Chapter 60

People are honed in the midst of suffering!

The impoverished circumstances of his childhood had made Zhao Futu far more mature and steady than his peers. After coming to this space and experiencing everything, he felt as if he had a sense of the vicissitudes of the world. He had always thought that the main theme of this space was battle, the struggle between life and death. But now he no longer thought so. Because he saw many things beyond life and death, those that struck straight to the heart!

...

When Zhao Futu walked out of the camp, he felt a deep frustration in his heart, as if a heavy stone was pressing on his chest. Although he knew he had nothing to do with Zhang Jue, and they had only met once, and might never meet again, he still felt very depressed, making him want to vent his frustration fiercely!

— Clang!

Zhao Futu drew the fine steel longsword from his waist, and he strode to an open area, practicing the Silver Cross Sword Technique over and over again. The events of this short moment had given him many shocks and added a sense of oppression to his heart. It was a feeling that could not be described in words, but he could vent it through his sword!

The Silver Cross Sword Technique was expansive and full of killing intent, giving off a fierce and brutal atmosphere of battle. But today, the feeling conveyed by each move was completely different. The sword was still the same sword, the moves were still the same moves, but when he swung his sword, it brought a heavy pressure like a mountain, a very profound feeling, as if it were the vicissitudes of history. Each move was imbued with a thousand pounds of force, the killing intent was still the same, but it was no longer so brutal, but rather a sense of oppression, a feeling that made it hard to even breathe!

Zhao Futu felt a surge of heat throughout his body, his eyebrows twitched, and his dantian synchronized with his heartbeat. This feeling was especially sensitive when he broke through the Grand Circulation, as if his heart had suddenly moved to his abdomen, and he could feel the heartbeat there! A thread of true qi circulated between the Conception and Governor Vessels, not a power granted by the space, but a thin thread of true qi accumulated from ten years of breathing exercises in reality. His body began to sweat, and he could feel his pores opening. The strength of his sword moves grew stronger, but his breathing became slower, and in the end, it was just a faint repetition, with each breath taking over a minute!

His body produced a slight backlash due to the lack of sufficient oxygen, and his mind became slightly confused due to the lack of oxygen, but there seemed to be a force inside him supporting him to continue practicing the sword moves. When he finally executed the last move of the Silver Cross Sword Technique, he suddenly felt as if all his pores were pricked by needles, and then his breathing completely stopped!

His mind gradually became clear, and the fatigue caused by the lack of oxygen also subsided. His nostrils did not breathe, but his pores were in a mysterious state of renewal! Oxygen flowed like a fine stream, moving through his blood vessels to supply his body, his heartbeat was steady and strong, and his mind was exceptionally sharp!

"Snap!"

In front of him, about three meters away, a branch broke off and fell to the ground.

Zhao Futu stopped his moves, pressed his palms down, and his aura calmed. His head was covered in sweat, and the cold and heat meeting made his wet hair emit a thin mist.

"Fetal Breathing!"

Zhao Futu looked at the broken branch in disbelief and muttered, "I didn't expect to achieve fetal breathing in the midst of movement!"

With his last sword move, the force supporting him was exhausted, and he felt a wave of fatigue, as if he had been exercising intensely for a long time. But he felt as if a channel had been opened inside his body, starting from his heart and lungs, like a pipe connecting his thumb and little finger. If he remembered correctly, this was the Lung Meridian and Heart Meridian of the Twelve Regular Meridians!

"Grand Circulation? Haven't I already connected the Twelve Regular Meridians with true qi? Why do I need to open them again? Could it be that what I did before to break through the Grand Circulation was not truly opening the meridians?"

The human body's meridians are naturally connected, and when they are open, there is no disease. Cultivators' opening of meridians is actually further expansion, like a small stream becoming a large river. But this expansion is extremely difficult, requiring ten or twenty years of daily meditation. Cultivators are different from internal martial arts experts; the entry course for cultivators is to open the Conception and Governor Vessels, as these two meridians connect the upper, middle, and lower dantians, the essence of the body's energy, like the heart, while other meridians are like blood vessels, all blood flowing from the heart.

"Clap, clap, clap!"

Suddenly, applause came from the darkness, and a tall, graceful figure emerged. She looked at Zhao Futu from a distance and sincerely praised, "I didn't expect to encounter someone who can integrate their mind into the sword!"

"I thought all the contractors in the space only knew how to add attributes and learn skills through rewards."

Zhao Futu was startled by the voice, breaking his mysterious state of enlightenment. His face turned sour, and he frowned, coldly staring at the woman who had suddenly appeared. He raised his hand and swung his sword!

They were about four to five meters apart, but when Zhao Futu swung his sword, the tall woman's face changed, and she quickly dodged. However, she was a bit slow, and the place where Zhao Futu's sword had swung was as if cut by an invisible blade, leaving a clear sword mark on the ground, and a corner of her large cloak was cut off!

"Ki!"

The woman's face changed, and she asked in surprise, "Do you know the Hua Mountain Sword Technique?"

Hua Mountain Sword Technique?

Zhao Futu's face remained expressionless, still cold. The ki was an unexpected product, as if he had inadvertently discovered something beyond his expectations. He had very little true qi, and the energy value converted was only enough for three uses, but he could not reveal his weakness as a new contractor. Instead, he maintained a cold and stern expression and said, "You interrupted my enlightenment. If you can't give me a satisfactory answer—"

Zhao Futu narrowed his eyes, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"From your appearance, it seems you haven't been in the space for long, right?" The tall woman frowned, a hint of confusion on her face, and then said, "I plan to make a deal with you, but before that, I can give you a free piece of information."

"Hmph!"

Zhao Futu coldly snorted and said, "Speak!"

Among the contractors in the Yellow Turban Army, this woman was the one who gave him the most pressure. He could not reveal that he was a new contractor, so he had to pretend to be strong. People generally like to bully the weak and fear the strong. If he showed any weakness, he would be torn apart by the wolves. He had to make others understand that dealing with him would come at a great cost to stop their greed.

If he looked like a pig, he would likely be torn apart before he could eat the tiger. In this world full of killing, not showing any sharpness was a death sentence!

No matter what, Zhao Futu had to act strong, even if he didn't want to. He had already deviated from the space's arranged encounter, and if he didn't keep up the act, he would become a moving treasure chest in others' eyes!

The tall woman seemed to be unsure about Zhao Futu's situation.

The man in front of her seemed to have some strength, but not enough to make her take him seriously. However, anyone who tried to peek at his attributes either spat blood or suffered a backlash, and no one could determine his attributes. This made everyone unsure about his true strength. Zhao Futu's perception was 29 points, higher than most contractors who didn't specifically enhance their perception, even after several scenarios!

After all, secondary attributes are not like primary attributes, which can be increased with each mission.

Potential points are notoriously difficult to obtain in the space, requiring the completion of specific tasks. Most contractors enhance their secondary attributes by exchanging for corresponding bloodlines in the mid to late stages.

...

The tall woman was about to speak, but suddenly turned and said coldly, "Since you're here, come out."

A pale face emerged from the darkness, the white-faced man Zhao Futu had seen at the banquet. In the darkness, his face looked even more handsome, his pale skin reflecting a crystalline glow in the moonlight. He tilted his head, examining Zhao Futu from a distance, and then said to the tall woman, "Ling! You've gotten much stronger!"

"By the way, why does this guy look more and more like Linghu Chong, especially when he used ki just now?"

The tall woman, Ling, glanced at Zhao Futu and said coldly, "You talk too much!"

"I'm determined to get the soul of the general in his hand! Don't try to interfere."

The handsome white-faced man smiled, a mocking expression on his face. He looked at the woman named 'Ling' with interest and said, "This is the Yellow Turban Army's base! With Zhang Jue here, neither of us dares to act rashly!"

"Since it's a deal, it depends on who offers the highest price. Next month's mandatory main mission is a gold-level scenario. Do you dare to fight me here and anger the S-level character Zhang Jue? He can summon wind and rain, far stronger than your half-baked Taoist skills."

The handsome white-faced man turned to Zhao Futu and smiled warmly, saying, "By the way, the free information she mentioned is this: Next month, the space will open a super-large mandatory gold-level main mission. The content is not yet determined, but it will likely be the first gold-level main mission since the space opened."

"This woman is all about money!" The white-faced man turned and mocked the tall woman, adding, "She's using this well-known information to fool you, a new contractor who hasn't experienced many missions!"

For some reason, the white-faced man emphasized the word "new" and smiled with narrowed eyes, staring at Zhao Futu like a cunning fox.

Zhao Futu suddenly felt a strong aversion to the man in front of him.

The innate senses of a cultivator made him feel that although the man was always smiling, it was a forced smile.