I am Jinshan Youxia

The swordsman approached, clutching his bright red shoulder, and said sternly, "Making a scene in the city, the Li family won't let you off the hook, they—"

He looked on in shock at the swaying carriage approaching and the middle-aged woman driving it. "They're here?!"

How could it be so fast?

Shopkeepers and passersby on both sides watched from behind the doors, hoping that the Li family would once again subdue the thieves who had gone on a killing spree.

After much hesitation, the swordsman decided to stay and act as a witness to put in a good word for them. Although the Li family never cared about who was right or wrong, only who made the move, wouldn't it be wonderful if they could find someone who was easy to talk to and could persuade them?

Even if things are bad, he can extricate himself from the situation and has no worries about his future, so naturally he is willing to stay.

"Clatter~" The carriage stopped, the atmosphere became extremely oppressive, and the street was completely silent.

The middle-aged woman who was driving the carriage did not lift a finger or say a word. She got off the carriage first, arranged the stools, opened the carriage door, and the people inside stepped off.

Mrs. Li

Some people recognized Madam Li, who was a frequent face in public, and began to sympathize with the tall man who had just caused trouble and was caught by Madam Li.

"Uncle Zhang."

Madam Li—Wang Yuyan bowed and said in a crisp voice, startling everyone present.

The swordsman glanced at it, a look of realization dawning on his face. Then he chuckled self-deprecatingly, shoved the sword back into place, covered his wound with one hand, and turned to leave.

"Do you have any wound medicine?" Zhang Chengyi asked.

Wang Yuyan took out a porcelain bottle from her sleeve and said, "It's the Nine-Turn Bear-Snake Pill from Lingjiu Palace, it has..."

Before she could finish speaking, Zhang Chengyi took the porcelain bottle, didn't even look at how many pills were inside, and tossed it towards the swordsman, saying, "Healing medicine."

The swordsman caught it without turning his head, without any polite greetings. The two were just strangers who had met by chance, and he even quickened his pace a little, soon disappearing at the end of the street.

Looking at the inn littered with dead and wounded, Wang Yuyan clicked her tongue in amazement. More than thirty years had passed, and not only had Grandpa Zhang's appearance not changed, but his personality had become even more fierce.

She didn't mind the Nine-Turn Bear-Snake Pill that had been taken away and given away; it was a secret medicine of the Lingjiu Palace, insignificant to her. She bowed and said:

"Uncle Zhang, let's go."

After his killing spree, Zhang Chengyi was still spotless. He casually draped his bundle over Wang Yuyan's shoulders and then, just like an old man, entered the carriage first.

Seeing this scene, countless people must have secretly cursed him for being clueless about romance.

Wang Yuyan, who looks to be in her thirties or forties, is at the prime of her life. Yet, because she has never experienced the bitterness of love and life, she still retains a touch of innocence. Her charm and purity are perfectly blended, and her beauty is renowned throughout the entire Sichuan region.

There are actually people who treat this goddess of Sichuan like a maid; they are truly hopeless.

-------------------------------------

One day later, in the high mountains north of Seongeok County.

"Crack!" A piece of rock slid off the mountainside and fell into the clouds.

The Nu people, dressed entirely in short clothes, are using ropes to continuously lift supplies from the mountain path up onto the narrow road above.

Zhang Chengyi stood on the cliff, gazing at the distant, misty mountain peaks. Wang Yuyan, who had just been scolded by her mother the day before, had no mood to speak and stood behind him.

The mountain road to the Valley of Immortality becomes too treacherous here, making it impossible for carriages to pass. Ordinary people would never come here. Therefore, Su Xinghe and Tianshan Tonglao, who live in the valley, subdued the Nu people who often roamed the mountains, taught them martial arts, and were responsible for transporting supplies and delivering messages.

In the past, the Nu people survived by harvesting bird's nests and medicinal herbs and selling them cheaply to merchants. Their lives were extremely difficult. Some people even paid them to learn martial arts and cultural knowledge, so they naturally gave their all.

Besides aging from frequenting the Valley of Immortality, Li Qingluo also has many hidden injuries from years ago that haven't healed. Having not fought with anyone for many years, she naturally finds it inconvenient to go into the mountains often.

Before long, the Nu people, who possessed remarkable martial arts skills, carried all the supplies in large and small bags, becoming human transport vehicles, and the group set off towards the Everlasting Spring Valley, a hundred kilometers away.

Despite the distance, everyone there possessed martial arts skills, and by afternoon they had already reached the Valley of Immortality high above.

Several middle-aged men dressed similarly in short clothes but with somewhat familiar faces emerged from the valley. They were very excited to see Zhang Chengyi. They gestured to each other for a while, then one turned back to report the news, while the others came closer and bowed.

He was a disciple of the Deaf-Mute Sect from the Valley of the Deaf and Mute back then.

Zhang Chengyi smiled and nodded. Before they even entered the valley, Su Xinghe, whose face was not much different from usual, suddenly darted out of the valley and bowed, controlling the trembling in his voice, and said, "Uncle Zhang, you're back."

Wang Yuyan stood aside, trying to remain inconspicuous, while the deaf-mute disciples took the supplies brought by the Nu people and delivered them into the valley time and time again.

Seeing an old acquaintance, Zhang Chengyi's mood improved considerably, and he casually asked, "How is Wuyazi? I heard he suffered a qi deviation?"

He's not the type to use small talk to express closeness; he's quite reserved with his emotions.

Su Xinghe was much better; he quickly suppressed his emotions and led Zhang Chengyi into the valley, saying, "Master is much better now; he's lucid for at least four hours a day..."

The three walked and talked, and soon entered the valley.

"what?"

Before Zhang Chengyi even entered, he sensed something strange. His physique was fluctuating. After unlocking his physique, an upward arrow appeared on the data panel.

This means that the physical condition has improved by a very small amount. These numbers, at least two decimal places, are increasing, but not across the board, so they are not reflected on the data panel at all.

Seeing him standing motionless at the valley entrance, Su Xinghe and Wang Yuyan also stopped and waited patiently.

Zhang Chengyi stared at it for a while longer. Although the rise was slight, it had never stopped. It seemed like a good thing, but people living in the valley would age rapidly and die of old age if they went out. The side effects were also significant.

"Let's go see Wuyazi." He decided to stay in the Valley of Immortality for a while, learn some martial arts manuals, and if possible, learn the Northern Darkness Yin-Yang Technique. He would have plenty of time to study the problems of the Valley of Immortality.

The valley was filled with trees and the roads were intricate. Su Xinghe led the two of them to a wooden house deep inside the valley with ease.

Wu Yazi was sitting at the door, looking exactly the same as before. He was drawing on the ground with a wooden stick, which looked like a meridian chart, but it didn't match the normal human meridian chart at all. He was muttering something, but it was unclear what he was saying.

He completely ignored the three people who had passed through the formation and arrived in front of him.

Su Xinghe explained, "Master's condition has been much more stable in the last ten years. He no longer hurts people. If it weren't for the fact that we can't freely enter and leave the Valley of Immortality, we should have moved out of the valley long ago."

“Uncle Zhang, my master won’t wake up for at least another hour. What do you think…”

Chapter 114 [Evergreen] [Never Age]

"Young friend, do you think 'I' am the master of this body, or a part of it?"

Wu Yazi's face was full of melancholy, and his tone was unusually confused.

He wasn't one to play the riddle-maker, but paused before saying, "My Northern Darkness Yin-Yang Technique is very successful. Based on the Northern Darkness Divine Art and the Eternal Youth and Longevity Technique, once the acupoints are solidified, the expended power can be recovered tenfold or even a hundredfold, but..."

"After I completed the Kunpeng's descent into the world, another 'me' was born from my transformed body. It was only then that I realized that muscles, bones, internal organs, and even meridians and acupoints all have a 'self'. When they become strong enough, they combine to replace me and control this body."

"Am I still myself at this moment?"

Zhang Chengyi thought for a moment and concluded, "Simply put, your overly strong physical instincts have replaced your consciousness, right?"

“If another version of me were to actually be born inside your body, you wouldn’t just be acting crazy,” he remarked, then added, “Have you come up with any way to deal with the problem of bodily instincts?”

Instinct is too strong; the body does whatever it wants, and self-awareness can't take the lead. If there were another consciousness or a split personality, wouldn't the person have become a normal person through learning over the past thirty years?

It's such a simple thing, all this philosophical narrative about 'I' and 'me' is nonsense.

Wu Yazi smiled helplessly. He knew it was pointless to talk about this with Zhang Chengyi. He stretched his body and said, "Actually, I can only control less than 10% of my own power. The rest is another thing, well, my body's instincts."

"Instincts are entangled with bodily desires and cannot be controlled by me. I am unwilling to do anything that harms the body. At present, all I can do is gradually control them through meditation."

"Body instincts are not unified and firm; they are chaotic and numerous. If someone can maintain consistency and a firm will to drive their body instincts, they may be able to overcome the tribulations of their inner demons."

He called the state of being possessed by the Northern Darkness Yin-Yang Technique "Heart Demon Tribulation." The more chaotic and entangled his thoughts were, the deeper he would sink. If his body wanted to continue to grow stronger, it would inevitably reach this point. The Northern Darkness Yin-Yang Technique had just reached this point too quickly, so he was not prepared. The inner demon was also too intense, and ultimately he had not been able to get out of it for thirty years.

Practicing martial arts requires cultivating the mind? It feels like it's moving closer to Huang Yi's martial arts style.

Zhang Chengyi didn't care much. What did this inner demon tribulation have to do with him, a modder? So he said, "Come, come, teach me the body refining method and the Northern Darkness Yin-Yang Technique."

Wu Yazi naturally wouldn't refuse, and patiently broke down the body-refining method, explaining the purpose of each acupoint and meridian, and how to use true qi to refine it.

Zhang Chengyi was no longer the novice martial artist he once was. He wasn't good at innovation, but learning wasn't a problem, especially since he was taught in a piecemeal way. In about half an hour, he had already begun to try using body tempering techniques.

Unlike the body tempering method, he only needed to temper his body for a quarter of an hour, stimulating all the acupoints and meridians in his body, and his physique on the data panel would improve again.

"Click~" He didn't hesitate to max it out, his physique changed from 4.0 to 4.3, his bones and muscles made strange noises as they rubbed together, and in the blink of an eye his body swelled up a bit, and his internal energy also showed an increasing arrow, with the capacity increasing by about two hundred.

Wu Yazi remained calm despite the strange behavior.

The physical changes ended quickly. Zhang Chengyi twisted his still slightly uncomfortable neck joints, expanded his lungs, took a deep breath, and felt 2,300 points of internal energy surging through his body. He exhaled a breath of stale air.

Immediately afterwards, all the pores on the body were forced to open, greedily absorbing the outside air to support the body's movements.

Don't underestimate the mere 0.3; it actually breaks the limits of the human body. Normal people would need years of physical training to stimulate acupoints and cause changes in their bodies to achieve a comprehensive improvement of 0.3 in physical fitness.

"No, the effect is not good again." Zhang Chengyi refined his body again, but the effect was very poor this time. After one round, he could only adjust it by 0.0001 through the data panel, which is three zeros after the decimal point. He didn't know when he would be able to take off.

Wu Yazi reached out and tested his internal energy, and then he knew the result.

The body-refining method changes the body with each stimulation of acupoints and meridians. For normal people practicing, each stimulation can accelerate the changes in the body until the changes are complete. If you want to proceed to the next stimulation, you have to study how to stimulate the new body again. Otherwise, you can only try again and again with the rapidly diminishing effect.

Zhang Chengyi realized the physical transformation he could achieve in the future all at once, so his cultivation speed naturally plummeted.

If you want to continue to get stronger, you need to use his current transformed body as a template, slowly study, and customize a new body-refining method.

"If that's the case, then the Tanzhong acupoint..."

Wu Yazi muttered to himself, his eyes gradually becoming cloudy, and he let go of her hand and squatted down again.

Okay, I've fallen ill.

Zhang Chengyi shook his head and said, "Old Su, take me to see the spring in the valley. When Wuyazi wakes up, call me over to learn the Beiming Yin-Yang Technique."

Theoretically, there is no limit to body refinement techniques. No matter how much the bodies of people in the Tianlong world grow, acupoints and meridians always exist and can be continuously used to stimulate the body. However, the characteristic of having to re-study and customize each time makes it difficult to popularize them.

And it's too slow.

It would be much better to recreate acupoints and have the Kunpeng descend to earth to make his body dozens of times stronger all at once, since he's not afraid of the inner demon tribulation anyway.

"Yes." Su Xinghe was no different from usual, bowing his head in agreement. He led the way and soon left the complex formation, arriving at a spring.

The spring water is not deep, only about knee-deep for an adult. It is crystal clear and devoid of any living creatures. Below the source, you can see a spring eye where bubbles rise every now and then.

Su Xinghe explained, “Uncle Zhang, the spring leads into the interior of this mountain. Lao Qi and I explored it. The snowmelt from the peak melts and flows down, penetrating the narrow cracks and eventually entering the pool. As for why it has the effect of preserving youth, Master speculates that it is the result of the formation and the withering of various wild medicinal herbs from the peak.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chengyi scooped up some spring water and drank it without hesitation. After waiting for a while without any reaction, he simply brought up the data panel, looked at the Everlasting Spring Water marked with a unit of 1, and clicked on it more than a dozen times.

His belly swelled up rapidly, as if being inflated, making him look at least eight months pregnant.

"Burp~" Even a burp seemed to carry the sweet taste of spring water.

Evergreen, Timeless

Two new statuses pop up in the status bar, with a suffix (+0.1) added after Constitution, temporarily increasing it by 0.1.

Zhang Chengyi wore a thoughtful expression, seemingly finding it interesting.