The sky was still dark and Tang Tian awoke.

Casually washing up, Tang Tian turned on the lights and sat down at the table. He unfolded a piece of paper, buried his head down and began writing.

“Qian Hui, how have you been? I miss you so much. Everything has been well for me, please don’t be worried. A new semester has started, and I am still in the position of Master Cen’s teaching assistant in his Sword class. Without you here, I feel quite bored. Everyone looks down on me, I dislike them all. Recently Master Cen’s body hasn’t been doing so well, he is a good man, and I wish that he will be healthy forever. How is Uncle Yu? Please help me say hi to him. I really wish to be able to see the Immortal Constellation Nebula Waterfall that you spoke of, I can’t imagine how spectacular that will be. I am still persevering in my training, it might still take a long time, but I won’t give up…”

After writing so much, it was all about the daily things of life. Carefully folding the letter, Tang Tian sealed it in an envelope.

Carefully writing the address: Immortal Constellation Rainbow City, Street Fifteen, Bai Hong Establishment, Third year A Class Shangguang Qian Hui (to receive).

Finishing up, he took out the air postage stamp to Heaven’s road that he had prepared previously, and stuck it on the envelope.

After doing everything, he got up again, and went to the courtyard.

The morning air brought a peaceful chill to people’s heart. Tang Tian extended out a hand and a leg, holding them there until his muscles started trembling, before changing his position, prepared for a day of training.

What he was practising was the fundamental fist arts. (TN: Basically boxing)

After practising for almost a year, his mastery of the fundamental fist arts was close to perfection.

The fundamental fist arts consisted of three movements, cross, jabs and hooks. The cross punch releases a lot of strength, deep, firm and fierce power. Jabs are light and fast punches that match the pacing of the feet. Hooks lie between both the cross and jab, with more emphasis on the angle.

Every basic move looked simple, but when those moves were produced by Tang Tian, they were graceful. This was after practising over a thousand times, performed to perfection.

In a state of concentration, Tang Tian tediously practised, not even once letting a look of tiredness show on his face.

Soon, he was sweating everywhere, drenching his clothes, bean sized drops of sweat trickling down his neck.

Looking closely, there was dull vapor rising from his entire body.

Repeatedly practising the moves over and over again, stopping once in a while to ponder on the moves, but quickly diving back into practice. Time slowly passed by, and as the sun rose, the cold air started to disperse.

Tang Tian was too absorbed in his training.

Suddenly, an alarm rang, and Tang Tian stopped what he was doing, time was up!

Hu!

In the courtyard, with incomplete and heavy gasps for breaths, Tang Tian bent down with both hands on his knees, bean sized beads of sweat dripping from his chin to the floor. Whenever he practised, he would be overly concentrated with no feelings, which caused him to be drained out and momentarily lost after he stopped.

Five minutes later, Tang Tian recovered from his daze. He straightened his body, lifted his weak knees and walked towards the corner of the courtyard where a pond lay. The pond was filled with water. Tang Tian walked over to the pond, and with a ‘splash’, he fell into the pond.

The pond water sent a chill to the bones so early in the morning. The moment he fell into the pond, he quivered.

He pulled back his lips and looked as though he was in pain. Slowly, he adapted to the coldness of the water, and about two minutes later, his body had completely adapted to the cold water. He sat cross legged and focused on mental cultivation.

Having stayed in the Andrew Academy for five years, his fundamental mental cultivation art was perfect. A fundamental mental cultivation art required ‘essence’, and as long as there was perseverance, it could be mastered within one to two years. Tang Tian did not have a strong essence and therefore used an average of five years, but he did not slack until the fundamental mental cultivation art was perfected. He soon started to look for a rank two mental cultivation art, however, Andrew Academy only focused on the fundamental mental cultivation arts, to learn a rank two mental cultivation art, there was a need to enter another academy.

Yet Tang Tian did not want to waste any time, hence he looked around. Master Cen noted Tang Tian’s plight and invited him to be his teaching assistant. In return, he gave Tang Tian [The Secrets of Cultivating Qi], a Bronze Grade Rank Two Spirit Card.

Tang Tian then began cultivating the rank two mental cultivation art.

[The Secrets of Cultivating Qi] was suitable for one who was involved in martial arts while not having a strong essence, as its only merit was strengthening Qi. [The Secrets of Cultivating Qi] which Tang Tian owned could be mastered fast, as the low level martial techniques were simpler, focusing on perseverance. There was not a need for many techniques.

The warm and strengthened Qi dispersed to each corner of the body, removing the coldness, and allowing the fatigued body to recover quickly.

Tang Tian opened his eyes after an hour.

His fatigue had washed away, and he felt rejuvenated. Yet he did not get up straight away, instead, he laid half of his body in the water, and gazed at the blue sky.

What could Qian Hui be doing now…

His eyes turned gentle, but very quickly, his gaze returned to its usual self and he took off the Bronze Plate around his neck. The Bronze Plate was connected to a few of the red strings, one which was tied on by his mother, the other by Qian Hui. When Qian Hui was in Star Wind City, she would tie a new red string on the Bronze Plate for Tang Tian every year.

The size of the Bronze Plate was similar to a coin, in terms of appearance, it looked old. On one side of the plate was a picture of the word ‘ten’, on the other side was a meandering river. The river looked as though there were millions of stars shimmering. Just below the river, was a line of numbers. It was grey in colour but the colour had faded, making it impossible to see.

Tang Tian had worn this Bronze Plate since he was a child, but it was only in the recent years he noticed the numbers.

He also noticed the numbers would change from time to time when he started cultivating the fundamental martial techniques.

He was absolutely curious about the new findings on the Bronze Plate.

Despite being carefree, he was not stupid. Very quickly, he found out the pattern for the numbers changing on the Bronze Plate. Each time he made progress on a fundamental martial technique, the numbers would jump.

From that day onwards, he realized that the mom he used to think was ordinary, didn’t seem so ordinary anymore. It dawned upon him that he did not know much about his mom’s death.

And the bastard who abandoned her… [Robin: Abandoned as in he was her husband.]

Tang Tian was filled with desire to know the truth, he desired to solve the mystery.

The Bronze Plate was the only clue he had on hand.

He started cultivating the fundamental martial techniques to stare at the changes on the Bronze Plate. When he mastered the fundamental sword arts, the numbers stopped jumping. So Tang Tian started trying different things, he tried to cultivate rank two martial arts, but the numbers did not move until he changed to cultivate the fundamental fist arts, where the numbers started to jump again.

It was the fundamental martial techniques that would make the numbers jump.