After changing into a fresh set of robes, Su Yang stepped out of his room.
For a moment, he stood quietly in the courtyard.
Three days had passed.
There was one person he needed to speak to before doing anything else.
His mother.
Su Yang made his way toward Su Mei's room.
When he arrived, he found her sitting quietly beside the window, seemingly lost in deep thought.
She did not turn around when he entered.
Instead, she spoke calmly.
"You've recovered your memories."
It was a statement, not a question.
Su Yang stopped.
He should have expected it.
Su Mei had raised him for years. Perhaps no one in this world understood his mannerisms better than she did.
"Yes," Su Yang answered quietly. "I did."
Su Mei's fingers trembled slightly.
She finally turned toward him.
"Everything?"
Su Yang remained silent for a moment before nodding.
"Most of it."
Su Mei stared into his eyes.
There were countless questions she wanted to ask.
Who was he?
Where had he come from?
What kind of family had produced a child with such an extraordinary dantian?
What was the mysterious barrier that had injured both her and Senior Yu Ze all those years ago?
But before she could ask, Su Yang spoke.
"Mother, there are some things I can't tell you."
Su Mei's expression became complicated.
Su Yang walked closer.
"Not because I don't trust you."
He looked directly into her eyes.
"But because knowing certain things could put you and Sister Su Lan in danger."
Su Mei's heart tightened.
What kind of past had her adopted son remembered?
Su Yang suddenly reached forward and embraced her.
"But no matter who I was before you found me…"
His voice trembled slightly.
"You are my mother."
Su Mei froze.
"No matter what name I once had, no matter where I came from, and no matter what happens in the future…"
Su Yang tightened his embrace.
"I love you, Mother."
Su Mei's eyes immediately welled with tears.
Memories flashed through her mind.
The unconscious child beneath the waterfall.
Feeding him medicinal tea spoon by spoon.
The frightened boy awakening without memories.
Giving him the name Su Yang.
Watching him play with Su Lan.
Teaching him about medicinal herbs.
Comforting him whenever the other children mocked his cultivation.
Watching him grow from a helpless child into the young man standing before her today.
Tears silently streamed down her cheeks.
"Yang'er…"
Su Yang quickly comforted her.
"Mother, don't cry."
Su Mei hugged him tightly.
For a while, neither spoke.
Finally, Su Yang gently pulled away.
"No matter what happens, I'm still your son."
Su Mei wiped her tears.
Su Yang hesitated before continuing.
"But because of certain things, I'll have to leave home soon."
Su Mei's expression changed.
"Leave?"
"I want to join a sect, just like Sister Su Lan."
Su Yang clenched his fist.
His biological mother's death.
His father's final moments.
The destroyed Xiao Family.
The assassin in the alley.
Everything had taught him one undeniable truth.
He was weak.
And weakness meant allowing others to decide whether the people he loved lived or died.
"I need to become stronger."
His voice became firm.
"Strong enough that no one can threaten the people I care about."
Su Mei stared at him.
For the first time, she noticed something in her son's eyes that had not existed before.
Coldness.
Not toward her.
But toward something buried within his past.
The boy she knew was still standing before her, yet there was now something else within him.
Pain.
Hatred.
Determination.
What did you go through, Yang'er?
Su Mei wanted desperately to ask.
But she stopped herself.
If Su Yang wished to tell her one day, he would.
She forced a smile.
"It's alright, Yang'er. I won't hold you back."
Su Yang looked at her gratefully.
"But…"
Su Mei took his hand.
"Can you at least stay until your sister returns?"
Su Yang smiled.
"Of course, Mother."
Later that day, Su Yang left the house.
As usual, it did not take long before familiar voices reached him.
"Look! Isn't that Su Yang?"
"The Second-Level trash?"
"He's still cultivating?"
Laughter followed.
In the past, those words would have angered him.
Sometimes they had even made him question himself.
Today, Su Yang simply continued walking.
Trash?
Talentless?
Let them talk.
He now understood his path.
There was no need to argue with them.
One day, his strength would answer every insult.
I'll show you through my actions.
Su Yang left the town behind.
His destination was the Seven Rings Forest.
The forest was a popular training ground for cultivators from the surrounding towns. Spirit beasts inhabited its seven progressively dangerous regions, with the strongest commonly encountered beasts reaching Rank Two.
Su Yang intended to test something.
His new body.
The deeper he ventured into the Seven Rings Forest, the fewer cultivators he encountered.
The damp air hung heavily beneath the enormous trees, thick with the scent of ancient moss, wet earth, and crushed pine needles.
Sunbeams pierced through the dense canopy like golden spears.
Su Yang continued deeper.
Then his footsteps stopped.
Silence.
His brows furrowed.
Moments earlier, the forest had been alive with insects, birds, and distant beast cries.
Now—
Nothing.
Su Yang slowly looked around.
"Something's wrong."
Then—
ROARRRR!
A deafening roar tore through the forest.
Leaves exploded from the surrounding branches.
Su Yang's robes fluttered violently.
A terrifying pressure descended upon the clearing.
His eyes narrowed.
"Rank Two…"
BOOM!
A tree ahead suddenly collapsed.
Then another.
BOOM!
Something enormous was approaching.
Su Yang immediately entered a defensive stance and circulated his Qi.
A massive figure emerged from behind an ancient ironwood tree.
A Rank Two Mountain Gorilla.
It stood over twelve feet tall. Coarse black fur covered its muscular body, while thick bone-like plates protected its chest and shoulders like natural armour.
Its crimson eyes locked onto Su Yang.
ROAR!
The beast pounded its chest.
Su Yang felt the pressure of the roar wash over him.
Yet his body barely moved.
His eyes brightened.
This was exactly what he needed.
A powerful opponent.
Something strong enough to force his newly transformed body to its limits.
A fierce grin slowly appeared on Su Yang's face.
"Come."
The Mountain Gorilla charged.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Every stride created a crater.
Despite its enormous body, its speed was terrifying.
In seconds, it appeared before Su Yang.
Its massive fist descended.
Su Yang's instincts screamed at him to dodge.
Instead—
He remained still.
He shifted his right foot backward and lowered his center of gravity.
The principles of the body-refinement technique he had discovered among his mother's inheritance surfaced in his mind.
World-Crushing Tectonic Mandate.
A body-refinement art designed to transform flesh into earth, bones into mountains, and the cultivator's physical body into an immovable foundation.
Su Yang rooted himself into the earth.
Earthen Anchor: Iron Root Stance!
The gorilla's fist struck.
CLANG!
The sound resembled an enormous bronze bell being struck.
A violent shockwave exploded outward.
Grass flattened.
Leaves scattered.
The earth cracked.
Yet—
Su Yang remained standing.
His eyes widened.
He had not moved.
Not even half a step.
The Mountain Gorilla looked equally stunned.
Then—
CRACK!
Several bones within its knuckles fractured.
"ROAR!"
The pain only enraged it.
Its fists descended again.
Left.
Right.
Overhead.
Sweep.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Su Yang began moving.
Not away.
Forward.
He deliberately entered the storm of attacks.
A fist struck his shoulder.
Pain exploded through him.
Another slammed into his back.
Su Yang staggered.
A third grazed his ribs.
"Argh!"
Bruises appeared across his body.
Yet something strange happened.
The Earth Qi buried within his flesh reacted to every impact.
Each blow compressed it.
Tempered it.
Forced it deeper into his muscles and bones.
Su Yang understood.
So that's how this technique works.
The Millennial Earth Core Lotus had transformed his body.
But the transformation was incomplete.
He needed pressure.
Combat.
Impact.
He needed to hammer his body like metal upon an anvil.
And this gorilla—
Was his hammer.
"Again!"
Su Yang charged.
The Mountain Gorilla roared.
Man and beast collided.
Ten minutes later…
The clearing no longer existed.
Trees had been shattered.
The earth was covered in craters.
Broken branches lay everywhere.
Su Yang stood amid the destruction, breathing heavily.
His robes had been torn almost to ribbons.
Sweat covered his body.
Several bruises remained across his chest and shoulders.
Yet his eyes were brighter than ever.
THUD!
His heart beat.
A deep, powerful sound resonated through his body.
THUD!
The Earth Qi within his bones compressed further.
His muscles tightened.
Something was changing.
The body-refinement bottleneck that had prevented the Millennial Earth Core Lotus's remaining medicinal power from completely integrating with him was beginning to loosen.
Across from him, the Mountain Gorilla panted heavily.
Its crimson eyes were filled with fury.
This tiny human refused to fall.
"ROARRRR!"
The beast rose onto its hind legs.
Both enormous fists lifted above its head.
Su Yang's expression became serious.
He could sense the power gathering within that attack.
If it landed directly, even his transformed body would suffer.
But he did not retreat.
Instead, Su Yang lowered himself.
His feet dug into the earth.
His breathing stopped.
The heavy Earth Qi accumulated within his body.
Bones.
Muscles.
Tendons.
Everything compressed.
For an instant, Su Yang imagined himself not as a person—
But as a mountain.
Immovable.
Unyielding.
Heavy enough to suppress everything beneath it.
The Mountain Gorilla attacked.
BOOM!
Both fists descended.
Su Yang moved.
His right fist tightened.
All the power accumulated within his legs surged upward through his waist, spine, shoulder, and arm.
His body moved as one.
Tectonic Cleave!
His fist shot forward.
It struck the center of the Mountain Gorilla's forehead.
Silence.
For a fraction of a second—
Nothing happened.
Then—
BOOOOOOM!
A thunderous shockwave exploded from the point of contact.
The force did not merely strike the gorilla's external armour.
It penetrated.
The vibration travelled through its skull and surged into its enormous body.
The Mountain Gorilla's crimson eyes widened.
Its raised arms suddenly went limp.
Su Yang withdrew his fist.
The colossal beast remained standing for another second.
Then—
THUD!
Its body crashed onto the forest floor.
Dust exploded upward.
Silence returned.
Su Yang stood over the fallen Rank Two beast.
His right arm trembled.
"Did I…"
He stared at the corpse.
"I actually killed a Rank Two spirit beast?"
His cultivation was still only at the Second Level of the Spirit Realm.
Yet physically, he had just defeated something that should have been far beyond him.
Then—
THUD!
His heart suddenly beat violently.
Su Yang's expression changed.
The remaining Earth Qi inside his body erupted.
His bones vibrated.
His muscles tightened.
The medicinal essence left behind by the Millennial Earth Core Lotus surged through every part of him.
CRACK!
A faint sound came from deep within his body.
Su Yang froze.
Then his eyes widened.
The invisible barrier restraining his body-refinement technique—
Broke.
A tremendous sense of strength flooded his limbs.
Su Yang closed his eyes.
His spiritual cultivation had not advanced.
He remained at the Second Level of the Spirit Realm.
But his World-Crushing Tectonic Mandate had entered its first true stage.
Mountain Foundation.
His physical foundation had finally stabilized.
Su Yang slowly opened his eyes.
He looked toward his hands.
For years, he had believed strength was represented only by cultivation level.
Now he understood differently.
His Qi cultivation might still appear pathetic.
But cultivation level alone no longer represented his combat strength.
A smile slowly appeared.
"Second Level of the Spirit Realm…"
Su Yang looked toward the dead Rank Two Mountain Gorilla.
"If they want to keep calling me trash…"
He clenched his fist.
The earth beneath his feet cracked.
"Let them."
For now, hiding his true strength was an advantage.
The entire town believed Su Yang was weak.
His enemies believed he was weak.
Even whoever had sent the assassin after him believed he was weak.
Su Yang intended to keep it that way.
Until the day they discovered the truth—
It would already be too late.