Chapter Twenty-Five: Turning Calamity into Good Fortune

  Shi Dong couldn't think much, it was a completely subconscious reaction. He raised his arms and propped himself up, while his legs kicked back with force, his true energy rapidly circulating.

  It felt like his arms had been punched heavily, causing his upper body to lean back, fortunately his legs kicked back with force, dissipating a lot of the punch's power.

  When he fell to the ground, his figure was vaguely visible, and this person looked dull and stupid, as if not like a living person, and felt that the black shadow in front of him was swaying.

  With a loud crash, he was heavily hit and saw stars, his body flying backward.

  Bang! Bang! Ping-pong!

  Before he could even get up, a series of heavy blows rained down on him, sending him tumbling to the ground in agony, as if he was being beaten by over a dozen people wielding large clubs, leaving him gasping for breath.

  At this moment, Shi Dong seemed to have returned to the past. Once, he saw someone eating a meat pie and his mouth was watering so much that he couldn't help himself, so he stole one and hid in a corner to eat it. As a result, he was caught by the boss who had come into town to whip him, trapping him in a corner and beating him mercilessly until he almost died...

  "Get out! Scram!" Shi Dong suddenly sprang up from the ground with a burst of energy, his arms blocking and his legs kicking in a flurry of movements, executing a perfect consecutive mandarin duck kick.

  Bang! Bang!

  Two legs containing true energy kicked heavily on that person's body, and Shi Dong felt as if he had kicked a huge stone, hard and heavy.

  He silently backed off two steps and stopped at a distance of two feet, unmoving.

  He leapt onto the person's back, wrapped his arms around their waist, let out a loud cry, and then lifted them up with a beautiful over-the-shoulder throw.

  "Get out!"

  After this loud shout, Shi Dong himself was stunned, his hands on his knees, panting heavily.

  Only then did he see clearly that what he had thrown out was just a mechanical puppet, with a wooden and dull appearance, emitting a dark copper glow all over its body, lying motionless about ten feet away.

  "Master." Shi Dong turned around and called out to his master.

  Situ Jin seemed to be stunned by his performance, a pair of eyes staring at him fiercely, Shi Dong took a deep breath, mustered up the courage to meet his gaze with his own, and suddenly felt a huge mountain weighing down on him.

  But he didn't retreat half a step, instead using all his strength to hold on, even if it meant being crushed to pieces.

  Absolutely not!

  "Alright!" Situ Jin said, withdrawing his gaze as heavy as a mountain.

  "What?" Shi Dong could hardly believe his ears.

  "I said it's good!" Situ Jin waved his hand, and the mechanical puppet that had fallen to the ground jumped up and walked over with a clatter, standing behind Shi Dong with its hands hanging down.

  "You are indeed my disciple, not only can you think creatively and break through the first layer of Qi refining, but also improve your own qualifications by one level. What's even more rare is that you can practice martial arts on your own and defeat my puppet." As he said this, Situ Jin pointed to the puppet behind Shi Dong and said: "It's yours now!"

  "What for? Why?" Shi Dong was stunned.

  "Why? With your ugly moves like 'broken gong' and 'rotten butt monkey climbing a tree', if others see it, won't they laugh their teeth off?" Situ Jin's two sword-like eyebrows slowly rose, his hands crossed over his chest as he proudly said: "As my disciple, how can you be so incompetent? From now on, you will practice with it every day. If you don't thoroughly defeat it, then don't call yourself my disciple!"

  "Oh......oh......" Shi Dong muttered to himself, wondering if he had somehow managed to pass.

  "This 'Tempering Technique' secret skill is also given to you, refer to it and practice, your physical body will gradually become stronger!" Situ Jin shook his hand and threw a green light towards Shi Dong.

  Shi Dong hastily caught it and looked closely, only to see that it was a jade slip, emitting a bright green light, which was really beautiful.

  Overjoyed, he hastily bowed to Siu Gam: "Thank you, Master!"

  Xīu Jǐn nodded slightly, his expression easing a bit, and continued: "You should know that for us cultivators, our abilities are divided into three categories: magic spells, magical artifacts, or internal energy. The internal energy is what you've been practicing with your fists and kicks, but the problem is that your techniques are all over the place, and your use of true qi is completely off, so if you were to encounter a truly skilled opponent, you wouldn't even be able to withstand a single blow. Just watch..."

  Suddenly a finger pointed and swept away, with a sharp whistling sound, a thumb-thick black light rapidly brushed past Shi Dong's face, the strong wind making his skin ache.

  Just then, a loud rumbling sound came from behind, Shi Dong hastily turned his head to look back, and was shocked to see that a large section of the stone wall of the cave had collapsed, revealing a three-foot square hole, inside which it was dark and bottomless, and he didn't know how deep this blow had pierced.

  "This is the correct application of the True Qi, if combined with exquisite moves, once a surprise attack is launched, cultivators who do not specialize in body refinement can't withstand it at all!"

  Shi Dong was shocked and his mouth fell open. He had thought that his master's magical powers were certainly great, but he hadn't expected him to casually point out a huge hole in the wall with just one finger, it was simply too formidable!

  With a surprise, he hastily blew the conch shell: "Master, you are omnipotent, your longevity is as long as heaven, and your good fortune will last forever. Breaking through to the Yuan Ying stage is just around the corner!"

  "Alright, stop flattering me!" Situ Jin waved his hand, "If you have any more questions about your cultivation, ask me quickly, I still have things to attend to."

  The stone moved, the eyeballs rolled around, and he immediately thought of an important matter. He hurriedly asked: "Master, regarding my low-quality pulse wheel and four spiritual roots physique, do you have a way to improve it?"

  "Taking elixirs and strengthening your body can improve your meridian quality to a certain extent, making your physique stronger. You've done all these things correctly before, so you've been promoted from third-rate lower to third-rate middle. If you continue to cultivate the physical training method I taught you well, your quality may be improved further, but at most it will only increase by two levels."

  It's just that your qualifications were really poor before, so even a little bit of practice has a great effect! If it were a top-notch disciple, even if they practiced like this, they would probably find it hard to make any progress at all.

  Shi Dong listened with a mix of shock and delight, previously thinking that the quality of the pulse wheel was fixed from birth, never expecting that it could still be improved through effort later on, he was so happy that his mouth couldn't close.

  Situ Jin said: "The four spiritual roots physique is indeed troublesome, but if there is a secret technique to cultivate, it's not impossible to improve to some extent."

  "Please, Master, enlighten me." Shi Dong hastily knocked his head on the ground, his heart racing with excitement. If this hidden danger could be resolved, and his qualifications were promoted to Grade B, then the path of cultivation would truly be bright!

  "En, the principle is not surprising when said. It's just that during cultivation, the four spiritual roots and physical constitution lead to the mixing in of many spiritual impurities, so it's necessary to repeatedly expel and absorb, eliminating the impurities, thus greatly slowing down the speed of cultivation."

  "Hey! As long as you strengthen your spiritual practice, when you breathe out and in, you'll be able to clearly distinguish between the spiritual energy and the yin energy, and naturally avoid the troubles of the four spiritual roots."

  Shi Dong listened intently, nodding repeatedly as if a window had been pushed open in front of him, revealing many previously unthought-of training points that his master's words had suddenly brought to light, and he was instantly overjoyed.

  "Alright, after you go down, find Huang Shixiong at the Cangshu Pavilion and tell him that you want to strengthen your spiritual practice. He will introduce some suitable techniques for you." As he spoke, he beckoned with his hand, and an old servant emerged from the cave, carrying a tray in his hands.

  On top of it was placed a small black iron sword and five soul-stopping stones.

  "This Soul-Extinguishing Sword and these five Spirit Stones are rewards for you, take them and leave!"

  Shi Dong was overjoyed and hastily went forward to accept it. He then bowed his head in gratitude to his master before retreating outward.

  As he reached the door, he suddenly remembered something and turned around to bow to Situ Jin.

  "What's wrong?"

  "Master, I don't understand. I didn't follow Second Brother's teachings and instead practiced on my own, and when we were practicing martial arts, I even spoke out of turn. Why... why didn't you punish me, but instead rewarded me?"

  "Haha! Well asked." Situ Jin sat upright in the armchair, a smile hanging from the corner of his mouth as he asked: "I ask you, have you ever deceived your master and destroyed your ancestors?"

  "The apprentice didn't dare."

  "Have you ever harmed your fellow disciples?"

  "There is no apprentice."

  "That's right, since neither of the two door rules has been violated, why should I punish you? Go down!"

  "Yes." Shi Dong's heart suddenly realized and he quickly bowed his head and retreated.

  After Shi Dong left, Situ Jin's eyes flickered and he turned to look at the old servant, asking: "Ah Cong, what do you think of this child?"

  "Clever and resourceful, bold but meticulous, ruthless yet determined, but still lacks refinement." The old servant replied.

  Situ Jin nodded, "Alright, then let's refine it carefully!"