Episode 1: The Ring of the Dragon Chapter 1: Morning in a Small Town

Wushan Town, an ordinary town in the Finlay Kingdom in the west of the first mountain range of the Yulan Continent, the ‘Magic Beast Mountain Range’.

As the sun was rising, the town of Wushan Town still had a hint of coldness in the morning, but the residents of the town had almost all come out to start working, and even the six or seven year old children had almost all gotten up and started their traditional morning exercises.

In the open space on the eastern side of Wushan Town, the warm morning sunlight passed through the large trees next to the open space, leaving dappled spots of light on the open space.

There was a large group of children, estimated to be about one to two hundred at first glance. This group of children was divided into three teams, each team was lined up in several rows, and the children stood quietly in the clearing one by one, their faces serious. The children in the northernmost team of this group were about six to eight years old. While a team in the center was almost nine to twelve years old, the southernmost group was a group of thirteen to sixteen year olds.

In front of this large group of children were three burly middle-aged men, all wearing short undershirts as well as rough pants.

“If you want to become a great warrior, you must exercise hard from a young age.”

The first middle-aged man with his hands behind his back, said coldly with his head held high, the cold gaze was toward the northernmost team swept over, the group of six or seven-year-old children pursed their lips, their eyes were staring at the middle-aged man, did not dare to make a sound at all.

The middle-aged man at the head of the group was named Hillman, and was the captain of the escort of the ‘Baruch Family’, the owner of the Usan Town.

“You are all ordinary people, it is impossible for you to have a powerful fighting qi secret code to cultivate like those great nobles, if you want to excel, if you want to not be looked down upon in the future, you have to exercise according to the oldest, simplest, most basic method, exercise your body, and build up your strength, do you understand!”

Hillman swept his gaze towards this group of children.

“Understood.”

A group of teenagers roared loudly.

“Very good.”

Hillman nodded indifferently with satisfaction, most of those six or seven year old children had a cluelessness in their eyes, while those teenage boys had resolute eyes, as they understood the meaning of what Hillman said.

Almost every man in the whole Yulan continent has to work out hard since childhood, if anyone doesn’t train hard, then he will be looked down upon in the future! What represents a man’s status is strength and money! A man without strength is a man that women will look down on.

If you want your parents to be proud of you, if you want the girls to worship you, if you want to live in splendor in the future, you must become a great warrior!

You must become a great warrior!

They are all civilians, it is impossible to cultivate those precious fighting qi secret code, the only way for them is to exercise their body from a young age, to fight strength! Hard work, hard effort! Spending more energy, spending more effort to work hard than those nobles!

“In the morning, the sun rises and everything is alive. This is the best time to absorb the essence of heaven and earth, and improve our physical potential, old rules, legs apart shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, hands closed at the waist position, into the ‘yun qi style’, when doing the yun qi style, remember to ‘focus your attention, keep your mind calm, and breathe naturally! ‘.”

Hillman said indifferently.

The Yunqi pose, was the simplest and very effective way to exercise the body, this was the experience accumulated by countless years of forefathers.

At once, one or two hundred children all did well according to the posture requirements of the ‘Yum Qi Style’.

“Remember, concentration, calmness in the mind, and natural breathing!”

Hillman walked among the group of teenagers and said indifferently.

At a glance, it was obvious that one by one, the teenagers in that team of teenagers in the south were concentrating, calming their minds and breathing naturally. At the same time each and every one of them had achieved ‘deep, flat and steady’. It was obvious that all of them had made some achievements in the ‘Contained Breath Style’.

However, looking again at the six or seven year olds in the north, their knees were bent to different degrees, their legs were loose and flabby, obviously without strength, and not stable at all.

Hillman said to the other two middle-aged men, “You guys are in charge of the two teams in the south and the center respectively, and I’ll manage the little kids.”

“Yes, captain.”

The two middle-aged men immediately answered the order, and then the two men carefully watched the center and south teams, and sometimes kicked the legs of those teenagers to see if they were standing firmly enough.

Hillman, on the other hand, walked towards the group of six or seven year old children in the north, and those children immediately tensed up.

“No good, the big devil is coming.”

A blonde child with big eyes named ‘Hadley’ whispered.

Hillman stepped into the center of this group of children, looking at these children, Hillman’s face was indifferent, but in his heart, he sighed: “These children are really too young, whether it’s in terms of physical ability or mental ability is still far from enough, and the requirements for them can’t be too high. However, physical exercise, or cultivate from childhood is good, from childhood seriously exercise, the future on the battlefield to live a greater chance.”

And teaching small children to entice them and attract them is the most effective method! Forcing can only be counterproductive!

“One by one, stand still.”

Hillman coldly grunted.

Immediately, one by one, the children raised their chests and stared forward.

The corner of Hillman’s mouth rose with a hint of a smile, then he walked to the front and took off the undershirt on his body, those muscle lines on his body made those little kids open their eyes wide one by one, even the teenagers in the center and the south looked enviously at the muscles on Hillman’s body.

In addition to the almost perfect muscle lines, Hillman’s naked upper body had knife marks, sword marks, all kinds of wounds were dozens of wounds, all the children looked at those wounds with glowing eyes.

All the children looked at those scars with glowing eyes. Scars of knives, scars of swords, this is a man’s medal!

In the bottom of their hearts, they all had great admiration for Hillman. Hillman, a great rank six warrior, a warrior honed through life and death! Even in the big city, he was a great man. In the town of Wu Shan, he was a great man that everyone admired.

When Hillman saw the children’s burning gaze, the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but have a hint of a smile. He just wanted these children to have admiration and desire in their hearts. That way they would work harder and be more motivated!

“Add another fire.”

Hillman smiled in his heart, then walked to a giant stone lock, which was three to four hundred pounds.

Hillman grabbed the stone lock with one hand, and started to swing it very easily, the three to four hundred pounds of stone lock in Hillman’s hands as if it was made of wood. Those children each opened their eyes and mouths wide.

“It’s too light, Rory, when there’s time after training, you guys go make some bigger stone locks.”

Hillman casually flung the stone locks, and they flew a dozen meters, “Pom!”

It landed heavily next to a big tree, and the ground shook. With that, Hillman walked to a group of messy rocks.

“Whew!”

Hillman took a deep breath, his whole body muscles were even more highlighted with a visible amplitude, Hillman directly smashed his fist to one of the green-colored stones, his fist pierced through the air, the sharp whistling sound next to the children could not help but open their eyes wide. Only to see Hillman’s big fist ruthlessly and solidly smashed on the huge green stone.

“Peng!”

The heavy, low, deep impact of the fist and the lapis lazuli made all the children’s hearts jump hard.

That was a hard lapis lazuli.

Only to see that the stone shook a few times, seven or eight cracks appeared, and finally “pong” split into four pieces, while Hillman’s fist did not have a single scratch.

“Captain is still that powerful.”

Rory, one of the other two middle-aged men, said with a smile while walking towards Hillman.

The other middle-aged man, ‘Roger’, also walked over. Usually when the children were exercising the ‘Inflated Qi Style’, it was the time for these three instructors to have a relaxing chat, and they would occasionally take care that the children weren’t slacking off.

Hillman laughed and shook his head: “No, when I was in the army, every day I worked out desperately, bloody killing on the battlefield, but now, every day, at most, I just loosen my muscles and bones, and I’m not as passionate as I was back then.”

All the children looked at Hillman adoringly.

That huge lapis lazuli was smashed to smithereens with a single punch. What kind of strength is this? That three to four hundred pounds of stone locks, but waved at will, this is what strength?

Hillman dropped his head and looked at the group of children’s gazes, and in his heart, he was satisfied with the children’s reactions.

“You remember, even if you don’t rely on fighting qi, purely exercise the physical body to reach the limit, theoretically it is also possible to become a level six warrior! A rank six warrior can easily become a mid-level officer by joining the army, and can easily obtain the army’s fighting qi cultivation method! Even if you can’t become a level six warrior, as long as you become the most common level one warrior, you will be qualified to join the army, remember, a man who can’t even reach the level one warrior, well, he’s not a man!”

Hillman’s face was cold and stern.

“If you are a man, you should stand up your chest and meet any challenge without fear!”

Hearing this sentence, those six or seven years old small children couldn’t help but have a smile on their faces, one by one, they forced themselves not to laugh, this sentence was Hillman’s mantra, and this was also a sentence Hillman often said when he taught the children.

“One by one you stand firm, look at your brothers in the south, see how they stand?”

Hillman chided.

Those six or seven year old children immediately stood firm one by one with great effort.

After a while, those six or seven year old children were staggering, and each of them felt that their legs were aching terribly, but they clenched their teeth and insisted, and after a while, each of them collapsed and sat down on the ground.

Hillman’s face was still cold, but he secretly nodded in his heart, the performance of these six or seven year old children still made him very satisfied.

Before long, some of the group of about ten year olds in the center could not resist any longer, and one by one, they fell to the ground and sat down.

“You guys can hold out for as long as you can, I won’t harden you, it’s just that you’ll only have yourselves to blame if you’re not as good as others in the future.”

Hillman said coldly.

“Huh?”

Luo Rui suddenly looked at the team to the north in amazement.

At the moment, quite a few of the central team’s children around the age of ten had collapsed and were sitting paralyzed on the ground, while the northern team surprisingly still had a six year old child holding on.

“Linley is exercising for the first time today, isn’t he, surprisingly this powerful!”

Luo Rui said in surprise, next to Roger, Hillman also noticed, Hillman also looked over there, at this moment in the north team there is only a brown-haired little boy holding on, this little boy pursed his lips, eyes firmly looking ahead, fists tightly clenched even more fists knuckles white.

A glint of surprise appeared in Hillman’s eyes.

“Good boy!”

Hillman exclaimed in his heart, at only six years old, he was able to catch up with children around ten years old in the ‘Inherent Qi Style’, this qualification, a glimpse of a leopard in a tube, could be seen.

Lin Lei, full name Lin Lei Baruch, the eldest son of the Baruch family, the owners of the entire Usan Town. Baruch family is a very old family, once very prosperous, but thousands of years of inheritance down, now the entire family is only three members, patriarch Hogg Baruch and two sons. The eldest son, Linley Baruch, is only six years old this year. And the youngest son Walton Baruch, only two years old. As for the matriarch of the Baruch family, she died after giving birth to her youngest son. Linley’s grandfather also lost his life in the war in the army.

Linley’s legs trembled, and even though he was as strong-willed as he could be, his muscles, which were sore to the core, were out of his control, and he finally collapsed to the ground and sat down.

“Linley, how do you feel?”

Hillman walked over with a smile.

Linley grinned, revealing his baby tiger teeth: “Nothing, Uncle Hillman.”

Hillman was the captain of the Baruch family’s guards, and had watched Linley grow up since he was a child. The two were naturally very close.

“Good job, like a man.”

Hillman touched Linley’s head, instantly causing Linley’s hair to be as messy as straw.

“Heh heh.”

Linley grinned, his heart feeling delighted at Hillman’s praise.

After resting for a while, he resumed his training. The six and seven year olds had a much lighter level of training, however. And those teenagers training degree is very horrible.

Only to see that this group of teenagers, including those children, one by one, their heads and feet were resting on flat stones, and their entire bodies were hanging in the air, relying entirely on their waist strength to hold on.

“Waist, crotch, this triangular area.”

Hillman’s hands gestured the position of the abdomen, “This area is the center of the entire human body, whether it is speed, or power, the core is this triangle area, this core triangle area is very important.”

Hillman said on his lips, but also kept walking, carefully observing each teenager movement whether standardized.

“Straighten up, don’t sag at the waist!”

Hillman droned.

Immediately, many of the teenagers’ waists immediately endeavored to straighten up towards the top, and Linley was doing this for the first time today, his small head and feet resting on two flat stones respectively. But by this time, Linley could already feel his waist getting hot and sore.

“Hold on, hold on, I’m the best.”

Linley encouraged himself in his heart. Linley’s physical fitness had been very good since he was a child, and he had almost never gotten sick. Combined with being very persistent, excelling wasn’t much of a stretch.

“Flop!”

The first child fell down.

However, the flat stone used for pillows and feet was only about nearly twenty centimeters high, so a small child falling down wouldn’t have sh injuries. (Alchemists in the Yulan continent formulated the unit of length ‘1 meter = 10 decimeters = 100 centimeters = 1000 millimeters’) “Puff!”

“Puff!”

As time passed, one by one, the children couldn’t hold on any longer.

Linley’s teeth clenched tightly, he clearly felt that his waist was already sore to the limit, nearly unconscious: “My body is so heavy, I can’t hold on any longer, hold on, hold on a little longer.”

At this time, Linley was the only one in the six to eight year old team who was holding on.

When Hillman saw Linley, he couldn’t help but show a look of surprise and satisfaction in his eyes.

“Luo Rui.”

Hillman drank steeply.

“Captain.”

Luo Rui immediately stood up straight and waited for the order.

Hillman ordered: “Tomorrow you guys prepare some dyes, and when they are doing waist training, put a branch underneath each person’s waist, with the branch smeared with dye. If anyone is lax and their waist touches the branch and their body is stained with the dye, the training task is doubled.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Luo Rui answered aloud, but the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but twitch as he secretly laughed in his heart, “The captain really has a lot of devious ideas, those boys are going to be miserable.”

Isn’t it?

The faces of those teenagers were bitter one by one, normally they were still able to slack off with tiny movements, but once Hillman did this, they couldn’t slack off anymore.

Hillman continued to say coldly: “I can tell you, a warrior cultivate fighting qi, fighting qi storage location, is in the navel below a fist or so position. You should be able to understand that this is also in the core triangle area. You should now understand the importance of exercising in the core triangle! This is the core, and if you can’t do it here, it’s no use exercising anywhere else.”

A good instructor is very important for children.

And Hillman, is a great fighter, he knows the focus of the workout, he knows the gradual progression, he knows how far to train a child at what age. If the degree was too great, it could lead to the child’s body not being able to resist and collapse.

“Fighting qi?”

Hearing this word, those teenagers, as well as the children who were resting on the side all looked at Hillman with wide eyes.

Regarding fighting qi, those commoner children were all very much looking forward to it, that is, Linley, the son of a decaying noble was also very much yearning for it.

“Puff!”

Linley himself was finally unable to resist, but he still used his arms to support the ground as he slowly fell down.

“So cozy!”

Linley felt a tingling sensation as he rested his aching waist, a sensation that permeated deep into his muscles as if it was deep into his bones, so comfortable that even little Linley squinted slightly.

“How many times did I fall down?”

Linley snapped his eyes open and looked around.

All of the children in the team of six to eight years old had fallen down, it was the children around ten years old in the center who had fallen most of the way down, but those fourteen and fifteen year old teenagers were holding on. And Hillman still cold face, mouth said: “You all have to remember, the body is like a container, a wine glass. And fighting spirit is like wine! How much wine can be stored in a glass depends on the size of the glass. Similarly, a person’s ultimate success in cultivating Dou Qi also depends on how well he or she has trained his or her physical body. If the physical body is too weak, even if there is a powerful fighting qi secret code, his body will not be able to withstand much fighting qi and he will not be able to become a powerful warrior.”

Hillman told these children many important messages. Many warriors, because they had no one to teach them during their teenage years, did not understand the relationship between body strength and fighting qi until later in life. However, by the time they were too old, exercising their bodies was ineffective.

Many predecessors took many detours to accumulate experience, Hillman in the teaching time and time again, like the spring breeze like rain, quietly will be those important experience deeply engraved in the minds of this group of children. Hillman didn’t want these children to take another detour.

After going through the ‘Yumki-Style’, a coordinated workout for all parts of the body in the waist, legs, shoulders, and back, almost all of the children sat paralyzed on the ground. Hillman’s level of training was arranged very appropriately.

“Today’s morning exercise, ends here.”

Hillman announced.

The training in Wushan Town was regular, divided into two times a day, one for the morning exercise and one for the evening time exercise.

“Uncle Hillman, tell us a story.”

As soon as it was dismissed, there were immediately children who shouted out, every day at the end of the morning exercise, Hillman would tell these children stories that happened in the military, or elsewhere on the continent.

The children who grew up in a small town were eager for the outside world, for the military.

Hillman smiled slightly, the children telling stories was also a way he came up with to fill the children’s hearts with motivation to train, Hillman always recognized that only by making the children actively desire to want to cultivate, the children’s achievements would be high.

“Today, I will tell you about the four ultimate warriors in the legends of the entire continent!”

Hillman also had a hint of adoration on his face.

Those children immediately had their ears perked up and their eyes glowing. Linley, who was also sitting on the ground, felt his heart beating hard: “The four legendary Ultimate Warriors?”

Linley involuntarily perked up his ears and looked at Hillman.

There was a hint of excitement in Hillman’s eyes, but his voice remained steady: “On our continent, thousands of years ago, there were four ultimate warriors, and these four ultimate warriors all possessed strength comparable to that of dragons, and they were able to walk amongst millions of soldiers, easily taking the heads of enemy generals! These four ultimate warriors are the Dragon Blood Warrior, the Violet Flame Warrior, the Tiger Stripe Warrior, and the Immortal Warrior!”

“There are nine levels of warriors, and I, a mere level six warrior, am able to easily slap boulders and kick off large trees! And a rank nine warrior, I’m afraid that in our Finlay Kingdom, I’m also considered the number one strongest person. Above the level 9 warriors, there are the four ultimate warriors, who are beyond the level 9 warriors, at the peak of the warriors, belonging to the legendary Holy Realm powerhouses!”

Hillman’s eyes were filled with longing, “Legendary Holy Realm powerhouses can make huge icebergs melt, make endless seas roar with rage, make mountains as tall as clouds crumble, make cities with millions of people crumble and destroy, and make the sky drop endless meteorites! They are invincible existences, supreme existences.”

Silence, all the children were stunned.

Hillman pointed to the mountain to the northeast.

“You guys, look at that oozy mountain, isn’t it huge?”

Hillman said with a smile.

Those who had just heard Hillman say that much had been stunned. At this moment, they all nodded their heads in succession. The Wu Mountain was a thousand meters high and stretched for thousands of meters, in the eyes of humans, it was indeed considered a huge thing.

“But this Mount Wu, a Saint Realm powerhouse can destroy it in the blink of an eye.”

Hillman said with great certainty.

A rank six warrior could only destroy a boulder with a single slap, while a Saint Domain powerhouse was able to destroy a huge mountain. This caused all the children to grow their mouths and open their eyes wide, each and every one of them trembled in their hearts, and in the depths of their hearts, they couldn’t help but feel fearful of Saint Domain powerhouses, while at the same time being filled with anticipation as well as longing.

“Destroying a mountain?”

These words of Hillman’s shook Linley to the core.

Before long, a group of children went back one by one with their shock, while Hillman, Rory, and Roger were the last to go. Gazing at this large group of children leaving in groups, a smile appeared on Hillman’s face.

“These children, are the future hope of our Usan Town.”

Hillman said with a smile.

Luo Rui and Luo Jie also looked at this group of children, the commoners’ children in almost every place on the continent had been working hard since they were young. Seeing these children, Rory, Roger also seemed to see their own childhood and teenage years.

“Captain Hillman, you are much more powerful than ‘Old Potter’ back then, under your cultivation, I believe that our town of Wushan will become the most powerful one among the dozen or so surrounding towns.”

Luo Rui said with a sigh.

The strength of an instructor determined the future of a place.

“By the way, Captain, how do you know that the Holy Domain powerhouses, the four Ultimate Warriors are that powerful?”

Rory suddenly asked curiously. Hillman embarrassedly smiled: “This, in fact, I don’t know how powerful the four ultimate warriors are. After all, they are legendary characters. No one has seen them in years.”

“You don’t know, and you’re still deceiving children?”

Rory and Roger were speechless.

Hillman smiled faintly: “Although I’m not too clear about the power of the four ultimate warriors, I do know about Saint Magicians, that is, magicians who have reached the Holy Realm. They can cast forbidden magic, destroying hundreds of thousands of troops and destroying a city. A Saint Domain Magician is this powerful, so I guess a Saint Domain Warrior, isn’t too far off.”

“Not to mention that telling children about this is making their hearts more motivated. Can’t you see that longing look on those children’s faces after hearing the story?”

Hillman smiled smugly.

Rory and Roger could only be speechless.

“Ray, goodbye.”

“Hadley, bye.”

After saying goodbye to his good friend ‘Hadley’, Linley walked alone towards his home, and after walking for a while, he saw the Baruch family residence.

The Baruch family’s mansion covered an extremely large area, and there were moss, creepers, and other plants wrapped around the courtyard walls. The walls were filled with the marks of time. The Baruch Family Residence in Wushan Town was the ancestral home of the Baruch Family. An ancestral house that had been passed down for five thousand years, and after thousands of years of constant repairs, it still stood here today.

Just with the family’s decline, the Baruch family’s economic situation is also deteriorating, and finally can only eat the old money, more than a hundred years ago, the Baruch family’s contemporary patriarch decided that the entire family members only live in the residence occupies one-third of the area of the entire residence of the front yard residence, as for the back of the courtyard and so on, and no longer repair and maintenance. This saved a lot of money.

But even so, by now, Linley’s father, ‘Hogg Baruch’, also needed to sell some of the family’s belongings to maintain his household.

The mansion’s tall gate was open.

“Sanctuary Warrior?”

Linley thought as he walked, “Will I be able to become a Saint realm warrior in the future?”

“Linley.”

Hillman’s voice rang out from behind him, and Hillman, Rory, and Roger, the three last to go, were catching up at the moment.

Linley turned his head to look and immediately said with joy, “Uncle Hillman!”

Linley then took a deep breath and looked at Hillman, apprehensively and full of anticipation, asking: “Uncle Hillman, you said that the Holy Realm Warrior was powerful? Then, is it possible for me to become a holy warrior?”

In Linley’s heart, there was the same desire as most children.

Hillman was stunned, and beside him, Luo Rui and Luo Jie also froze for a while.

Sanctuary Warrior?

“These little children are really daring enough to think, the entire country of Finlay Kingdom has tens of millions of inhabitants, but even so, there hasn’t been a single Saint Realm powerhouse in hundreds of years. If you want to become a Holy Realm Warrior,” Hillman knew very well in the bottom of his heart, the difficulty of becoming a Holy Realm Warrior.

That is the need to practice hard from childhood, but also need to family cultivation, need personal talent, but also need opportunities, etc., a Sanctuary Stronger, and is not that easy to become.

Hillman knows very well, he has become a level six warrior, in the end, how much suffering, in the life and death wandered how many times. If it’s hard to become a level 6 warrior, let alone a level 7, 8 or 9 warrior, then it’s even harder to become a Sanctuary. Hillman was afraid that he would only dare to think about it in his dreams.

But faced with Linley’s eager gaze.

“Linley, Uncle Hillman believes in you, you’ll definitely become a Holy Realm warrior.”

Hillman gazed at Linley and said firmly, Hillman’s words of encouragement however caused Linley’s eyes to instantly light up, and a longing rose in the bottom of Linley’s heart!

This longing, it was unprecedentedly hot!

“Uncle Hillman, can I train with the central team tomorrow?”

Linley suddenly said.

Hillman, Rory, and Roger couldn’t help but look at Linley in surprise.

“Lord Father said that in order to become a superior human, one must put in more effort than being human.”

Linley couldn’t help but imitate his own father’s tone of voice.

Hillman suddenly laughed, he had seen Linley’s training today, although Linley was only six years old, his physical fitness was catching up to that of a nine or ten year old, immediately nodding his head and smiling, he said, “That’s good, but don’t back down when the time comes, you know, this isn’t just for a day or two, it’s going to be a long time in the future.”

Linley raised his little head, confidently smiled: “Uncle Hillman, you watch.”

This was a very ordinary morning in Wushan Town, and every day afterward would be the same, as the group of children in Wushan Town continued to train hard under the tutelage of the rank six warrior ‘Hillman’. The only difference from the past was that Linley, who was only six years old, had been placed in the group of children around ten years old.