Chapter 106: 101 Maze Part 1

One hour later, Zhang Rongfang slowly walked out of the courtyard, now holding a record of insights and cultivation notes of the Void Observation Skill in his hands.

“When cultivating, be sure to keep the doors and windows closed. Otherwise, catching a cold might impede your breakthrough in the later stages.”

From behind came the advice of Xu Yi Daoist.

“A few years ago, when I was breaking through to the mid-stage of Nascent Soul, I neglected this point. As a result, I caught a cold and had to delay the breakthrough… Thinking back now, it was truly a waste of a lot of Essence Qi.”

“…..Thank you for the reminder, Master.” Zhang Rongfang respectfully bowed.

But he still felt a bit odd in his heart.

Fortunately, on this trip, he finally clarified the entire Void Observation Skill.

This cultivation technique is not difficult; the hardship lies in its accumulation nature.

In the first stage, refining essence into qi is divided into three realms: Essence Aperture, Body Transformation, and Foundation Establishment.

These three realms involve accumulating Essence Qi and then transforming oneself.

So it is essentially a process of gradual refinement.

After that, the Inner Core must undergo nine transformations to achieve the Golden Core, which also takes many years to accomplish.

Then the Nascent Soul is nurtured to grow continually larger until it can gestate the Primordial Spirit.

This too is a gradual accumulation process.

With the guidance of Xu Yi Daoist, Zhang Rongfang’s understanding of the cultivation of literature significantly improved.

Without stopping, he seized the insights gained and returned home overnight, meditating and circulating Qi and Blood.

As the clock struck three in the morning.

Pop!

A light sound spread by his ear.

Zhang Rongfang’s eyes snapped open, and he exhaled a long breath of stale air.

“Success!”

Finally, he broke through the Essence Aperture of the First Layer to reach the level of the Minor Heavenly Circuit.

The Minor Heavenly Circuit, as described in the cultivation technique, is the Body Transformation Realm. At this stage, Qi and Blood begin to transport nutrients smoothly, strengthening the body’s internal organs.

At this point, the feeling is most noticeable.

So this realm is also called Body Transformation.

It implies that it’s almost like having a new body.

Zhang Rongfang sat cross-legged in his bedroom, feeling warm all over as if soaked in a hot spring.

The various parts of his body hadn’t undergone intense exercise, yet even his toes, ears, and buttocks—those sparse regions of Qi and Blood meridians—felt warm and smooth, with Qi and Blood flowing in and out.

This sensation was akin to tiny ants crawling, tingling and itching.

He slowly got up, closed his eyes, and opened the attribute panel.

’Zhang Rongfang — Life 23-27.

Martial Skills:

Rejuvenation Purification Talisman Manual – Fourth Grade. Primordial Talisman (Complete)

Leg Technique – Third Grade.

Fist, Palm, Claw: First Grade.

Limit-Breaking Skill: Shrinking Step Crushing Mountain.

Details of Study: Void Observation Skill (Second Realm – Body Transformation)

Available Attributes: 0.’

“Life value indeed increased! Previously it was 22-22. Now the upper limit has risen by five points, and the lower limit has also begun to slowly increase by one point.”

Zhang Rongfang exhaled a breath of relief.

As expected, his chosen path was correct.

Enhancing the Void Observation Skill, relying on time squeezed from his schedule for cultivation, and with Xu Yi Daoist’s guidance for an impromptu breakthrough.

Now, it’s akin to saving one attribute point.

Don’t underestimate this single point.

With hard work, over the long term, saving one point a year means ten points in ten years! Twenty, thirty, fifty years then??

This is truly the way of the supreme thrifty path!

Zhang Rongfang felt satisfied in his heart.

At this moment, with clear ears and a bright mind, his thoughts were exceptionally active.

Unconsciously, he stepped out of the bedroom, stood in the middle of the courtyard, and began slowly forming the starting stance of the Soul-Stabilizing Talisman training technique.

Whoosh!

A light breeze was stirred up as Zhang Rongfang quickly started practicing the Soul-Stabilizing Talisman’s Qi and Blood refining routine.

But this time, halfway through practice, he still had to halt.

“There’s still tearing pain… but… it seems lighter than before!”

He carefully experienced it. Previously, while training Qi and Blood, he felt pain as soon as he started, as his body was barely mobilized.

But this time, he practiced halfway before feeling pain.

What does this signify?

It indicates that this method is correct!

Increasing Life attributes indeed can raise one’s martial skill limits!

’No wonder the legendary top experts are all cultured and martial fully capable. This being cultured and martial fully capable often refers to this cultivation of literature.’

Suddenly, Zhang Rongfang remembered the sage Confucius from his past life.

This great sage should be considered a paragon of being cultured and martial capable.

Rumor has it that he could lift a city gate and single-handedly retreat hundreds of ambushing soldiers. Leading a bunch of disciples, he remained unscathed during the tumultuous Spring and Autumn Warring States period filled with bandits.

It is said that his disciple Zi Lu was convinced through Confucius’s ’reason,’ willingly respectful.

Zi Lu, a person who loved bravado and fighting, valuing martial prowess, would only listen to reason if truly bested in combat.

“It seems I chose the right path. Next, I should perfect the Void Observation Skill before proceeding further!”

At this moment, Zhang Rongfang reignited his anticipation for the future.

Although the enhancement brought by Life attributes is exceedingly mild.

It merely reduced the pain when he tempered his Qi and Blood.

But it was a good start.

At this moment, when his mind cleared, he suddenly thought of the old man from the bookstore during the day.

Although the old man seemed cheerful, his willingness to open a shop in Yanliu Alley without promoting it outside showed…

That although he didn’t worry about food and clothing, he was still troubled at heart.

Though the Great Spirit World Dao was strong, this strength was built upon a distorted system.

It relied on the formidable might of the Spirit Court for deterrence and support.

Should the Spirit Court’s strength falter slightly, I fear this world….

’In this light, if the Chasing Moon Saber truly touches upon the mysteries of the Spirit Court, it’s not hard to understand why they value it so highly.’

Zhang Rongfang speculated that the Chasing Moon Saber was likely entangled in scandals or secrets of the Spirit Court unknown to others, or some power controlled solely by the Spirit Court.

Standing in the courtyard, he looked up at the moon obscured by black clouds.

He remembered the scholarly old man talking about the nearby residents living in peace and prosperity.

He hadn’t thought about it deeply then, but recalling now, wasn’t this statement also a form of irony?

If everyone lived in peace and prosperity, why did the Barbarian Race from his original identity struggle so hard to survive? Why did his original sister cling to power? And why did so many of the Barbarians fight to join the Dao and Buddhism?

At the end of the day…. in this world, what harms people is not just hunger and cold….

Unable to practice martial arts, Zhang Rongfang simply returned to his room and took out a small locked box.

He unlocked it with a key and opened the box.

Inside, wrapped in white satin, were two items.

One was a palm-sized black porcelain bottle, containing the Golden Seal Pill, a tonic gifted to him by Ye Bai from the Golden Wing Pavilion.

The other was the mysterious sculpture fragment he bought during the day.

Ignoring the fragment, Zhang Rongfang first picked up the Golden Seal Pill.

Previously, he had scraped off a bit, tested it by sharing it with a three-yellow chicken.

The chicken was fine, and the meat was tasty.

So he decided to try it himself.

He gently pulled off the porcelain bottle and poured it into his palm.

With a gurgle, a brown-black, round pill rolled out.

A faint chili scent wafted from the pill.

Without much hesitation, he popped the pill into his mouth, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it.

A fiery sensation flared up, traveling from his mouth to his stomach.

Zhang Rongfang quickly sat cross-legged and began practicing the Void Observation Skill.

Numerous sensations gradually transformed into threads of warmth, converging and merging, far superior to the previous blood supplements he had taken.

The streams of warmth soon became faint and indistinct.

Twenty minutes later, they were almost unnoticeable.

But Zhang Rongfang could feel that they hadn’t disappeared; instead, they were nourishing his body in a more concealed manner.

He practiced the Void Observation Skill for a while and discovered that this medicine was incredibly potent, unaffected by his consciousness, flowing and seeping on its own.

On the next day, he could still sense the medicine slowly improving his body.

From morning to night, Zhang Rongfang attempted not to interrupt the flow of this medicinal force during any activity, neither speeding it up nor slowing it down.

By afternoon.

The government sent over an official document.

Because of his earlier merits, the state office decided to promote him to the position of cooperating with the chief of the Criminal Department, also serving as the captain of the ninth team.

The rank was effectively raised by half a grade.

The so-called cooperative chief was to step in when the main chief was temporarily unavailable.

There was one cooperative chief before, and with Zhang Rongfang now, there were two.

Currently, Chief Zhang Xiangyang’s interest had long strayed from the officialdom, and this incident was clearly a dereliction of duty. He might step down at any time.

By then, the two cooperative chiefs might stand a chance to ascend.

An unexpected promotion, which Zhang Rongfang hadn’t anticipated, but his thoughts were all on the Golden Seal Pill, so he quickly brushed it off.

The effect of the Golden Seal Pill lasted until the third day, past four in the morning, when the medicinal force slowly dissipated.

Zhang Rongfang immediately tried practicing the Soul-Stabilizing Talisman.

Indeed, the stinging pain during practice was significantly reduced. But it still existed.

This time, he was able to complete one full cycle of the Soul-Stabilizing Talisman, but that was about it.

When tempering talismanic skills, one had to practice them at least ten to twenty times a day to achieve the overall effect.

Thus, even for a genius, breaking through a set of talismanic skills could take a year.

Ordinary potential meant not even thinking about it within three years.

This is why people often use three years as a unit to gauge future rank.

At seven in the morning, Li Huoyun’s carriage arrived punctually at the door.

The two got in the carriage together, heading to the exchange meeting.

“Brother, are you really wearing this??!”

In the carriage, Li Huoyun looked in astonishment at Zhang Rongfang’s simple attire.

Black fitted shirt, gray long pants, draped with a blue coat.

Although the clothes had fine patterns, making them less monotonous, how was this different from any passerby on the street outside?

Li Huoyun hesitated, the exchange meeting was more than just an exchange meeting after all.

But….

“Is there a problem?” Zhang Rongfang was puzzled.

“Nothing….” Li Huoyun sighed, “It’s just that many young ladies from both inside and outside the city will attend, and if you don’t dress properly, when will my sister-in-law ever be found?”

“I’m not in a hurry….” Zhang Rongfang smiled.

He never planned on finding any wife.

Given the many secrets he held now, he didn’t even dare to have a close maidservant, let alone an additional wife.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep