While he bathed in the moonlight, Xu Yi squatted and stretched his arms, holding two stone locks, which weighed approximately 25 kilograms each. The chilly breeze that came from the mountains cooled the shirtless Xu Yi, leaving him calm and relaxed.

.........

It was almost noon when Shaochuan had left his house. After he left, Xu Yi had finished his lunch, before he took a bath. When he walked back out into his courtyard, he noticed two stone locks, which suddenly piqued his interest.

Now that he had already entered into the peak state of a forged body, the maximum strength he could exert would be equivalent to that of an ox and a half. These two stone locks weighed a grand total of 50 kilograms and would certainly pose no threat to Xu Yi. However, Xu Yi figured out a new pose to hold the stone locks in, in order to enhance his cultivation.

Even for non-cultivators, they were able to lift up a gunny bag as heavy as fifty kilograms, which was absolutely within their limits. But what if they were asked to hold it single-handedly? Even when it was only 5 kilograms, they would instantly give up, let alone 50 kilograms!

Xu Yi stretched his arms forward and held his palms upward, as he was holding the two stone locks. For such a difficult pose, it was almost impossible for normal cultivators to sustain even 5 kilograms of weight for a prolonged period of time.

Moreover, the bar of the stone lock was long and thin, making it increasingly difficult to steadily hold it in one’s palm. Xu Yi adjusted his palms slightly up and down, trying to find a balance. Two hours quickly passed and Xu Yi was on the verge of collapsing, despite his great resistance to pain.

However, Xu Yi was not an easy quitter, as he continued to practice for another two hours. Consequently, his arms were numb and sweat welled up from every pore. It was fair to say that, in the first two hours, it was his body’s strength that was able to sustain the pressure of the stone lock. But in the later two hours, it was solely is unswerving will that kept these two stone locks high up in the air.

- Boom! -

Suddenly, Xu Yi felt his physical body lightened, as he could barely feel the weight of his body. At the same time, there emerged an unspeakable ecstasy deep within his soul. As always, Xu Yi would obtain spiritual happiness whenever he reached his physical limits.

Xu Yi couldn’t help but wonder why this happened. He guessed that, to some extent, the physical body and the spiritual soul enhanced each other. The stronger the man, the more vigorous he became, and vice versa, vigor was a direct reflection of one’s state of soul.

Actually, what Xu Yi obtained right now was a mimic state of Zen Samadhi [1]. In the cultivation world, this was known as the “Fighting Samadhi”.

In the Zen culture, the monks would sit in meditation for a couple of days, without eating and sleeping, as per the rules. They spiritually detached themselves from the mundane world, in order to purify their consciousness through deep reflection.

Under hyper-intensive practice, Xu Yi gradually reached this state of “Fighting Samadhi”, where the soul enhanced the body to be more resilient and tough.

The legendary Victorious Fighting Buddha was said to enter this state of “Fighting Samadhi” during his fights. Now, Xu Yi had reached this state, how lucky he was!

On one hand, the physical body embraced and protected the soul.

While on the other hand, the soul nourished and enhanced the physical body.

While enjoying this amazing state, a sudden shouting broke his meditation.

“Uncle Xu, How much longer will you be practicing? I’m so hungry right now...” Autumn nagged, as she popped her head out through the door.

- Boom! -

With a quiver in his body, the wonderful state of meditation instantly collapsed. The stone locks simultaneously slipped off from his palms, while Xu Yi stood still with blank eyes.

Still mesmerized by this spiritual state, Xu Yi tried to force himself back to reality. He touched his arms, to ensure whether there was any change going on, but he couldn’t tell the difference.

“Uncle, My stomach is flat, touch it.” Autumn ran out and grabbed one of Xu Yi’s legs, pouting like a spoiled child.

“The delivery man is at the doorway, go and get the food.” Hardly had Xu Yi’s words faded away, or a knocking sound could be heard coming from the bronze gate.

Out of excitement, Autumn let go of Xu Yi’s leg and darted towards the gate.

“Ah!” Xu Yi tapped on his forehead in great rejoice, as he suddenly realised that his soul had become even more acute and sensitive than before.

Previously, Xu Yi’s sensitiveness could only be activated within the circumference of 30 meters. Plus, the sound and images he could feel were rather blurry and ambiguous. Whereas, after reaching the Fighting Samadhi state, he didn’t only expand his scope, but also sharpened his eyesight and hearing multiple times.

Just now, Xu Yi sensed the upcoming delivery man holding the bronze ring on the gate, ready to knock. This was solid evidence to convince himself, that the power of his soul had just made a qualitative leap forward.

Xu Yi stretched his arms wide open and fully relaxed himself by closing his eyes. He stayed in this position for quite a long time, allowing his consciousness to be fully exploited.

A vivid picture of nature emerged in his head:

On the highest bough of the tall tree beside the house, a new-born baby eagle raised its head, awaiting for the food his mother would bring, as she was indeed holding a juicy worm in her mouth.

Down in the sewer, a snake egg started cracking, indicating that a new life was about to be born.

And in the chilly breeze, the leaves of the bamboo trees gave out a whirling sound.

......

Later that night, after Elder Mu had taken his medicine and returned to bed, Xu Yi went back out to the courtyard to relax himself.

Soon, Autumn came out and jumped on his legs, listening to Xu Yi, as he told her a bunch of interesting stories. Eventually he stopped, as the little girl in his arm had started to snore loudly.

The moonlight shone brightly into every nook and cranny of the courtyard, allowing Xu Yi to do some reading. He thumbed through a book, while he occasionally raised his eyes into the vast and starry sky.

The sparkling stars calmed him down, as if he was melting himself into the vastness of the universe. As a drifter, only under the tranquility of the night sky, did he become reminiscent of his previous life.

“I want to accompany the flying immortal, to wander about in heaven and to embrace the bright moon through eternity. (挟飞仙以遨游，抱明月而长终.) Maybe, when I cultivate to a certain stage, I will be able to transcend this endless circle of reincarnation and, perhaps, even return to my previous life... WOW!” Xu Yi whispered to himself.

- Dong! Dong! Dong! -

A heavy knock on the door interrupted Xu Yi. Being alerted; he took Autumn to her bedroom and rushed to the door.

“Teacher Zhou! What’s up? It’s late at night.” Xu Yi asked.

Teacher Zhou was trying to catch his breath, but couldn’t utter even a single word, even though he desperately tried to.

All of a sudden, another man appeared and clasped Xu Yi by the shoulder,

“Boss, good news! There is a fight going on, and I know for sure who’ll be the winner. Don’t hesitate, just give me the money, I’ll earn it back multiple times over!” The man was scrawny, square-faced and he was carrying a gigantic bag upon his back. Looking closer, Xu Yi realised that this was his newly employed lackey, Qinghua.

Xu Yi quickly introduced them to each other, before inviting them in.

Several minutes later, Xu Yi figured out what was going on.

This afternoon, the Guanan government had announced that there would be a purple flag fight (purple stands for cultivators in the peak state of a forged body) tomorrow. All the citizens had been shocked by this news, as it had been long since the last purple flag had appeared in the arena.

Tomorrow’s fight was undeniably ranked as a top level one, which was already stirring Guanan up, especially those who were obsessed with gambling.

......

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samadhi