Duosheng Danyuan

On the way back to the thatched dormitory from the gate of Jingxilu, Zeng Yixi and I walked side by side. The surroundings were quiet, and for a moment, only the sound of our footsteps could be heard.

To ease the awkward atmosphere, I instinctively looked around, trying hard not to recall the hazy feeling of our lovemaking in the illusion just now.

"The cloud-like mist beneath Elder Qingyue's feet that escorted us back to the Tranquil Abode was essentially a kind of cultivation technique. He only took us to the entrance of the Tranquil Abode and didn't choose to go inside..."

Thinking about it in a more complex way, the Jingxi Lodge has another set of rules governing the elders, and Elder Qingyue did not escort us to the door of the hut because of these rules.

To put it more reasonably, the rules of Jingxi Lodge for us beginner disciples also apply to the elders. Elder Qingyue is also not allowed to use her cultivation techniques within Jingxi Lodge. This aligns with my previous assessment before visiting Mingling Residence, which is that the rules of Jingxi Lodge extend beyond the thatched hut to the entire Jingxi Lodge.

If we think about it irrationally, perhaps Elder Qingyue is simply lazy? No, we can't be so irrational...

As I was secretly wondering why Elder Qingyue had only escorted the two of us to the entrance of Jingxi Lodge, Zeng Yixi suddenly spoke up:

"Hey, what happened to what you promised me?"

"Huh? Oh, you mean this? Wait a minute." Reminded by Zeng Yixi, I awkwardly touched my nose and took out the fragment of the martial arts manual titled "Rapid Walking Technique" from my pocket. "This is the answer."

"Rapid Walking Technique? Where did you find it? Tranquil Abode?" Taking the fragment of the technique from my hand, Zeng Yixi didn't rush to read it all. She just glanced at it briefly before asking me questions.

Clearly, she had a lot more to say to me.

"Hmm." I nodded and briefly told her about my findings at the Tranquil Abode, including how I learned that she had obtained clues there and how those clues were disguised within the abode.

After saying that, I changed the subject, narrowing my eyes slightly, and said, "As the first person to discover these clues, shouldn't you have gained less than me?"

"Hmph, I did discover some other cultivation techniques, but none as useful as yours in terms of physical skills. Otherwise, why would I have gone to such lengths to reach Mingling Residence?"

"That's true. So, what did you discover?"

"Want to know? Bring something in exchange." With that, Zeng Yixi glanced at me with a smile and put the "Rapid Walking Technique" directly into her pocket.

"Hey, we can exchange information, but don't you need to return the 'Rapid Footwork Technique' to me?"

"What does it matter? You've already learned it anyway."

"We're both at the Foundation Establishment stage, do you think you can't learn it after watching it once?" I said, pursing my lips and frowning.

"Oh, I want to take it back and share it with my roommates." As she said this, Zeng Yixi smiled and made a pleading gesture towards me.

"Come on, you can just repeat it to them." I rolled my eyes and reached into her clothes to pull out the "Rapid Walking Techniques" manual.

"Hey, our bodies are only those of twelve or thirteen-year-old children right now, don't do anything reckless." Seeing that I was about to use force, Zeng Yixi quickly took a few steps back and said.

"Do you think I care about that? Anyway, in my dream, I saw everything I should and shouldn't have seen." I shook my head and said firmly, "Besides, like you said, once you've learned it, you can just repeat it to them, it's the same thing."

"Don't be so stingy," Zeng Yixi complained, sticking out her tongue as she clutched her chest tightly. "I noticed you were absentmindedly searching for this fragment of the cultivation manual. You had quite a few slips of paper in your pocket, much more than I found. What's wrong with giving me one?"

"Stop talking nonsense. Your statement is equivalent to saying I have a lot of money, so giving you a little is no problem. Give it back to me now. At most, I can accept you learning this technique in front of me." Annoyed, I grabbed Zeng Yixi's shoulder and said in a deep voice.

"How...is this how you treat me? You promised to take responsibility for me!" Zeng Yixi muttered.

—The following are flashes of Gu Changfeng's memories—

"Will you take responsibility for me!?"

"What do you mean? Here, or in reality?"

"I don't care how you interpret it, I'm just asking you, are you going to take responsibility!"

"...I'll take responsibility...Mmm!" Before she could finish speaking, Zeng Yixi forcefully kissed her.

——Divider——

"This is not the same thing. Sigh, stop messing around and give it back to me. I've already told you what I promised, don't push your luck." With a sigh, seeing that Zeng Yixi still refused to return the fragment of the "Rapid Walking Technique" to me, I reached out to snatch it.

"What? Are you really going to use force?" Seeing the situation was getting out of hand, Zeng Yixi forced out tears through her trembling teeth, pleading pitifully, "Are you even a man? Bullying a weak woman like me?"

"Hehe..." Ignoring Zeng Yixi's continued nonsense, I directly reached my hand into her arms.

Just as my hand was about to touch Zeng Yixi's chest, I clearly saw a glint of the same sharp light flash in Zeng Yixi's eyes as Elder Qingyue's, and the color of her pupils was somewhat similar to the way Elder Huaizhen looked after helping Su Wanqing calm down.

However, I am not surprised by this.

As I suspected, Zeng Yixi had indeed found and practiced some physical techniques in the Tranquil Abode. This was only natural, as I had already experienced it firsthand in the secluded cultivation room of the Caterpillar Abode. At that time, the powerful force that Zeng Yixi unleashed in her arms to forcefully suppress me was not simply due to her embarrassment and anger.

She must have practiced some techniques, just like me, and those techniques were related to strength.

Therefore, I was prepared for Zeng Yixi's resistance. Before I took action to forcibly take back the "Rapid Step Technique", I silently recited the incantation of the "Hundred Meridians Return to Origin" technique in my mind.

——Introduction and Introduction to the Hundred Meridians Returning to the Origin——

The Hundred Meridians Return to Origin technique is a pure physical art that can only be inherited and mastered by martial arts masters in the mortal realm after they have entered the inner sanctum. It emphasizes the unleashing of the primordial energy of the hundred meridians and is an introductory technique used by cultivators in the Body Tempering and Qi Refining stages when tempering their physical bodies. Due to various reasons, it has been widely circulated in the mortal realm.

The so-called "returning to the origin of all meridians" is a technique that concentrates the body's strength into a single point. Humans have a hundred meridians, which are divided into main meridians and collateral meridians. The main meridians are further divided into the twelve regular meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians.

The meridians themselves have no root; they rely on the physical body to form patterns. Once these patterns are formed, a person manipulates the meridians through their mind to achieve the goal of controlling the physical body with their will. This is a harmless and perfectly natural thing for humans, but it is truly a pity.

Unfortunately, although the meridians are numerous, they are not under human control. What humans can control is merely the patterns formed by the connections between the meridians. The meridians exist in the human body, but in most cases, they are in a semi-standby state, relying solely on the body's natural physiological responses and rhythms to gradually open and close.

The "Hundred Meridians Returning to the Origin" technique aims to control all the active meridians in the body, concentrating their energy at the desired point. "Origin" means point. Therefore, "Returning to the Origin" means focusing the energy distributed throughout the body's hundreds of meridians onto a single point.

Note that while the human body has hundreds of meridians, the "Hundred Meridians Returning to Origin" technique does not activate all of them and concentrate their power at a single point. It merely gathers the power of the meridians and veins that are already in activity. In other words, the essence of "Hundred Meridians Returning to Origin" is the manipulation of physical power, not the mastery of the body's meridians. A deeper level of mastery over the body's meridians can only be achieved by cultivators who have reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

The following are the key points of the practice and instructions:

......

——Divider——

The technique of concentrating all energy into a single point is called "Hundred Meridians Returning to Origin." However, because this technique is of such a low level, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator like myself can easily master it and freely apply it to other techniques.

Returning to the origin means returning to a single point. So how do we define this single point? A cultivator in the Qi Refining stage might simply understand it as a point on the tip of a needle. But as a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment stage, when I received this cultivation technique and tried to recite the incantation, I understood the scope and circumstances under which Returning to the Origin applies.

Since it is a physical technique that concentrates power, as long as I concentrate the power in my meridians within a general range without gathering it, then that general range can receive a power boost. The cost is sacrificing the upper limit of the power boost and the precision of the power control.

However, since my only goal was to retrieve the "Rapid Walking Technique" from Zeng Yixi's arms, this censored derivative version of "Hundred Meridians Return to Origin" should be perfectly adequate.

"Alright, stop fooling around... Uh! Ah... Eh?"

When I came to my senses, I was already lying on the ground, my head spinning.

"Oh dear, you started it. I hope you weren't hurt?" Zeng Yixi's teasing voice, accompanied by light footsteps, began to swirl around me. After a while, I felt Zeng Yixi squat down and gently stroke my cheek with ill intent. "A gentleman uses words, not fists. If you're a villain, then this is self-defense, hehe."

"..."

Perhaps it was out of embarrassment, or perhaps it was the awkwardness of being mocked by her, or perhaps it was the disappointment of being defeated in one move despite my overconfidence. In any case, it was definitely not out of shyness. My cheeks instinctively turned red, and quickly, they turned bright red.

"What's wrong? Are you shy?"

"No way!" I sprang to my feet as if on cue, turned my back to Zeng Yixi, and frantically washed my burning cheeks with both hands.

"Alright, alright, stop it. I know it's embarrassing to lose to a girl who tried to subdue you by force, but that's normal, isn't it? Didn't you guess? I also obtained some fragments of cultivation techniques, although not as many as you, but there's no reason why I shouldn't have obtained any techniques related to strength, right? If my fragments of cultivation techniques have neither strength nor speed, that would be too pathetic."

"Hmm..." Zeng Yixi's words of comfort only made my blush worse. "**! She seems completely unaware that I used the Hundred Meridians Return to Origin technique! Oh my god..."

"Um..." Seeing that I didn't react, Zeng Yixi scratched her cheek awkwardly with her finger, feeling a little embarrassed. After a while, she said apologetically, "I really can't do anything with you. How about this, I'll share some more clues with you. Of course, I'm not sure if you know these clues. Consider it my apology for knocking you out, how about it?"

"...You say it." Shaking my head, I tried to suppress the shameful urge to run away, and turned back to Zeng Yixi with a straight face and tense features.

"Ah... Pfft! Hahahaha! Sorry, but... Hahahaha!" My attempt to keep a straight face only made Zeng Yixi laugh even more exaggeratedly.

"Are you going to tell me or not? If you don't, I'm leaving." I bit my lower lip, trying to keep my expression straight. As I spoke, I turned to leave and actually began to chant the incantation for the "Rapid Walking Technique."

"Ah, don't go, don't go! I'll tell you, I'll tell you!" Zeng Yixi, who was almost laughing through her tears, grabbed my shoulder and wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes. She said, "I think you probably don't know about this discovery, since you didn't seem surprised by Elder Qingyue's appearance at the time."

"What do you mean?"

"Wait, tell me first why you weren't surprised by Elder Qingyue's appearance?"

"..."

Looking at Zeng Yixi, who offered to give me clues but then tried to pique my interest by getting me to reveal them first, I felt that this woman was definitely the type to devour people without spitting out the bones. If I hadn't heard her story and confirmed her virginity in my dream, I would have had every reason to believe that the woman in front of me was a socialite.

However, I'm not surprised that Elder Qingyue appeared. It's not important in itself, so let her say it.

So I started explaining my analysis to Zeng Yixi...