The grove was still the same grove, with no extra people in it, but Zhang Xiaohua was no longer the Zhang Xiaohua of old. The moment he entered the grove, he felt as if he had a plan in his chest. He steadied himself, took another deep breath, and, following He Tianshu's guidance, practiced the techniques of qinggong to his heart's content through the gaps between the trees.
There were many kinds of qinggong in the martial world. The simplest was a lightness technique that made one agile and swift beyond ordinary men. The profound kinds involved specialized breathing methods and the circulation of internal energy. What Misty Steps taught went even further, excavating the potential within a person.
Although Zhang Xiaohua now understood the techniques of Misty Steps by heart and had practiced them until he was highly proficient, he had never learned qinggong before. Forget profound methods that could complement it—even the simplest lightness technique was something he had never glimpsed. What he was practicing now was still the basic lightness techniques and precautions He Tianshu had briefly explained last time. He Tianshu's own qinggong was an untransmitted secret of the Misty Sect, so naturally he could not teach it to him. As for other lightness techniques, He Tianshu did not know whether Zhang Xiaohua was aware of them, and in any case, he had not taught him any.
Yet with merely this little understanding of qinggong, Zhang Xiaohua moved freely through the grove, like a butterfly dancing among flowers. His figure was incomparably ethereal, carrying something of the air of one about to float away and become immortal. Only his somewhat coarse clothing dragged him back down into the mortal world.
After practicing for a while, Zhang Xiaohua grew somewhat listless. What he practiced could only let