BXBX NOVEL Chapter 145: Blacksmith (2)
"Low-grade Qi Stones." Lu Yu\'s eyes widened in surprise.
"So, are you interested in it or not?"
"Yes, Young Master." Lu Yu hurriedly nodded, appreciating the unexpected gift of the Qi Stones. He only receives five in a year, making these ten Qi Stones a valuable addition to his cultivation resources.
"I will be leaving, Young Master," Lu Yu said, his voice turning more respectful.
Lu Zhen simply nodded with a smile as he watched the man depart.
"Hmm, using ten Qi Stones and giving them to a third-stage martial artist might seem worthless, but to a blacksmith of the same rank, it\'s definitely worth it," Lu Zhen thought, feeling the weight of his pouch lightening.
"Oh well, I will gain a considerable amount from the mine anyway," Lu Zhen said as he summoned his status with a thought.
[LEVEL UP]
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[Name: Lu Zhen]
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[Race: Human]
[Bloodline: Half Human/ Half Volgrith]
[Lifespan left: 155 years]
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[Attributes]
[Constitution: Divine physique (level 4)]
[Charm: Mortal (Level 5)]
[Wood Qi: third-stage martial artist](10%)
[Demonic Qi: null]
[Mana: Null Circle]
???
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[Cultivation manuals]
[Cultivation technique: Verdant art (stage 2)]
[Combat arts: [Verdant Whirlwind (full mastery)], [Whispering Shadow Step (full mastery)], [Verdant Grove Fist(full mastery)]]
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Skills: 12
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[Quest]
[Mission completed:1]
"Hmm." Lu Zhen looked at his progress, which had almost doubled, with a pleasant expression. Just one night with Xia Mei had made Lu Zhen\'s progress leap and bound.
"System, from my previous memories, it wasn\'t like that, was it?" Lu Zhen said to the system in his head.
[Host, due to the level up in your dual cultivation skill, you were able to condense your qi more, and your partner Xia Mei, who has reached the third-stage as a martial artist, also significantly increased your progress.]
Lu Zhen nodded his head as he heard this and headed toward his training room.
"I will recover my qi and then go meet the ancestor later," he thought to himself.
Lu Zhen slowly sat in a meditative position.
He started visualising the verdant tree as the surrounding qi converged towards Lu Zhen. He absorbed the attributeless qi, converting it to wood qi in his body.
There were two forms Lu Zhen could use during meditation. One was absorbing the attributeless qi from his surroundings and converting it to wood qi in his body. The other involved condensing the wood qi in his body, hammering his qi like metal.
However, this process made the wood qi in Lu Zhen\'s body less, so the cycle of absorb, convert, and condense repeated until one became a second-stage martial artist.
At this stage, they would have fully condensed their qi to the point where they could materialise Qi outside their body, and a small passive force field would form. This force field could negate the damage a person could do to the martial artist.
During Lu Zhen\'s fight with the second-stage martial artist, although they had similar physical strength, the force field allowed Lu Zhen to mitigate the damage to a minimal level.
However, when the man used a forbidden art, sacrificing his lifespan and qi for momentary strength, he quickly caught up to Lu Zhen. At that point, Xia Di\'s qi could no longer support the force field, and the man ended up dying a meaningless death, killed by the consequences of his own actions.
Lu zhen\'s face slowly morphed into a frown sensing the rate of his cultivation.
Lu Zhen took out eight more Qi-stones from his pouch, using the last of his savings. These stones were the remnants of his yearly allowance as the young master of the family. Previously, the old Lu Zhen had never used them, having given up martial arts entirely. With a total of eighteen qi stones, Lu Zhen had already given ten to Elder Yu, leaving him with eight.
Despite having the stones in hand, Lu Zhen didn\'t immediately sit down to cultivate. Instead, he wore a thoughtful expression and decided to consult the system.
"System, can I eat the Qi-stone?"
[Host, unfortunately, no. Even with the Gluttony skill, you can\'t devour a Qi-stone as it is too potent and cannot be digested easily. So, it is not recommended to do that.]
Lu Zhen listened to the system\'s response, feeling a bit disappointed. Regardless, without dwelling on it too much, he took the low-grade qi stone in his hand and began cultivating once again.
Instead of Lu Zhen actively absorbing the attributeless Qi from the surroundings, this time the Qi naturally surged toward him in a massive torrent from the Qi stone as it glowed. The atmosphere around him seemed to respond to his presence as he happily refined this abundant attributeless Qi into wood Qi, focusing on the image of the verdant tree.
As time passed, Lu Zhen utilised the qi stone for cultivation, absorbing its essence until a quarter of its glow had faded. At this point, he opened his eyes.
"It seems like my wood qi is replenished now," Lu Zhen thought, sensing the newfound power coursing through his body.
"Not bad, 10% of the way to becoming a second-stage martial artist. Soon, my qi cultivation will catch up with my body cultivation. Even if I don\'t have the body cultivation skill, I can still progress using the portion I\'ve mastered. It should be sufficient for me to reach the second-stage martial realm in one go," Lu Zhen reflected as he checked his skills before heading to the ancestor\'s place.
[Skills]
[BATTLE INSTINCT: LEVEL 1]
[Gluttony: level 8]
[Appraisal eye: level 5]
[Saber mastery: level 6]
[Adaptability: level 5]
[Aura control: level 5]
[Meditation: level 2]
[Dual cultivation: level 3]
[Alchemy: level 2]
[Sword mastery: level 2]
[Qian mastery: level 1]
[Staff master: level 1]
[Chain mastery: level 1]
"Hmm I should level up my gluttony. It\'s very close to advancing, who knows maybe I will get a golden ranked skill again." Lu Zhen thought as he planned the best method to level up his skill.