Chapter 61

"Father, Mother, I hope you are well. Today, I finally met Brother Wu Xing. Brother is doing well and misses you both greatly. However, as he is at a critical point in his cultivation, he has no time to spare and can only inquire about your well-being through me. In our conversation, he expressed much concern for you. Although this is our first meeting, we conversed happily, and Brother took good care of me, offering much guidance in the path of cultivation..."

After finishing the letter, Tang Jie read it carefully, seeing no problems, he sighed and placed it in the envelope.

Looking back at the bottle of Peiyuan Pills, his heart was troubled again.

Wu Xing's unsatisfactory outcome made him dare not send the medicine to the two elders, and he could not find a way to send the medicine back.

The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he became. He cursed, "Damn it," and punched the wall.

The wall shook from his punch, causing the entire house to tremble.

Pulling back his fist, Tang Jie squeezed it, and the joints crackled, even producing a faint sound of wind and thunder.

He muttered to himself, "It seems I can only wait. I hope they act quickly and do not disappoint me."

Saying this, he looked down at his fist.

At the time, although he had resisted the blade with his body, he did not know he could resist to this extent. He only knew that if Wu Xing used his hands to cast spells, he would not be a match. Therefore, he had to hold him off no matter what. Unexpectedly, the blade's damage to him was much less than expected.

After some time, the wound had healed considerably.

The Fierce Wind Blade, although not a powerful technique, was not weak. The fact that he could withstand the blade meant that any attack less intense than the Fierce Wind Blade would likely be harmless to him.

Tang Jie realized that he should carefully measure the power of various techniques and test his body's resistance to these attacks, which would greatly benefit his future battles.

However, there were many techniques in the world, and it would not be easy to test them all. This could only be done step by step.

In the following days, Tang Jie continued to practice daily.

Seven days later, he successfully advanced to the Spirit Spring stage.

This marked the first significant stage of the Spirit Platform realm, signifying that a student had officially become a Spirit Apprentice. Before this, they were merely at the kindergarten level.

After advancing to the Spirit Spring stage, his inner spirit space gradually solidified. To continue expanding it, he needed to use the second level of the Shaohai Cave Gold Technique.

However, the Moon Washing Academy traditionally taught one technique per level. Previously, Tang Jie had only obtained the first level. To get the second level, he needed to find the Bitter Daoist at the Scripture Stone, which would inevitably reveal his progress to everyone.

After some thought, Tang Jie decided to wait a bit longer and use this time to practice the Water Light Shield.

The Water Light Shield required the circulation of qi through the Spleen Meridian, forming a shield at the Fu She point, and then guiding it out with a technique to form the shield.

However, one advantage was that it did not require a technique.

The purpose of a technique was to guide the spell. Most defensive spells were cast on oneself and did not require guidance. However, if used on others, a technique was still necessary.

Therefore, defensive spells generally had faster casting speeds than offensive spells, but their defensive capabilities were inferior to offensive capabilities.

Offensive spells focused on a point, while defensive spells covered an area. With the same amount of spirit energy, offensive spells were more powerful.

Thus, for most students, unless they had enough spells, they would not initially choose defensive spells.

Tang Jie chose this spell because he had the Zangxiang Classic to strengthen his body.

The Zangxiang Classic greatly increased his physical strength, but it could only resist ordinary weapons. For spell attacks, it could not provide complete immunity, as seen with the Fierce Wind Blade. Wu Xing's blade had actually injured him quite severely, but his resilient nature and the Zangxiang Classic's remarkable recovery ability saved him from serious harm.

If faced with someone slightly stronger than Wu Xing, the Zangxiang Classic alone might not suffice.

The Water Light Shield's greatest feature was that it did not resist damage but weakened it, with a reduction rate of about 5% to 20%, depending on the attribute.

However, the Water Light Shield had a weakness: it could be destroyed by cumulative attacks, and its attack tolerance was very low. An attack like the Fierce Wind Blade might destroy it in two or three hits.

Nevertheless, when combined with the Zangxiang Classic, Tang Jie's survival ability was greatly enhanced. If he had used the Water Light Shield in his battle with Wu Xing, he would have only suffered minor injuries.

Therefore, Tang Jie focused on practicing the qi circulation for the Water Light Shield.

When his spirit energy was insufficient, he practiced the Small Circulation, which aimed to condense qi into liquid and restore spirit energy, without the need for advanced techniques. This was why it was said, "Breathing is a cycle."

Combining these two practices, Tang Jie trained for half a month.

During this half month, he remained at the Spirit Spring stage with a hundred drops of spirit energy, making no progress in his realm, but his spellcasting improved significantly.

The speed of the Small Circulation increased from one cycle every half an hour to one cycle every twenty minutes.

This was the easiest and most rapid improvement period, and further progress would become increasingly difficult.

The formation of the Water Light Shield was shortened to six seconds, but further improvement was not easy.

Six seconds was enough for spell duels, as the opponent's spells also required time to form. However, Tang Jie was not satisfied.

For him, battles were matters of life and death, with no room for courtesy or politeness. No one would give him time to cast spells, just as he would not give Wu Xing time.

Rapid attacks and strong attacks, catching the opponent off guard and exploiting the limitations of spellcasting, were his only means of defeating strong enemies. To achieve this, he had to be faster!

"If it doesn't work, I'll have to use that method... But the time is not right... When will those damn bastards come..." Tang Jie sighed.

The people he was waiting for were unexpectedly patient.

Without their actions, many of his plans were on hold.

At this moment, a voice came from outside: "Is Brother Tang here?"

It was Liu Hongyan's voice.

Tang Jie walked out of the house and saw Liu Hongyan standing at the gate. He said, "It's Hongyan. What brings you here today?"

Liu Hongyan glared at him, "You have the nerve to ask. Today is the day of the club formation, of course, I'm here to invite you to join."

Tang Jie slapped his head, realizing, "I forgot. Wait a moment, I'll get ready and come."

"What do you need to prepare?" Liu Hongyan rolled her eyes.

"Change into new clothes," Tang Jie replied with a smile.

A moment later, Tang Jie came out of the house and said, "I'm ready. Let's go."

---

The club formation of the Free and Easy Club was held at the Heart Moon Pavilion in Tranquil Moon. Since Shu Mingyang and his group had some prestige in the academy, their club attracted several dozen students, many of whom were talented, with several being at the Sixth Circulation level or higher.

However, the most famous Qi Shaoming and An Rumei were not present. It was later learned that the Free and Easy Club had not invited them, likely to avoid being overshadowed.

Even if they had been invited, it would not have mattered. Both were cultivation fanatics, spending their days in class or in closed-door practice, advancing rapidly.

Recently, Qi Shaoming had advanced to the Spirit Spring stage as the top student and was now rapidly advancing to the Spirit Lake stage, ignoring all invitations. He had a player-like attitude of "level up now, show off later."

An Rumei had also made a name for herself, reportedly defeating three Spirit Lake disciples in the Divine Weapon Arena, before disappearing to continue her intense practice.

Since it was a gathering of students, the club formation was more of a ceremony, providing opportunities for social interaction, conversation, and the exchange of experiences. Discussions of the great principles of humanity were of little interest to anyone except Shu Mingyang.

Tang Jie mingled with the crowd, occasionally conversing with a few familiar faces. Despite his reputation as a madman, he had never acted rashly, quickly changing some people's perceptions of him.

Meanwhile.

At Tao Ran Residence.

Three black-clad men appeared in front of Tang Jie's house.

The leader, a tall man, nodded and gestured for one to search the yard while another quickly entered the house to search thoroughly.

The man searching the yard held a peculiar probe, occasionally inserting it into the ground and then pulling it out to check, moving to a new spot to continue.

The man searching the house almost turned it upside down, checking every corner, almost dismantling the furnishings.

After a moment, the man in the yard returned, "Sir, nothing found."

Then the man in the house came out, "Sir, all places have been checked. No secret doors, no discoveries."

The leader, though his face was hidden, showed a furrowed brow.

He tapped his fingers on his thigh, thinking for a moment, and asked, "Are you sure all places have been checked?"

"Every possible place has been searched, short of tearing the place apart."

The leader felt frustrated and cast a spell, returning the moved items to their original positions, leaving no trace of the disturbance.

The Return to Origin Technique!

This technique was the best for restoration, capable of even reassembling powdered objects at higher levels. The man had not reached that level, but restoring the room to its original state was no problem.

After doing this, the man walked out of the house, sensing something and looking towards the back yard, "There's a spirit energy reaction there?"

A black-clad man replied, "It's the planted spirit grains. The entire area has been checked, and no hidden items were found."

The leader looked at the yard, seeing spirit grains, some potted plants, a small water tank with fish, a sieve, a plow, and some firewood. There was also a stone mortar with some flour on the ground.

Seeing nothing suspicious, the leader sighed, "Continue to watch, do not relax."

He then turned and left.

---

Night fell.

The club formation of the Free and Easy Club finally ended.

Returning to Tao Ran Residence, Tang Jie stood at the door, not entering, but carefully examining the room's furnishings.

Finding nothing, his brow furrowed slightly.

He did not enter the house but walked around to a corner of the yard.

He looked at the ground.

There, some faint flour, seemingly accidentally spilled, showed a faint, incomplete footprint.

Seeing this faint, blurry mark, Tang Jie smiled:

"Finally, they came! Return to Origin Technique... Ha! Big! Idiot!"