The following day, as the sun was just rising, near a village, there was a young man training. It was Long Ming. He performed a series of movements and steps, going from one corner to another with confusing and fast movements, along with abrupt changes in rhythm and direction, using various feints and unpredictability. If anyone were to watch his movements, they would become dizzy and confused with his actions, as if seeing a mirage.

Despite this, Long Ming repeatedly lost his balance and didn't know how to proceed, resulting in failures in his rhythm and movements. So, after a few minutes, he finally stopped his training, feeling completely out of breath and sweaty.

"It's going to take a long time for me to improve my footwork...," he thought somewhat dissatisfied. He had obtained some very interesting manuals and techniques from that tomb, so since then he had been trying to improve his footwork, but this proved to be quite difficult due to his still unstable condition and lack of understanding of these manuals.

His recovery ended up being longer than expected because of those archers' special arrows. Apparently, they were not only coated with poison but also made of a special metal capable of interfering with the human body's natural recovery. Of course, even so, his recovery was already quite fast, considering his previous state and the circumstances behind everything that had happened.

Anyway, Long Ming estimated that it would take a few days for him to fully recover. Until then, he needed to be careful not to be found, and above all, he wanted to be able to give Lin Fei a proper funeral.

"Hm? What are you doing there, Xiao Wu?" His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he noticed a girl, about ten years old, staring at him from behind a tree. This girl was Xiao Wu, the daughter of the woman who had been taking care of Long Ming all this time.

Xiao Wu was also a very curious girl and was intrigued by Long Ming. Occasionally, she would appear, staring at him from a distance, which reminded Long Ming of his sister; so he was always kind to her.

"Your movements were very cool, big brother!" she said after staring at him for a few seconds, her eyes shining with fascination, making Long Ming happy.

"Really? If you want, I can teach you how to do it, girl. But I guarantee it won't be easy," he said with a gentle smile on his face.

"Really? Thank you!" she said, then approached him quickly, her eyes expectant to learn. Long Ming felt tired and wanted to take a bath, but seeing her eyes, he decided to teach her a few things first.

"All right, what you saw is called footwork. Basically, it's a way to move with precision and efficiency, whether it's running long distances without getting tired, escaping without leaving traces, or fighting efficiently... anyway, you just need to know that good footwork is very important..." he began to explain some principles and basic concepts of movement techniques.

Long Ming didn't consider himself someone with exceptional footwork, but he had read many books and even manuals and techniques, so he considered himself quite knowledgeable in the theory of basic things.

After explaining for less than a minute, and realizing that she was getting bored with this part, he decided to train her, in practice. Instructing her on how to walk and move her body.

"Hm, very well, maybe you have talent for this. Why don't you show your mother these movements?" After a few minutes, he stopped teaching her and, with some words of encouragement, shooed her away. Even though Long Ming enjoyed her company, there was still a limit, and Long Ming really preferred to be alone at that moment.

Xiao Wu obviously didn't know what Long Ming was thinking and went to do exactly what he had said, very excited about what she had just learned. Seeing her run away, Long Ming sighed before walking towards a nearby lake.

He took off his clothes and plunged into the depths of the lake, submerging his entire body until his feet touched the ground hidden beneath all that water.

The coldness of the water relaxed all his muscles, and his mind seemed to empty of all unnecessary thoughts. He remained in the depths of the lake for several seconds, ignoring the oxygen depleting from his lungs.

After almost three minutes, when he could no longer breathe, and his consciousness was fading because of it, Long Ming opened his eyes and swam back to the surface. That lake was considerably deep, almost five meters deep, but Long Ming managed to surface in time to avoid fainting.

At that moment, he looked to where his clothes were and his eyes widened in surprise at the silhouette of a familiar woman. However, before he could express joy or surprise, with a simple blink of an eye, the silhouette disappeared; revealing that it was merely a hallucination from being underwater for so long.

He returned to land, put on his clothes (a pair he had received from one of the villagers), and returned to the village.

"Hm?!" shortly after entering the village, Long Ming noticed an elderly man familiarly talking to the woman who had been taking care of him.

"Old man!" Long Ming shouted with a huge smile and ran quickly towards Gao Ting. Even though there was a distance of almost 50 meters between them, Long Ming managed to approach him in about 3 seconds and hugged him instantly, happy to see a familiar, reliable, and well face.

"Are you okay, old man? Did that bastard Hu Tao try anything with you?" Long Ming began to ask worriedly, afraid that his actions would affect this person so important to him. When Long Ming regained consciousness, he asked one of the villagers to deliver a letter to Long Ming, notifying him of the events of the previous days and asking him to come to that village to meet.

"Don't worry about it, kid. He just tried to get my support to find you, but I don't think he'll do anything to me; at least not now. And you? Tell me what really happened, that letter left me with many questions," with these words, they went to an isolated place and began to talk. Long Ming narrated precisely everything that happened, and even exposed his thoughts of regret and remorse, not caring to show Gao Ting all his scars.

After talking for a few hours, they finally got to the main subject.

"What do you plan to do, kid?"

"...the Li Clan and Hu Tao, they need to pay for killing Lin Fei, and all the others. They think they're untouchable, and they can do whatever they want, treating others' lives as mere disposable tools; but they don't know how mistaken they are. Karma is real, old man. And I will collect with all possible interest," Long Ming had a determined and sharp look as he spoke these things. However, Gao Ting didn't notice hatred or uncontrolled anger, it was as if he were just proclaiming an order; an order coming from the Heavens in the face of the mistakes and crimes committed by the Li Clan. At that moment, Gao Ting noticed a mystical grandeur coming from Long Ming, a grandeur that he was too ignorant to describe in simple words.

"And how do you plan to do that? They are still very strong, moreover, they have the support of some other clans. And if the kingdom finds out your plans, even the royal order could

interfere, after all, it would be a federal-level blow to destroy a clan."

"I know, this is not something I can accomplish at the moment. First, I need to get stronger, elevate my individual strength to a level that not even the kingdom dares to interfere with me. In addition, I also need to create a collective force to prevent the hyenas in the neighborhood from daring to take advantage of Cui Shi, after the disappearance of the Li Clan; because, its residents and families do not deserve to suffer because of the mistakes of their rulers." Long Ming's words surprised Gao Ting, especially when he discovered that he was thinking of a way to suppress as much as possible the consequences suffered by the citizens of the city.

But, in the end, this was the kind of person Long Ming was. He was not the kind of person to allow innocent lives to be affected by the actions of others, after all, it was precisely because of this (not wanting to affect innocent people) that he fled from his village. Even seeking revenge, Long Ming was still a person, at least, who did not like to harm innocent people.

"...anyway, old man. I buried Fei'er's body in that cave, but I want to give her a proper funeral, and in a place where those damned Lis won't find her." They went to the cave, whose entrance was still blocked by several stones. This relieved Long Ming, since the other entrance would be through a hole in the depths of that lake, and Long Ming strongly doubted that they would find this alternative entrance.

So, Long Ming approached those rocks and inscribed rune symbols in specific corners, forming an arrangement of several symbols encompassing the entire blocked area.

"Whew, that was quite troublesome...," he commented aloud, finishing inscribing the last necessary symbol.

'I hope it works,' with this thought, he closed his eyes and entered into resonance with the sky and the earth. Thirty seconds later, he opened his eyes and could see the flow of Qi coming from all corners, some flows had a bluish color, others were transparent, yellow, green, and brown. Each flow, Long Ming deduced, came from a different elemental Qi.

Observing the flows, he moved his arms and guided the brownish flow towards the stones inscribed with the symbols. It was a reasonably difficult task since he had made five of these symbols, so it was necessary to divide the flow into five strands of energy, to then send them to the symbols. With this task completed, Long Ming noticed that the symbols began to emit a brownish light, showing that they had finally become runes, so Long Ming guided the Qi imbued in these runes to the other runes, effectively connecting them.

To his surprise, this step was quite simple, as the Qi had a curious tendency to unite, so he only needed to "tell" the direction and the way the Qi should "unite." With the end of this step, Long Ming was able to notice a mysterious arrangement of shapes and symbols encompassing all the stones blocking the path, and in the next second, these stones began to advance towards him like a wave of boulders.

Hastily, Long Ming dodged out of the way of these stones, and watched with satisfaction as he saw the entrance 'opening.'

"Incredible, truly incredible," Long Ming murmured to himself, quite pleased.

"What did you just do, kid?" Gao Ting was completely astonished to see all those rocks being thrown out of the entrance, as if clearing the way for them.

"I opened the way," Long Ming didn't want to dwell on this subject and walked into the cave. The moment he stepped into the entrance, his eyes seemed to become dull and his expression became empty.

Quietly, he walked leisurely to where her body was. He didn't need to use any illumination runes for this because that day was still vivid in his subconscious, so in a few steps, he was soon facing her body, which already showed clear signs of decomposition.

"..." Long Ming stared at her quietly, his thoughts were confused, and his emotions seemed close to boiling point. Long Ming was paralyzed because he felt that, if he made any sudden movement, he wouldn't be able to continue suppressing all his emotions.

"...if you want, I can perform the funeral alone, kid," Gao Ting spoke upon noticing Long Ming's reaction. But Long Ming silently rejected his suggestion and affirmed, "no, I need to participate too," with a sigh, Gao Ting nodded in agreement, and they began the preparations.

Long Ming had already built a coffin in the previous days, and a woman from the village agreed to sell her best dress to Long Ming, for a gold coin (which Long Ming paid without a second thought).

So, they exchanged her torn and dirty clothes for the beautiful dress of that woman. It was a beautiful hanfu-style dress, made of black fabric and adorned with golden embellishments. Long Ming wiped her face with a cloth and combed her hair.

With all this done, they placed her in the coffin, and covered her face with a yellow cloth and the rest of her body with a blue cloth. With all this done, they took the coffin to a hill, near that cave, and Long Ming dug a grave facing the setting sun.

After that, they placed the coffin in the grave and covered the hole with earth. Long Ming took the sword he had given to Lin Fei and stuck it into the ground, then he took a necklace and placed it leaning against the sheath of that sword, symbolizing her gravestone.

The two of them stood there for a few more minutes before saying their goodbyes.

They returned silently to the village, but on the way, Long Ming suddenly asked, "did she have any family, old man?"

"She did, but you don't need to worry about them. There's a reason she ran away from home; I think her spirit will be more at peace if we don't notify those people," Gao Ting replied, there was a certain resentment and antipathy in his voice, so Long Ming decided to accept his suggestion.

"...by the way, what do you plan to do now, old man? I think staying in that city could be dangerous for you. If Hu Tao finds out that we met, he might try to kill you."

"I know a family of cultivators from a city far from here. The patriarch owes me a favor, so I will ask for his support to create a new workshop," Gao Ting replied. In fact, now that he had gone out to meet Long Ming, he no longer had any intention of returning to Cui Shi, after all, there's no way to know if someone might be waiting there to kill him. Therefore, his initial plan was, after meeting with Long Ming, to go to a distant city, where an old friend of his lived.

"Really? If you want, I can go with you, old man. Anyway, I also need to travel far away, so I can accompany you to this city," Gao Ting accepted Long Ming's proposal, and they planned to start traveling that same day. However, before that, Long Ming had to properly thank the people of that village who had helped him.