Tumor Sword Immortal

Chapter 343 An Encounter in the Rain

The small slope jutted out, providing a perfect opportunity for people below to take shelter from the rain.

Pei Xia leaned against Feng Yao's thigh, holding a straw in her hand, and idly pointed at Jiang Shu beside her: "Raise, swing, retract...tsk, retract first, then stab. Hey right, when you stab, you don't have to stretch your arm, how much strength can you have? Shoulder, chest, waist, you have to exert force together, understand?"

A pale blue light traced an arc, cutting through the slippery black soil beside it.

Jiang Shu let out a soft breath and looked up at his "senior sister" who was kneeling behind Pei Xia, massaging his shoulders.

Pei Xia naturally understood what he meant. She propped herself up, leaned against a rotten wooden stake, and then gestured towards Feng Yao with her lips.

Feng Yao obediently got up, picked up a wooden stick, and stood opposite Jiang Shu.

The two clashed instantly, and the copper-skinned man's body gleamed with a cold light.

After descending from Tianbao Mountain, Jiang Shu led Pei Xia carefully, avoiding some villages at the foot of the mountain, and circled into the forest, heading east.

Leyangzhou is located northwest of Qinzhou, but according to Jiang Shu, the territory of the warlord Helian Haozhang lies directly to the west.

Helian liked to conscript men, and most eligible men became soldiers. Once Pei Xia and Jiang Shu were caught, they could only fill in the gaps.

To the east lies Li Xu's territory. Twenty years ago, before the Dragon Cauldron shattered, Li Xu's father was responsible for guarding Eastern Qin.

These years have been turbulent. Although my late father lost a lot of his territory, his rule is relatively stable overall. Crossing the border from there to the north offers a better chance of success.

After exchanging blows for more than ten rounds, a tree branch struck the side of Jiang Shu's short sword with considerable force, snapping the branch in two with a crack. Taking advantage of the momentum, Jiang Shu moved forward, his short sword poised to strike Feng Yao's face.

The senior sister looked at the broken wooden stick in her hand, then looked at Jiang Shu: "You lost."

If it had been a weapon instead of a tree branch, she probably could have easily deflected Jiang Shu's dagger and then her subordinate would have stabbed her instead.

Jiang Shuben didn't care about winning or losing, but he turned to Pei Xia with some doubt and asked, "Did you really teach us the same martial arts? How come I've never beaten her?"

Feng Yao didn't respond. She walked back to Pei Xia's side, picked up his head, and gently placed it on her plump thigh, kneading it lightly.

Pei Xia grumbled and said, "Kung Fu needs to be practiced because it needs to be so proficient that you can react to all kinds of changes when facing an enemy. And you need to react because you are a living person."

Feng Yao is dead; she doesn't need muscle memory or experience. As long as she can remember the changes in moves, she can always find a suitable solution based on her opponent's attacks during a battle.

Therefore, despite Jiang Shu's diligent practice, he was not as proficient as Feng Yao, who only practiced one set of moves.

Of course, this kind of stubbornness is by no means insightful; if one were to consciously guide Feng Yao's judgment, she would be more likely to make a mistake.

It's quite difficult for a brain worm to completely transform into a human.

However, on the other hand, it was only an emergency measure before, but after observing for a while, it's not a waste to have the brain worm drill into Feng Yao.

At first, Pei Xia was worried that this time, unlike the white tea in Liancheng Fire Vein, which was for short-term use, he hoped to use Feng Yao for as long as possible. But with the wind and sun exposing the body to the elements, would it rot?

Bringing along a rotten, smelly zombie would be a bit unreasonable.

But as time went on, Pei Xia slowly discovered that Feng Yao's body was decaying at an extremely slow rate.

After several detailed observations and studies of her physical body, Pei Xia believed that this might be the special feature of Qinzhou's head-refining technique.

According to Jiang Shu, cultivation in Qinzhou is divided into two paths: the military path and the common path of head refinement.

Neither of these requires the long-term use of spiritual power, which is consistent with the evolution of the Qin State's ecology.

This method of strengthening the physical body through food supplements might indeed differ from the way martial arts cultivators continuously enhance their physique with spiritual energy. This explains why, even after death, Feng Yao's body, completely transformed by her mid-grade copper-skin refinement cultivation, could remain easily incorruptible. Pei Xia thought to herself, tilting her head and rubbing her cheek against Feng Yao's full thigh through her long skirt.

It's great, my skin feels smooth and cool, and it's quite comfortable to rub against.

Jiang Shu lost to Feng Yao again. He pondered the game for a while and practiced it several more times.

Pei Xia glanced at him sideways and suddenly asked, "Where did you get this knife?"

Jiang Shu's short sword was clearly a magical artifact. Although it lacked the control of spiritual power and thus had fewer uses, its sharpness still allowed it to inflict very realistic damage on mid-grade copper armor.

This question made Jiang Shusheng a little wary.

But then he thought that Pei Xia also had golden-red needles and the ability to control Feng Yao, so he probably wouldn't covet his weapon.

"It was given to me by a man in black robes," he said, stopping short of saying more.

The short knife is probably just a rare item.

Pei Xia was simply curious about the origin of this thing—not how Jiang Shu obtained it, but how it was created.

Qin Zhou's spiritual energy was completely depleted; the spiritual power gained from consuming the elixir was insufficient to sustain Master Su's weapon crafting.

Or perhaps... Qin Zhou isn't entirely without the possibility of using spiritual power, it's just that this method is unknown to most people?
The short stubble that had already grown out rubbed against Feng Yao's smooth thighs. Pei Xia pondered to himself whether he should talk to Jiang Shu about the man in black robes.

Jiang Shu was exhausted from training. He looked up at the rain outside, which was gradually stopping, and then took out two sweet potatoes that had been baked the day before from his package.

He gave one to Pei Xia.

After about ten days down the mountain, most of the food had already been used up, and that was under relatively restrained conditions.

At this moment, Jiang Shu would briefly forget the joy of practicing martial arts and struggle with whether it was right or wrong to bring Pei Xia on the journey.

As we were eating, a series of rapid hoofbeats suddenly came from the road in the distance.

Jiang Shu almost instinctively lowered his body, trying his best to hide himself.

Qinzhou was so poor that ordinary people, and even cultivators, could not afford to keep horses. Those who could ride horses at full speed must be warlords, and not just ordinary soldiers.

Pei Xia wasn't a fool either; when in Rome, do as the Romans do, so he listened to Jiang Shu and instructed Feng Yao to bend down and hide.

Unexpectedly, the sound of dense hooves grew closer and closer, and finally came to a slow stop at the foot of the earthen slope.

Then a clear, girlish voice was heard complaining, "I see a dirt slope ahead, let's rest there for a bit, the road is muddy and difficult to walk on in this rain!"

As soon as the first sound fell, several voices echoed in agreement. Although their tones were different, they all sounded like young people.

Finally, a clear male voice replied somewhat helplessly, "Let's rest for a while, the ground won't dry... Never mind, let's dismount and make a fire to dry our clothes."

Then came the rustling sounds of people dismounting and others leading their horses to tie their ropes.

At the foot of the earthen slope, Pei Xia and Jiang Shu exchanged a glance.

Jiang Shu was a native of Qinzhou, a member of the lower class. He had been afraid of the legendary warlords since childhood. He glanced to the side and gestured with his lip, signaling Pei Xia to quickly sneak away with him.

However, Pei Xia calmly shook her head at him.

(End of this chapter)