Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Mechanical Giant Beast (Seeking guaranteed monthly tickets at the beginning of the month, seeking followers!)
The breakthrough in Bajiquan had made Wang Sheng’s combat strength stronger again, but as of now, there really wasn’t much opportunity to utilize it.
After all, if there wasn’t anything happening, no one would have such a dull day as to come to a remote little mountain village to pick a fight.
Thus, after the initial excitement had subsided, Wang Sheng returned to his normal life, proceeding methodically with his daily routine.
By now, as his skills increased, his original schedule had changed significantly.
So, Wang Sheng took some time out of his rest period to replan his daily activities.
Even though time was tight, Wang Sheng didn’t cut out the eight hours of sleep; after becoming a martial artist, his energy was so great that he could go many days without sleep, but sleeping was still a habit, a pleasure not to be reduced.
Therefore, he still had sixteen hours each day to allocate, and he wasn’t sure if that made him obsessive-compulsive.
Sixteen hours, still allowing three hours for meals and rest, which was actually a rather long time since everything was prepared by Li Yongfeng’s family.
That left thirteen hours available to use.
Wang Sheng had a homemade hourglass which he used in conjunction with the village’s sundial to roughly estimate the time.
Sleep at ten at night, and get up at six in the morning.
After getting up at six, he spent some time washing up and eating, and would begin the day’s training around six-thirty.
Although Wang Sheng had never felt the presence of “purple qi”, he did practice the Inner Core Skill, so every morning, he started with cultivating his inner energy.
From the break of day until the sun was fully risen, roughly three hours.
Following the Inner Core Skill, he practiced the Ba Duan Jin, Five Elements Fist, and Yijin Scripture for the same amount of time – ending his cultivation at half-past twelve, with the Ba Duan Jin taking up two hours, as it was the most crucial foundational method at the moment.
After resting until two, he began the practice of martial arts techniques.
Three hours were set aside for martial arts practice: Bajiquan, Plum Flower Step, and Six Harmonies Spear, with Bajiquan taking up the most time.
From five to seven was the period for practicing various Planting Skills.
Medicinal herbs, rice, Iron Wood – all required time to cultivate, especially the herbs that were necessary to ensure a continuous supply of Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Pills. Based on Wang Sheng’s experience, an hour was enough, with the herbs planted in that hour not only guaranteeing supply but also affording some surplus.
Then another hour and a half of rest followed.
After resting, from seven-thirty to eight-thirty was the time set aside for reading.
Until ten, it was back to cultivating the Inner Core Skill, then it was time to sleep.
This was the schedule Wang Sheng set for himself, strictly adhered to each day unless something unavoidable demanded his attention.
Under such a regimen, he spent more than ten days in quiet anticipation of moving to Qingshan Village.
However, the power struggle between Jiang Yuan’s king and King Yong Nian had already reached a life-and-death stage; it was unlikely Shuzhou would stay calm.
Time was nearing December, set to enter the new year.
Wang Sheng was practicing as usual, when suddenly, the earth started shaking.
“An earthquake?” he questioned.
He quickly dismissed the possibility. The vibrations of an earthquake could not possibly be these successive, extremely short jolts. This shaking seemed more like a giant passing by, stomping the ground.
All the villagers came out of their homes, their faces showing panic.
Sensing the direction of the tremors, Wang Sheng made his way to the highest point near Qingshan Village.
This place was a peak, and with Qingshan Village located by the river, the vision from the peak was vast.
Upon reaching the peak, he still felt the trembling and looked towards its source. As a martial artist, his vision was excellent; he could clearly see things several kilometers away.
Several miles away, he saw a figure piercing the sky.
The figure was a massive Mechanical Giant Beast, just its height surpassing a hundred meters, each limb causing a tremor upon impact with the ground, and the sunlight casting a metallic sheen upon its body.
“Holy shit, what is that?” Wang Sheng swore, his first such outburst since arriving in this world.
The Mechanical Giant Beast resembled a tiger, looking very much like Mountain Lord.
His view of the world felt like it was crumbling.
As he was trying to sort out his thoughts, Xu Qu arrived.
Like Wang Sheng, he saw the Mechanical Giant Beast.
However, unlike Wang Sheng’s shock, Xu Qu seemed to recognize it.
“Mechanical City’s Four Great Guardians Mechanism Beast, Vermilion Bird?!”
Wang Sheng quickly snapped back to reality and asked, “You recognize it?”
Xu Qu nodded, his expression turning grave.
“Mechanical City is a very old power that existed before the establishment of the Great Zhou dynasty. According to legends passed down, Mechanical City had Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Xuan Wu, and White Tiger as its four guardian mechanism beasts, each with an enormously vast body.
Yet, this isn’t the most critical part. Rumor has it that each Mechanism Beast could contend with a Great Grandmaster, but it seems this is also why Mechanical City was feared by various powers and was destroyed before the Great Zhou dynasty came to be, with the Four Great Guardians Mechanism Beasts vanishing into the sands of history.
It was assumed they were destroyed in the war that led to the downfall of Mechanical City, but to see one here, what is it doing?”
“Guardian Mechanism Beast, White Tiger?”
Wang Sheng looked in the direction the Mechanism Beast was heading and suddenly thought of something.
“That direction, isn’t that towards Jiangyuan City?”
“…”
Xu Qu didn’t know the local geography well, so he didn’t think of it immediately.
But he was aware of the situation between King Yong Nian and Jiang Yuan’s king.
Could this Guardian Mechanism Beast be what Jiang Yuan’s King, Zhou Yuanqing, was deploying against King Yong Nian, Zhou Wutong?
“Can a Great Grandmaster defeat this Mechanism Beast?” Wang Sheng asked suddenly.
“I’m not sure, but I know that during the war which established the Great Zhou, the Master of Destiny created a gorge nearly a thousand meters wide. It’s said that the sword qi is still visible even now.”
Xu Qu was a martial artist himself, not very powerful, so much of what he knew were bits of hearsay, without any solid certainty.
Hearing this, Wang Sheng knew Jiang Yuan’s king was most likely not going to win.
The Guardian Mechanism Beast contending with a Great Grandmaster might be true, but probably just that – contending, not defeating.
Of course, Jiang Yuan’s king was bold enough to bring it out; surely he had some preparations, or perhaps it was his final gamble.
The two of them watched the Mechanism Beast walk further away, and after a few minutes, the shaking gradually subsided.
At the same time, the few people Xu Qu trained arrived.
Compared to Wang Sheng and Xu Qu, they were much slower.
Li Yongfeng, seeing the two of them, sighed in relief.
“Yun Sheng, do you know what’s going on?”
Wang Sheng explained briefly.
The group was dumbfounded, even Li Yongfeng, who often traveled for escort missions, had never heard of such a Mechanical Giant Beast.
Wang Sheng, however, collected his emotions and said, “Let’s go, we need to start preparing for relocation!”