Chapter Fourteen: Western Hills

  In the next few days, Zhou Futong stayed at home and had his meals delivered from a nearby restaurant. The house was not cleaned, and Zhou Liang did not disturb him. The first stage of the Easy Tendon and Bone Tempering chapter had passed, and his Dao foundation had successfully advanced to the ninth level. One level of Dao foundation is like heaven and earth apart. Passing the ninth level represents the possibility of climbing to the peak, but it also means forever being a mediocre person.

  Zhou Liang wasn't excited about the breakthrough in his Taoist foundation, instead he was worried about the second stage, feeling lost and without a clue, spending these past few days contemplating the subtleties within.

  The first level is to cultivate the foundation with force, and the second level is to build the foundation with spirit. It should be related to spiritual thought. If not, it would be a pity if he didn't try to cultivate his spiritual thought for a while. Unfortunately, Zhou Liang didn't dare to try at this time. His spiritual thought was very powerful, and even Zhou Fugui, a demonic elite with two open orifices, couldn't compare to his spiritual power. Zhou Fugui had already returned, but he didn't mention cultivating his spiritual thought for the time being. If he used his spiritual thought to lay the foundation, it would definitely attract the other party's attention. Even if Zhou Fugui hadn't discovered it, if he couldn't win in the battle of demonic heart with the consumption of his spiritual thought, then his past life's fate would once again befall him. Not to mention the Supreme Great Dao, everything was unnecessary to mention.

  Anyway, it's only two months, for ordinary people, two months is not a long time, let alone cultivators, just wait slowly, waiting for the final moment.

  Calm and collected, quietly calculating his advantages, Zhou Futong was at home. He couldn't go out to purchase materials, but some simple preparations were still possible. Without a spirit stone, he could prepare some magic seals, which could be activated with the help of his divine sense during the intense battle between the two sides, and might just come in handy.

  The tattoos had to be done in secret, and there wasn't much time to spare, so he could only work on them slowly. Fortunately, Zhou Futong hadn't come to disturb him these past few days, so he was able to finish some simple tattoos on his arms, chest, and back using the materials he had previously purchased. These tattoos would be able to enhance his spiritual awareness by about 10% if activated at the last moment.

  This accomplished divine consciousness, in itself, is waiting for the moment when Dao Xin's magic exceeds Zhou Futang's. Now, his divine consciousness is already above Zhou Futang's. With this increase of one accomplishment, the gap becomes even more apparent, and ultimate victory will be even more assured.

  One morning, a week after Zhou Futong returned home, he came to Zhou Liang's room with a big smile on his face and said: "My son!"

  Zhou Liang looked at Zhou Fu Tong's smiling face and felt a slight sense of vigilance in his heart. He lowered his head and said respectfully, "Father, is there something?"

  "My son is in Yangzhou, it's been a while, and he hasn't been out and about. The mountains and rivers of Yangzhou are beautiful, but I've never had the time. This time, I'll be at home for a while, take you out for a walk, how about that?" Zhou Futong's face was filled with smiles, looking like a perfect and kind father.

  Zhou Liang's heart suddenly shook violently, it had come, in his past life, it was like this, Liu Shu and Zhao Ma together, took him to Xishan, with a sightseeing appearance, at that time he did not realize the disaster was approaching, on the halfway up the mountain, they discovered a cave together, curious, under the urging of the three, without any doubt, followed them into the cave, it was Zhou Futang's secret place prepared years ago, it was in the cave where his tragic fate began.

  It's time, from rebirth, Zhou Liang and others have been waiting for this day, with a slight excitement in his heart. Compared to his previous life, he is two months ahead of schedule. His preparations are almost complete, and once he passes this hurdle, everything will be wide open. The mysterious heavenly way has given him a second chance at life, not to waste it. After crossing this milestone, there is an even broader world waiting for him.

  Just like before, Zhou Futong had a kind face and eyes, and all the way greeted the neighbors, saying that he was taking Zhou Liang to play in the suburbs and wouldn't be back for a few days.

  Many neighbors also praised him, Zhou Liang watched with a cold eye, and sighed slightly in his heart. A Mo Xin cultivator is indeed watertight, even ordinary people are taken into consideration. They went out for a few days, and many neighbors thought they were just going out to play. By the time they reacted, Zhou Futong had already done everything and fled thousands of miles away. It can be said that all unexpected events have been reduced to the lowest level.

  "Alright, let's go!" Zhou Futong said, not forgetting to wave goodbye to the many neighbors. Zhou Liang lowered his head, clenched his fists, and was slightly excited. After leaving the city, they went further and further into the wilderness, even to Xishan, where he had the carriage wait at the foot of the mountain while he enthusiastically climbed up.

  Zhou Liang let out a soft sigh, it seemed that in his past life, Zhou Futong was just like this. The plan had loopholes everywhere, and yet his past self hadn't suspected a thing. Although the western mountain wasn't particularly steep, there were still various wild beasts lurking about. The two of them had simply gone up without even letting the coachman wait, clearly intending to spend the night in the mountains.

  But to say the least, it shouldn't be like this. It's already in his grasp. How could Zhou Futong go to such great lengths? You know, even if Zhou Liang and the coachman discovered them, with Zhou Futong's exceptional skills, he could have easily silenced the three of them, including the coachman.

  Zhou Liang narrowed his eyes, becoming even more cautious, watching Zhou Futong perform, big and small, just like that under the scorching sun, climbing towards Xishan. The back mountain was heavily guarded because it was a cemetery for some large clans in the city, so they climbed from the front mountain, taking several hours to finally reach the middle of the mountain. By this time, it was already noon, and the sun was fierce. Zhou Futong suggested resting in a forest.

  Zhou Liang's mouth corners, with a hint of a smile, silently calculated in his heart, how long it would take for Zhou Futong to start. Sure enough, not long after, the sound of Zhou Futong's shouting came, a slightly sharp cry that stood out somewhat in the dense forest. It was just that Xishan was close to Yangzhou and wasn't a tourist destination, so there might be some tomb guards on the back mountain, but the front mountain was almost devoid of human presence except for a few woodcutters. Zhou Futong had cleverly used this as an excuse to lure him here.

  Along the trajectory of Zhou Futong's shouting, Zhou Liang slowly went in that direction. In the dense forest, it was not easy to walk, but Zhou Liang's figure was relatively light and agile. Before he even walked in, he saw Zhou Futong excitedly pointing ahead and said to him: "My son, look, there is a cave here!"

  This was already the end of the dense forest, on the steep cliff, all kinds of vines were crawling, at this time, Zhou Futong had almost cleared the vines around the cave, revealing a dark cave.

  Zhou Liang glanced at Zhou Fu Tong and said, "Dad, are there any bears in here?"

  It was obvious that Zhou Futong's face tightened, then filled with a smile again, saying: "How can there be bears? This is Yangzhou, not the deep mountains and forests of the north, how could there be bears?"

  "But this is in the woods! Didn't Father say that on the mountain, there are all kinds of wild beasts!"

  Zhou Fugong's expression became increasingly impatient, with a fierce glint in his eyes that flashed and then disappeared. He turned to leave, saying: "Liang'er, aren't you fond of martial arts? I've heard that on the west mountain side, there was once a powerful figure who appeared. Perhaps this is the cave dwelling of a senior expert, perhaps we can find the secret manual of a senior master."

  Zhou Liang secretly laughed in his heart. Zhou Futong was indeed a snake hitting the stick, knowing that he had become fond of martial arts, and thought of this excuse. Not to mention Xishan, but the entire Yangzhou area didn't have any legendary masters, and those who sought immortality were rare. However, he couldn't refute it. Looking at Zhou Futong's increasingly ferocious expression, it wasn't a good time to confront him. Pretending to be excited, he followed Zhou Futong into the cave, hoping to obtain some kind of divine martial arts manual.