Only You Came?

In fact, the moment Chu Zheng learned of the Immortal Bone's existence, he had wanted to do this.

However, he could not possibly have asked Song Lingqing to strip at the time. Now, he had finally gotten his wish.

Fu Quanliang (Zero Order): Hidden heart ailment; will not live past fifty. Recently overindulged in lust, leaving his Qi depleted and body weakened. Can be restored.

The instant he came into contact with Fu Quanliang, Chu Zheng understood his physical condition. With his current First Order Restorer rank, he could even heal him completely in an instant without expending a restoration attempt.

What surprised him somewhat was that the First Realm of Immortal Path, Nourishing Strength, was judged by the Panel to be only Zero Order.

By that measure, First Order corresponded to the Second Realm of Immortal Path, the Spiritual Spring Realm.

The Song Family's inherited Cultivation Method that Song Lingxue had previously delivered to him could actually be cultivated all the way to the Second Realm of Immortal Path. That was truly rather unbelievable.

Chu Zheng probed for more information and learned a little about the inner workings of the Phantom Spirit Sect.

Fu Quanliang had been born poor. He still had family back home, waiting for him to bring glory to their name, yet even after entering the Immortal Path, he remained at the bottom.

To remain in the sect, he had to pour enormous effort into completing missions. After working himself to the bone, the contribution points he accumulated were only barely enough.

Life within an Immortal Sect was equally harsh. The differences in Immortal Bone, cultivation, and other factors were even more pronounced there, making the hierarchy all the more rigid and utterly impossible to cross.

A Low-grade Immortal Bone meant being beneath others.

Fu Quanliang would not even dare dream of the things he enjoyed at Song Manor while in the Phantom Spirit Sect.

Throughout it all, Song Lingxue merely watched silently from the side without interrupting.

When Chu Zheng asked Fu Quanliang to remove his clothes, she had originally intended to step away. But upon hearing the words Immortal Bone, her feet seemed to take root, and her gaze could no longer shift even the slightest bit.

The result greatly disappointed Song Lingxue. At the very least, she had not seen a thing.

After finishing his questions, Chu Zheng turned and left. As for whether Fu Quanliang might run, he was not worried in the slightest.

If he truly intended to flee, Fu Quanliang would have done so long ago.

He was someone who could clearly read the situation. Waiting for death was almost his best choice at present.

"What should I call you?"

A question came from behind him.

"Chu Zheng."

Without stopping, Chu Zheng casually gave his name.

"Help me call the dancers back."

Fu Quanliang filled his cup with wine again and drained it in one gulp. Slightly drunk, he said:

"Much obliged."

"Why?"

Seeing that Chu Zheng had truly helped Fu Quanliang summon the dancers back, Song Lingxue was briefly confused.

From Chu Zheng's words and actions just now, he clearly did not like Fu Quanliang much. Why indulge him?

"Let him live one day at a time. Leave him be."

Chu Zheng shook his head. He had already gained a preliminary understanding of the situation around him. He still had another move to make through Fu Quanliang, and it was an extremely important one.

"Chu Zheng, this isn't a talent in External martial arts, is it?"

Song Lingxue lowered her voice. "No matter how strong External martial arts are, they cannot possibly contend against someone from an Immortal Sect. Do you have an Immortal Bone too? When Lingqing left, did she teach you any Immortal Arts?"

There were too many abnormalities about Chu Zheng for her to find any way to ignore.

"I am merely a mortal."

Chu Zheng shook his head and casually snapped off a branch from a roadside tree. Beneath the setting sun, the dusky yellow glow on the branch gradually deepened until it finally reflected a brilliant golden radiance.

He casually tossed the golden branch in his hand to Song Lingxue and said slowly:

"We won't lack gold or silver from now on. Whatever Fu Quanliang wants, give it to him."

Feeling the heavy weight in her hand, Song Lingxue's expression changed abruptly.

"Is this an Immortal Technique? Or a trick of the eye?"

"It is a Divine Ability."

In the blink of an eye, several more days passed.

The moon hung high in the sky, its gentle light filtering through the clouds and spreading across the broad bluestone slabs. In the night sky, the stars stretched like a sea.

A surging tide of Moonlight Essence descended from the Nine Heavens and fell at Chu Zheng's side. The invisible clear radiance vaguely condensed into a layer of precious gauze draped over his shoulders.

This was the first hundredth day of Chu Zheng's Qi cultivation, and also the beginning of his path as a Qi Cultivator.

Only after tonight could he be called a true Qi Cultivator.

As the Moonlight Essence entered his body, it immediately triggered a qualitative change unlike any before. Chu Zheng's chest rose and fell, his breathing becoming increasingly deep and prolonged. The Qi within him churned violently, gradually changing his physique.

Qi cultivation was, in truth, the cultivation of oneself—continuously increasing one's affinity with Heaven and Earth, thereby making one's Cultivation Speed faster and faster.

Those born with Spirit Awakening could even attain the Dao in a single day and Ascend to Immortality. Such was the method of Qi cultivation.

The Spiritual Transformation Realm was the first stage of Qi cultivation. Upon reaching this realm, the human body underwent a qualitative transformation. The Spirit Soul and all bodily reactions would be greatly enhanced.

The greatest change was the nurturing of tangible Qi within the Dantian.

Although Chu Zheng had possessed Qi in the past, it had been intangible Qi. It could not be called upon and could only passively strengthen his body. This tangible Qi was entirely different.

Using it as a medium, Chu Zheng could wield all manner of Divine Abilities—manipulate objects from afar, kill with a breath, fly through the heavens and burrow through the earth, become invisible, and even attain immortality...

The Spiritual Transformation Realm granted a lifespan of three eras. One era was two sixty-year cycles, making a full three hundred and sixty years.

In the blink of an eye, the bright moon sank westward, while the Great Sun rose in the east. A thread of vigorous Yang energy dispersed between Heaven and Earth.

Chu Zheng exhaled a long breath of Turbid Qi, then suddenly inhaled. His chest and lungs surged as he swallowed the first wisp of Great Sun Essence.

In an instant, Yin and Yang harmonized, and an astonishing transformation occurred within Chu Zheng's body. A wisp of pale white Qi slowly emerged from his Dantian.

At the same time, Chu Zheng's bones let out a string of crackling pops. With every breath, visible gray mist seeped from his pores.

His fleshly body underwent another transformation. His hair grew wildly, reaching past his waist in the blink of an eye. This was a sign of Primordial Yang flourishing.

It was not until noon that Chu Zheng completed his total transformation and successfully stepped onto the path of Qi cultivation.

Two days later, at noon.

An Escape Light descended from the sky and stopped in the Song Family's rear courtyard.

Fu Quanliang, inside the room, immediately sensed something. His face turned deathly pale as he took a single stride into the courtyard.

A middle-aged man had appeared in the courtyard. Nearly forty, he wore a black robe and carried a longsword on his back, his face expressionless.

A Spiritual Spring Realm cultivator!

Sensing the pressure radiating from the man, Fu Quanliang's mind was thrown into turmoil.

As his breathing grew more and more rapid, a familiar voice transmission suddenly sounded beside his ear:

"Ask him whether he came alone."

The intense crisis of life and death made Fu Quanliang seem somewhat crazed. Unable to care about anything else, he strode forward and shouted sternly:

"Only you?"

"I am already giving you tremendous face by personally coming to send you off. Why would there be any need for two?"

The man spoke blandly. The longsword behind him rang sharply, ready to fly forth at a summons, its clangor piercing. "Kneel and accept death. I will grant you a quick end."

The smile on Fu Quanliang's face gradually widened, even taking on a touch of savagery.

"Only you, yet you made such a grand display, terrified that others might not know. Are all the people of Nightlight Pavilion stupid pigs like you?"