Don't be shy, answer me loud and clear!

Chapter 35: Don't be shy, answer me loud and clear!

Northern River's Loose Cultivator added, "So I suggest you wait until you've gained some strength and have more Body Tempering Liquid than you need for your own cultivation before quietly giving it to your friends and family. And there are a few things you'll need to keep in mind."

"Until you're strong enough to protect yourself, avoid revealing your identity as a cultivator, lest you bring disaster upon yourself and your family. This isn't scaremongering. Throughout history, enough cultivators have suffered over this little detail to form a line all the way around the Earth. So before giving your friends and family Body Tempering Liquid, you'll need a plausible excuse to explain its source and effects."

Song Shuhang nodded. He understood that much. He should never seek to harm others, but he couldn't afford to let his guard down either.

"Also, not everyone can take Body Tempering Liquid. A person's blood qi must be abundant before they take it. Anyone too old, whose blood qi has begun to decline, absolutely must not take it, or they could very well lose their life. Normally, even sects make their new disciples exercise for several months, or even half a year, until their blood qi reaches its peak before letting them take it," Northern River's Loose Cultivator patiently explained.

Hearing this, Song Shuhang couldn't help feeling disappointed. Dad Song and Mom Song were already past their prime, and their blood qi had begun to decline. Didn't that mean neither of them could take Body Tempering Liquid?

"Speaking of which, young friend Shuhang, you took Body Tempering Liquid directly and came out unscathed. Do you exercise regularly?" Northern River's Loose Cultivator asked, struck by a sudden thought.

"Uh... I used to keep up a fairly strenuous exercise routine. But for various reasons, I haven't kept it up for over a year," Song Shuhang admitted sheepishly.

"Over a year without exercise? And you didn't feel any discomfort after taking Body Tempering Liquid?" Northern River's Loose Cultivator was somewhat surprised. If that was true, either Song Shuhang had an outrageously gifted physique, or...

Song Shuhang replied, "I didn't feel any discomfort, apart from a burning sensation in my throat at first. After that, I just felt really comfortable and full of energy."

"Interesting. Young friend Shuhang, I'd like to ask you something. Don't be shy, answer me loud and clear," Northern River's Loose Cultivator said. "Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

That was quite a sudden change of subject. What did taking Body Tempering Liquid have to do with girlfriends?

Besides, there was nothing embarrassing about that question, was there?

Song Shuhang replied, "I only started university recently. I haven't had the chance yet."

"So you've never done it? You're still a virgin?" Northern River's Loose Cultivator asked.

Song Shuhang replied, "Why does the way you ask these questions make me feel like you're mocking me?"

"Oh, so you really are still a virgin. Hahaha! I was just being a little blunt. It looks like you'd prefer a more roundabout approach? Then let me ask you again." Northern River's Loose Cultivator chuckled. "Have you ever been like King Kong, beating off planes atop the Empire State Building for the woman you love?"

"That's not roundabout at all!! That joke is twenty years old. Anyone could see right through it!" Song Shuhang retorted. "And why King Kong? Senior Northern River, do you really have so much free time that you even watch movies?"

"I'm one of the more up-to-date members of the group. Answer me, and don't dodge the question," Northern River's Loose Cultivator said. "Don't be shy, young man. Say your answer loud and clear."

"No." Song Shuhang gritted his teeth and typed that single word. Some embarrassing incidents in his past had kept him from ever imitating King Kong. He wasn't going to get into that dark history. Just thinking about it made him want to roll around on the floor.

"Oh, this young man has potential." Northern River's Loose Cultivator laughed. "One last question. Have your dreams ever spilled out onto the prairie?"

"Huh?" Song Shuhang couldn't keep up with Northern River's Loose Cultivator's abrupt changes of subject. He'd just been asking whether he was a virgin. What did dreams and prairies suddenly have to do with anything?

"See? When I really do get roundabout, you can't follow me. I'll just ask you directly. Have you ever had a wet dream? You're old enough. You should be in that age range, right?" Northern River's Loose Cultivator was still playing around with euphemisms.

"..." Song Shuhang really didn't want to answer that question, but he steeled himself and replied, "All right, as far as I remember, I haven't had any dreams spill out onto the prairie yet. But my body is perfectly healthy, and I'm only eighteen. Normally, it's perfectly normal for that to first happen anywhere between sixteen and twenty. Even if it happens a little later for me, there's nothing wrong with that!"

"Why are you going on about all that? I never said you weren't healthy," Northern River's Loose Cultivator said. "I only meant that your primordial yang really is still intact, and you have a virgin body. So even though you haven't exercised for over a year, your virgin body helped you pull through. You should be thankful you never learned from King Kong and released your primordial yang. Otherwise, recklessly swallowing Body Tempering Liquid might have made your body explode and killed you. An actual explosion, with blood bursting out of your body and then—pop!" Northern River's Loose Cultivator laughed.

Song Shuhang felt a powerful urge to strangle Northern River's Loose Cultivator.

"Sigh." Copper Trigram Immortal Master appeared and let out a deep sigh. "Say, young friend Shuhang. Although it's quite entertaining to watch Northern River coax you into revealing all sorts of embarrassing private details in the group, I can't help reminding you of something."

"Don't you know that messaging apps have a feature called private chat?"

"..." Song Shuhang felt like crying.

After chatting in the group for a while longer, Song Shuhang said goodbye to the seniors and logged off.

At that point, Copper Trigram Immortal Master sent Northern River's Loose Cultivator a private message. "Northern River, why did you recommend the independent cultivator's path to young friend Shuhang? We both started out as independent cultivators. You should know very well how hard it is to achieve anything on that path!"

He knew all too well how difficult independent cultivation was, so he couldn't understand why Northern River's Loose Cultivator had recommended it to Shuhang. Couldn't he simply recommend that Shuhang join one of their fellow group members' sects?

Northern River's Loose Cultivator sighed. "Of course I know better than anyone. Independent cultivation is harder than ascending to heaven. If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to recommend that path to young friend Shuhang either."

Copper Trigram Immortal Master frowned. "Then why recommend it? Our group has members from plenty of sects, and many of our fellow daoists hold fairly high positions in them. With their recommendations, finding a suitable sect for young friend Shuhang wouldn't be difficult."

"Because of his age," Northern River's Loose Cultivator explained. "Don't forget how old Song Shuhang is. He's already eighteen. For an ordinary person, that's still the beginning of life. But for us cultivators, it's already far past the ideal age for establishing a foundation."

Cultivators of the present day generally agreed that the ideal age for establishing a foundation was around four or five. At that age, a child's bones and tendons were supple. More importantly, the breath of innate true qi they had brought with them from their mother's womb still remained. Once they successfully established their foundation, they could integrate that breath of innate true qi, laying an incomparably solid foundation for their cultivation. With that breath of innate true qi, they would encounter virtually no bottlenecks before reaching Third-Grade!

However, children at that age had fragile bodies, and their total reserves of blood qi were insufficient. Thus, even among the carefully selected disciples of sects, not everyone could establish their foundation between the ages of four and five.

Four to five was the ideal age for establishing a foundation, and eight was the absolute latest.

Once a person passed the age of eight, the innate true qi they had brought from their mother's womb dissipated completely. Once that opportunity was missed, it was gone forever. Without that breath of innate true qi, even if they later established a foundation, their cultivation would be fraught with difficulties. Advancing each rank would take at least fifty percent more time and resources than it would for someone who had successfully established their foundation before turning eight.

And eighteen was a full ten years past eight!