Chapter 12: Dawn (Part 1)

  Endless desolate wilderness, within towering mountains and ridges, boundless forests, where ferocious beasts lurk deep inside. The vastness of the wilderness is so immense that no one can truly comprehend it. The three provinces of the Eastern Domain claim to have a total of six hundred thousand troops, with four hundred thousand stationed along the edges of the wilderness.

  There are still 200,000 troops outside the Blackwater Mountains. There are nearly 200,000 mountain bandits in the Blackwater Mountains, making them the number one mountain bandit in the world. Because these mountain bandits are very familiar with the terrain of the Blackwater Mountains and have the advantage of the land, the 200,000 troops controlled by the King of the East have been stationed outside the Blackwater Mountains to deter the Blackwater Mountain bandits.

  In a room of a heavily guarded mansion on the outskirts of Honghuang, King Qin De of Zhen Dong was quietly reading a book.

  "Your Highness." Zhao Yun stood outside the door and bowed.

  "Yun Xing, come in." Qin De said without lifting his head. Zhao Yun Xing bowed and walked into the room, standing quietly on one side waiting for Qin De to speak. As for General Qin De, Zhao Yun Xing had only reverence in his heart.

  Qin De put down the book in his hand, looked up at Zhao Yun Xing and smiled slightly: "Yun Xing, you've been teaching Yu Er for a year now, tell me, does he have any prospects in external skills?"

  "Your Highness, the Third Prince is extremely hardworking and diligent, his willpower is stronger than many adults." Zhao Yunxing said immediately, a faint smile appeared on Qin De's face. Zhao Yunxing continued, "However, the Third Prince's innate talent can only be considered average to above-average. In the past, those who cultivated external skills to the extreme were mostly people with extremely high innate talents. But with the nourishment of the Cloud Mist Mountain Villa hot spring and frequent consumption of precious medicine, the Third Prince still has hope to reach the pinnacle of external skills."

  External skill reaches its peak, which is the ultimate in acquired skills, approaching the realm of innate abilities. When external skill cultivation reaches this level, it can even rival the internal skill of an innate master in the early stages.

  "How many years will it take?" Qin De asked back.

  Zhao Yun thought for a moment and said, "I estimate it will take thirty years. This is still assuming the Third Highness persists in his efforts. The further one goes with external skills, the harder it becomes to make progress. For example, strength - after ten or more years of cultivation, reaching three or four hundred jin with one hand is not a problem. However, the ultimate goal for external skills should be to reach seven or eight hundred jin with one hand, and it gets increasingly difficult as time goes on. Thirty years should be about right."

  Qin De shook his head and let out a sigh: "Thirty years is too long, but being able to have the power of self-preservation in just over a decade is barely considered not bad."

  "Alright, Yun Xing you can go back first." Qin De said with a smile. Zhao Yun Xing immediately bowed and said: "Your subordinate takes his leave." Then Zhao Yun Xing left the room, leaving only Qin De alone inside. After a long time, a low sigh echoed in the room...

  The waterfall plunged down, Qin Yu tied up his horse and insisted on the green stone under the waterfall.

  Feeling the impact of the waterfall, Qin Yu secretly congratulated himself. Fortunately, when he first started training, Zhao Yun Xing emphasized his physical resistance to beating and often applied medicinal wine all over his body, which made Qin Yu's resistance to beating not small, otherwise he would not have been able to withstand the impact of the waterfall.

  "Persevere."

  Qin Yu constantly demanded himself in his heart, Zhao Yun Xing was no longer there, and no one asked him to do so. Qin Yu had also had the idea of slacking off in his heart, after all, he was alone in training, and no one would scold him if he slacked off. Moreover, he was still a child.

  But... that idea was strangled by him as soon as it occurred.

  His elder brother, his second brother, even his father, none of them are lazy, and none of them are weak.

  As a descendant of the Qin family and as the son of General Town East Qin De, he would naturally not be weak.

  Good luck!

  "Hold on, hold on!" Feeling his legs go weak, Qin Yu kept encouraging himself in his heart. He could even feel the trembling of his leg muscles, and every time he persisted for a longer period, power would surge out from deep within his muscles once again.

  Suddenly——

  His leg went numb and Qin Yu was thrown into the lake with a splash.

  ……

  Training field, six sandbags hung upside down, Qin Yu stood quietly among them.

  "Cheers!"

  Qin Yu let out a loud roar and punched a sandbag with great force, almost instantly he punched three or four more sandbags. Those sandbags shook and collided with other sandbags, causing the entire group of sandbags to become turbulent.

  Without any trajectory, a sandbag was originally rushing forward, but after colliding with another sandbag, it took on a completely different trajectory.

  "Pong!" "Pong!" "Pong!" "Pong!" "Pong!"

  Qin Yu's eyes shone brightly as his hands quickly struck each sandbag that came at him. This was a training exercise to improve reaction speed, which is related to arm muscle and personal reaction. Reaction can also be improved through training.

  A battle between masters, where life and death hang in the balance, a split-second reaction can take someone's life.

  As Qin Yu's punches flew out quickly, the speed of those sandbags swinging also became faster and faster. For a moment, Qin Yu felt a great deal of pressure too. Suddenly, his back was struck, and Qin Yu's body involuntarily went into disarray. In an instant, three or four sandbags smashed onto him at the same time.

  Pong!

  Qin Yu fell to the ground instantly, and then he got up again in a flash.

  "Ah~~~" Qin Yu let out a mouthful of cool air, and then looked down at his knee. His knee was now completely scraped and bruised, with fresh blood seeping out. On the ground were some sand and stones, clearly what his knee had collided with when he fell.

  "It's actually not swept clean." Qin Yu was helpless. Before training, he had swept it once himself, but who would have thought that it wasn't swept clean?

  "Continue."

  Ignoring this injury, Qin Yu swept away these sand and stones far away, and then rushed into the center of the sandbag again, starting reaction training once more.

  ……

  Wearing only his undergarments and lying on a chair, Qin Yu's body was smeared with medicinal wine. In the center of the courtyard, he held a book in his hand. At this moment, several lanterns were lit in the courtyard, and Qin Yu sat beside one of them, clearly visible were the words on the pages of the book.

  Although Teacher Zhao Yunxing has left, Qin Yu did not lower his requirements in the slightest. Instead, he became even more strict, training every day from morning till night, and then soaking in the hot springs until midnight to absorb the nourishment and recover his body, which was also his sleeping time.

  At this moment, after applying the medicinal wine on Weng Xiaolong's wound, it was time to study.

  "It's been a long time since I've gone to the mountaintop to stargaze." Qin Yu looked up at the starry sky with a hint of a smile, "But stargazing in the courtyard is also not bad, what do you think, Xiao Hei? Ah, Xiao Hei, I'm saying you're still not an eagle, how come you're growing so slowly, and there's even golden fur on your head?"

  Qin Yu said as he stroked the 'Little Black' beside him.

  Xiao Hei's eyes sparkled, and he flapped his wings repeatedly, as if not allowing Qin Yu to touch his head. Then, he proudly raised his head, looking very proud.

  Qin Yu suddenly burst out laughing.

  "Never mind, I won't waste any more time with you. I need to focus on reading now, and I still have training tomorrow." Qin Yu immediately began reading the linear book in his hand, which was a medical text. Qin Yu remembered clearly that Zhao Yunxing had once said that to become a true external skill master, one must be proficient in medicine.

  By the side of the courtyard gate, Lian Yan was hiding in the shadows, looking benevolently at Qin Yu.

  Especially when Qin Yu said that he didn't waste time playing with Hei Ying, Lian Yan's heart felt a pang of sorrow. Qin Yu was only nine years old, but he didn't waste a single day or any moment of his time. Every minute of his time was well-planned. Everything was for the sake of bitter training, but what was it all for?

  Qin De hadn't been to Yunwu Villa for a very long time.

  As he read his book, before he knew it, the sky had brightened up. The pastries and other snacks beside Qin Yu's chair had also been eaten clean without him realizing it.

  Qin Yu put down the book in his hand, looked up and stretched lazily with a very refreshing expression, his face full of bright smiles: "A day is made in the morning, a new day has arrived again, Qin Yu, work hard! If you work hard, you will succeed."

  A new day of training has begun...

  (Tomato's neck is aching terribly today, can't even turn head to left or right, probably caused by typing on computer every day. Does anyone have any solutions?)