I've never been humiliated like this in my life! I have always been pretty mild-mannered and have never wanted to kill anyone, but I'll never forget what happened today!

I need to become stronger now or I'll live worse than an animal here!

All of my dice were robbed from me, I'd have to live on leaves for the next 20 some days. Thank goodness my s.p.a.ce ring is still here, so I have a shred of hope left.

I will have to practice and get better! I have to become the best! I'm a straggler here among the outer disciples, so it'd be insanely hard to get into the top three four months from now. Since it's hard, I'd have to try even harder to get a chance to compete, and a chance to be free from this place.

I got to my feet with great difficulty, hurting allover. I really wanted to kill those guys with my Shaoshang Sword earlier; they may be fast, but not as fast as the sword. But I couldn't use it, its side effects were too strong. If I got sick again, even Zhang Zixuan couldn't make me better.

It sucks that I can't use something powerful!

Or maybe I could have used the invisibility spell… if I had the skills of the Old Rascal, those four guys would be dead by now. But Old Rascal said I wasn't gifted in that area; even after he gave me the pills and the notes, my invisibility trick was still poor.

I wasn't gifted, so I wasn't confident I'd get a chance to compete. I'd thought of drawing a talisman and conjure up Big Sis, so she could let my parents and Xiao Ling know where I was, but now… I only had myself.

I believe that obstacles make us stronger!

I used the trees around me as support and slowly moved outside the woods. I let the rain pummel and drench me. It was a good thing my clothes were wet, so the invisibility spell didn't burn my vest, or I'd have no clothes.

I stood for half an hour in the rain. Then I returned to the woods and sat in lotus pose. I tried to meditate and calm myself, but my growling stomach had other ideas.

I looked up at the tree leaves. The Red Army ate tree bark during the Long March… eating leaves wouldn't kill me right?

I didn't know what kind of tree this is and whether these leaves are poisonous, but I remember Sun Yongfu, the chubby guy, telling me that if my dice were stolen, that's all the food I had. The Outer Disciples court may be brutal, but at least there's no killing, and they didn't starve you to death. The leaves should be okay and not poison me. After all, plenty of disciples had their dice robbed, if the leaves weren't edible, a lot of people would have died.

……………………

The next morning.

My stomach still hurt from eating leaves last night,

I hurt less than yesterday so I took off my iron blocks and started jogging.

The iron blocks are good for building myself up, and good for protection, but they also have a lot of drawbacks because of their weight. They weigh 140 Jin, as heavy as three sacks of rice, a typical man couldn’t even move much wearing them, while I could move, they hold me down. When I took the iron blocks off, I stretched my arms and legs; it felt amazingly light and effortless, like my body was not my own.

I mapped out 100 meters in the woods with my feet, with each step as one meter.

Then I just took out my phone, opened the timer app, and ran. Everything around me receded, and I was at the finish line in no time at all.

5.4 seconds !

If I went to the Olympics with this speed, I’d get a gold medal for sure, so if athletes trained like me, would they become faster too?

Of course not!

I ran so fast because I had taken a lot of premium ginseng, or I’d collapse for sure with this kind of grueling workouts, if the female ninja didn’t give me the ginseng earlier, I’d not have had the strength.

Five-point-four seconds is not that fantastic, I could do better when I hurt less and my stomach wasn’t spasming from yesterday’s beating.

I buried the iron blocks under the tree. I wouldn’t need them for a while, I may not have protection without them, but my speed could improve a lot more.

Stripping off my vest, I made fire with my palms and began a workout of kicking, ducking, and pummeling, adding some invisibility training too. After two hours, I used up all of my invisible power reserve.

Using the power reserve and letting it build back up is one of the most basic ways to train in invisibility.

It was lucky that I didn’t pack Old Rascal's journal when I left for Huanyu Pavilion, so those who stole my backpack couldn’t find out my secrets.

I decided to move away from this mountain so I won’t run into those four guys again. I’ll get my revenge when I get stronger.

After reading the handbook yesterday, I knew which mountain is good and which to avoid, so I soon made my way to a new mountain.

As I walked, I saw a simple wooden hut in a clearing in the woods. I stood outside and asked politely, "Is anyone here? I’d like to do some practice fights with you, if possible."

A long-haired woman came out of the house to greet me; she looked to be in her mid-20s and about 5' 7". Her face was cool. "Who are you, newbie? You want to learn from me?"

There are female outside disciples? The culture here seems to be male-dominated, would women even be taken seriously? But she seems to be doing well, and owns her own place, so she must be quite powerful. I shook my hands. "Oh no, I don’t want to fight a woman. Sorry to bother you, I’ll look for others to challenge." I walked away quickly.

Why don’t I fight women? Two reasons: one, any fighting would involve bodily contact and I can’t be weird with anyone but Xiao Ling, two, she looks too strong and I didn’t want to lose right away.

I walked some more, when I saw another wooden hut, I said the same thing at the door.

Soon, a very tanned and burly man, who had no s.h.i.+rt on, came out of the hut. He wasn’t pleased to see me. "What’s the ruckus? How am I supposed to sleep now?"

Seeing his muscular body, I stuttered and said, "My apologies, I just wanted to learn from people."

"No way, I want to sleep."

I sighed. Why is it so hard to learn from others? Do I have to act tough to get a learning opportunity?

The man looked me over. "Fine, you have to wait two hours though, after I get some sleep." He yawned and went back inside.

He agreed? I sat in lotus pose and started to wait, while trying to build up my invisibility power.

I wouldn’t offend people if I asked with respect, which is how I am anyway. No killing is allowed here, at most some injury, but I can earn some fighting experience, which is the only way I can learn.

Two hours later, the man asked me as he brushed his teeth. "Kid, I’ve never seen you before, when did you get here?"

His skin is tan but his teeth are sparkling. Since he asked, I answered. "Yesterday morning."

He said while brus.h.i.+ng, "I could tell you had your a.s.s handed to you yesterday. Did they take everything? I wish I had run into you first. I’m better than them, I only take your stuff but don’t beat you up. Next month, just give me all of your dice so they don’t get taken…"

What the h.e.l.l? Being robbed by you is better? Still, I nodded. "Sure, if you can beat me in a fight, what’s mine is yours, it’s the rules of the game."

"I like your att.i.tude. Once, a guy went crazy after only being here for two weeks. He was really c.o.c.ky but had no skill, so they messed him up." He rinsed his mouth. "Like I said, I’m a straight up guy, I wasn’t the one who made him crazy."

A roasted chicken appeared in his hand. "Want some?"

"Thank you, I ate earlier." I was afraid to accept his offering, who knows what he’s plotting? What if the chicken was poisoned?

He sat down and started eating, making appreciative noises as he ate. I almost drooled. I learned that the roasted chicken was exchanged with two white dice.

When the man finally finished eating, he wiped his mouth. "I actually didn’t want to fight you, it’ll use up my energy, and I’ll get hungry again."

I thought and said. "What if I treated you to one chicken next month if you fought me for an hour now? You just have to wait until I get my dice."

"No, I want five roast chickens!" He raised five fingers .

I shook my head. "Just one, we’re just fighting once."

He looked at his watch. "Fine. Let’s start now."

I bent my knees slightly and took a step, then leapt at him as fast as I could.

I was a lot faster than before after training with iron blocks. As I flew into the air, I turned and kicked at his head!