58: The Fifth Pillar of Strength (Seeking monthly ticket to follow)

In the small courtyard, by the eastern wall.

A woman in a blue tattered skirt was mixing mud, and a mischievous little boy with a tiger-like head was stomping on it with his feet, his hands, feet, and face covered in mud splatters, thoroughly enjoying himself.

On the other side, on the roof of the inner house.

A woman in a faded ruqun dress was squatting on the rooftop, carefully dismantling and cleaning broken tiles and wooden boards, then placing them into a bamboo basket, which she then lowered.

Below, a somewhat frail little girl received it, laboriously lifting the rubble with both hands, dumping it in a corner, and then repeating the process.

Seeing this scene, Chen Yuan, who had just returned from the battlefield, instinctively reined in his ferocity, and his brows relaxed.

Then, herding the sheep, he pushed the door open and entered.

The sound of his entry immediately attracted the attention of the two women.

They turned their heads.

Their expressions varied.

"Yuan Ge'er!"

"You're back."

His neighbor, Sister Hua, greeted him as usual.

Only, there was a bit more stiffness and politeness.

As she spoke, she looked at the three sheep Chen Yuan herded in with some surprise.

Normally, she would have asked a question or two.

But this time, she didn't.

She had vaguely learned from Ping Jie that this Yuan Ge'er seemed to have a mysterious background, and Ping Jie often spoke of his gratitude.

Even this morning, when the demons appeared, Ping Jie kept muttering about the benefactor's blessing.

Seeing Chen Yuan's courtyard damaged, she panicked more than anyone, quickly getting to work.

She was still muttering something under her breath.

And sure enough, Liu Ping, the woman on the roof, seeing her benefactor return, subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, then quickly climbed down from the roof.

She rubbed her mud-stained hands on her faded ruqun dress and stepped forward to greet Chen Yuan.

"Benefactor."

Her daughter, Chong Chong, also politely bowed beside her.

"Why are you here?"

"Thank you for your hard work. You don't need to fix this house; I'll do it myself."

Chen Yuan herded the sheep into a corner.

Then his gaze shifted back to the mother and daughter, his expression natural.

The woman, Liu Ping, quickly waved her hands.

"It's no hardship, no hardship at all."

"Just helping out, it's what I should do."

"It's good that the great benefactor is back."

She appeared very flustered and nervous.

She actually just hoped to help the adult fix the house and repay a bit of his kindness.

Then, when the adult returned, she could feel more at ease.

Chen Yuan saw the woman's nervousness and didn't say much more.

He rolled up both his sleeves.

"Let's do it together!"

Saying that, without waiting for the woman to speak, he went over to his neighbor, Sister Hua.

"Sister Hua, let me do it."

As he spoke, he took over the mud-mixing task.

And so, a morning passed.

The roof and courtyard wall were repaired.

At noon, Chen Yuan ordered food and invited the two families to eat.

At the dinner table,

Sister Hua, being the feisty type, gradually became less formal.

Her son, Tiger Cub, was quite the social butterfly, asking where Chen Yuan's little fox and Little Squirrel had gone.

Chen Yuan smiled and released the two little creatures. The boy was quite loyal, holding a bowl, he squatted outside the house with Little Squirrel and the white fox, sitting in a row, sharing their food, a piece for him, a piece for them.

His mother's eyebrows twitched, wanting to get angry, but Chen Yuan stopped her.

As for the woman, Liu Ping, she kept saying "thank you," feeling unworthy, as if sitting on pins and needles.

After lunch, the two women left with their children. Chen Yuan looked at the newly repaired courtyard and nodded with satisfaction.

Then, he lowered his head, looking at the three bleating sheep in the corner, and then walked into the inner room to find some ropes.

"You three, you'll have to bear with it and stay here for a while!"

As he spoke, he tied the three sheep in the courtyard.

Then, he closed the door with both hands and entered the inner room.

In the courtyard, the three sheep, tied by ropes around their necks, exchanged glances.

In their eyes, there was anger, fear, and exasperation.

They let out bleating sounds.

Meanwhile, in the inner room, Chen Yuan flicked his sleeve, blowing away the dust that had splattered during the morning's house repairs.

Then, he sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Inside his Mud Pill Palace, the tiger tally vibrated.

A string of information surged into his Minds Eye.

"Chen Yuan: Patrolling Mountain Commandant

Realm: Body Profound Major Achievement

Luck Points: 54

Cultivation Technique: Dragon Subduing Post (Perfection), Demon Subduing Fist (Perfection), Taoist Internal Scripture Diagram (Perfection), Seventy-two Earthly Fiends (2/72)

Spell: Animal Creation, Demon Subduing Fist

Divine Ability: Food Consumption, Minds Eye (cultivable), Swordsmanship, Mountain Carrying (Three Pillars), Demon Nine Transformations (Mountain Lord)"

Chen Yuan's Minds Eye turned, and without realizing it, he had already mastered five Divine Abilities.

Food Consumption refines essence, Minds Eye breaks illusions, Swordsmanship attacks, Three Pillars Mountain Carrying, Mountain Lord True Form.

Currently, the previous battle, where he slew two demons at Body Profound Perfection and several small bull demons, yielded a total of fifty-three Luck points.

Among them, slaying the Great Strength Bull Demon rewarded twenty points, and the Human Demon Wei Yang eighteen points.

However, Chen Yuan was a bit surprised that the reward for the Great Strength Bull Demon was the same as when he slew the Mountain Lord.

But it seemed that the strength displayed was somewhat less than the Mountain Lord.

He wondered if it was due to his own strength skyrocketing or just an illusion.

This time, Chen Yuan fought two against one, practically suppressing both demons.

However, overall, the harvest this time was huge.

Currently, he also obtained the essence and blood of the Bull Demon.

Next, there were two paths to continue increasing his strength.

One was to use all the Luck points to continue opening the remaining five pillars.

The second was to allocate a portion to master the second transformation of Demon Nine Transformations.

Chen Yuan's Minds Eye turned, and he quickly made a decision.

While the Demon True Form was profound, the Mountain Carrying Divine Ability was the essence of the Seventy-two Earthly Fiends Divine Abilities, so it was better to fully connect all eight pillars as soon as possible.

Thinking this, Chen Yuan exhaled a long breath, adjusting his breathing.

Immediately following, he kept his spiritual platform clear.

He poured all his Luck points into the progress bars of the fourth hand pillar and the fifth leg pillar in one go.

The next second.

The familiar sensation returned.

He felt that with the accumulation of previous experiences, his pain threshold should have been raised significantly now.

The searing pain from his left hand and left foot told him that he was too naive.

The pain was so intense that he wished he could saw off both his legs.

Moreover, he felt that as more profound apertures and secret Tibetan in his Physical Body's black water were opened, his perception of the outside world became increasingly intense and clear.

It was like a foggy glass being wiped clearer and clearer.

So...

"Hiss."

He gasped sharply in pain.

He could only mechanically watch the progress bar in his mind, increasing little by little.

The fourth hand pillar went from 35%... 79%... to 100%.

Completely opened.

Among them, three profound apertures and secret Tibetan were ignited.

But it wasn't over yet.

The progress of the fifth leg pillar, the left foot, was also rapidly increasing.

About another half an hour passed.

The left foot was also completely opened.

Three lamps continued to light up in his Physical Body.

After another tea's worth of time, the remaining Luck points brought the progress of the right foot to 4%.

Finally, it ended!

The pain receded like a tide.

At this point, Chen Yuan had currently opened his hands, right foot, coccyx, and thoracic spine, a total of five Physical Body strength pillars.

Twenty-four secret Tibetan lamps shone brightly in his Physical Body's black water, providing an endless supply of Qi.

He also discovered that the Dragon at the end of the tail was the most difficult of the eight pillars to open, containing the most profound apertures and secret Tibetan.

Later on, it became much easier.

After continuing to regulate his breathing for a few minutes, Chen Yuan stood up.

But as soon as he took a step forward.

The next second, his expression changed slightly.

I promised to add more chapters for the Liaozhai big shot. There will be one more update later, I'm still writing it, so it might be a bit late, apologies.