Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Sister!”

Gus lunged at Grey and caught his sister, who was staggering backward.

Grey’s face was pale, and she was breathing fast. Her back was wet with bloody wounds.

Although she was a boxing genius and had four chain crossbows with unlimited ammunition, she was still heavily wounded by the overwhelming number of pursuers and the fearlessness of the Fist God.

The storm showed no signs of stopping. The raindrops the size of beans hit the wounds like venomous liquids, which soon turned white and shivered like the lips of a baby.

“Let’s go and find a place to hide!”

Gus had never seen his sister in such a weak state before.

After the first murder, a certain strength had been growing inside his heart. He didn’t know where the strength came from, but he supported Grey and drifted in the storm and mud.

Finally, before his strength ran out and he was buried in the mud, he found a relatively high cave that was relatively dry and would not be drowned for now.

Deep inside the cave, there was a nest made of branches and weeds, which had been pressed into a soft and warm place.

This should be the residence of a bear-type ferocious beast, but they did not find any traces of a bear.

Even if I did, I wouldn’t be scared. Holding the chain crossbow, Gus thought that he could blow up the bear’s head with one shot.

Grey collapsed in the den of the bear. Biting her lips, she emptied her backpack and found the medication drug, shivering.

After asking Gus to apply medicine and bandage her wounds, she took two pills and was greatly relieved. Soon, she fell asleep.

Grey’s sleep was not peaceful. Even in her sleep, she was still twitching and screaming, as if she were fighting an enemy in a nightmare.

Gus had never been in such a situation before. He could not help but ask Lu Qingchen worriedly, “Can—can we make it to the south and find the ‘Steam Legion’?”

The devil opened his hands and said, “I hope so.”

Grey woke up once before dawn.

At this moment, her entire body was burning hot. Her face was unnaturally flushed, and steam was popping up from her forehead.

“Sister, you have a fever.”

Gus said in horror, “You are burning like a torch!”

“Yes.”

With the help of her brother, Grey drank two large bags of water and ate two flatbreads that had been soaked in oil and added animal fat. Then she took a breath and said, “Gus, listen to me. At the bottom of the backpack is a secret pocket that has been sewn shut. Inside is Dad’s journal, which records the methods to find the ‘steam army’ in the south. Read it now and then burn Dad’s journal. Do not let it fall into the hands of the Temple of Fist.

“Remember, if I cannot hold on any longer, you must go to the south and find the ‘Steam Legion’ by yourself. They are the only people who can help you survive and avenge your father. Do you understand?”

“Sister, what nonsense are you talking about?”

Gus’s eyes bulged. “I won’t leave you alone. You will make it!”

“I meant ‘if’.”

Grey smiled bitterly. “Our enemy is the Fist Hall, or even… the Fist God himself. Don’t you think it’s too optimistic to say that we can definitely make it through? Don’t worry. I’m still fine. How can those guys who have just graduated from the Iron Fist School and entered the boxing gym for a few years kill me? But if I run into my uncle, I can’t guarantee anything.”

“Go and check your father’s journal. It is your responsibility and your right!”

After saying that, his sister fell asleep again.

Gus took a deep breath and tore open the secret pocket at the bottom of the backpack.

Inside the box was a beautifully-bound notebook with complicated patterns. Gus had never seen anything like it before, which meant that the tools and machines required to make the notebook were extremely precise.

Opening the title page, there was a sentence written on it. With his sharp eyes, Gus immediately recognized that it was his father’s handwriting.

His father wrote, trembling, “Is our world a lie?”

The question made Gus’s pupils constrict violently. He looked up at the devil next to him.

“Well, whether or not it is a lie depends on your definition of ‘lie’.

Lu Qingchen scratched his nose and said casually, “From a certain perspective, all the worlds are false lies, and the meaning of life is to find and cultivate the only truth in countless lies. That’s about it, right?”

Gus did not understand what the devil was saying.

He continued reading his father’s diary.

The diary was written in a very delicate style. Gus had never seen such notes before. They were zigzagging like the heads of flies and could write the words very clearly.

Such handwriting could only be written with an extremely thin pen and a very smooth ink supply system.

It involved very advanced mechanical processing technology, something that the Temple of Fist loathed.

Anyway, Gus had never seen such thin, clear, and beautiful handwriting in Red Gold Town.

The diary alone was enough to sentence his father to death if it fell into the hands of the Temple of Fist, not to mention the outrageous and even insane remarks recorded in the diary.

His sister was not lying.

His father was the first to be possessed. His sister was merely inheriting his father’s will.

Gus sighed. He rubbed a towel and placed it on his sister’s burning forehead. Then he continued reading. In the diary, his father wrote:

“May 7, year 10235 in the Iron Fist Calendar.

“That’s impossible!

“The strength of the Fist God is invincible. There are no devils, demons, ghosts, or demons that can compete with the iron fists. Liar. Fake. It’s all an illusion. Such a ‘steam engine’ cannot output such immense strength!

“Iron Fist Calendar Year 10235, July 2.

“Today, I once again used the ‘steam engine’ to output strength comparable to the ‘Fist of the Deep Sea’. This is already the fifth successful experiment over the past seven days. This means that as long as I have some scrap metal and enough fuel, even an ordinary person who doesn’t even have the strength to truss a chicken would be able to unleash combat strength comparable to a martial arts genius painstakingly cultivating for several decades.”

“If this is true, then what is the significance of a martial arts genius painstakingly cultivating for decades?

“My world has collapsed. Is the path of iron fists the only truth, and is the Fist God the only true god?

“If the ‘mechanical force’ and the ‘steam force’ were really so useful, and if the ‘mechanical force and the steam force’ could have been popularized on a large scale in our world three to five thousand years ago, would the ordinary people not have been savaged by the ferocious beasts for so many years? Would we have become the unique spirits of all creatures long ago? What would our world have become?

“Why did the Fist God lie to us and not explain to the world that the power of machines and steam is so strong?”