"Earth Chapter 3: The Hero Saves the Beauty"

After leaving Shaolin, I felt like I had lost my direction, as if something was missing inside, like a hollow feeling. Could it be that after staying in Shaolin for so long, I had grown fond of that peaceful life? It seemed laughable to me, after all, I'm only just over twelve years old. Anyway, now that I was in the North, I could head to Beijing, or Inner Mongolia, or maybe even to Russia. With my current martial arts skills, I could proudly say to all the villagers and elders, "The world is mine to roam," haha.

Now, I could honestly say that I was truly a wanderer of the martial world. Look at me—I have terrifying martial arts skills, an ID card, and a bankbook. You ask how much money I have? Not much, just a few million. It's no big deal; along the way, I haven't come across many decent officials. Whenever I bump into someone like a madam or a bribed official, sorry, but I'll personally drop by your place in the evening to take care of things. These people usually won't say anything because if they were investigated, they'd be in big trouble. The further north I go, the more powerful the officials get, and they're less obvious in their corruption, though the smaller ones are especially greedy. Everyone wants to get rich; you ask why I don't put the money into the Hope Project? Don't talk to me about that. I'm still young and don't understand it. I just know that the elementary schools in the mountains still look the same, and it's better to rely on yourself than to rely on others. Giving someone a fish is not as good as teaching them to fish.

I didn't expect that even in June, the North was already getting cold. Southern China is so much better with its balanced four seasons. Since I mastered my divine skill, I hardly feel the changes in the seasons anymore. The protective true qi on my body acts like an air conditioner, automatically regulating itself to keep my body at a comfortable temperature. Who would've thought that training would have this benefit? After resting for a while, I hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, sat cross-legged on the bed, and began practicing. Even though I could remain in a constant state of cultivation for 24 hours a day due to my training and the secret martial arts techniques I learned from Shaolin, the quality of the practice wasn't the same as deliberately focusing on it.

I usually stay in four-star hotels. They're quiet and private, and no one bothers me.

"Mr. Kikuta, this girl is still a virgin, I hope you're satisfied," a voice said."You're so good, I'll definitely recommend you to Mr. Matsushita," came the response."Thank you, I'll leave now, hope you enjoy yourself," followed by the sound of the door closing, and faintly, I could hear the girl crying.

"Yo, Xi, Flower Girl's," someone else muttered.

"What are you doing? Go away! Leave me alone!" The girl's scream followed.

Damn, these little Japanese dare to do this kind of thing in China. Today, they ran into me. Heh heh, sorry about that. This hotel may be nice, but what's the point of having soundproof glass? If not for my deep martial arts skills, even if the girl cried until the sky turned dark, no one would know. The sound seemed to be coming from the room next door.

I jumped from my balcony to the neighboring one, landing softly without making a sound. I sent out a thread of true qi and gently unlocked the door. Pulling aside the floor-length curtains, I took a look—and damn it, those damn Japanese weren't even human. They had completely stripped a girl naked, tying her hands to the headboard of the bed, and were now binding her feet. The girl struggled desperately.

"No matter how loud you scream, no one can hear you. In a moment, you'll be begging for it," the man sneered—before he could finish, I knocked him out cold with a "bang," causing the girl to flinch in shock.

"Don't be afraid. When a beauty is in danger, a hero always appears," I said as I pulled the curtain aside and walked in.

"Yours... why is it so small?" I asked curiously, staring at her snow-white chest and the pair of small jade rabbits.(Sorry, this was a mishap caused by Gong Shuyun, the author, due to catching a cold. Although Feitian understands the difference between men and women, the Lustful Divine Skill he studied only treated it as martial arts training and never emphasized male-female boundaries—hence he acted a bit foolishly.)

Upon hearing my words, the girl cried out, "Untie me quickly! And don't look!"

"What's the big deal? Even though they're small, they're quite cute," I said, teasing.

"Waaah, you're bullying me! I told you not to look and you still look!" she cried.

"Alright, alright, stop crying, big sis," I said quickly, helping to untie her bindings.

"Big sister, why has yours gotten bigger? That's so strange," I commented innocently after glancing again.

Hearing this, the girl blushed furiously and became flustered, "You're still looking! You're such a pervert!"

Naturally, she mistook me for a typical lecher. After all, what girl wouldn't misunderstand when an eleven- or twelve-year-old boy, despite looking tall and strong, acted so boldly?

"Are you dressed yet? See, it's not such a big deal," I grumbled.

"Just because I'm dressed doesn't mean you can look!" she snapped back.

When I turned around, I was surprised—she was incredibly beautiful. Though I was amazed, my awareness hadn't matured enough yet; it was merely a child's instinctive appreciation for beauty.

"Who says boys aren't allowed to look at girls?" I retorted childishly, feeling wronged.

"Fine then! Take off your pants and let me look too! Dare you?" she countered, flushed with anger.

"What's the big deal?" Without thinking, I immediately pulled down my pants—and underwear too—demonstrating my defiance, everything flopping about shamelessly. Thanks to my martial arts training, I completed the move in under a second.

"Aaah!" the girl screamed, too shocked to react immediately.

"Enough with the screaming," I muttered, hurriedly pulling up my pants while dodging the pillows she threw at me.

"Pervert! Pervert! I'll beat you to death!" she cried while attacking me.

"Alright, I'm leaving," I said, growing tired of her crying.

"Don't go!" the girl shouted instinctively.

"Big sister, if I don't leave, you're going to cry and beat me to death. What do you want me to do?" I said, utterly defeated. If I'd known it would turn out like this, I might not have saved her at all.

"It's your fault for saying those things to a girl! You're such a big kid, don't you know that's being a pervert?!"

"What? I'm only twelve! How could I be a pervert? And if I am, you are too!"

Feitian fought back, "You can't even lie properly. When you're wrong, you're wrong—yet you still argue. Who would believe you? Yours is so big," the little girl said, blushing furiously.

"What's big? I'm only twelve! If you don't believe me, I'll show you my ID!" Feitian, still not understanding what she meant, pulled out his identification to prove himself.

"Look, see if I'm lying."The girl took the ID, and sure enough, it showed that he was just a little over twelve years old. Still unwilling to give in, she asked, "Don't you know boys aren't supposed to just look at girls? Didn't your mother ever teach you?"

"Who says that? Then why did my dad help my mom bathe when she was sick? ...But Mom's never going to be with me again..."

At the mention of his mother, emotions that had lain dormant for years surged up inside Feitian, and he started crying bitterly.

The girl, being a little older, immediately understood. Besides, she had never seen such a tall "little boy" cry like that. Her maternal instincts awakened, and she gently stroked Feitian's long black hair.

"Big sister, I miss my mom," Feitian whimpered like a lost child, throwing himself into her embrace and sobbing.

Ouyang Bixue, thinking of her own deceased mother, couldn't hold back either. The two hugged each other tightly and cried together—a scene so heartrending it could move heaven and earth.

When they finally stopped crying, they looked at each other more carefully. The girl introduced herself as Ouyang Bixue, fifteen years old. After her mother passed away, her stepmother became extremely harsh, claiming the family couldn't afford to support both children in school, and kicked her out to work so her stepmother's son could continue his education. Her father, too weak to defend her, said nothing. That night, while walking alone, she had been knocked unconscious and brought to this hotel.

Feitian also shared his story.

"Little brother, what are you going to do from now on?" Bixue asked worriedly. She didn't stop to think that a boy who had made it all the way from Hunan to Beijing and could afford to stay at a high-end hotel clearly knew how to take care of himself—her motherly instincts had fully kicked in.

"I'll be fine. I've been roaming the world for years now. It's you I'm worried about, big sister."

"What can a girl like me do? I'm not like you boys. Just walking down the street almost got me... well, you saw," Bixue said helplessly.

"Big sister, why don't you come with me? I guarantee you'll be safe and won't lose out," Feitian said earnestly, his beautiful face and passionate eyes making Bixue's heart flutter.

"Big sister promises to stay with you forever, alright?" Bixue said softly, feeling dazed.

"Great!" Feitian beamed with joy, having no real understanding of the deeper meaning behind her words.

"Oh, right—how did you knock out that little Japanese guy?" Bixue asked curiously.

"I hit his Sleep Acupoint," Feitian answered casually.

"I can't believe you're that amazing. This is just like the martial arts movies!" Bixue said, gazing at him with admiration.

Feitian thought she wanted to learn too, so he asked, "Big sister, do you want to learn? I can teach you."

"Really? How long would it take?" she asked eagerly.

"Well... if I help you, and you take some spiritual medicine I have, the fastest way would take about a year and a half to fully open your Ren and Du meridians."

"A year and a half?! Isn't there a faster way?" she pouted.

(Good heavens! You think it's like eating dinner? Even old Shaolin monks spent decades without opening theirs. If they heard Feitian say this, they'd fight each other just for a chance to be his disciple.)

"There is a faster way—Dual Cultivation. That way, in just two months, you'd have about one-sixth of my power. But... it requires us to, well, take off our pants. I figure you wouldn't agree to that," Feitian said honestly.

Girls at her age tended to mature early. After thinking about it, Bixue reasoned: Since I'm going to follow him for life anyway, sooner or later, it will happen. If I do it earlier, maybe I can bind his heart to me tighter. Her heart had already been given fully to this little rascal.So she blushed and said, "Who says I wouldn't agree?"

As soon as Feitian saw Bixue agree, he quickly stripped off his clothes, climbed onto the bed stark naked, and shouted, "Sister, hurry up!" This made Ouyang Bixue blush with embarrassment. Finally, she undressed completely, closed her eyes, and let Feitian take the lead. But after waiting for a while with no response from him, she opened her eyes and saw Feitian sitting there dumbfounded, scratching his head. So she asked, "Brother, what's wrong?"

"Oh, Sister, this technique requires that to get hard," Feitian said, pointing downward. "But I don't know how to make it hard."

(I'm dying here—why isn't it me? This idiot's wasting such a golden opportunity!) This was a first for Bixue too, and she had no idea how to make that thing hard.

"Oh, I get it!" Feitian slapped his forehead in frustration. How had he not thought to channel his true energy to his "little brother"? When I entered Bixue's body, she trembled slightly. "Ah!" Bixue cried out in pain, clutching my waist tightly. So I followed the steps in the dual cultivation manual. When my lips met Sister Xue's, both of us shivered as if struck by lightning. Heavens, how could a girl's lips be so sweet? Lost in the moment, I quickly snapped back to focus. After four hours of circulating energy, it was finally over. But Bixue still clung to me, her eyes hazy. "Brother, that felt so good. I want it every day, Sister insists!"

"Sure thing!" I agreed. This dual cultivation technique was exhausting, no doubt, but it felt amazing all over and even boosted my power. No reason to say no! Seeing me nod, Bixue happily hugged me and showered me with kisses. Women, honestly—who gets this excited?

"Sister, what do we do with this Japanese guy?" I asked after Bixue and I came down from the high and got dressed. "I don't know," she said. "I wasn't really hurt, so maybe just let him go?" Women, always so soft-hearted.

"No way! We can't treat someone like him as human. Let him go today, and he'll do the same evil tomorrow. He needs to be punished—punished so that he regrets it every time he even thinks about it. Oh, I've got a great idea!"

"What's that?" she asked. I whispered the plan in her ear. "Heh, Brother, that's ruthless. But it works!" The method was simple: disable his function down there. Anytime it gets hard, he'll be in excruciating pain.

"Who the hell are you?" When the little Japanese guy woke up, he found himself tied to a chair. The chick who was supposed to be tied to the bed was now sitting there with a handsome, long-haired man, both staring at him. After sizing up the situation, he asked, "What do you want?"

"What do you think?" I crushed a teacup to dust right in front of him.

"Let me go, and I'll give you lots and lots of money," the little Japanese guy said, dead serious, as if I'd actually agree.

"How much, Kikuta-kun? If it's too little, I'm not interested." Playing games with me? Trying to bribe a genius of modern China? You're begging for death.

Sweat dripped from Kikuta's forehead when he heard his name. This guy knew who he was—clearly, he was no stranger to him. Probably someone in the underworld. If it was Chinese National Security, there's no way they'd be screwing around with that woman. The bed still reeked of sex, making Kikuta painfully aware of his predicament. "I'll give you all my money, just let me go!"

"Not enough money, no deal."

"Sir, please, you can trust me completely!" Kikuta put on a groveling face, but inside, he was viciously plotting: Once I get back, you'll see what happens when you mess with a citizen of the Great Japanese Empire and the Kikuta Clan!

"Account number. Password." I grabbed the little Japanese guy's laptop and connected to the internet wirelessly. Damn, this guy was loaded—sixty million US dollars in there! The account was with a Swiss bank. I opened an account at the same bank and transferred the money over. Then I erased all traces. Who'd have thought that a random book on modern hacking I read out of boredom would spark my interest in hacking? I picked up a few tricks online, and they actually came in handy today. I also deleted all the records on his laptop. Everything was set.

"Sir, as a Chinese man, you should honor your word," the little Japanese guy said.

"Thanks for the reminder. I think I will. But before that, I'm going to turn you into an idiot. That way, I'm not breaking my word, right, Kikuta-kun? This might be the last time you think clearly in your life. Picture it: a beautiful life, gorgeous women—all of it, gone forever. Any last thoughts?" I was going to break him slowly, see how he'd handle it.

"You… you're a devil! A warrior of Great Japan will never surrender! I demand a fair duel!" the little Japanese guy shouted, furious.

"Sorry, I don't think I'll give you that chance. You and I aren't on the same level. Dueling you would tarnish the reputation of China's future genius. Killing a pig doesn't earn me any praise." With that, my hand was already on his head. "No, you devil! Amaterasu will punish you for harming her people! Ahh!"

I looked at Kikuta, now lying on the bed like a drooling fool, fast asleep. I took Sister Xue to the balcony and set everything back the way it was.

Back in the room, I let out a sigh of relief. Bixue sat glumly on the edge of the bed. "Sister, what's wrong?"

"Brother, don't you think we went a bit too far?"

I nearly fainted. Sister Xue, you're such an angel, showing mercy to a vicious wolf. "Sister, have you thought about his background? If he was just some nobody, I might've stuck to our original plan. But after our little chat and checking his account balance, we know he's at least a mafia boss. If I didn't do this, he wouldn't just come after us—he'd target other Chinese people too. Guys like him are usually twisted freaks. As for that Chinese traitor from earlier, he's getting the same punishment tomorrow. He saw your face. It's better if they're left clueless than hunting us with a purpose."

"Heavens, you're right. For beasts like that, our punishment was probably too kind," she said.

"My dear sister, as long as you get it, you won't have to cry buckets," I teased.

"Look at you, so annoying!" Xue'er playfully raised her fist and tapped me lightly.

The next morning, as planned, I turned that traitor into an idiot. Then Sister Xue and I left the hotel separately before reuniting. "Tian, how are you so good at this stuff, but clueless about that?" Xue'er asked, snuggling intimately in my arms.

"Probably my environment. Nobody ever told me about sex before. As for the other stuff, I learned it from the internet and books."

"You're so smart!"

"Of course, China's future genius!" I said proudly.

"Look at you, so full of yourself!" Xue'er nestled closer. Over the next ten days on the road, our relationship grew even closer—you could tell just from how often we were doing that. Even though Bixue was older, she always called me "Brother." Heh, what a blissful life.

"Sorry, you're both too young and don't have a guardian, so we can't process your passports," the officer said. Xue and I had been traveling through Inner Mongolia and reached the Heilongjiang border station, planning to get passports to visit Russia. But we hit this snag. To accompany Xue to Russia, I'd spent the last month grinding through Russian and Arabic. Just when I thought I could finally show off, our dear PLA uncle said, "Be good, kids. Don't run away from home. There are lots of bad people out there."

"Brother Tian, we can't go. What do we do?" Xue said helplessly.

"Let's go. We'll be in Russia by tonight," I whispered in her ear.

"You're lying! Watch me hit you!" Xue'er gave a flirty smile, and I felt a stir down below.

"Xue'er, swap that white fur coat for a gray one. It'll make us harder to spot."

"You're right. At night, the white snow looks gray." Right now, we were a pair of lovebirds preparing to cross the border. I checked our gear: snacks for Xue'er, enough instant food for a week, four big bottles of Sprite, six bottles of boiled water, an alcohol stove, and a two-person tent. I'd heard Russians liked robbing Chinese people, so besides two knives we bought from nomads, we also got twelve one-inch, diamond-shaped throwing knives. Ever since Xue'er mastered martial arts, she'd been obsessed with Little Li's Flying Daggers. Naturally, I, embodying the fine Chinese tradition of doting on my wife, indulged her. Throwing knives are all about eyes, hands, and force. On TV, Li Xunhuan seems invincible, but I told her, "Even if you threw a hundred knives, you wouldn't touch me." My protective true energy, a foot thick around my body, is unbreakable. Not to mention my mastered Iron Bell Cover—my muscles are so elastic and tough that even a sniper rifle at point-blank range wouldn't scratch me without me channeling energy. Together, we developed our hidden weapon techniques. I can hit a target within 300 meters, no problem. Xue'er, with slightly weaker skills, can manage 100 meters. We even mastered boomerang knives that return after being thrown and triple-shot techniques.

Two figures darted through the snowy mountains along the border. Unless you looked closely, you'd never spot us. I carried the gear, with my wife, Comrade Xue'er, behind me. (Who says you can't have a wife this young? Pfft, ignorant. Haven't you heard of people having kids before marriage? So old-fashioned. Gongshu Yun says: "Big Bro, where can I find one to keep me company through those long, lonely nights?") The route Xue'er and I picked was the safest. The border patrol wouldn't pass for another two hours. We had plenty of time. Using Divine Dragon's Traceless Step, we left no footprints in the snow. We crossed both sides' defense lines and entered Russian territory. Three kilometers from the Russian army, we found a small cave in a forest, just big enough for three people. We set up the tent to rest until dawn.

Suddenly, faint footsteps came from deep in the forest. We both heard them. Xue'er and I exchanged a glance. Border patrol? No way. To be safe, we used our lightness skill to investigate. When we got there, we were pissed. It was a Chinese-Russian gang deal—drugs and guns. I glanced at my beautiful wife, Xue'er, and we understood each other without words. Time to pull a black eats black. Haha. Along this journey, to help Xue'er gain experience, we'd done this plenty. In this day and age, old-school gangs are just a burden on society, wasting food. If we don't take their stuff, someone else will.

I moved upwind and pulled out the knockout drug. Heh, you're all going down. (Don't blame me for using my skills like this. It's Xue'er's fault—she doesn't like killing, so I carry heaps of 'Sniff-and-Drop.') In less than four seconds, over a hundred guys collapsed. Xue'er and I sprang into action. She grabbed the cash; I took the weapons and drugs. We buried the weapons and drugs, marking the spot for later. The cash? Holy crap, one hundred million US dollars! Who knew Chinese gangs were this loaded? We couldn't bury the money, so we took it with us. Good thing US dollars come in big denominations, or we wouldn't have fit it all. We packed up and left that night. I couldn't wait to see their faces tomorrow when they woke up to nothing.

Carrying this much cash, depositing it in a bank was out of the question—one check, and we'd be exposed. There are too many capable people out there. After touring Russia, my wife decided to head to Africa. "Honey, do I have to learn African tribal languages now?"

"I believe in my husband. He's so capable!" Yeah, capable—every night I'm working overtime. Xue'er can now last an hour without climaxing. You tell me how much tougher that makes things. During the day, I'm shopping with her; at noon, I'm studying languages. This is practically child abuse! (Gongshu Yun says: "Big Bro, I was wrong. Being handsome is my fault. Can you introduce fewer beauties next time? Only a dragon among men like you can handle this." On my thirteenth birthday, during the Double Ninth Festival, I finally had my first time. My excited wife, under the banner of celebrating my manhood, banned me from using dual cultivation techniques. The next day, I was so sore I could barely walk. Gongshu Yun says: "Heh, now you know how it feels, kid. Better to let it flow than block it, haha.")