Chapter 15: Chapter 14: Confirmation
According to the Great Circulatory Qi Guideline recorded in ancient times, qi cultivators who walked the path of cultivation had auspicious beasts as companions on their journeys, and even the clear breath they exhaled could help plants and trees achieve spiritual awakening and transform into demons.
To say their powers penetrated the heavens and the earth was no exaggeration.
After Song Lingxue offered a few words, she fell silent. Chu Zheng tentatively broke the silence,
"Miss, may I ask why you've come?"
"Hmm?"
Song Lingxue suddenly snapped back to reality, looking somewhat flustered, and again raised her hand to comb through her hair at her temples, surreptitiously pinching her earlobe before she composed herself and said,
"I haven't seen you for a few days; just came to check on you. Are you getting used to life in the Song Residence's treasury?"
Hearing this, Chu Zheng found it strange, but he answered truthfully,
"I've been busy the past few days, but it's much better now."
Mentioning the mansion's treasury, Chu Zheng watched Song Lingxue's expression carefully but saw no hint of anything; she remained as expressionless as ever.
Song Lingxue opened her mouth, uncertain of what to say next; after struggling for a while, she nodded and said,
"I watched your fist techniques just now; your Integrated Fist has reached a considerable level of mastery, and you've managed to cultivate some vitality. It shouldn't be long now before you begin condensing your inner qi."
Before her words had finished lingering in the air, she drew two old books that looked to be of some age from her sleeve and handed them to Chu Zheng,
"These are two cultivation techniques, one for inner strength and one for external skills. You can cultivate both internally and externally to condense inner strength. You might as well practice these in your spare time."
The ancient books had no names on their covers, just a blank space. Chu Zheng subconsciously took them, and immediately his mind flashed with a notification.
[Heavenly Origin Heart Method (First Order): The Song Family's secret cultivation method, can be cultivated to the peak of First Order, but it's of little use to you.]
[Dragon-Tiger Body (Fourth Order/Incomplete): An incomplete body refining technique that only retains the introductory chapter. Once repaired, certain contents might prove to be of some value to you.]
The Song Family's secret techniques could cultivate to the level of a great grandmaster, meaning that according to this, a great grandmaster was equivalent to First Order.
Only at this moment did Chu Zheng start to have a relatively clear understanding of the martial path in this world.
After processing the information, Chu Zheng was momentarily surprised. It wasn't unusual for the Song Family, a martial arts family, to have First Order cultivation techniques; however, even an incomplete Fourth Order technique had a very different significance.
If categorized by the power levels of the Immortal Path, the Fourth Realm was already 'Soul Condensing', like the author of the Chronicles of the Rainbow Sword Immortal Chu Zheng had read before, on the same level.
For an ordinary mortal family, this was unimaginably incredible.
"Miss, I can't accept such generous gifts without having rendered any services... This doesn't seem right..."
Chu Zheng was perplexed, recalling how the Song Family had always kept their Integrated Fist breathing technique secured, and now suddenly they were giving away their secret teachings, which was understandably concerning.
"If you have questions, feel free to ask me anytime. I can teach you some of it."
Song Lingxue didn't pay any heed to Chu Zheng's thoughts, waved her hand nonchalantly, and hurriedly walked away.
Chu Zheng was left confused, looking around and noticing something else amiss.
Song Yun, who normally shadowed Song Lingxue closely, seemed to be absent today, not just today, but for the past several days, as if he had disappeared without a trace.
Song Lingxue vanished in an instant, and Chu Zheng, feeling helpless, carried the two nameless cultivation techniques back towards the treasury.
He clearly had no intention of practicing those methods, but the incomplete Dragon-Tiger Body, he was planning to repair and verify, since the system had mentioned there might be some benefit to it.
...
...
Once inside the treasury, Chu Zheng headed straight for the area where the books were stored.
After reading that notebook, he could no longer restrain his curiosity and wanted to delve into the history of Great Zhou, to see if he could unravel any clues.
At the very least, he wanted to try to find information on the Hidden Immortal Sects within the Great Zhou Territory from the ancient books.
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Fortunately, most of the items previously moved out of the mansion's treasury were gold and silver and various cultivation materials and treasures. Most of the books had not been touched.
There were not many books, and the histories of Great Zhou were easy to find. After a short while, Chu Zheng began to peruse the historical records since the founding of the Great Zhou.
He read until sunset in the afternoon.
It was only when the evening glow in the sky was like blood that Chu Zheng left the mansion's treasury, with even more doubts clouding his brow.
After reading a great deal of historical material, he indeed had many discoveries.
The Great Ancestor of Great Zhou's uprising seemed not to be a sudden impulse but something prepared for years, and the demise of the former dynasty was very strange—it was in its heyday and then collapsed in just over ten years.
Earthquakes, lightning fires, floods, severe droughts, and other natural disasters occurred incessantly. The Great Ancestor of Great Zhou took advantage of this to raise his army, and within a mere three years, he had conquered the Four Seas and established his dynasty.
One didn't have to guess to know that behind it all must have been the pushing hand of an Immortal Sect.
More than a thousand years ago, within an area of a hundred thousand miles, there must have been a change of rulers; as for what role the Phantom Spirit Sect, mentioned in that letter, had played in all this is unknown.
After leaving the mansion's treasury, Chu Zheng found an excuse to leave the Song Residence.
He had to start looking for a way out for himself.
As a mere servant, if he truly needed to flee for his life, he would surely be one of the first to be abandoned.
Even if Song Lingxue treated him well and seemed to have some unclear intentions toward him, Chu Zheng wasn't willing to gamble his life on someone else's fleeting kindness.
In his previous life, how many tragedies had he seen unfold in the pages of history? For power, people killed their fathers and brothers, fought viciously against their flesh and blood, and turned against their kin countless times.
Human nature is the most unreliable thing.
If it was so for power, let alone for something more important like life.
Since arriving in this world, Chu Zheng had been constantly reminding himself never to let his guard down for a moment.
Now, he was even more guarded.
After all, if the diary hidden by his bedside contained only a single page before it came to an abrupt end, that would be far too laughable.
...
...
Song Residence's back courtyard.
Inside a side room, the intense smell of blood mixed with the bitter scent of herbal medicine filled the air.
Lying on a bed, Song Yun was bare-chested, his eyes tightly closed, a bandage wrapped around his torso. His lips were cracked, his complexion pale, and his breathing fluctuated between strong and weak.
The wound was still bleeding, and the recently changed bandage had already turned faintly red.
Seeing this, the physician bent down again to stop the bleeding and change the gauze.
Song Tonghai stood by, his eyes downcast, his expression unreadable.
"Father, what exactly happened?"
Song Lingxue entered the room, looking at Song Yun on the bed with an unsightly expression, "Where did Song Yun get hurt?"
"At the city gate, he was struck by a poisoned arrow."
Song Tonghai stroked his fingertips, speaking in a grave voice,
"The arrow came from a hundred yards away and pierced through the inner armor and his chest before embedding three inches into a stone. Whoever could draw such a strong bow must surely be a grandmaster."
Hearing this, a cold light flashed in Song Lingxue's eyes, "This is a warning."
The physician, well over sixty, slowly lifted his head, wiping the sweat from his brow, and let out a sigh,
"The arrow was poisoned, and the blood won't stop flowing. Right now, we're just barely keeping him alive. He absolutely cannot engage in martial arts for some time to come."
Before he finished speaking, Song Yun on the bed let out a muffled groan and slowly opened his eyes.
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Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone