Chapter 21 Qing Feng's Diary and the Strengthening Test

Time is like a wild donkey, once it starts to run, it doesn't stop.

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

Days passed without a ripple.

Qing Feng found that he had taken a liking to keeping a journal, and if he didn't write something down each day, he felt like he was missing something, and just couldn't settle down.

Another night came, and Qing Feng once again spread open his diary and began to write feverishly. Above his writing there was already a string of records.

——

Qingli, year eight, October the sixth.

The eldest senior brother was really quite ill; early this morning, he went off to the Falling Dragon Pool to fish with explosives again, and second senior brother, Ming Yue, and I were all worried that he'd pass out and drown. Master is gone, and we don't want to lose eldest senior brother too.

But we couldn't deter eldest senior brother.

Second senior brother tasked me with keeping an eye on eldest senior brother. If he didn't surface within the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, I was to call him.

Several times eldest senior brother nearly didn't make it up, which gave me quite a scare. Thankfully, in the end he did emerge, lying on the ground like an overheated dog, panting heavily.

Eldest senior brother must be sick, and quite seriously at that.

Oh right, we still had a full fish feast tonight.

The fat fish was delicious.

——

Qingli, year eight, October the seventh.

Today was uneventful, just watched eldest senior brother play with fishing bombs, don't know why, but it felt a bit intoxicating.

——

Qingli, year eight, October the eighth.

Today was uneventful, just watched eldest senior brother play with fishing bombs, really strange, not sure if it's just my imagination, but eldest senior brother seems to have gotten a bit more robust.

He looked very tired, I don't understand why eldest senior brother insists on doing this.

Fortunately, nothing happened to eldest senior brother, and today is another happy day.

Tonight we feasted on fish again.

——

Qingli, year eight, October the ninth.

Watched eldest senior brother fish with explosives.

.....

——

Qingli, year eight, October the fifteenth.

Qing Feng, you must practice diligently, how can you let yourself sink like this? Tomorrow, for sure, I must practice hard. I'll let Ming Yue keep an eye on eldest senior brother.

Also, we had a full fish dinner again tonight, and I kinda didn't want to eat it.

——

Qingli, year eight, October the sixteenth.

Watched eldest senior brother fish with explosives.

Eldest senior brother's technique in fishing has improved, he jumps in sideways, splashing high waves.

Don't know why, but eldest senior brother's momentum seems to be growing stronger. Could it be that he's really cultivating? That's really bizarre.

Tonight's dinner was the full fish feast, not in the mood for eating.

....

——

Qingli, year eight, November the fourth.

Watched eldest senior brother fish with explosives.

Eldest senior brother has become even stronger, and his fishing stances flashier. He used to be as exhausted as a dead dog after a few tries, now it seems there's no effect on him at all.

So impressive!

It turns out eldest senior brother wasn't lying to me, he is really cultivating, albeit with a bizarre method.

There's fish for dinner again tonight, another day I don't feel like eating fish.

——

Qingli, year eight, November the fifth.

Another day of watching eldest senior brother fish with explosives.

But today, eldest senior brother seemed a bit unhappy. I asked him, and he said he didn't want to fish with explosives anymore.

Honestly, I no longer wish to recite scriptures either.

I want to fish with explosives too.

But eldest senior brother said I couldn't handle it, that I would die.

Strange, if I can't handle it, how can eldest senior brother handle it so well? But he seemed very serious when he said it, he probably wasn't lying to me.

There's fish for dinner again tonight, I threw up.

——

After finishing the diary entry for the day, Qing Feng hid the small booklet under his pillow, wrapped himself up in his little blanket like a cocooning silkworm, wriggled a few times to find a comfortable position, and then fell into a deep sleep.

He dreamt that he, like eldest senior brother, had become a strong man also fishing with explosives.

The water splashed by his flailing teemed with fat fish muddled every which way, countless fat fish circled around him, crying out, "Come eat me! Come eat me!"

Upon closer inspection, those fat fish circling him had all turned into plates of steamed, boiled, pan-fried, deep-fried, stir-fried, pickled, salt-rubbed, braised, and stewed fish.

He was terrified to the extreme.

...

...

In the backyard of Hidden Dragon Temple, Yi Chen sat wearing a black form-fitting short jacket, drinking yellow wine, his strong pectoral muscles pushing the front of his jacket taut.

After a month of crazed, intense cultivation, his originally well-fitting jacket now felt slightly tight.

Following this month of frenzied training, Yi Chen's stats panel had also changed.

[Name: Yi Chen]

[Lifespan: 18/97]

[Strength: 27.0, Vitality: 26.0, Spirit: 31.0, Agility: 24.0] (average human values are 1)

[Cultivation Technique: Minor Pure Yang Skill Level Six (Traits: Strengthening, Burning Heat, Divine Power, Demon Warding, Resistance). Active Skill: Yang's Extreme Transformation (Strength triples for ten minutes, then Inner Qi and Strength temporarily reduce to 70% of the original.)]

[Cultivation Technique: Yin Yang Cave Divine Pupil Technique Level Three (Traits: Eagle Vision, Night Vision, Yin Qi Perception.)]

[Passive Skills: Danqing Painting Skill lv1, Auspicious Event Host lv2, Funeral Host lv3. Culinary Skill lv3]

[Origin Point: 7] (Can be obtained through exercise stimulation of the physical body, can improve the four attributes of strength, vitality, spirit, and agility.)

[Deep Red Value: 11.] (Can be obtained through special items or by killing monsters and demons etc., used to upgrade cultivation techniques or for deducing them.)

After a month of inhumane, relentless cultivation, the results of his training were significant.

Yi Chen had gained a total of 9 Origin Points, two of which he had to allocate early to Vitality just to survive, otherwise, he simply couldn't have continued.

This was still accomplished under the condition that Minor Pure Yang Skill broke through to the sixth level, bestowing the Resistance trait upon him.

After this points allocation, Yi Chen also tested the effect of the Vitality attribute, which turned out to be recovery power, superhuman-like recovery power.

That sensation, akin to bathing in warmth, was still fresh in Yi Chen's memory.

It was extremely comfortable.

Even more so than rewarding oneself.

When Origin Points were used to boost physical attributes and strengthen the body, a warm current was generated, healing bodily damages. It was practically a miraculous healing elixir, which took Yi Chen completely by surprise.

This trait doubtlessly gave him another huge advantage in combat: trading blows.

In a head-on battle, if he allocated just these two points to this trait, it was like giving himself a health pack, and that surely meant takeoff. Not to mention he still had the benefit of a toughened body from the Minor Pure Yang Skill, simply perfect.

"Using Origin Points to boost Vitality gave me such a great surprise. It's time to see what kind of breakthroughs Strength and Agility will bring." Yi Chen lifted the cup of wine in his hand, drank it in one gulp, and with a thought, he added an Origin Point to Strength.

Suddenly, a scorching sensation arose from every limb and bone. Under the tempering of this burning sensation, Yi Chen's muscles, already as tough as steel wires, started to evolve towards something even more powerful.

If Yi Chen's muscle fibers were like steel wires before, after being enhanced by the Origin Points, they started to develop in the direction of high-toughness, high-strength alloys.

This took his already peerless explosive power to an even higher level.

"Strength attribute, not bad!"

Yi Chen was quite satisfied with the enhancement of his strength attribute. The experiment he conducted in Qingyuan Town, beating up the Ironclad Zombie, proved that with the combination of Pure Yang Skill, he could produce a synergistic effect where one plus one equals more than two.

Against ghosts without the protection of Yin Qi, under his overwhelming might, they were nothing more than chickens and dogs made of clay; even with the reduction by Yin Qi protection, his mighty strength still had a significant impact on them.

"More importantly," Yi Chen's eyes flashed with a cold light as a thought passed fleetingly, "this overwhelming might might not be very effective against evil spirits, but it's genuinely useful when hitting people."

Naturally, Yi Chen had not forgotten the mastermind behind the scenes who incited the Fierce Tiger Gang to cause trouble at the Taoist temple.

Regarding the person behind the scenes, Yi Chen already had a suspicion in his heart.

Everything is motivated by profit; whoever benefits the most from Hidden Dragon Temple's downfall can essentially be pinpointed.

The Hidden Dragon Temple, under his master's care, had accumulated a vast reputation. However, his master was a kind person who pitied the poor and often exorcised demons and evil spirits for free or at a very low price.

Such a deed, how were his peers supposed to make a living?

Those he offended were naturally as numerous as the sea.

Cutting off someone's livelihood is akin to killing their parents.

You, Bai Yunzi, might be content with poverty and righteousness, but others can't endure it.

Being widely praised also inevitably led to widespread slander.

Moreover, Bai Yunzi detested evil and did not hesitate to teach a lesson to some unscrupulous peers, greatly embarrassing them.

In the past, others couldn't beat Bai Yunzi and had to swallow their grievances. Now that Bai Yunzi had passed away, those demons and evil spirits naturally couldn't wait to seek revenge.

Even Yi Chen malevolently speculated that during this quiet period, those bastards with black hearts were actually afraid that his master was faking his death to trick them, waiting for them to show themselves and then pop out from some haunted place to take them down with him.

You say you're dead, but who would believe that? Isn't it necessary to observe and test?

Conspirators never go all in right from the start. In their eyes, everyone is like an old silver coin that needs to be tested several times. After a while, those offended by the master will naturally start to reveal themselves.

"Hehe, Master just doesn't understand the principle of 'if the roots are not removed during weeding, the spring breeze will bring them back to life.' Offending someone, either don't do it, or do it thoroughly; now we end up in this situation," Yi Chen said mockingly.

Yi Chen picked up the jar of wine, drained the remaining yellow wine in one gulp, and collected his scattered thoughts.

He was not a kind person like his master Bai Yunzi. Anyone who dared to reach out to him had to be ready to be beheaded by him.

Did they really think Taoist Yi Chengzi was a good-hearted person?

If you're not ruthless, you can't stand firm.

Being ruthless to others doesn't make you ruthless. Only those who are ruthless to themselves are truly ruthless. It's not normal for someone to push themselves to the brink like Yi Chen. It was this ruthlessness that miraculously pulled him through when he felt he could no longer hold on.

"Agility, enhance," Yi Chen commanded.

Yi Chen tossed the empty wine jar into a corner of the yard, and with a thought, he added another Origin Point to his agility.

A cool sensation suddenly coursed through his legs and gradually spread throughout his body as another round of enhancement began.

A few seconds later, Yi Chen sprang up from the vermilion wooden chair, his figure flashed, and he suddenly stood by the wall.

Yi Chen smiled, a smile of pure joy, as his white teeth gleamed in the moonlight.

He stretched out his left hand towards the direction of the moon and made a grasping motion, as if trying to capture the moonlight in his palm, or perhaps trying to seize control of his own destiny.