Taking Turns Sneaking a Look

One copy of Gale Step, and one of Bison Force.

Xiao Jingli moved quickly, returning with the two manuals before long.

"Gale Step doesn't need much explanation. It focuses on travel and is suitable for long-distance running."

"Bison Force is a body-tempering technique developed from studying the movements of the beasts in the cave."

"Ultimately, both manuals were created to strengthen the younger generation during their training in the cave, after generations of refinement."

"They aren't particularly precious, but they've played an immeasurable role in laying a solid foundation for the Xiao Household."

With that, Xiao Jingli left.

Holding the two manuals, Lin Xiaotian felt a faint stir of excitement.

He had only meant to give it a try. He hadn't expected the Xiao Household to be so generous, directly passing these two manuals on to him.

It seemed the Xiao Household truly regarded him as one of their own. It was just that everything had gone a little too smoothly.

Learn them first. They would make up for his weaknesses. If the Xiao Household had no ulterior motives, he could repay them in the future. But if they were trying to lower his guard so they could harm him, he would show no mercy when the time came.

The manuals had a minor threshold and placed demands on one's Root Bone. An ordinary person would have to spend an enormous amount of time grinding away at the process of acclimating to them.

The moment he got them in hand, he discovered the manuals' special properties.

Lin Xiaotian smiled faintly and began practicing.

His Root Bone was indeed ordinary, and he got stuck quite a few times during practice.

Yet whenever he hit a snag, his blood qi would surge through him, piercing straight into the depths of his Root Bone.

Then the blood qi would extend into the invisible nothingness within his body and draw in a wisp of some special substance.

As that wisp of substance entered him, the difficult bottleneck immediately vanished, and he smoothly mastered the technique.

Lin Xiaotian clicked his tongue in wonder, though by now he was no longer surprised.

Even if his blood qi suddenly transformed into a living beauty, he probably wouldn't find it strange anymore.

The blood qi had helped him far too much, and it still held far too many wonders waiting to be unearthed.

The substance drawn in by his blood qi this time had a distinctive quality. It seemed to possess the nature of wind, unlike the heat from before.

Could it be that the nothingness the blood qi reached into was a different part of the nothingness each time?

After sharing a room with Nian Ci, his blood qi perception had increased greatly.

Suddenly, an idea struck him. Remembering the novels and anime he had seen in his previous life, he couldn't help feeling expectant.

"I wonder if it can upgrade a technique the way it upgrades pills."

With that thought, he stopped practicing. He covered the manual with both hands and began sensing his blood qi as it moved toward the book.

Buzz! Dozens of breaths later.

Lin Xiaotian opened his eyes as the special blood qi slowly withdrew into his body.

Looks like I was overthinking it.

For medicinal materials, the special blood qi supplied extra nourishment and removed impurities, thereby upgrading their quality.

It couldn't do the same for a manual.

Lin Xiaotian shook his head.

"Looks like I'm being too greedy. This special blood qi is already absurdly powerful. If it could even modify techniques, that would be completely unreasonable."

He immediately began cultivating with full concentration.

Wind sounds drifted in from outside the courtyard now and then, howling as they whipped through the grounds.

Occasionally, they were mixed with the faint, shallow murmurs of women.

The sounds were more like women whispering secretly among themselves.

As he practiced the two manuals of the Xiao Household, his hearing grew increasingly sharp.

The whispers carried by the breeze, which had once been indistinct, gradually became much clearer.

"So it's several of the Xiao Household's young misses!"

Lin Xiaotian felt rather speechless.

Those young misses didn't enter the courtyard. They only watched him secretly from outside, occasionally peeking through the window lattice into the room. It was truly exasperating.

"Guess how long it'll take this fellow to master them." One woman's voice sounded slightly mischievous.

"You little imp, you dragged me here. Uncle Li said his potential was extraordinary, but without being tempered by our Xiao Household from childhood, this Martial Dao path will probably be difficult."

"Even with decent potential, he'll likely need several months before he can master them."

"Even if he happens to succeed, he won't be able to unleash their power."

"Gale Step excels at travel. Its short-term speed is decent, but ultimately limited. It wouldn't be very suitable as an escape technique."

"Pfft, pfft. Sister Qing, are you stupid? He hasn't fully entered our Xiao Household yet. How could he possibly learn any advanced techniques?"

The woman addressed as Sister Qing had a steadier voice, but it was as pleasant as an oriole's song.

She spoke softly. Lin Xiaotian could almost imagine her extending one finger and lightly poking the mischievous girl as she spoke.

"Sister Qing, you're always fooling people. Uncle Li treats this boy quite well. These techniques are practically foundation techniques of the Lineage."

"Their effects will grow stronger as he practices, but unfortunately, that takes time. To reach a truly high level, he'll probably need several years at the very least."

"Only you would understand that. Hmm, why did that person stop practicing? Don't tell me he's noticed us."

Hearing that, Lin Xiaotian began moving again and resumed practicing the technique.

So these techniques need to be slowly honed over time? Yet he felt his progress was astonishingly fast, nothing like what the two women had described.

As for his heightened hearing, he could be certain it had been caused by his progress in the technique.

It was just that, throughout his cultivation, a mysterious substance had constantly been nourishing him.

Before he had shared a room with the woman, the source of his blood qi's special nature had been unclear. Now, not only had his perception of his blood qi grown stronger, but the force with which it absorbed things had increased as well.

That was why he could detect it—and why he could sense the progress of his Martial Dao so much more deeply.

"All right, we've watched enough. Let's go back for now. The other sisters still need to take a look too. Staying here too long wouldn't be good."

After the voice finished speaking, he heard the sound of the two women landing. Then they quickly disappeared.

"..." Lin Xiaotian was left with a head full of black lines.

So I've become a monkey in a zoo, with all these women sneaking over to observe me whenever they please.

"No wonder it's already been more than three days and Big Brother Jingli still won't let me go over. He's having the young misses screen me in advance!"

"No, I have to put on a suitable display. If these young misses eliminate me beforehand, the Xiao Household's attitude toward me will change."

Bang!

Lin Xiaotian kicked the door open and walked straight into the courtyard.

Since you want to watch, then this lord won't hide anymore. I'll stand right here in the courtyard and let you get a good look.

Over the next few days, women came one after another, all watching from a distance in secret.

They thought he hadn't noticed them. They whispered endlessly, and sometimes even discussed private matters between women.

After hearing those things, Lin Xiaotian's understanding was overturned. So even the most beautiful women discussed men in private, and they even cracked harmless dirty jokes.

What an eye-opener!

Another dozen or so days passed.

His Gale Step was fully mastered. With the help of the mysterious substance absorbed by his blood qi, the technique had been enhanced considerably.

Although it hadn't directly raised the technique's grade, the effect was equivalent to an indirect increase in grade.

"It's been enhanced by roughly twenty percent, and it's also saved me several years of acclimation."

"If I add Blood-Qi Resonance, I can raise it by at least another ten percent. Now I truly have nothing to fear from External Force."

Lin Xiaotian's face was alight with excitement as he sensed Bison Force as well.

This Bison Force imitated the movements of beasts to produce a measure of protective strength. It didn't truly make him as hard as a beast.

When activated, the additional force generated as his blood qi circulated provided protection. It could be considered an enhancement to his body.

However, when the special substance absorbed by his blood qi merged into Bison Force, it didn't produce any additional protective strength.

Instead, it had indirectly tempered his body, raising the strength of all his bones by a level. Though he still fell short of true beasts, he was far stronger than humans at the same level.

Add to that his abnormal recovery ability.

Lin Xiaotian felt an immense sense of security.

"Hmm, I still have to put on an act. I can't let these women or the Xiao Household notice anything unusual. I'll reveal only a little."

Sure enough, surprised voices came from outside the courtyard.

"Quick, look! He actually reached the Initiation stage in the technique... Uncle Li didn't lie to us."

After a flurry of whispering, hurried footsteps sounded as they left. They were probably going to pass the news along.

Lin Xiaotian smiled smugly, but his brows soon drew together slightly.

"Something's not right. Normally, after arriving at the Xiao Household, even if they didn't ask me about Dongli at the time, they should have come to look for me the next day to verify the information I gave them."

"It's already been more than a dozen days. Aside from Xiao Jingli, whom I've seen openly, no one else has shown up."

"Even if these young misses are secretly observing me, there's no need for them to do it for more than a dozen days. This is far too abnormal."