Problems Knock The Door (3)

When leaving the meeting room, Long Ming noticed Wu Yuying nearby, looking at him with surprise and curiosity. Without much thought, he walked towards her, and when they were close enough, she asked him, with obvious curiosity in her tone and expression, "So? Why did they summon you?"

"Oh? Are you worried about me?" he questioned provocatively.

"I'm just curious, nothing more!" she replied hastily, her face flushing with embarrassment. Long Ming smirked mockingly at this but soon casually explained the reason.

"So, you went out to buy the gifts? When did you talk to my mother?" Wu Yuying listened attentively to his explanation but soon became quite doubtful.

"In fact, I lied. I went to the city just to explore a bit, listen to other people's conversations, buy things... oh! And I also wanted to check out the Qin Yuan auction that you mentioned," he replied nonchalantly, confessing that he had lied to the elders.

"Uh? Then what about those gifts? Did you lie about choosing them with my mother?" she asked shocked. Long Ming was surprised by how startled Wu Yuying was to find out that he lied. At that moment, he realized that perhaps she was an innocent and honest girl, the kind that would never lie to the elders.

"I didn't lie about your mother's contribution, but that only happened when she told me they might be upset with me for leaving without their permission. And those gifts were things I had bought for myself, but... well, I decided to donate them to avoid complications. By the way, could you thank her for the advice? The elders seemed to really like those gifts," as he spoke, Long Ming noticed Wu Yuying's judgmental look, but decided to ignore it.

"Anyway, I want to put these things in my room and take a shower. We'll talk later," he said, bidding her farewell and doing exactly as he had said.

"Okay, when you're done, meet me by that cherry blossom tree to talk!" she said as she watched him walk away. Long Ming nodded in agreement and continued on his way.

As he walked, Long Ming was immersed in his thoughts, reflecting on what he should do, especially after leaving that city. Currently, his main focus was on getting stronger, but he didn't know how to do that.

The most obvious way to get stronger was by progressing on the path of cultivation. However, currently, he needed a method to reach the Qi Gathering Realm, so advancing was a medium-term plan for now. He could also develop his skills, especially in combat, but there was a limit to how much training could help, so real experiences were necessary to effectively develop his skills. And the last way Long Ming could think of was by developing other manuals, such as those for defense, attack, and even movement. But this required time and resources for study and experiments.

"Hmm, it seems that creating a manual is indeed the most efficient way in the short term," he concluded after some time. Long Ming had obtained many manuals in that tomb that could help him create his own techniques and manuals. Especially for his twin blade, as he doubted he could find any specific manuals for it. Furthermore, he had already acquired plenty of manuals and techniques from that tomb, which could serve as resources to develop his own. This was something he had been doing for some time now, developing a specific footwork for himself.

"Ah, there's also that tournament happening in a week. Even if I don't get any of the rewards, it could still serve as an experience," Long Ming suddenly thought, for some reason, the faces of those two feuding relatives came to his mind at that moment.

With this small plan in mind, he soon reached his room and stored his purchases. More precisely, he put everything in his spatial ring. Of course, he could have done this at any time, but he feared someone discovering that he had a spatial ring, especially because he doubted if someone was spying on him from a distance. And as he was inside the residence, he couldn't camouflage his movements as he had done before.

Anyway, after storing everything in his spatial ring, he walked to that garden.

Shortly after, he reached the garden, noticing Wu Yuying sitting on a chair while drinking tea and eating a baozi. Upon seeing him, she waved for him to approach and offered him a cup of tea and another baozi, which Long Ming gladly accepted.

"Hmm~, this tea is really good, where did you get it?" he asked after taking a sip of the tea, savoring its flavor. It was a smooth tea but with a very distinct and tasty flavor, besides, he felt more energized after drinking it, as if it had mystical properties.

"It's a tea made from blue-green spiritual herb, it has a powerful combination of the positive properties of water Qi and wood Qi. This results in very powerful medicinal properties," she explained excitedly and proudly.

"Incredible, but I bet the care and the way this herb was cultivated were also very important, right?" he questioned astutely, noticing how happy she seemed with his praise.

"Of course, of course. Not everyone can cultivate a blue-green spiritual herb with this quality. Believe it or not, I cultivated it myself, so I guarantee it has superior quality compared to others," she announced proudly and joyfully. Wu Yuying had a lot of interest and passion for tea, especially herb cultivation. Because of this, she persuaded her father to hire a teacher and buy various spiritual herbs so that she could cultivate them. To her surprise, she seemed quite talented in this task, to the point that she currently produced much of the tea consumed by the elders and her parents.

"But, forget about that. Come on, tell me how your outing went," she said modestly, as if she didn't think her skill was noteworthy, and began asking about Long Ming's day.

Realizing this, he began narrating his walk around the city. He also told her about the feud between the Fei family relatives.

"Fei Lu managed to make Fei Ling retreat with one punch?!" Wu Yuying exclaimed in surprise.

"That's right. By the way, do you know anything about him?" Long Ming asked, for some reason quite curious about this Fei Lu. The fact that he had suffered a serious injury during a fight and now, suddenly, had recovered all his cultivation (and even advanced further) was very suspicious and intriguing, making him suspect that there might be some grand secret involved.

"Of course, we were childhood friends. Although we drifted apart after the accident he had..." she then began to recount what she knew about Fei Lu's life.

Son of the Fei family patriarch with an unknown woman, Fei Lu had a considerably comfortable life. However, at the age of six, when all children began cultivating, he showed great talent for cultivation and in a few years, at the age of fifteen, he reached the peak stage of the Body Tempering Realm, which was shocking and exciting for the whole family. However, during a sparring session with another family member, he broke his spine, and even though he managed to regain mobility in his body, it was still not enough to continue cultivating.

After this event, he began to be neglected by his family members. However, apparently, he managed to recover his cultivation and advance even further.

Long Ming was initially interested in

 his story, but soon lost interest. The story of someone who seemed promising but had their future interrupted by an accident or the envy of others was nothing new in that world. Long Ming had heard countless people with similar stories, so apparently Fei Lu was not special.

"Maybe he had some fortuitous encounter..." he reflected inwardly but decided to forget about this matter for now. So, Long Ming changed the subject and began asking about combat, cultivation, and related topics to Wu Yuying.

Long Ming learned many things from this conversation, especially about the Wu family's past. When the sun began to set, Long Ming then bid farewell and went to the guest area.

When he arrived, he took his twin blade from the spatial ring, inside his house, and returned to the residence's courtyard where he began training.

He tried to remember the contents of all the martial arts books he had read and began to try to replicate some sword and spear techniques.

"Technique of Multiple Thrusts"

"Body Splitting Technique"

"Unsheathing Technique"

"...", he performed several techniques he had read, especially those contained in the books of the Azure Swordsman's tomb. At first, his movements were stiff and inefficient, but he gradually improved until he began to adjust and adapt these techniques to his twin blade.

After two hours, his movements became fluid and precise, with no interruptions or irregularities in his movements and strikes. As if it were an uninterrupted dance, albeit extremely deadly.

He continued training for another hour before stopping, his whole body sweating profusely, and his breathing extremely labored, yet he had a satisfied expression on his face.

"Really, maybe it's possible to create a twin blade art," he murmured happily. Of course, he was still far from creating a 'twin blade art', but he felt he was getting used to it.

Interestingly, until that moment, Long Ming had never seriously trained with his twin blade. At first, it was because he was just getting used to it, so it wasn't possible to try to create something more advanced like techniques. And in his days in that village, he still hadn't recovered enough to do a very serious training, so he prioritized his footwork, as it was something that didn't require much of him.

However, even after leaving Cui Shi, he didn't put much effort into this matter; because he was more focused on his journey and on keeping Gao Ting safe. Therefore, that stay was the only place where he felt safe enough to train until completely exhausted.

"Ahem, young master Long Ming, here is your dinner," at that moment an unfamiliar voice sounded behind him. He turned curiously and noticed a woman with her head down and a tray of food in her hands.

On the tray was a modest wooden bowl filled with a liquid that seemed to be soup.

"Really? Thank you," Long Ming said without much thought, taking the bowl and sipping it calmly.

"Hmm, this soup is very good... huh? Where did she go?" Long Ming began to praise the soup after taking a sip, but to his surprise, the woman had disappeared.

"...oh well, I guess..." he decided not to think too much about it and returned to his room.

After entering, he stored his twin blade and sat on his bed, then began to finish the soup. However, as he was about to finish it all, he had a sudden urge to practice his Resonance with Heaven and Earth manual.

'All comes from one,

One comes from all...'

He began to recite his mantra for a few seconds before feeling a substantial change and opening his eyes. Just after opening his eyes, he unconsciously looked at the bowl and, to his total astonishment, noticed a greenish mist around it, emanating from the remaining soup he hadn't drunk.

His eyes widened as he recognized it as a poisonous emission, then hurriedly got up from his bed and looked at the wall to his left. Without reflecting, he redirected all the Qi from the surroundings to his fist and delivered a powerful punch to the wall, made of wood, smashing it instantly.

"What the hell are you doing, kid?!" Gao Ting exclaimed, surprised and annoyed by Long Ming's attitude. But he ignored Gao Ting's complaints and quickly approached him, then surveyed his surroundings and noticed a bowl next to his bed, but it was a different bowl from his, and instead of soup, it had rice with a piece of meat.

Long Ming looked at Gao Ting, using all the benefits of his resonance state to analyze if there was anything wrong with his body. However, he noticed nothing wrong, except for a small bluish mist near his belly. But Long Ming knew that this mist was the innate Qi of every living being. There was no mist on Gao Ting's entire body, not even in his bowl; so, after the time of this state expired, Long Ming sighed in relief.

"Can you explain to me what the hell you were thinking when you broke the wall of my room, you lunatic?!" Gao Ting shouted angrily again, noticing that the golden color had disappeared from Long Ming's eyes.

"Someone tried to poison me, old man," he asserted, his eyes extremely serious and focused.