Two Months

To the west of Blackwood Village stretched endless terraced fields.

Beyond the terraces lay the Blackwind Mountain Range, extending dozens of li.

The outskirts of the Blackwind Mountain Range.

With a bamboo basket on his back, a woodcutting knife in his right hand, and a medicine hoe carved from blackwood in his left, Lu Qingfeng explored the dense forest.

Weeds grew thickly here, and the trees towered high.

The more than a thousand people of Blackwood Village made their living by farming, and no one dared enter the Blackwind Mountain Range. Even its outskirts were rarely visited.

Light as a swallow, Lu Qingfeng would squat down from time to time. After a moment, he would rise and place the medicinal herbs, dirt still clinging to them, into his bamboo basket.

Now there were not only atractylodes and licorice, but also Solomon's seal, mountain ginseng, and other medicinal herbs beneficial to cultivation.

In the blink of an eye, dusk arrived.

The bamboo basket was nearly full of herbs and weighed heavily. If Lu Qingfeng had not been tirelessly cultivating these past days, he would have long since run out of strength.

After checking the sky, Lu Qingfeng prepared to head back.

The setting sun sank westward, and heaven and earth dimmed.

The forest rang with the cries of insects and birds, far livelier than Blackwood Village.

Suddenly.

Lu Qingfeng's ears twitched. Amid the cries of insects and birds, he also heard a rustling sound. Something was approaching him, and it was moving very fast.

"Run!"

Lu Qingfeng quickened his pace and hurried toward Blackwood Village.

At dusk, deep in the Blackwind Mountain Range, Lu Qingfeng dared not clash with any fierce beast.

Even though he had already cultivated inner breath and reached the First Layer of the Embryonic Breath Realm.

"Savage Bull Fist causes far too drastic a change in one's appearance. Otherwise, with my current cultivation, after practicing Savage Bull Fist, one punch would be enough to kill a young wolf!"

After cultivating inner breath, his physical qualities had improved across the board. His reactions, speed, strength, and physique were all worlds apart from before! With martial techniques added in, he would be even more ferocious.

Unfortunately, he could not practice normally during this period. Once he cultivated the only martial technique he had, Savage Bull Fist, his fists would swell as large as sandbags, and anyone with eyes could see through him.

Lu Qingfeng would not risk his life for a mere ordinary martial technique.

But at that moment!

The rustling sounds drew closer and closer. Lu Qingfeng no longer cared about the noise and ran faster and faster.

His palms had already grown slick with sweat around the medicine hoe and woodcutting knife.

This was the first time he had encountered such danger after entering the Blackwind Mountain Range. Since it was near Blackwood Village, Return to Truth Sect experts came every year to deal with dangerous wild beasts, and even demon beasts.

Yet the beast pursuing him from behind gave Lu Qingfeng a distinct sensation of danger prickling against his back.

Whoosh!

The sound of something tearing through the air rang out, and every hair on Lu Qingfeng's body stood on end.

He stopped and turned around at once. A flash of red streaked before his eyes, followed by several gleams of cold light. Lu Qingfeng felt a chill across his chest, immediately followed by excruciating pain.

The coarse hemp cloth over his chest had been torn apart, and several deep bloody gashes had been raked across his chest, blood gushing out!

At that moment—

The red flash appeared again!

"Go to hell!"

Lu Qingfeng sensed the threat of death. His weak inner breath circulated within him as he swung the woodcutting knife with all his strength at the red light!

Bang!

The knife sank heavily in his hand. The red blur that had been about to pounce on Lu Qingfeng was struck by the woodcutting knife and smashed straight into the ground from midair.

"Yaa, yaa!"

It was a small red beast, resembling a civet. Blood still glimmered on its claws.

It was Lu Qingfeng's.

The Red Civet Beast also bore a horrifying wound, a full palm's length. Lu Qingfeng had carved it with his woodcutting knife.

Struck by the woodcutting knife and smashed viciously into the ground, the Red Civet Beast could not move for the moment.

Its little face was scrunched into a ball, and it gazed at Lu Qingfeng with a pair of teary eyes, looking utterly pitiful.

"Die!"

Lu Qingfeng gripped the woodcutting knife and suddenly brought it down in a fierce chop. It smashed into the Red Civet Beast's upturned little face, leaving it a bloody mess and snuffing out its last spark of life.

"Huff, huff!"

After killing the Red Civet Beast, Lu Qingfeng collapsed to the ground and gasped for breath.

"Hiss!"

As he panted, his chest rose and fell, tugging at the wounds and making him suck in a sharp breath of cold air.

The Red Civet Beast was fast, but fortunately its sharp claws had struck his chest. If they had caught his neck, he would probably have left his life in the Blackwind Mountain Range.

"It struck to take a life, and such a vicious little beast—what was there to pity?"

Lu Qingfeng glanced at the Red Civet Beast's mangled body before casually staunching the blood from his wounds. Then he struggled to his feet. He did not dare stay there any longer and hurried toward Blackwood Village.

Fortunately, the night concealed him, and the battered Lu Qingfeng was not discovered by the other villagers of Blackwood Village.

He darted back to Blackwood House, and Lu Qingfeng finally let out a breath of relief.

"Big brother, what happened to you?"

Lu Qingyu was boiling wild-vegetable porridge. When she saw Lu Qingfeng stumble back, she hurried over to support him.

"It's nothing. A mountain cat scratched me. Close the door."

Lu Qingfeng had Qingyu shut the door tightly, then sat down on a stool.

"Damn mountain cat!"

Seeing the frightening wounds across her elder brother's chest, Lu Qingyu grew so anxious that tears nearly fell from her eyes.

"It's just a minor injury. It doesn't matter."

"Go get the millet grass and the powdered Indian valerian flower beneath the bed."

Lu Qingfeng comforted Qingyu while giving her instructions.

Lu Qingyu hurriedly brought over the two medicinal herbs. As she treated the wounds on Lu Qingfeng's chest, tears streamed down her face.

"I'm really fine. Doesn't Qingyu hate seeing other people cry the most?"

"Come on, give me a smile."

The pain made Lu Qingfeng's lips twitch. He coaxed Lu Qingyu for quite some time before finally getting her to stop crying.

"You're not allowed to come back this late again!"

Lu Qingyu blew gently on the wounds, then lifted her head and angrily chided Lu Qingfeng.

"All right, all right."

"Big brother, come back earlier from now on."

Lu Qingfeng hurriedly agreed.

In truth, he had indeed been reckless this time!

Usually, when he entered and left the Blackwind Mountain Range, he stayed only around the outskirts and returned before dusk. But these past few days, he had nearly finished digging up the medicinal herbs around the outskirts. Without realizing it, he had gone much deeper, and the time he came out had grown later and later.

He had thought nothing would happen, but who could have expected him to suffer such a bloody disaster today?

Fortunately, he had never taken Lu Qingyu with him into the Blackwind Mountain Range. Otherwise, while distracted by protecting her, perhaps both siblings would have met their end in the wilderness.

"Although that Red Civet Beast was fast, its attack power wasn't strong. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable."

Lu Qingfeng comforted Lu Qingyu, while the intense pain caused by the medicinal powder irritating his wounds kept him alert.

That night.

Lu Qingfeng was nagged by his little sister for a long while. In the end, it was only because Lu Qingyu took pity on him that he was allowed to lie down and sleep.

Time flowed like water, fleeing in the blink of an eye.

After coming into contact with cultivation, the passage of time became even harder to notice.

In a daze.

Two months had already passed since Lu Qingfeng turned sixteen and came into contact with the "Primordial World" online game.

Because he had failed to discover the difference between the game's time and reality at the first opportunity, Lu Qingfeng had gone two months without playing the game.

"Two months, and I only barely managed to give birth to inner breath and advance to the First Layer of the Embryonic Breath Realm!"

"At this rate, reaching the Ninth Layer of the Embryonic Breath Realm will take at least several years, perhaps even longer!"

Cultivation was destined to grow more difficult the farther one went.

Just taking the first step, Lu Qingfeng had already spent two months, and that was with the experience he had gained once in the game. He dared not imagine how much time he would have needed to give birth to inner breath without the game.

Lying on the wooden bedboard, Lu Qingfeng brought up his attribute panel.

Name: Lu Qingfeng's True Body

Race: Human

Faction: None

Title: None

Cultivation: First Layer of the Later-Heaven Embryonic Breath Realm

Level: Level 1 (0/5)

Inner Breath: 1/1 (Quality: Elementary)

Lifespan: 16/68

Root Bone: 1

Merit: Unknown

Karmic Power: Unknown

Cultivation Method: Yellow Court Scripture, First Layer (Not Initiated); Evolving Method (First Layer); Dominion over All Arts (First Layer); Karmic Power Erasure (First Layer); Blazing Sun Scripture, First Layer (Initiated), Derivation in Progress

Arts: None

Divine Abilities: None

Equipment: None

Alchemy: "Elementary Guide to Alchemy" (Minor Achievement), Derivation in Progress

There had not been much change to the attribute panel. Aside from his cultivation, his level increasing by one, and the appearance of the inner breath attribute, the only other change was "Elementary Guide to Alchemy" advancing to the minor-achievement stage.

"Elementary Guide to Alchemy" was similar to a cultivation method. Its mastery was divided into Not Initiated, Initiated, Minor Achievement, Major Achievement, Perfection, and so on, but it had no divisions into layers.

During these two months, Lu Qingfeng had gathered and processed medicinal herbs in reality, gradually mastering "Elementary Guide to Alchemy." In other words, his proficiency had increased, reaching the Minor Achievement stage.

After reaching this stage, not only could he process medicinal herbs faster, the quality of the processed herbs was also better than when he had been at the Not Initiated or Initiated stages.

Of course.

With only two months in reality, Lu Qingfeng would not have been able to raise "Elementary Guide to Alchemy" to the Minor Achievement stage.

In the "Primordial World," although his in-game character was still in the process of being reborn and its growth had not yet been completed, Lu Qingfeng could still log into the game and enjoy the hundredfold time difference.

Just like now—

"Log into the 'Primordial World.'"

Lu Qingfeng connected with the Login Ring in his mind and entered the game.

His consciousness soaked in the body immersed in the Rebirth Pool. His body could not move.

But his thoughts were unrestricted. His mind repeatedly replayed his brief struggle between life and death with the Red Civet Beast, as well as the cultivation and herb processing he had done during the day.

He also brought up "Elementary Guide to Alchemy" and "Blazing Sun Scripture," chewing over and comprehending them again and again.

Only when his head grew somewhat muddled did Lu Qingfeng close his eyes and rest in the game. After waking, he repeated the process once more.

He repeated it several times, until he had completely integrated the new insights from his daytime cultivation and herb processing with "Blazing Sun Scripture" and "Elementary Guide to Alchemy," and gained nothing more. Only then did he turn to reciting the "Yellow Court Scripture."

Lu Qingfeng's aptitude was poor, and he was temporarily unable to cultivate "Blazing Sun Scripture" in the game, so his cultivation method had made no progress. But "Elementary Guide to Alchemy" was unrelated to aptitude. As long as he was willing to spend time pondering it, he could always improve.

It was precisely by relying on the time difference that Lu Qingfeng had been able to advance "Elementary Guide to Alchemy" to the Minor Achievement stage in a mere two months in reality.

As for the "Yellow Court Scripture."

This was a cultivation method of the Dao Ancestor Tier, and one of the highest-grade cultivation methods in the game. At present, its effects could not be seen. Of its various traits, only the Evolving Method trait had yielded the faintest clue, and because he lacked enough experience, he had yet to make sense of it.

Yet Lu Qingfeng had not neglected it.

Every day in the game, he spent a great deal of time reciting the "Yellow Court Scripture." Its effects could not be seen in the short term. Looking at the long term, however, there might not necessarily be no gains.

But even if it was only for the reputation of the "Yellow Court Scripture" and the Dao Ancestor, Lu Qingfeng would not put the cultivation method aside.

He did not know how many times he had recited it. Only when he sensed someone calling to him in reality did Lu Qingfeng exit the "Primordial World."

One night passed in reality, while Lu Qingfeng had already spent a full forty days in the game!

"The time difference really is useful."

"If the death of my game character hadn't been caused by that accident, I should have been able to accomplish much more during these two months."

Lu Qingfeng exited the game, feeling somewhat regretful.

In these two months, a full sixteen years had passed in the game!

And Lu Qingfeng had spent every night in the game:

One night in reality equaled forty days in the game. Added together, the two months amounted to more than six years.

"Still, although I could only think during those six-plus years and could neither move nor cultivate, they were invaluable."

Lu Qingfeng opened his eyes and saw that the sky was already bright.

"Big brother, you're injured. Stay home and rest today!" Lu Qingyu called to Lu Qingfeng as she woke him, leaning over the bed to inspect his wounds.

"All right."

Lu Qingfeng had been thinking the same thing. The sixteen years in the game were nearly over. By his calculations, he should be able to start playing again sometime that morning.

"This time, I can stay in the game for a few more days. With the help of the time difference, I'll see whether I can find a way to resolve the Return to Truth Sect's problem in the short term!"