Qi Refinement and Body Tempering: Double Ninth Level!

After harvesting all the cabbage and red root vines, Wang Lang neatly stored them in the mountain manor's backyard cellar.

This cellar was built by Old Man Wang years ago with special cold stones, serving as a low-tier cold storage.

Seeing the once lush vegetable patch now bare, and surveying the manor, where only the sound of the wind could be heard, Wang Lang felt an emptiness in his heart as well.

When Old Man Wang was still around, although he often went out to uphold justice, he would either take Wang Lang along to see the world, or he would return on his own within a few days at most.

Back then, Wang Lang's life was very regular: he would cultivate the Basic Body Tempering Art, wait for the old man to return, and listen to his endless chatter.

Now, the person who chattered was gone, and the manor seemed exceptionally large and exceptionally quiet.

He shook his head, suppressing the rising emotions, and walked to the homemade simple barbell in the courtyard.

He continued to repeatedly lift it at maximum speed, attempting to push his physical body to its limits and accumulate minuscule amounts of power.

Afterimages flashed, and the air tore with a whistling sound, but the accumulated power was almost nonexistent.

"This thing is like a warm-up now, the efficiency is too low," Wang Lang thought helplessly.

But without better equipment, every little bit counts.

The bulk of his cultivation, after all, relied on the automatically circulating Innate Qi.

In the afternoon, while cultivating, Wang Lang suddenly felt a subtle but continuous tremor within his body.

It felt as if his meridians were being combed and tightened by an invisible hand. He moved his mind and brought up his personal status panel:

[Body Tempering Realm: Body Tempering Realm (Triple Stage · Tendon Cultivation)]
[Qi Refinement Realm: Qi Induction Realm (Second Stage)]

He had broken through!

Entering the Tendon Cultivation stage of the Body Tempering Realm, Wang Lang carefully felt the changes in his body.

He felt as if the major tendons throughout his body had been rewoven, becoming more resilient, tightening like bowstrings when he exerted force.

He tried throwing an empty punch, and the sound of it breaking through the air was noticeably sharper.

In terms of Qi Refinement, advancing one stage in the Qi Induction Realm had also strengthened the Grand Righteous Qi within him, which originated from the Song of Righteous Qi.

This aura was pure, harmonious, and upright. As it circulated through his body, it added a majestic and imposing bearing to his already burly physique.

It made him look... exceptionally upright and cultured.

Along with it, he felt his mind had become much clearer. Many poems and songs he had memorized in his previous life for exams, which had long since faded, now reappeared clearly.

He stood in the courtyard with his hands behind his back, gazing at the distant mountains in the twilight. An inexplicable artistic (and slightly pretentious) aura surged within him, and he blurted out a poem:

"Distant, distant the cold mountain path, Secluded, secluded the cold stream's bank. Chirping, chirping, ever birds are heard, Silent, silent, with no one else around."

This poem was from his previous life, by the Tang Dynasty poet Hanshan, titled "Distant Cold Mountain Path."

Its deep and desolate mood subtly resonated with his current state of solitude.

After reciting it, he was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head and chuckled:

"Tsk, as expected, power influences one's temperament. Even I'm starting to pretend to be refined."

Time flowed like water, quietly passing by.

Apart from a brief disturbance from the Chang Le Gang, the expected individuals who might covet Listening Waves Mountain Manor did not appear.

Wang Lang was content with the peace, his daily life extremely simple and regular.

His daily core activities consisted of two things. The first was cultivation.

The second was when he felt tired; he would retreat to Old Man Wang's study and pore over the ancient texts that he had previously found incredibly dull.

Before, he lacked the strength and was restless. Now, as his breathing grew stronger and the pressure lessened, his mind relaxed, and he could actually focus on reading these books.

Wang Lang attributed this change in mindset to having too much free time.

After all, when survival is no longer the primary concern, people must develop some spiritual needs, right?

These ancient texts covered a vast range of subjects, but their core was similar to the Four Books and Five Classics he knew from his past life in ancient China, mostly Confucian classics, historical records, and policy analyses.

As Wang Lang read, he couldn't help but sigh, "The Confucianism in this world is definitely the 'answer' version!"

He learned that this world had also experienced intellectual clashes among the various schools of thought, but as dynasties rose and fell, rulers discovered that Confucianism was the most conducive to consolidating their rule.

What surprised Wang Lang even more was that he gradually discovered, as he delved deeper into the classics and understood their subtle meanings, the circulation speed of the Song of Righteous Qi he was cultivating had actually increased slightly!

"Strange, the cultivation manual didn't mention that reading could speed it up?" Wang Lang mused, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

Even though he couldn't figure it out, it was a good thing.

And so, his days cycled through accumulating minuscule amounts of power through body tempering, accelerating Qi Refinement by reading, entertaining himself with poetry, watching the moon, and sleeping.

This regular, almost monotonous life, Wang Lang gradually became immersed in, forgetting the passage of time.

At the same time, he had also entered a peculiar state of mental clarity.

In a daze, a year passed by quietly.

Until one day, a prompt in front of him startled him from that mysterious state:

[Congratulations to the host for comprehending Righteous Qi · Blue on your own, and receiving a reward: +1 Skill Slot]

Wang Lang's mind snapped back. Staring at the system prompt, his brain couldn't quite process it.

Comprehended on his own? Skills could be created like this?

Although the system randomly gave him a skill on his birthday each year, comprehending a skill on his own and gaining an extra skill slot was an unprecedented event!

But now was not the time to be happy; the key was to understand the principle behind it.

"What were the conditions for comprehension?"

"Was it understanding a certain principle or rule to a certain degree?"

He pondered, feeling like he was touching the edge of the system's hidden mechanics.

Wang Lang casually opened his skill library to check.

As expected, besides the newly comprehended blue skill [Righteous Qi] and the useless-for-anything-but-looking-cool [Super Saiyan Hairstyle · Blue] he had synthesized earlier, a white skill, randomly gifted by the system this year, lay quietly in the library:

[Weak Point Strike · White: When attacking an enemy, there is a 1% chance to expose one of their non-fatal minor weak points.]

"A 1% chance is truly touching, I'll lock it away and wait to synthesize it." Wang Lang thought.

Afterward, his gaze returned to the blue skill he had comprehended:

[Righteous Qi · Blue: Effect 1, when equipped, imbues the user with Grand Righteous Qi, invisibly enhancing personal temperament and persuasiveness. It makes people easily trust and admire the user, and possesses a natural deterrent effect against unholy and foul entities.]

"Hmm... Although it doesn't directly increase attack or defense, it enhances temperament and trustworthiness. It's quite a functional skill."

Compared to the hairstyle and weak point strike, this [Righteous Qi] was much more practical.

Wang Lang equipped it directly.

Next, he opened his personal status panel:

[Name: Wang Lang]
[Physique: Mortal Body (Transforming)]
[Body Tempering Realm: Body Tempering Realm (Ninth Layer · Acupoint Cultivation)]
[Qi Refinement Realm: Qi Induction Realm (Ninth Layer)]
[Cultivation Techniques: Basic Body Tempering Art, Song of Righteous Qi]
[Equipped Skills:
Ageless and Undying · Red, Innate Qi · Orange, Intentional Blast Punch · Purple, Righteous Qi · Blue]
[Skill Library: Click to view all skills...]

"Physique, mortal body transforming?" Wang Lang's heart stirred.

He carefully sensed himself and indeed could feel that after reaching the ninth layer of Body Tempering, Acupoint Cultivation, and connecting all the acupoints throughout his body, a deeper transformation seemed to be brewing within his body.

His blood essence flowed like mercury, his internal organs were as tough as iron, and his bones were lustrous and radiant, as if being repeatedly forged by an invisible force, refining the essence and discarding the dross.

"That's right. Although the Basic Body Tempering Art is just a common technique, when cultivated to the extreme ninth layer and opening all the acupoints, the surge of blood essence through the body is itself a process of shedding the mortal shell.

Could it be... this is preparation for condensing a steadfast body?"

In one year, he had not only reached the ninth layer of Body Tempering but also the ninth layer of Qi Induction.

Wang Lang was not anxious about the lack of further cultivation methods for his two main cultivation techniques.

With Innate Qi, it was equivalent to possessing the underlying code of infinite possibilities. Quantity would eventually lead to a qualitative change.

Perhaps one day he would directly bypass the limitations of cultivation techniques and form his own system? He was quite confident about this.

It was already late at night, and Wang Lang had no intention of sleeping.

With the ninth layer of Qi Induction, his spirit had been preliminarily tempered, and sleep was not necessary.

He had slept every night for the past year more out of habit, immersing himself in that peculiar state of enlightenment.

He walked into the courtyard, feeling the changes brought about by the ninth layer of Body Tempering. He casually clenched his fist, not using any specific technique, just condensing his physical strength into a single point and throwing a punch.

Where his fist passed, the air let out a low, muffled boom, and a faint, transparent ripple could be seen spreading outwards.

The sense of security that came with his increased strength made Wang Lang's state of mind even more peaceful.

He looked up at the starry sky and saw a bright moon.

As the clear moonlight poured down, his poetic inspiration resurfaced. Just as he was about to recite a poem, a hurried knocking at the manor's front gate suddenly shattered the night's tranquility.

"Old Mr. Wang! Old Mr. Wang! Are you in? Something big has happened!"

Wang Lang's brows twitched slightly. His figure moved like a gentle breeze, and in a moment, he arrived at the front yard.

Instead of opening the main gate directly, he first pulled open the small observation window beside it.

In the moonlight, the person approaching wore the standard uniform of the Limitless Dynasty's Demon Subduing Division.

Wang Lang knew quite a bit about the government structure of this world:

Each province in the Limitless Dynasty had a Prefect who held overall military and political power, usually a high-level cultivator of the Confucian school's Qi Refinement path.

Below the province were numerous cities, each with a City Lord's Mansion.

The vast rural areas, however, lacked city-level defenses and were primarily patrolled by personnel dispatched by the Demon Subduing Division to handle incidents such as disturbances by spirits and demonic creatures.

The person before him, judging by the fluctuations in their aura, was likely only at the first level of Qi Induction, a low-ranking member of the Demon Subduing Division.

Wang Lang had a vague impression of him, seeming to be named Li Si, responsible for patrolling this area.

"It seems to be an urgent matter," Wang Lang judged inwardly, no longer hesitating. He reached out and opened the gate.

Patrolman Li, using the moonlight to see the face of the person opening the gate, especially noticing the calm, righteous aura that emanated from him unconsciously, was stunned at first. Then, he hurriedly said:

"You... you are the grandson of the old Mr. Wang Xiaoyao, Young Master Wang Lang?"

"Indeed, it is I. Patrolman Li, what brings you here so late at night?" Wang Lang said, stepping aside to invite him into the front hall.

Patrolman Li followed him inside, too anxious to bother with pleasantries. He said urgently:

"Young Master Wang, I've come seeking Old Mr. Wang's help!

There's a demonic infestation in nearby Creek Stone Village. A troublesome demon is causing havoc, and it has already killed over ten people.

I can't even figure out what kind of demon it is or where it's hiding!

I remembered that Old Mr. Wang is a cultivator of profound skill, so I've come to invite him!"

Wang Lang poured him a cup of coarse tea and said calmly, "Patrolman Li, to be perfectly honest, my old man was buried last year."

"What?!" Patrolman Li felt as if struck by lightning and abruptly stood up.

He murmured distractedly, "Rumor has it... rumor has it that Old Mr. Wang was seriously injured a year ago while assisting some of my colleagues in apprehending a Heretical Cultivator... I... I didn't expect..."

Regret and apology appeared on his face. "Young Master Wang... please accept my condolences. I was too abrupt."

Wang Lang waved his hand. "It's alright. My old man chose his own path. He died on the path of acting righteously, seeking benevolence and achieving it. It can be considered... a fitting end."

He changed the subject. "Patrolman Li, tell me in detail about the demonic creature in Creek Stone Village. Perhaps I, Wang, can help a little."

He remembered his promise to his old man: to protect the area if he had the ability.

Now that he was at the ninth level of both Body Tempering and Qi Induction, as long as he didn't encounter any old monsters, he should be able to protect himself and solve ordinary problems.

The confidence brought by his strength had long since changed his mindset.

When I had no strength, I was cautious. If I have strength and still act timidly, then wasn't my training in vain?

Of course, the premise was to first assess the risk.

If the demon was outrageously strong, he would definitely continue to develop steadily. Even with the Ageless and Undying trait, he wouldn't foolishly rush in.

Patrolman Li saw Wang Lang's calm demeanor and deeply concealed aura. Although he was surprised and doubtful about how capable someone so young could be, he thought that since he was Old Mr. Wang's grandson, he might truly have some skill.

Coupled with his genuine lack of other options, he picked up his teacup, took a sip, steadied himself, and revealed the entire story.

It turned out that a month ago, people in Creek Stone Village began to go missing consecutively. Later, they were found to have been dragged into the mountains and forests outside the village to be devoured. The scenes were gruesome, confirming it was the work of a demon.

Out of a village of over a hundred people, more than ten had been killed so far, causing widespread panic.

His cultivation was low, and after several investigations, he found nothing. Reporting to the Prefect's mansion for support involved tedious procedures and took a long time.

He remembered that Old Mr. Wang Xiaoyao of Listening Waves Mountain Manor was a master at the third level of Qi Induction.

He thought that if he could persuade Old Mr. Wang to resolve this matter privately, it would be a great achievement, and there would be great hope for an excellent year-end review and a promotion with a raise.

"Therefore... I harbored selfish intentions and did not report it to the Prefect immediately. I intended to report it without delay if Old Mr. Wang also couldn't handle it."

Patrolman Li confessed somewhat sheepishly.

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