After seeing President Zhou off, Chu He had no reason to stay any longer.
Whether it was continuing to search for materials containing Spirit Essence, honing his combat abilities, or making money, it would all have to wait until after the assessment.
In the Earth of today, one's cultivation level was what mattered most.
If Chu He became a Planetary-Level warrior now, he would be able to do far more than he could at present, and it would be much easier, too.
He called to order lunch, and after eating, boarded the train back to the city.
Villa 207, Jinxiu Residential District, main urban area of Northeast Base City.
After dinner, Chu Tianxiong furtively pulled Chu He aside and asked in a low voice, "Good boy, can you brew another jar of that Tiger Penis Wine?"
Chu He had thought it was going to be something else, but at the question, he abruptly looked up and scrutinized his old man.
Hmm, he was rosy-cheeked and full of energy, with bright eyes—but there were faint dark circles beneath them.
Thinking it over, Chu He had been away for more than a month. The Tiger Penis Wine should have finished brewing a few days ago.
Judging by the looks of things, his old man must have been drinking quite a lot over the past couple of days and had experienced the benefits of the Tiger Penis Wine.
"Ahem! Dad, Tiger Penis Wine may be good, but you shouldn't drink too much! Haven't you heard that wine and women have harmed me so deeply?"
"Mm! You make a lot of sense!" Chu Tianxiong said with an approving nod as he rubbed his lower back. "That's why I'm asking you for more Tiger Penis Wine!"
"If I don't properly replenish myself, I feel like I've depleted my body quite a bit!"
"Uh..." Chu He was at a loss for words. He asked, full of doubt, "Wait, after drinking Tiger Penis Wine, you could still resist doing the sort of thing that depletes your body?"
"Right!" Chu Tianxiong abruptly realized.
Looking at the jar that was about to run dry, Chu Tianxiong simply poured the remaining two glasses' worth into his thermos.
Watching the goji berries slowly rise, Chu Tianxiong steeled himself, stomped his foot, and declared, "Starting today, I'm quitting alcohol!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he lifted the thermos and took a long swig.
"Ah! It really is good wine!"
"I'll just start quitting tomorrow instead!"
There you have it!
Chu He shook his head.
At this rate, he'd have to brew another jar of wine specifically for nourishing the body.
Fortunately, he had spent over a month in the Wilderness Zone this time, and the small forests in this part of the Changbai Mountain Range were full of Blood-Qi Materials.
Combined with Frost Shadow Deer tail, they had an excellent effect on replenishing essence and nourishing the body.
"Hmm..."
In the basement, Chu He looked at the Deer Tail Wine he had just started brewing, rubbing his chin as he pondered.
"This Deer Tail Wine... The ingredients are a bit high-grade. Could it be too potent?"
"Never mind. I'll brew another jar of Tiger Penis Wine for Dad."
As he took out the ingredients for brewing Tiger Penis Wine, Chu He mused to himself.
"By the looks of things... I might have a little brother or sister next year?"
"What a strange feeling."
Early the next morning, Chu He went straight to the Martial Arts Hall on the second floor and began practicing the Seven Star Blade Technique.
After Chu He told Old Chu the day before that he'd brewed a jar each of Deer Tail Wine and Tiger Penis Wine, Old Chu had been delighted. He immediately insisted on giving Chu He more pointers on the Seven Star Blade Technique.
Old Chu kept at it until nine that night, then swayed back to his bedroom, still full of energy.
To be fair, though Old Chu's explanations weren't much different from before, Chu He listened with great enthusiasm, drawing on his experience killing monsters in the Wilderness Zone for over a month.
As they compared notes, Chu He even intuitively grasped many details Old Chu hadn't mentioned and demonstrated them right in front of him.
Old Chu couldn't help exclaiming that Chu He had finally had a breakthrough.
After killing at least several thousand monsters, Chu He's Movement Technique, which had only barely reached Micro-Level, and his force output, which had reached 2.1 times, had both surged.
His Movement Technique had advanced straight to Perfect Level, allowing him to make perfect use of his surroundings and dodge with pinpoint precision.
His force output had risen to 2.5 times, thanks to his mastery of more than two thousand different sequences for cycling through blade forms.
As for his blade technique...
Well, the four realms were Foundation, Conception, Domain, and World. Chu He was still some distance away from reaching Conception Level.
For now, it could only be said that he had achieved an astonishing level of control over his blade technique and strength.
As a special family heirloom, the Guidance Technique in the Seven Star Blade Technique was merely adequate.
Chu Jingfeng had rated it S-class entirely because of the connection between blade-technique mastery and force output.
In other manuals, even most of them, blade-technique mastery and force output were completely separate.
In other words, no matter how high your force output was, your blade-technique mastery would remain what it was.
For example, after Luo Feng went to the War God Training Camp, his teacher had praised his force output as passable but said his blade-technique mastery was a complete mess.
The Seven Star Blade Technique created by Chu Jingfeng had fully incorporated the strengths of Ancient Martial Arts when it came to blade-technique mastery.
This could be seen in the way the Seven Star Blade Technique was practiced.
The seven forms cycled endlessly. Each distinct cycle naturally had its own way of generating force, which trained one's force output.
And the more complete sequences one performed, the deeper one's understanding of blade-technique mastery became.
If Chu He could master all 5,040 possible cycles of the seven blade forms—Greedy Wolf, Giant Gate, Lu-Cun, Wen-Qu, Lian-Zhen, Wu-Qu, and Broken Army—his blade-technique mastery would naturally reach Conception Level.
The same principle applied to Movement Technique.
The seven different footwork forms—Tian-Shu Step, Tian-Xuan Step, Tian-Ji Step, Tian-Quan Step, Yu-Heng Step, Kai-Yang Step, and Yao-Guang Step—would naturally bring one's Movement Technique to Conception Level if completely mastered.
Unfortunately, Chu He was already excellent at performing each of the seven footwork forms separately. But when he had to use them in combination...
For example, he might take the first few steps in the order of Tian-Shu Step, then suddenly switch footwork midway and take several steps according to the rules of Tian-Xuan Step.
Combining them like that required Chu He to have a clear understanding of all seven forms. He had to realize that the seven forms were, in fact, one footwork technique!
Since they were all one technique, they could naturally be combined however he pleased.
At present, Chu He understood the principle, but in practice, he still couldn't link the seven forms together.
He went through the seven footwork forms over and over. His breathing remained even, but tiny beads of sweat had appeared on his forehead and temples.
Gradually, sweat soaked through his training clothes. His steps remained steady, but impatience had begun to creep into his heart.
After a while, Chu He completed another round of the Seven Star Steps. He straightened up, feet slightly apart, and slowly lowered his arms as he finished the exercise.
"Alas." Chu He shook his head. "My Movement Technique is still stuck at Perfect Level..."
"How exactly are these seven forms supposed to be used together?"
Though his footwork hadn't advanced to Conception Level, Chu He was already satisfied.
He had only been training for a little over a month.
Given time, it wouldn't be difficult for both his blade technique and Movement Technique to reach Conception Level.
Not to mention, he also had the Wine God Inheritance!
So far, the wine recipes Chu He possessed were indeed all related to physical attributes like Blood-Qi, strength, and speed.
But Heaven and Earth Spiritual Essence was boundless, and Chu He was only eighteen. His knowledge and experience were confined to this small corner of the world.
Who could say for certain that Chu He wouldn't encounter Spiritual Essence related to the mind, energy, or even laws in the future?
Before you continue