Becoming an immortal from a canal worker

late at night.

Chen Ping and Gouwa pushed open the broken wooden door of the courtyard.

The night wind carried a damp, cold mist into the courtyard.

Chen Ping bolted the door shut and pointed to the stone bench in the center of the courtyard: "Sit down."

Gouwa sat on the stone bench, his face ashen.

Chen Ping sat opposite him.

The wound is throbbing slightly.

He looked at Gouwa and asked:

Where did Li Wenxiu go?

Gouwa swallowed hard, his voice trembling:

"Uncle Li was originally going to go into town with me, but halfway there he suddenly changed his mind."

He said he was afraid of being targeted; the three of them traveling together would make them too conspicuous and could easily be caught in one fell swoop.

"He gave me some loose silver and told me to go into the city and find an inn to hide there, while he and Ah San stayed outside the city to wait for news."

Chen Ping's eyes flickered slightly: "Where is he now?"

Gouwa answered honestly, "In the refugee camp outside the East Gate."

Chen Ping remained silent.

It suddenly dawned on me.

The two split up, one operating openly and the other covertly, one inside the city and the other outside.

As long as one person is alive, Chen Ping's trump card will not fail.

That's a clever plan.

After a moment of contemplation, Chen Ping stood up, leaned on the stone table, and turned to walk into his room.

A moment later, he came out with a tattered cloth bag and slapped it in front of Gouwa.

The cloth bundle was opened.

Ten taels of silver, plus ten grayish-white Ganoderma lucidum mushrooms.

"I'm going to go into seclusion for the next six months to hone my sword skills."

Chen Ping stared at Gouwa, his voice chilling in the night: "You heard it too, Li Yuan gave me six months to master the 'Han Hai Sword Technique.' If I fail, and he withdraws his protection, I'm doomed."

Gouwa trembled and opened his mouth.

Chen Ping raised his hand to interrupt him: "I have a bet with Li Yuan now, so Ghost Hand Zhang doesn't dare to openly mess with me, but that doesn't mean he doesn't dare to mess with you."

"Your presence here is my Achilles' heel."

Chen Ping pushed the silver and Ganoderma lucidum over: "Take these, leave the town immediately, find Li Wenxiu, and then you can go into the city together and rent a secluded inn to stay in."

"Sell these ten Yin Lingzhi mushrooms in batches to different pharmacies. That should be enough for you to live on in the city for more than half a year."

Gouwa looked at the things on the table, his eyes instantly reddened, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Chen Ping softened his tone and patted Gouwa's thin shoulder: "Don't cry, I won't die. I'll find you all again later."

"Remember, you must live. Only by living can you have the right to talk about the future."

Gouwa bit his lip hard, forcing back his tears.

He grabbed something from the table, hid it close to his body, and kowtowed heavily to Chen Ping.

I got up, opened the courtyard gate, and plunged into the pitch-black night.

Chen Ping stared at the direction where Gouwa had disappeared, standing there for a long time.

"Squeak—"

The door to the east wing opened.

Old Liu came out, puffing on his pipe and wearing a tattered cotton-padded coat.

He walked to the stone table, sat down, and tapped the ash from his pipe.

"I just heard Gouwa go out," Liu Laoguo said, exhaling a puff of smoke. His gaze fell on Chen Ping. "Tell me, what exactly happened at Rouge Tiger's place tonight?"

Chen Ping sat back down on the stone bench and briefly recounted what had happened that night.

Upon hearing this, Old Liu's hand, which was tapping his pipe, suddenly stopped.

A hint of surprise flashed in his cloudy old eyes, which then turned into a long sigh: "Six months to achieve minor mastery of the 'Vast Ocean Blade Technique'... Li Yuan's bet was truly shrewd."

"Is there something wrong with this swordsmanship?" Chen Ping asked.

"This sword technique is a superior martial art, almost the most lethal martial art that an ordinary martial artist like you can come into contact with."

Old Liu's expression turned serious: "This sword technique is not difficult to learn, but the difficulty lies in cultivating it from the beginner level to a minor mastery. To achieve a minor mastery, one must develop 'sword stance'."

"Sword stance?"

"Yes, the force of a sword is an invisible pressure."

Old Liu used his pipe as a knife, making a downward chopping motion, his eyes instantly turning sharp: "The essence of the knife is that before the knife is drawn, the mind is already in turmoil. If you master the essence of the knife, when facing an enemy, before you even strike with your knife, your opponent will already be intimidated. In short, it is extremely difficult to comprehend this essence of the knife."

"Without mastering this sword stance, no matter how proficient you are in the techniques, you can't be considered to have truly achieved minor mastery."

Chen Ping frowned slightly: "Won't practicing swordsmanship hinder my breakthrough to the Flesh Refining Realm?"

"Won't."

Old Liu shook his head: "Your swinging of the knife and the twisting of your footwork are themselves tempering your physical body, so it doesn't interfere with anything."

At this point, Liu Laoguo sneered, exposing Li Yuan's scheme:

"Li Yuan doesn't think you can accomplish it at all. A minor success in six months is simply a pipe dream for an ordinary martial artist. If you fail, he will suffer no loss. If you really succeed, he will gain a disciple with extraordinary talent for free. No matter how you look at it, he will definitely make a profit."

Chen Ping remained noncommittal.

"Oh, right." Chen Ping pulled the corpse core out of his pocket. "How do I use this corpse core?"

Old Liu glanced at the corpse core and said, "Find a sturdy thin rope, thread it through, and hang it close to your chest. The cold aura inside the corpse core will gradually seep into your skin. To resist this coldness, your blood and qi will instinctively accelerate their circulation."

"This is equivalent to... you are passively working on your skin and improving your blood circulation every moment."

The voice just fell.

"Bang!"

The dilapidated wooden door to the courtyard was suddenly pushed open.

Two strong men carried a heavy black wooden box and strode into the yard.

"Bang!"

The box was slammed heavily onto the blue bricks.

The bald man at the head of the group, with a scar on his face, stared coldly at Chen Ping: "Master Zhang is short on cash, so I've scraped together three hundred taels of resources for you. We'll talk about the rest later. You can take stock of it."

The bald man grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth: "Master Zhang also asked me to pass on a message to you. He admits defeat regarding last night's events, and says that we'll meet again someday."

The bald man emphasized the words "we'll meet again someday."

Chen Ping sat on the stone bench, not even lifting his eyelids:

"Put it down and thank Master Zhang for me."

The bald man snorted coldly, turned and left with his men, not even closing the door behind him.

Old Liu stepped forward, lifted the lid of the black wooden box, and a strong medicinal aroma wafted out.

"Bone-tempering powder, Qi-strengthening pills, and various medicinal herbs that greatly replenish Qi and blood..." Old Liu skillfully rummaged through the items.

Suddenly, his hand paused, and he pulled out ten small white porcelain bottles from the bottom of the box.

"Blood and Qi dissipation?"

Old Liu uncorked the bottle, smelled it, and his brows furrowed instantly.

"What is this?" Chen Ping asked.

"This thing can accelerate the production of qi and blood in your body, so that you won't ruin yourself by depleting your qi and blood during cultivation. This thing costs three taels of silver per bottle."

Old Liu lined up the ten bottles in a row, his face looking rather grim.

"Given the intensity of the 'Vast Ocean Blade Technique' you're going to practice, you'll need at least two bottles a month. In six months, you'll need at least twelve bottles."

"But there are only ten bottles here."

Chen Ping's eyes flashed.

Ten bottles, just enough for five months.

Old Liu sneered, "This kind of precious stuff, Blood Qi Powder, is something I buy with my own money. The fact that Ghost Hand Zhang is willing to give it to you is already fulfilling his promise. I can't find fault with him."

"But he deliberately only gave me ten bottles, which was his way of saying..."

"You won't live more than six months. He's certain you won't be able to fulfill Li Yuan's bet. Five months is your death day."

Old Liu shook his head, sighed, turned around and walked back to the east wing, closing the door behind him.

Chen Ping was the only one left in the courtyard.

He looked at the ten porcelain vases on the stone table, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

Chen Ping put the porcelain bottle into his pocket, picked up the corpse core, and walked to the center of the courtyard.

He threaded a leather rope through the corpse core, hung it around his neck, and placed it close to his chest.

The moment it touched the skin, a gentle, cold sensation seeped into the body.

The chill wasn't intense, but it lingered like a persistent, bone-deep infection, leaving the skin feeling as if it were being slowly pricked by fine needles.

As the cold air seeps in, the body's instinctive defense mechanisms are activated.

The body's blood and qi surged wildly towards the chest, attempting to expel the cold.

The alternating hot and cold sensations washed over his skin and flesh repeatedly, and Chen Ping could clearly feel his pores contracting and his blood and qi flowing more than 30% faster than usual.

Chen Ping uncorked a bottle of Blood Qi Powder, poured out some reddish powder, and swallowed it with cold water.

The medicine powder entered the stomach and transformed into a rich, warm current.

A hot sensation quickly spread from the stomach, traveling rapidly along the meridians and blood vessels to the limbs and bones.

It has a soft, cold exterior with a corpse core.

It contains a surging heat that disperses blood and qi.

He is currently injured and cannot cultivate.

Otherwise, if the "Water Stabilizing Stake" were activated at this time, the efficiency would certainly be much higher.

When I first started practicing the "Stone Collapse Technique," it took me almost two months to go from beginner to expert, without any resources.

Now, with the passive stimulation of the corpse core to generate qi and blood, and various resources to replenish qi and blood, the efficiency should be twice that of before.

Even if the "Han Hai Sword Technique" is a superior martial art, based on experience, the level of proficiency one gains from beginner to intermediate mastery should remain constant.

If he practices single-mindedly, including the time for recovery, he can achieve a basic level of proficiency in three months at most.

Chen Ping's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

With three months left, he could continue to refine his "Stone Collapse Technique," at least pushing it to the Great Perfection level, at which point his strength would reach another level.

As for that sword stance...

Chen Ping's lips curled up in a smile.

Once you've mastered the basics of the skill, you should be able to grasp the knowledge related to that level.

If you still haven't grasped it by then, you can just swing your sword ten thousand times a day and develop a sword technique!

Three months.

There is still plenty of time.

The night wind blew into the courtyard through the broken gate, carrying a chill.

Chen Ping walked back to his room and lay down on the hard wooden bed, fully clothed.

The pain at the broken bone site has been significantly reduced due to the nourishment of qi and blood.

Go get the sword manual tomorrow at noon.

Then the cultivation began.

Chen Ping closed his eyes, and his breathing gradually became steady.

Through the thin clothing, the core on his chest emitted a faint glow in the darkness.

The soft, cold air kept seeping in, and even in sleep, the body's energy and blood instinctively continued to circulate and fight against it.

Even in one's sleep.

The cultivation continues.