Chapter 4: Broken Leg

"Kneel!" Lucian Sabey struck first, driving a punch straight at Evan Norman. As the fist came in, Evan felt something strange rise in him, like a door cracking open. He could think of at least seventeen ways to dissolve that punch. Even factoring in the damage to the meridians in his right leg and right arm, he still had four clean answers. He was clever, and his talent in the Martial Way was nothing to scoff at, but he had never been this monstrous. In the span of a heartbeat, Evan understood. This was Colin Umpleby's memory. With the memories of a Martial Way powerhouse in his head, Evan's eye for combat sharpened a thousandfold, ten thousandfold. Evan threw a punch of his own. It looked ordinary, almost plain to the point of boredom, yet it pierced through Lucian's attack and landed squarely in the hollow of his shoulder. "Ah!" Lucian screamed at once. Evan carried two thousand jin of strength. That single blow was savage. Evan seized the opening and hammered with his left. Thud, thud, thud! Lucian was beaten senseless. Once he lost the initiative, all he had left was getting pummeled. If it came down to pure fighting experience, Evan could leave Lucian in the dust by miles. When Lucian was driven flat to the ground, the crowd could hardly believe it. This was not the Lucian from a year ago. His strength had already surpassed Evan by a wide margin, and Evan was injured on top of that! The boys stared as if they had seen a ghost. The girls, meanwhile, lit up with excitement. This was their idol. So handsome, so handsome, so handsome... "Evan, you-" Lucian lay on the ground. From this angle, Evan looked like a giant, and the pressure crushed down on him. "What did you call me just then?" Evan asked, voice calm. "A cripple?" He brought his foot down. Crack. Lucian's right leg twisted at a grotesque angle. "Aaaah!" Lucian shrieked, tears and snot smearing his face in an instant. Hiss! Everyone sucked in a cold breath. Evan actually dared to do it. He had stomped Lucian's leg clean through. That was Seventh Young Master Sabey of the Sabey family! And yet... damn, it was ruthless. It was glorious. A man got challenged, and he hit back. Wasn't that how it should be? So what if he was Seventh Young Master Sabey? If Evan wanted to cripple him, he crippled him. Even the boys, jealous as they were, could not help giving Evan a grudging thumbs-up in their hearts. The girls had already been staring with stars in their eyes. "Evan Norman, you're vicious! You're vicious!" Lucian clenched his teeth against the pain. "You dare break my leg? In all of Sunrise City, you won't have a place to stand!" Torn tendons and broken bones took a hundred days to heal. For at least two months, he could forget high-intensity training. That meant he could, at best, maintain his current strength. There would be no improvement. Evan smiled faintly. He bent down, leaned close to Lucian's ear, and murmured, "You wanted to kill me, so I took your leg. Try me again, and it won't end this simply." Lucian's pupils tightened. How did Evan know? Bowen Bennitt, that idiot! Evan straightened, turned, and walked off. He lifted a hand in a casual wave. "If you want revenge, I'll be waiting." So effortless. So unrestrained. The girls fell even deeper into it, hands clasped to their chests, eyes brimming with worship. Evan strode away, but his mind raced like lightning. With the miracles of the Nine Cycles Heaven-Plundering Scripture, his strength would rise at a terrifying pace. Ten days, half a month at most, and he could ignore the Sabey family entirely. He decided to leave the academy and head for Great Cloud Mountain. First, it would let the storm blow over while he bought himself time to grow stronger. Second, he needed to heal the damage to his meridians. In the past, even the academy's physicians would have been helpless. But Evan could treat himself. Colin Umpleby had not specialized in Medical Art, yet given the heights he had once stood at, even casual knowledge surpassed the level of Splendid Origin Kingdom's famed masters. Evan sifted through the memories. For the extent of his meridian damage, he only needed to prepare Dragon Tiger Paste. It was a low-end medicine. "But my strength still isn't enough, and with my meridians damaged, I can't fully exert myself. Going deep into Great Cloud Mountain to gather herbs for Dragon Tiger Paste isn't realistic." "I need a different approach." "I'll gather herbs along the outer edge of Great Cloud Mountain and make a different medicine first. Then I'll sell it at a pharmacy in the city. Once I have money, I'll buy the ingredients for Dragon Tiger Paste." "Because I'm broke." Evan gave a self-mocking chuckle. "So hungry!" He pressed a hand to his stomach. His strength had surged too suddenly, and the backlash was a vicious, gnawing hunger. "Into the mountain. Gather herbs, hunt." Stellar Gale Academy sat at the foot of Great Cloud Mountain, so entering the mountain was easy. On ordinary days, instructors even organized hunting trips to temper students' practical combat skills. Evan lacked nothing in basic wilderness survival. He entered Great Cloud Mountain, and because the hunger was unbearable, his first goal was hunting. His luck was decent. Not long after he went in, he found a nest of rabbits. He cleaned them by a stream, built a fire, roasted the meat, and devoured it in huge bites. One rabbit barely counted as a mouthful. Only after three did the hunger ease a little. Evan bared his teeth at the thought. For the next few days, he would probably be tormented by the problem of food. Then he began searching for herbs. Before long, the sun sank westward and the light dimmed. Ape cries and tiger roars echoed through the mountain, raising gooseflesh. Evan had entered Great Cloud Mountain before, but this was his first time alone. Spending the night in the mountain was even more unheard of. Fortunately, this was the outer region. Night was dangerous, but with his current strength, he would be fine as long as he stayed cautious. The deep mountains were out of the question. Fierce Beast lived there, beasts that were like martial artists among animals, vicious beyond measure. Evan could not handle that yet. He shaved down a tree trunk into a spear, then leaned against the tree and dozed. The campfire burned bright. If any beast dared come, it would only become his meal. A wild wolf actually attacked in the middle of the night. Evan drove the spear through it with a single thrust. Two thousand jin of strength. Ordinary bears and tigers could not compare. When morning came, Evan happily dressed the wolf and cooked himself a feast. His appetite was frightening. He ate half the wolf in one go before his belly finally felt a little full. He slung the remaining half over his back and continued gathering herbs. The medicine he planned to make was Hemostatic Powder. For one, martial artists inevitably got injured, so Hemostatic Powder always sold well. For another, he could only roam the outer edge of Great Cloud Mountain right now, and those were the only herbs he could find in quantity. In a single day, Evan gathered enough ingredients to make several batches of Hemostatic Powder. He did not go back. Even though Stellar Gale Academy had not stripped him of his student status, and Lucian did not dare attack him openly, the Sabey family's influence was more than enough to make his life miserable. So why return? To be humiliated? As the sun dipped toward the horizon, Evan decided to cultivate the Nine Cycles Heaven-Plundering Scripture. He had noticed his mind felt clear. His Soul Power should have recovered. Come. He circulated the Nine Cycles Heaven-Plundering Scripture, and the world immediately seemed to change. All kinds of energies took shape before his senses. One cycle! Huh? Evan's eyes widened. This time, the energy he drew in was far greater than yesterday's. Because... the energy density here was higher, and it was purer. Coming out here had been the right call. Two cycles, three cycles... nine cycles. Evan stopped. He rose to his feet and threw a test punch. There was no strength tester, but with his "experience"-which was really Colin Umpleby's-he could tell his strength had reached four thousand jin. An increase of a full two thousand jin!! Even with mental preparation, Evan was still shocked speechless. The Nine Cycles Heaven-Plundering Scripture was insane.