Chapter 3 Strive

  "756, 757, 758..." Lei Hao counted as he did push-ups with the two-thousand-jin heavy boulder on his back. Doing push-ups with this massive stone on his back indeed had some effect.

  It's been two weeks since he traveled to the Journey to the West world. In these two weeks, he has adapted to life in the Water Cavern and accepted the irreversible fact that he is now a small demon. He also deeply remembers the whip of the Tiger Grand Marshal and the endless humiliation brought by that tiger demon.

  That suffocating feeling has been tormenting Lei Hao, and afterwards he thought countless times that if it happened again, he would rather rush up, even if it meant death, than lower his head. Lei Hao deeply understood that in this bare world where the strong prey on the weak, to protect himself, he needed strength, great strength.

  He didn't have the golden finger of traversal, nor did he have any special abilities. Although he could foresee some plots of Journey to the West, the Demon King of Mixed World hadn't even occupied the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits yet, so Journey to the West obviously hadn't started yet, which made these plots useless. Moreover, even if Journey to the West had begun, with his current strength that anyone could crush him to death, he couldn't do anything or change anything. Just like now, he couldn't even go to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits, let alone gain any benefits in Journey to the West.

  In his previous life, he was just an ordinary university student, who didn't know any martial arts. He could only rely on his hot-bloodedness to fight, and couldn't even do the Tai Chi that old men and women practiced in the park. In terms of martial power, he had no advantage at all in this world of Journey to the West where demons filled the land and little monsters were treated like dogs.

  Although every morning in front of the Water Cavern's school field, there are new demons practicing, but what they call practice is just a few slightly longer-lived small demons leading a group holding various primitive wooden knives and guns, loosely posing in a few postures, without any practical significance. Obviously, no one takes the little demons seriously, from the Mixed World Demon King to the Little Commander, none of them do. Also, in their view, if the little demons die, they can just catch some wild beasts and use the Enlightenment Technique again, and if they don't die for a long time, their strength will naturally increase, who would waste their time on this useless practice?

  Lei Hao didn't want to put his life on the line with that unreliable training, he wasn't good at martial arts, but he was familiar with various basic exercises from his past lives. So, for the past few days, push-ups, sit-ups, squats and running had become his main activities every day.

  Can't help but say, demons are demons, especially Lei Hao is a cow demon. Although he's still just a little demon now, his physical qualities aren't something an ordinary person can compare to. Push-ups and whatnot have only just started to take effect, but after just two days, doing push-ups has become as easy as breathing for him, no matter how long he does it, he doesn't feel tired at all, let alone the training effects.

  Then he started to find various heavy loads for himself, from over 100 kilograms of tree trunks to the current 2,000 kilograms of giant stones. His strength has made a significant progress. He tortured himself like this every day, swallowing large amounts of blood food after each torture, and getting up again the next day to continue, because only in this way could he alleviate his homesickness and the torment of being humiliated.

  "992……" A two-thousand-jin heavy boulder, for Lei Hao at this moment, was still a huge challenge. When he had done 992 push-ups, he had already exhausted his physical strength. Lei Hao's hands were covered in sweat, with bulging veins and a ferocious expression.

  "993……994……995……" Lei Hao's hands had begun to go numb. "996……997……" Lei Hao's consciousness was starting to get blurry, but in his heart he was shouting: "No way, no way! Is this all I can do? How am I supposed to get stronger like this? Am I still going to be whipped by others? No, I don't want that..."

  His dazed eyes slowly regained focus. "998……999……" He had reached his limit; each push-up felt like a massive hammer smashing into Lei Hao's brain, making him feel dizzy and disoriented, with difficulty breathing and stars flashing before his eyes.

  "1000!" This "1000" was almost shouted out from the depths of his chest, and as soon as he finished shouting, he leapt up. The massive boulder on his body fell off, and his figure stumbled again, almost falling over. At this moment, he felt that every part of his body was in pain, his hands and feet were shaking violently, but in his heart, it was extremely refreshing. He had already grown to like this feeling of breaking through his own limits.

  "Ah..." He let out a long sigh and stabilized his body. Lei Hao didn't sit down to rest, but instead picked up a massive boulder that weighed over 1,000 kilograms and started running around the base of Kanyuan Mountain. To become stronger, both strength and speed were indispensable.

  He clearly remembered a famous phrase from his past life: The world's martial arts, only speed is invincible.

  All the way, he saw several little monsters stopped and bowed to him, shouting "head", this is the member of Lei Hao's team. Leopard Twenty gave Lei Hao 50 little monsters, the twenty-third team of Shui Xuan Cave. In these two weeks, these little monsters with relatively simple minds were all subdued by Lei Hao one by one. Although they are also new monsters, Lei Hao's cow monster's innate divine power plus hard training is still stronger than other little monsters.

  Patrolling the mountain is a bitter task, and all the entrances and exits of the vast Kanyuan Mountain must be patrolled. The other team leaders are unwilling to come, thinking that it's better to sleep comfortably in the cave, drink wine, and eat meat. Who would want to go outside and face the northwest wind? But Lei Hao took on the task of patrolling the mountain voluntarily, not for anything else, but just to have more opportunities to train. In the cave, he couldn't train, and in this world, showing off might get you killed if you don't have real strength, so one must be low-key.

  These 50 little monsters were the original members of Lei Hao's team. Bao Ershi wanted to win over Lei Hao and make his position as a small leader more stable, but he also helped Lei Hao. The idea that the strong are respected had already been deeply ingrained in the tribe's heritage, so as long as one became a monster, no matter how stupid they were, they would know to obey those stronger than themselves. Lei Hao was stronger than all of them, so it was easy for him to control them. Although the little monsters were stupid, their stupidity also had its advantages - they wouldn't have many thoughts or ideas. As their leader, Lei Hao was stronger than them, and the little monsters gave him their complete loyalty.

  Lei Hao brought out this team of demon soldiers, and every time he finished training, he would train them to improve their combat effectiveness. These twenty-three teams were the only chips in his hand, and they were also his capital for survival in this world.

  Lei Hao stopped at an open space after running around the Kan Yuan mountain for countless laps. The open space was filled with large and small stones, which was the "school field" organized by Lei Hao and the 23rd squad.

  "Niu ninety-two, go and get all the brothers who are still patrolling the mountain to come here." Lei Hao called out to a small demon that had been standing on this empty land. Speaking of the names of these small demons from Shui Ba Dong, Lei Hao really couldn't help but ridicule them - only high-ranking demons had the qualifications to give themselves decent names, while small demons were just whatever kind of demon with a number added at the end. The Demon King of the Mortal World was truly lazy.

  "Yes, head." Niu ninety-two turned around and disappeared into the forest. Because of their kinship, Niu ninety-two had an uncomparable admiration for Lei Hao, who was much smarter than him. Lei Hao also regarded this simple-minded and hardworking cow demon as his confidant, often teaching him some simple things to develop his intelligence.

  Divider line

  Before long, Lei Hao's place became lively, and all sorts of little monsters appeared in the empty space in front of him.

  Lei Hao was bored waiting for the little monsters to gather, when he suddenly heard a timid voice in his ear, "He...he, this thing is for you." Lei Hao turned around and saw that it was the small fox monster. This little fox monster was the weakest of the twenty-three teams under Lei Hao's command, with a head shorter than Lei Hao by two heads, and an even thinner body. However, its transformation was quite good, without a fox head on top, but instead a beautiful androgynous face with only a small beastly mark between its eyebrows, adding to its exotic charm. It looked very handsome, and if it were in the previous life, who knows how many girls would have fallen for it. At this time, the little fox's two fluffy ears drooped down, clearly feeling a bit shy under Lei Hao's gaze, while its fox tail behind it kept swishing back and forth.

  "Oh, it's the little fox, what do you have to give me? Take it out and let me see." Lei Hao was disdainful of his things, a small demon could have nothing good, wanted to refuse but saw the familiar human face on this little fox and softened to say another phrase.

  A small fox took out an object from behind its back, and Lei Hao fixed his eyes on it, only to see that it was a ginseng as thick as a child's arm. The dense ginseng whiskers and the faint medicinal fragrance seemed to be saying that this was a precious ginseng. Lei Hao immediately reacted, "Right! I didn't think of this. In this world where the spiritual energy is so rich, why don't I find some heavenly treasures to enhance my strength? A low-level heavenly treasure like ginseng would be looked down upon by powerful demons, and stupid little monsters wouldn't know what it's used for. This Kanshenshan mountain doesn't have anyone who dares to come, there must be some." Lei Hao thought of this and his eyes almost shone with excitement.

  Lei Hao took over the ginseng from the little fox and sighed, "It's really good to have a good reward!" This little fox was born with insufficient energy, and after being whipped by Tiger General, he almost died. When Lei Hao went to Leopard General to receive his subordinates, he saw the little fox curled up in the corner of the stone room, gasping for breath. Seeing such a handsome face, Lei Hao softened his heart and took him over. After careful care for two days, he miraculously recovered. Unexpectedly, this little fox now gave him a ginseng.

  "Ah, good." Lei Hao patted the little fox's shoulder and turned to face the crowd of small demons gathered behind him, not noticing the joyful expression on the little fox's face. Fox demons were different from other demon tribes; they were naturally more intelligent and had richer emotions. When she thought she was about to die, she felt a demon taking care of her while she was unconscious, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Lei Hao busily caring for her, pulling her back from the brink of death. She remembered Lei Hao's kindness, and her heart slowly became attached to him. However, Lei Hao didn't know she was a female demon, and she didn't have the courage to tell him. Today, on a cliff, she had used great effort to dig out this spiritual object, almost falling off several times. It wasn't easy. But since Lei Hao didn't ask where the ginseng came from, she wouldn't say anything. She still didn't understand what it meant to like or love someone; all she knew was that watching him every day made her very happy.

  "Brothers, from now on whenever you find this kind of herb, bring it back to me." Lei Hao turned around and shouted loudly at the little demon below, then held up the ginseng for them to see clearly.

  The little fox looked at the crowd for over ten seconds, "Captain, I have this kind of grass." "Captain, I also have this kind of grass" Two more voices sounded from the group of demons. A cow demon and a mouse demon walked out of the crowd, both taking out ginseng from their simple cloth clothes. Although these two ginseng were not as good as the little fox's, they were still quite impressive. Lei Hao thought for a moment and understood that demons had an innate ability to collect spiritual objects, just like the giant dragons in the previous life who liked gold coins. These little demons didn't understand what use these ginseng had, but they instinctively felt that this was something good to collect, maybe one day they would know its use, but for now, it was all a bargain for Lei Hao.

  "Alright, Niu Jiusi, go hunt two wild beasts. Today everyone will have a good meal of cooked food." Lei Hao waved his hand and sent Niu Jiusi off to hunt. The little demons in front let out a cheer. Their leader had been having them eat raw meat all along, although they could eat it, cooked food was definitely more welcome.

  "Alright, all of you line up properly! I taught you this before, have you all forgotten? How are you supposed to stand?" Lei Hao shouted loudly. The little demons scurried around in all directions, taking over ten minutes to find their positions. Seeing this, Lei Hao couldn't help but rub his forehead, which had a pair of bull horns on it. He had taught them how to line up for almost a week now, and yet they still ended up like this.

  "Do push-ups, and carry the stones on your backs." A group of little monsters came forward, carrying stones on their backs in a push-up position. The stones on these little monsters' backs weighed nearly a thousand jin, with some weighing two or three hundred catties.

  "Rise... fall..."

  Another day of training begins, the last rays of sunset shine on Lei Hao's body, casting a longer and longer shadow, as if Lei Hao's mark in this world is getting deeper.