Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

Several days later.

In a desolate wilderness where no one was around, Chen Li was getting accustomed to Wind Control Skill flight.

After reaching the master level, the speed of Wind Control Skill flight could visibly increase, and the duration extended considerably. Although it was still much slower than Sword Flight, overtaking it was clearly just a matter of time.

Moreover, one of the biggest advantages of Wind Control Skill flight was that it didn’t affect combat at all during the flight process.

Just this alone made it worthy of Chen Li’s attention.

Chen Li flew lying down, slanted, upside down, and even standing on his head. Occasionally, he would roll non-stop in the air, performing all kinds of maneuvers.

For a Qi Cultivation cultivator in the later stages, flying was an important skill, and it would obviously become even more important as strength increased.

Several times, he fell from mid-air to the ground, tumbling head over heels. Fortunately, he wasn’t flying high, and the ground was soft grassland, so apart from getting covered in mud, he only sustained minor abrasions.

As terrestrial creatures born with a poor sense of space, flying upright was manageable, but once various movements were made, it was... difficult to express the challenge of finding a sense of direction.

While Chen Li was focusing on his flight practice, he was unaware that a pair of sharp eyes was staring intently at him.

This was an Iron Feather Eagle.

A fierce bird of prey.

In its eyes, the prey flapping at low altitude was constantly seducing it. It was so enticed that it itched to dive down immediately.

It circled for a few rounds and observed for a long time before it couldn’t contain itself and swooped down.

"Crack!"

A streak of lightning flashed by.

Like a bolt from the blue.

The Iron Feather Eagle, emitting billowing smoke, plummeted to the ground.

"That gave me a scare, a mere mortal bird daring to treat me as its prey!" Chen Li muttered to himself speechlessly.

He flew down, holding his nose. This fierce bird must weigh twenty or thirty pounds. Its feathers were all burned away, and its body was charred from the electric shock, giving off the stench of burned protein.

"Pop!"

"Pop!"

"Pop!"

"Pop!"

"Pop!"

Chen Li, venting his frustration, repeatedly used Palm Thunder to lash the corpse, his heart still pounding violently.

After five strikes, the pitiful charred body burst into flames with a ’bang’.

After ending this little episode.

He continued practicing Wind Control Skill flight.

He practiced until it was nearly noon.

Only then did he stop, cast a Cleaning Skill on himself to rid his body of dust and mud, and then made his way back with a quick pace, his legs somewhat wobbly from flying for too long.

Pitiful Heaven, at this stage, neither Wind Control Skill flight nor Sword Flight was faster than his ’walking’.

When deliberately traveling a distance as such, he naturally stepped five or six meters with every stride. Even at the pace of an ordinary person walking, he could reach a speed of forty or fifty yards.

His practice in basic swordsmanship was progressing slowly.

Advancing only one or two points each day.

But his strength, physique, and reflexes were continuously improving. Now his pure strength alone had reached two tons.

He could crush a rock as easily as crushing a biscuit.

He could also fall from more than ten meters high without any protection and sustain merely minor abrasions.

His skin and internal organs had become incredibly tough, and his combat reaction speed far surpassed that of an ordinary latter-stage Qi Cultivation cultivator.

It could be said.

Half of his strength lay in Body Refinement.

And the other half, in spellcasting.

But developing such a body truly came with great expenses.

Since Body Refinement, he had never ceased consuming spiritual materials like Demon Beast Meat and Spirit Rice, and his consumption only increased; initially a mere three pounds of Second Order Demon Beast Meat was enough for a day.

Now it had doubled to six pounds.

And that wasn’t even counting other consumptions like Spirit Rice.

With Second Order Demon Beast Meat costing one Low-grade Spirit Stone per pound, just the food alone cost him six or seven Low-grade Spirit Stones each day.

"A poor scholar makes a wealthy warrior," this apparently still held true in the Cultivation World.

...

As Chen Li was almost home.

He noticed the yard door to the house on his right was open.

A young woman cultivator named Sun Yu lived there. She seldom stayed here, only returning occasionally for a few days, and she rarely showed her face. Having lived here for over half a year, Chen Li could count on one hand the number of times he had seen her, and their exchanges were sparse.

As Chen Li passed by the yard door, Sun Yu just happened to come out.

She wore a goose-yellow robe embroidered with a unique red flower at the hem. She looked to be in her early twenties, with her black hair half up and half trailing loosely, exuding a lethargic and seductive charm combined with her slender and delicate figure. Although she was not too beautiful, she emanated the allure of a young woman in every aspect.

"You’re home today, huh?" said Chen Li, greeting her.

"Yes... yes. Fellow Daoist, who are you?" Sun Yu paused, looking puzzled.

"I live next door."

"Oh, you are... Chen, I’m so sorry. I don’t live here often, so I don’t recognize the neighbors," said Sun Yu quickly, with a hint of apology on her face.

"No problem, you’re busy!" Chen Li didn’t mind and said as he opened his own yard door.

...

At mealtime, Chen Li mentioned the neighbor next door to Zhou Hong.

"I’ve heard from neighbors that she’s a seductive demoness from the pleasure quarters, only coming home to stay for a few days," Zhou Hong said while eating, pausing for a moment to glance at him.

What’s with that look?

Chen Li felt helpless, wanting to say he wasn’t that kind of person.

But he didn’t really have a leg to stand on.

After all, the original body had a dubious history.

"Impossible!" Chen Li expressed disbelief, "She seemed quite proper to me."

"That’s what everyone around is saying, it’s not like I’m making this up." Zhou Hong felt inexplicably angry, "These kinds of people are organized. I hear they’re trained from a young age under strict regimens, taught skills to seduce men. When they want to appear decent, of course they can look like respectable ladies. A man like you wouldn’t be able to tell."

"I was just chit-chatting; I wasn’t planning to seek her out," Chen Li said with a laugh.

"If you want to go, then go. When have I ever said anything?" Zhou Hong said, looking away.

The jealousy was about to skyrocket.

"Alright, alright, let’s eat!" Chen Li hurriedly said.

...

After lunch,

Chen Li didn’t go out again.

He studied the volume on the Second Order Invisibility Technique gifted from the ancestor of the Yu Family in his spell creation room.

"This spell... naturally carries a hint of sleaziness."

Peeping, assassination, escape!

Such a Second Order spell is already rare and therefore extremely precious; what added to its value was that this tome was filled with dense annotations. It even listed the spell’s flaws and included a Secret Technique to be used in conjunction with the Invisibility Technique to conceal one’s presence.

Chen Li found that the flaws of the Invisibility Technique were quite significant.

First, the Invisibility Technique is easily disturbed; one cannot use Magic Artifacts or other spells while using it.

Second, the Spiritual Sense of someone at the Foundation Establishment Stage can easily detect the invisibility.

However, despite such flaws, the spell was still extremely practical.

Not being able to use spells and Magic Artifacts did not hinder sneak attacks. Given his physical strength and a Second Order magic sword, even without using Spiritual Power, his attack strength was still formidable. As for being detected by the Spiritual Sense of someone at the Foundation Establishment Stage, as long as he didn’t enter their range of Spiritual Sense, he would be fine.

For instance, when fleeing, once he got out of the range of the Spiritual Sense of a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Stage, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to him.

Moreover, when he levelled up later on, there might be a possibility to compensate for the flaws.

He first studied the accompanying Secret Technique for concealing one’s presence.

The stronger one’s power, the stronger the sense of presence and pressure they gave off, standing out in a crowd like a crane in a flock of chickens, and cultivators were generally perceptive, sensitive to any abnormal aura. Even with the Invisibility Technique, it would be difficult to approach unnoticed.

This Secret Technique allowed for the concealment of Spiritual Power and fluctuations of vital energy, as well as reducing the breathing and heartbeat, lowering one’s presence to become undetectable like a simple rock.

This technique was much simpler than the Invisibility Technique.

Combining breathing, a chant, and some bodily control.

In just half an hour, Chen Li had mastered it.

Especially the bodily control aspects, for him who had already refined his body and viscera, it required no learning, but merely a thought. Reducing his heartbeat? If necessary, he could even make his heart stop.

"Let’s test the effect..."

He stepped out of the spell creation room, his footsteps silent.

In the living room, Zhang Shuniang and Zhou Hong sat together, exchanging private whispers.

"Shu, you’re sixteen this year, right? Have you taken a fancy to anyone?"

"Oh my, Ms. Zhou, why would you ask that? I’m still young, I’ve never thought about these things." Zhang Shuniang’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she replied in a low voice, "My father doesn’t even allow me to go out too far... I’ve hardly met anybody."

"With the way you are, your dad really wouldn’t feel reassured letting you go out. At first glance, you seem like someone easy to bully. Just looking at you makes me want to bully you a bit," Zhou Hong teased, pinching her face with a laugh.

"I’ve always been practicing with Magic Artifacts!" Zhang Shuniang said, her face flushed.

...

The two women looked down, whispering and laughing, occasionally letting out giggles.

Chen Li avoided their gaze, his figure drifting around the room like a ghost, unnoticed by either of them.

Two weak chickens.

No, that’s not right.

One weak chicken, one mediocre chicken.

Seems like there’s not much of a difference.

There was absolutely no sense of achievement.

He shook his head and walked back to the spell creation room to continue researching the Invisibility Technique.

...

After the Evil Wraith incident, Bai had a brief period of revival, but not long after the New Year and the beginning of spring, his complexion worsened and his temperament grew more peculiar.

All it took was a sudden spring chill.

He lay in bed for a few days, and once he finally got better, he had become thinner again, with sunken eyes, looking like someone who had just recovered from a serious illness.

"With your cultivation level, it shouldn’t be like this. Have you been indulging too much?" Chen Li visited Bai Jinwang, jokingly said.

"Ah, stop making such cold remarks. With my constitution, it’s not just three concubines, even if there were more, I’d be able to handle them and wouldn’t ruin my health." Bai Jinwang bragged from his reclining chair, but the vitality he once had was gone, his face etched with defeat: "The reason I’ve come to this is because I’ve been entangled by the Evil Wraith!"

"What!" Chen Li’s expression changed slightly upon hearing this: "How could this happen? Weren’t you supposed to have escaped this disaster?"

"Ordinary Evil Wraiths, sure I escaped, but this one is evidently extraordinary. I had thought I could suppress it, but it looks like I can’t handle it any longer. These past few days, I’ve been having nightmares every night, and in those dreams, it gets closer and closer to me."

"The Evil-Breaking Talisman is useless?"

"With the evil spirit rooted in my soul, what good could an Evil-Breaking Talisman do? Not even Foundation Establishment can save me, alas, it’s all fate." Bai Jinwang said in a resigned tone, "But don’t worry, I won’t drag down our neighbors. In a while, I’ll take a long trip, find a nice place by the mountains and waters, a feng shui treasure land, and end my life there."

"That’s an overstatement, it’s not that serious..." Chen Li felt a similar sense of loss, his expression tinged with sorrow.

Bai Jinwang was only a few years older than him and had a higher level of cultivation.

Yet he couldn’t even ensure a peaceful end.

"After I’m gone, there will be no one to take care of my three concubines. It’s not good for them to stay here for long. If you want them, you can take them away today. I’ve handpicked these three concubines, all daughters from affluent mundane families, hehe!" Bai Jinwang arranged his affairs as if he were on his deathbed and managed to chuckle.

This LSP.

"I’ll pass," Chen Li waved his hand.

What would he want three concubines for?

That many women would only interfere with his cultivation!

"Cough cough, if you don’t want them, then I’ll give them to someone else," Bai Jinwang coughed, "It’s a pity that I won’t leave any descendants in the end. I’m not content with this life."

Chen Li offered some pale words of comfort, seeing Bai Jinwang looking fatigued, he stood up to leave with a heavy heart.

ps: Tomorrow’s update will be 4000 words.