Yangjiao Domain

Chapter 42 Yangjiao Domain

"I'm going out for a walk."

After finishing his meal, Zhou Buping walked leisurely down the mountain with his hands behind his back.

Ever since his injuries had improved significantly, he would often wander around, much like the retirees from his past life.

It had to be said, his master's mindset was quite good.

With a damaged dantian, even if one were to recover slowly, their cultivation base would regress severely, to say nothing of the damage to their martial intent.

If it were an ordinary martial artist, they would likely have fallen into despair.

After all, cultivation is life.

If one's cultivation is gone, what meaning is left in life?

Outside the bell tower.

Chen Yong was practicing the sword piercing fist.

Having just eaten a good meal, his qi and blood were abundant—it was the perfect time for training.

He worked in the gengluo room, a job that required night shifts, so he had plenty of time during the day aside from sleeping and resting.

Li Gan was sitting on a recliner, holding a book and flipping through it.

Chronicles of Mountains and Rivers.

This was a book introducing the geography and history of the mountains and rivers.

It was helpful for him to gain a more detailed understanding of this world.

"This world is quite large."

Li Gan sighed inwardly.

Dachang, where he was currently located, was vast, consisting of eighty-three provinces. Based on his understanding, it should be much larger than the Xia Kingdom from his past life.

Precisely because of its vast area, large population, and underdeveloped transportation, Dachang implemented a feudal system.

It governed dozens of vassal kings.

The Dachang imperial court had always kept military power firmly in its own hands, limiting the number of private troops the vassal kings could maintain.

In addition, it supported several powerful martial arts sects, and the Divine Sword Sect was one of them.

Overall, the ruling structure of Dachang was a tripartite governance between the imperial court, the vassal kings, and the major martial arts sects.

Beyond Dachang, there were other nations.

In this book, the land containing these many nations was referred to by a single name—the Yangjiao Domain.

The reason for this name, it was said, was that the shape of this land resembled a giant ram's horn.

And this was only the Yangjiao Domain; beyond the domain lay an even more vast world.

This world is so big. One day, I must go out and see it for myself.

Li Gan thought to himself, then closed the book.

At this moment, Chen Yong also finished his training and withdrew his energy. His blood and qi were boiling throughout his body, and his internal force surged. He opened his mouth and exhaled a stream of white mist that stretched over three feet long.

A smile appeared on his face.

The results of this training session were equivalent to several days of ordinary practice.

Moreover, his body still held a dense and abundant supply of blood and qi.

He practiced two more times, and after feeling mentally exhausted, he said a word to Li Gan before heading down the mountain.

He had to go back and get some sleep; otherwise, he would be even more fatigued and drowsy during his shift at night.

The mountain fell completely silent.

Li Gan returned to the bell tower and began to study the refinement of the Blood Burning Technique.

Although he had failed for several months in a row, he did not give up.

In fact, he felt even more enthusiasm and stubbornness.

Through the refinement of the secret technique, his understanding of martial arts cultivation had deepened significantly.

Dong, dong, dong.

As the sound of the bell rang in his mind, the blood and qi within Li Gan's body suddenly boiled, forming a very special circulation. As the blood and qi flowed, the efficiency of converting internal qi surged, much like ignited gasoline.

Did I succeed?

Li Gan hurriedly forced himself to stop.

He calmed his boiling and erupting blood and qi.

Although his body felt sore—a common side effect he had long grown accustomed to—it didn't matter.

In any case, the sound of the Chen Bell could eliminate these aftereffects.

He immediately summoned the system interface to check the latest information.

[System Interface]

Secret techniques: myriad transformation sword qi, blood burning technique.

This blood burning technique actually counts as a secret technique?

Li Gan looked surprised.

But it made sense.

Myriad transformation sword qi rapidly consumed a large amount of sword qi to draw upon the heaven and earth origin qi from the surroundings, forming a powerful strike in a short period.

The blood burning technique consumed a large amount of internal qi and blood in a short period, providing a certain degree of amplification to one's internal qi.

The reason the improved blood burning technique did not require the blood transformation star-absorbing method as a foundation was that he had adjusted the circulation path of the qi and blood, relying instead on the immaculate sword body.

As the flawless vajra method, the immaculate sword body was a perfect technique for body tempering. Due to its flawless nature, the utilization rate of qi and blood was extremely high, allowing it to serve as a powerful engine for executing the blood burning technique.

Only by combining the immaculate sword body with the blood burning technique could the true power of this secret technique be unleashed.

However, Li Gan knew that the improved blood burning technique could still be adjusted further.

Another two months passed.

Li Gan's cultivation life remained as usual.

In addition to his daily walks, his master Zhou Buping had taken a liking to field life. Whenever he had time, he would carry a hoe or a sickle to dig up land and reclaim wasteland on the mountain.

Li Gan had originally only cleared one plot of land.

Now, two more larger ones had appeared beside it.

Moreover, Zhou Buping planned to build a wooden house on another part of the mountain to serve as his retirement home.

He no longer mentioned moving to Linjian City.

The task of building the wooden house naturally fell to Li Gan.

Chen Yong often came over to help.

As martial artists, building a wooden house was quite simple.

Thick trees could be felled with a single sword strike.

With a few swift slashes, they could be cut into neat pieces; the efficiency was quite high.

It just consumed a bit of internal qi.

Working overtime, the wooden house was basically completed in just over half a month.

After Master Zhou Buping purchased various household items, he moved out of the bell tower and officially settled into the wooden house.

That day, Li Gan was instructing Chen Yong in the Sword Piercing Fist when Hall Master Xu from the chore hall suddenly came up.

"Senior Brother Li, someone from your family has been sent again. Would you like to see them?"

Hall Master Xu spoke in a respectful tone.

As the deputy hall master of the chore hall, he was well-informed and had a deep understanding of the situation within the inner sect; he knew that Li Gan was no ordinary inner disciple.

"Bring him up."

Li Gan pondered for a moment before speaking.

"Understood, I will bring him up immediately."

Upon hearing this, Hall Master Xu hurried down the mountain.

"Brother Gan, I'll be heading off then."

Seeing that Li Gan had family visiting, Chen Yong spoke up immediately.

Li Gan nodded. Suddenly remembering something, he asked, "Chen Yong, the chore hall combat ranking list should be starting soon, right?"

"Yes, it should be next month."

Chen Yong nodded.

Compared to a year ago, his cultivation and strength had improved significantly. He was confident that he could put on a more impressive performance in the combat ranking list.

"Here are three blood vitality pills. Strive to reach the martial path entry level before the combat ranking list begins."

As Li Gan spoke, he tossed over a porcelain bottle.

"Brother Gan, this is too valuable. I cannot accept it."

Chen Yong caught the bottle, feeling somewhat at a loss.

He had heard of blood vitality pills; they were far more effective than blood vitality pills (the lesser version) and were outrageously expensive.

He couldn't even bear to spend his contribution points on the lesser blood vitality pills, let alone these.

"If I tell you to take it, then take it. You don't want to remain a menial disciple forever, do you?"

Li Gan said indifferently.

From their time together over the past few years, he knew Chen Yong to be honest and capable of gratitude. He knew the man well, and he was worth cultivating.

If Chen Yong could become an inner disciple in the future, he would be of use to him.

"Many thanks, Brother Gan."

Chen Yong's lips trembled slightly, revealing the emotion in his heart.

With these three blood vitality pills, he was confident he could achieve a breakthrough before the combat ranking list.

"Go."

Li Gan waved his hand.

Not long after Chen Yong left, Hall Master Xu came up with a middle-aged man in tow.

It was Steward Xu from the Li family.

The moment Steward Xu saw Li Gan, he hurried over with a trot and plopped down on his knees before him, saying excitedly, "Young Master, I've finally seen you."

He had assumed this time would be just like the last.

He never expected the young master to actually permit him to come up the mountain.

The excitement in his heart could only be imagined.

Furthermore, he had previously asked Hall Master Xu and learned the general situation regarding the young master—not only was he an inner disciple, but he had also likely taken some elder as his master.

This news was undoubtedly extremely exhilarating.

If the master knew, he would surely be even happier.