46: Chapter 46 Leaving

Inside the room, the candlelight flickered, casting a warm yellow glow across the floor and stretching the shadow of the youth sitting at the table. At this moment, the blood-qi within Lin Qing's body suddenly surged to life.

Buzz—

Lin Qing's body jolted, his spine straightening as his clothes billowed slightly despite the lack of wind. A faint crimson mist steamed out, surrounding him in layers that lingered without dissipating. The mist condensed into a pillar of air, swaying amidst the shadows of the candlelight.

Blood-Qi Wolf Smoke!

Countless Martial Artists stuck at the second stage for years find it difficult to take this step in their entire lives. Yet Lin Qing, having just made a Breakthrough to the second stage, had directly condensed Blood-Qi Wolf Smoke the moment he broke through!

Rich, mellow blood-qi circulated through his body, washing over every inch of bone and flesh; every gesture was filled with a sense of power that was saturated to the limit.

His emotions settled, and with a thought, Lin Qing opened the System panel.

[Host: Lin Qing]

Realm: Muscle and Bone Realm (Breakthrough time: 400 days)

Fused Cultivation Techniques: Origin-Returning Body-Refining Stake, Bone-Nourishing Tendon-Adjusting Stake (Expand)

Recorded Cultivation Techniques: Lunar Visualization Method (261/9000), Solar Visualization Method (102/9000), Ningqi Guyuan Stake (5/400), Breath-Settling Foundation-Solidifying Stake (0/400), Body-Stabilizing Qi-Steadying Stake (0/400), Thick Earth Root-Bearing Stake (0/400), Still-Standing Origin-Nourishing Stake (0/400)

Physical Body Control Rating: Yellow Rank Low Grade

Recorded Martial Arts: Mountain-Sinking Bone-Crushing Fist (0/80), Flowing Cloud Wind-Snapping Step (0/80), Falling Wood Wind-Severing Saber (0/80), Plain Shadow Refreshing Heart Sword (0/80), Silk Cloud Soft Palm Form (0/80)

It seemed the second stage for a Martial Artist was called the Muscle and Bone Realm.

Lin Qing then looked at the 400-day Breakthrough duration with a calm expression.

A Breakthrough time of 400 days seemed long, but it was actually calculated based on the techniques he was currently practicing automatically. Once he Cultivated all the third-stage techniques in his possession to Perfection, this Breakthrough time would be significantly shortened.

Closing the panel, Lin Qing restrained the rising crimson blood-qi and began to take stock of the gains from this trip.

First was the money; he previously had nine thousand taels in gold notes, equivalent to ninety thousand taels of silver. The silver notes scavenged from the Monster Hunting Team members this time added up to forty thousand taels.

Ordinary Vicious Beasts often weigh over a thousand catties. For a first-stage Vicious Beast alone, one catty of meat is worth about one tael of silver; just the flesh and blood of a single first-stage Vicious Beast can be sold for the high price of a thousand taels. Besides that, their fur and bones can also be sold. As for second-stage Vicious Beasts, the price would increase tenfold.

That Monster Hunting Team was led by a second-stage Martial Artist, and the others were all above the first stage. They spent years wandering the mountains and forests hunting Vicious Beasts. Excluding their own consumption, saving forty thousand taels of silver was considered quite reasonable.

Adding his remaining funds to what was scavenged from the Monster Hunting Team, Lin Qing's total assets had now reached one hundred and thirty thousand taels.

After counting the money, there was the treasure, earth core milk. After his previous Cultivation consumption, only thirty-odd drops remained. This time, he had collected another seventy or eighty drops in the grotto, bringing the total to one hundred and ten drops.

This was already more than the total Sun Shaoping had originally given him, and it should be enough to support him until he left the Xia Kingdom.

Finally, there were the new treasures obtained on this trip.

Dozens of porcelain bottles of various sizes were placed on the table, their mouths sealed. The bottles were filled with a mysterious liquid that was black as ink and thick in texture, with a dull luster and a slightly cool touch. Summing up all the bottles, the total amount of liquid was roughly eight or nine hundred drops.

According to the Monster Hunting Team leader's speculation, this substance was a precious medicine specifically for tempering the Physical Body.

He took the smallest jade bottle, tilted it slightly, and let a single drop of the black liquid—about the size of a grain of rice—fall into his mouth.

As the medicinal liquid entered his throat, a warm sensation spread through his body. His flesh, muscles, and bones all felt a wave of tingling and itching, as if countless tiny currents of air were washing over his tissues and polishing his bones.

After taking the liquid, Lin Qing stood up, sank into a horse stance, and practiced the Ningqi Guyuan Stake once.

An incense stick's time later, he finished the practice and opened the panel.

The progress of the Ningqi Guyuan Stake on the panel had only increased by 1 point. This black liquid indeed had no effect on increasing the proficiency of Cultivation Techniques.

Lin Qing stopped dwelling on it, performed a simple wash to remove the dust of travel, and fell into a deep sleep.

The night was quiet, and the medicinal power continued to flow slowly through his body, continuing the tempering process.

At dawn the next day, the sky lightened slightly.

That warm, tingling sensation still existed as the gentle medicinal power continued to nourish his Physical Body. It wasn't until the morning when everyone packed their gear and set out that the tingling sensation completely vanished.

The duration of this black liquid's medicinal effect was approximately six double-hours.

During the return journey over the next few days, Lin Qing maintained a frequency of taking the black liquid once every six double-hours. After three consecutive days of regular consumption, he finally figured out the true effect of this black liquid from the changes in the System panel data.

On the panel, the original 400-day Breakthrough duration had decreased to 388 days. This black liquid had increased his technique tempering efficiency by four times.

Lin Qing officially named this black liquid—body quenching milk.

In the twenty days after returning to the city, Lin Qing began to bitterly Cultivate his third-stage Cultivation Techniques. After consuming forty drops of earth core milk, he pushed all the techniques to the Realm of Perfection.

The Breakthrough time on the System panel refreshed again, dropping to 120 days.

Regrettably, after he brought all the third-stage techniques to Perfection, the medicinal effect of the body quenching milk also experienced a decline, just like the earth core milk, leaving only a threefold increase.

Previously, he was running second-stage and lower techniques, so the body quenching milk's bonus could reach four times. Now that his internal techniques had reached the third-stage level, the bonus of the body quenching milk dropped to three times.

Although the effect of the body quenching milk had weakened, his Breakthrough time had also shortened. If he had relied on second-stage techniques to break through to the third stage, the total time would have been 400 days; with the boost from body quenching milk, it would have consumed two hundred drops of body quenching milk to shorten the time to 100 days.

Now that the third-stage techniques were mastered, he only needed to consume eighty more drops of body quenching milk to achieve a Breakthrough in forty days.

But reaching Perfection in third-stage techniques brought back that headache-inducing problem. His current consumption of Vicious Beast meat was ten catties of third-stage meat per day.

Even relying on the discounted prices provided by the Wang family, the daily expense for buying Vicious Beast meat reached one thousand five hundred taels.

With this rate of burning money, even with a net worth of one hundred and thirty thousand taels, he couldn't afford long-term extravagance.

As for higher-level fourth-stage Vicious Beast meat, there were almost no civilian purchase channels. The cold storage of the Zhenwu Division did have some stock of fourth-stage Vicious Beast meat, which was obtained by Chiliarch Qin Cang leading a team to hunt in the past.

But Lin Qing never entertained the thought of exchanging for it.

Time flowed on, and the seasons changed.

In late December, the wedding day of Ye Lingchuan and Wang Qingwan arrived as scheduled.

The wedding banquet was held at Yunqi Tower with grand pomp. Guests filled the hall as aristocratic families within the county, Jianghu Martial Artists, and Qingxuan Sect Elders and Disciples all arrived to offer their congratulations, making for an extraordinarily lively scene.

Lin Qing prepared a congratulatory gift worth over a thousand taels and attended the banquet low-key.

Meeting Wang Qingwan again after several months, the woman who was once immersed in the pain of losing her brother, her eyes haggard and sorrowful, had already walked out of the haze. In the ups and downs of life, through sorrow and joy, one must ultimately look forward.

With her emotional wounds healed and a good marriage warming her heart, after just a few months of settling, Wang Qingwan's state of mind had not only become clear and open, but her martial cultivation had also successfully broken into the third stage, fully revealing her talent and blossoming once more.

With Ye Lingchuan backing them, the Wang family had completely escaped their previous decline and was flourishing, already surpassing their former scale.

And Ye Lingchuan was indeed a person worth entrusting with one's life. Just based on how he immediately returned to Qingyang County after breaking through to the fourth stage to bring his family to the county city to settle down, one could see his filial piety. To establish oneself in the world, filial piety comes first; the character of someone who values relationships and filial piety is certainly not bad.

As the new year began, plants began to sprout, and the spring breeze blew through Yunlan County, dispersing the biting cold.

This year, Lin Qing turned sixteen.

The spring morning light was gentle, falling upon the gates of the Zhenwu Division. Lin Qing walked straight to the clerical office, took up a brush, and neatly wrote out a letter of resignation.

His half-year career in the Zhenwu Division came to a complete close here.

After handing over all official duties and canceling his rank and identity within the division, Lin Qing took stock of his entire fortune.

He had less than seventy thousand taels in silver notes left. He spent another twenty-five thousand taels to buy one hundred third-stage qi-blood pills and customized a sealed iron box to store the qi-blood pills, body quenching milk, and earth core milk.

Having packed his bags, Lin Qing stepped out past the heavy bluestone walls of Yunlan County. Outside the city, the spring breeze was vast, the wilderness was expansive, and the ten-thousand-mile sky was clear and bright.

The youth flipped onto his horse and lightly tugged the reins.

Clop, clop—

The crisp sound of horse hooves shattered the morning light as man and horse traveled alone, slowly moving away from the bustling and lively Yunlan County.

Half a year ago, he had entered this city alone; half a year later, he departed alone once more.