Chapter 7: Inventing

Jasper took about half an incense stick's time, roughly thirty minutes, to finish a full set of Arhat Fist. By the end, he was panting hard, drenched in sweat. Arhat Fist turned out to be broad and intricate. It had many moves, and every move carried a clear purpose. This boxing art came from the sacred land of Mount Salvation. Most Mount Salvation disciples used Arhat Fist to build their foundation, and it had spread widely across the southern regions of the Celestial Empire. Pace Zorn opened his panel and saw that it had successfully recorded Arhat Fist. Arhat Fist [Low Grade] (0/100) Seeing that Arhat Fist was actually a Low Grade martial art, he felt a spark of delight. That meant he could rely on proficiency to deduce and comprehend it, pushing it up to Medium Grade. His ability to protect himself would rise again. "Cousin, I'll teach you one move at a time," Jasper said between breaths, not even stopping to rest. Pace replied, "Jasper, I've already memorized all of it. You don't need to go move by move." "Huh?!" Jasper yelped, shock and disbelief flooding his face. "Really?" There were so many moves in Arhat Fist. Back then, it had taken him a full six months to barely memorize them all. Pace nodded firmly. "Really." He lowered his eyelids, opened the panel, and in one breath filled Arhat Fist with proficiency points. A few breaths later, Pace finished absorbing the insights. He opened his eyes and, right in front of Jasper, began to practice Arhat Fist. Jasper watched as Pace's every strike and stance surged with fierce momentum. The gusts from his fists were startling, and it looked as though he performed even better than the instructor who had taught Jasper. Jasper stood there, stunned into silence, eyes wide. Not far away, Flora was just as shaken. Lilith was no less rattled, even though she had prepared herself mentally. When Pace finished the set, he drew his fists back and regulated his breathing. Not a single bead of sweat fell. Jasper finally snapped out of it. Worship lit his eyes as he shouted, "Cousin, you're a monster!" Pace smiled. "My understanding of Arhat Fist still isn't deep enough. Tomorrow, we'll practice Arhat Fist together again, all right?" "Sure! Whatever you say!" Jasper nodded hard. After Lilith and Jasper left, Flora crouched in front of Pace, took his tiny hand, and smiled. "Pace, I heard from your Lilith that you learned Breeze Sword Technique very well. Could you give your Justin some pointers too?" "Of course, Flora." Pace's voice turned eager. "Let's go find Justin." Flora had nursed him when he was small. She was practically half a mother to him, and he wanted to repay her. "No rush." Flora scooped him up. "First, I'm going to fill you up." With that, she turned and headed for the bedroom. After he had his fill, Pace followed Flora to her courtyard and carefully guided Justin through Breeze Sword Technique. Justin's Breeze Sword Technique improved by leaps and bounds, and he grasped its true flavor. Late that night, Pace quietly got up again and slipped into the courtyard. He raised Arhat Fist's proficiency to 10,000 points, a hundred times the requirement. Smoothly, he comprehended a new boxing art that climbed to an even higher level. The new art was not an unnamed technique. It displayed directly as Arhat Demon-Subduing Fist [Medium Grade]. So Arhat Demon-Subduing Fist was the advanced form of Arhat Fist. Its power was tremendous, able to purge demons and subdue fiends, and only Mount Salvation Inner Disciple were permitted to learn it. On the morning of the fourth day, in Laurel Court, Pace taught Arhat Fist to Jasper and Justin together. Word that Pace had turned around and started teaching Jasper and Justin spread through Juggins Mansion, from maids to household servants, until it reached the ears of Wade Juggins, the family head. Wade was half skeptical. He went to verify it personally. After watching Pace complete a full set of Arhat Fist with his own eyes, Wade felt both shock and wild joy. He had trained Arhat Fist diligently when he was young, yet he discovered that this grandson-in-law's child performed it better than he did, carrying even more of Arhat Fist's true essence. One had to understand, Wade was a top expert of the Fourth Realm, Divine Treasury Realm. "Good, good, good!" Wade said "good" three times in a row, then burst into hearty laughter. "Truly my Wade Juggins's fine grandson!" Seeing her father praise Pace so openly, Luna Juggins smiled through tears. Forced back to her natal home to carry her pregnancy, give birth, and raise her child, she had been genuinely accepted by her family, yet she still felt humiliated, uneasy, and ashamed. But Pace had shown astonishing intelligence and martial talent at only half a year old, earning even deeper recognition from the Juggins family. At last, her heart settled a little. That day, Juggins Mansion held a family banquet to celebrate Pace. At the banquet, Wade addressed Luna and the rest of the Juggins family with a stern face. "This child has terrifying martial comprehension, but we must not force growth. He's only half a year old. His Spiritual Root is still extremely fragile. Another infant his age barely knows how to crawl. From this day on, no one is allowed to teach him any martial arts before he turns four." Everyone sobered. "Father is right." Pace never expected that, because of this, he would be unable to touch any other martial arts for a long stretch of time. Time flew. In the blink of an eye, Pace reached eight months old, and his body had grown sturdy, comparable to a two-year-old boy. He had already asked to be weaned and switched to solid food, food rich in Primordial Energy, Demon Beast Meat, and the like. Relying only on breast milk could build his body, but it could not help him rapidly accumulate True Energy and raise his strength. Once Luna stopped nursing him, she began leaving early and returning late, busy from dawn to dusk with no time to keep him company. She had to take part in managing the Juggins family businesses and contribute. She could not stay in Juggins Mansion and live off them with a clear conscience. During the day, a wet nurse stayed with Pace. Pace was naturally well-behaved. He did not cry or fuss. He gathered books and read them, using them to understand this world. Through reading, he finally gained a clear grasp of where he was. This world was called the Great Wilderness, formed from the evolution of an ancient, savage age. In the present Great Wilderness, aside from the boundless sea, the land was divided into five parts: the Eastern Wilderness, Southern Wilderness, Western Wilderness, Northern Wilderness, and Central Wilderness. In the Great Wilderness, ten thousand races competed to exist. There were ferocious beasts and divine beasts, flood dragons and luan birds and phoenixes, Demon Beast and demons, evil entities and witchcraft and poisons, and more. The Human Race was far from the ruler of the Great Wilderness. On the contrary, the Human Race had once been food, sacrifices, slaves, and servants to the myriad races. After over a hundred thousand years of unyielding, ingenious struggle, they finally threw off the fate of enslavement. At present, the Human Race mainly multiplied across Eastern Treasure Continent and Central Vista Continent in the Eastern Wilderness, occupying a tenth of the Eastern Wilderness. It was rich, fertile land. The Celestial Empire was the largest nation of the Human Race, almost monopolizing the entirety of Eastern Treasure Continent. From south to north it stretched over a hundred thousand li, and from east to west sixty thousand li. To the east lay the Endless Ocean. To the west it bordered five other Human Race nations, including the Circling Empire, Serene Empire, Guardian Empire, Blazing Empire, and Beam Empire. In the Northern Frontier lurked evil entities and the Rakshasa Tribe, while the southern frontier faced constant threats from demons and ferocious beasts. Within the nation were two sacred cultivation lands: Scenic Way Palace in the north and Mount Salvation in the south. The central Celestial Imperial Court was, of course, the strongest. Deep within the Celestial Imperial Palace, a Ultimate Imperial Weapon was enshrined: the Heavenly Emperor's Sword. Ultimate Imperial Weapon were the companion weapons of the Human Race's supreme experts, the Great Emperor. They could suppress and stabilize the Human Race's fortune. Pace read quickly. He would pick up a book, flip through it once at speed, let the panel record it, then directly add proficiency points. The book's knowledge and information would pour into his mind instantly. He could recite it forwards and backwards, and his understanding ran deep. It was almost the same as having the contents injected straight into his brain. After two months of reading, Pace had nearly run out of books. Life became unbearably dull. That evening, Luna bought two jin of Tricolor Deer meat and had the kitchen cook it for Pace. Pace ate a piece and found it delicious. He immediately picked up another piece and held it to Luna's lips. "Mother, this meat is so good." Luna leaned back, smiling as she shook her head. "I've already eaten. I know what it tastes like. You eat." Tricolor Deer was also a low-level Demon Beast, but it cost two or three times more than other low-level Demon Beast Meat. She could not bear to eat it. Pace's chopsticks lowered a little, his expression dimming. "Mother, why don't you eat Demon Beast Meat to raise your cultivation?" Before he was born, he had added a million proficiency points to Luna's Void Serene Zephyr Codex. If she cultivated seriously and had enough Cultivation Resources, reaching the Divine Treasury Realm would be no problem. Even the Dragon Transformation Realm was possible. Yet after giving birth to him, aside from absorbing Primordial Energy for an hour each day, she never took Spirit Elixir, never ate Demon Beast Meat, never used anything to push her cultivation higher. "My cultivation talent isn't very good," Luna explained with a gentle smile, then hurried to change the subject. "Eating Demon Beast Meat would be a waste. Hurry and eat. If it gets cold, it won't taste as good." Pace said nothing more. He lowered his head and ate. He knew the real reason. They did not have money. It had all been snatched away by that old shrew. He thought it over. He needed a way to earn money. At the same time, he could not help thinking of his nearly boundless Primal Sea. He had no idea how many resources it would take to fill it. A few days later, Pace tinkered his way into making scented soap. He had noticed that in Juggins Mansion, everyone bathed to keep clean, using the more primitive soap. No one used any so-called cleansing Spirit Talisman as a substitute. So he figured that making scented soap and selling it should bring in money. The sun sank. Night fell. Luna returned late that night. Pace insisted on waiting until the very end of the hour before she finally came back. "Pace, why are you still awake?" Luna's face tightened as she scolded him. "You're still little. You must sleep early." Pace accepted the reprimand. "Mother is right. But Mother should also come home earlier to rest. You can't work yourself too hard." Luna's expression softened. She stroked his small head. "I know you're a good boy." "Mother, I have a gift for you." Pace looked up and took out a bar of scented soap, offering it to her with both hands. Luna picked it up and examined it closely. Confusion and wonder surfaced on her breathtaking face. "This looks like… soap? But it's snow-white like jade, no impurities, no harsh smell. It only has a faint jasmine fragrance." Ordinary soap, made with things like pig pancreas and plant ash, inevitably carried mixed colors, grit, and a strange odor. Pace had deliberately added jasmine juice to his scented soap, so it carried a jasmine scent. A moment later, Luna lowered her head and gave Pace a helpless, wry smile. "This bar of soap must be expensive, right? Mother understands you love me, but don't spend money recklessly in the future." She planned to sell it tomorrow to exchange it for silver. Pace shook his head lightly, smiling. "Mother, you misunderstood. This scented soap, uh, this scented… soap wasn't bought. I made it myself." "What? You made it yourself?!" Luna gasped, disbelief flashing across her eyes. "You really made it?" Pace nodded with certainty. "I really made it." Then he explained, "I read many books these past two months and had some insights. I invented the formula, so I made it to show filial respect to Mother." Luna was even more stunned. "How did you make it?" Pace smiled and described the entire process in detail. Luna listened as if hearing a legend. "Pig fat can be turned into soap, and the finest soap at that? Pace, you're not lying to Mother, are you?" "Mother, I would never lie to you." Pace's voice turned solemn. "Tomorrow I'll make another batch for you to watch." "No, no. Of course Mother believes you." Luna shook her head quickly. "I'm just too shocked." She crouched down, pulled his tiny body into her arms, and blurted out, "Good child. You're so smart. Mother is so happy, so glad…" Seeing her happy made Pace smile too. After a while, she let him go and said seriously, "This kind of soap is worth a lot. Can you give the formula to Mother?" "Of course." Pace answered at once. Handing the method for making scented soap to Luna had been his true goal all along. Luna's eyes shone with excitement. "That's wonderful. With the formula, Mother will be able to spend more time with you." After she put Pace to bed, Luna could hardly wait. She took the scented soap and went to find her father, Wade Juggins, the head of Juggins Mansion. This was a private road to wealth. Early the next morning, Wade summoned all the core members of the Juggins family to the Family Council Hall. The doors and windows were shut, and no idle outsiders were allowed to come near. Wade took out a bar of scented soap made by Pace and showed it to everyone. "Guess how much silver this bar of soap is worth." With that, he passed it around for each person to examine. The Juggins family's core members took turns holding it, clicking their tongues in amazement. They had never seen soap of such high quality, so flawless and perfect. When the scented soap returned to Wade's hands, he asked, "All right. Name your price." "Thirty taels of patterned silver!" Luna's uncle spoke first. Someone immediately disagreed. "At least fifty taels!" "It's worth a hundred taels!" another voice called out, higher still. It was a woman. Luna looked over. It was her aunt. Her aunt's talent was outstanding, ranked second among the Juggins family's experts. She had not married out. Instead, she had taken a husband into the family. Wade could not help glaring at his sister, displeased. "Why not shout a thousand taels while you're at it?" Unexpectedly, his aunt refused to back down. "If I had the money, I'd buy it even if it cost more than a thousand taels!" Wade looked so exasperated he nearly laughed, though it was a happy laugh. This kind of soap truly drew women's obsession. They were willing to pay a higher price for it. "Luna," Wade said, turning to her, "tell everyone where this soap came from."