I sat on the wooden block near the stove, listening to the steady creak-splash of the water wheel outside.
Now that my mind was clear, I started organizing the memories of this world and about people also like, Elder Ironwood was a proud old man, but his cultivation was only at the third level of Qi Condensation.
In a real, grand cultivation sect, a guy like that wouldn’t even be qualified to sweep the main courtyard. He would just be an outer disciple or a low-tier guard.
The Ashen Cloud Sect was nothing but a tiny, pathetic pond. It was a backwater school hidden in a forgotten valley, miles away from the true centers of power. The elders here were just big fish in a microscopic puddle, bullying helpless servants because they didn’t have the talent to survive in the real world outside.
’No wonder my basic system rewards are enough to make them sweat ’, I thought, a small smile appearing on my face.
’To these country bumpkins, my simple speed looks like a high tier cultivator miracle. But if I want to keep my wifes safe when the true enemies from the big sects show up, we need to grow much faster. This mountain is just our starting line.’
"Lu Chen?" A soft voice broke my thoughts. Gu Qinghan was standing near the mattress. She wasn’t wearing her blood-stained wrap anymore. Her eyes were open, and though the grey fog was still floating inside her pupils, she was looking directly toward my face. She walked over slowly, her steps light and graceful, and sat down on the stool next to me.
"You’re thinking about what lies beyond these mountains, aren’t you?" she asked, her voice sweet and entirely gentle.
"H-How did you know?" I asked, looking at her delicate face in the orange glow of the stove.
"Because a man who can build a water wheel out of scraps and bring light back to my eyes doesn’t belong in a dirt field," she said softly, reaching out and lightly placing her fingers over mine. Her hand felt smooth, and a soft, comfortable warmth passed between us.
"Xinyang is already fast asleep. Her bones are humming with a very strange, deep energy from your script. You gave us our lives back, Lu Chen. But you need to care for yourself too."
"I’m fine, Qinghan," I said, squeezing her hand gently to reassure her. "As long as you four are safe, I’m happy."
A beautiful, shy pink color touched her cheeks, and she looked down, her heart rate slightly speeding up from the small romance of the moment. "We..We will stand beside you. I promise."
Then almost in the morning, the noise of water wheel suddenly stopped.There was unusually silence outside. I slowly stood up, my muscles instantly ready. With my improved physical frame, my senses were far better then before. Through the small gaps in the window, I looked out into the moonlit yard.
Three figures were standing by the stream bank. They were carrying wooden clubs and a large iron crowbar. It was the outer disciples who usually followed Zhou Kang around. They had crept down the path in the dark, their faces twisted with envy and malice.
"Hurry up," one of them said quietly, raising his club toward the wooden slats of the wheel. "Elder Ironwood said we need to make sure his field stays dry. If we smash this wooden toy, the trash won’t be able to deliver a single bag of grain next week. He’ll be sent straight to the mines."
"Break the main axle!" the other hissed, lifting the iron bar.
Inside the shack, Mo Ran woke up, her hands instantly grabbing the wheels of her chair. She rolled over to my side, her face full of shocked worry as she heard the whispers outside. "Lu Chen... they’re trying to destroy your work. Let me crawl out there. I can still use my hands to—"
"Stay here," I interrupted her softly, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. Her skin relaxed at my touch, the doubt in her chest melting away. "You just focus on your recovery. I’ll handle the rest."
I didn’t open the front door. I slipped through the back window without making a single sound.
’immortal Sovereign Phantom Step.’
The three disciples didn’t even hear the grass move. The guy with the iron bar was just about to slam it into the central wooden joint when I appeared directly behind him, my chest inches from his shoulder.
"That took me five hours to build," I said quietly into his ear.
The disciple jumped out of his skin, letting out a terrified yelp as he spun around. But before he could raise his bar, I reached out, grabbed the front of his robe, and slammed his body straight down into the muddy bank of the stream.
Thud.
The mud splashed everywhere. The other two disciples froze, their jaws dropping as they looked at their friend crying in the dirt, then looked up at me. I hadn’t used any glowing spiritual energy, but my physical strength felt like an avalanche.
"You... you monster!" one of them yelled, swinging his wooden club straight at my temple.
I didn’t even bother dodging. I raised my left forearm, letting the wood strike my skin.
And then—
The wooden club split completely in half against my dense, tempered bone. My arm didn’t even show a bruise. The disciple stared at the broken piece of wood in his hand, his face turning completely white with pure terror.
"Now it’s My turn," I said flatly.
I grabbed him by his collar, lifted his entire body off the ground with one hand, and tossed him straight into the cold rushing water of the stream. He splashed around, screaming for help as the current dragged him down toward the shallow rocks. The last remaining disciple dropped his club instantly, falling to his knees in the ground and slapping his own face out of fear.
"Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me, Senior Brother Lu! We were just following orders!" he wept, his voice shaking.
I walked over, picked up their iron crowbar from the grass, and bent the metal rod into a perfect circle using nothing but the raw strength of my bare palms. I tossed the ruined metal ring right at his feet.
"Take your friends and get off my mountain," I told him, my voice completely calm but filled with an unshakeable weight. "If I see any of you near this water wheel again, I won’t use the mud to cushion your fall. Understand?"
"Yes! Yes! Thank you, Senior Brother!" the guy scrambled backward, yanking his friend out of the ground and pulling the shivering, wet disciple out of the stream. They ran up the mountain path so fast they tripped over their own robes, completely terrified of the human wall guarding the shack.
I walked back to the wheel, cleared a small rock they had jammed into the axle, and watched it start spinning smoothly again.
When I climbed back through the window, all four girls were waiting for me. Ye Xinyang was standing by the stove, holding a warm cup of herbal tea she had prepared while I was out. Mo Ran was smiling softly from her chair, and Gu Qinghan’s eyes were bright with an intense, loving devotion.
"They won’t be coming back tonight," I said, taking the cup from Xinyang with a soft nod.
"They won’t be coming back at all," Xinyang whispered, her hand lingering on mine, her voice sweet and filled with pride. "You’re too strong for this small pond, Lu Chen. And i am going to make sure i am strong enough to walk beside you when you leave it."