Journey to Gale City (1)

//Last Updated on June 22, 2024

He remembered the time when he couldn't master his family's [Mighty Ape Fist] technique, no matter how much he practiced. He had eventually given up, feeling like a failure. The memory of his mother's death and his sister's kidnapping only added to his self-blame.

Zhang Yan tried to shake off the negative thoughts and focus on the present. He knew he had to keep trying, and maybe with the help of Liu Feng, he could finally achieve success in cultivation. He listened intently to their conversation, wondering if he too could learn from Liu Feng again.

As the sun set, the group continued their journey. Liu Feng closed his eyes as he meditated. Mei Lin watched the passing scenery with a peaceful expression.

The journey was uneventful, and after a few hours, Liu Feng opened his eyes and turned to Zhang Yan. "You should focus on your breathing while cultivating," he said. "It will help you better control your inner energy."

Zhang Yan nodded and took a deep breath. "Thank you for reminding me boss," he said respectfully.

As the night grew darker, the group stopped to rest and have dinner.

Li He was cheerful, chatting and laughing with everyone. He talked about his family, his father Li Gong, and his sister Li Ying, who had been selected for the Flaming Mountain Sect last year.

Li He explained that he wanted to be a sword cultivator, but he didn't have the talent for it, therefore, he focused on body cultivation, and he was currently in the early stages of blood refinement. He admitted that even though he wasn't very powerful, he felt compelled to confront the cicada issue.

"I knew that I was not strong enough to handle it," he said, looking a little embarrassed. "But with my father away, I had to make a choice and I decided to act on my own. I couldn't just sit by and let it harm others."

Mei Lin smiled at Li He's determination, admiring his courage despite his lack of power. She could see that he was truly dedicated to protecting others.

As they finished their food, Liu Feng learned that the city lord of Gale City was away and would not be back for a day or two at the earliest.

During his conversation with Zhang Yan previously, Liu Feng had already come up with a plan to seek the city lord's help in resolving the issue. He knew he wouldn't be able to stand up against an entire family or a city if the situation escalated on his own.

At the very end, the trio and Li He were chatting while others were busy preparing their stay for the night.

Observing the ideal chance, Liu Feng seized control of the conversation and continued, "Li He, I was actually coming to visit Gale City at the request of my master. I have some important matters to discuss with the city lord," Liu Feng said, in a serious tone after taking a pause. "Is there anything you can do to help me out?"

Li He thought for a moment before replying, "I have some contacts in the city. I may be able to arrange a meeting with my father's subordinates. We can go there tomorrow and try to sort this out."

Liu Feng interjected, "Actually, there's no need for that. It is important that I speak with the city lord privately. Kindly inform him of my request, and you can arrange to meet once he returns."

After finishing their meal, the trio settled in for the night, eagerly anticipating their arrival at Gale City come morning. The city was renowned for its lively atmosphere, particularly during the upcoming Harmony Festival in a few short weeks.

Mei Lin couldn't wait to experience the festivities, while Zhang Yan was consumed with thoughts of vengeance. Liu Feng, on the other hand, was focused on exploring new opportunities to enhance his existing techniques.

Still, the thought of Mei Lin's innate poison immunity and Zhang Yan's inability to cultivate Qi lingered in his mind.

Since there were no lurking dangers, he allowed himself to indulge in some leisurely thinking.

'I've been waiting to gather more elemental fragments to combine into my cultivation technique, but it looks like that won't be possible right now.'

'When the system injected information into my head it made that clear that I can't simply copy and paste techniques and add different fragments to each of them to create a new technique.'

'So, if I combine a poison fragment, the technique will mutate and become poison-related.'

'Although I can combine the other wood dao fragments that I have, I'm concerned about the possible side effects of practicing poison-type cultivation techniques. '

'The system can't guarantee anything, otherwise, it would have warned me while dealing with the dao fragments from the snake.'

'Although there was some issue with the elemental compatibility last time while combining them, from the description, I can use any of the elemental qi from the eight trigrams if I have the suitable techniques.'

'From what I remember, the eight elements of the eight trigrams, are not the usual elements. Apart from the usual four elements of fire, water, air, and earth. They also include sky, lake, mountain, and lastly the element of lighting.'

'The challenge is to collect dao fragments of sky, lake, and mountain. Is this even possible? I mean if I point my hands at the sky, I won't even get the wind element dao fragments.'

'For the lake, I remember it was changeable with marsh, I guess I could substitute poison in that case.'

'As for the mountain, I think I should try with metal element dao fragments. If we differentiate between the general earth element and the metal element, the mountain will likely be represented by metal element, so I think I can substitute metal elemental dao fragments in the place of the mountain.'

Liu Feng furrowed his brow, feeling a sense of confusion wash over him. 'Then there is the other issue with the elemental dao fragments. Every time I acquire one, the notification window mentions that it originates from the dao of five elements. But which five elements are we referring to here?"

Liu Feng immersed himself in deep contemplation. "Is it fire, earth, water, air, and space, or was it the lightning?"

Liu Feng was uncertain, and the mental exercises he had been performing in order to deduce how his system works had left him feeling exhausted.

'Logically the space and time elements should be too high-level concepts for me right now. Perhaps I should put aside them for the moment,' he thought.

'But why only five elements instead of eight?' Liu Feng let out a long, drawn-out sigh as he pondered these mysteries.

There was also the matter of different cultivation paths. His conversation earlier with the group had made it clear that there were different types of cultivation paths apart from Qi cultivation in this world.

'Li He was cultivating some kind of body cultivation technique', he was certain.

'Only if I had some kind of inspect function.', he realized that having an 'Inspect' or 'Appraisal' function would certainly be useful for gathering information in these kinds of situations.

Had Liu Feng possessed a better ability to sense Qi, he would have detected that Li He's blood contained a trace of Qi due to him being in the initial stage of Body Cultivation - the Blood Refining stage.

At this stage, the practitioner consumes herbs' medicinal properties and circulates them in their blood, increasing their quality and quantity, enhancing physical strength, resilience, and the healing ability of the body.

Liu Feng contemplated the various forms of cultivation, wondering if there were any other types he had yet to discover.

'There must be soul cultivation also…but what else is there?' After some thought, he remembered the concept of mind cultivation.

Liu Feng's mind raced with possibilities. 'Is it possible to cultivate the mind separately as well? It seems like a logical step, especially since we have Qi, body, and soul cultivation techniques. Perhaps I should have thought of this earlier,' he thought.

His mind immediately flashed back to the cicada queen and her mental technique. He had incorporated fragments of it into his existing cultivation technique, which had given him the [Clear Mind] passive ability. But in hindsight, he realized that he should have created a separate technique solely for mind cultivation. Liu Feng's heart sank as he realized his mistake.

'Well, what's done is done. So, there is no point in thinking about it now.', Liu Feng shook his head, realizing that he couldn't change the past. He took a deep breath and decided to focus on the present.

'After acquiring Qi cultivation, body cultivation, soul cultivation, and mind cultivation techniques separately, I'll attempt to combine them. Although their compatibility is uncertain, I'll still give it a shot at a later time.'

'I'll merge them once they are powerful enough, and that should create a truly formidable technique.'

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If you have any suggestions for any of the cultivation techniques, comment them and let me know, I'll try to use them if possible. Suggest some for the opponents as well.

1. Qi Cultivation Technique

2. Soul Cultivation Technique

3. Body Cultivation Technique

4. Mind Cultivation Technique