Cultivation

"You aren't the primary target of the investigation." "Two Qi and Blood Realm elders of the Xing clan were killed, and the patriarch was utterly furious. He drew up a list of everyone who could possibly be involved, and your name was on it." "They suspected you might be connected or know something, so they had us tail you to find out why you leave the city every day—whether you were truly just hunting in Beast Roar Mountain." The man blurted it all out in a single breath. Truly iron-willed men who feared no interrogation were rare in reality. Most people spilled everything with just a little intimidation and torture. "Spare me, my lord! I will never tell anyone about you!" "I am willing to serve y— Ahh!!" The man had only just begun pleading wildly for his life when, before he could finish his sentence, his head slipped from his neck. The cut was exceptionally clean and smooth. Blood hissed and sprayed. Having pried out the truth, Lin Zheyu breathed a sigh of relief. So they only assumed he might be involved or know some information; they didn't actually suspect him specifically. No wonder the Xing clan made such a big fuss that they even had to investigate someone as tangential as him. Losing two Qi and Blood Realm elders in a single day was a severe blow that shook the Xing clan to its core. "Now that I've killed these men, I'm afraid the Xing clan truly will grow somewhat suspicious of me," Lin Zheyu murmured to himself. Even so, he wasn't overly worried. Before long, his strength would advance to the Qi and Blood Four Transformations. When that time came, there would probably be very few people in Songyi City capable of posing a threat to him. There might not even be a single one. Coupled with his consummate Golden Goose Skill, threatening his life would require an expert in leg techniques. Otherwise, someone would have to be an entire tier stronger than him, reaching the level of the Qi and Blood Five Transformations or even the Six Transformations, for it to be possible. After disposing of the corpses, Lin Zheyu got his bearings and set off in another direction. Mount Daba lay in the opposite direction from Lion Valley, quite far away, deep in a remote and rarely trodden mountain wilderness. Halfway there, the sky grew increasingly gloomy. After more than two hours, a misty drizzle began to fall from the sky. Lin Zheyu sought out a deserted village to take shelter from the rain. Pitter-patter... The rain grew heavier and heavier. Winter had just ended, bringing the continuous drizzle of early spring. "No telling how long it'll rain. Having no weather forecast is such a nuisance," Lin Zheyu remarked under his breath, watching the downpour outside intensify. It was a desolate, abandoned village where most houses were dilapidated, but he still managed to find an intact building to escape the wet weather. Although he carried an oilcloth raincoat, that kind of rain gear was awkward to wear and made traveling rather troublesome. Lin Zheyu decided to wait. If the rain hadn't stopped after two hours, he would put on the oilcloth raincoat and press on. Accompanied by the sound of rain outside, Lin Zheyu devoted himself to studying the martial skill Mountain-Shattering Palm. To be precise, it was a qi and blood burst technique. Through a unique method of circulating qi and blood, it caused more qi and blood to erupt at the very same instant, unleashing overclocked striking power. With sufficient mastery, one could even execute it through fists or legs. However, this technique was exceedingly difficult. Mastering it completely demanded tremendous control over qi and blood, coordinated with its exclusive breathing technique as well as the muscles, sinews, and membranes. The hands were the most nimble parts of the human body, making it easiest to unleash this qi and blood burst technique through them. Applying such an explosive technique to one's legs would multiply the difficulty several times over. [Heaven Rewards Diligence] Name: Lin Zheyu Origin Power: 0 Skills: Wild Bull Fist (Perfection) Six Harmonies Saber (Great Accomplishment 46%) Golden Goose Skill (Eighth Layer 48%) Ten Thousand Armies Steps (Fifth Layer 57%) Poison King Body (First Layer 0%) Mountain-Shattering Palm (Entry 32%) Turtle Breathing Art (Third Layer 5%) "Thanks to my strong control over qi and blood, in just one night, I've trained the Mountain-Shattering Palm to thirty-two percent of the Entry stage." "Still, it will only get harder later on. To train it to Perfection will probably take two or three years," Lin Zheyu murmured, looking at the data in his consciousness. The Mountain-Shattering Palm had no distinct layers. In theory, fully comprehending this martial art and training it to Perfection could unleash triple one's original qi and blood power. For any technique without fixed layers, he could divide it in the data display according to his thoughts into several stages: Uninitiated, Entry, Proficient, Minor Accomplishment, Great Accomplishment, and Perfection. Lin Zheyu could also choose not to divide it so finely and simply consider one hundred percent as Perfection. However, doing so stretched the feedback loop terribly long, requiring an extensive period just to see progress tick up by one percent, which was quite demoralizing for cultivation enthusiasm. Pitter-patter... An hour later, the rain outside began to abate. Lin Zheyu was in no rush to leave. The muscles on his right arm and right leg twitched faintly as qi and blood power, directed by his will, circulated in an extraordinary pattern through both limbs. Splitting his attention, Lin Zheyu attempted to employ this burst technique simultaneously in his right arm and right leg. His legs were not noticeably less dexterous than his arms. With focused control, he could execute the technique through them as well. "If I can use this burst technique flexibly in my legs, wouldn't that count as a new martial art, the Mountain-Shattering Leg?" Lin Zheyu mused. The moment the thought crossed his mind, the data in his consciousness shifted, and an entry for the Mountain-Shattering Leg appeared. "It really works..." Lin Zheyu wasn't surprised in the slightest. Having possessed this golden finger for so long, he had thoroughly studied how it worked. Any actionable cultivation method or martial skill applied to the physical body could be treated as a technique and displayed in the skill column. However, the training method or technique could not be overly simplistic; basic slashing, running, or squats could never register. Perhaps the golden finger deemed such things far too trivial to qualify as skills. With a thought from Lin Zheyu, Mountain-Shattering Leg vanished from the data column. Pondering for a moment, he also hid Wild Bull Fist, Ten Thousand Armies Steps, and Poison King Body, leaving behind only four arts: Six Harmonies Saber, Golden Goose Skill, Mountain-Shattering Palm, and Turtle Breathing Art. [Heaven Rewards Diligence] Name: Lin Zheyu Origin Power: 0 Skills: Six Harmonies Saber (Great Accomplishment 46%) Mountain-Shattering Palm (Entry 32%) Golden Goose Skill (Eighth Layer 48%) Turtle Breathing Art (Third Layer 5%) This made the interface look much cleaner. Ten Thousand Armies Steps had already been fused into the Golden Goose Skill. As the Golden Goose Skill reached the perfection of the eighth layer, Ten Thousand Armies Steps would naturally approach perfection as well, leaving no need for it to be displayed. As for the Poison King Body, Lin Zheyu did not plan to upgrade it for the time being. That art was far too expensive. Gathering the medicinal ingredients required to advance it would cost at least ten thousand taels of silver. With that kind of money, Lin Zheyu felt it was far more worthwhile to directly boost his combat power. For now, studying the Poison Canon, acquiring poison-related knowledge, and learning how to identify and guard against toxins, paired with his formidable strength, was more than enough. "Upgrading Mountain-Shattering Palm to Perfection will take roughly two, at most three units of Origin Power. When the time comes, I can upgrade it first." "In the Qi and Blood Realm, strength only leaps forward dramatically upon reaching the Qi and Blood Three, Six, and Nine Transformations." "Even if I advance to the Qi and Blood Four Transformations, it will only increase my strength by ten or twenty percent at most, which isn't a massive leap in power." "On the other hand, mastering Mountain-Shattering Palm to Perfection allows me to burst forth with triple my qi and blood power. That offers a far greater boost to combat strength and can serve as a trump card," Lin Zheyu reflected. He had another idea in mind, but he would have to wait until both Mountain-Shattering Palm and Golden Goose Skill were perfected before attempting it. Just as he had integrated Ten Thousand Armies Steps into the Golden Goose Skill, he wanted to incorporate this unique qi and blood burst technique of Mountain-Shattering Palm into it as well. Yet successfully merging them would be monstrously difficult. Ten Thousand Armies Steps and Golden Goose Skill were both leg techniques with high similarity, making them much easier to combine. This unique qi and blood burst technique, however, differed vastly from regular martial arts, making integration extraordinarily difficult. The conflict was too pronounced to merge them in the same manner as Ten Thousand Armies Steps. Even so, he could treat it as a brand-new martial art and cultivate it from scratch. Lin Zheyu intended to wait until both arts were perfected to see whether he could create a ninth layer for the Golden Goose Skill. The ninth layer would center on incorporating the qi and blood burst technique of Mountain-Shattering Palm into the circulation of the Golden Goose Skill. If the idea proved viable, the corresponding ninth layer would appear on the data panel; if not, there would be no reaction at all. This golden finger also served to verify whether his concepts were feasible. He cultivated for another hour. Lin Zheyu's arms trembled slightly, the muscles, sinews, and membranes aching intensely as if being torn apart. If merely training with a small amount of qi and blood power caused such severe strain, one could well imagine how immense the toll on the body would be during a full burst. Yet with continued practice, his arms would gradually adapt. Once his proficiency grew high enough, the burden on his body during a qi and blood burst would drop to a minimum. "The rain has stopped. Time to keep moving." Lin Zheyu swung his pack onto his back and resumed his journey. Circulating his qi and blood, he nurtured and restored his injured right arm. As he traveled, he split his focus to steer his qi and blood power. Whenever his left arm grew overly fatigued and strained, he would switch to using his right arm to practice the Mountain-Shattering Palm. By the time he reached Mount Daba, it was already afternoon. Eee—eeeeee— Entering the mountain forest, Lin Zheyu found a spot and blew his bamboo whistle, producing a sharp whistling sound. The whistle was loud and echoed through the woods, its timbre distinct and unmistakable. After blowing it for a while, Lin Zheyu stopped. He retrieved dry rations from his pack to fill his belly while waiting for an hour. Every ten minutes, he would blow it once. If no one arrived within an hour, he would change locations and try again. "I hope the rain doesn't last too many days, or else I'll have to gnaw on dry rations this entire time," Lin Zheyu murmured to himself. When it rained, the wood in the forest was soaked, making it impossible to build a fire and roast meat. After waiting an hour, no one showed up. Lin Zheyu blew the bamboo whistle as he searched the mountain forest, keeping an eye out for a suitable cave to shelter in. Given the weather, more rain was very likely; staying in the open would leave him soaked to the skin like a drowned rat. More than four hours later, halfway up the mountain, Lin Zheyu finally discovered a cave. It was deep and pitch-black inside. Walking into its depths, Lin Zheyu found numerous beast bones. At one point, this seemed to have been the lair of a ferocious beast. Having secured the cave, he went outside and blew the whistle for a while longer, but still no one arrived to meet him. In the blink of an eye, darkness fell. "Why did the temperature drop so suddenly?" Returning to the cave he had found earlier, Lin Zheyu shivered violently, his qi and blood spontaneously surging into motion. The sinister chill inside the cave made him extremely uncomfortable, as if some malevolent entity were boring into his flesh, throwing the qi and blood within him into restless turmoil. His eyes narrowed slightly as a familiar sensation welled up in his heart. He had felt this exact sensation before, back in the haunted mine on Baishi Mountain. However, the sinister chill permeating this cave was far more potent than what he had experienced at that mine. "Could there be a specter in this cave?" The thought surfaced in Lin Zheyu's mind. He found it somewhat peculiar: when he entered during the day, he hadn't detected any sinister aura at all, yet with nightfall, the cave had turned utterly eerie and frigid. The mine on Baishi Mountain had been grim and chilling even in broad daylight, making anyone deeply unsettled. "A bit strange. Should I go in?" Standing outside and gazing into the pitch-black cave, Lin Zheyu pondered for a moment. Then he retrieved a fire striker from his pack, lit a torch, and stepped inside. A specter posed little danger; given his strength, he faced no real peril. Since such an encounter was rare, Lin Zheyu decided to investigate.