Volume 1, Chapter 23 – Advancement

Yesterday, when Shi Feng was being punished, he had looked so relaxed that his strength was clearly anything but ordinary. And in the system’s virtual space, Shi Lan hadn’t even been able to see his movements clearly before she was cut down by him.

Shi Feng’s strength had clearly already surpassed the scope of the Body Tempering Realm.

Shi Feng hesitated slightly, then nodded. “I do indeed only have the strength of the Innate Realm.”

“Then can you take me up into the sky?” Shi Lan asked expectantly. After seeing Lu Yueqing flying on her artifact with such grace, she had also developed the urge to go up and have a look at the sky.

Right now she was only at the first stage of the Body Tempering Realm, with the Innate Realm a distant dream. If she wanted to go up into the sky, she could only think of some other way.

“If Young Master wants to go up into the sky, that is, of course, possible. But you are still under confinement by the family head. Once the confinement period is over, I’ll take you up there, how about that?”

Shi Lan nodded, a little disappointed.

After Shi Feng left, Shi Lan continued cultivating the Jade Tempering Art.

In the blink of an eye, dusk fell. Other than Zique bringing medicinal food once, no one else came by.

Shi Lan put the last strand of ginseng beard into her mouth and smacked her lips. A faint, almost imperceptible warmth surged up and vanished in an instant.

Ever since she stepped into the first stage of the Body Tempering Realm, the effect of this blood ginseng had visibly weakened. Even after eating half a root, it only boosted her strength a little; the effect was far less obvious than before.

After finishing the evening’s medicinal meal, Shi Lan went through the Vajra Divine Fist once more. Then, after bathing and changing clothes, she lay down on the bed, and her consciousness once again entered the system’s virtual space.

Nearly an hour after Shi Lan lay down.

With a faint, almost inaudible click, the door lock slowly slid open.

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Shi Feng pushed the door open and entered, his footsteps soundless as he walked to the bedside. He extended a finger and lightly tapped Shi Lan’s right shoulder, sending a wisp of Innate true qi probing into her body.

He still couldn’t set his mind at ease, worried that Shi Lan’s weak body might not be able to handle the tonic.

After a round of examination and receiving feedback from his true qi, Shi Feng’s eyes were filled with disbelief.

Not only were there no hidden problems in Shi Lan’s body, it was actually strong to an unbelievable degree.

That day when Shi Lan had fainted while practicing in the courtyard, when he had worked her meridians and circulated her blood for her, she had clearly still been an ordinary woman without the strength to truss a chicken.

It had only been a few days, and yet Shi Lan’s physique had already surpassed that of an ordinary martial artist at the first stage of the Body Tempering Realm. This rate of growth was simply too astonishing.

Shi Feng’s own talent could be called outstanding, yet back when he first trained in the martial path, it had still taken him nearly a month to go from a Mortal to a martial artist—and that was when he was only eight, right in the golden age for cultivating the Martial Dao.

But Shi Lan was now nearly twenty, her bones long since set. Training in the martial path at her age was far more difficult than in youth—how could her improvement be this shocking?

Shi Feng withdrew his Innate true qi and glanced at the desk. When he saw that the remaining half piece of blood ginseng was gone as well, he couldn’t help but frown in puzzlement, utterly unable to figure it out.

A hundred-year blood ginseng could indeed allow an ordinary person to become a martial artist, but how had Shi Lan perfectly absorbed this medicinal power in just a few days and turned it into her own strength?

No matter how he turned it over in his mind, Shi Feng couldn’t grasp the reason. He slowly left the room. Whatever the case, Shi Lan’s increase in strength was, in the end, a good thing.

……

After leaving the room, Shi Feng went straight out of the courtyard and to Shi Tianlu’s quarters, where he recounted Shi Lan’s changes in full detail.

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After a long silence, Shi Tianlu took out the key to the residence’s storeroom and handed it to Shi Feng. “Whatever herbs Aran needs, take them yourself from the storeroom. Keep a close eye on her. If anything unusual happens with her body, inform me at once.”

Shi Feng accepted the order and went off.

……

The next morning at dawn, just as Shi Lan got up and opened the door, she found Shi Feng standing there, a large bundle in hand.

“When did you get here? Come in and talk.”

“Just got here,” Shi Feng replied. He walked into the room and set the bundle down on the desk.

He untied the bundle. Inside were over a dozen wooden boxes of various sizes stacked in layers.

“This is Bloodnet Fruit.”

“This is Golden Sun Grass.”

“Red Star Vine.”

……

Shi Feng opened the boxes one by one, briefly introducing their names. He’d originally intended to explain the exact dosage for each, but when he remembered the bite marks on the blood ginseng from before, he fell silent.

Shi Lan stared fervently at the various spiritual fruits on the table. Suddenly, as if something occurred to her, her expression changed slightly and she asked with some hesitation, “Shi Feng, how much do these cost?”

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Her monthly allowance wasn’t so little as to be called poor, but she was far from wealthy either. Judging from Shi Feng’s reaction yesterday, these definitely weren’t cheap.

“No need to worry. These herbs aren’t worth much; they don’t cost many silver taels.”

“How could that be? Didn’t you say yesterday…”

“Young Master has misunderstood me. These herbs may not be radishes, but… they’re not much different from radishes. They’re not worth much at all.” Shi Feng lied through his teeth.

Shi Feng knew where things stood. From what Shi Lan had said yesterday, it was obvious she had no concept of the actual value of these herbs; he could fool her with a few words.

With her pitiful savings, she probably couldn’t afford even a single one of these dozen-plus herbs.

“Really?” Shi Lan was half convinced, half doubtful.

“Really.” Shi Feng nodded with a serious expression.

Seeing no flaw in his expression, Shi Lan thought it over. If these herbs were truly that valuable, there was no way a mere guard like Shi Feng could have gotten them.

Shi Feng was just a guard; he probably didn’t have much money to his name either.

“Thank you, Shi Feng.”

“Young Master need not thank me.”

Shi Lan shook her head and said solemnly, “When I’m living the high life in the future, I won’t forget you.”

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“Er… thank you, Young Master.” Shi Feng felt a little strange. Coming from Shi Lan’s mouth, why did those words sound so odd to him?

“You can’t eat too many of these herbs at once. At most… take a small bite.” As he was heading out, Shi Feng saw Shi Lan grab a Bloodnet Fruit, wipe it with her sleeve, and bring it to her mouth, and couldn’t help reminding her.

He’d figured it out by now—there was an eighty percent chance Shi Lan was still going to just bite straight into them.

……

Over the next few days, Shi Lan didn’t step a foot outside. By day she buried herself in cultivation; by night she entered the system’s virtual space to hone her combat skills. A full twelve shichen a day—she was basically going around the clock.

In the blink of an eye, seven days passed.

Inside the virtual space……

Shi Lan stomped hard on the ground, her bones and muscles stretching open as all her strength gathered into a single point. Her fist hammered into the chest of the mirror image before her!

“Crack——”

A crisp crack of breaking bone rang out as a nearly inch-deep fist mark appeared on the mirror image’s chest. It staggered back more than ten steps before finally collapsing to the ground and slowly dissipating.

Shi Lan slowly drew back her stance and let out a long breath. From being at a disadvantage, to barely holding her own, to now defeating it—she could already kill the mirror image within thirty moves!

That was no small improvement.