The Immortal Seeker: Legend of Bronze Mirror-Chapter 20 - 16 Strength Force 2

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Upon returning to the small courtyard and exchanging greetings with Zhou Family, Xu Qing retreated back to his cottage.

He lit an incense, his Divine Soul leaving his body and hiding within the wisps of incense smoke. In this state of Divine Soul, he was less disturbed by emotions. With the incense protecting his Divine Soul, he recited articles.

It was both a way to nourish his spirit and avoid causing any disturbance.

At the same time, it was a tempering of his Divine Soul, gradually adapting it to leaving the physical body.

In doing so, even if his Divine Soul still had weak capabilities of interfering with material things, being able to leave the body to some extent could help him accomplish many things he currently couldn't.

Such as spying on the enemies' secrets.

Of course, the Divine Soul typically needs the nourishment of the physical body.

The incense was merely an auxiliary method.

In the state of his Divine Soul leaving his body, Xu Qing's thoughts became clearer,

"The Guo brothers summarized their intent in two points earlier. They seek progress, and they have grievances with Zhao Xiong, making them trustworthy allies."

Xu Qing could now see that the Guo brothers were Martial Arts Literati, sadly unrecognized by anyone.

Initially, the Guo brothers must have wished to gain Li Gongpu's recognition, but their earlier comments had hints of inclinations; if Xu Qing were to become a Scholar, they would prefer to earn his favor.

"Regardless, when it comes to dealing with the Zhao family, the Guo brothers are useful. Because I can offer them what Zhao Xiong cannot."

In this era, when rising in local influence, the elevation of one person often brings along a host of family members to assist, leaving no place for outsiders.

The relatives of Li Gongpu and Zhou Family were not very close and, being rushed into power and having incurred enmity with Zhao Xiong, he hadn't had the time to arrange for his relatives.

At this moment, Li Gongpu was in greater need of capable individuals.

It was this that the Guo brothers saw and thus drew closer proactively.

In comparison, Xu Qing was actually a better choice, because if Xu Qing rose in position, his own relatives were only Li Gongpu and his wife.

Xu Qing couldn't always remain hidden behind his uncle; he needed to address his own lifespan issues and build his influence as an inevitable process.

He couldn't always handle everything on his own later.

Moreover, detaching from mundane affairs was beneficial for both his studies and Martial Arts Training.

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For the following half-month, Xu Qing continued to immerse himself in studies and Martial Arts Training, undistracted.

During this period, the effects of the Six Flavors Rehmannia Soup on him increasingly dimmed.

Combining the information from the bronze mirror, his understanding of the Crane Form, and through the state of Absolute Focus, Xu Qing experimented with various nutritional recipes he knew.

After testing numerous recipes, Xu Qing found an amusing fact.

The most effective one was a recipe he found in his past life for his girlfriend, called "Four Substances Soup," specifically for nourishing blood and regulating menstruation.

Many common medicinal ingredients in this world were not different from his previous life.

Aside from some mystical and extraordinary aspects, it was essentially akin to the ancient world of his previous life.

However, being an average person in his past life, it was hard to say whether there were mystical and extraordinary things in that world.

The cost of Four Substances Soup was actually lower than that of the Six Flavors Rehmannia Soup, yet surprisingly more effective.

Through Four Substances Soup, Xu Qing accelerated the progress of his slowing Crane Form.

During which he unavoidably consumed a large amount of chicken.

Because relative to other meats, chicken was cost-efficient and rather tasty.

If he were to prepare fish, it would require spices.

In this era, spices were not cheap. For instance, pepper, which was distributed as a part of officials' salary at the founding of the current dynasty.

In Xu Qing's past life, the residence of the Han Dynasty Empress was called Pepper Palace.

Such a prestigious place being named after a spice shows how rare spices were in ancient times.

Of course, the Pepper Palace of the Empress used Sichuan peppercorn mixed with mud to smear on the walls, not black pepper.

Regardless, in this ancient world, flavors were a luxury.

"Although both chickens and cranes are birds, eating chicken could be considered shape supplementation, but if I could, I would rather not eat chicken anymore," Xu Qing sighed inwardly.

By now, he was frankly sick of it.

But, to replenish his nutrients, he had to force himself to eat.

How much he craved beef!

Xu Qing felt his desire for other foods growing intensely.

He forcibly reigned in his thoughts.

This was also a tempering of his Divine Soul.

He had now actually figured out some tricks of Daoist Cultivation.

Calmness is the fundamental skill.

If one can restrain their desires and refine them, the Divine Soul will gain some benefits. On the contrary, if one indulges too much in desires, the Divine Soul will become weak.

Unconsciously, time has reached mid-April.

Xu Qing also took some time to practice with a dagger.

He does not understand the combination of moves for this short blade, but it does not hinder his practice.

The Crane Form significantly enhances the coordination of the limbs, allowing him to be agile and precise, and fierce enough to deal with ordinary villains.

"Probably, the Great Success of Crane Form will occur in these next two days," Xu Qing practiced Crane Form in the yard and suddenly had an epiphany, feeling something in his heart that he couldn't stretch out.

The yard is still too small.

Next to it is a chicken coop.

With his actions in practicing the Crane Form, his flowing sleeves truly gave the impression of a crane standing out among chickens.

Go outside!

It has already entered summer, and the days are starting early.

However, there are not many people by the river outside the small courtyard.

Xu Qing came to the area where he previously dug earthworms with the Zhou family; willows nearby swayed gently, and as he looked, the wide river invigorated him.

He began to cultivate the Crane Form.

As soon as he started, Xu Qing entered the state of "Absolute Focus." The thirty-two fundamental movements of the Crane Form flowed through his mind like flowing clouds and running water.

His body danced delicately.

Every movement was pleasing to the eye, without a hint of delay.

It seemed like the culmination of decades of painstaking effort.

In the state of "Absolute Focus," he broke through the bottleneck of Great Success in Crane Form. His understanding of each movement of the Crane Form was far superior to before.

Unlike the usual use of limbs.

His spine undulated faintly like a dragon or snake, his torso making creaking noises like those of a musical instrument, filled with rhythm.

With the stretching of his spine, his limbs were completely relaxed.

Unknown to him, Xu Qing finished performing the movements of the Crane Form.

He immediately felt, unlike the usual heat generated from his chest and abdomen, this time a sudden surge of heat emerged. His body heated up instantly, almost like turning into a furnace.

His Qi-Blood was racing quicker than usual.

This surge of heat appeared very swiftly.

Xu Qing had not yet harnessed his Divine Soul to control it, and it instinctively dispersed quickly throughout his limbs and bones.

Xu Qing felt his body filling up.

He couldn't help but gather all his strength and explosively threw a punch.

A sudden loud noise emerged from flat ground.

At that moment, Xu Qing felt slightly weakened; he leaned on a nearby willow tree to catch his breath and "observed" the bronze mirror within him.

A Martial Arts assessment of Crane Form appeared:

Crane Form (Incomplete): Great Success (Bright Strength).

"I didn't expect that after achieving Great Success in Crane Form, the assessment still indicates it's incomplete. Could the Breathing Skill be that important? What is the difference between controlling the heat with Divine Soul and the Breathing Skill?" Xu Qing fell into deep thought, unable to find an answer, then focused on "Bright Strength."

He had read many casual books and was familiar with the term Bright Strength.

It's said that a single sound can be worth a thousand gold pieces.

Bright Strength is a rather powerful way of exertion.

The punch he just threw created a noise out of thin air, obviously not simple.

Xu Qing did not rashly use the tree trunk to test his "Bright Strength." Although Crane Form has an effect on Muscle Training, skeletal development is clearly not the main focus of Crane Form, and since he is not yet an adult, his skeleton is still inferior to that of a fully grown man.

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If he were to damage his bones with his fists or feet, wouldn't that be ridiculous?

Injuring muscles and bones takes a hundred days to heal, and he has his county examination in half a month!

"I can't use my fist to test, but I have a dagger."

This dagger is a common blade.

Xu Qing targeted a branch, and after some time to recover, he again entered the state of Absolute Concentration.

The Strength Force of Bright Strength channeled into the dagger.

Chop!

The branch fell straight down, the cut as neat and smooth as a mirror.

Xu Qing felt as if he had cleaved through the gloom lingering before his county examination.

Inside the bronze mirror, under the Qi Fortune section, the persistent trace of dark Qi also disappeared in an instant without a trace.