Chapter 3: Offering Oneself in Marriage or Becoming a Disciple

When he saw the woman's face clearly, Chen Yi He, who was still in the midst of a fright, forgot to breathe for a moment; she was absolutely the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life, even prettier than their school belle!

Only then did Chen Yi He belatedly realize he had been rescued? The trope of a beauty saving a hero actually happened to himself!?

The beautiful young woman was not old, her face still bore a hint of youthfulness, and she had grown into a beauty that could overthrow cities and states.

She had a head of jet‑black hair, neatly combed, an oval face, smooth and clean, delicate features, a pair of bright eyes that sparkled like diamonds, revealing intelligence and liveliness, plus curved eyelashes and a cherry‑small mouth that was endearing. She looked somewhat frail, her waist bound by a pure white belt, slender enough that one could not even encircle it with one hand.

"Gulp." Chen Yi He swallowed his saliva.

"You bald rascals, you never do anything good, looting outside the city all day—today I will enforce heaven's justice!" the woman said, her voice as clear and sweet as ever.

"No, please, we were wrong, we were wrong, great hero, spare our lives! Great hero, spare our lives!" the bald men knelt again, trembling as they begged for mercy, like children caught misbehaving by their parents.

This was the second time those bald men had begged for mercy today.

The woman said coldly, "I'll let you off this once; if I see you causing trouble again, don't blame me for being rude."

"Yes, yes, we dare not." The leader's face was pressed to the ground.

"Get lost!"

The leader, with his underlings, scrambled away, disappearing into the forest.

This was the second time those bald men had rolled away today.

The woman's indifferent gaze fell on Chen Yi He, who was still trapped in fear; his stare, to her, was nothing out of the ordinary.

However, that gaze still made her uncomfortable, and she suddenly tugged the white silk.

Chen Yi He was instantly flung into the air, then slammed hard onto the ground, a face full of dirt, pain making him roll around.

Chen Yi He noticed the white silk binding him had vanished; he lifted his head, and from that beautiful smile before him, he seemed to see malice…

"Is the treasure they spoke of real?" the woman asked, her curious gaze upon him.

Chen Yi He's face changed at once—was this woman rescuing him just to covet his treasure?

Seeing Chen Yi He's expression, the woman burst into a puff of laughter, "Rest assured, I have no interest in your treasure."

Chen Yi He breathed a sigh of relief; this woman was so formidable, she surely wouldn't be after his Apple 17.

The beauty approached Chen Yi He, "Your outfit is really interesting—you're not from Clear Water City, are you?" She had been drawn to his strange attire.

Chen Yi He froze, not knowing how to answer; he didn't even know where he had been transported to, and replied vaguely, "Mm, yeah."

"What's your name?"

"I'm Chen Yi He. Thank you for saving my life." Chen Yi He got up, brushed off the dust, and replied.

"I'm Xiao XiaoYu."

Suddenly, Xiao XiaoYu's face turned pale, her body trembled, her delicate brows knotted together, and she looked in great pain.

"You… all right?" Chen Yi He still felt fond of Xiao XiaoYu; he got up and moved toward her.

"Don't come over." Xiao XiaoYu stepped back; she knew her internal energy had gone awry because her earlier wounds hadn't healed, and she had agitated her heart method, forcing it down—she now needed to find a quiet place to regulate her breath, or else she would soon die from blood flowing backward.

Chen Yi He touched his nose, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Xiao XiaoYu suppressed her internal injury, then glanced at Chen Yi He again.

Seeing Xiao XiaoYu seemed fine, Chen Yi He noticed his stomach growling again; if he didn't eat something he would starve, so he pitifully asked, "Sis, do you have anything to eat?"

"There are plenty of beasts in this forest; just catch one and cook it!" Xiao XiaoYu said with a hint of irritation, she had no time to chat with Chen Yi He.

"Beasts?" Chen Yi He blinked, he had already been dazed many times today.

"What's wrong? You're a big man, yet you're scared?"

"Huh…" Upon hearing that, Chen Yi He felt embarrassed, "Beasts? I'm not the one eating them; they'd eat me. Don't you have any roast chicken or duck?"

"There's no chicken or duck here! Hehe… I do have some dry rations." Xiao XiaoYu said, her tone gradually softening, "I saved your life—shouldn't you repay me?"

"... In ancient times, beauties always emphasized giving oneself in marriage." Chen Yi He's eyes widened at the sight of the dry rations, a little embarrassed, he said, "If you don't mind…"

"Who asked you to marry yourself off!" Xiao XiaoYu's face darkened, she said flatly…

"I, Miss, will take you as my disciple; you may call me Master from now on."

"Fine." Chen Yi He readily agreed to Xiao XiaoYu's request.

He finally got to eat the dry rations as he wished, filling his stomach.

Xiao XiaoYu led Chen Yi He to find a concealed cave in the forest, "As your master, I'll spend the night here; you go fetch some beasts to eat."

"I'm already full!"

"It's me who wants to eat."

Chen Yi He blinked, "I don't know any martial arts; if you send me out to fight beasts, I'll just end up being eaten by them."

"You don't know martial arts? Just now you sent that whole bald crew flying!!! And you tell me you don't know martial arts?"

"I really don't! Otherwise, how would I have been hunted down…"

Xiao XiaoYu gave Chen Yi He a doubtful glance, then casually tossed a small manual over, "You don't know martial arts? Fine, here's a martial arts secret manual—go on!"

"You're not expecting me to learn and sell on the spot, are you? I have no foundation in martial arts!" Chen Yi He caught the booklet, on which were written the three characters "Overlord Fist"…

"Hmph, no way, I don't care—you have to go. Don't think about running; the bald thugs of the Evil People Gang are surely guarding the forest outskirts—you can't escape!"

Before Chen Yi He could react, Xiao XiaoYu flung him out of the cave with the white silk.

The night was deep, the forest pitch black; even if Chen Yi He wanted to run, he couldn't find his way.

When Xiao XiaoYu was regulating her breath, it was inconvenient to move; her real motive in taking Chen Yi He as a disciple was merely to make him her servant, to hunt and boil water for her. Once she recovered her strength, she would no longer care whether he lived or died.

During the day he hadn't examined this forest closely; Chen Yi He wanted to study it properly at night.

To the left is forest, to the right is forest; ahead is forest, behind is forest. Chen Yi He couldn't tell east from west, north from south—his geography was poor, his sense of direction terrible, and now he had forgotten which direction the cliff he'd fallen from lay.

Might as well give up!

"In this desolate wilderness, there isn't even a streetlamp—where am I supposed to find food?" Chen Yi He complained, pulling out his phone and turning on the flashlight.

"Anyway, since I can't do anything else, I might as well look at this Overlord Fist." Chen Yi He recalled the day's strange experience, and without further ado, he leaned against an old tree, faced the flashlight, and flipped open the *Overlord Fist* manual.

The booklet depicted little figures punching, each move and pose lifelike, left and right fists alternating back and forth, just like a comic…

Unnoticed, a little figure ran out from the yellowed pages of the book, standing before Chen Yi He, waving its fists.

Chen Yi He became engrossed, so he simply cast aside the book and his phone, rose to follow the little figure from the book! As soon as he moved, he performed a proper, standard motion.

With a left move called "Punch the Drunken Tiger", he struck the air, making a whooshing sound.

With a right move called "Black Tiger Pulls Out the Heart", steady, accurate, fierce!

"Pa!" Chen Yi He punched the old tree he had just been leaning against, and the tree snapped at the punch mark!

Chen Yi He looked at his own fists in disbelief, having only scraped off a bit of skin, while the old tree had been broken by his punch! "This is my golden finger—learning martial arts is super fast!"

But then he thought again, "No, it's not that learning martial arts is fast—I have no foundation at all, yet I can practice alongside the martial arts in the book; whatever move it makes, I make the same move. Besides, during the day I imitated the little girl's techniques and learned them instantly. It seems this is an ability to copy martial arts!"

Bingo! The golden finger that copies martial arts—being able to learn any martial art, isn't that making me number one under heaven!?

Thinking of this, Chen Yi He felt inwardly pleased……

"Oooooh…" Suddenly, a long, bright howl rang out in the forest.

Frightened, Chen Yi He dropped his phone; he was a bit panicked, "Isn't this a forest? Why are there wolf howls? Don't rush to think about the golden finger—let's figure out how to get out first!" He was still an inexperienced newcomer……

After Chen Yi He picked up his phone and lifted his head, he saw many pairs of bright eyes staring at him, all around, encircling him.

He hurriedly turned off his flashlight; at this moment he needed to stay concealed.

"Oooooh…" but the wolf howl was clearly still far from Chen Yi He.

Those pairs of eyes moved to and fro in the darkness, and there were also things flying in the sky; Chen Yi He stood rooted, not daring to breathe.

The two sides stalemated for about an hour and a half, with no movement at all.

The daytime encounter had already been exciting enough; Chen Yi He's wounded heart could take no more strain, so he gritted his teeth, stamped his foot, "Damn it, I'll fight it out—whether I waste time here or not, I'll die anyway! If they dare bite me, I'll smash their teeth with a single palm!"