Chapter 2

A series of muffled booms echoed from underground, lasting for several minutes before finally ceasing. The creatures on the nearby wasteland, having heard the commotion, had already fled in terror.

The original cave entrance had collapsed into a small mound of earth. After a while, the stones on the edge of the mound began to move, and Song Chunshi emerged from the ground, spitting out the mud and sand in her mouth. She collapsed on the pile of rubble, weakly muttering, “System, you jerk!”

The system, feeling guilty, remained silent.

Song Chunshi rolled her eyes, wanting to drag this unlucky thing out and beat it up. “I’ve told you a thousand times, you can’t drain all the energy. Otherwise, the mine will collapse due to insufficient support. You stubborn bastard, I’m breaking up with you!”

“It was an accident this time…” the unlucky thing stammered.

“Heh,” Song Chunshi scoffed, refusing to speak.

Seeing that she was truly angry, the system tried to lighten the mood. “Spring, look, we collected a total of 12 energy points this time, that’s a lot! You’re amazing!”

The mechanical voice struggled to sound cute, but it failed, instead coming across as strangely artificial.

“Song Chunshi was speechless. She shuddered violently, “Just shut up.”

She stood up and looked around, finding a shady spot to sit down. She opened her panel to check her personal information.

Name: Song Chunshi

Accumulated Energy Value: 503 points

Current Energy Value: 259 points

Weapons Exchanged: Dagger (ordinary), Bow and Arrow (fine)

Martial Arts Exchanged: “Mystifying Legs” (Mastered), “Swift Wind Fist” (Mastered), “Shadowless Bow” (Mastered)]

This was the sum total of Song Chunshi’s achievements after years of being transported to this world.

Coincidentally, her family had run a small martial arts school. When she was five or six years old, she would stagger behind her grandfather, practicing stances. When she was transported, she was fourteen years old, and while her skills were stronger than those of ordinary people, she was still far from being able to fight the wild beasts on this desolate planet.

Therefore, she used the first batch of energy she earned from mining to exchange for a dagger for self-defense. Three months later, she exchanged for her first martial art, “Mystifying Legs.”

“Mystifying Legs” had no offensive power, its main purpose was to allow her to run fast. With her previous foundation, she quickly mastered it.

Once she reached mastery and gained the ability to protect herself, she successively exchanged for “Swift Wind Fist” and “Shadowless Bow.” These two were offensive martial arts, perfectly complementing close combat and long-range attacks.

By this time, she had already developed a certain level of strength. She took the initiative to attack and occupied a small oasis as her territory.

Now, all three martial arts were mastered. Because she had always practiced external martial arts, Song Chunshi felt like her strength had reached a bottleneck. To improve further, she needed to practice internal martial arts.

However, in the system’s store, the cheapest external martial art only cost 28 energy points, while the cheapest internal martial art cost 108 points.

Song Chunshi considered herself to have some standards, and she didn’t want the cheapest one.

A poor person still wants quality, which meant that after five years of mining for energy, she still hadn’t been able to afford a single internal martial art.

But today, that was about to change.

Song Chunshi glanced at her current energy value, 259 points. Enough, more than enough.

She opened the system store, selected the martial arts category, and quickly swiped her finger across the screen. It stopped on a particular line, and she solemnly clicked the exchange button.

Ding—Please confirm, do you wish to spend 258 energy points to exchange for the martial art “Eternal Spring Manual”?

“Confirm, confirm.” Song Chunshi didn’t hesitate.

Another ding, and 258 energy points were deducted. In her personal information, the current energy value column was left with a lonely 1 point.

She couldn’t bear to feel sorry for her wallet, excitedly clicking on “Eternal Spring Manual,” eagerly flipping through the pages.

The Way has love and trust, it is formless and effortless; it can be passed down but not received, it can be obtained but not seen; it originates from its own root, before heaven and earth existed, it has always been present… Note

“What is this?!”

As if she had been punched in the face, Song Chunshi felt her vision go black, and the smile on her face completely cracked.

Since she was a child, she had been bad at language, and her essays were often criticized by teachers for being rambling and lacking in literary talent, requiring her to rewrite them. In middle school, her teacher asked her to memorize the entire text of “The Art of Ventriloquism,” nearly making her cry. She would rather run ten laps around the playground than memorize those confusing classical Chinese texts.

Now, even after being transported to another world, she still had to suffer this kind of torture?!

“Save the fish that can’t swim!” The failing student’s tears were about to fall.

She had been transported in the summer of her second year of middle school, and she hadn’t even finished nine years of compulsory education…

The system was startled by her reaction and hurriedly said, “This is just the introduction, the real manual is in the back.”

“Really?” Song Chunshi was doubtful, flipping to the next page.

From the second page onwards, there were no more of those obscure statements. Each page contained only one picture, accompanied by two concise lines of instructions.

She felt like she had been saved from death, letting out a sigh of relief, feeling a sense of lingering fear. “The introduction is pretty good, don’t introduce it next time.”

The first picture showed a small figure sitting in meditation, legs crossed, head straight, eyes closed, with lines drawn around it, resembling a certain breathing technique.

Song Chunshi stared at the page for a while, unconsciously assuming the same posture, silently reciting the instructions. Her breathing rate slowed from fast to slow, until finally, it was almost inaudible.

It felt like she had just blinked, but when she opened her eyes again, she realized that the shadow on the ground had moved several meters, and at least two hours had passed!

Ever since she started practicing martial arts, Song Chunshi had suffered a lot. She always felt like the days of practicing were like years, but this was the first time she had experienced time passing like seconds.

She was amazed, stood up and stretched her limbs. Her body was neither stiff nor sore, even the aches from mining had disappeared. She felt refreshed.

“This is amazing!”

It was truly worth the 258 energy points. It was worth all the hard work she had put into mining!

The system said with a smug tone, “Products from this system are guaranteed to be of the highest quality. Every energy point spent by the host is worth it.”

Song Chunshi—

Feeling good, she decided not to hold a grudge against the system for almost burying her alive. She touched her lower abdomen, feeling a faint warmth, as if a force was brewing.

“That force is the inner energy seed. With the seed, you can cultivate according to the manual and generate continuous inner energy,” the system explained.

What neither of them knew at the moment was that although the system was well-versed in the martial arts in its store and had some understanding of martial ways, it was not human after all, and it had not interacted with many humans. Therefore, it did not understand that someone like Song Chunshi, who could condense an inner energy seed in such a short time, was considered a top-tier genius in the martial arts.

Such a genius, if placed in a world where martial arts were paramount, would have been fought over by everyone, eager to take them as disciples.

The reason for this was simply because there was something called aptitude in the world.

External martial arts had a lower threshold than internal martial arts because as long as one was willing to put in the hard work, they could always achieve something. Internal martial arts were different. People without aptitude might spend their entire lives in vain, unable to even condense an inner energy seed.

Geniuses were rare, and top-tier geniuses were even rarer, a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence.

The system was completely unaware of this, simply boasting about the manual it had sold. “Don’t be fooled by the name “Eternal Spring Manual.” It may not sound very powerful, but this manual focuses on vitality. The inner energy it generates is peaceful and righteous, long-lasting and inexhaustible. It can not only nourish the meridians but also has a life-extending effect. As long as you master it, you can live for two hundred years. If you reach the highest level of mastery, living for five hundred years is not a problem!”

Song Chunshi had already learned about this information before exchanging for it. She was still young and didn’t have much feeling about extending her lifespan. She chose “Eternal Spring Manual” mainly because she wanted to teach it to her grandfather when she returned home. The old man would be overjoyed.

She hoped that the old man would live for five hundred years, or even longer. She had no feelings for her parents, and she only considered her grandfather to be her only family member. She wanted to have his company for a long time.

It was getting late, and she had to go back. Because the tools she brought were buried under the rubble, Song Chunshi ran back empty-handed.

Two stars sank in the west one after another, and night was about to fall. The temperature in the desert dropped quickly, and the dry evening wind blew on her face, carrying away warmth and moisture.

“I need to make a new coat this winter,” Song Chunshi said, covering her nose and mouth, running and calculating.

Perhaps it was due to practicing martial arts, but she grew very quickly. She was nineteen years old, and she still hadn’t stopped growing. She had to make new clothes every year.

Moreover, in another month, it would be winter, and she had to stock up on winter supplies in advance. Some things she couldn’t get on her own, and she had to go to the Great Oasis to exchange for them.

Just as she was thinking about this, she suddenly caught a faint sound. She stopped and looked around cautiously, her gaze finally settling on a small sand dune.

The sand dune seemed completely normal, but if someone unaware walked past, they would fall right into a beast’s trap.

Song Chunshi had been practicing martial arts for years, and her five senses were stronger than those of ordinary people. After mastering internal martial arts today, this advantage was even more obvious. In the past, she would have had to get closer to detect any abnormalities.

She stood there, a longbow appearing in her hand, as tall as half a person. Her fingers hooked on the string, her forearm, upper arm, and back muscles contracted in succession, slowly pulling the bowstring back until it was as round as a full moon.

The tip of the arrow pointed directly at the sand dune.

Seeing that she wasn’t approaching, the disguised beast quickly lost patience. It roared suddenly, and the entire sand dune came alive, opening its bloody maw and lunging at her.

Song Chunshi stood tall, her feet never moving. Only the tip of the arrow followed the beast’s movements, subtly adjusting its angle.

The beast was incredibly fast. Its huge body dashed over a hundred meters in the blink of an eye, and the stench of blood rushed towards her. It seemed like in the next second, its ferocious teeth would land on her.

“Whoosh—”

Her fingers loosened slightly, and the arrow feathers, like shooting stars, flew across the night sky at a speed that was impossible to capture with the naked eye.

The giant beast’s momentum faltered, and it ran another ten meters forward, almost reaching Song Chunshi before its massive body crashed to the ground.

There were no visible wounds on its body, only its left eye was pierced by the long arrow. The arrowhead, flying at incredible speed, carried tremendous destructive power, tearing its brains apart.

Song Chunshi took two steps forward, her line of sight level with the fallen beast’s head. With a hint of disgust on her face, she forcefully pulled out the arrow embedded in its skull. The arrow shaft was red with blood, and white with brains.

The bow and arrow were both bought from the system store. One bow came with twelve arrows, a fine set, costing her a total of 58 energy points. So, even though she was disgusted, she had to recover them.

The system had a storage space similar to a game backpack. Any items purchased from the store could be stored in it, and they could be retrieved at any time when needed.

She put away the bow and arrow, frowning at the massive prey in front of her.

She couldn’t store this thing, she had to drag it back herself. Looking at its size, it was at least a thousand pounds. How long would it take to drag it back?

She rarely hunted far from her territory, precisely because of this. Many beasts on this desolate planet were abnormally large. Killing them was easy, but bringing them home was difficult.

But she couldn’t just leave it there. What kind of family would just throw away a winter’s worth of food?

Song Chunshi sighed, defeated by poverty. She resigned herself to grabbing the beast’s tail and using it as a rope to sling it over her shoulder. Her small body dragged the large beast, looking from afar like an ant carrying a load.

Several kilometers ahead of her, a few students from the Military Academy had just escaped from the beast’s mouth. Still shaken, they found a sheltered spot to use as their resting place for the night.

On Starnet, viewers expressed their sympathy for them.

“It’s so hard. They don’t even have any hot weapons. That little dagger is useless. They’re basically facing the star beast barehanded.”

“They’re so brave! Ordinary people would have been scared to their knees.”

“Yes, and they managed to escape safely, no one was injured, no one was left behind. No one could have done better.”

“Excellent team coordination, perfect!”

Rainbow farts filled the screen.

Suddenly, a huge black shadow appeared at the edge of the screen. Viewers were startled. Another star beast?!

The students also noticed it and immediately stood up, looking vigilantly in that direction.

Under the watchful eyes of countless viewers—

The black shadow moved at an abnormally slow pace. When it got closer, everyone was speechless.

It was a young girl dragging a massive star beast corpse!

The girl’s slender body was completely obscured by the shadow of the star beast, which is why no one noticed her at first.

The scene was so shocking that everyone was speechless. They could only stare with wide eyes as the girl slowly walked across the center of the screen and then slowly walked away.

Viewers: “…”