Chapter 20

Time passed swiftly, and before they knew it, two months had gone by. Zongshou had become increasingly accustomed to life from ten thousand years ago. Apart from occasionally going shopping, collecting materials for the spirit master's daily cultivation, and the drugs needed for the 'Mercury Beast King,' he would occasionally tease his maidservant. The rest of the time, he stayed in his room, practicing basic sword techniques, basic steps, and basic agility, among other martial arts fundamentals.

Yin Yang and Chuxue were the same, trying to avoid going out and stirring up trouble.

At this moment, the town of Yanxia was already home to over ten thousand people. It was a mix of all sorts, and most were young, full of vigor. Even with the intimidating presence of Lingyun Sect, there was still some chaos, with frequent brawls, though no one dared to cause fatal incidents.

Given their special status, the three naturally did not want to cause any trouble here.

The most delightful thing for Zongshou over the two months was that Yin Yang and Chuxue had both made some progress in their cultivation. After the fierce battle with the fierce sword Uwi, Yin Yang directly broke through to the eighth wheel pulse, becoming a mid-stage Secret Martial Artist.

As for Chuxue, although it was unknown how far her soul had advanced, her true qi had clearly reached the peak of the Martial Artist realm, even surpassing Zong Yu at the time.

Zongshou could not help but be pleased. Yin Yang and Chuxue could be considered loyal servants, the only people he could trust in this world. Their improved strength naturally meant a greater chance of survival for him.

Even Chuxue was overjoyed. Dual cultivation of spirit and martial arts, to advance to the next level from this point, was as difficult as ascending to heaven. Every small progress was extremely precious.

Only Yin Yang, after killing Uwi, the gloom that had just dissipated returned to his face, and it grew darker each day.

Yin Yang did not mention his conversation with Feng Xiao that evening, so Zongshou pretended not to know and did not ask. He just practiced even more diligently.

Inside the bathtub, the water rippled, and steam rose. Zongshou was completely naked, sitting lazily in the middle.

Behind him, Chuxue, drenched in sweat, was using her ten fingers to massage and stimulate Zongshou's acupoints.

It seemed she did not like Zongshou's appearance, and she pressed very hard, leaving red marks all over his back.

"Master, you have already cultivated the fetal wheel, and the breath wheel is also half complete. Your qi cultivation has already made some progress. For the next medicinal bath, you won't need Xue'er's help; you can complete it yourself. Later, Xue'er will teach you a set of breathing and internal cultivation techniques, which can also refine the medicinal power of the Five Ginseng Blood-Strengthening Soup—"

When it came to Zongshou's wheel pulses, Chuxue was deeply amazed. She did not know what method Zongshou used, but in just two months, he had completely opened twenty-four acupoints in the fetal wheel, which, with his dual-pulse body, amounted to forty-eight. He seemed to have also completed part of the breath pulse.

Even compared to peak three-pulse martial artists, his internal qi was likely slightly inferior in quantity.

The foundation of his cultivation was far more solid and robust than any other martial artist in the world.

With such powerful internal qi, he indeed no longer needed her help to absorb and digest the drugs.

However, Zongshou directly shook his head and said bluntly, "Breathing and internal cultivation techniques? No, I won't learn! Having Xue'er help me is enough—"

He thought to himself, why should he go through the trouble of absorbing and refining the Five Ginseng Blood-Strengthening Soup on his own?

Although in terms of efficacy, his Swallowing Essence Technique and internal breathing guidance technique were indeed much stronger than Xue'er's.

But every ten days, he had the pleasure of a beautiful woman accompanying him in the bath. Where else could he find such a benefit?

Chuxue's true qi almost went astray. Fortunately, over the past two months, she had come to understand her young master's current nature and had developed some immunity. She said coldly, "Whether or not the young master learns, Xue'er will not accompany you in the next bath. I mean it—"

She had made up her mind not to help this somewhat lecherous young master with acupoint stimulation and massage anymore.

Zongshou gave a faint 'oh' and still looked listless, but a sly smile appeared at the corner of his lips: "That's fine, but I was originally planning to teach Xue'er the basic sword technique I learned. What a pity—"

His words were filled with regret. Chuxue's eyes, however, lit up. Basic sword techniques were similar across different schools, but the way Zongshou used them was unparalleled.

In the few days of occasional sword sparring with Zongshou, she always lost in just a few moves. No matter how exquisite the sword techniques, they were useless against Zongshou and could be easily broken.

And throughout, he used only the simplest basic sword techniques.

What she envied most was the profound sword principles and all the variations contained within.

Her heart wavered for a moment, and the next moment, Chuxue's cheeks turned bright red. She slapped Zongshou's back hard, dispersing the last bit of the Five Ginseng Blood-Strengthening Soup's medicinal power. Then she got up, wrapped herself in her clothes, and rushed out the door.

After a few moments, Chuxue's voice came from outside: "Young master, you are so shameless!"

Her tone was indeed somewhat indignant, but paired with her soft and sweet voice, it had no real impact.

Zongshou grinned, then directly activated the Swallowing Essence Technique, absorbing all the remaining medicinal essence in the liquid, converting it into pure essence and storing it in his body.

The entire process took less than a few moments.

"Unfortunately, the Heavenly Mirror Soul Reflection Technique cannot be applied to the wheel pulses. If it could also refine the purity of true qi using the sun's essence, my current cultivation would surely advance another level, completing the fetal and breath wheels—"

Each time he used the Swallowing Essence Technique, the continuous process of refining and purifying consumed a lot of his time.

If not for the concern that his true qi would become too mixed, causing many future problems, he might have already broken through the martial artist realm.

On the contrary, his soul cultivation had made rapid progress. The Heavenly Mirror Soul Reflection Technique had increased from six mirrors to twelve. Every seven days, the windowsill of this guest room was almost filled with densely packed copper mirrors.

He had now steadily completed the cultivation of the Calm Spirit realm.

The spirit master ranks were relatively simple. Below the Divine Master, there were nine levels: Calm Spirit, Observe Soul, Nourish Spirit, Out-of-Body, Night Roaming, Return to Life, Day Roaming, Shape Body, and True Form.

At the beginning of soul cultivation, the primordial soul was extremely unstable, ethereal, and constantly dispersing. The first level, Calm Spirit, as the name suggests, was to stabilize the soul.

After forming his true soul seed, Zongshou had been out-of-body every day, resisting the gale winds. He also used the sun's essence from the moonlight to continuously refine his soul, completing this process long ago.

What was lacking was only the quantity of soul power. It was only now that he had reached the required level to proceed to the next stage of cultivation.

Moving the wooden bucket aside, Zongshou, as usual, first fed the mutated sticky water beast in the ironwood jar.

The food he used now, in addition to the quality of the minerals, had increased by one level, and the beast crystal had increased to the second level.

Hearing the crunching sounds inside, a smile appeared on Zongshou's face.

In a few more days, the soul power he had accumulated would be enough to subdue this future guardian spirit beast. In about half a month, this beast would evolve to the second level, initially possessing abilities that would make anyone envious.

However, when he saw the few dozen remaining beast crystals in the bag, a look of helplessness appeared on his face.

Cultivating qi techniques and feeding the spirit beast had rapidly depleted his wealth. Without replenishment, it would eventually run out.

"Hmm? This wind seems a bit off?"

Zongshou suddenly took a step, facing the cool breeze blowing in from the window, and walked to the window.

The next moment, he saw the street outside in a state of chaos. Someone was running and shouting, "A strong wind is coming! Lingyun Sect is about to open its mountain—"

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