Becoming an immortal from a canal worker

Fifteen days later.

Chen Ping stood in the courtyard, put away the water-fixing stake, and stood still, sweat streaming down his back.

These days have passed and the shinbone has been fully tempered.

His thigh bone has been mostly tempered, but he has already taken three Bone Tempering Pills in the past few days.

According to Rouge Tiger, the raw material for refining the Bone Tempering Pill, Tiger-Taming Grass, is not produced in this area and has to be transported from outside. Since they are not using waterways now, it will take some time to transport the goods.

He looked down at his legs and saw nothing unusual, but the ground felt more solid than before, as if he had several inches more roots beneath his feet.

A line of small print flashed across my retina.

[Skill: Stabilizing Water Stance (Mastery)]

Current progress: 0/1000

[Effects: Pure Qi and Blood, Stable Foundation, Circulation Without End, Refined and Self-generated]

Chen Ping stared at the line of text for a moment.

Refining and self-generating.

He stood still, resumed his stance, lowered his waist and hips, and focused his energy into his dantian.

In just three breaths, the feeling came.

In the past, when he practiced standing meditation, his Qi and blood circulated autonomously, but the flow of Qi and blood was small, like a small stream, only enough for his daily martial arts practice.

Now it's different; the channels are twice as wide, like a small river, surging endlessly.

In other words, now that the water-stabilizing pile is operating autonomously, the qi and blood it generates, after deducting what he needs for daily martial arts practice, will have some left over to temper his bones.

He stood there for fifteen minutes, then finished his practice.

Normally, I would feel a little exhausted after standing in the meditation posture, but not today. In fact, I felt more refreshed than before.

Chen Ping stood in the courtyard for a moment, suppressed this feeling in his heart, and wrote it down.

Then I started practicing walking.

Push off with the ball of your foot about one-third of the way down, then let your waist and hips follow the momentum, embedding the power of the "Piercing Clouds" technique into every step.

[Walking, Proficiency +1]

[Current Progress: Completed 987/1000]

Circling around the courtyard wall, round and round.

The sound of her feet landing grew softer and softer until it was almost inaudible, with only the faint rustling of fabric against the ground before disappearing completely.

[Walking, Proficiency +1]

[Current Progress: Completed 991/1000]

My pace picked up.

He sped up and began walking in zigzags and arcs in the yard. At this point, his feet were steady, and he could stop or turn whenever he wanted.

[Walking, Proficiency +1]

[Current Progress: Completed 996/1000]

He suddenly stopped in a corner of the yard.

It remained perfectly still, without slipping or wobbling, as if it had grown out of the ground.

[Walking, Proficiency +1]

[Current Progress: Completed 999/1000]

Chen Ping took a deep breath and started again.

As the foot landed, a very subtle vibration came from the sole of the foot, traveling upwards, past the ankle, over the knee, past the waist, and up the spine, exploding at the back of the head, as if a door had been pushed open a crack from the inside, letting in a cold wind that blew in and jolted the person from head to toe.

He stopped.

The courtyard was very quiet.

A line of text flashed across my retina.

[Skill: Walking (Perfect)]

Current progress: 0/2000

[Effect: The body moves with the mind, the mind moves freely, and the feet leave no trace]

Chen Ping looked down at his feet.

Wearing coarse cloth shoes, stepping on the bluestone slabs.

He slowly lifted one foot, then lowered it back down.

The act of falling itself is silent, like a leaf skimming the surface of the water and sinking without even a ripple.

He started moving around again, wandering aimlessly in the courtyard, walking wherever he pleased, stopping wherever he pleased, and changing direction wherever he pleased.

He felt the sense of fulfillment that came with the journey.

In the past, when turning, my center of gravity would momentarily shift. That was because my body hadn't caught up with my mind's awareness, and I hadn't achieved complete control over my body's movements. It was extremely brief, but it was there.

But now the gap has disappeared; wherever the consciousness goes, the body goes, without the slightest delay.

Their reaction time has also increased significantly.

He stood still in the courtyard, his chest rising and falling steadily.

This is his first skill to be mastered.

Moreover, the 0/2000 on the panel is very eye-catching.

Beginner level: 100; Junior level: 500; Expert level: 1000; Master level: 1000; Perfect level: 2000.

What happens after practicing this two thousand times?

Chen Ping stared at that blank space for a long time.

The benefits that his current fulfilling "walking" brings him are already so obvious.

What kind of scene would unfold above that perfection?

Just as he was about to savor the moment a little longer, someone knocked on the courtyard gate.

dong dong dong.

Chen Ping walked over and opened the door.

A man stood outside the door, one-eyed, with a bruise on his face that hadn't completely faded, and he was smiling broadly.

Yang Sen.

Chen Ping was taken aback: "Are you alright?"

"Hey, I've been lying in bed for days, my bones are practically rusting." Yang Sen laughed, raised his hand and patted Chen Ping's shoulder with considerable force, "Yellow Tooth Master only allowed me to go out a couple of days ago, and the first thing I did was come over here."

He glanced at Chen Ping, grinned, and said, "I heard you killed Zhou Xiong? Good!"

Chen Ping stepped aside, gesturing for him to come in.

Yang Sen waved his hand: "Why go in? Come on, let's go to the restaurant over there at the market. I'll treat you to a meal. It's about time."

Chen Ping did not refuse. He casually took Jingye, closed the courtyard gate, and followed Yang Sen toward the market.

The restaurant is on the second floor, by the window.

Yang Sen sat down casually and ordered a table full of dishes from the waiter: braised fish, stir-fried mutton, a plate of peanuts, and a pot of strong liquor.

When the dishes were served, the two clinked glasses.

Yang Sen took a sip, smacked his lips, and didn't pick up his chopsticks. He leaned back in his chair and sighed, "Sigh, so frustrating."

Chen Ping took a sip of his drink but didn't say anything.

"You don't know," Yang Sen said, picking up a peanut and chewing it, his voice lowering slightly, "I was on leave at home when the informant from the mortuary suddenly sent someone to tell me that there was an urgent matter to report in person and asked me to meet him in Shanyang City."

He finished chewing the peanuts, put down his chopsticks, and said, "Our mortuary is well hidden. The people escorting the boats in the gang are different every time. I only went there once last time when I escorted you, and I haven't been back since. I only received information from one side. This time, the informant said he wanted to meet me in person. I figured that since the White Gang was blocking the river, something big must have happened, so I went."

He paused, a slight smirk playing on his lips: "I didn't expect Zhou Xiong to be waiting there as soon as we arrived."

Chen Ping held his wine glass and listened quietly.

Yang Sen picked up his chopsticks again, but didn't eat anything. He just twirled them around, his voice even lower: "In my personal opinion, there's a mole within the gang."

He paused.

"Regarding the Changshan incident, he himself is a gossip, but very few people in the gang knew about the secret breakthrough. Apart from the five chief stewards, it was just a few Red Flower Sticks who were close to him. That's why the gang leader doesn't allow us to leave the town."

He put down his chopsticks, picked up his wine glass, drank it all in one gulp, and said in a muffled voice, "It's easy to defend against a spear in the open, but hard to guard against an arrow in the dark. Several hot-tempered guys in the gang have been holding back for days, but that master of internal energy seems to have vanished into thin air. No matter how we investigate, we can't find him. We don't even know if he only made a move that one day and then retreated."

He refilled the glass, looked up, and winked at Chen Ping: "Alright, let's not talk about these frustrating things anymore, let's eat."

Chen Ping picked up his wine glass and took a sip.

There was no response.

Yang Sen's words, "There's a mole within the gang," lingered in my mind, but didn't dissipate.

He picked up a piece of fish, put it in his mouth, and chewed it slowly.

Outside the window, in the direction of the Huai River, a cargo boat was casting off its moorings, and the faint, deep, and lingering chants of the boatmen could be heard.