Almost Time to Come Clean (Seeking Readership)

Time to Lay the Cards on the Table Soon (Please Keep Reading)

Heavenly Prison.

Room D-24.

[Mirror Master: Xu Xing.]

[Dao Fruit: An Ordinary Life (White), Erudite and Retentive (Gray ↑).]

[World: Late Qing and Republican Era (Myriad Heavens).]

[Descent: Soul.]

[Time Flow Rate: One to Five.]

[Fate Traits: Erudite and Retentive (White), Mediocre Martial Talent (Red).]

Upon the gleaming golden mirror's surface, his fate traits changed once more.

"Your gray fate trait [Erudite and Retentive] has advanced into a white fate trait. Do you choose to use [Dao Fruit] to solidify it, transforming an illusory cause into a real result?"

"You have gained a new fate trait: [Mediocre Martial Talent]."

"Do you choose to use [Dao Fruit] to solidify it?"

Line after line flowed across the mirror's surface.

"No!"

"No!"

Xu Xing rubbed his brow and chose no for both fate traits.

It was not that he did not want to use [Dao Fruit] to solidify the two traits now. Rather, his body was already severely depleted. If he took Musk Dragon Powder once more, or solidified a fate trait again, he might very well drop dead on the spot.

Besides, the gray [Erudite and Retentive] fate trait was sufficient for now.

There was no rush to turn it into a white fate trait.

As for the red fate trait [Mediocre Martial Talent], it was indeed what he urgently needed. So long as he used [Dao Fruit] to solidify this red fate trait, it could directly alter his innate bones and allow him to sense qi in an instant.

But—

He did not have enough vital essence to exchange for this fate trait.

He might exchange for it one moment, only to have his life force run dry and die violently the next.

And after the red fate trait had appeared...

Xu Xing discovered that by clicking on the red fate trait with his consciousness, he could view a second-level page explaining it.

It was precisely after reading that explanation that he decided against solidifying it at once.

[Mediocre Martial Talent: Those who fortuitously sense qi from birth advance at lightning speed during the early stages of martial cultivation. Yet their true aptitude is merely average, and they will find it difficult to make great progress along the martial path.]

"Relying solely on fate traits is not a viable path."

"If I could find qi-sense in the instance world, then finding it in the real world should not be difficult either."

Xu Xing firmed his resolve.

Once again, taking advantage of the night, he sat cross-legged in meditation and sought that faint, elusive sense of qi.

For the first few days, he made no progress at all.

Not until the fifth day had passed.

At last, a thread of inner qi slowly arose within his Mud Pill Palace.

Once that thread of inner qi was born, the meat he had accumulated in his body, as well as the extra flesh he had put on recently, gradually transformed under the circulation of the Rock Heart Method into thread after thread of inner qi, accumulating in his dantian.

However, Xu Xing did not focus on accumulating inner force. Instead, he sent this inner qi back through his body, tempering his internal organs, especially his kidneys.

Because of the Musk Dragon Powder, his kidneys had suffered the most severe depletion.

The internal martial path had five realms: sensing qi, nurturing the body, preserving the true, innate, and grandmaster.

Xu Xing had already crossed the stage of sensing qi. What remained was nurturing the body—strengthening the internal organs.

Once he noticed that his internal organs could no longer absorb more inner qi, Xu Xing began to store up inner force.

Over the course of one night, he accumulated roughly four strands of inner force.

Only after the cultivation method completed one great circulation could a strand of inner force arise in the Mud Pill Palace. The time required for one great circulation was related to a martial artist's innate bones, proficiency, realm, and more. With Xu Xing's ordinary aptitude, one great circulation of the cultivation method took at least two hours.

Just then, the crowing of a rooster—"cock-a-doodle-doo"—rang out beyond the Heavenly Prison.

A rooster's crow marked the fifth watch.

"Dawn is almost here..."

"My body has returned to normal now. If someone discovers it..."

Xu Xing's expression shifted.

His consciousness sank into the ancient bronze mirror, and only then did he choose to use [Dao Fruit] to solidify the red destiny [Mediocre Martial Talent].

In an instant, the four strands of inner force stored in his dantian were completely depleted.

At the same time, a large portion of the vital essence within his body was drawn out.

His entire body immediately wilted.

He returned once more to that half-dead state.

Yet at the moment the red destiny [Mediocre Martial Talent] was solidified, Xu Xing also felt that his body seemed to have changed. Though it had not reached the level of rebirth and marrow cleansing, there was still an obvious difference from before.

The first change was this.

His perception of [qi] had become sharper.

Xu Xing immediately swallowed all the leftover scraps from yesterday, then circulated the Rock Heart Method to extract the vital essence from the meat...

Sure enough.

After one major circulation, only a quarter of an hour had passed.

His speed of accumulating inner qi had doubled.

Moreover, his ability to refine the vital essence in food had risen from forty percent to seventy percent.

Only a little dregs remained of the food in his stomach.

But after accumulating two strands of inner qi in his dantian, Xu Xing stopped meditating.

Just before the sky brightened, he conveniently fell backward onto the wheat stack, pretending to be fast asleep.

"Only..."

"Ten days?"

"He cultivated a sense of qi in just ten days?"

Xu Xing's abnormality could fool Wu the Clerk and Academician Su, neither of whom practiced martial arts, but it could not fool Chang Ji, the fifth-rank General Who Stabilized the Distant Lands who had taught him the mental cultivation method. Not long after dawn, Chang Ji noticed that Xu Xing was different from usual.

Chang Ji was profoundly shaken.

Although Xu Xing had sensed qi three days later than the seven days he had promised, one had to know that during this time, Xu Xing had received no guidance from any famous master. He had entirely fumbled his way into cultivating a sense of qi on his own.

Ten days, without a famous master's guidance, and he had independently developed a sense of qi.

In terms of talent, he was even more gifted than Chang Ji himself.

Back then, even under his family's guidance, it had taken him eight days to successfully develop a sense of qi.

"Could it be... I saw wrongly?"

"Is his talent far from ordinary?"

Chang Ji wore a thoughtful expression.

He casually found an excuse to lure Xu Xing to his side, then began feeling his bones.

"His talent is much stronger than I expected."

"Looks like I misjudged him."

Chang Ji sighed.

He did not suspect anything else. He merely assumed that he had been starving for too long and was physically weak, causing his vision to blur and making him misjudge Xu Xing's talent ten days ago.

"My lords."

"Fighting is not permitted in the Heavenly Prison..."

Wu the Clerk hurriedly separated the two, his tone pleading.

"Judging by Chang Ji's expression..."

"My body's natural talent must truly have changed, and it can even be detected by feeling my bones."

"This change was not too great, so it was a close call without danger."

"But in the future... I must be careful about this. I must not reveal my talent lightly."

Xu Xing took a step back, putting some distance between himself and Chang Ji as he thought to himself.

With Xu Xing's cunning, Chang Ji was no match for him.

The reason he had let Chang Ji have his way was, first, to set Chang Ji's mind at ease and keep him from becoming suspicious, thereby drawing the attention of Wu the Clerk and the other Heavenly Prison guards; second... Chang Ji, in his current state, did not have the strength to kill him. And Xu Xing was no longer someone powerless enough that he could not even truss a chicken; he possessed some ability to protect himself.

Chang Ji's current state was nothing more than hanging on by a single breath.

Of course, Xu Xing was also confident that even if Chang Ji had the strength to kill him, he would not take the risk at this moment.

In other words, the two of them were grasshoppers tied to the same string.

"Lord Xu..."

"Your wife has come to see you again."

Just then, Old Li's voice came from the entrance to the corridor.

At these words, Xu Xing's face abruptly darkened.

In a little over half a month, he had taken Musk Dragon Powder four times in total and consummated the marriage with Zhao Yunniang four times. Yet throughout those days, he had kept forcing himself to hold on, refusing to swallow his last breath.

This time... would be the fifth.

If he still did not die...

Given enough time, Han Sui would surely grow suspicious.

"Looks like it's time to make plans."

"I wonder whether Yunniang is... with me, or with Han Sui. She... probably doesn't want the child to be born without a father, either."

PS: This week's on recommendation, please keep reading. Try not to stockpile chapters, everyone. I'm begging you—many thanks.