Chapter 14: Drawing Air into the Body?

Without a doubt, the two fellows he had offended were the most likely suspects, but Jiang Xiaobai didn't think so.

Ao Xinran and Ao Tianheng were both prominent youths in Dragon Valley. Resorting to such methods to deal with a mere commoner like him would clearly be overkill.

It's like trying to kill an ant, you would choose to simply step on it instead of putting in extra effort.

Just as Jiang Xiaobai was deep in thought, Ao Yan again questioned him out of curiosity.

"Is there a problem?"

"No."

Jiang Xiaobai shook his head indifferently, casually poured out the tea on the table, and walked into the room.

Immediately, Ao Yan frowned and glanced at the teacup.

Then she gazed at Jiang Xiaobai's retreating figure, secretly puzzled, and followed him into the room

"Did the Third Elder teach you anything today?"

Jiang Xiaobai nodded, his expression casual, "The Third Elder is easy to get along with, he gave me a copy of 'Breathing Skill'."

"Don't forget about your bet with Ao Tianheng." Ao Yan suddenly laughed sarcastically.

The 'Breathing Skill' is a common thing, there's no chance Jiang Xiaobai could use this to cultivate his Qi.

Jiang Xiaobai had no response to this, he was eager to see their faces when he indeed cultivated his Qi after some time, it'd definitely be interesting.

...

Time flew by, and ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

Jiang Xiaobai's daily routine was quite simple, visiting Ao Yan's courtyard and the Third Elder's residence.

It's worth mentioning that during these days, Jiang Xiaobai had taken few quests and received the "Nine Heavens Star Sword Technique" as a reward, a divine cultivation method!

The "Nine Heavens Star Sword Technique" has three realms.

The first realm, the Sword Qi is dominating, possessing the ability to move mountains and rivers.

The second realm, the sword resembles the stars, it harnesses limitless stardomain power, at least ten times powerful than the first realm. A sword strike embodies the power of entire stars.

The third realm, the Sword opens the galaxy. At this realm, even an ordinary sword strike carries terrifying power, and directly using it could bisect a galaxy in one strike!

This is the only fighting skill Jiang Xiaobai currently possesses, yet its complexity to the point that he was just barely starting to grasp the basics and not yet reached the first realm, neither could he unleash any of the sword's power.

As for the other rewards, some were useful, some weren't; most of them were cultivation rewards.

Unfortunately, Jiang Xiaobai didn't have enough time to cultivate intensively, in order to quickly improve his power level he had to rely on the years of cultivation from the rewards. Furthermore, he discovered that these rewards could not only increase his own cultivation but also upgrade his skills. It could even be used to improve combat experience!

So he'd made up his mind: if a system quest was triggered and there were no particularly good rewards, he would first choose the cultivation rewards.

One day, while Jiang Xiaobai was busy cleaning the Third Elder's courtyard, he saw Linger tugging on the Third Elder's hand, entering from outside with a look of anticipation.

"Master, Master, can I have a candy haw tomorrow when we go down the mountain? Just one is enough, can I?"

Her coquettish voice made one want to place a stick of candy haw in her hand right there and then.

The Third Elder was clearly quite indulgent towards the clingy and adorable Linger.

"Alright, alright, your master will buy you more to take back to the Dragon Valley, okay?"

"Yay, Master is the best!"

After receiving permission, Linger hopped about happily in the yard. Meanwhile, the Third Elder, as always, held an old wine gourd in hand and lazed about on a reclining chair.

Jiang Xiaobai of course heard their conversation and immediately thought about wanting to leave the valley too!

He had thought about this for a long time. However, the Dragon Valley was strictly managed, and it was difficult for anyone except for individuals like Ao Cheng and Ao Fang to leave freely.

If he could get out, it would certainly be a good opportunity to level up!

At this point, he had reached a bottleneck in Dragon Valley. Conquering Ao Cheng and the Third Elder was no simple task.

After spending a few days with them, he came to understand why the Third Elder wasn't very popular within Dragon Valley.

Not only was he sloppy in handling affairs, but he was also a quirky old man. Other than Ao Cheng who could tolerate him, everyone else was often scolded.

A disciple from Dragon Valley once brought wine to the Third Elder, asking him to do him a favor. But the Third Elder smashed the wine jar and beat the disciple half to death.

This incident kicked up quite a storm. But as the Third Elder had high status in Dragon Valley, the issue was ultimately dropped.

This demonstrated how difficult it was to deal with the Third Elder.

Ao Yuanwu hadn't expressed any intention of letting him start helping Dragon Valley with alchemy.

As for the reason why, Jiang Xiaobai decided not to think about it for now. What he wanted more at the moment was to develop his own power.

As the saying goes, you can't rely on others, you have to rely on yourself.

If he could get out, his alchemy skills would certainly help him develop some things in secret, so that even if there were problems on the Dragon Valley side in the future, he would still have a trump card.

"Third Elder, are you going down the mountain tomorrow?" Jiang Xiaobai then plucked up the courage to ask.

"What's the matter?" The Third Elder didn't even raise his eyelids.

"To tell you the truth, I too want to go down and have a look."

Jiang Xiaobai chuckled.

The Third Elder lifted his eyelids, glanced at Jiang Xiaobai, and contempt was evident in his eyes: "What use would it be for me to take you down? To help me carry stuff? Or do you think my Qiankun bag is just for show?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xiaobai frowned. This was indeed a bit tricky.

The Third Elder obviously wasn't keen on taking him down the mountain. After all, he was able to do odd jobs here only because of Ao Cheng's reputation.

At this moment, a brilliant idea suddenly flashed in Jiang Xiaobai's mind.

Clatter!

The broom in his hand inexplicably fell to the ground, and he immediately turned dull, looking like a village fool.

Feeling Jiang Xiaobai's abnormality, the Third Elder frowned. Just as the Third Elder opened his mouth to scold him, his expression suddenly changed, and his body disappeared from the reclining chair in an instant.

When the Third Elder reappeared, he was already standing in front of Jiang Xiaobai, looking at him with disbelief.

At this moment, Jiang Xiaobai was emitting a faint, scrambled aura, very weak, but it didn't escape the perception of the Third Elder.

"You...you've cultivated your Qi?" The Third Elder stammered incredulously.

"Have I? I don't feel anything. I just suddenly felt dizzy and nauseous as if I'm going to throw up." Jiang Xiaobai pretended to gag.

The Third Elder quickly reached out to support Jiang Xiaobai's shoulder, and began checking him. His face was filled with shock.

"You've really cultivated your Qi, how is this possible!" The Third Elder exclaimed.

"Third Elder, you're not joking with me, right? It's only been a few days, and I've never sensed any spiritual energy." Jiang Xiaobai blinked, his face full of confusion.

If there was an award for best actor in this world, Jiang Xiaobai would undoubtedly win!

All of this was him putting on an act!

Oscar owed him a golden man!