Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Steel of the Heart

In the evening, Xiang Bei, who had spent the day practicing martial arts, finally had a rare moment of rest.

However, his father, Xiang Hu, like his grandfather, was serving in the military and was currently on a mission in the wilderness, and would not be able to return for some time.

Therefore, only Xiang Bei's mother and his younger sister Xiang Xia were at home.

Despite being a family of war gods, the Xiang family doesn't have a large number of members.

Starting with Grandpa Xiang Shan, the first generation consisted of only Grandpa Xiang Shan and Grandma Xiang Bei.

The second generation consists of the old man's four children, Xiang Xiang, Xiang Jiang, Xiang He, and Xiang Hu, as well as their respective spouses.

Among them, Xiang Xiang is the eldest sister, Xiang Jiang is Xiang Bei's eldest uncle, Xiang He is the second uncle, and Xiang Bei's father, Xiang Hu, is the youngest.

The rest are three generations of the Xiang family.

Xiang Bei's aunt, Xiang Xiang, has a daughter and a son, Zhang Qiu and Zhang Dong, who are the eldest in the three generations. The eldest sister, Zhang Qiu, is 24 years old and a senior warrior, holding an undisputed position in the entire Xiang family for three generations. Zhang Dong is 22 years old and a junior warrior, the first in the three generations to reach the junior warrior level.

Uncle Xiang Jiang has four sons, among whom Xiang Dong and Xiang Nan are twin brothers. Both are 21 years old and have the strength of junior generals. They have now formed a small team with Zhang Dong and are doing very well in the wilderness area around Kyoto base city.

Then there's the third child, who is the fifth in the family, only fifteen years old, and still in junior high school. The last child is the eighth, still in elementary school.

Then there's Xiang Bei's second uncle, Xiang He, who has one daughter and two sons. His eldest daughter, Xiang Qian, is the third in the family. She is nineteen years old this year and has the strength of a high-level warrior. However, she did not choose to join Xiang Dong's team directly, but instead entered a military academy and the military's martial arts unit.

The two sons are Xiang Shang and Xiang You, who are the sixth and ninth in their family respectively, and they are both still in school and not very old this year.

Finally, there's Xiang Bei's family. Xiang Bei is the fourth child in the Xiang family, while his younger sister, Xiang Xia, is the seventh. She'll be in sixth grade and will start junior high next September.

Of course, although the Xiang family is a family of war gods, the second generation has their own lives, so almost everyone has their own house outside, just not far from each other.

After Xiang Bei returned from martial arts practice, his mother had already prepared a sumptuous feast in the kitchen of the Xiang family's villa.

Besides some common dishes, Xiang Bei needed to replenish a lot of nutrients for his martial arts training. Therefore, there were also many valuable and nutritious dishes.

Looking at Xiang Bei's slightly tired expression, Xiang's mother felt a pang of heartache. As the saying goes, no one knows a son better than his mother, and she knew very well what her son's goals were.

Ever since her son Xiaobei could remember, he had always been devoted to martial arts and had been practicing diligently.

As a mother, she saw it all and felt the pain in her heart.

But she was just a woman and couldn't help Xiang Bei much; she could only offer her children the greatest care in trivial matters.

As for martial arts, she was a mid-level warrior at a young age, but since marrying into the Xiang family, she has devoted herself to being a wife and mother, and thus her skills have been neglected.

After picking a piece of meat from Xiang Bei's bowl, she picked another piece from her daughter Xiang Xia's bowl.

Although Xiang Xia is still young, she has already begun some simple training to lay the foundation for future martial arts practice.

The Xiang family has specially hired professional martial artists as martial arts instructors to teach these younger generations how to train.

Xiang Bei naturally accepted his mother's care with pleasure.

Although Xiang Bei is a time traveler, he has a very high degree of identification with the Xiang family.

From the moment he was born, his mother cared for him deeply. Although she couldn't grant him every wish, she always kept the best for herself and cherished him with all her heart.

Furthermore, the War God family is large and powerful, but there isn't much petty scheming among its members.

The younger generation gets along very well, and his older brothers and sisters take good care of him, treating him like their own younger brother.

"Mom, you should eat more too." As he spoke, Xiang Bei also put a plate of stir-fried shrimp, which was her favorite dish, on his mother's plate, and then put a piece of pork rib on his younger sister Xiang Xia's plate.

"Xia, how's your martial arts practice going lately? Have you been slacking off?"

"No way! I'm going to become a martial artist in the future and beat those two annoying kids, Li Xi and Sun Ke, to the ground!" Xiang Xia raised her eyebrows proudly and waved her little arms a few times as she spoke.

Xiang Bei was speechless. The two kids he mentioned were no ordinary people. One was the grandson of a military bigwig, and the other was the youngest son of a war god. They were both in the same class as Xiang Xia.

When her daughter made a violent declaration, Xiang's mother gave her a light glare, then put a bite of food on her daughter's plate and chuckled as she scolded her.

After a moment of silence, Xiang Bei shook his head, recalling that he himself had gone through the same thing back then.

The younger generation of several military leaders were beaten so badly they couldn't even lift their heads.

As a result, these guys went back and told their parents, and their own fathers beat them up.

He then grew up smoothly in Xiangbei and became the undisputed king of children in both their upper and lower realms.

Whether you're the son of a big shot or the grandson of a war god, obediently become his underling.

"Good, that's ambitious!" Xiang Bei gave his younger sister a well-deserved word of encouragement, then added, "Then you'd better work hard. Your brother is unbeatable in the whole school, you can't let your brother down!"

As he spoke, Xiang Bei pinched Xiang Xia's rosy cheeks, only to have them slapped away by Xiang Xia.

"Bro, you're just bragging! Who was it that came to your aid with a swollen ass last time?"

"Pah! That's because that kid surnamed Wang has no martial ethics. His brother is already a martial artist, yet he still goes to the school to support him!" Xiang Bei curled his lip, showing great disdain.

He was determined to teach those two brothers surnamed Wang a lesson once he became a formal martial artist, because Xiang Bei had always been a petty person.

. . .

夜

Xiang Bei sat cross-legged on the floor with the soles of his feet facing upwards and his hands placed on his knees with his palms naturally facing upwards, a standard five-hearts-to-heaven posture.

In the Five Hearts Facing the Sky Method, the five hearts refer to the soles of the feet, the palms of the hands, and the Baihui acupoint on the top of the head. By facing the sky with these five hearts, one calms the mind and gradually empties the heart, getting closer to nature and feeling the free-floating energy in the universe.

Although energy is ubiquitous in the universe, human perception is limited. It is extremely difficult to capture those tiny and free-floating cosmic energies through the limited perception of the human body.

However, as the book says, the most difficult part of cultivating the Five Hearts Towards Heaven Method is the first time.

Xiang Bei had tried to cultivate the "Gene Origin Energy Cultivation Method" several times before, but each time he failed.

This time, Xiang Bei didn't have high hopes and was even prepared for a long period of cultivation.

But sometimes surprises come unexpectedly!