Chapter 53: The Zuo Family Comes

Inside the gravity room.

Shi Yan was pressed against the gravity pillar, his left hand's middle finger touching the ground, his body inverted, and his veins bulging.

After a quarter of an hour, he switched to using his ring finger to touch the ground, maintaining the inverted position. He would change to a different finger every quarter of an hour, repeating the cycle.

At the end of one cycle, Shi Yan, drenched in sweat, sat on the green stone floor. He extended his left hand and released the negative energy from the acupoints in his arm.

Strands of white mist swirled around his arm, subtly floating in front of him as he focused his mind.

Essence energy flowed faintly from his ten fingers, merging into the white mist in front of him.

The essence energy, like a wriggling snake, meandered through the white mist...

The white mist and essence energy gradually mixed, forming a small vortex. A strange suction force suddenly emanated from the vortex.

As the suction force arose, the space in that area seemed to suddenly collapse and contract...

The nearby air was instantly sucked in, making the space feel heavy.

Shi Yan's eyes sparkled as he stared intently at the small "field," focusing on the wondrous power it emitted. He then injected more essence energy.

After this injection, the power of the "field" did not increase; instead, the wondrous force from the "field" weakened significantly.

"Ah!"

Shi Yan exclaimed, stunned for a moment.

After some thought, he seemed to have grasped a key point. He immediately stopped injecting essence energy and instead directed some of the negative white mist from his arm into the "field."

When the negative energy mist entered the "field," the weakening "field" quickly strengthened again.

Staring at the "field" for ten seconds, he carefully pondered it. Finally, Shi Yan withdrew the two forces he had applied to the "field."

The "field" vanished into thin air.

From this practice, he concluded that to maintain the strong force of the "field," the two forces injected into it must be balanced. Only when the two forces were roughly equal could the "field" remain powerful.

If one force was too strong, it would not enhance the "field's" power but rather disrupt the balance, significantly weakening the entire "field."

The two forces injected into the "field" could be strong or weak together, but they could not be one strong and one weak.

Precision in balance was crucial; otherwise, it would be difficult to maximize the "field's" power.

During this period, Shi Yan had been immersed in the martial techniques "Finger Gun Technique" and "Magnetic Field." Apart from eating, drinking, and other necessities, he devoted all his energy to rigorous practice.

After a month of inhuman training, his "Finger Gun Technique" had improved significantly.

Now, he could maintain each finger in the inverted position for a quarter of an hour.

The joints of his ten fingers had become increasingly hard. After petrification, when he tapped his fingers together, they produced a metallic sound.

After each "Finger Gun Technique" practice, he would study the spirit-level martial technique "Magnetic Field."

During each practice, he did not release all the negative energy from his acupoints. Instead, he used a small portion of the negative energy from one arm to mix with the essence energy, thereby exploring the mysteries of the "Magnetic Field."

Although the "field" formed was small, the principles were the same.

After repeated practice, his understanding of the "Magnetic Field" gradually deepened. Every so often, he would gain new insights into the "Magnetic Field."

The more he studied the "Magnetic Field," the more he realized its profound depth and the many ineffable principles it contained.

The spirit-level martial technique was indeed a spirit-level martial technique. The process of cultivation seemed to be a process of understanding the principles of the universe.

Sitting there, drenched in sweat, Shi Yan furrowed his brow in deep thought.

"Creak!"

The door to the gravity room was pushed open, and Han Zhong swaggered in, shouting, "Brother Yan, the family head wants you in the reception hall."

"Reception hall?" Shi Yan glanced at him, frowning. "Didn't he tell me not to leave the gravity room unless it was important? Is there an important guest this time?"

"Zuo Xu has come, and with him is Zuo Shi, that girl." Han Zhong stood at the door, explaining, "Zuo Xu just picked Zuo Shi up from her master, Chixiao, in the Cloudy Mist Mountains. He's passing by our Shi family and wants to discuss the martial arts competition with the family head."

The Zuo family is one of the five major families in the Merchant Alliance and has always been close to the Shi family.

The Zuo family's martial soul is "Phantom." During battles, Zuo family members can create lifelike "phantoms" around them. Skilled Zuo family members can create seven or eight "phantoms" during combat, which can move and perform different actions, making it difficult to distinguish the real from the fake.

With the "Phantom" martial soul, Zuo family members gain an advantage from the start of a battle.

Opponents' attacks often hit the "phantoms," allowing Zuo family members to wear down their opponents at their leisure.

The "Phantom" is not only useful in combat but also invaluable for escape.

When their lives are threatened, Zuo family members can create several "phantoms" to escape in different directions. If the opponent is alone, they can only choose one direction to pursue.

After chasing, they might find that they were only chasing a "phantom," while the real person has long disappeared.

If they are lucky enough to catch the real person, the Zuo family member can create more "phantoms" and continue to escape in different directions, making the opponent guess again.

After a few such tricks, the opponent will likely give up the pursuit.

"Oh, I see." Shi Yan nodded, picked up the green martial robe from the ground, and put it on, heading for the door. "Let's go."

"Uh, Brother Yan, aren't you going to take a shower?" Han Zhong covered his nose, waving his hand. "You're all sweaty and smelly."

"No, I'll be back soon anyway."

"Don't you want to make a good impression on Zuo Shi?" Han Zhong had a strange expression. "Zuo Shi is a well-known beauty in the Merchant Alliance. The young masters Tian Xiao and Tian Luo are all vying for her favor. Don't you want to join in and develop something with Zuo Shi?"

"Zuo Shi?" Shi Yan was taken aback, a flash of light suddenly appearing in his mind. For no reason, he felt a twinge of bitterness. Shaking his head, he said, "This girl seems to have some connection with me..."

"Of course there's a connection!" Han Zhong chuckled. "This girl was born on the same day as you. Because it was so coincidental, your grandfather and Zuo Xu almost arranged a marriage for you two. However, on the third day after Zuo Shi's birth, she displayed the 'Phantom' martial soul, while your body did not petrify. After that, no one mentioned it again, and both sides tacitly chose to forget it..."

Pausing, Han Zhong sighed and continued, "This is normal. Zuo Shi has a martial soul, while you did not initially display one. For the Shi and Zuo families, a descendant without a martial soul is unlikely to achieve great things and would not be a priority for cultivation. The Zuo family would not marry Zuo Shi, who has a martial soul, to an ordinary person without one. The Shi family also wouldn't take such a big advantage, so the matter was left unresolved."

The memories buried deep in his mind seemed to be torn open by Han Zhong's words. Shi Yan stood there, dazed, slowly sorting through the new memories in his mind. After a long while, he murmured, "That guy was quite a romantic..."

"Zuo Shi has exceptional talent and is extremely intelligent. It's said that she is very lazy and doesn't like martial arts. Her achievements are said to be forced out by the Zuo family. Even so, her cultivation speed is not slow. At seventeen, she has reached the Second Heaven of the Human Realm! This is another miracle in our Merchant Alliance."

Han Zhong shook his head and sighed, muttering, "Beiming Ce, that kid, was also at the Second Heaven of the Human Realm at seventeen, and he has always been diligent in his cultivation, never slacking off. But Zuo Shi, who sleeps and shops all day, reached the Second Heaven of the Human Realm at seventeen... If we talk about potential, Zuo Shi might be even stronger than Beiming Ce."

Shi Yan remained silent, his brows deeply furrowed.

He could feel a faint bitterness in his heart, a bitterness caused by Zuo Shi...

As the memories were revealed, he realized that the owner of this body had been secretly in love with Zuo Shi, but Zuo Shi had never taken him seriously.

Zuo Shi was very lazy and didn't like rigorous cultivation. She loved painting, flowers, trees, tea art, and astrology...

She had a wide range of interests and seemed to lack ambition, yet she was exceptionally talented, easily breaking through barriers and reaching the Second Heaven of the Human Realm with ease.

Not only was Zuo Shi exceptionally talented, but she was also extremely beautiful.

The owner of this body, after seeing Zuo Shi once, had deeply imprinted her image in his heart. Unfortunately, he was not good at expressing himself and had never revealed his feelings.

A typical one-sided love.

"Is that so..." After a moment of thought, Shi Yan's voice trailed off, and he smiled. "So, this girl is really a genius?"

"Absolutely!"

Han Zhong nodded firmly. "Otherwise, Chixiao from the Cloudy Mist Mountains wouldn't have insisted on taking her as a disciple after meeting her three years ago, and he wouldn't have taken her to the Cloudy Mist Mountains. Chixiao is a Heaven Realm powerhouse, one of the few in the Merchant Alliance, the Flame Empire, and the Divine Blessing Empire. It's said that even Beiming Shang once suffered a defeat at his hands."

"Ah." Shi Yan's expression was indifferent. "Can we go now?"

"Uh, after all I've said, you're not moved at all? Aren't you going to tidy up and make a good impression?" Han Zhong smiled bitterly.

"Since this girl is so popular and has Chixiao and Zuo Xu watching over her, I definitely don't have a chance to get her. So, there's no point in wasting my effort."

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