Cultivation Art: Turns Out We Were Both Weak Together

"Between heaven and earth, there is spiritual qi. Sense the qi, commune with heaven and earth, and draw it into the body..."

Chen Xun kept reading, his mouth opening wider and wider. He had been dying to blurt out two words, yet they would not come out, because every line that followed drove the feeling to even greater heights.

He swallowed hard, shock filling his eyes, and shouted, "Awesome!"

"Moo? Moo!" The Black Bull jolted upright in fright, turning its head toward the Qi Refining Art. What the hell was that?

"Old Bull, it's a cultivation art!"

Chen Xun said excitedly. This was the joy of getting something for free. "Cultivation! The kind where you can fly, and you don't even have to become a beast of burden at an Immortal Sect."

"Moo~~"

The Black Bull grew excited too. Back then, they had seen cultivators riding swords through the skies, roaming Tiandi unhindered. They had envied them terribly.

"The Qi Refining Realm has ten levels. At the tenth level, one may already achieve Foundation Establishment, break free from lifespan limits, and live for four hundred years..."

As Chen Xun read that far, he and the Black Bull both quietly curled their lips. They exchanged a glance and let out strange, lecherous little chuckles.

But the cultivation art stopped at the Foundation Establishment Realm. They knew nothing of the realms beyond Foundation Establishment.

"Old Bull, let's try it together. Follow its circulation route and sense the spiritual qi of Tiandi."

Chen Xun sat cross-legged, even teaching the Black Bull how to sit cross-legged while he shook all over with laughter. "Among all things beneath heaven and earth, anyone with a Spiritual Root can sense spiritual qi."

"Moo?"

"Relax, you definitely have one. You're a spirit beast, after all."

"Moo~"

The Black Bull grinned, reassured.

"Come, spiritual qi of Tiandi—heed my command and enter my body!"

"Moo moo moo moo!"

One man and one bull followed the circulation route described in the cultivation art and began trying to capture that sensation of qi from Tiandi. Their eyes half-closed, they calmed their minds and settled their breaths. Just like that, an hour passed.

Two hours passed...

Three hours passed...

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"

Chen Xun's eyes snapped open as he looked at the Black Bull and asked, "A fake?"

"Moo~ Moo!" The Black Bull hesitated, then nodded. It did seem like they had felt nothing.

"Damn it."

Pain filled Chen Xun's face as he braced both hands against the ground. "Who would have thought Elder Sun's son had been harmed by a fake? Looks like his son also discovered something was wrong after cultivating it, which was why he left it behind."

"Moo moo!" The Black Bull nodded. That made perfect sense. Chen Xun really was clever.

"However."

Chen Xun changed tack, frowning faintly. "After cultivating, my stomach really does feel a little strange."

"Moo?"

"Probably from eating too much demon beast meat. I'm going out for a moment—to answer nature's call."

The Black Bull: "..."

After Chen Xun went outside, he found a secluded spot, dug a hole, and squatted over it. He began mulling things over.

"Could my Spiritual Root be too weak?"

Chen Xun's features strained fiercely, then gradually relaxed. "Can't be, right? The Black Bull is a spirit beast. Could it be that it's weak together with me?"

At that thought, Chen Xun could not help secretly chuckling. His bodily movements grew larger and larger, until his expression suddenly changed and he looked down at his feet. "Ow, fuck..."

After returning to the earthen cave, Chen Xun said, "Old Bull, there's actually another possibility. Our Spiritual Roots may be too weak."

The Black Bull did not respond. Instead, it kept sniffing. Why did Chen Xun smell so foul?

"Old Bull?" Chen Xun frowned. What did that mean?

The Black Bull's nose was nearly sniffing beneath Chen Xun's feet.

"My strength can pull up mountains, my qi can cover the world!"

"Moo!!~~~"

Chen Xun directly lifted the Black Bull into the air. Furious, he said, "Old Bull, I'm talking to you."

"Moo moo~"

The Black Bull behaved itself, reclining against the dirt wall far away from Chen Xun. Its bovine eyes carried a strange, mocking glint.

"Let's cultivate for an hour every day. If it doesn't work, then forget it."

"Moo."

The Black Bull nodded. Seeing Chen Xun walking toward it, it hurriedly changed places. But how could Chen Xun possibly let it off? The Black Bull nearly cried.

They forcibly slept huddled together for the night. The next day, birdsong had already drifted into the earthen cave, and a ray of sunlight shone down.

"Come on, Old Bull. Let's gather herbs."

Chen Xun slowly opened his eyes and stretched, still bleary-eyed with sleep. "Then I'll put some medicine on your head."

"Moo~" The Black Bull woke as well. Its head still hurt a little.

An inch of jade, a moment of shade—time flew by. They had already spent three years in the Ningyun Mountain Range, yet they never again encountered dangers such as demon beasts leaving the mountains.

However, they saw countless commoners' bleached bones. Whenever they had nothing else to do, Chen Xun and the Black Bull returned to their old trade.

The mournful wail of the suona and the ringing of bells echoed through the forest, sending those souls home to their homeland.

Chen Xun now wore beast-hide clothing, carried a bamboo basket on his back, held a Mountain-Splitting Axe in his hand, had two more strapped around his waist, and wore several painted stripes across his face. With a bow and arrows on his back, he looked every bit like a savage.

The Black Bull's horns finally recovered that year. It too wore beast hides, with several thick stripes painted across its head. Without looking carefully, one truly could not tell it was a Black Bull.

A wild boar fled madly, terror filling its eyes. It remembered that several days ago, its father had been chopped to death barehanded by a savage, while its mother had been rammed to death by a wild bull.

"Grrrk... squeal."

The wild boar abruptly stopped, trembling cries continuously spilling from its mouth. Looking ahead and behind, it saw that very savage and wild bull.

"Heh heh." Chen Xun bared a bloodthirsty grin and blocked its path.

"Moo moo." The Black Bull sealed off its retreat.

"Little piggy, become a part of our bodies. We'll take you with us as we grow stronger. Heh, heh, heh."

Chen Xun revealed a perverted smile. With a flash, he silently appeared above the wild boar's head. The Black Bull charged at once, their coordination seamless.

"Squeal~~!!"

A flash of blood swept past. The wild boar collapsed weakly. Its entire family, young and old, had been neatly dealt with by Chen Xun and the Black Bull.

"Let's go, Old Bull."

"Moo."

Chen Xun hoisted the wild boar's corpse onto his shoulder. The Black Bull pawed a pit into the ground and buried the bloodstains before they headed toward their earthen cave.

"Old Bull, I never expected that cultivation art to be real."

Chen Xun wolfed down wild boar meat, his mouth gleaming with grease. "My hearing has improved now too. Cultivators really are different from us mortals."

"Moo moo moo."

The Black Bull kept nodding, broth splashing everywhere. In the dead of night, it could see more clearly than before as well.

This felt completely different from the changes brought by Longevity Points. Longevity Points seemed to strengthen the fleshly body, while cultivation elevated the body's senses. It was an advancement of life itself.

"But our speed has hit a bottleneck again."

Chen Xun shook his head slightly. Refusing to believe it, he raised his speed Longevity Points to 21, not even sparing the Black Bull.

Yet it was just like strength. It was as though they had encountered shackles, unable to further raise their bodies' fundamental capabilities. It was exceedingly strange.

"Moo moo?"

The Black Bull was puzzled as well. Could they only attain Longevity in the Mortal Realm? After all, no commoner alive could defeat them one-on-one now.

"How about trying magical power next year?"

Chen Xun said uncertainly. He understood it as mana, but they did not have any skills...

"Moo! Moo~" The Black Bull shook its head and nudged Chen Xun.

"Essence of All Things?"

"Moo!"

The Black Bull nodded wildly. They should try that. Magical power was far too mysterious; its Black Bull Charge was already incredibly powerful.

"Fine, we'll listen to you."

Chen Xun smiled and patted the Black Bull with his grease-covered hand—though the Black Bull did not notice.