Mountains and giant beasts, cabins in the woods

There's no use in being anxious; everything still comes down to ability.

Liu Xingmo calmed down and focused on cultivating various secret techniques.

Secret techniques are a general term encompassing both secret arts and cultivation methods. Secret arts are used to unleash various supernatural powers. Cultivation methods point to the Great Dao, and are complex and profound.

The fundamental skill Liu Xingmo practiced was the ancestral "Dragon Transformation Technique".

This is a unique inheritance left to future generations by the Mountain Goddess, of extraordinary quality. It is said to be enough to allow one to cultivate to the divine realm of the fifth rank or higher.

The Blood Magic Weakness spell is a typical example of an arcane art.

Black Dragon Village has many secret techniques passed down through generations, each with its own unique characteristics, which can only be learned after advancing to the second rank.

There is no absolute boundary between cultivation techniques and secret arts. Some cultivation techniques come with multiple supernatural powers, and some secret arts can also point to the Great Dao.

The "Xuanwu Hard-Soft Transformation" passed down by Li Yannian, the god of Xuanwu Mountain, belongs to this category of powerful secret techniques.

It can both refine blood and qi and improve cultivation level; it can also provide defense to resist powerful enemies.

It is divided into three levels, becoming harder and more resilient with practice. Up to the third level, it is one of the strongest defensive secret techniques in the world.

If you want to continue to improve your skills in the future, you will have to find Li Yannian to become his apprentice.

Liu Xingmo took the best medicine and cultivated himself both internally and externally every day, gradually mastering the first level of hardness and change.

In addition, with the effects of bone-strengthening root and tendon-strengthening grass seeds, his robust physique is unmatched by anyone at the same level.

On this day, the sky was overcast.

In the dark sky, there were only a few gray-white ravines.

The fruit trees covering the mountainside were reduced to bare branches, their gaunt silhouettes stretching out in the dim light of the day.

After meditating early in the morning, Liu Xingmo went to the roof of the treehouse as usual to practice his martial arts on the balcony.

Raise your shoulders and kick your legs, then strike a punch in a horse stance.

After sweating profusely, he picked up a towel, wiped his face, and prepared to practice again.

"What are you doing? Kung Fu?" A childish female voice suddenly rang out.

Liu Xingmo turned his head to look.

A petite girl with snow-white skin sat on a thick tree branch in the distance, legs crossed, chin resting on her hand, looking over with great interest.

She wore a black and white dress, with distant mountain ridges behind her. She was blurred in the leaden-gray mist, like a faint shadow spreading in a traditional Chinese ink painting.

Only her long golden hair and azure eyes shone brightly in the black, white, and gray landscape.

Liu Xingmo tossed the towel onto the clothes rack and casually remarked, "So it's Sister Setia. You didn't even say hello."

A clear, bright voice, full of liveliness and cleverness: "I came to see Mary. I didn't expect to hear that constant 'thumping' noise above my head. Turns out it's you doing your tricks. What? Interested in joining a theatrical troupe and performing?"

"How come you speak such fluent Central Plains dialect? Is it because you're used to being a street urchin? Oh dear, young lady, you're so lucky."

"You're the street urchin! By the way, how far have you progressed with the Weakening Spell I left you?" Setia said, a look of anticipation on her face.

Liu Xingmo casually said, "I've already learned it. This thing is too simple."

"Nonsense! You're a complete liar. Mary is so smart, how could she have fallen for it!" Setia pouted, her face full of heartache.

Without wasting words, Liu Xingmo stretched out his palm and aimed it at the girl on the tree branch.

Estimated distance: 30 meters. Adjust syllable changes according to the pre-prepared incantation table…

Liu Xingmo finished chanting a spell in 15 seconds.

An invisible wave suddenly spread out.

Setia lightly touched the branches with her toes and landed on the balcony in a few leaps.

She rushed to Liu Xingmo, looking up at the young man in disbelief: "How did you do that?"

"Control your blood and qi, and chant the incantation. Just do as the scroll says, and you'll be done." Liu Xingmo crossed his arms, calm and composed.

"That's not what I meant!" Setia waved her delicate white arms anxiously. "How did you learn magic? You're from the Central Plains, yet you understand the mysteries of magic!"

"Alright, alright! I knew you were being so kind as to give me the scroll. Turns out you just wanted to see me make a fool of myself!" Liu Xingmo smirked, a provocative smile playing on his lips. "How about that? I learned it! Learned it easily!"

"Ugh! That snotty brat from eight years ago couldn't possibly have suddenly learned magic. I get it! You've been possessed by that old man!" Setia grinned, her eyes flashing with malice. "I don't care who you are! I won't let you hurt Mary! I'm taking her with me!"

"You're the one with the snot-nosed attitude! It's fine if you're stupid, but don't use your squirrel-sized brain to judge my intelligence!" Liu Xingmo retorted, not to be outdone. "Besides, who do you care who I am? Mary is my wife, and nobody can take her away!"

Setia stood with her hands on her hips, cheeks puffed out. Her bright blue eyes turned blood red, then returned to normal in a moment.

She remained tense and annoyed for a while before finally softening: "Alright, tell me now, how exactly do you use magic?"

Liu Xingmo stopped making a fuss and told the truth: "It's very simple. Write down the formula, substitute the different activation conditions into it, calculate the answer, list it in a table, and memorize it. When needed, find the data in the table and combine them into a spell."

"That's not what I'm asking. I want to know why you learned so quickly..." A complex look of jealousy flashed in Setia's eyes, then was replaced by annoyance and frustration. "Well, what you're doing is typical of a top-performing magic apprentice..."

The blonde, blue-eyed girl clenched her fist: "People like you always learn knowledge early, get praised by teachers, and pretend to be humble while secretly looking down on idiots. How despicable! Why aren't you an idiot?!"

Liu Xingmo shrugged: "I managed to win Mary over, of course I used my brains! Do you think everyone's like you, brainless and lacking both brains?"

Setia gritted her teeth: "Huh?! Don't the people of the Central Plains not care about size? Liu Xingmo! Who exactly are you?!"

"Who said that? That's prejudice! We Central Plains people's obsession with size can be found in many ancient books..." Liu Xingmo spoke eloquently.

At that moment, a cold female voice rang out: "Xingmo, what are you saying?"

Liu Xingmo turned around and saw his wife's face: "I was discussing magic with Sister Setia!"

Setia immediately denied it: "No! This guy is introducing me to erotic novels!"

"I haven't even said anything yet!" Liu Xingmo glanced at him disdainfully. "You've certainly seen a lot. Setia, Setia, you came all the way to the Central Plains to study, just to waste your duke father's gold coins?"

"Huh? Isn't this just common sense?" The blonde, blue-eyed young lady squinted, looking disdainful. "Don't use your commoner's mindset to judge a noble lady like me."

"Nobles? Their lives are precarious; they've all fled abroad for refuge..."

"A poor kid who talks a lot of nonsense, all he does is use sweet talk..."

The two kept arguing.

Sumali rubbed her temples in annoyance, then finally declared, "You two! Stop arguing, or you'll both be eating pickled vegetables for lunch."

Liu Xingmo and Setia both shut up at the same time, their ferocious faces returning to calm. One looked up at the sky, and the other looked down at the ground.

Sumali put her hand to her forehead: "I don't know if it's just my imagination, but the two of you always give me a strange sense of understanding."

"Huh? Impossible! Mary." Liu Xingmo shook his head in denial.

"Impossible! Mary," Setia shook her head in denial.

"It's happening again... Why is this happening?" Sumali couldn't help but clutch her hair tightly.