All Heavens: A Role-Playing System Starting from Tianlong

Zhang Cheng was somewhat surprised: "Leave?"

"Yes!" Zhong Ling nodded matter-of-factly. "I can go to Dali City with you guys!"

She lowered her voice, a hint of smugness in it: "I was lucky; my father isn't in the valley right now. I told my mother what happened, and she agreed to let me go with you."

As she spoke, she took out a delicate little box from her person. The box was locked, and no one knew what was inside.

"Oh, right." Zhong Ling shook the small box. "My mother seems to know that Prince Zhennan of Dali, and she asked me to give this to him."

Upon hearing this, Mu Wanqing's gaze turned strange.

But Zhong Ling was excitedly planning what to do in Dali City and didn't notice her strange behavior at all.

"Alright, alright, let's go!" she urged. "If my dad comes back soon, I might not be able to leave."

Zhang Cheng had no objection. Not to mention that Zhong Ling was a "key figure" who could bring him a high amount of progress in his acting career, just for the sake of watching the drama unfold, he was happy to bring this little girl to see Duan Zhengchun.

The four of them then left Wanjie Valley and headed towards Dali City.

The journey from Wuliang Mountain to Dali City by horseback takes about seven days. Black Rose, however, possesses exceptional stamina, far surpassing ordinary horses, and can reduce the journey to about four days.

The four remained the same: Mu Wanqing and Zhong Ling rode together in front, while Duan Yanqing carried Zhang Cheng on his back and chased after them.

They continued walking until dusk, when the four found a sheltered spot to rest. They took out their dry rations and started a fire to scavenge.

Zhang Cheng took out the Lingbo Weibu manual, which he had torn out separately from the silk scroll, and handed it to Duan Yanqing for study.

Duan Yanqing took the scroll and examined it carefully by the firelight.

His gaze slowly swept over the dense footprints and directional markings, sometimes pausing in deep thought, sometimes nodding slightly.

After a long while, he raised his head and exclaimed, "It is indeed a remarkable skill. It can go against the grain, using footsteps to drive the circulation of Qi throughout the body, and using movement to cultivate internal strength. The creator of this skill is truly a genius."

He handed the manual back to Zhang Cheng, saying, "Next, I will teach you the Book of Changes."

Next, Duan Yanqing spent nearly three hours explaining the entire text of the Book of Changes to Zhang Cheng, word by word.

Zhong Ling and Mu Wanqing, who had nothing else to do, also listened in on the whole thing.

Duan Yanqing was once groomed to be the crown prince, and he was quite accomplished in classical studies, making him a high-end version of Duan Yu.

His explanations were clear, logical, and easy to understand. After listening to the whole thing once, Zhang Cheng felt enlightened and was able to start practicing on his own.

He already knew the footwork diagrams on the silk scroll by heart. Now, he only needed to match them with the hexagrams that Duan Yanqing had mentioned one by one to begin his formal cultivation.

He got up and went into the woods, taking steps as shown in the map.

Zhang Cheng already possessed cultivation, and although it was his first time using it, he experienced no stagnation whatsoever. His movements became increasingly fluid, eventually resembling a ghost, elusive and unpredictable.

As he ran, he focused his mind on sensing the flow of true energy within his body. By the time he had completed all sixty-four hexagrams, the entire energy circulation route of the Lingbo Weibu technique was etched into his mind.

Since Lingbo Weibu (a martial arts technique) uses footwork to drive the flow of internal energy to increase internal strength, as long as I have strong enough control over my internal energy and remember the energy flow route, I can directly circulate it within my body in the same way.

Relying on his amazing recovery ability, he was not afraid of the meridian damage caused by the failure to circulate his energy. He simply sat cross-legged, closed his eyes and concentrated, and began to try to guide his true energy with his mind, letting it flow along that route.

As Zhang Cheng was studying the document, he suddenly heard Zhong Ling's voice: "Brother Zhang—"

Opening her eyes, she saw Zhong Ling approaching, her face showing a flattering expression, looking somewhat shy.

"Brother Zhang, could you teach me the martial arts techniques on that scroll of silk?"

Zhang Cheng was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected this girl to take the initiative to ask for martial arts training.

After all, the three of them brought this thing out of Langhuan Paradise together. If the other party had wanted to learn it, they could have asked long ago.

He looked Zhong Ling up and down: "Of course, no problem. This manual is a treasure we found together, so everyone who finds it gets a share. You and Wanqing can both learn it if you want."

Zhong Ling stuck out her tongue and said with a grin, "Hehe, Brother Zhang, don't say that. If you hadn't led us down there, how would we have known there was treasure down there? I wouldn't dare take credit for that."

Zhang Cheng thought for a moment, then took out a scroll from his robes and handed her the section recording the Northern Darkness Divine Art as well:

"This martial art is far superior to what you two are currently practicing. I suggest that you and Wanqing take advantage of your still shallow skills and switch to learning this martial art as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Mu Wanqing put down the dry rations she was holding and came over.

Zhong Ling opened the scroll and blushed instantly after only looking at the first few pictures.

She quickly shoved the scroll into Mu Wanqing's hands, who hadn't even looked at it yet, and whispered:

"Brother Zhang, it's not that I don't believe what you say, nor that I'm reluctant to give up my meager internal energy. It's just that dispersing internal energy is a skill in itself."

She pointed to the scroll: "The energy circulation route on this scroll is completely opposite to what I'm practicing now. If one of them isn't completely dispersed, the two internal energies will clash within the body... that would be disastrous."

Zhang Cheng already had a plan. "That's simple. I can absorb all the internal energy in your bodies first. After you've mastered the basics of the Northern Darkness Divine Art, I'll return the internal energy to you."

Zhong Ling's eyes lit up: "This is a good idea! Brother Zhang, wait for me to write down the diagram first, then I'll come find you!" After saying that, she turned and walked towards Mu Wanqing, who was holding the scroll.

Mu Wanqing was holding the scroll at this moment, her face flushed, but she managed to calmly read through the unsightly illustrations one by one.

She thought to herself: If I improve my martial arts skills, I can help Zhang Lang more in the future. So she led Zhong Ling aside, and the two of them watched side by side.

After seeing the two off, Zhang Cheng sat back down and continued tinkering with his "internal energy version of Lingbo Weibu".

If the ancestors of the Xiaoyao Sect knew this in the afterlife, they would probably be so angry that they would come back to life if they saw someone reverting their painstakingly dismantled internal energy cultivation techniques into dynamic energy cultivation techniques.

Zhang Cheng tried several times, but all attempts ended in failure, and he felt a slight stinging pain in his meridians. He had no choice but to stop and wait for his body to repair itself.

Just then, Duan Yanqing walked over.

Zhang Cheng looked up at him: "Boss Duan, you don't also want to dissipate your cultivation and start over, do you? I said before that I would get a share if I saw you, but you didn't see it."

He still held Duan Yanqing in high esteem.

Giving the Northern Darkness Divine Skill to Zhong Ling and Mu Wanqing was merely to give the two young girls some skills; but if it were given to Duan Yanqing—this man, with his crippled body, was still able to reach the first-class level, and now that his old injuries have been fully healed and he has obtained this divine skill, what would that be like?

Duan Yanqing shook his head, "My own martial arts skills are not yet fully mastered, why should I switch to another school of martial arts?"

Zhang Cheng raised an eyebrow: "If that's the case, what brings you here, Boss Duan?"