Chen Jiuyang's archery skills were quite good. Whether commoners or traveling merchants, they all needed to know archery for combat and self-preservation.
Therefore, the martial arts school he opened in town had quite a few apprentices.
One day.
He was about to take some disciples to train in the great mountains and forests, just as Master Gu had taught him back then.
But at the town entrance, he saw someone he hadn't seen in a long time.
It was a woman dressed exquisitely, holding a little girl by the hand.
"Yang Ge'er?"
"Li Yatou?"
Chen Jiuyang's expression froze. Li Yatou, who had taken care of him back then, was now married and had a child.
He felt a bit dazed, time seemed to have passed too quickly.
He had heard from his parents that Li Yatou had married the son of a wealthy merchant in the city and lived a life of luxury.
Li Yatou smiled and said, "Juan'er, say hello to Uncle Chen."
The little girl, held by Li Yatou, shyly called out to Chen Jiuyang, "Uncle Chen."
Li Yatou said, "Yang Ge'er, let's chat again next time. This time, I'm bringing my child to see her grandparents."
Chen Jiuyang nodded slowly, and the two parted ways.
He felt a little emotional, nothing more.
A few more years passed. When Chen Jiuyang suddenly returned home for a meal with his parents, Zhang Xiuzhen's eyes were slightly red as she said,
"It's a pity about that girl Li Yatou."
Chen Jiuyang asked, "What happened?"
Chen Jianmin sighed, "A few days ago, she and her husband were ambushed by bandits while traveling for business."
He had seen such things often and didn't find it strange.
The current era was not as peaceful as in previous years, and the current dynasty was nearing its end.
Time flew by.
A few more years passed.
Chen Jianmin and Zhang Xiuzhen passed away due to illness, and Chen Jiuyang became a solitary man.
After his parents passed away, Chen Jiuyang sat blankly before their graves for a long time.
By this time, he was no longer a young man, but in his thirties.
In this era, a thirty-five-year-old could already call himself an old man. Without exceptional talent, the lifespan of ordinary people was mostly forty to fifty years.
Chen Jiuyang's heart was still focused on the path of the soldier.
How could he break through the limitations of the Heavenly Will Four Symbols?
The martial arts school's business was stable. His disciples could now handle things independently and didn't require his constant guidance. He had free time and gradually began to sit by the entrance.
He would set up a table and place a cup of tea.
He could leisurely watch people come and go all day.
Thus, day after day passed.
Until one day, an old man and a teenage girl appeared before Chen Jiuyang.
"Greetings, Uncle Chen." The girl was beautiful and respectfully addressed Chen Jiuyang.
"Who are you?" Chen Jiuyang looked at her, unsure, "Li Yatou's child?"
"I didn't expect Uncle Chen to still remember me." The girl was surprised and happy.
Chen Jiuyang felt a pang of emotion, saying, "I didn't expect you to grow up so much in the blink of an eye."
"What is your name?"
"Zhang Juan."
"Juan'er, good girl, good girl," Chen Jiuyang said with a smile. "Is there anything you need from Uncle Chen today?"
Zhang Juan's pretty face blushed. "My family introduced me to someone who is learning martial arts from Uncle Chen."
"Oh?" Chen Jiuyang showed some interest. "Who is it?"
"Sun Bing."
Chen Jiuyang pondered for a moment and smiled, "Ah, him. That child is decent. You two should make a good match."
"You can go in and take a look."
"May I?" Zhang Juan asked.
"Yes," Chen Jiuyang smiled.
"Thank you, Uncle Chen." Zhang Juan quietly entered the martial arts school.
Watching her retreating figure, Chen Jiuyang's expression became somewhat distant. "She's like Li Yatou..."
He felt a vague sense of enlightenment.
But it was not yet clear.
Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, Chen Jiuyang was forty years old.
This day also happened to be the wedding day of Zhang Juan and Sun Bing.
Sun Bing was a very steady young man. After graduating from Chen Jiuyang's tutelage, he became a city guard in a nearby county town and, within a few years, rose to the rank of junior general.
Chen Jiuyang was still stuck at the third stage of Blood Transformation. By thirty-eight, his qi and blood began to decline, and his temples were already showing streaks of white.
On this day, with double happiness, Chen Jiuyang temporarily stood in as Zhang Juan's elder, receiving their kowtow and toasts.
Chen Jiuyang's eyes were filled with festive joy.
"I wish you a hundred years of happiness."
After receiving the toasts, Chen Jiuyang still felt unaccustomed to such a lively and celebratory scene, so he left the gathering.
As he stepped out of the Sun family's gate, the cultivation bottleneck that had been stagnant for nearly twenty years suddenly loosened.
"This is..."
A realization surged into his heart.
"Heavenly Will Four Symbols..."
"Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, are also the extremes of joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure, and also life and death..."
"Whoosh!"
He had half stepped into the fourth stage of Blood Transformation.
Chen Jiuyang was still comprehending the Heavenly Will Four Symbols, his martial will honed to its peak.
"Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, life and death... what is the evolution after that..."
He fell into thought once more.
This contemplation lasted for another decade or more.
He was now over fifty, nearing sixty. His hair had almost completely turned white, and his body could no longer resist the erosion of time, beginning to stoop. However, his eyes became increasingly bright.
As he grew older, fewer people were willing to come to the martial arts school to learn.
But his former disciples would visit him from time to time, and his days were still passable.
The older he got, the more prone he was to feeling drowsy and falling asleep.
One night, as he was sleeping.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
Someone was urgently knocking on his door. Chen Jiuyang quickly put on his clothes. Sun Bing, in his thirties and clad in armor, had a look of urgency on his face. Outside, flames soared into the sky, and people of all sorts were fleeing.
Chen Jiuyang asked, "What happened?"
Sun Bing said urgently, "Teacher, the demon disaster has arrived. Hurry and pack your things, we must escape together."
Chen Jiuyang did not pack his belongings. Instead, he went inside to retrieve a bow. "You all go first, I will cover your retreat."
"Roar!!!"
At this moment, Chen Jiuyang saw the small pebbles on the ground begin to jump as if experiencing an earthquake.
"It's it!"
Chen Jiuyang recalled the situation when he was a child, after transmigrating to this world.
"Roar!!!"
It was a colossal figure that blotted out the sun, its body terrifying and grotesque. Its mouth, like that of an abyss, opened and with a gentle inhalation, it created a gale. Dozens of human figures were swept into the air and into its maw. As its mouth closed, human limbs were bitten off, and a fine rain of blood fell from the sky.
It was exactly the same situation.
Sun Bing and the others trembled with fear.
However, Chen Jiuyang suddenly laughed, "So that's how it is, so that's how it is!!!"
His qi and blood, his soldier's will, began to revive and surge. He drew his great bow into a full moon:
"Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, life and death, beginning and end..."
"Is the myriad of phenomena!"
"Heaven and Man as One!"
Chen Jiuyang looked at the grotesque demon, roaring, "I have waited my whole life! For you to appear again!"
Then, he shot an arrow, imbued with his lifelong martial will, causing heaven and earth to lose their color.
A terrifying wave of energy erupted from the ground into the sky, like a streaking meteor.
Air, clouds, soil, all things were mixed into one.
When everything calmed down, what appeared before everyone's eyes was the corpse of a giant demon lying on the ground. An ordinary arrow in its brow had exploded its life.
"Myriad phenomena, Heaven and Man as One, so this is the essence of the soldier's path..."
Chen Jiuyang's martial cultivation was rapidly increasing, but the life force in his physical body was rapidly disappearing.