Chapter 34: Intelligence Update

【Today's Intelligence Updated (Level 1)】

【1. Today you studied Taizu Long Fist and obtained intelligence: Taizu Long Fist was created by the founding emperor of the Former Song. Its moves are foundational and can be called the "Mother of a Hundred Fists." It can be practiced up to the peak of the Ming Jin realm. With your aptitude, you can achieve entry in two days, mastery in one month, proficiency in one year, great success in five years, and perfection in ten years.】

【2. Today you learned about the divisions of martial arts realms from Wu Hong and obtained intelligence: Martial arts is a technique for nourishing blood and qi. As martial realms improve, they can feed back into and enhance combat techniques. Natural treasures, pills, and medicines can accelerate realm advancement.】

【3. Today Ma Liu came to your door to collect debts and you obtained intelligence: Ma Liu has already reported your intention to repay twenty-five taels to San Liu. San Liu does not intend to let you off and has ordered Ma Liu to return in three days to press for the debt!】

【4. Today you saw Uncle Erba and obtained intelligence: Uncle Erba went home to ask Auntie Erba for money. Although Auntie Erba was reluctant, she still produced two taels of silver, which Hu Zi will deliver to you tomorrow.】

【5. Today you passed the foot of the back mountain and obtained intelligence: At 5:00 AM this morning, a thirty-year-old Red-Eyed Golden Pheasant will be injured and fall into Wolf Valley.】

At night, Chen Jie woke from his slumber; today's intelligence had been updated.

Chen Jie read through it from beginning to end and began to analyze it.

First was the Taizu Long Fist he learned today. According to the intelligence, although it was a relatively basic fist technique, it was excellent for building a foundation, and upon reaching perfection, one could reach the peak of the Ming Jin realm.

The peak of Ming Jin—wasn't that the very realm Wu Zhong and Yu Biao were pursuing?

The two stages of Ming Jin were the Skin Stage and the Flesh Stage. Looking at it this way, the "Great Success" stage of Taizu Long Fist should allow one to reach the Skin-Grinding Realm, making one a martial artist. Achieving "Great Success" in five years could break through the Flesh Stage and enter the late Ming Jin realm. By the time he reached "Perfection," he should be approaching the level of An Jin!

Thinking this, Chen Jie felt satisfied. After all, Wu Zhong and Yu Biao were already forty and still stuck at the Skin Stage. Especially Yu Biao—wasn't he currently searching for natural treasures to break through the Flesh Stage and enter the late Ming Jin realm?

With his current practice, he would only need five years to catch up to them. He would be only twenty-three at that time. From this perspective, his aptitude must be very good.

At the very least, it was much better than Wu Zhong and Yu Biao.

He could consider himself somewhat talented.

However, talent was only one part; this world seemed to value resources even more. As seen in the second piece of intelligence, natural treasures, pills, and medicines could accelerate realm advancement.

In other words, bitter training definitely couldn't keep up with popping pills.

This was understandable; after all, it was common knowledge that medicine could assist cultivation.

The third and fourth points concerned Ma Liu's debt collection today and Uncle Erba trying to find ways to raise money for him. Chen Jie would remember this kindness.

As for Ma Liu not intending to let him off, a cold sneer appeared at the corner of Chen Jie's mouth. He wasn't planning on letting him off either!

If it weren't for the fear of implicating the Yunjin sisters, Chen Jie wouldn't have let Ma Liu live through the night.

Finally, the fifth point was what Chen Jie was most concerned about: the Red-Eyed Golden Pheasant. He had never heard of it, but one detail caught his attention: a *thirty-year-old* Red-Eyed Golden Pheasant.

There was a lot of information hidden here. Most birds do not live long, usually only seven or eight years; a normal golden pheasant should die of old age after seven or eight years.

But if a Red-Eyed Golden Pheasant could live for thirty years, there must be something special about it.

An ordinary chicken couldn't live that long.

This meant that this bird was likely a unique natural treasure of this world.

At this thought, Chen Jie was no longer sleepy.

He stood up and circulated the Spring-Nurturing Formula. Having slept for about five hours, he felt fully rested.

Tiptoeing out of bed, seeing no movement from Su Yunjin's room, Chen Jie quietly slipped out to the courtyard.

Time was tight; he couldn't afford even a moment of slackness. It was still too dark to go up the mountain, so he would practice his fist techniques a few rounds first.

To establish a foothold in this world and protect those he wanted to protect, martial strength was indispensable.

Taizu Long Fist, starting stance: Sand-Scooping from the Sea, Lunging Palm Strike...

In the darkness, Chen Jie exerted himself practicing Taizu Long Fist. After two rounds, his body was soaked with sweat. He stripped off his clothes and continued bare-chested. By around the eighth round, Chen Jie's body had reached its limit.

His breathing was heavy and he grew increasingly exhausted; he could no longer continue. But just then, he suddenly remembered that when he was carrying Doctor Bai on the mountain that day, he had also reached his limit, but had been able to persevere after adjusting his breathing technique via the Spring-Nurturing Formula.

With this thought, Chen Jie adjusted his breathing and gritted his teeth to persist.

Although the Spring-Nurturing Formula was powerful, it didn't yield instant results. After adjusting his breathing, Chen Jie realized he could keep going after finishing this round.

He continued to persist, and the longer he persisted, the more he pushed. He practiced endlessly like this, whether it was the twentieth round or the thirtieth.

Suddenly, Chen Jie felt his body grow light. As he continued the Taizu Long Fist, he felt a sense of effortless mastery.

Even more miraculously, when Chen Jie combined the Spring-Nurturing Formula's breathing with the Taizu Long Fist, he found that the power of the fist technique had increased significantly.

This brought Chen Jie great joy.

Sensing the change, Chen Jie remembered he still had his panel, so he summoned his progress panel.

Panel

【Chen Jie】

【Realm: Not yet entered】

【Cultivation Methods: Spring-Nurturing Formula (Entry), Taizu Long Fist (Entry)】

【Evaluation: You are very talented in martial arts, and you have discovered that combining the Spring-Nurturing Formula with Taizu Long Fist yields extraordinary results, leading to rapid strength increases!】

Looking at the panel information.

His realm was still "Not yet entered." Chen Jie wasn't surprised by this, as he guessed the lowest realm recorded by the panel must be "Martial Artist," and he clearly wasn't a martial artist yet, having not even broken through the Skin-Grinding Realm.

However, the cultivation method entry gave him quite a surprise. Using the Spring-Nurturing Formula for both sleeping and practicing these past few days had deepened his understanding of it significantly; it wasn't strange that he had reached the Entry level.

What was strange was that his Taizu Long Fist had also reached the Entry level. The intelligence clearly stated it would take two days to reach entry, yet he had done it in just one night?

This?

Chen Jie was puzzled, but slowly he realized the answer lay with the Spring-Nurturing Formula. According to his initial cultivation, he wouldn't have been able to continue after the eighth round.

Normally, he should have gone to rest at that point, and there was no telling when he would practice again.

But he had used the Spring-Nurturing Formula to adjust his breathing, allowing him to persevere and complete twenty or thirty rounds in one go—finishing two days' worth of training in a single day.

Therefore, reaching the entry level in one night wasn't so inconceivable.

In that sense, the credit belonged to the Spring-Nurturing Formula.

Thinking of this, Chen Jie became interested in this technique. Was this health-preserving method passed down by his grandfather truly just for health preservation?