This was a neither-here-nor-there age.

At 10 years old, the townsfolk saw him as a child. But to Wu Yu, it was time to act. In these 10 years, he had been constantly trying to break free of the illusion.

Up till now, he still had not made a move, mainly because his young age limited him.

But he was 10 now. Wu Yu's thoughts wandered back towards Capital Wu.

If he wanted to get to Heavenly Sword Sect, he had to get to Capital Wu first. That was the only possible route, and Wu Yu had to give it a try.

Therefore, on his 10th birthday, Wu Yu told Yang Fan and Liu Yue that he wanted to go to Capital Wu.

At this time, Wu Yu was starting to believe that he had been reborn. The illusion vs reality debate had raged on within him for a decade, and now he was starting to believe that it was real.

Of course, whether reality or illusion, he could not possibly continue living at Willow Town. He had to find a way to start his martial path.

"What? Capital Wu? Impossible! Get those thoughts out of your mind. Capital Wu is too far, and you are only 10 years old. How can you get to Capital Wu?" Hearing Yang Chen's declaration, Yang Fan was completely astounded.

Liu Yue, who had overheard the conversation from the room, ran out hurriedly. "That's right. What will you do in Capital Wu? that's too far. It's impossible for us of Willow Town."

Wu Yu shook his head.

He knew that to Yang Fan and Liu Yue, and the people of Willow Town, Capital Wu and the Heavenly Sword Sect were matters too far out of their concern. If he spoke of it they would not believe him, and might even think that he was out of his mind.

Although their objection made Wu Yu lose heart a little, but his resolve was unshaken.

However, he had to watch out for his delicate constitution. If he wanted to get to Capital Wu, his own strength would not be enough. Of course, that was all he had for now.

Therefore, on one clear night, he left home without informing Yang Fan or Liu Yue.

He did not think about how the pair would feel at his abandonment. Instead, he resolutely walked on towards Capital Wu.

"This Willow Town is to the direct north of Dong Yue Wu Kingdom! If I want to get to Capital Wu, all I have to do is head south."

Wu Yu had some impression of his orientation. He simply used the stars to calibrate his direction, and headed south.

He took with him nothing much more than a bottle of water and some provisions.

Wu Yu had originally thought that as long as he could keep on, he would definitely reach Capital Wu, whether it took him 5 years or 10. It did not matter if he was slow, and it did not matter if he was young. As long as he did not die. And it could build him up.

But as he set upon his journey, he felt that the heavens themselves were against him.

In less than a day, his water bottle had been snatched away by a huge bird, which had rushed over to steal it uncaring of him.

Having lost his bottle, it was very difficult for Wu Yu to get water. He thought about making a makeshift waterbag, but his frail body of 10 years old could not even snare any game to make it with. Neither did he have tools to cut trees or the like.

He was both young and weak. In the wild, even basic survival became a problem.

At night, he climbed a tree for safety, but there was a viper waiting for him. If not for his sharp eyes, he would have died on that tree.

Along the way, he met with one unfortunate accident after another. Finally, he came to a trading post, starving and shivering. He had not eaten in two days. His provisions had been lost one day when crossing a river, and the weather suddenly turned inhospitably warm. He felt dizzy as he walked.

"Perhaps I forced it too hard......"

Wu Yu mustered the last of his strength and tottered on. If he fainted in the wild, only starvation awaited him. At the trading post, perhaps there would be passing merchants.

Of course, this trading post was quite remote, and the chances of this were low.

Wu Yu struggled on, plodding until he could see paved road before him. In the distance, he saw some black specks, and it seemed like there was human traffic after all. With a sigh of relief, he collapsed.

When the group of merchants passed, one cried out upon seeing his inert body: "Isn't that Yang Chen, the son of cloth trader Yang Fan from Willow Town? Why is he here? Since we're on the way to Willow Town, let's give him a ride!"

Willow Town was hoisted up by them, and carried back to Willow Town.

When he came to three days later, he was back home in Willow Town.

On the trade road, the traveling traders had carts, and there were no obstacles either. They covered ground pretty quickly.

However, the trade roads did not lead directly to Capital Wu, which was why Wu Yu had not taken it. It would waste a lot of time, and he only returned to it when he was desperate.

When he woke up, he saw his 'mother' Liu Yue weeping loudly, and she came over to hold him.

Wu Yu gradually regained his spirits. He saw how much he had worried the couple with his disappearance. They had not slept much in these days, and had even grown much white hair. Especially Liu Yue - her face was streaked with several days' worth of tears.

Wu Yu felt a little ashamed.

He recalled all that had happened in Willow Town so far. Liu Yue's care for him had been beyond reproach, and Yang Fan had also treated him well. The family of three did well enough, if not for Wu Yu's strangeness.

Wu Yu was at a loss when he came to.

Should he persevere on towards Capital Wu?

Even he did not know anymore.

Capital Wu was too far, given his condition and situation. The biggest trade fair that Willow Town participated in was not even a tenth of the way to Capital Wu.

If he wanted to get there, he would have to spend quite a few years.

"But if this Yang Chen is real, would I not be letting Yang Fan and Liu Yue down?" Wu Yu asked himself. Seeing how worried they were made him feel bad.

No matter how much he tried to convince himself that this was an illusion, 10 years of such a reality had worn down his conviction.

Besides, he could feel a strong supernatural presence preventing him from reaching Capital Wu. It had forced him back before he could even move a fraction of the way there.

If not for the merchants, he might not even have made it back.

He heard that Yang Fan had even given them a large sum of money as thanks. That was how much they treasured Yang Chen.

After this disaster, Wu Yu "became" more understanding. He was no longer as reticent, and would occasionally interact with the people of Willow Town.

Most importantly, Wu Yu said that he wanted to go and learn martial arts from Master Yang Bai.

Yang Fan and Liu Yue spared no expense for their beloved son. They set off to find a martial teacher willing to take in Yang Chen. There were not more than five teachers in total. The strongest among them was Master Yang Bai himself.

The other four were Master Yang Bai's disciples, who were also middle-aged now.

Master Yang Bai himself was getting on in years, and no longer took in disciples. Therefore, Yang Fan and Liu Yue could only entreat his four disciples. As a small town, everyone more or less knew each other. Hearing that Yang Chen wanted to learn martial arts, they did not make too much of a fuss. However, they simply reminded them that martial arts was not an easy pursuit, and laid out some conditions.

Among which was improving Yang Chen's body quality. In order to do so, he had to buy some expensive medicines and herbs. Besides, they would have to pay the teacher quite a sum as well.

Yang Fan and Liu Yue did not stint, and very quickly bought the medicines for Wu Yu. They spent more than half their savings on them, and boiled them into herbal soups for Wu Yu to drink.

Wu Yu could indeed feel their worth. They helped to strengthen his body considerably.

Yet soon afterwards, he found that their nutritional properties did not last. His body very quickly rejected them for some unknown reason.

Of course, even a little help was enough. His body managed to barely pass the requirements to begin training.

At the age of 12, he began to learn martial arts from Master Yang Bai's eldest disciple.

This was a difficult process, even more so than when Wu Yu was the prince of Dong Wu. Each day, even just the basics was agony to hiim.

Although martial arts had been difficult for prince Wu Yu, but they had not been this impossible.

He now felt keenly that the pathways of Yang Chen's body were completely blocked, and the spiritual art took a heavy toll that his body was unable to sustain.

Before long, he could feel that his body had been quite severely battered, as though he had overworked it.

This could not be helped. Wu Yu felt that if he did not work hard, he would never reach Capital Wu or Heavenly Sword Sect. Therefore, no matter how hard the training was, he worked ten times harder than the other disciples.