"Are you Su Daozhi? Come with me!"
Que'er was dressed in military garb, yet she was a young woman in the prime of her life. She seemed to be a maidservant, but she carried a fierce aura of Tie Xue and Killing Intent, and her Martial Arts were quite impressive as well.
She looked Zhong Shenxiu up and down, clicking her tongue in amazement. "Our lady's personal guard is far more valuable than some Company Commander. I really don't know what our lady sees in you..."
She addressed Feng Xi'er only as "our lady," never as "Colonel." Clearly, she was a Household slave who had followed her into the army and was utterly loyal.
"Since our lady has taken a liking to you, you now belong to our lady. From this day forward, you'll serve as her personal guard. You must not disobey the master's orders, and you must remain loyal. Otherwise, you'll be sliced into a thousand pieces..."
Que'er droned on as she explained the rules to Zhong Shenxiu.
On the surface, Zhong Shenxiu nodded and bowed submissively, but inwardly, he was speechless.
Even in his previous, previous life, if you wanted to talk to people about blessings and six-day workweeks with twelve-hour days, you still had to offer some salary, benefits, and the like.
Talking about dreams with nothing but an empty mouth and white teeth—who did they think they were fooling?
Fortunately, Feng Xi'er treated her subordinates quite well. After Que'er finished speaking, she finally handed Zhong Shenxiu a booklet. "This is the Spiritual Turtle Breathing Technique from the Ten Directions Beast Art. Our lady specifically bestowed it upon every personal guard. It's an Xiantian Qi Refining method. As a personal guard of our lady, if you aren't Xiantian, that would be... embarrassing."
The muscles on Zhong Shenxiu's face twitched.
Not being Xiantian was embarrassing?
Then wouldn't the Martial Arts grandmasters of his previous life have been unable to go on living?
"Thank our lady!"
He had no other choice and clasped his fists in salute once again.
Only then did Que'er say smugly, "Although the Ten Directions Beast Art is widely circulated, its Qi Refining chapter is quite rare. You must not pass it on either. Otherwise, if our lady finds out, you'll suffer the consequences..."
Zhong Shenxiu nodded. Naturally.
For ordinary Martial Arts, the wider the circulation, the better. But when it came to truly profound, authentic inheritances, even commoner martial artists who worked like oxen and horses their entire lives might not be able to obtain one.
Those Aristocratic Clans, military households, and even the imperial family and cultivation sects all relied on monopolizing cultivation methods to establish their vast powers.
In a world like this, ordinary people who wanted to climb upward felt nothing but despair.
"Even if the Ten Directions Beast Art is mastered completely, it only reaches the pinnacle of Xiantian..." Zhong Shenxiu deliberately brought it up, intending to fish for information.
As expected, Que'er's eyes widened. "Ninety percent of worldly martial artists are Houtian. Being Xiantian is already extraordinarily impressive. Besides... the Ten Directions Beast Art is also an introductory, simplified version of a cultivation technique. It's extraordinary for strengthening the sinews and tempering the body, and it's best suited for forging a solid foundation. If you happen to obtain a fortuitous opportunity, then even Entering the Dao isn't entirely impossible."
"Entering the Dao?"
A glint flashed through Zhong Shenxiu's eyes. "Cultivating the Dao and becoming an immortal..."
"Don't even think about it. You'll top out at Xiantian in this lifetime. If you somehow obtain a fortuitous opportunity and step into the Gang Sha Realm, it'll be as if your ancestors' graves have begun smoking. As for the Divine Abilities and Primordial Elixir realms that come afterward... and even the mysterious and unfathomable realm of the Corpse Release Immortal, heh... immortals of that level would be treated with respect even by the imperial family of the empire and conferred the title of Imperial Protector Immortal Master." Que'er spoke disdainfully.
Zhong Shenxiu smiled faintly and did not argue.
With his current identity and status, anything he said would only be laughable.
Instead, the fact that this world actually possessed so many profound realms, waiting for him to prove them one by one, filled him with far more anticipation without him even realizing it.
Zhong Shenxiu continued probing in secret, and only then learned that after the Ten Directions Beast Art, one needed to kill large numbers of wild beasts—Demonic Beasts were best—and refine their souls into one's body, gathering them into a 'Myriad Beast True Body'!
At that point, one would break through the shackles of Xiantian and enter a higher realm of cultivation.
Even Que'er only had a vague understanding of these matters.
As for the Divine Abilities, Primordial Elixir, and the several even higher realms above the Gang Sha Realm, she knew even less.
Even though she followed a noble person, she was still merely a maidservant and personal guard.
As for the title of Corpse Release Immortal, she had only heard it by chance.
After squeezing all this information out of her, Zhong Shenxiu let Que'er leave. He then began sitting cross-legged in the newly assigned room and examining the Spiritual Turtle Breathing Technique in his hands.
This cultivation method was a form of Qigong, emphasizing the path of Xiantian Qi Refining.
Although it also included some accompanying forms and active exercises, its primary focus was adjusting one's breathing and state of mind to enter the realm of 'Entering Samadhi.'
This was the first hurdle of cultivation.
After Entering Samadhi, one could visualize the Spiritual Turtle Breathing Diagram, swallow and exhale Heaven and Earth Vital Energy, and form 'Spiritual Turtle True Qi' within the dantian.
This True Qi was fairly pure, and it also possessed the effects of nourishing the body and prolonging life.
Once the True Qi was formed, one could circulate it through the meridians, moving through the body and opening its thirty-six acupoints. These corresponded exactly to the Spiritual Turtle Breathing Diagram from earlier.
Once all thirty-six acupoints had been opened, this Martial Arts technique would be considered fully mastered, and the martial artist himself would have reached the Xiantian extreme realm.
Zhong Shenxiu pondered it word by word, slowly and carefully.
After a long while, he could not help closing the book and sighing. "I have to admit, cultivation methods widely circulated in a great world really have been tempered and refined through countless trials. They're far more complete than the Qi Refining methods I developed by groping around alone..."
"Even Xiantian is like this. I wonder how powerful the later Gang Sha realms are..."
"Compared with the cultivation system of the East, the West seems much cruder. Although it has divisions such as mages and warriors, most of them are classified by rank. The first rank is equivalent to Eastern Houtian, while the second rank is probably Xiantian..."
"By that calculation, the first Earl Hestings must have possessed at least the strength of a Fifth-Rank Legend. Otherwise, he couldn't have crossed ten thousand miles and established a countdom here..."
With that thought, cold sweat appeared on Zhong Shenxiu's forehead.
He wanted to take shelter under the Fufeng Protectorate and resolve this hidden threat, but ordinary secret manuals were useless.
At the very least, he needed to obtain an authentic inheritance that pointed directly to the Primordial Elixir realm—and preferably one inclined toward controlling ghosts.
"Thinking about it this way, it really is rather hopeless, especially since the Blood Moon Night might arrive at any time... Rather than pinning my hopes on that, I should think about how to obtain more Heavenly Show Points and push the Profound Yin Soul Control Fragment higher. But without the later chapters of the cultivation method, forcibly breaking through would require an utterly terrifying number of Heavenly Show Points..."
Zhong Shenxiu pondered what effects today's events might bring him, then finally set everything aside and calmed his mind. In the blink of an eye, he entered the state of 'Entering Samadhi.'
Ordinary people's thoughts were fickle and distracting notions sprang up endlessly. They had no idea how much effort it would take to cultivate until they entered Samadhi.
But he had lived three lifetimes, after all, and possessed incomparably rich experience. He effortlessly overcame this difficult hurdle.
He then adjusted the rhythm of his breathing, making it soft and fine, continuous yet seemingly broken, while simultaneously visualizing a Spiritual Turtle Breathing Diagram.
Heaven and Earth Vital Energy began to ripple faintly, gathering around him. Before long, a strand of Spiritual Turtle True Qi was born within his body.
This strand of True Qi was far purer than the True Qi produced by Xiantian Qi Gong. When the two collided, it directly devoured every bit of the True Qi brought about by cultivating Xiantian Qi Gong, strengthening itself once more before beginning to charge at an acupoint.
The True Qi produced by Xiantian Qi Gong is truly... weak.
Zhong Shenxiu opened his eyes, somewhat helpless. "Still, I only cultivated it for a few days, and the Vengeful Spirit devoured me once, causing me to lose a great deal of True Qi... The Spiritual Turtle Breathing Technique is also more profound than Xiantian Qi Gong. So be it..."
Before you continue