RISE OF THE MARTIAL GOD

The sound of someone creeping up to them snapped Anthony out of his head.

"Xinglan Jie, you can catch some sleep now. It's almost morning." Tong Tong's voice broke the silence.

Anthony looked at Xinglan and nodded.

"Go catch some sleep. You only have two hours till day break."

"I doubt I will be able to sleep. But thanks for the offer." She muttered and cupped her fist before her, giving him a ceremonial thanks, before she got up and joined Miao Miao on the blanket.

"Young master, you sleep too." She said, giving him a polite smile.

Unlike her casual disposure with Xinglan, her relationship with Anthony seems formal, like a subordinate adressing the boss.

"I don't feel sleepy. It's already 3.30 am, soon the sun rays will peek out. I only need to wash up before then."

"3.30 a.m? What's that?"

"It's a unit of time measurement. Let's just say the cock already crowed twice, so it's morning already. You too, go back to sleep, you need lots of rest to heal faster."

She gasped, her eyes widening in shock as she touched the gauze."My face…"

She carefully patted it, and the smile on her face disappeared, her expression turned sombre.

"What's wrong?"

"I totally forgot about the injury on my face till you mentioned it. Probably because the pain is gone."

Anthony nodded.

"That's to be expected. I gave you potent pain relievers with anti inflammatory properties. Alright you can go and rest to recover enough energy. Once it's morning, we move. You won't be able to sleep then, even if you wanted to."

"I'm no longer feeling sleepy. Once it's this time, I wake up and start getting things ready for the day, like cleaning up and preparing breakfast ingredients. It's already a habit, going back to lie down would be pointless, my eyes will remain wide awake."

"Then you need to change that habit. From now on, you're a young mistress, no longer a servant."

Tong Tong chuckled, as if she found the idea ridiculous.

"What was your father's position in the Chen village?"

"He was chief Chen's right hand man and most loyal retainer. They go way back. My father saved chief Chen when they were younger, and he took my father back with him. Meanwhile my father was kicked out of his original family, but he was given a new place to call home, a comfortable one, making him grateful."

"What's your family name, or did you also change it to Chen?"

"Of course not. My father might have been close to the village Chief and served him wholeheartedly, but he was a man with his own pride. He would never agree to be someone's grandson or dog."

Anthony chuckled lightly and shook his head. 'He was already Chief Chen's dog in his lifetime. Not only did he serve him and give him everything, working hard to make him rich, while receiving insults. His child even continued in servitude like him. Did he sign a bonds slave contract? Being rewarded with slavery after saving someone's life. Wow. Desperation can truly do a lot."

Tong Tong who was oblivious of Anthony's thoughts kept smiling as she looked at the moon's reflection on the river.

"What's your family name? Your full name."

"Zhao. Zhao Tong Tong."

"The vibrant and joyful one. Your name is beautiful."

"Thank you."

Anthony stood up, removed his shoes, and made his way to the downside of the river flowing into the ocean.

"Where are you going?" Tong Tong shouted after him.

"To bathe. Why? Do you want to join me? Scratch my back maybe?"

The part of Tong Tong's face that was visible turned red in milliseconds, and she quickly ran back to the rest.

Anthony found a comfortable space and with three elevated rocks of different heights and sizes and sat on one of them.

He hit his shoulders, as if trying to massage them.

"Damn it! I'm very exhausted and stressed out. A warm water bath and massage would do me a world of good. A bowl of spirit mushroom soup would have been nice too. But alas! Things are like this now. I don't have such luxury."

Carefully brought out the bag containing the storage rings he took from bandits from his chest where he hid them, and wrapped it with his clothes, carefully placing them on the rock.

There was a part of the waterfall close to him, so he brought out soap from his ring and moved closer to clean up.

The moon reflected against his body, exposing him in all his glory. His perfect sculpted muscles, abs, thighs and perky butt all looked as if they were made for seduction. His flawlessly handsome face, and long black hair made him look like a god which descended to the mortal realm. The amazing thing was how he remained beardless, even with the hair on his head growing wildly and needing to be trimmed often.

He faced the rock where he kept his loot, not willing to look away for even a minute, to avoid stories that touch the heart. Not that someone would approach without him noticing.

His hair was soon full of lather and he scrubbed his head vigorously, combing the scalp with his fingers, till it all became clean. A stray thought creeped into his mind, worsening his morning wood. He groaned and continued scrubbing down, trying to ignore it. But the more he tried to ignore it, the hornier he became.

"Please don't ruin my day, I don't want to fly into a temper. Besides, I'm a lone wolf now, I don't even have a woman. How can I have such thoughts? Anthony, you're beyond salvation."

Even as he scolded himself with his eyes closed, his right hand went to his manhood and he leaned against a rock, the cold water pouring down on him. Slowly, his fingers grazed the tip and his breath caught in his throat.

From slow strokes and massages, occasionally making his hand slippery with lather, the movements of his hand became faster and faster. His eyes drifted shut, his breath quickened as he approached climax, and he opened his eyes.

His eyes met with a shocked terrified one, or perhaps one filled with lust and surprise. The unexpected thrill of having her catch him red handed, masturbating made him shoot off his load. His eyes never left hers for a second, not backing down or looking away like she probably expected. He even moaned, and quickened his hand movement, till the last bit dropped.

She ran away, abandoning the reason she went to that part of the river, her cheeks flaming. Anthony chuckled as he watched her, and rinsed his body off, feeling refreshed.

"Did she expect me to be embarrassed because she caught me doing something scandalous and corrupt? Is she joking? She's dealing with the boss of shamelessness. You can't shame the shameless." He chuckled again.

"Only naive little virgins like you will feel awkward for giving in to perfectly normal desires." He chuckled and stepped away from the water fall, wrapping a robe around himself.

He opened his storage ring and took a peek into the section he packed his clothes.

"Aish! All the clothes A'Xuan packed for me are too expensive, and the materials are not available in this first heaven. The other one which was way low key attracted too much attention. The rest will be even worse. But I can't reuse the cloth, I already wore it for five days straight." He sighed heavily and shrugged in resignation. "He only wanted to give me the best. Come to think of it, Lan Xuanyu has a terrifying reputation sending chills down the spine of many, a ruthless god who kills more than he saves, his stories sending awe across worlds. Why does he seem to be nice only to me? And he talks as if we knew from somewhere in the past."

He hissed and shook his head, knowing that nothing would come out of worrying too much.

"Let me just go with this second black one. It might be luxurious and full of energy protection beads. But at least, black is less eye catching than the other colors he packed. That's the best option. I can't exactly wear the rags I used in Tian Luo forest out there. I better use these. Besides, I'm not afraid of attracting greedy eyes. Otherwise, how will I gather enough money to buy a manor without robbing those who ask for trouble?"

Anthony climbed on top of a rock and applied the scented oil on his body, returned his soap, and dressed up. Once he was done, he floated to the shore.

The three women were awake and sitting in a meditation posture. He ignored them and sat down, rearranging himself. The money bag went back to his chest, his jade pendant to his waist, his bracelet and soul calling bell went back too. He oiled his hair and carefully combed and styled it, using the rare jeweled clasps from Lan Xuanyu.

In a few seconds. He was back to being the untouchable young master. He looked at the dirty clothes, then at the water, and shook his head.

"It's already morning, it won't dry before we leave. And I don't want to waste my cultivation energy on drying it." That said, he dumped it in an empty basket in his storage space and went back to the girls.

"Stop meditating. You girls should go clean up, it's time to leave."