In the afternoon, snowflakes began to drift across the northern sky of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The end of another year was near!

In Fengyang City, the Ye Family, one of the three major local families, had been preparing for the annual year-end clan competition a month in advance.

In the Martial World of the Cangyun Continent, the year-end clan competition was undoubtedly the most important event for each clan!

Ding!

Dong!

In the rear hall of Ye Family's armory, a shirtless young man, a black stone pendant around his neck, and wearing coarse cloth trousers, was swinging a large iron hammer in front of the furnace, continuously smelting a glowing hot iron.

The furnace fire reddened his face, and the determined features with a muscular body was already beaded with sweat.

"Bang!"

The young man, tired of smelting, threw his hammer aside, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and looked at the ongoing burning piece of iron, grumbled:

"All I wanted to do was forge a blade! Did my aunt really have to give me such a difficult task? Where did she even find this useless piece of iron?"

He had been smelting this piece of mystic iron for two years, dedicating at least an hour every day to work on it. However, up until now, it had only slightly deformed.

After two years, he hadn't forged a blade. Instead, his body had become stronger than that of an average person, and he had become extremely proficient in handling the over two hundred pounds of hammer.

He shook his head helplessly, and engaged in a fight with a metal puppet by his side.

Immediately, the "bang bang" sound echoed incessantly throughout the hall.

This metallic puppet is a rarity, capable of executing diverse fist techniques to spar with him. Within less than a quarter of an hour, it has already switched between three or four different martial arts styles.

The young man's moves are devoid of any particular routine, entirely reacting to and dismantling the attacks as they come his way. Even when hit a few times, he seems totally unperturbed.

Suddenly, he and the puppet thrust together, their fists colliding in a powerful mid-air clash.

There is a resounding "boom."

The metallic puppet took two steps back, while the youth staggered back for four to five steps before finally regaining his balance.

The young man rubbed his red and swollen fists, the muscles on his face twitched slightly from pain, yet his bright eyes were filled with disappointment.

"Is my talent really this mediocre? After four years of diligent cultivation, I'm still at the third level of body refining. There are only ten days left until the annual clan competition, and if I can't reach the fourth level of body refining by then, I'll have to be relegated to a branch family!"

The grand stages of martial cultivation are: Body-refining, Genuine-Qi, Sea of Qi, Golden Core, and Heavenly Gang. Each stage is divided into nine levels, and each level has four phases: early, middle, late, and peak.

Some people generally refer to the first, second, and third levels of each stage as the early phase; fourth, fifth, and sixth levels as the middle phase; and the seventh, eighth, and ninth levels as the late phase.

In Fengyang City, there are basically no martial cultivators who have reached the Sea of Qi stage. Those who reach the middle stage of Genuine-Qi can already support a prominent family.

As for all levels above the Heavenly Gang, they belong to the realm of legends!

The bare-chested young man is named Ye Liuyun.

His current stage can be accurately said to be the late phase of the third level of body refining, which generally refers to the early phase of body refining.

At the moment, his heart is filled with indignation, yet at the same time, a sense of profound helplessness.

When Ye Liuyun was ten years old, Ye Liuyun's aunt Feng Wanru came to visit his mother, apparently there had been some kind of upheaval in his mother's family.

Then, his father accompanied his mother back to her maternal home and never returned. His auntie was left by his mother to take care of him and substitute his father for the position of the elder in the temple.

Ye Liuyun has been thinking of becoming stronger through his own efforts in cultivation, so as to find his parents and explore the outside world in the future.

But for the past two years, his training has stalled at the third level of physical cultivation. No matter how hard he tries, there is no progress.

Both the mainline and sideline disciples in the clan look down upon this "good-for-nothing" and "mediocre" one.

Even Ye Xinyu, who was betrothed to him, every time they met, her eyes would fill up with contempt and disgust. She proposed to cancel the marriage contract multiple times, making him the laughing stock of the clan.

Ye Liuyun grabbed a coat randomly, put it on, and walked out of the back palace, all dispirited.

His aunt, Feng Wanru, was already drunk and snoring loudly in the rocking chair, with a few empty wine gourds all over the place on the table next to her.

He glanced at Feng Wanru, who looked rosy, whose eyelashes were fluttering and chest was heaving. He quickly averted his eyes, not daring to look.

Feng Wanru was eight years older than him. She was young, stunningly beautiful, prim and upright. On top of her exceptional temperament, she was absolutely a beauty!

But this beautiful lady turned into a drunk, often tipsy, entirely lacking a ladylike demeanor!

Feng Wanru was well-traveled, and all Ye Liuyun knew about the outside world was from her stories. Yet, many times, Ye Liuyun thought she was just exaggerating.

But in regards to cultivation, besides making him exercise his body, she never allowed him to have body enhancement pills. She used to say it's for his sake.

Ye Liuyun did not understand. People without an awakened bloodline would also consume pills, to improve their realms. He also resisted it, but it just made Feng Wanru angry, and had no other effect.

Therefore, the slow progress of Ye Liuyun's realm had a lot to do with him never consuming pills.

Feng Wanru did not care about his realm, but seeing his bloodline was still not awakened, there was nothing she could do, hence she sought solace in drinks.

Ye Liuyun felt a pang in his heart thinking about his aunt.

"Could she bear it if I were banished to the branch clan?"

He sighed, picked up the gourd of wine on the table, and left the mansion to fetch her some wine.

Despite the cold, Ye Liuyun faced the falling snow, breathed the biting air, and trudged through the thick snow. His mood lifted a considerable amount.

Just as Ye Liuyun was about two streets away from the tavern, he suddenly stopped, his brows furrowed.

"Is there a murderous intent?"

A feeling of danger welled up, making his heart skip a beat.

Suddenly, a masked figure in black robes leaped out from a side alley, rushing at him like the wind.

Ye Liuyun recognized the scent of a woman in the wind, particularly distinct in the fresh air after snowfall.

However, due to his low level, he could sense the danger but could not dodge in time, and was pierced in the lower abdomen by the figure's sword.

He subconsciously clutched his abdomen, his hands covered with blood.

The figure in black followed up with a palm strike to his chest.

"Is this a woman? The scent from the wind and this hand... Ye Xinyu? Does she want to kill me?"

A thought flashed through Ye Liuyun's mind.

Others, he might not know, but his fiancée, Ye Xinyu, although he had no particular fondness for, he had paid careful attention to. Thus, he could recognize her immediately.

Previously, the most Ye Xinyu ever did was insult him, or incite others to trouble him. She never laid a hand on him herself, let alone wanted to kill him.

At this moment, he didn't have the luxury to think too much. With a smack, the black-robed man's palm landed squarely on his pendant, seeming to crack it open.

In the instant he fell backward, Ye Liuyun quickly clenched the pendant at his chest—the only memento left by his parents.

As Ye Liuyun lay on the ground, the black-robed man immediately stabbed at his throat again.

"Hmph!" A cold snort echoed in the street like a thunderclap, followed by a crushing aura that headed straight for the black-robed man.

Puff!

The black-robed man stiffened in shock, the attack unable to follow through. Blood sprayed onto his face mask, and he quickly turned to flee.

Seeing the black-clothed man run away, Ye Liuyun let out a sigh of relief. It seemed someone had stepped in to save him. Moments before, he believed he was about to be killed.

At this moment, he himself didn't even know that the black pendant had absorbed all his blood.

Immediately after, the pendant flickered with light, covering Ye Liuyun's entire body, and his wounds healed instantaneously.

"My wounds are healed? What's going on here?"

Ye Liuyun was greatly astonished. Before he could figure out what had happened, the black pendant flew back into his body.

At this moment, perhaps due to his heavy injury earlier, his consciousness began to blur, and he gradually fell into unconsciousness.