Turbid World: Martial Arts Master of the Republic of China Era, I Cultivate Immortality!

courtyard,

After washing up.

After changing his clothes, Zhao Zheng walked out of the room and into the courtyard. He looked up at the setting sun, and the faint golden light in his pupils slowly disappeared as the sun was obscured by the clouds.

But just as the faint gold in Zhao Zheng's black pupils was about to disappear completely, a touch of silver slowly replaced it.

In the blink of an eye, the black pupils in his eyes were completely replaced by a silvery-white color that was difficult for the naked eye to see.

At the same time, the numbers on the "Life's Many Faces" panel slowly changed, prompting Zhao Zheng to raise an eyebrow.

【Taiyin·Changming Guanxin Method (Completed)】

As the characters for "Taiyin" (太阴) transformed back into the sun as the clouds parted to reveal its full glory, Zhao Zheng frowned slightly and pondered.

"It seems a bit mismatched..."

As his thought arose, the two characters "Great Sun" on the panel's skill bar slowly dissipated and re-intertwined and condensed. At the same time, a line of small characters appeared below the skill.

【The Sun's Everlasting Observation Method (Completed)】

[Introduction: Water represents Yin; Fire represents Yang...]

"Sun and Moon..."

Zhao Zheng muttered to himself, "That's more like it." He felt the coolness in his eyes and sensed the subtle yet obvious changes in his internal magical power as the cultivation technique changed.

"My magical power has changed from its original balanced and harmonious nature to a yin-yang attribute..." Zhao Zheng thought, feeling the changes in his magical power, from cold to hot, as the sun and moon revolved.

"Hmm? Perfection isn't the end? We can add more points?"

Zhao Zheng looked with surprise at the plus sign that was faintly visible after the completion of the Changming Guan Mind Method, which was now stable on the Taiyin version, as the sun completely disappeared. He decided to try it after midnight.

"By the way, Tu Zi, after midnight tonight it will be the first day of the eighth lunar month, so don't let me down at this crucial moment..."

Although the "Life's Many Faces" skill point was automatically increased by one on July 1st this month, who knows if it will be increased by one at the beginning of next month as well.

"What are you looking at?"

Su Ming's voice rang out from the courtyard gate, and Zhao Zheng pointed to the moon in the night sky and said, "The moon is rising a bit early this year."

Although the world is different now, and the land area of ​​this world is larger than that of the previous world, the time of sunrise and sunset and the changes of the seasons are still the same.

The seasons are aligned, so the moon shouldn't be rising so early right now, but... the moon is rising so early anyway.

"Heaven unleashes its killing intent, and the stars shift and the constellations change."

Su Ming looked up at the moon and asked curiously, "Do you know that girl from the Cheng family and that boy from the Li family?"

"I've beaten them before!"

"..."

Su Ming's lips twitched. He had thought of many reasons why the three of them knew each other, but he never thought it would be this reason.

He rolled his eyes and said speechlessly, "I knew those two would leave without even saying goodbye. By the way, don't leave tonight, let's have a drink together, fellow disciples."

"Tomorrow, I guess. I need to go home for dinner today!"

"Huh? You're not an orphan?"

"..."

"Ahem, then I won't keep you any longer. Remember to come back tomorrow to learn other martial arts!" Su Ming said, his old face turning red.

"Okay, by the way, senior brother, here you go!"

Zhao Zheng took out a prepared silver note from his pocket and handed it over. Su Ming's face hardened and he frowned as he looked at it.

"Junior brother, this isn't fun!"

"One thing at a time, even brothers should keep clear accounts." Zhao Zheng shook his head and stuffed a silver note with a face value of one hundred silver dollars into Su Ming's hand.

Seeing that Zhao Zheng had already said that, Su Ming had no choice but to reluctantly put away the silver notes: "Then I won't stand on ceremony, senior brother..."

"Oh, right, senior brother, is it because of my cultivation that I reached the ninth-rank martial artist realm so quickly?"

Zhao Zheng changed the subject and asked curiously. Su Ming looked at Zhao Zheng with some surprise and said, "That's right, that's why. Although the path of immortality and the path of martial arts seem to be two completely different paths, they are connected in some ways..."

The reason why Zhao Zheng was able to reach the ninth-rank martial artist realm so quickly was because of the commonalities between them. Just like the saying, "If you understand one method, you will understand all methods." Zhao Zheng himself was a cultivator.

In addition, Zhao Zheng possesses magical power within his body. Although magical power is not the same as blood and qi, it is of a higher level. This is why Zhao Zheng was able to reach the ninth rank of martial artist so easily.

"Is magical power a higher level than physical energy?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Zheng asked in confusion, and Su Ming replied in equally confusion, "What? Didn't your martial uncle mention anything about internal and external cultivation?"

"no."

"All right……"

Su Ming was speechless, feeling that his Uncle Tianyi was being too hands-off. He said, "Junior Brother should know the saying, 'Cultivating one's nature but not one's destiny is the first ailment in cultivating one's nature,' right?"

"Of course I've heard of it!"

Zhao Zheng nodded. He had not only heard of it, but he had also memorized it. This phrase came from Lü Zu's "Song of Tapping the Hexagrams," and Su Ming had even let it slip.

The full text of this sentence is:

"If even one element is missing, the fragrance will not bloom; clinging to the cycle of rebirth will lead one astray. Cultivating only the nature, but not the life force, is the first ailment in spiritual practice."

Cultivating only one's ancestral nature without cultivating the elixir will prevent one's spirit from attaining sainthood through countless eons. Reaching the level of destiny while remaining oblivious to one's ancestral nature is like trying to see one's own reflection without a precious mirror.

"This is the difference between cultivating immortality and practicing martial arts!"

Su Ming looked helpless and explained with a complicated expression that the path of immortality and the path of martial arts were different.

The path to immortality begins with cultivating magical power, but the path to martial arts is different. Martial arts is divided into external cultivation and internal cultivation for certain reasons.

Those who practice external cultivation refine their qi and blood, while those who practice internal cultivation refine their internal qi. Those who only practice external cultivation are what is known as martial artists who cultivate life but not nature. Only those who cultivate both internal and external cultivation can be considered martial artists who cultivate both life and nature.

"Ordinary martial artists, lacking internal cultivation methods, can only cultivate qi and blood. Qi and blood are very powerful, even stronger than internal qi. However, qi and blood are only focused on killing and not on nourishing. This is why most martial artists meet a tragic end in old age, either dying suddenly from an illness or suffering from numerous injuries. This is because they only practice external methods of cultivating qi and blood..."

Su Ming spoke with a complicated expression, and besides the fact that they would suffer a tragic end, ordinary martial artists generally do not have long lifespans because they do not have internal cultivation methods to regulate their bodies.

Zhao Zheng nodded, beginning to understand why his master had looked so disdainful when he mentioned martial artists.

However, as he pondered this, another question arose in his mind: "Senior brother, since the internal cultivation method for developing internal energy is so important, why do most martial artists only cultivate qi and blood?"

In his view, external qi and blood training should only be a prerequisite skill for internal qi training, and it shouldn't have become the case that most martial artists only know how to externally train qi and blood.

"I don't know about this senior brother. He's just a martial arts practitioner..." Su Ming shrugged, and Zhao Zheng remained silent for a moment before clasping his hands in greeting.

"Thank you for your guidance, senior brother!"

"Could you please not be so polite!"

Su Ming looked at Zhao Zheng speechlessly. He felt that Zhao Zheng was too polite, so polite that it made him, a martial artist, feel uncomfortable.

"Okay, senior brother!"

"..."

"Hahaha……"

"You..."

Su Ming smiled at Zhao Zheng, and the two chatted in the courtyard for a while longer before Zhao Zheng took his leave. He didn't let Su Ming see him off, but left the martial arts school alone. Just as he stepped out of the school gate, he saw a Western-style carriage pulled by three white horses parked at the entrance.

And a servant dressed as a steward, standing by the carriage, was secretly winking at him.

Seeing this, Zhao Zheng took out two copper coins and handed them to the gatekeeper of the Su Family Martial Arts School, saying, "Go to Zuowang Temple and tell my martial uncle that I won't be home for dinner tonight."

Seeing the nurse agree, Zhao Zheng smiled and walked to the carriage. He got in and immediately called out to the beautiful woman who looked to be in her thirties, dressed in fine clothes, and reading a newspaper.

"daughter."

"Oh, you have a mother? I thought you sprang from a rock..."

Zhao's mother put down her newspaper and said with a smile, "Get out of here. Just looking at you annoys me!" She glanced at Zhao Zheng, who sat down without saying a word, and felt a sudden surge of irritation.

"Oh……"

Zhao Zheng obediently replied, got off the carriage, and followed it for a while. He thought to himself that it should be about time when he heard his mother call out from inside the carriage.

"Come on up!"

"Oh……"