Lu Changfeng focused solely on his cultivation within the Martial Arts Hall.
Given Lu Changfeng’s cultivation progress, he would occasionally substitute for Zhou Feng and teach the Named Disciples.
This caused his reputation among the Named Disciples to gradually grow.
However, after another sharp rise in food prices, the number of Named Disciples at the Changle Martial Arts Hall plummeted once again, leaving fewer than twenty people.
The disciples who could afford to stay were all from relatively wealthy families and had already stepped into the Blood Forging Tier as Official Martial Artists.
The disciples’ tuition fees were a major source of income for the Martial Arts Hall. With the drastic reduction in their numbers, the hall’s finances became tight. It was noticeable that the amount of meat in the dining hall began to decrease, and the variety of vegetables also diminished.
Fortunately, the disciples understood the difficulties of the current times and had no complaints.
During this time, news arrived from Cyan Mountain Prefecture.
Across the twenty-six cities of Cyan Mountain Prefecture, the forces of the Song Royal Court had been completely driven out.
The current Cyan Mountain Prefecture was now completely carved up by the three major powers: the Blood Evil Sect, the Profound Nether Sect, and the Meteor Sword Sect.
Friction between the Three Major Sects was constant. But unlike the previous phase of conquering cities and territories, the three powers now focused their main efforts on managing their domains, such as prohibiting the common people under their rule from fleeing.
This brought about a temporary calm, causing the number of refugees fleeing from Cyan Mountain Prefecture to decrease.
However, anyone with eyes could see that this was the calm before the storm.
Sooner or later, Cyan Mountain Prefecture would witness a decisive battle between the three powers to determine who would be its true master.
Furthermore, among the seven prefectures of the Song Country, chaotic battles had already erupted in all but the Capital Region, Yunyang Prefecture, and Jiangnan Prefecture.
The Song Country’s empire was on the brink of collapse; at best, it would end up as a fractured nation.
Amidst an atmosphere of anxiety and fear,
Lu Changfeng welcomed the next refresh of his replication interface in the cold, gloomy weather of early winter.
This time, Lu Changfeng chose to replicate a Talent.
He remembered how he had been unable to pursue the routed soldiers when he was killing them last time.
Lu Changfeng decisively set his sights on Chunzhu’s [Low-Grade Lightness Talent].
Although it was Low-Grade, Lu Changfeng had never seen anyone with a Lightweight Skill-related Talent.
Most people’s Talents were for things like Fist Techniques or Palm Techniques.
Weapon Class Talents were also rare.
Support-type Talents were even rarer.
Besides, Lu Changfeng possessed the Fusion Talent. He could simply fuse it a few more times to upgrade the Low-Grade Lightness Talent into a high-grade one.
「In the evening.」
Chunzhu fetched water to wash Lu Changfeng’s body as usual.
After Chunzhu became a Named Disciple of the Martial Arts Hall, Lu Changfeng had actually canceled her servitude contract.
However, a habit of over ten years wasn’t so easily changed.
At Chunzhu’s repeated insistence, Lu Changfeng could only continue to accept her service as usual.
Chunzhu wiped Lu Changfeng’s back with a soft towel.
It was a little ticklish, but very comfortable.
Lu Changfeng suddenly turned around and cupped Chunzhu’s cheeks in his hands.
"Replicate?"
"Replicate Chunzhu’s Low-Grade Lightness Talent."
"Replication successful!"
Chunzhu was slightly startled, but her body didn’t pull away. Instead, she gazed at Lu Changfeng with deep affection.
How could Lu Changfeng not know what was in Chunzhu’s heart?
Besides, in this world, matters of the bedroom had a negligible effect on Martial Arts Cultivation. As long as one didn’t indulge day and night, there would be no impact.
For a Blood Forging Martial Artist, the bit of energy expended was something that could be recovered with just a few extra breaths.
The mood was right. Using the replication as a pretext, Lu Changfeng lowered his inhibitions, leaned down for a gentle kiss, and took Chunzhu into his room.
Nothing more needs to be said of that night.
The next day, the Martial Arts Hall disciples, including Zhou Feng, all noticed the change in Lu Changfeng and Chunzhu.
They couldn’t avoid a few rounds of teasing and banter. Chunzhu’s face turned beet red with embarrassment, but Lu Changfeng, being thick-skinned, remained unfazed.
At noon, Lu Changfeng went to find his master, Zhang Desheng.
He explained that he wanted to cultivate a Lightweight Skill.
"During the Blood Forging Stage, you have no Inner Strength, so there are very few Light Body Techniques you can cultivate."
"Hmm, I do have a copy of the Antelope Leaping Skill. It can make you more agile in battle."
"There’s also the Blood Burst Step. After executing it, you can increase your forward dashing speed for a short time, but it consumes a great deal of stamina."
"Both Light Body Techniques are Basic Martial Arts that can be cultivated during the Blood Forging Stage, but learning them still takes a considerable amount of time."
"If your Talent isn’t high enough, you should just choose one to cultivate, so you don’t delay the progress of your Blood Forging Technique."
Lu Changfeng scratched his head and said, "Master, I’d like to look at both Martial Arts before deciding which one to cultivate."
"Very well." Zhang Desheng nodded, found two manuals, and handed them to Lu Changfeng.
"Bring them back to me after you’ve finished reading them."
Lu Changfeng nodded in agreement.
Martial Arts for the Blood Forging Realm were relatively simple and easy to understand. It wouldn’t take more than a few days for Lu Changfeng to memorize them.
Returning to his bedroom, Lu Changfeng opened the two manuals and began to read.
Although they were Martial Arts for the Blood Forging Realm, a Martial Artist without the right Talent would need several years of diligent practice just to reach Minor Achievement.
After Lu Changfeng understood the cultivation methods for both Light Body Techniques,
he decided to set aside four hours each day to cultivate both techniques simultaneously.
Since his Gale Swordsmanship had reached the Perfection level, Lu Changfeng had temporarily stopped practicing this Swordsmanship.
He only spent some time consolidating his Swordsmanship and didn’t look for any other to practice.
Swordsmanship in the Blood Forging Realm was mostly about methods of exerting force and variations in Sword Techniques.
His Gale Swordsmanship at the Perfect Realm had already given Lu Changfeng an extremely high degree of mastery over techniques and force exertion; practicing it further would be a waste of time.
Therefore, the four hours of Lightweight Skill practice would not affect the progress of his Blood Forging Technique cultivation.
Lu Changfeng also shared the two Light Body Technique manuals with Chunzhu.
He didn’t want to let her Lightweight Skill Talent go to waste.
「Another month passed just like that.」
With the boost from his Low-Grade Lightness Talent,
Lu Changfeng first reached the entry level for Blood Burst Step.
This technique tested one’s control over their qi and blood. Cultivating it became relatively simple after reaching the Second Layer of the Blood Forging Realm, not to mention Lu Changfeng was already at the Third Layer.
By unleashing Blood Burst Step, Lu Changfeng could increase his movement speed by thirty percent!
If an enemy of the same level tried to run again, Lu Changfeng could now rely on Blood Burst Step to chase them down and kill them.
Another half a month passed. It was now deep winter, and the weather grew even colder.
Even with Lu Changfeng’s robust physique, he could feel the chill with his arms bare while cultivating.
On this very day, Lu Changfeng also brought his Antelope Leaping Skill to the entry level.
This Light Body Technique greatly improved his agility.
Combined with his Gale Swordsmanship, the effect was such that 1+1 was greater than two.
Lu Changfeng put on an outer jacket and opened his current interface.
Name: Lu Changfeng
Root Bone: Upper A
Talent: Middle Grade [Swordsmanship] Talent, Low-Grade Lightness Talent
Realm: Blood Forging Third Layer
Blood Forging Technique: [Le Mountain Angry Vajra] (Minor Achievement)
Martial Arts: [Gale Swordsmanship] (Perfection), [Blood Burst Step] (Entry Level), [Antelope Leaping Skill] (Entry Level)
Replication Interval: Five days.
The replication interface was about to refresh again.
This time, Lu Changfeng planned to continue replicating Chunzhu’s Low-Grade Lightness Talent to enhance his agility.
In addition, Lu Changfeng had consumed all of his Exotic Beast Meat, including the portion he had just received from his master at the beginning of the month.
If he didn’t act soon, in two days, Lu Changfeng would face the predicament of having no Exotic Beast Meat.
’I’ll pull one last job before the year is out.’
With this thought in mind, Lu Changfeng went to find his Second Senior Brother, Zhou Feng.