Chapter 42: Shattered
Pfft...!
Everything was ruined.
Jiang Fan was in such pain that he nearly fainted. Then, a large hand twisted his neck, and with a crack, his head spun around a hundred and eighty degrees, just enough to see what was behind him.
It was a monkey with a human face, baring its fangs, its body covered in black fur that exuded wisps of dark energy, sinister and strange.
“A Human-faced Demon Ape!”
Jiang Fan uttered four words before feeling all the strength in his body drain away rapidly.
“Didn’t they say I wouldn’t die within a year?”
As this thought flashed through his mind, his vision went black, and when it cleared again, he found himself back in the stone courtyard. Dazed for a moment, he quickly looked down to see that all his parts were intact, which made him let out a long sigh of relief.
“Is this reality or illusion?”
He looked up, unable to tell, but he understood one thing: here, he could not die.
Nevertheless, the sensation was one he never wished to experience again.
He hurried to the study. From the outside, it appeared to be just a stone house, but inside it was spacious, with bookshelves lining both walls, each shelves stretching over ten meters and filled with countless books: cultivation methods, secret tomes, martial techniques, immortal arts, weapon forging, pill crafting, demon scriptures, and many more.
He pulled out a book he had recently read, titled “The Abnormal.”
Flipping through it quickly, he stopped at a page with an illustration—it was the Human-faced Demon Ape.
“The Human-faced Demon Ape is a special hybrid born from the union of a demon cultivator and a demonic ape, inheriting the physique of the ape and the demonic aura of the cultivator, a creature born to be a demon! Exceptionally fast and strong, sinister and bloodthirsty, incomparably savage!”
“Kill on sight!”
Jiang Fan closed the book.
Demon cultivators?
He shook his head, knowing they were merely those who practiced the devil’s path—nothing unusual. Even now, the demonic way, though lurking in the shadows, could not be completely eradicated.
Still...
Such a combination made him grimace.
“That Human-faced Demon Ape must have already reached the Initiation Realm. Its timing was precise, attacking me from behind just as I killed the leopard demon, striking when I was most unprepared!”
“I never expected that in this place, I would experience death.”
Thinking this, he sat cross-legged on the ground, reflecting on the battle to draw lessons from it.
Clearly, the monsters here were much more intelligent and fearsome than the beasts of the other world.
After pondering for a quarter of an hour, Jiang Fan stood up and began to browse through the books.
With so many volumes, he wouldn’t waste the opportunity.
This time, he focused on the fist techniques, studying the principles of generating force, hoping to understand by analogy and grasp the essence of the Inch Fist sooner, thus completing his task.
After reading, he rested briefly, drank some spiritual liquid, and headed north.
The green plains stretched endlessly, the breeze causing gentle waves.
After a thousand meters, his steps grew heavier; he realized he had entered a region of increased gravity. With his physique, this level of gravity was nothing.
He continued forward, the pressure mounting with every step.
When the time seemed right, he stopped and sat cross-legged, activating his Profound Dao Technique to temper his body. In this gravity field, he could distinctly feel his progress accelerating, yet even at this speed, it would take at least half a year to perfect the second layer of the Profound Dao Technique.
Half a year? By then, everything would be lost.
“It seems that battling and facing death advances my cultivation even faster than before.”
Jiang Fan mused.
“Is this what it means to awaken one's potential in the face of life and death?”
He returned to the stone house, approached the edge of the eastern forest, and looked inside. Through the gaps in the trees, he saw a python over thirty meters long, winding its way around the trunks.
Suddenly, vines shot out from the side, like javelins, easily piercing the python. The snake writhed, but to no avail; before his eyes, its massive body shriveled up at a terrifying speed, becoming a dried corpse that fell to the ground.
From below, roots broke through the soil, dragging the corpse into the earth.
Witnessing this, Jiang Fan gasped and turned away at once.
“This seemingly tranquil forest is a man-eating den of demons!”
His expression was grim.
He now understood: whether the eastern forest or the western mountains, only those who had reached the Initiation Realm were qualified to venture within. Although he had advanced to the second layer of the Profound Dao Technique, his combat experience was lacking, leaving him with no confidence at all.
He went west again.
There, Jiang Fan saw the Human-faced Demon Ape perched atop a boulder, taller than a man and far more terrifying.
“Kill!”
He stomped the ground, sending gravel flying, and shot forward.
It was Instant Step; in a flash, he closed the distance.
His fist shattered the air.
The demon ape howled, moving even faster, its five claws forming a fist that sent Jiang Fan stumbling backward. In a blur, the ape moved like a wisp of smoke, as if merging into the air itself—without a sound, it appeared at Jiang Fan’s side, its claws reaching for his throat.
Jiang Fan dodged and leapt back.
This time, his mind was exceptionally focused, and he executed the force technique of the Surging Fist, his speed and strength multiplying several times.
Crack!
For the first time, he repelled the demon ape.
Man and ape battled fiercely for half an hour before Jiang Fan withdrew.
He bore several wounds, evidence of the demon ape’s attacks, though none were life-threatening.
But the ape remained unscathed.
“Next time, we fight again!”
Leaving these words, Jiang Fan returned to the courtyard. His wounds healed without medicine, though he was mentally exhausted.
He drank more spiritual liquid and sat in meditation to recover.
Opening his eyes once more, he went to the lakeside to hone his Surging Fist.
Drawing upon his understanding of the Inch Fist, Jiang Fan aimed to perfect the Surging Fist first, using it as a foundation to comprehend the Inch Fist, believing this transition would make things much easier.
With countless books and myriad fist techniques at his disposal, he was confident he could master Surging Fist in the shortest time.
At the same time, he continued to refine his Instant Step.
After each battle, Jiang Fan focused on cultivating Instant Step and Surging Fist, occasionally exploring the Inch Fist, while the Golden Mist Technique and Profound Dao Technique were set aside, except for pondering their true meanings.
After training, he would battle the Human-faced Demon Ape again, sometimes encountering leopard demons or wolf monsters.
And so, day after day passed.
Jiang Fan’s progress was swift.
He successively mastered the fifth and sixth layers of Surging Fist. With sevenfold explosive power, his strength reached a terrifying amplification of 5.6 times.
Instant Step allowed him to take six steps in rapid succession, merging the recoil force into a single explosive movement—lethal in combat.
“Again!”
Jiang Fan sought out the demon ape once more.
The first time, he died a humiliating death.
The second, he was gravely wounded.
The third, he took only one hit.
The fourth, he emerged unscathed.
The fifth, he battered the demon ape to a pitiable state.
Now, it was the sixth time!
Whoosh!
Jiang Fan moved to the demon ape’s left, anticipating its attack pattern. The ape swung, but struck only empty air.
Jiang Fan had already circled to the other side.
His Instant Step was now wielded with exquisite mastery.
“Let’s see how you handle the sixth layer of Surging Fist!”
As he spoke, his fist landed on the demon ape’s temple.
Crack!
A blow faster than sound shattered its skull.
“You made me taste death. Now I grant you the same.”
Jiang Fan turned away, returned straight to his bedroom, lay on the stone bed, and closed his eyes.
“Today is the forty-ninth day since I returned.”
“I’ll sleep first. When I wake, I’ll head to the other side.”
Jiang Fan had been carefully keeping track of time, even placing a timer in his mental space.