Chapter 68 - 66: Cultivation Method
He came from a different direction, and he didn’t bring Bai with him.
"Zhao, sometimes I truly envy you."
Arriving at the riverbank, Wen Shulin looked at Jiang Zuo and the large black dog lying at his side, then suddenly sighed.
"What’s there to envy about a solitary man like me? You could have this life too, if you wanted."
Jiang Zuo glanced at Wen Shulin.
In the past two months, this was the first time Wen Shulin had visited.
’Could he have this life too?’
Wen Shulin seemed to drift off for a moment, then said to Jiang Zuo, "Zhao, I’ve come to say goodbye. I’ll be leaving Lizhou soon. I don’t know what year it will be when I return."
"These past few years, the most peaceful moments I’ve had were here by this river. Though you never said it outright, Zhao, you’ve taught me a great deal. I have no way to repay you and can only keep your kindness in my heart."
After speaking, Wen Shulin gave Jiang Zuo a deep bow and then turned to leave.
Although he only visited occasionally, Wen Shulin had been coming here for so many years that he had long since realized Jiang Zuo was no ordinary person.
Beyond the promise to keep it in his heart, there was truly nothing he could do to repay Jiang Zuo.
’It seems the Wen Family was hit hard by this incident.’
Jiang Zuo thought to himself as he watched Wen Shulin’s departing figure.
After that day, he hadn’t paid any more attention to the matter.
But with Wen Shulin and Zhuang Ruying not having visited for two months, it didn’t take much to guess that both their families had been drawn into the incident.
However, Jiang Zuo didn’t plan to intervene. He had no real connection to the two families; he only knew Wen Shulin and Zhuang Ruying.
Their family situations would likely worsen, and in the end, they might have to go their separate ways for the sake of their families.
But all good things must come to an end. They had their own lives to live, and it wasn’t as if they were going to die. Jiang Zuo had no intention of interfering.
It was as if Wen Shulin and Zhuang Ruying had planned it.
A little over two hours after Wen Shulin left, Zhuang Ruying also came to the riverbank alone.
"Zhao, looks like my timing is perfect. I can still freeload a meal from you."
Zhuang Ruying said with a smile.
"Miss Zhuang, are you leaving too?"
Jiang Zuo glanced at Zhuang Ruying.
This strong-willed young woman wasn’t as happy as her smile suggested.
"Yes. I’m the eldest daughter. I have to go."
Zhuang Ruying nodded.
Then she walked over to Great Black and stroked his smooth fur. "Great Black, Bai wanted you before, but you didn’t take the chance. Look at you now. Even if you have regrets, it’s too late. Bai is leaving with me, and you’ll never see her again."
"WOOF WOOF!"
Great Black gave a lazy reply, as if to say he really didn’t care.
Jiang Zuo’s dinner tonight was simple: Mapo Tofu and Braised Fish.
Zhuang Ruying ate in small bites, and tears soon welled up in the corners of her eyes. "It’s so spicy, Zhao! You used too many peppers today!"
"Not too many. It’s just right."
Jiang Zuo replied calmly.
"It really is just right. I’ve never had such delicious tofu."
"Zhao, you have to live a long life. When I come back in the future, I still want to eat your cooking."
Zhuang Ruying wandered around the area as if taking a final, fleeting look, reminiscing about the past.
As the sky grew dark, she finally gave Jiang Zuo a deep bow and departed in silence.
From beginning to end, Jiang Zuo said nothing.
Since he had already decided not to interfere, saying more would be pointless.
Their emotional departures didn’t affect Jiang Zuo. In the days that followed, he continued his routine of practicing martial arts, raising fish, and grinding skill experience.
It was a month later when he next heard news of the two.
It wasn’t that Jiang Zuo had intentionally sought it out. Rather, Wen Shulin, Zhuang Ruying, the Zhuang Family, and the Wen Family had recently become the subject of much gossip.
In the previous incident, the Wen Family and the Zhuang Family were inevitably implicated due to their significant ties to both Fangxiang Mountain and the Xu Family.
Two of Wen Shulin’s very promising older brothers had died at the hands of Fangxiang Mountain. The rest, including Wen Clan Members who already held official posts, were implicated in the incident.
Under strict investigation, numerous problems were uncovered.
Although it didn’t go as far as confiscating their property and exterminating their clan, their futures were utterly ruined.
Overnight, a scholarly family with a deep heritage was now on the verge of collapse.
At this moment, someone extended an olive branch to the Wen Family—or more precisely, to Wen Shulin—offering to protect his career from the fallout of the incident.
The condition was a marriage alliance with Wen Shulin.
The Wen Family clutched at this lifeline, trying every method to persuade Wen Shulin to agree.
Wen Shulin and Zhuang Ruying had long been engaged. Although it wasn’t widely publicized, everyone in Lizhou City who knew them was aware of it.
But the Zhuang Family’s situation was even more severe than the Wen Family’s.
Zhuang Ruying’s father and several clan elders had all been killed by Fangxiang Mountain after attending his academy’s opening ceremony.
Subsequently, they were also implicated in the incident. The Zhuang Family had more than half of their assets confiscated, and within a single month, their businesses lost ninety percent of their value.
Among the younger generation of Lizhou, Zhuang Ruying was arguably one of the most outstanding individuals.
She was beautiful and highly educated. At a young age, she had already shown impressive performance in the Zhuang Family’s businesses, making her an ideal candidate to be the matriarch of a household.
There was no shortage of people who had their eyes on Zhuang Ruying. However, because the Zhuang and Wen families had a good relationship and she was very likely to marry Wen Shulin, no one wanted to court rejection.
Now that both families had fallen on hard times, someone quickly offered to rescue the Zhuang Family from their plight, on the condition that Zhuang Ruying marry into their family.
Given the state of the Wen and Zhuang families, the annulment of their engagement seemed inevitable.
But no one expected that one night, Wen Shulin and Zhuang Ruying would secretly elope.
Both the Wen and Zhuang families frantically searched for the pair.
But Lizhou was in a state of chaos, and both families had been severely weakened. Finding people was not so easy.
However, to everyone’s surprise, Wen Shulin and Zhuang Ruying suddenly returned to their respective homes, seemingly having given up on their elopement.
But after this incident, their reputations were ruined. The prospective marriage alliances for both families were simultaneously canceled.
What fate awaited the Wen and Zhuang families now, no one knew.
’They actually dared to elope?’
Jiang Zuo was a little surprised when he heard the news.
The two of them had once been very much like him—people who couldn’t let go of their responsibilities. Jiang Zuo had thought they would never take such a step.
But in the end, they seemed to have given up. He didn’t know the reason, or perhaps they had other plans.
But as for what happened afterward, Jiang Zuo had no way of knowing.
In the end, Wen Shulin and Zhuang Ruying left Lizhou, one after the other.
...
Jiang Zuo continued to temper his bones with his qi and blood.
After nearly three months of continuously circulating his qi and blood, Jiang Zuo felt that his bones had been tempered to their absolute limit; he could make no further progress.
The sign of reaching Great Success in Bone Refining is having "bones like iron."
This was actually an exaggeration, as very few Martial Artists could temper their bones to such a state.
But Jiang Zuo could clearly feel that his bones were much harder than iron.
Upon reaching Great Success in Bone Refining, Jiang Zuo’s stats increased significantly again.
Strength increased by 80 points, Physique by 60, and agility by 40.
Gaining so many points on top of his already high stats showed just how immense the improvement from achieving Great Success in Bone Refining was.
After Bone Refining comes Blood Exchange.
For most Martial Artists, Blood Exchange is an extremely difficult threshold to cross.
Blood Exchange isn’t about literally swapping out all the blood in one’s body, but rather refining it so that it can bear even greater power.
And refining one’s blood is undoubtedly very difficult.
Especially without a good Cultivation Technique, one can only rely on the most primitive methods of stimulation with medicinal drugs.
Using this method, one would have to be lucky to succeed in their Cultivation.
But with the Blood God Skill, Blood Exchange posed no difficulty at all.
Although the Blood Exchange realm was difficult to train, its improvement to a Martial Artist’s power wasn’t enormous.
It was, more importantly, the foundation and the hope for opening the Five Viscera Qi Veins.
The sign of Great Success in Blood Exchange is having "blood like mercury." After succeeding in this Cultivation, one’s blood becomes visibly much thicker.
The time Jiang Zuo needed to achieve Great Success in Blood Exchange was much shorter than it took for Bone Refining.
He reached Great Success in just over a month.
The Cultivation time was short, and the stat gains weren’t that significant either.
Strength 40 points, Physique 30 points, agility 20 points.
The increase was even less than that from Muscle Training.
However, for an ordinary Martial Artist, Blood Exchange was still far more powerful than Bone Refining.
After the Blood Exchange realm, a Martial Artist’s recovery ability is greatly enhanced, giving them much greater combat endurance than a Bone Refining Martial Artist.
’Next is Meridian Passage. By opening the Five Viscera Qi Veins and forming a great circulation, it’s possible to cultivate Inner Breath and become an Inner Breath Grandmaster.’
Jiang Zuo looked at the Cultivation Technique for Meridian Passage in the Blood God Skill.
Compared to Blood Exchange, the difficulty of cultivating Meridian Passage skyrocketed.
Blood Exchange could still be stimulated by drugs, but when it came to Meridian Passage, ordinary medicines were basically useless. One could only rely on a Cultivation Technique.
’Meridian Passage is like carving a path through a mountain inside your body. The consumption of qi and blood is enormous. Normally, you can only rely on slow, patient work to make progress.’
’But with enough qi and blood, Meridian Passage is actually the fastest stage in the Cultivation of the Blood God Skill. No wonder Fangxiang Mountain was able to open his Five Viscera Qi Veins in just two hours.’
’However, the truly terrifying part is breaking through to the Inner Breath stage.’
’Inner Breath is born within the Five Viscera Qi Veins. When one’s foundation is deep enough, Inner Breath will appear naturally within the Qi Veins.’
’But that’s the ideal state, which basically no one can achieve.’
’Most Cultivation Techniques involve circulating the technique and launching an assault within the Five Viscera Qi Veins, like drilling wood to make a fire. If you’re lucky, a spark will be born.’
’But if the attempt fails, it will cause irreparable damage to the Five Viscera Qi Veins. After several fruitless attempts, one’s hopes of reaching the Grandmaster Realm in this lifetime are dashed.’
’The Blood God Skill, however, has an unparalleled advantage in breaking through to Inner Breath. It allows one’s qi and blood to protect the Five Viscera Qi Veins. At the same time, the technique circulates qi and blood itself, minimizing the damage to the Five Viscera Qi Veins.’
’Just like the previous realms, as long as there is enough qi and blood, breaking through to Inner Breath won’t even take too long.’
’But the amount of qi and blood consumed in this process is terrifying. Especially for those who have advanced by absorbing the qi and blood of others, the required amount increases several times over.’
’No wonder Fangxiang Mountain and Xu Wuan planned to slaughter Lizhou City. Without doing so, even with the Blood God Skill, it would have been difficult for them to break through to Inner Breath.’
’And it’s no wonder the Daze Dynasty, despite possessing the Blood God Skill, hasn’t mass-produced Inner Breath Grandmasters.’
After carefully studying the Cultivation Technique for the final two major realms of the Blood God Skill, Jiang Zuo couldn’t help but shake his head.