Chapter 5: Attached Bone Ulcer

The speed of progress was too slow. After all, Chen Fei was not young anymore. The older he got, the more difficult it was to advance in cultivation. What's more important was that after killing Qi Chun, the black line on Chen Fei's wrist had become thicker.

[Condition: Attached Bone Ulcer]

The status panel had shown this new change a day ago, and the most immediate effect Chen Fei felt was the accelerated depletion of his physical strength.

After breaking through to the Skin Training Realm, Chen Fei had made significant progress in both physical strength and perception. However, with the emergence of this Attached Bone Ulcer, he found that his physical strength was almost on par with that of an ordinary person, or even slightly worse.

Given this situation, Chen Fei couldn't afford to be careless. Immediately, he consulted some physicians in the medical clinic and finally got an answer.

It was a strange mark, and it could either be eradicated by eliminating the source of the strangeness or by having strong enough cultivation to directly erase the mark.

Alternatively, he could take strong blood-energizing pills to resist the negative force.

Since Chen Fei didn't dare to seek out the strange entity, couldn't afford the pills, his only option was to improve his cultivation. Moreover, he didn't dare to let the medical clinic know about the mark on him; who knows if they would just abandon him.

"It's time to find Piao Liao."

In the evening, Chen Fei arrived at Piao Liao's door and gently knocked.

"Who is it?" came Piao Liao's hoarse voice.

"It's me, Piao Tou." Chen Fei whispered.

"What do you want?"

The door opened, and Piao Liao looked down at Chen Fei without any intention of letting him in.

"Piao Tou, do we have any spare martial arts techniques at Qingzheng Medical Clinic that you can teach me?"

"Oh, it's about that." Piao Liao looked at Chen Fei, who had empty hands, with some dissatisfaction, and raised his voice, "Didn't I tell you a few days ago that I'm busy lately? I'll teach you when I have the time. Why don't you understand?"

"I wonder when Piao Tou will have time?"

"With so many things to do, how would I know? When I have time, I will call for you."

Piao Liao seemed a bit impatient, waved his hand, and said, "Alright, if there's nothing else, go back for now. I still have things to do, so I can't entertain you!"

As he finished speaking, Piao Liao turned around and went back inside, closing the door forcefully. However, before the door could close completely, it was blocked by a hand.

"Do you want to die?" Piao Liao glared at Chen Fei with a malicious look.

"Piao Tou, I thought about it, and since you're busy, I don't want to disturb you. I was wondering if there are any martial arts manuals that I can practice on my own."

Chen Fei spoke calmly, seemingly unaffected by Piao Liao's expression.

Chen Fei had already understood today that Piao Liao wanted money. But Chen Fei had just started working as a guardian for three days; where would he get the money from? Even if he received his wages as a guardian, it was only five taels of silver per month.

How could this meager sum satisfy Piao Liao? Since that was the case, he might as well be straightforward.

"You want to practice on your own? Hahaha!"

Piao Liao burst into laughter, full of ridicule in his eyes. Breaking through to the Skin Training Realm in just over four months, this talent was close to the bottom among martial artists.

He actually wanted to rely on his talent to practice higher-level martial arts? It was simply wishful thinking, a case of being ignorant and naive.

"Fine, I have some martial arts manuals here. Return them to me before noon tomorrow. If you can't learn them by then, don't blame me, Piao Liao, for being unkind!"

Piao Liao went back inside and brought out two manuals, throwing them into Chen Fei's hands with a sneer, then slammed the door shut.

Onlookers in the distance shook their heads slightly as they watched Chen Fei's figure. A newcomer guardian dared to clash with an old guardian like Piao Liao. And now, he wanted to cultivate martial arts on his own?

If cultivating martial arts were so easy, then who would need masters? Without guidance, one could easily fall into a wrong path. In the end, they might find themselves wasting time and gaining nothing.

Even worse, improper cultivation could lead to hidden injuries. In their eyes, Chen Fei was just an ignorant fool.

Ignoring the gazes of those around him, Chen Fei returned to his room with the manuals. An hour later, he put down the manuals and began to practice the two techniques. Half an hour later, he checked the status panel.

[Technique: Gentle Wind Sword (Beginner 1/100), Wind Suspension Force (Beginner 1/100), Extreme Mountain Fist (Perfected), Extreme Mountain Breathing Technique (Perfected)]

Relying on the perfected Extreme Mountain Fist and Breathing Technique as a foundation, Chen Fei easily cultivated the two new techniques to the beginner level.

Gentle Wind Sword was an offensive technique, while Wind Suspension Force was for enhancing cultivation. Both techniques could still be simplified using the status panel, but the cost of simplification was a bit high—ten taels of silver for each.

Chen Fei didn't have ten taels; he only had a little over two taels left. For the sake of simplification, this amount was far from enough.

Chen Fei looked at the perfected Extreme Mountain Breathing Technique and Wind Suspension Force, blinked his eyes, and subconsciously wanted to merge the two techniques. The next moment, both techniques disappeared simultaneously, and a new technique appeared.

[Wind-Suspended Breathing Technique (Proficient 107/1000)]

"It really works!"

Chen Fei's eyes showed some joy. He had acted on a feeling, and he didn't expect that the perfected technique could indeed merge with other techniques.

But come to think of it, it made sense. After all, having a technique perfected meant that he had fully grasped and integrated all aspects of the technique, so it could naturally blend into other techniques.

In the future, even if his cultivation improved and he had some techniques falling behind, he wouldn't waste them. He could easily combine them with new moves to create even more powerful techniques.

He also merged the Extreme Mountain Fist with the Gentle Wind Sword, this time intentionally preserving the essence of the Gentle Wind Sword while incorporating some of the strength from Extreme Mountain Fist.

[Green Mountain Sword (Proficient 13/1000)]

Originally a graceful and elegant Gentle Wind Sword had turned into an aggressive and robust sword technique, but the power hadn't diminished and even improved.

Half an hour later, after trying out the two new techniques, Chen Fei's face showed joy, but there was also some dissatisfaction.

He was pleased because the two new techniques were both stronger than the previous ones. If he cultivated them to the perfected level, they would be far superior to his previous techniques, especially considering he had only mastered them to a proficient level.

However, he was dissatisfied because after several attempts, he found that the proficiency of the two techniques had not increased at all. If he were to continue practicing without simplification, he estimated that he could only gain one or two points of proficiency per day, and that was with the help of the previous techniques' fusion.

This probably represented the limit of Chen Fei's innate talent with his current body. Breaking through this limit gradually through regular cultivation methods would be challenging for him.

"Money, money, money!"

Chen Fei frowned, various money-making methods swirling in his mind, but he found it difficult to decide.

(End of this chapter)