Cultivation

Chu Moqing had already learned from Feng Wuhen's thoughts that Feng Wuhen had no parents and had been raised on the charity of the villagers. His heart ached for him.

Now, hearing that Feng Wuhen was happy over nothing more than a hug, he cherished him even more.

Chu Moqing gently placed Feng Wuhen on the bed, raised a hand to rub his head, and said, "Rest here for a while. I'll have Bing Ling fetch your breakfast."

Feng Wuhen wanted to go himself, but he was so exhausted that he could not even walk, much less fetch breakfast.

"But wasn't Bing Ling angry yesterday? Would he be willing to help me get breakfast?"

Seeing that this was what he was worried about, Chu Moqing laughed. "If that's what you're worried about, then there's no need at all. Bing Ling just has a child's temperament. He was only angry yesterday because I knocked him on the head in front of you and made him lose face.

After a whole night, he should have been over it long ago. Besides, he was angry with me, not with you. If you don't believe me, I'll call him over and have him fetch your breakfast. You'll see whether he goes or not."

After saying this, Chu Moqing called Bing Ling over from the back mountain. Bing Ling came bouncing over, his arms full of fruit, with another fruit in his hand that he was munching on.

Once he arrived, he gave several fruits each to Chu Moqing and Feng Wuhen. Holding a fruit in one hand, Feng Wuhen watched him crunch away at his fruit and believed what Chu Moqing had said earlier.

Bing Ling truly did not hold grudges. If he did, why would he give Chu Moqing fruit to eat?

"Why did you call me over so early in the morning? I was eating breakfast!"

Chu Moqing gave the two fruits in his own hand to Feng Wuhen as well. "I called you over to have you fetch breakfast for Wuhen. He exhausted himself training this morning and can't move now."

Bing Ling spat out a fruit pit. "I told you yesterday that if you made Little Feng train like this, he'd wear himself out. Well, look what happened now. He can't even move.

Little Feng, hurry and eat the fruit I gave you. This fruit can replenish your strength. I'll go get your food now. By the time I return, you'll have enough strength to eat it."

After saying that, Bing Ling transformed into a little phoenix and flew away. Once he had left, Feng Wuhen carefully examined the fruit he had given him.

It was entirely crimson. After taking a bite, he found it sweet, with a hint of peach flavor. That peachy flavor, along with its effect of restoring physical strength, reminded him of a spiritual fruit from the cultivation world that he had just read about yesterday—the Redwood Fruit.

After Feng Wuhen finished eating a Redwood Fruit, he found that his body was no longer as exhausted as before. He stood up and moved around a little, feeling as though he could go practice the sword forms another ten thousand times.

Chu Moqing took out a movement technique manual and a sword technique manual and handed them to him. "Watching you practice swordsmanship just now reminded me that I forgot to give you these two manuals as well. Once you've laid a solid foundation, you can begin practicing sword techniques. For now, you can read through these two in your spare time and get a feel for them.

Once you have a good sword technique, your movement technique naturally has to keep pace.

One of these is the movement technique, Ethereal Steps. The other is a sword technique that complements your cultivation art, called the Carefree Heart Sword.

Study them well. If there is anything you don't understand, come ask me."

Feng Wuhen accepted the two manuals with a face full of delight, then eagerly began reading them. He could practice the sword technique once he had become familiar with all the sword forms, while he could start learning the movement technique now.

Ethereal Steps was light and nimble footwork. It had been comprehended long ago by a great master of Mount Grand Mystery after he saw leaves dancing in the wind.

It could borrow the surrounding breeze to raise one's speed by an entire level. At extremely high speeds, it could even leave behind afterimages.

The Carefree Heart Sword, on the other hand, was practiced in conjunction with the Supreme Carefree Art. Its power depended entirely on the intent of the sword wielder. Once cultivated to the utmost limit, one could attain a Sword Heart.

Across the entire Qiankun Continent, there had only ever been three people who possessed a Sword Heart. One had already ascended, another had his Sword Heart shattered, and the last was the Canglan Sword Venerable, Chu Moqing.

Chu Moqing was confident that his disciple would become the fourth person to possess a Sword Heart.

Bing Ling returned carrying a food box and saw Feng Wuhen staring at the manuals as though starving for them. "Little Feng, stop reading. Hurry over and eat."

"I'm coming. Thank you, Bing Ling."

"Why are you being so polite with me? Your cultivation during this period will definitely be hard, so I'll take care of every meal from now on.

Just focus on cultivating properly. Leave all the errands to me!"

Bing Ling patted his chest as he spoke to Feng Wuhen, feeling that he looked unbelievably cool like this!

Looking at him, Feng Wuhen felt that his master truly understood Bing Ling. He really did have a child's temperament.

"Bing Ling is so dependable. It's wonderful to have you around!"

It was the first time Bing Ling had received such praise. His face turned as red as burning sunset clouds, and with a bang, he turned into an ice-blue little phoenix and circled Feng Wuhen's cave abode several times.

After eating and resting for a while, Feng Wuhen began his second round of training for the day. With a hundred-jin stone lock in each hand, he stood at the cliff's edge in a horse stance.

Bing Ling sat beside him holding a pile of fruit, eating as he watched. From time to time, he chatted with Feng Wuhen, distracting him a little so that he would not feel quite so tired.

With Bing Ling keeping him company, Feng Wuhen felt that the hour he spent in the horse stance passed quickly. But when the hour ended and he set down the stone locks, his legs had gone weak, and he collapsed onto the ground on his backside.

Even his arms were too weak for him to massage his own legs and ease the soreness.

Bing Ling felt that, as his senior brother, he ought to show his junior brother some care at a time like this. So he put down the fruit in his hands and went over to massage Feng Wuhen's arms and legs.

Seeing Bing Ling massage him with a stern little face, Feng Wuhen could not help laughing. When Bing Ling saw that he was still laughing, he angrily smacked him. "Did training make you stupid? You're so tired, yet you can still laugh."

"No matter how tired I am, aren't you here keeping me company?"

Hearing that, Bing Ling lifted his chin slightly. "Then I'll accompany you whenever you train from now on. The two of us can cultivate together. How about I learn some sword forms too and spar with you? I've seen disciples from the other peaks sparring with their senior brothers and junior brothers, or their senior sisters and junior sisters.

There are only the two of us on Nine Heavens Peak, plus Momo. Momo is too strong. Sparring with him would not help you improve at all, because you'd already lose before you could even see his move.

So I'm the only one who can train with you. But I can only accompany you until the Foundation Establishment Realm. I don't have the talent of a sword cultivator, so accompanying you until Foundation Establishment is already my utmost limit.

After Foundation Establishment, you'll have to follow other senior brothers out to gain experience. Then you can engage in real combat with people outside. I've heard that actual combat helps sword cultivators grow faster."

Hearing this, Feng Wuhen was so moved that he sat up from the ground, pulled Bing Ling into his arms, and lowered his head to rub against his silver-white hair.

"Ah, Lingling, you're far too good. You truly are my wonderful senior brother."

"Since I'm the senior brother, of course I have to take good care of you, my junior brother!"