Martial Heart of the Heavens

"Beat him! Beat this little brat to death, how dare he secretly learn martial arts!"

"Yeah, and he even meddled with the techniques, got us all in trouble and scolded by the master!"

A group of youths pummeled a boy with fists and kicks. The boy curled up on the ground, arms wrapped around his head, mumbling in protest, "I wasn't meddling... My improvements to the Thunderclap Palm will make it better..."

"You still dare talk back!"

Who would believe that a fourteen-year-old could alter the clan's well-honed palm technique? The boy, refusing to yield, was beaten all the more savagely.

In the distance, a hint of green shadow appeared, silently approaching along the stone-paved road. It was a green-canopied carriage, drawn by a beast that looked almost but not quite like a horse, its white fur as soft as drifting clouds, its hooves touching the ground without a sound.

A bamboo curtain veiled the window, behind which the silhouette of a slender figure could be seen.

While the boys brawled noisily by the roadside, the figure within the carriage paused and beckoned gently. The elderly woman perched on the driver’s seat immediately leaned in to listen.

After a brief exchange, the old woman nodded repeatedly and rose to her feet. Just as she was about to speak, the scene ahead shifted dramatically.

The boy, jaw clenched tight, suddenly caught a glimmer in his eye. Amid the chaos of flying feet, he twisted his wrist, forming a fist with knuckles jutting outward, and jabbed anot