At noon, the family returned to the small courtyard they hadn’t seen in a while. Surprisingly, the four children didn’t look at their new clothes first; instead, they surrounded the Warhorse and started messing around with it.
Chen Changsheng did not stop them. The retreat of the Northern Barbarians and the restoration of peace in Danyang Commandery meant that another half a year of peaceful days was approaching. The four children were all scheduled to enter the clan school the day after tomorrow. Even though the clan school only held classes for a small half of the day, and only taught the most basic literacy and Martial Art common sense, it was still better than letting them run wild at home. The children would be tired when the time came, so it was good for them to relax now!
Chen Family Village had a clan treasury, a clan school, clan fields, a village guard squad, a charity hall for orphans and widows, a Library Building, an ancestral hall, and many other establishments that other villages lacked. This was the very foundation of the Chen Family Village’s seven hundred years of heritage.
New clothes, rice, flour, grain, oil, soy sauce, vinegar, tea, pork, mutton... A full cartload of supplies quickly cheered up the four little ones who had exhausted themselves playing with the Warhorse, keeping them happy from noon until night.
Chen Changsheng’s home was not large; it was a courtyard four zhang wide and eight zhang long. Entering through the courtyard gate, the front area housed the pigpen, chicken coop, dry toilet, woodshed, and kitchen. But ever since Chen Changsheng’s wife passed away, the chicken coop had been empty. As for the pigpen! Previously, the family couldn’t even feed themselves, so what would they use to feed a pig?
On the sides were the east and west wing rooms. The main house directly facing the courtyard gate had a central hall; the large room to the east was the master bedroom, and to the west were two regular rooms. Behind the main house was an open space that served as Chen Changsheng’s usual Martial Art practice area. The entire courtyard was situated on a small hillside, with a five-zhang elevation difference from the village’s main road. Behind the yard was the southern slope of Yellow Earth Ridge.
To build this small courtyard, his predecessor had gradually borrowed seven taels of silver over the past few years. But in the eyes of the current Chen Changsheng, all of this was terrible.
The moonlight flowed like water.
Chen Changsheng sat on the roof, carefully observing the surrounding terrain. Inexplicably, he seemed to sense an invisible fluctuation on the back hillside interacting with him. It was a very peculiar feeling.
A moment later, Chen Changsheng measured the entire southern slope of Yellow Earth Ridge with his feet. When his hands stroked the earth, he felt nothing on the surface, but when his consciousness immersed into his mind, he found that the Spiritual Fertilizer inside the Celestial Essence Cauldron was restless, seemingly eager to throw itself into these barren mountains.
Crossing over the mountain ridge, the Spiritual Fertilizer quieted down. Going past the main road below the hillside in front of his door, the Spiritual Fertilizer also quieted down.
Chen Changsheng quickly pinpointed the area where the Spiritual Fertilizer reacted. He had a premonition that this might be his best choice for opening up a Spirit Medicine Garden. However, he only owned a tiny fraction of this barren mountain; ninety percent of it was in the hands of others.
A moment later, Chen Changsheng came up with an idea. He returned to the roof and continued to observe his surroundings.
A sudden itch made Chen Changsheng desperately want to take a shower, but unfortunately, he didn’t have the facilities! After transmigrating here a month ago, if there was anything he couldn’t adapt to, bathing took the brunt of it. In winter, water was boiled for a sponge bath only once every ten days or half a month. One could only imagine!
Hmm... Everyone had a smell on them! There was also the dry toilet. It stank! Get faster updates on g.com.
For a moment, his thoughts drifted to building a water tower. Utilizing the natural elevation difference to create tap water and a shower... A flush toilet was unrealistic, but a squat toilet with a water tank should be doable. Claim the bounty, buy the hillside behind the house, buy Spirit Medicine Seeds, plant Spiritual Medicine...
A moment later, having formulated a preliminary plan in his mind, Chen Changsheng flipped down into the courtyard and entered the master bedroom in a few strides.
It was time to break through. There were still many things to do later, and strength was the very foundation for surviving in this world.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he emptied his mind, held his breath in concentration, and began circulating the Eight-Nine Profound Skill. His consciousness mobilized the Blood Essence within the Celestial Essence Cauldron. Drop by drop, they materialized in his mouth before rolling down into his stomach.
One drop, two drops... Ten drops, twenty drops... One hundred drops, two hundred drops... Five hundred drops.
BOOM... RUMBLE...
Waves of warm currents flowed through his limbs and bones before converging into his Dantian. A hazy white light rapidly expanded.
An invisible shockwave swept outward. Inside Chen Changsheng’s room, all the lightweight objects moved without any wind, flying up into the air one after another. The berserk True Qi surged through the three hundred and sixty-five acupoints and broke open the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, rapidly flowing throughout his entire body. An even more robust True Qi slowly poured into his Dantian.
HUM...
His Dantian expanded by another thirty percent, the True Qi mass skyrocketed by fifty percent, his five senses continued to undergo a massive enhancement, and his physical strength reached two thousand catties.
Late Stage True Qi Realm!
Success!
At the same time, Clan Leader Chen Xuan of the Chen Family Village was awakened by the fluctuations caused by Chen Changsheng’s breakthrough. Using a Flying Sweep to reach a roof, he looked toward Chen Changsheng’s home, his eyes revealing a look of shock as he muttered in a low voice, "Chang Sheng... what kind of fortuitous encounter did you have? To think you actually broke through three realms consecutively in just over a month!"
Chen Xuan wasn’t the only one startled awake; Chen Fusheng was as well. Looking toward the highest point of the village in the direction of Chen Changsheng’s small courtyard, he felt an overwhelming sense of loss in his heart.
Just over a month, from an ordinary person to the Late Stage True Qi Realm. If word of this kind of progress got out, everyone would probably think it was pure fantasy. The next step was the Postnatal Realm, a Martial Art expert, a powerhouse who was required to register with the Government Office or a Sect!
Chen Changsheng smugly celebrated to himself for a moment. Getting out of bed, he threw a casual punch right there in his room to experience his brand-new strength. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping dot com.
SWISH...
BANG...
The air inside the room was punched to the point of explosion, kicking up waves of air currents. Standing on the ground, he silently felt the state of his five senses.
His hearing had received a tremendous boost. From one end of the village to the other, he could hear which family was engaged in the acts of love, who was snoring, and the conversations of the night patrol village guard squad. In the fields, the stealthy sounds made by small animals quietly coming out to roam were all captured by his ears.
He hadn’t tested his visual range, but if he tossed a stone, Chen Changsheng could clearly see every detail of its descent. Dynamic vision!
His sense of smell was similarly enhanced significantly! The smell of the dry toilet was incredibly pungent even from this far away.
Sweeping his consciousness through the cauldron, there were still one thousand four hundred and twenty-nine drops of Blood Essence left. Recalling his previous experiences, Chen Changsheng hesitated. The Early Stage True Qi Realm took fifty, the Middle Stage True Qi Realm used one hundred, but the Late Stage True Qi Realm used five hundred! Then what about the Postnatal Realm? Two times, five times, or perhaps ten times?
After hesitating time and again, Chen Changsheng decided to wait. Once the bounty arrived, he would go to the county town to buy some Spirit Medicine Seeds. He would plant Spiritual Medicine to combine with the Blood Essence before attempting to break through to the Postnatal Realm.
Inside the cauldron, twenty-one pellets of Spiritual Fertilizer also lay quietly at the bottom. Carrying a trace of excitement, Chen Changsheng slowly fell asleep.
"Dad... get up and eat!"
A new day, a new beginning.
Yesterday, Chen Changsheng had instructed his eldest daughter that starting from the thirtieth of March, the family would eat three meals a day, and there was no need to be frugal. In the morning, the family participated in the clan’s public memorial ceremony. After returning home at noon, Chen Yuyao led her two younger brothers in tidying up the house, while Chen Yuxi acted as a little tagalong.
Chen Changsheng, meanwhile, was digging a pit on the back mountain. To be precise, he was carving a water pool out of a massive rock located ten zhang higher than his own courtyard. It was ten zhang in length and width.
Infusing True Qi into his Waist Saber, the Waist Saber sliced downward slowly. The incomparably hard bluestone rock was easily cut open like tofu. Chen Changsheng didn’t shatter the rock; instead, he ensured each piece of bluestone maintained dimensions of five chi long, one chi wide, and three chi high. Every time he carved out a stone block, he carried it to the back of his courtyard.
After eating lunch, he continued working.
When the sun leaned toward the west, Chen Fusheng and Clan Leader Chen Xuan arrived upon hearing the news.