Volume One: The Arrival Chapter Three: The Battle

Meng Xingchen’s vision had now become extraordinarily sharp—not only could he see far, but his field of view was astonishingly clear. It didn’t take long for him to make a discovery. Among the bushes a hundred meters away, he spotted a patch of yellow animal fur.

Without revealing any emotion, he slowly approached and stopped about twenty meters from the target. He withdrew a bamboo spear from the cluster held in his left arm, arched his body backward, swung the spear naturally with his right hand behind him, then swiftly snapped his body forward, thrusting the spear ahead.

The bamboo spear sliced through the air with a piercing whistle, instantly crossing the twenty-meter gap and embedding itself deep into the bushes.

With a pitiful howl, a dog-headed humanoid creature burst from the shrubbery. It struggled briefly before collapsing. The spear was lodged obliquely just below the back of its neck—likely piercing the heart directly, for it died swiftly.

Meng Xingchen gazed at the life he had personally ended. Though he felt a slight unease, after all, it was just a monster resembling a dog in appearance. Then he noticed the system prompt: “Eliminated hostile zero-rank creature: dog-headed humanoid. Gained 12 life energy points.” More than anything, he felt the thrill of soon leveling up again.

At that moment, a series of wolf-like howls echoed through the forest, responding to the fallen dog-headed creature’s cries.

Li Daniu’s expression changed instantly. Grabbing Meng Xingchen, who was retrieving his spear, he ran back while explaining, “There are quite a few dog-headed monsters—probably over twenty. We should return to the village and protect the crops.”

By the time they arrived at Li Family Village, most of the villagers who had been working outside had already returned. Every door and window was tightly shut. Elderly people and women stood guard in their small courtyards, armed with hoes, wooden sticks, and similar tools. The able-bodied men patrolled with hunting bows and spears near the village entrance and the fields.

Clearly, the villagers had encountered such situations before and had established a mature response system.

Seeing that no dog-headed creatures had yet breached the village or fields, Meng Xingchen hurried back to Li Daniu’s home, packed nine finished bamboo spears into a basket, and carried it to the village center. He held a spear in each hand and began observing the forests at both ends of the village.

The houses in the village all faced north, aligned along an east-west axis, with just over ten households stretching about two hundred meters in length. Standing in the village center, Meng Xingchen needed only to shift slightly to cover the entire village and the fields ahead within his spear-throwing range.

Soon, movement stirred in the trees at the village’s eastern edge. Three dog-headed creatures emerged, baring their teeth in a threatening display, confronting the villagers guarding that side.

At that moment, the system chimed: “Ding, temporary mission activated: Defense of Li Family Village. Host may view details in the task panel.”

Meng Xingchen observed carefully and noticed no further movement behind the three dog-headed creatures. He then shifted focus, picked up the basket of spears, and moved toward the western end of the village.

After less than fifty meters, the once-quiet forest at the village’s west erupted in turmoil. More than twenty dog-headed creatures surged forth—some charging toward the village, others toward the farmland.

Among the villagers patrolling outside, except for two armed with hunting spears who stayed at the eastern village entrance and the field’s edge, the rest began gathering at the western end.

Meng Xingchen set down the basket, grasped a spear in each hand, took a running start, and after five steps, flung both spears with sharp whistles echoing above the village.

Without watching the result, he turned and sprinted back to the basket, grabbed another spear, ran, threw it, and returned for another. After hurling three spears in succession, he began retreating slowly toward the basket, all the while monitoring the battle at the village’s west end.

There were twenty-six dog-headed creatures at the western forest edge. Ten had entered the fields, greedily devouring the still-green, unripe crops. These ten were temporarily unchallenged.

The other sixteen attempted to break through the villagers’ defenses into the village itself. Including Meng Xingchen, twelve people stood guard outside the courtyards—two were engaged at the eastern end, leaving only nine forming the western defensive line.

Of the sixteen attackers, two had been struck by spears and lay struggling on the ground, incapacitated. As moving targets, three spears had been thrown, but only two hit.

Among the remaining fourteen, four had been shot with arrows but were not yet defeated. The nine defenders at the west end included four archers besides Li Daniu. These five archers stood slightly behind while four men with hunting spears held the frontline.

This defensive line was far from impenetrable. Already, two dog-headed creatures had climbed over the chest-high fence of the westernmost courtyard and entered.

Inside that courtyard lived an elderly man and a middle-aged woman, each wielding a hoe or wooden stick as weapons. They had been pushed to the doorstep by the two creatures, with nowhere left to retreat—their home sheltered an underage child.

Meng Xingchen had retreated to the basket, pulled out a spear with a swift motion, ran three steps, and hurled it again. Passing the spear from his left to right hand, he sprinted two steps more and threw another spear.

Because the two dog-headed creatures were fixed targets—engaged with the elderly couple pressed against the door—both spears struck precisely, piercing their backs. They died on the spot.

Meng Xingchen exhaled in relief. As he backed toward the basket, he kept a close eye on the battlefield. In just a short time, four previously wounded dog-headed creatures had been killed by arrows, the two initially hit by spears had succumbed amidst their struggles, and several others were wounded by spears and bows.

These losses shattered the already fragile morale of the dog-headed creatures. Those attacking the western village turned and fled amid howls, and the ten that had been ravaging the crops also began retreating into the forest.

Meng Xingchen returned to the basket, once more gripping a spear in each hand to pursue. He never intended to chase far—just ten or so steps before the sharp whistle of his spear pierced the air again.

In the field, the last fleeing dog-headed creature was struck in the lower back and collapsed, still whimpering as it crawled toward the forest.

Suppressing his discomfort, Meng Xingchen threw another spear, ending its suffering. The rest had all vanished into the woods.

Looking back toward the village’s east end, Meng Xingchen saw no sign of the creatures.

“Ding, temporary mission ‘Defense of Li Family Village’ completed. Rewards have been granted. Host may view details in the task panel.”

Meng Xingchen immediately opened the task panel. The primary main quest at the top was skipped. Below, the temporary mission “Defense of Li Family Village” was marked as completed. Skimming the description, it indicated that Meng Xingchen had performed excellently, playing a critical role, and no villagers were harmed.

The rewards were the highlight: 300 biological energy points, 3 points of human contribution, and a choice of one from three bonuses—a beginner’s fighting energy, beginner’s meditation and fireball skill, or basic internal cultivation.

Seeing these three options, Meng Xingchen’s breath caught.

Fighting energy, magic, or internal cultivation—was this a multiple-choice question? For others, perhaps unknown. But for Meng Xingchen, a heavy martial arts enthusiast who had devoured wuxia novels since fourth grade, the appearance of internal cultivation immediately rendered the other two options irrelevant.

“Ding, host has acquired the method for basic internal cultivation.”

With the system prompt, a book materialized in Meng Xingchen’s mind.

He was stunned. Didn’t he learn it instantly? Now he had to study and practice it himself? What a lousy system!

Flipping through the “Basic Internal Cultivation” book in his mind, Meng Xingchen grew restless. The content was detailed, covering cultivation mantras, breathing techniques, and energy circulation paths, all clearly illustrated and annotated. But where to start?

He instinctively returned to Li Daniu’s courtyard to sit and ponder, feeling somewhat at a loss.

Suddenly, he recalled a second active ability he had long overlooked—Insight. He had always felt that this Insight resembled the internal vision described in wuxia novels for internal cultivation, and was even more comprehensive and powerful, yet had seemed useless. Now, with internal cultivation in hand, this ability might be invaluable.

Suppressing his excitement, Meng Xingchen activated Insight. Immediately, every aspect of his body’s condition became vividly clear in his mind. His muscles, meridians, internal organs—even each heartbeat and the flow of blood—were all perfectly perceived.

Comparing the energy circulation diagram from the basic internal cultivation book with his own meridians, Meng Xingchen followed the prescribed breathing method, imagining an energy flow moving along the diagram’s route through his meridians.

Yet the human mind is notoriously restless. At first, he struggled to control the imagined energy, which frequently strayed from the intended path to other meridians.

After an indeterminate length of time, his breathing rhythm had fully synchronized with the cultivation method. Gradually, a faint mist-like energy appeared within his meridians.

Guiding this energy to follow the prescribed energy circulation route, after a complete circuit, the system announced: “Ding, host has mastered basic internal cultivation. Details available in the attributes panel.”

By this point, Meng Xingchen was utterly absorbed, ignoring the prompt as he guided the energy in continuous loops, watching it grow stronger and unable to tear himself away.

Only when his head began to feel dizzy and slightly tingling did he guide the now considerably strengthened energy into the acupuncture point labeled “dantian” on the internal circulation diagram, concluding this session of cultivation.

Opening his attributes panel, Meng Xingchen saw his mental attribute at 2 out of 7. The discomfort in his head was likely due to prolonged Insight activation, causing mental fatigue. Yet, the total mental attribute had risen to 7. Not only that, but his constitution had increased to 7 out of 7, agility to 5 out of 5—every attribute had improved by one point.

Recalling the earlier system prompt, he examined the skills section at the bottom of the panel. Previously blank, it now displayed “Basic Internal Cultivation.” Focusing on it, a series of details appeared:

Skill Proficiency: Novice (15/500)
Internal Energy: 100/100
Skill Effects:
1. All attributes +1;
2. Enhancement: Channel internal energy to body parts, consuming internal energy to strengthen corresponding abilities;
3. Internal Energy Burst: Circulate internal energy throughout the body, consuming 10 internal energy points per second, increasing constitution and agility by 3 during activation.