Glancing down at the green wristband, he continued to run.
As usual, Zhou Leng ran to the foot of Ruge Mountain before stopping.
Looking up, the entire Xiaoru Village was shrouded in fog, only the silhouette of the large mulberry tree at the village entrance was visible.
Along the cement road ahead, an energetic elderly man approached, shouting, "Xiao Leng, have you seen Huang?"
"Huang hasn't returned to the village?"
"It went missing two days ago, didn't pay much attention since it often doesn't come back for days. Yesterday the fog set in, I was afraid Huang would get lost, so I've been looking. Asked around the group, no one saw it."
"Have you searched the mountain?"
"The fog is so thick, it's hard to climb the mountain."
"It likes to roam, should be fine. If the fog clears tomorrow, I'll go up the mountain to train and look for it."
"If it's not found by tomorrow, I'll let you know. Right now, except for you, there's no one nimble in the village."
"Then I'm heading back, I'll contact you before going up the mountain tomorrow." Zhou Leng bid farewell to the village chief.
"Huang hasn't been raised in vain." The village chief walked slowly with satisfaction.
Zhou Leng was already used to the villagers' jokes.
Huang was an ordinary-looking Chinese rural dog that grew up playing with Zhou Leng.
Huang was also Zhou Leng's lifesaving dog.
When Zhou Leng was young, he cramped and drowned while swimming in the river; other village dogs just barked chaotically, but Huang jumped in bravely and dragged Zhou Leng to shore by his arm.
Once when Zhou Leng was sick, Huang would occasionally carry fish to him, making the adults and children of the village particularly envious.
At the time, someone in the village joked that without Huang, the family would fall apart.
Huang was a well-known social butterfly, not only with cattle, horses, cats, and sheep, but even wild animals like squirrels, wild boars, weasels, magpies, and raccoons often played with Huang.
Huang was smart; once, dog thieves stopped at the village entrance and saw Huang, intending to catch him.
Huang pretended to be injured, limping to lure the dog catchers into the village.
Suddenly Huang barked loudly, mobilizing all the village's cats and dogs, and villagers, seeing this, grabbed hoes and shovels, ran over to scare off the thieves, a story often shared with delight in the village.
Zhou Leng glanced at the thick fog and turned to run back, still thinking about Huang.
Other dogs might not matter, but Huang was different.
Always different.
No matter what, tomorrow he'd have to go up the mountain to search, and it would be just in time to train for the martial arts exam.
Zhou Leng continued running along the road.
Lacking enough True Qi, sweat poured down, soaking his body.
Running back again to Longyou River Park, most of the overcast clouds dispersed, sunlight streamed through the scattered clouds, spilling light over the city.
Zhou Leng squinted towards the east.
In the eastern sky, two suns hung, one large, the other small.
The small sun, the size of a baby's fist, hung below the lower left of the large sun.
Entering the park, after training his external martial arts, Zhou Leng ran back home.
After washing up, he habitually sat at his desk.
Extending his hand, Zhou Leng slowly traced the engraved words on the shiny, worn left side of the desk with his fingertips.
"An official rank does not interest me, I only wish for calm seas."
It was carved stroke by stroke by a young Zhou Leng.
Retracting his hand, he pulled a thick notebook off the small shelf and opened the cover.
On the first page was written the same poetic phrase, arranged like couplets on either side.
Between the two lines of poetry, a printed picture was affixed.
Atop Mount Tai, a giant rock was engraved with the bold, red characters "Supreme Wuyue."
In front of the giant rock, three young people stood shoulder to shoulder, full of spirit.
The three were Wu Duanxiong, Wan Yumin, and Zhao Dongjun.
This photo was known throughout Dragon Country, also referred to as the "Three Saints of Mount Tai Picture."
All three were Martial Saints.
Zhou Leng's gaze returned to the first page of the notebook, above the photo, four characters read "Martial Arts Diary."
This was mandatory homework from all the teachers during elementary, middle, and high school, and all students had formed the habit.
He flipped through the notebook, stopping at the Martial Arts Diary recorded yesterday.
July 6th.
Overcast.
One, Realm.
Qi Blood Realm.
Qi Nourishing Period.
Two, Divine Techniques.
1, Clan Divine Power: Seed of True Qi.
2, National Divine Techniques: Inheritance Continuation. Martial Arts Perception. United Strength. Medicinal Supplement.
Three, Martial Arts:
1, Inner Power: Mystic Tide Technique - Minor Achievement First Layer.
2, Fist Technique: Mountain Charging Fist - Mastery of the Second Heaven.
3, Palm Technique: Overlapping Waves Palm - Minor Achievement Ninth Heaven.
4, Leg Technique: Flying Cloud Leg - Mastery of the Fourth Heaven.
5, Stepping Technique: Eight Trigrams Step - Minor Achievement Eighth Heaven.
6, Body Technique: Cloud Wandering Body Technique - Mastery of the Sixth Heaven.
Four, Four Wonders Body.
Qi: Mortal Qi.
Blood: Mortal Blood.
Body: Mortal Body.
Power: Mortal Power.
Five, Martial Arts Will.
No awareness.
Six, Combat Awareness.
No awareness.
Zhou Leng looked at the Clan Divine Power and National Divine Techniques.
The final spoils of the Hundred Nuclear Explosion was a Golden Crystal.
After activation by humans, it formed the Clan Divine Power, Seed of True Qi.
Seed of True Qi could allow experts of the Innate Realm to plant True Qi power directly in every person, facilitating their quick entry into the Qi Nourishing Period.
Martial Arts Perception was a power unique to the people of Dragon Country.
Among many countries on Blue Star, only Dragon Country possessed this national divine technique of "Martial Arts Perception."
This divine power allowed the people of Dragon Country to more easily sense the details of cultivation while pursuing martial arts compared to others.
The operation of True Qi, changes in the body, breakthroughs between bottlenecks, all could be sensed.
Martial Arts Perception was the foundation of the Martial Arts Diary.
It was also a national divine technique bought through Martial Saint Wan Yumin's sacrifice.
Zhou Leng pressed the ballpoint pen to write today's Martial Arts Diary.
The content was exactly the same as yesterday's.
After writing, Zhou Leng took out his phone to take a picture, then suddenly stopped.
Since elementary school, it had been a habit to write the Martial Arts Diary in the morning, then upload a photo to the parents' group, but starting today, this assignment ended.