Shrinking Earth to Inches (Mastery)

Gao Fei knew nothing of this. Once the performance was over, he wrapped things up and took his leave.

"Gentlemen, I'll be heading back first. As for Registrar Lin worshipping the demon god, you can ask around about it. And I suspect the entire Lin Family may be human traitors."

"Brother Gao, don't be in such a hurry. Do you want to go to Qing Province? The cultivation resources and cultivation environment there are far better than here. If you can take our master, General Li, as your teacher, we can help you change your cultivation method."

Gao Fei had no desire to take a master. It was far too troublesome, so he casually found a high-sounding excuse.

"No need. If I leave, what will happen to the people of Yueyang County? Am I supposed to abandon them?"

He definitely had to leave eventually, but first he would clear out the Rat Demons and earn some more Merit Points. Or he could wait until he cultivated the Golden Body Art to the middle stage of the first transformation before going to settle things with the Fox Demon.

He had been drained dry and had yet to replenish himself. How could he just walk away like that?

Li Jie filled Gao Fei's teacup again.

"I came this time precisely to solve this problem. Tell me about the current situation outside the city."

Gao Fei truly was a professional when it came to this. He had not been in this world for long, yet he dealt with demons every day.

He described the situation here in exhaustive detail, especially mentioning the county magistrate who had been chased for several months.

He truly had no idea how the man had survived this long.

"That Fox Demon is being far too unreasonable. Back then, she promised my master that she would only claim ten li of Northern Mountain as her territory. Who would have thought she would exploit someone's misfortune?"

"Human words can't be trusted, let alone a demon's."

Gao Fei scoffed at that. He did not believe it at all. General Fu had climbed to his position; he was hardly an idiot.

It definitely was not because of some promise. Her backing was probably the most crucial factor.

"We'll leave the Fox Demon alone for now. She won't enter the city. Let's kill those two Spirit-Absorption Realm, Perfected demons first. With County Magistrate Xue guarding the county seat, there shouldn't be a problem. Once my master has time, he can come deal with her."

"When are we leaving the city? Count me in!"

For the past few days, Gao Fei had neither eaten nor slept well, terrified that the Fox Demon would come looking for trouble. He did not even dare remain in the city during the daytime. Fortunately, County Magistrate Xue was formidable enough to hold out until now.

"Early tomorrow morning. Tonight, I need to remove the meridian restriction from my junior sister."

Hearing this, Gao Fei thought the two of them were not bad people after all.

"Fine. Do you need me to stand guard?"

"No. It's only troublesome, not as though I have no power to resist."

Gao Fei slapped his forehead. All right! I've fallen victim to television experience again.

After saying goodbye, he walked out the door without sparing Lin Ye a single glance.

Directly across from the apothecary was a tea shop. It was now dusk, nearly closing time.

Seeing someone enter, the waiter hurriedly called out:

"Sir, the shop will close in the time it takes an incense stick to burn. What do you think?"

"I'll drink tea for exactly the time it takes an incense stick to burn."

There were few people at this hour, so Gao Fei chose a private room on the second floor where he could see the apothecary's front entrance.

Once the waiter had brought over a teapot and a teacup, Gao Fei swept his gaze around the room.

"System, spend one hundred Merit Points on Shrinking Earth to Inches."

In the first year, you failed to enter the path. In the end, after carefully studying the nearby instructional shadow, you discovered that you needed to open the six meridians in your legs: the Three Yin of the Foot and the Three Yang of the Foot.

In the eighth year, you opened the six meridians. You began to sense the flowing aura of the earth beneath your feet.

In the fiftieth year, you began to sense the flowing aura of the earth. It was constantly changing as well.

In the ninety-ninth year, you roughly grasped the changes in the earth's flow. Within an area under your control, you could take one step spanning two zhang. Spiritual power consumption was enormous; with your current Middle Spirit-Absorption Realm cultivation, you could only use it a few times. You were still unskilled, and it was easy to fail.

Shrinking Earth to Inches had been initiated.

...

Gao Fei opened his eyes and looked around.

Just entering the path definitely would not do. This was a life-saving skill, and a top-tier cultivation method at that. He would continue.

He spent another 200 Merit Points. The remaining 55 would be enough for healing.

In the hundredth year, your progress over the years was slow. You had observed too few changes in the earth's flow. You looked at the practicing shadow but did not quite understand, so you shook your head and continued researching.

In the hundred and ninetieth year, through the black shadow's demonstration, you understood the changes in the outer layer of the earth's flow. As long as it was not a special location, you could use it.

Shrinking Earth to Inches Mastery

...

After ten years of practice, he could use Shrinking Earth to Inches to travel anywhere from one zhang to ten zhang with each step. It depended on how much spiritual power he used and whether there were restrictions present. The farther the distance, the longer it took and the more spiritual power it consumed. At most, it took three seconds.

A step of three to five zhang consumed the least spiritual power. At that distance, the spiritual power in Gao Fei's body could support him running three li.

If the earth aura was cut off, the cultivation method could even fail entirely.

He had 54 Merit Points left.

All the Merit Points he had earned from killing demons these past few days had gone into this, but the results were quite good.

Gao Fei remained seated until the tea shop closed, yet he never saw Lin Ye leave. Slightly disappointed, he returned home.

The moment he entered, he heard three women and Gao Yan chatting in the kitchen.

Qiu Mei really knew how to sweet-talk people.

In the small courtyard,

Gao Linyue was holding his saw-like Tang Saber in a daze, tears glimmering in his eyes.

Gao Fei felt a little embarrassed.

"Second Uncle, when we go to Qing Province, I'll pay to have it repaired. I guarantee it'll be as good as new."

"A warrior dying on the battlefield is his rightful destination. I'm not cherishing this saber. I was thinking that it had been like this once before too, when your father borrowed it. The two of us were both badly injured then. We only survived because the Marquis came to rescue us..."

Gao Fei did not want to hear this, especially anything about that father he had never met. He had no favorable feelings toward him at all.

"All right, all right, I know you were impressive back then and often went to battle. But with your cultivation at the time, surviving truly was a miracle!"

"I was at the Middle Spirit-Absorption Realm back then. I was injured and lost too much blood. Without replenishment for too long, my qi and blood declined, causing my Physical Body Realm to fall. I could no longer absorb spiritual energy, so my cultivation dropped as well."

"Second Uncle, I never would have guessed you'd hidden yourself so deeply!"

"Of course. You weren't using this weapon properly at all. You have to pour spiritual power into it and activate the solidification and sharpness runes carved inside. That way, it won't be damaged when weapons clash. At the very least, it wouldn't have been damaged by the Rat Demon."

Gao Fei felt a little embarrassed. At the time, he had possessed nothing but brute strength. It was already impressive enough that the saber had not snapped.

Seeing Gao Fei's embarrassment, Gao Linyue comforted him without hesitation:

"A life was at stake. You had no other choice at the time."

After dinner, everyone was moving about in the courtyard.

Li Jie unexpectedly came to visit, though he was not looking for Gao Fei.

He handed Qiu Mei a letter.

"My condolences. During the last pathfinding expedition to Mount Mang, he did not return."

After saying that to Qiu Mei, he turned and walked up to Gao Fei, looking somewhat awkward.

What sense did it make to hand a letter announcing an adulterer's death in battle to another man's wife? They even knew each other. Had he known, he would never have accepted this errand.

At the same time, he felt somewhat sorry for Gao Fei.

"Be more broad-minded. Don't hold a grudge against the dead. Get some rest early, and come find us early tomorrow morning."

With that, he turned and left, stepping out through the gate in just a few strides.

Gao Fei was utterly baffled. What was this supposed to mean?