At the martial arts arena, Ye Kong didn’t make any other requests to Ye Haoran. However, Ye Haoran still instructed the steward to increase his monthly allowance by twenty taels of silver.

But this sum hit a small snag at Second Wife’s place, since she was in charge of the accounts.

“Can’t give it! That idiot bit off the skin on my brother’s wrist. He should be paying us for medicine!” Back in their quarters, Ye Wu shouted his opposition.

“That’s right, that bastard was completely shameless, standing outside the platform and still claiming he didn’t lose, even biting people! The height of shamelessness!” Ye Wen cursed while wrapping his gauze bandages.

Ye Wu sneered again, “That idiot actually had the nerve to ask Father to teach him martial arts. Tch, talk about overestimating himself. Look at how garbage his aptitude is.”

Mentioning this, Ye Wen laughed, “That idiot’s dreams were really beautiful, utterly laughable. You didn’t see his disappointed expression then, haha…” As Ye Wen laughed, he aggravated the pain in his arm. He snorted coldly, a fierce gleam flashing in his eyes, “Idiot, sooner or later I’ll get this back from you!”

Then their mother, Second Wife, spoke up, “We still have to give him the twenty taels of silver. Don’t let the General find out and get angry. Recently you two need to behave properly in front of the General. Hehe, I actually found out some major news today.”

“Oh? What news?” Ye Wen and Ye Wu asked with interest.

Then three heads huddled together. After Second Wife whispered for a bit, the [visit our site]two brothers beamed with delight, their eyes full of envy.

“So recently don’t provoke that idiot anymore. Settle down, be obedient, stay home. Mother will nourish you both properly, hopefully giving you both the right aptitude.”

“Alright!”

In Third Wife’s quarters, a similar scene was unfolding.

“Mother, that Ye Kong is truly hateful. You must avenge me!” Ye Long lay on the bed moaning and cursing Ye Kong.

“That’s right, Mother, you must help brother get revenge. This idiot has become so cunning and vicious now, yet even Father didn’t punish him. It’s truly hateful!” Ye Hu’s teeth itched with anger as well.

Third Wife was also a martial practitioner, her temperament slightly more forthright than Second Wife’s. She scolded, “Useless things! Can’t win your own fights, making me, a woman, stand up for you. What kind of ability is that?”

Ye Long wailed, “Mother, it’s not that I couldn’t beat him. He used tricks and violated the rules.”

Third Wife continued, “From what you’ve said, this Ye Kong isn’t stupid anymore, and he’s quite cunning and vicious. So you need to build a good relationship with him.” Third Wife looked at her two burly sons and whispered, “You need to learn to use your brains. This idiot has gotten smart and offended Second Wife, so let them fight each other, understand? That ugly mother of his will never gain the General’s favor, so as long as Second Wife is defeated… Mother will become the mistress of this inner courtyard!”

“Oh!” The two burly sons finally understood visit our siteand quickly nodded in praise, “Mother is still the clever one.”

Third Wife smiled smugly and whispered again, “Mother found out some major news today…”

Ye Kong didn’t even know how he left Ye Haoran’s presence. He’d already been struck numb by his father’s words, unable to think.

No future in martial arts. That meant his dreams of showing off his prowess and galloping on horseback across Cangnan Continent had all turned to bubbles.

Abandon martial arts for literature, write splendid essays? That was even more ridiculous. Though he talked a good game, he actually hated studying. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have dropped out after middle school.

He felt everything before him was blank, utterly desperate. But returning to his small courtyard and seeing his mother’s eager anticipation, he could only force a smile and casually brush her off with a few words.

Ye Kong’s heart was dejected. Gone was the morning’s high spirits. Bearing his injuries, he responded halfheartedly to his mother’s words, dealt with some lunch, then buried himself in his room in a daze.

That afternoon, steward Ye Cai came over to supplement this month’s allowance, but Ye Kong didn’t come out.

Although both Second Wife and Third Wife temporarily quieted down because of that mysterious news, Ye Kong had truly been devastated by Ye Haoran’s words. That dejection in his heart, don’t even mention it. He had no desire to fight with anyone, hiding in his room like he’d become catatonic. Chen Jiuniang could tell something was wrong with her son, but didn’t dare disturb him. By evening, when dinner came around, Ye Kong still hadn’t emerged.

Chen Jiuniang didn’t dare [unauthorized copy]disturb her son and had to take the food basin to get the meal herself.

The place where meals were served was controlled by a fat woman. Don’t let her ugliness fool you, she was quite vain, constantly resenting why General Ye hadn’t noticed her. Even someone as ugly as Chen Jiuniang had borne the General a child.

So naturally she was extremely impolite to Chen Jiuniang.

“Give a bit more, please. My Kong’er’s body has recovered, and he was injured again today. He needs to eat more.” Chen Jiuniang said quietly.

The fat woman snorted mockingly, “What’s this? Your son recovered so now you’re favored? Want to ride over our heads now?”

“No, no, Sister Ma. I just want to nourish him a bit.” Chen Jiuniang’s eyes looked embarrassedly at the braised pork in that basin over there.

Fat Sister Ma glanced over and sneered coldly, “Eat more buns to nourish the brain.” She reached into the basin, grabbed several overnight cold buns that nobody wanted, and tossed them over.

Chen Jiuniang wanted to say something, but in the end just took the rice and buns and walked away. What else could she do? These managers, not one of them could be provoked. Don’t look at them being servants, they all had connections. This Sister Ma was a relative from the household of the most favored Ninth Wife. Even if she complained to the General, with her ugly appearance, would the complaint go anywhere?

Better to endure it.

Returning to the small courtyard, she placed the yellowing cold buns ​unauthorized copy​in her own room, then knocked on her son’s door and set the meal on the table.

Ye Kong had thought carefully all afternoon. The more he thought, the more he felt he’d transmigrated to the wrong place.

“Learning martial arts for self-defense is possible, but wanting to make progress on the martial path is absolutely impossible.”

“No matter how much effort you put in, you’ll find it hard to achieve great things.”

These two sentences had completely crushed Ye Kong.

Disappointed, dejected, disheartened.

“This is way worse than Earth.” He no longer wanted to stay on this damn continent and started thinking of ways to return. But there was no Miss Zhao here to give him a palm strike. He muttered to himself, would dying allow him to transmigrate back? Maybe… I should just commit suicide.

“Even dying, I should be a well-fed ghost.”

Looking at the meal, the white rice was steaming hot, same as on Earth. Then looking at the dish on top, it was green vegetables similar to bok choy.

Though there was no meat, it tasted decent enough. But as he ate, he suddenly thought of something.

Ye Kong put down his chopsticks, opened the door, and left his room. By now the moon hung high, though the sky wasn’t yet dark. That enormous moon with its red halo created a magnificent beauty unseen on Earth.

“Too bad I won’t be staying much longer.” Ye Kong sighed and pushed open Chen Jiuniang’s door.

“Kong’er.” Chen Jiuniang startled and instinctively hid the cold bun in her hand behind her back.

Ye Kong’s eyes immediately widened. He’d come over because he guessed his mother had definitely given him all the vegetables, so he wanted her to come eat some vegetables at his place too.

But who knew his mother couldn’t even eat white rice, hiding in her room gnawing on cold buns!

“Mother, you’re eating this?” Ye Kong’s fury soared to the heavens.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Mother… just loves eating buns.” Chen Jiuniang, as if afraid her son wouldn’t believe her, forcefully took several more bites of the bun. But the overnight bun had long lost its moisture, dry and hard, choking her until tears came out.

Though this wasn’t his real mother, though he couldn’t talk about having feelings… seeing this scene was something Ye Kong could not tolerate!

“Screw his immortal [stolen content]ancestors! I’m going to hack them to death!” Ye Kong turned to leave.

“Don’t! Kong’er, Mother is fine. Don’t cause trouble. Mother only needs you to be well, that’s enough.” Chen Jiuniang lunged forward and hugged her son, tearfully pleading, “Your mind is clear now, Mother doesn’t know how happy that makes me. But Kong’er, you’re only twelve years old. You can’t fight them. What Mother worries about most is you. As long as you’re well, Mother can eat husks and drink thin gruel. But if anything happened to you, how could Mother go on living…”

As Chen Jiuniang finished speaking, tears already streamed down like rain.

Ye Kong had just been thinking about committing suicide to return to Earth, but when this scene occurred before him, he realized how cruel he was being!

Not only had he devoured Chen Jiuniang’s son’s soul, now he also wanted to personally end that life. And if he died, Chen Jiuniang couldn’t survive either.

No! I must live! Live using Ye Kong’s life! Not only must I live better, but I’ll make these vicious, heartless people pay the price!

Ye Kong gritted his teeth and slowly raised his head, as if forcefully swallowing something down…

This breath was truly hard to swallow, but he swallowed it. And in this moment, he also firmed his conviction, crushing and shattering all the dejection and despair from the afternoon!

Hatred is also a kind of motivation!

After a long while, he exhaled a breath of stale air, and his clenched fist slowly relaxed.

“Mother, don’t worry. One day, I’ll make them understand that what they ate of mine must be spat back out, what they took from me must be returned, and those who bullied me… won’t have time for regret!”

Cangnan Continent’s nights were brighter and more peaceful than Earth’s. Moonlight streamed through the countless torn places in the window paper, sprinkling large and small patches of bright white light across the floor before the bed, making one feel somewhat cold.

“Bright moonlight before my bed, I thought it frost upon the ground. I raise my head to view the moon, then bow it down and think of home…” This “Quiet Night Thoughts” was one of the few poems Ye Kong remembered. Reciting it now was quite fitting.

However, his homesickness didn’t last long. Since he’d already decided to persist on this strange and cruel continent, he needed to restrain these emotions, even forget his identity as an Earthling, integrate into this world lacking much warmth, and fight back a shred of dignity and happiness for himself.

Ye Kong sat cross-legged on the bed. He’d already adapted to Cangnan Continent’s air and no longer felt discomfort, though he could still sense the spiritual energy in the air.

Obviously, compared to daytime, water-attribute spiritual energy was much more abundant, wood-attribute spiritual energy had also increased somewhat, earth-attribute remained unchanged, while fire-attribute and metal-attribute were so faint they were almost imperceptible.

Ye Kong guessed the reason was probably that he came from Earth where spiritual energy was sparse. Like someone who lived long-term in an oxygen-deprived highland environment suddenly coming to an oxygen-rich plain, that subtle sensation would naturally exceed someone who’d always lived on the plain.

Ye Kong suddenly felt he wasn’t completely useless. He was more sensitive to spiritual energy than people of Cangnan Continent. Could this be where he could start?

Having read many xianxia and wuxia novels before, absorbing the five elements’ spiritual energy to benefit oneself, seizing heaven and earth’s fortune to enjoy immortal destiny. Ye Kong knew all this. Those novels Read on Jormuntl wrote it very clearly, absorb spiritual energy and store it in the qi sea. When you need to use it, release the spiritual energy, and you’re done, right?

Even if he couldn’t become an immortal, he could train internal energy, or qigong, open the Governing and Conception vessels. That would work too. Train for a few years to become a martial arts expert, travel the four directions, perform chivalrous acts. Then who would dare look down on him or bully his mother?

However, this thing sounded simple but doing it wasn’t so simple.

Absorbing heaven and earth’s spiritual energy, how to absorb? Deep breathing? Seizing heaven and earth’s fortune, how to seize? And the Governing and Conception vessels… he hadn’t read the novels carefully, so he really didn’t know where the Governing and Conception vessels actually were.

“Forget it, meditate first.”

Ye Kong did know about meditation. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, palms facing up, naturally placed on his knees, adjusting his breathing, clearing his mind of distractions, slowly entering a meditative state.

And indeed, this meditation was quite difficult. Wanting to enter that state of half-asleep, half-awake with no stray thoughts in the brain was really not easy.

But Ye Kong was also a person of firm will. Since he’d firmed his resolve and had no other way out, he could only eliminate all wishful thinking and work hard to keep practicing.

Not knowing how much time passed, Ye Kong sat until both legs felt numb. Drowsiness continuously rose in his mind. His eyelids felt like they weighed ten thousand pounds, making him want nothing more than to collapse on the bed and sleep soundly. That would be bliss.

“Persisting to the end is victory!” Ye Kong scattered the wishful thought of “tomorrow will do” from his mind, jumped off the bed, moved his legs and feet around, [stolen content]then found a large embroidery needle Chen Jiuniang used for her work.

“The ancients suspended their hair and pricked their thighs with awls. Today I’ll learn from them!” Ye Kong climbed back onto the small bed and sat cross-legged.

Again, not knowing how much time passed, Ye Kong’s thighs already had several needle pricks, threads of blood marking one circular spot after another on his coarse cloth pants.

But Ye Kong persisted. He refused to believe he couldn’t even cross this barrier of entering meditation.

Another shichen passed. In a daze, Ye Kong finally entered for the first time a half-dream, half-awake state. His breathing was calm, slow and rhythmic. His mind was clear, yet also completely empty, thinking of nothing. His eyes were slightly open, but what he saw wasn’t the moonlight before him.

He didn’t know where he’d come to. It felt like a chaotic, murky void. Clouds and mist obscured the surroundings so he couldn’t see outside, while the space inside was completely empty.

Ye Kong was stunned for a moment, then quickly looked at himself, discovering he’d become a white orb of light.

This was his soul! After entering meditation, he’d actually arrived at the place where he and the idiot had their soul seizure battle!

Ye Kong didn’t understand why he’d come here, nor did he know where a person’s soul actually existed. In any case, it shouldn’t be the qi sea or dantian, most likely the mind’s sea or purple mansion.

Suddenly, he discovered he wasn’t alone in the space. Above him, there was noodles a patch of pulsing golden light!

What is that? Ye Kong flew upward.

He saw that golden light suspended in the center of the space. Not particularly large, but not small either, roughly the size of the idiot’s soul last time. However, its brightness was very high, golden radiance brilliant, like a red sun within the space.

But Ye Kong knew it definitely wasn’t the sun, because the object within the golden light was flat, feeling like a book.

Why would there be a book in my mind? Ye Kong found his own guess laughable.

But when he flew not far above the golden light, he was shocked, “Good heavens! It really is a book! There’s a book in my mind!”