Chapter 8: Three Months of Miserable Life

At this moment, Chen Yi He, imprisoned in the jail, still did not know his tragic fate had already been arranged... He was still racking his brains trying to figure out how to escape... He still did not know that he was about to become Xiao Yu's plaything...

Chen Yi He looked around, saw no guard, and slipped his hand into his pants pocket, "Hehe, good thing Dad I still have this!"

He had always hidden his iPhone 17 in his pants pocket, which is why he managed to evade the search...

During these three days in the jail, Chen Yi He had gained something; every night he would take out his phone, open the photo album, and continue cultivating the Wither-Flourish Heart Classic. After that night's battle, it was as if his Ren and Du meridians had been opened, and his martial arts had substantially improved.

Now he had already practiced up to the thirtieth page.

Chen Yi He sat cross-legged on the ground in a proper manner, the white light swirling around him grew stronger, already enough to match Xiao Yu.

"Hah..." a mouthful of turbid qi exhaled from his lungs; after practicing, his whole body felt relaxed.

During these three days of training, he discovered he had an exceptionally strong physique, though he wasn't quite sure exactly what it was...

Chen Yi He rose from the ground; over these three days he observed that the jail was empty, with hardly any prisoners—in fact, he was the only inmate.

"Damn it, the Evil People Gang grabs all those bald guys but not me, an honest citizen!" Chen Yi He cursed, gripping the iron bars with both hands, trying to bend them...

After another seven days, the moldy Chen Yi He, who had been languishing in the jail, was brought out by the guards. He knelt on the ground, with Xiao Feng and his daughter Xiao Yu before him.

"Chen Yi He, right?" Xiao Feng asked.

Chen Yi He disdainfully did not lift his head, "Yes."

"You stole my Xiao Clan's internal cultivation method, which deserves death, but since you saved Yu'er, I have decided to abolish your martial arts—do you have any objections?" Xiao Feng's tone was stern; although phrased as a question, in his mouth it was an indisputable exclamation.

Chen Yi He never expected to end up like this, and he remained silent.

Xiao Feng raised a hand, directed it at Chen Yi He's crown, and drew out his true qi!

The powerful true qi sucked the white light from Chen Yi He's body, filling the hall with blinding white light!

"Ah!" Chen Yi He shouted, his whole body throwing itself backward!

Xiao Feng gathered his internal energy, and before sweeping his sleeves and leaving, he coldly said, "Nothing of the Xiao Clan's can be taken by anyone."

In an instant, Chen Yi He was completely drained, overwhelmed with exhaustion, the heart-rending pain preventing him from passing out directly...

"Xiao Yu, you ungrateful wretch!" Chen Yi He spat, lying on the ground.

"Hehe, no matter what, you can't resist now—come play with this princess. Serve me well and I'll spare your life; serve me poorly and I'll throw you out to feed the dogs!" Xiao Yu laughed smugly.

Thus Chen Yi He was deprived of his martial arts and became an ordinary person...

But he wasn't panicked; anciently there were the self-injury stratagem and the golden cicada shell-shedding, etc. What kind of person is Chen Yi He? Having come into this book world, he had prepared himself for all kinds of abuse.

His golden finger wouldn't disappear; worst case, he could start over from scratch...

At night, he furtively opened his phone, faced the photos, and began retraining from the first page, step by step, starting over. Previously he felt his foundation wasn't solid, but now he had plenty of time to start from scratch... Everything proceeded in secret... He had his own revenge plan...

But by day, he suffered, enduring Xiao Yu's most ruthless torment. Now Xiao Yu's wounds had healed, and the tragic one was him, Chen Yi He.

He needed to endure...

After another ten days, his kung fu had actually improved to a higher level than before.

From then on, Chen Yi He would sneak out of the pigsty where he slept at night to explore the castle... Guards on night duty wouldn't notice such a place as a pigsty. Because he lived in the pigsty, Chen Yi He became their daytime laughingstock.

He gently pushed open a heavy door; in the dim moonlight, a furtive silhouette appeared.

"Hahaha! Effort never betrays the earnest—finally I found it, damn it!" Chen Yi He almost laughed out loud.

The Xiao Clan was the premier power in Clearwater City, and Xiao Feng was the city lord of Clearwater City—with such influence, there must be a place like the Scripture Pavilion!

Row after row of antiquated bookshelves held neatly arranged antiquated books one after another!

Apart from the inscrutable texts older than oracle bone script that Chen Yi He couldn't understand, there were some health‑preserving miscellaneous works, and the rest were martial arts manuals!

Chen Yi He was a tough nut; he used his iPhone 17 to photograph all of these, good or bad, and dumped them into a folder!

"Too bad my energy and ability are limited, and I still need to cultivate the Wither-Flourish Heart Classic—so I can only study the best of the rest for now." Chen Yi He knew you can't swallow a fat guy in one bite; he would start from the basics, little by little.

Chen Yi He knew the Wither-Flourish Heart Classic was an internal cultivation method that needed to be paired with concrete techniques to truly count as internal and external mastery. Browsing his phone's photo album, he selected the Mountain River Sword Technique.

In the blink of an eye three months passed, and the weather gradually turned cool.

Day after day, Chen Yi He not only had to endure Xiao Yu's abuse but also constantly guard against Xiao Feng's attention. He had often inadvertently seen Xiao Feng observing him, and he had to conceal his cultivation, lest discovery cost him his head.

Besides the abuse and vigilance, Chen Yi He had made extraordinary progress: he had studied the Wither-Flourish Heart Classic up to page eighty, and had memorized the Mountain River Sword Technique entirely! This powerful replication ability made even him feel incredulous—"If my learning ability were this strong, even Tsinghua or Peking University would be no problem..."

Chen Yi He also roughly grasped the layout of this book world.

This is a world that values "heaven round, earth square," called the Heavenly Peace Continent.

The Heavenly Peace Continent is divided into four regions—east, south, west, north—namely the Eastern Sea, Southern Border, Western Desert, and Northern Capital.

The Eastern Sea is a vast ocean.

The Southern Border is the largest region of the Heavenly Peace Continent, a barbarian land with vast territory and sparse population.

The Western Desert is a desert; crossing it leads to the legendary Western Dynasty.

The Northern Capital is the smallest of the four regions, yet it has the largest population and most prosperous economy.

Aside from the Northern Capital, the eastern, southern, and western lands are mysterious places few have trod.

Beneath them lie dozens or hundreds of cities and towns, for example Clearwater City, located southeast of the Northern Capital, whose city lord Xiao Feng is effectively a regional lord.

The Great Zhou Dynasty rules this vast Heavenly Peace Continent, having set its imperial capital at the Northern Capital a thousand years ago.

Emperor Zhou Wenhuang is the lord of the Heavenly Peace Continent, governing the whole realm.