Qi Cultivation Starting from the Repair Panel - Chapter 718 - : 483: derailment (part 2)

Chapter 718: Chapter 483: Derailment (Part 2)

“If you dare come in again without permission, I’ll break your leg.”

After saying this, she no longer spared Chu Zheng a glance, turned around, and walked back into the courtyard, slamming the gate shut with a loud bang.

Chu Zheng lay on the ground, not moving. The searing pain in his side burned fiercely, but he paid it no mind, instead savoring the force behind that kick.

That last kick was much heavier than what he remembered from before.

The crisis brought about by the changes in time and space bore down on him like a heavy millstone, making it hard for him to breathe, and Xue Qing’s warning was little more than a trivial aside, not something he took to heart.

After a while, he quietly got up, dusted off the dirt from his body, the pain in his side making his movements stiff, yet knowing that his bones were intact–Xue Qing must have held back.

He glanced at the tightly closed gate of the courtyard, not thinking much about it, nor did he try to approach it again.

He dragged his pained body back to the corner of the wall, to that chipped, broken bowl, and sat down once more, just like before.

This time, however, he sat a little farther from that courtyard gate.

Creak–

After a while, a faint sound of the door opening was heard.

Chu Zheng’s tightly closed eyelashes fluttered almost imperceptibly, but he didn’t open his eyes.

He knew it was Xue Qing.

Xue Qing didn’t step out; her figure remained hidden in the shadow behind the door.

After standing silently for a moment, she walked out slowly, holding a large coarse porcelain bowl steadily in her hands.

Inside the bowl was steaming white rice, each grain distinct, exuding the unique fresh fragrance of grains.

Xue Qing quickened her pace to Chu Zheng’s side, saying nothing, merely bending slightly to pour the steaming white rice from her hands into the broken bowl.

The white rice piled within the broken bowl like a small mountain, almost overflowing, with two sizzling fried eggs on top.

Not until the door closed again did Chu Zheng open his eyes, taking up the bowl and using his hand as chopsticks, quickly finishing it in a few mouthfuls.

And so he sat, for three months.

Time passed silently and coldly; Chu Zheng sat like the most inconspicuous stubborn stone in the corner of the wall, day after day.

Every morning, Xue Qing would leave, either to practice martial arts or to work, only returning deep into the night.

She continued to place a few buns or a bowl of wontons into Chu Zheng’s broken bowl on her way out and in, though her gaze no longer lingered on him, nor did she spare a single word.

Chu Zheng likewise never spoke a word to Xue Qing again.

He silently accepted the food, silently practiced the Qi-refining technique, carefully concealing his every breath and lowering his presence.

The past now differed slightly from the history known deep in his soul.

Any minor action might trigger an incalculable chain reaction in this altered spacetime; Chu Zheng dared not meddle recklessly.

He could only lower his presence as much as possible, quietly cultivating, waiting for the right moment.

His cultivation speed was still slow, but Chu Zheng was not anxious, methodically absorbing the Sun and Moon Essence, increasing his cultivation.

In the blink of an eye, winter had arrived.

The biting north wind, like a blade, swept through the decrepit streets and alleys.

The sky was leaden and dark; the first heavy snow of winter fell thickly.

The world was bleak and vast, soon covering the dirty yellow earth, concealing the dilapidated houses, and burying Chu Zheng, sitting cross-legged by the wall’s root.

In this killing, bone-chilling snowy night, Chu Zheng sat cross-legged, snow accumulating on him until he was almost part of the wall’s root.

His eyes were tightly closed, his face very rosy, and the white breath from his mouth and nose visible as mist.

Yin Yang Dual Qi circulated within him, and a faint Yuan Qi emerged suddenly from his Dantian, an extraordinary Spiritual Light emanating from within his body, from inside out.

Buzz–

After a hundred days of building foundation, his merit reached perfection. He had once more stepped into the Spirit Transformation Realm, reincarnated, and re-entered the path of cultivation, becoming a true cultivator.

The Spirit Transformation Realm, granting a lifespan of three hundred sixty years, meant he had again stepped onto the path of longevity.

Entering this realm signified that Chu Zheng could now draw Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi into his body, no longer needing to eat earthly grains.

Chu Zheng slowly opened his eyes, his gaze in the swirling snow remaining clear, now with an added serene and restrained luster.

The sense of power from deep within his body was exceedingly abundant; all foundational weaknesses had been thoroughly compensated in this initial life-level leap.

He gently exhaled a long stream of white breath; the breath column condensed and lingered, lasting for several breaths in the cold, harsh wind.

He had grown slightly taller, yet he was still just the image of an eight or nine-year-old child. His previously sunken cheeks were a bit plumper, and his bony thin frame had become much more proportionate and solid, no longer the fragile figure ready to fall at the slightest breeze he once was.

……

……

A few days passed in a flash.

By the end of the twelfth lunar month, the chilling wind was piercing.

Chu Zheng stood up from the wall’s root, shaking off the snow accumulated on him, and in the motion, billowing hot mist rose all over, quickly drying his damp clothing.

He lifted his head, his gaze cast towards the courtyard gate lightly covered with snow, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes.

Midnight had passed now.

According to the routine of these past three-plus months, whatever Xue Qing went to do, she would always return home before midnight.

But tonight was an exception.

Moreover, Xue Qing had been in a rush these past few days; could something have happened?

Chu Zheng felt a bit of doubt in his heart; he did not act rashly, instead sinking his mind into his Dantian, enhancing his five senses to the limit, capturing every subtle change in the cold wind.

In the blink of an eye, two more hours had passed.

The night was dark as ink, the cold penetrating to the bone, even the sparse distant lights extinguished, leaving the entire street in complete silence, save for the wailing sound of the north wind sweeping up the snow.

Rumble–

A sudden rumble like thunder echoed in the wind, resembling heavy hammers striking the earth. The entire ground shook violently; it was the sound of dense hooves!

Dust and snow fell from the wall’s corner, the sound approaching rapidly with astonishing speed.

Chu Zheng’s pupils shrank swiftly; he shot up, his gaze like lightning aimed at the source of the sound at the street’s corner.

In the pitch-black night, over a hundred cavalry shattered the night’s curtain, charging fiercely.

A uniform array of tall, robust steeds, steaming heavily from their mouths and noses.

On the horseback, each figure donned in Profound Armor, the armor shining coldly under the weak skylight, battle sabers heavy at their waists, with the handles’ cords dancing in the jostle.

A palpable, bloodthirsty aura of iron and blood spread out, hooves tramping, stirring up the snow, like the momentum of rolling thunder, reaching Xue Qing’s small courtyard in an instant.

“Halt–”

The leading burly general, with black feathers in his helmet, abruptly reined his horse to a stop, the warhorse rising, its high-pitched neigh echoing.

His icy gaze, like an eagle, locked onto Xue Qing’s low courtyard, his voice booming through the deathly cold night:

“Search, dead or alive, we need to find her!”

“Yes, sir!”

Over a hundred cavalry responded, and a dozen agile Armored Warriors leapt off their horses, rushing silently and swiftly toward the closed courtyard gate like a pack of wolves.

Chu Zheng’s expression shifted slightly, so something had indeed happened to Xue Qing, and she was being pursued by such elite cavalry, she must be in serious trouble.

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Chu Zheng did not act immediately; instead, he initiated the Invisibility Technique with a thought.

After stepping into the Spirit Transformation Realm and gaining initial mastery over Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, he was able to perform the fundamental techniques.

Although he had only initially grasped the basics, it was more than enough to deceive the ordinary human senses.

In an instant, the light around him twisted, and he became extraordinarily light, like a ghost blending into the night wind, hugging the freezing wall’s base, leaving only the faintest of traces in the snow that were swiftly covered by the swirling wind, disappearing without a trace, stepping on snow without a trace.

His focus was on the leading officer, whose aura was the most formidable, clearly a pivotal figure. From him–his actions or words–perhaps Chu Zheng could glean some information.