply couldn’t raise it up. With a look of fright on his face, he said, “I admit defeat! I concede…”

Fear towards Chen Yu arose in him after the consecutive collisions just now.

The other party’s strength really was terrifying, and his momentum was even more berserk. Every punch of his was stronger than the one before! He was practically a monster!