Inside the Xiao Residence.
Here, a row of well over a dozen large trees stretched along the path.
The young man slowly lay upon this patch of shady grass, his eyes half-closed with sleep.
He looked just like a workingman who had finished his midday labor on a street corner, lying right here to rest.
A team of Xiao Residence disciples with swords at their waists walked past.
The disciples cast a glance, expressions of disgust showing plainly on all their faces.
The voices of a few disciples drifted over from afar:
"This swindler has been in our Xiao Residence for over two months now, so why do the elders instead tell us to serve him well?"
"A person like him, how could he possibly be any sort of Hermit Expert."
"Exactly, exactly. If you ask me, it's most likely that the Clan Leader is mindful of that good-for-nothing's feelings, which is why he chose not to expose him and let him get away with it until now..."
The disciples walked further and further away.
Although they spoke with lowered heads, their voices were only somewhat lower, completely devoid of any intent to conceal it.
They were intentionally speaking so that Chu Feng could hear.
Chu Feng crossed one leg over the other, not even sparing these disciples a single look.
As for how others viewed him, he did not care at all.
Rather than caring about other people's words, Chu Feng cared much more about the beautiful scenery and comfort before him.
A gentle breeze brushed his face, and the warm sunlight fell across his face through the tree shade. On such a lazy and tranquil afternoon, lively human voices echoed in the distance.
His pupils looked toward the emerald green leaves at the top of the tree, smiling naturally:
"Comfortable, truly comfortable!"
"It has been over five months since I transmigrated to this world."
"Only these past two months spent at the Xiao Residence can truly be called living a life!"
Chu Feng narrowed his eyes slightly, just as he intended to fall asleep like this.
A cold electronic voice rang out in his ear without warning.
[Ding! Congratulations, host, disciple Xiao Huohuo has broken through to the first level of Qi Refining.]
[Ding! The system is granting a tenfold return!]
Suddenly, his body jolted.
A spiritual energy as intense as a violent gale rose within his body.
The surrounding trees were affected by the spiritual energy, and on this afternoon with only a breeze, their branches were whipped into a fierce tremor.
A terrifying vortex of air gathered right here.
It wasn't until half a cup of tea's time passed that the aura gathering all around slowly came to a halt.
Feeling the surging power within his body, Chu Feng's eyes shone brightly:
Xiao Huohuo has broken through!
He immediately sat up straight with delight, and the blue light screen before his eyes switched to the personal interface at his thought.
[Host: Chu Feng] [Cultivation: Great Perfection of Qi Refining]
Sweeping his gaze across the cultivation column, Chu Feng's joy was simply impossible to hold back.
At this moment, he felt as though the spiritual energy between heaven and earth had grown much denser.
From the earth, flowers, plants, and trees, faint wisps of spiritual energy extended outward, connecting strand by strand with his physical body.
Furthermore, his degree of control over the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth instantly leaped to another level.
Although the system only stated that he would receive a tenfold return from his disciple, what was returned was not merely power.
The abilities possessed by the realm he reached through this surge of power also became as purely practiced and skillfully applied as if acquired through normal cultivation.
Chu Feng drew a deep breath, beaming from ear to ear:
"Huohuo, oh Huohuo."
"You truly are Your Master's good disciple."
"I really didn't misjudge you!"
Chu Feng looked up at the sky, his pupils shining even brighter under the reflection of the sunlight.
Taking in Xiao Huohuo as a disciple truly was a wonderful thing!
In the five months since he arrived in this world, he hadn't spent a single moment cultivating, yet he went from nothing to soaring, directly bursting into the Great Perfection realm of Qi Refining.
Even looking at those immortal cultivation novels from his previous life, this kind of advancement speed was utterly terrifying!
Now, he could finally rest easy and not worry about being exposed.
In other words, he was now a genuine, real powerhouse.
He would never again have to live those heart-pumping days of bluffing and swindling out of fear of being exposed.
The simple Fourth-Level Body Refining of before had already frightened everyone in the Xiao Residence into utter confusion, elevating him to some kind of grandmaster powerhouse.
Although that was merely the result of him bursting forth with all his spiritual energy and not his true combat strength, it was still enough to explain many things.
Since even the Qi Refining Fourth Level had reached that point, then now that he had broken through to the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, becoming who knows how many times more formidable, what kind of realm equivalent to martial cultivators should he be considered?
And what kind of level should his actual combat be compared to martial cultivators?
Speaking of combat strength, Chu Feng was also harboring some doubts at the moment.
Up until now, it seemed he hadn't learned a single martial art or half a routine.
His silly disciple was the same, seemingly not having learned any martial arts either.
Even when previously fighting the Third Elder of the Xiao Residence, what he utilized was merely his own speed and strength under the blessing of the Nine Spiritual Energies, winning through sheer brute force and overwhelming power.
Thinking of this, Chu Feng could no longer sit still.
Now that he had the foundation of his realm, how could it do without some handy martial techniques to perfectly unleash all this power?!
Immediately following that, the spiritual energy lifted him up, causing him to float in mid-air.
The spiritual energy whipped up a wave of air on the ground, fluttering the green grass beneath him.
As this aura grew increasingly fierce and that wind grew more violent, the weeds below also became more and more restless at this moment.
In less than three breaths, Chu Feng's body trembled violently and vanished from the spot out of thin air.
In the distance, the crowd of Xiao Residence disciples standing in the blazing sun practicing their swords all froze in place.
Clang.
One of them failed to hold his longsword steady, and it actually tumbled to the ground.
One disciple after another watched with dumbstruck eyes, staring at each other in blank dismay:
"Did he... just vanish into thin air?"
Expressions of remorse instantly appeared on the faces of the disciples, their faces turning green.
How could they possibly fail to understand what was going on by now?
What Xiao Huohuo brought back was simply a genuine, peerless expert!
He had really struck gold!
They even stopped practicing their swords, scattering with a roar and rushing off in all directions.
And all at once, the shouting voices of the Xiao Residence disciples echoed throughout the estate as well:
"Immortal Master, where are you?!"
Yet no matter how much everyone shouted, they couldn't hear the slightest bit of response.
Xiao Residence, backyard.
A small courtyard stood here.
The area of the courtyard was not large, yet it contained five rooms.
In the small courtyard, from the front gate to the far left, eight wooden stakes were arranged in sequence.
A youth stood before the wooden stakes, looking at them with a steady gaze.
He widened his stance and abruptly exerted force with both hands to deliver a punch.
Crack, crack!!
Following his punch, the two human-head-thick wooden stakes in front of him shattered into powder with a boom!
A look of delight was also overflowing across Xiao Huohuo's face:
"The strength of the Qi Refining Realm is indeed beyond what we could imagine."
"Compared to any first-rate martial artist, it is far stronger!"
Without a moment's hesitation, he made his move.
With his strides, his body swiftly stepped forward, and his fists fiercely lashed out in tandem.
Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack!
With every place Xiao Huohuo's fists landed, those wooden stakes shattered into flying debris.
After finishing a complete set of movements, all eight wooden stakes had turned into splintered wood, yet Xiao Huohuo's face was still neither flushed nor out of breath.
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