Puppet Thread

The benefits brought by the Striving Furnace were tangible.

They gave Lu Jing'an a few more solid reasons to feel confident about the road ahead.

The night passed without incident.

Early the next morning, before dawn had broken, Lu Jing'an rose as usual.

Following his usual schedule, he began standing meditation in the courtyard early.

Thanks to the talent of [Extraordinary Physique] and the enhancement of the soft armor,

the instant he settled into position, he could clearly sense the blood rushing through his body.

It was astonishingly fast.

In mere moments,

a mist carrying a foul, fishy stench began steaming from his entire body.

That stench came from toxins that had accumulated in his blood over the years.

These toxins posed no great harm to ordinary people.

But to Martial Cultivators,

they were rather troublesome.

They tainted the quality of one's blood and qi.

At the same time, they stiffened the body.

And weakened one's strength.

The foremost task in cultivating Three Transformations of Blood and Qi

was to purge all these toxins.

To make the body light and powerful.

And the blood and qi pure.

An hour of standing meditation passed in the blink of an eye.

When he finished, only a faint sheen of sweat appeared on Lu Jing'an's brow.

Not only was his body not the least bit fatigued, he even felt his strength faintly increase by a trace.

This was the difference between having entered the gate and not having entered it—like clouds and mud.

Before entering the gate, exhausting oneself was mostly futile.

But once one had entered, every bit of effort brought clear and visible returns.

During breakfast, Lu Jing'an sat with composure. As he ate slowly and carefully, he casually asked the maid standing nearby,

"Where is my master? Has he had breakfast?"

The maid answered respectfully, "Young Master, someone was sent to invite him, but there has been no response from Master Chen's room."

Lu Jing'an was not worried that Chen Xuan would leave without saying goodbye.

He assumed that if Chen Xuan had gone out at this hour, it was likely related to teaching him boxing.

So he asked no further questions and merely nodded.

After breakfast, Lu Jing'an consciously returned to the courtyard and continued his standing meditation.

As the sun rose higher, the entire morning slipped quietly away.

Only then

did he finally feel a slight soreness spreading through his limbs and bones.

Lu Jing'an summoned a servant and instructed them to ask Cui Jieyi to prepare a medicinal bath.

Although he had already entered the gate, Lu Jing'an had no intention of letting Cui Jieyi leave.

After all, on the path of Martial Cultivation,

the farther one went, the more one needed vast quantities of nourishing resources.

With a Medical Cultivator assisting at one's side, one could achieve twice the result with half the effort.

He had started late. If he did not use gold and silver to pave the way,

how could he speed up his cultivation and catch up to those favored children of heaven?

Even after lunch, Chen Xuan was still nowhere to be seen, and a few doubts inevitably arose in Lu Jing'an's heart.

By the time the setting sun slanted westward,

Lu Jing'an, who had been pacing the courtyard,

finally saw Chen Xuan return from outside, covered in the dust of travel.

There was even some dust clinging to the hem of his robe.

"Master, did you go on a long journey?" Lu Jing'an stepped forward, concern in his voice.

Chen Xuan casually brushed his sleeve and said indifferently, "Mm. I went to fetch something for you to practice boxing with."

Lu Jing'an frowned slightly. "If Master needed something, you could have instructed the servants to get it. Why trouble yourself with such travel?"

"No one else could obtain this thing."

As Chen Xuan spoke, he took a ball of thread from his robes.

The ball was only the size of an infant's fist.

Its material was peculiar, neither silk nor hemp, and it gave off a faint, barely perceptible glimmer.

Lu Jing'an had never seen such a thing before.

But the instant his gaze fell upon it, a prompt appeared on the panel in his mind: [Extract] or [Repair].

He knew it was no ordinary object and could not help asking curiously, "Master, what is this?"

Holding the ball of thread in his palm, Chen Xuan explained, "This is Puppet Thread. It will be greatly useful for your boxing practice.

But before using it, we must first ask Doctor Cui to handle it."

Lu Jing'an immediately sent someone to summon Cui Jieyi.

While they waited, Chen Xuan carefully explained how it was used.

It turned out to be a treasure used by puppet masters to control puppets.

It allowed a puppet's movements and aura to synchronize perfectly with its controller's.

Chen Xuan intended to use it

to personally guide Lu Jing'an's boxing practice.

Once the Puppet Thread was tied on,

Lu Jing'an would be able to replicate his movements and the circulation of his blood and qi without the slightest deviation.

It could drastically shorten the time needed to enter the gate of a fist technique.

Upon hearing of its wondrous use, Lu Jing'an once again deeply felt the power of resources.

With a famous master and precious treasures, the path of cultivation truly became vastly different.

When Cui Jieyi arrived and her gaze landed on the ball of thread on the table, she immediately drew in a sharp breath and said in surprise, "Puppet Thread?"

Seeing that she recognized it, Lu Jing'an asked, "Doctor Cui knows it? How much is this item worth?"

He had just asked Chen Xuan, but Chen Xuan had only said that he did not know. This was the perfect chance to verify it with Cui Jieyi.

Cui Jieyi's expression turned grave as she slowly said,

"Among cultivators, there is a saying: 'An inch of thread, an inch of gold.' Yet it is often something with a price but no market.

This ball...

is likely worth at least a hundred Big Yellow Fish!"

A hundred Big Yellow Fish!

Lu Jing'an's gaze narrowed slightly at those words.

That was equivalent to forty or fifty thousand silver dollars.

It was enough to buy more than twenty courtyard houses in Shangjing. It was absolutely a lavish gift.

And since it was a puppet master's life-bound magical treasure,

the process by which it had been acquired was likely anything but a purchase.

Seeing this, Chen Xuan added in an even tone, "This belonged to the mastermind behind the Paper Doll Murder Case that stirred up the entire city some time ago."

Lu Jing'an understood at once.

He had heard of that case before.

In the end, the Peacekeeping Bureau had driven the culprit out of Yinshan County.

It seemed Chen Xuan had known where the man was.

He had originally not wished to meddle.

But for the sake of his disciple, he had still stepped in and settled the matter.

"Disciple thanks Master!" Lu Jing'an stepped back, his expression solemn, and gave a deep fist-and-palm salute.

This favor was truly no small one.

Chen Xuan waved a hand, his tone still indifferent. "It was merely done in passing. He was a man who deserved to die, and putting his belongings to proper use may count as atonement."

The Puppet Thread was handed over to Cui Jieyi for treatment.

She needed to remove the puppet master's unique poison attached to it, as well as the accumulated Sha Qi.

It was not until after dinner that Cui Jieyi returned the treated Puppet Thread.

With the treasure ready, Lu Jing'an was somewhat impatient to begin.

Chen Xuan did not delay either and immediately got to work.

He carefully wrapped one end of the Puppet Thread around key areas of Lu Jing'an's arms, legs, waist, and abdomen.

The other end was connected to himself.

"Young Master, relax your mind in a moment. Do not resist," Chen Xuan instructed in a deep voice.

Lu Jing'an took a deep breath and nodded. "Understood."

The next moment, a strange sensation washed over him.

It was as though his body no longer belonged entirely to him.

Every movement he made, even the circulation of blood and qi within him,

began synchronizing with Chen Xuan's motions.

He could clearly feel

every subtle exertion of force and every turn Chen Xuan made.

His own body reproduced them perfectly, without the slightest difference.

"Young Master, focus your mind and calm your qi. Carefully comprehend how this force circulates, and remember it."

Chen Xuan's voice sounded at the right moment, guiding his attention.

Lu Jing'an immediately gathered his thoughts.

He cast aside every distracting notion.

He immersed himself completely in this state of guided cultivation.

Carefully savoring the techniques for exerting force in every movement.

And the path traveled by every strand of blood and qi.

Two hours vanished swiftly in his concentration.

When Chen Xuan stopped moving and untied the Puppet Thread,

Lu Jing'an discovered that he had already entered the gate of that basic Tongbei Fist.

Two hours to enter the gate!

If such speed spread abroad, it would be shocking enough to shake heaven and earth.

But if one knew that it had been achieved through the most precise guided instruction from a great Martial Cultivator bearing the red [Fist Master] Affix,

who had spared no precious treasure

and used himself as the template,

then it seemed perfectly reasonable.

"Young Master, while the feeling remains, practice it once on your own to consolidate it."

There was a faint trace of expectation in Chen Xuan's voice.

Lu Jing'an moved as instructed.

With the Attribute Panel's ability to solidify what he had learned,

even after being separated from the Puppet Thread,

the Tongbei Fist he performed remained smooth and natural.

His fists howled through the air.

There was already a hint of true beginner's mastery.

When Lu Jing'an withdrew his stance and stood still, the breeze stirred up in the courtyard had yet to fully settle.

Chen Xuan looked at him. A complicated expression flashed through his eyes before finally becoming a soft sigh.

"Young Master truly is a martial genius rarely seen in a hundred years."

This was not mere praise, but a genuine sigh tinged with emotion.

He had originally thought it would take at least five days.

Yet Lu Jing'an had mastered it to such a degree after only one session of guidance.

Lu Jing'an reined in his breath and replied modestly, "It is all thanks to Master's excellent instruction.

If Master had not spared this treasure and taught me without reserve, this disciple could never have entered the gate so quickly."

He understood this perfectly well.

Most of his display of talent

was due to this extravagantly luxurious method of cultivation.

Chen Xuan shook his head slightly and said no more on the matter. Instead, he said, "Tomorrow, Young Master can practice on his own. I need to go out for a day."

Lu Jing'an's heart stirred. He raised his eyes to Chen Xuan and asked tentatively, "Could it be... there is news from my Third Uncle?"