Chapter 005: The Forest Town
Tap! Tap! Feet gripping the ground, stepping forward, backward, left, right...
The body moves as the mind wills, the mind follows intent. With fists clenched, he steps and shifts, punching, punching, punching!
“Hoo~” “Hoo~” “Hoo~”
Threads of wind, born from his fists, slowly emerge—first sluggish, then swift. As Su Jingxing’s form spins and pivots, the wind stirs up sand from the earth, sometimes dissolving into faint bursts of energy that vanish into the air.
The essence of the Seven-Step Fist: neither footwork nor fistwork is subordinate to the other. Both act in concert, complementing each other to unleash power.
Of course, this is step-by-step practice, meant to hone agility and evasion. If one were to launch a full attack, advancing with continuous steps in a single breath, the difficulty would rise with each added movement.
Su Jingxing first mastered the entire sequence of fist techniques, then attempted a full assault—stepping forward without pause, punching in a single direction.
The result...
“Thud~”
As if blocked by a sturdy tree stump, he lost control completely, tumbling to the ground.
Attempt failed!
Clearly, to take two steps at once would require tens of thousands of repeated attempts. This intangible barrier from the technique itself could not be overcome with anyone’s help—it must be faced alone. Even if all inner strength was twisted into a single strand, it would still require countless trials.
Forcing through would harm both body and spirit. Su Jingxing had no intention of pushing beyond his limits.
If one attempt fails, try again. If two fail, try three...
Time slipped by in Su Jingxing’s relentless practice. Immersed in his training, he forgot to return to the dormitory.
Only when night faded and daylight returned did he awaken from his trance.
“Is it morning already?”
He stopped, wiped the sweat from his face. After a night of intense training, punching through the darkness, he felt no fatigue at all.
He had to admit, the Vitality Pills were truly effective.
"Didn't come back all night—Brother Da Bao will surely have something to say about it."
Su Jingxing walked down the mountain, already pondering when to move out of the dormitory. He had accumulated enough Vitality Pills—more than two hundred, ready to be sold on the black market for a tidy sum.
At this point, living in the dormitory was becoming inconvenient. Yes, tonight he would go to the black market and sell them!
...
Lost in thought, Su Jingxing returned to the dormitory. Unexpectedly, Kong Da Bao was not there early in the morning.
Su Jingxing paid it little mind, taking his towel and basin to the communal bath for a wash. Upon returning, he changed into clean clothes and headed to the cafeteria for breakfast.
After a night of punching, his stomach was ravenous. He ate enough breakfast for three, then left the cafeteria at a leisurely pace.
Though today was his day off, habit compelled him to head to the grounds, hoping to cover someone’s shift.
It could be said that among the dozens of employees at the crematorium, no one was more dedicated than he!
...
“Xiao Su, are you free later?”
Just as he entered the district gate, he heard someone call his name. Turning, he saw Captain Gu Bo waving from nearby.
“Of course, I’m free.” Su Jingxing hurried over. “Captain Gu, is there someone who needs their shift covered?”
“Hah, you’re addicted to covering shifts, aren’t you?”
Gu Bo was a tall, robust man in his prime at thirty-five, but looked only twenty-seven or twenty-eight. His square face was marked by firm features; though not handsome, his rugged demeanor made him the heartthrob of certain women.
“No, I’m just bored.” Su Jingxing replied awkwardly, laughing. He couldn’t exactly say he gained from being close to corpses.
“You kid.”
Gu Bo chuckled, then beckoned, “Let’s talk as we walk.”
With that, he strode ahead. Su Jingxing followed.
“Xiao Su, don’t mind me talking too much, but let me say this: at your age, it’s time to learn. Any knowledge, learn as much as you can—it never hurts.”
Gu Bo spoke as he walked.
“Unlike me, it’s too late for learning now. Age rusts the mind, and apart from hard labor, I can do nothing else.”
“Or take Feng Tiejian, that scoundrel—his nickname suits him. He’s beyond saving. When he first started, he knew to save money, now he only thinks about playing and chasing women.”
“If he actually married one, that’d be something. But he won’t; he likes to play around.”
“Xiao Su, don’t ever become like him...”
All the way, Gu Bo rambled on. Su Jingxing listened, nodding and replying where appropriate.
After months of working together, he’d come to know the personalities of the team. Captain Gu Bo was not only forthright, but a relentless chatterbox—once he started, he needed no encouragement to keep going.
For Su Jingxing, who had crossed over, much of what he learned about his predecessor’s unknowns came from Gu Bo’s words. Over time, he’d grown used to it.
This time, Gu Bo had called him not to cover a shift, but to join him on a trip to a logging town dozens of miles west of Qinghe City, to transport corpses back—a field assignment.
Most corpses at the crematorium were delivered, but some required the corpse collection team—like Su Jingxing—to retrieve them.
Su Jingxing had done similar assignments before, though only within the city; this would be his first time outside, and his first to the logging town.
As the name suggested, the logging town managed a forest area. In Yu Country, there were no village-level administrations; towns were the smallest units. These towns weren’t merely residential, but served specific functions—supplying the city with particular products.
The logging town provided Qinghe City with timber, mountain delicacies, medicinal herbs, and the like. Others included farming towns, fishing towns, mining towns...
Every day, trucks shuttled between these towns and Qinghe City.
Su Jingxing and Gu Bo, tasked with corpse collection, had a dedicated transport vehicle.
Gu Bo drove; Su Jingxing accompanied. The two chatted along the winding mountain roads, soon arriving at the logging town.
Once there, they contacted the caller—a steward named Zhou Hongsong.
Led by Zhou Hongsong, they entered an empty house where the corpses were stored.
“Thank you, Captain Gu. The bodies are here,” Zhou Hongsong said, sorrowful, pointing to ten corpses laid side by side on the floor. “You two go ahead—I’ll fetch the families.”
“Alright,” Gu Bo replied.
“I’ll be right back,” Zhou Hongsong nodded to Su Jingxing, then left to notify the bereaved.
Once he was gone, Su Jingxing examined the ten bodies, sighing, “These people died so tragically. Their bodies are incomplete. Compared to them, our corpse collection team is living easy.”
The ten had been a mountain patrol team. After entering the forest two days prior, they never returned. Early that morning, the logging staff went searching and found their mutilated remains.
Piecing them together confirmed all ten deaths—their killer was a wild beast.
“Truly tragic,” Gu Bo said, his tone odd.
Su Jingxing caught it, looking up in confusion. “What’s wrong, Captain?”
“I think these people weren’t killed by a beast.”
...
(P.S.: The book is now signed! Asking for a 100 coin reward (#^.^#). Also, starting tomorrow, two chapters daily!)