Star Sky Professional

Splash!

A black catfish swims freely in the water, feeling a wave of heat in its belly after an unknown amount of time.

Plop!

In the True Martial Space, a black catfish lands on the ground, its tail still flapping non-stop.

"This... can animals practice martial arts and become exotic beasts? Beast Gods?"

"No, with this intelligence, I'd get exhausted to the point of vomiting blood..."

Fang Xing waves his hand dismissively with a look of disdain.

The catfish is thrown out again.

...

An unknown amount of time passes.

Splash!

Water splashes as a fat catfish is caught and lands in front of a young boy.

"What a big catfish!"

The boy is tall, with fair skin, and features slightly resembling mixed heritage.

He flicks the fishing rod, strings the catfish, and carries it toward his home.

This is a shack area by the river, built with various discarded boards and cardboard, resembling a slum.

And just across a wall stands the harbor city of Daluo – Xinfeng City!

There are well-dressed gentlemen and ladies, rickshaw pullers, watchmakers... and even traditional courier services, martial arts schools, and clinics.

Street scenes also include steam buses with thick stacks on their roofs, passing by in strange appearances.

Most of these are locally adapted technologies transferred from the White Eagle Continent into Daluo.

They carry a strong modern vibe, with a touch of a mismatched feeling.

"Li Wei, back already?"

Several old women in the shed area greet him: "Caught another fish, did you?"

"Yes."

Li Wei smiles happily and returns to his own shack.

It looks very simple, only a few wooden boards randomly put together, yet it houses four people.

He skillfully starts cutting the fish meat, silently thinking, "Today was a good day, I can go see Teacher Kael..."

Teacher Kael is a white man, well, he claims to be a person of the White Eagle, but in Daluo, to keep things simple and seeing his skin is white, they just call him a white person.

It's said he was once a very skilled knight and participated in several pioneering expeditions.

But later encountered the war between Daluo Dynasty and White Eagle, got struck by a sword in the knee, and had to retire.

However, he didn't develop hatred for Daluo; on the contrary, he felt this land, known by the White Eagle Continent as the 'Far East', was a place filled with gold and opportunities, so he chose to follow a martial artist and sailed across the sea.

As a result, the martial artist he followed, intending to establish a sect in Daluo Dynasty, had to abide by the local martial arts rules and set up a challenge arena at the busiest crossroads for seven days to accept challenges from all martial arts schools.

Then he was killed by the head of a martial arts school because they had signed a life-and-death contract beforehand, and the opponent didn't pay a single penny...

The unfortunate Kael lost his job and had all his possessions stolen by thieves, attempting to retaliate violently but was targeted by some local thugs and beaten half to death, thrown into the slums.

Since then, he became completely honest, now working as a laborer at the docks, occasionally teaching some fighting skills, hoping to save up for a ship ticket back to the White Eagle Continent...

Although Kael seems very down on his luck, to Li Wei, he's a formidable 'expert'.

And due to his mixed heritage, Li Wei also doesn't fare well in Daluo Dynasty, considered an outsider.

Having saved Kael by chance, Kael took quite a liking to him and was willing to teach him a few things.

On the White Eagle Continent, it's equivalent to accepting him as an apprentice, at least calling him a teacher.

According to the simple Daluo Dynasty concept, once you have a teacher, even if you don't have much money, you should express some gratitude with good things from time to time.

Walking along, Li Wei tossed the stone talisman in his hand.

The stone talisman is gray-white, with some inexplicable patterns, and somehow appeared in the fish's belly.

He didn't care much and casually tossed it into his pocket.

Before long, Li Wei, holding half a slaughtered fish, arrives at a place in the shack area.

Here the wooden house looks more solid, surrounded by fencing around Kael's hut.

In the corner of the wooden house is a clay pot, brewing herbal medicine.

The entire room is filled with a bitter medicinal smell.

"Teacher..."

Li Wei sees Kael, raising the fish meat in his hand: "I caught a fish today..."

"Ah, Li Wei."

Kael coughs lightly.

He has a well-proportioned figure with golden curls and sapphire-like eyes.

But now, the clear weakness can be seen, apparent from the unresolved severe injury and long work hours.

The two teachers and students simply cook and eat the fish, then Kael takes a sip of yellow wine, sighing: "The 'Cross Breathing Method' I taught you, how's your cultivation coming along? This is a secret technique to become a formal knight — on the White Eagle Continent, countless knight apprentices desire it their whole lives without success... Alas, I couldn't bear for the school's absolute techniques to be lost, and seeing you're half White Eagle blood, I reluctantly taught it to you..."

"Still haven't gotten the hang of it..."

Li Wei's expression was somewhat grim: "Moreover... even if I master the Breathing Skill, I'm afraid I'm no match for those Martial Arts thugs..."

"What are you talking about?"

Kyle's language from the Daluo Dynasty was quite stiff, but his emotion was clearly a bit angry: "The Knight's Way gets stronger as you progress further, something beyond your imagination..."

"Alright, alright, are you going to talk about the legend of the Heavenly Knight conquering the skies again?"

Li Wei rolled his eyes: "Here in the Daluo Dynasty, Martial Artists who can perform Body Flight are called Super Grade 'Void Realm'... Oh, your first Heavenly Knight was killed by a Void Realm Elder from the Canal Gang..."

"Fine... Daluo indeed is a marvelous country."

Kyle hobbled into the courtyard bordered by a fence.

The disability on his body was also the handiwork of a Daluo Martial Artist: "But you're broke, can't even afford the cheapest martial arts school fee, so you still have to learn my knight combat skills... Now, continue."

Then Li Wei took off his shirt, revealing his lean body, arms crossed in a cross formation, striking a peculiar pose.

As he continually adjusted his breathing frequency, the muscles on his body began subtly moving.

"Feel the wind, feel the earth... sense the wave of life... you'll discover the entire world is composed of different ripples, each with its own frequency..."

Kyle started explaining the key points of the Cross Breathing Method.

"Your Daluo Martial Arts, the lower three grades are just like that, only about tempering the body... Our Knight's Way also tempers the flesh, and definitely doesn't fall short... If you don a specially made Knight Armor, it actually increases your chances, speeds up the progress... A knight apprentice, if armoured, can definitely defeat ten teams of lower three grade Martial Artists... It's a pity, the highest level combat power can't match Daluo..."

Kyle seemed somewhat regretful.

"Oh, please... You guys go armored, and ask us not to go armored..."

Li Wei habitually retorted: "Moreover, our side's top combat power actually has quite a few, like the demon sect... They definitely won't cooperate with the Daluo Dynasty, instead they would be a massive hindrance..."

Pop!

While Li Wei was speaking, Kyle suddenly struck.

His joints were large, with thick fingers, he heavily struck several parts of Li Wei's torso.

Amidst the crisp sound, that area immediately began to redden and swell...

Li Wei felt a shiver, as if electrified all over.

In this strange state, he maintained the breathing frequency of the Cross Breathing Method, seemingly grasping something, but it was difficult to hold onto.

"It feels like I've caught a glimpse, but then it vanished..."

After a round of strikes, Li Wei looked at the sweating Kyle, hurriedly bowed: "Thank you, teacher..."

"This cultivation method harms your body, you can't persist for long... Also, Li Wei, if you can't breakthrough to a formal knight before twenty, this training method will ruin you." Kyle exhaled a long breath earnestly.

"Twenty is already enough..."

Li Wei just smiled: "Teacher, how many kids from the slum do you think can survive smoothly till twenty?"

Kyle sighed: "Most of my money needs to be saved to exchange for a ticket back home... But before leaving, I will try my best to teach you, once you break through the Breathing Method, you can gather the Seed of Life, truly enter the transcendent knight's domain, and learn our 'Red Serpent Flow' genuine Secret Transmission."

"Red Serpent Flow?"

Li Wei's eyes brightened, something the teacher had never mentioned before.

"The Knight's Way has many factions, just like your different martial arts schools and sects here... My branch is called 'Red Serpent Flow', a strong faction that produced Earth Knights."

Kyle spoke proudly.

"Meaning not reaching Super Grade..."

Li Wei sighed: "Seems like... I can only rely on my own efforts."

Having grown up in the Daluo Dynasty from a young age, under its influence, he already felt that Daluo Martial Arts were superior, deciding in his heart that after earning his first fortune with the White Eagle combat techniques, he still had to apprentice with a reputable sect.

As for the Cross Breathing Method? And subsequent combat techniques, Red Serpent Secret Transmission?

They were merely stairs and springboards!

...

At night.

Li Wei returned home.

"Big brother?"

A little girl with a red ribbon in her hair immediately ran over.

"Dad, Mom..."

Li Wei patted the little girl's head and greeted his adoptive parents.

His adoptive parents were of pure Daluo bloodline, kind-hearted, reportedly found him during a snowy day.

Just by looking at his appearance, one could see why he was abandoned.

According to their speculation and Li Wei's assumption, his mother should be a Bodhisattva from Xinfeng City.

Well, the Daluo Dynasty is quite barbaric and has a tradition of enslaving and capturing foreign races.

The so-called 'Bodhisattva' refers to White Eagle women with fair skin, directly degraded to slaves upon being captured.

There were quite a few pleasure houses and brothels in Xinfeng City, raising many Bodhisattvas, a popular industry that rose in recent decades.

"Xiao Wei's back? Did you eat?"

Li's mother asked.

"I went to the teacher's house, already had dinner."

Li Wei responded with a few words, helped with some household chores, then exhaustedly lay on the bed, drifting into a dream...