Courtyard House: A System Connecting Two Worlds, Resources for the Nation

Time flies. A month is neither a long nor a short time, but it's enough for Zhou Feng and the girls to practice the Northern Darkness Divine Skill and the Lingbo Steps to a decent level.

After all, in the original novel, Duan Yu mastered two or three tenths of the Lingbo Weibu in just one day, and learned another ten steps at noon the next day. Two days later, he was able to use the steps proficiently.

With ten fortune tellers carefully guiding their steps, Zhou Feng and his group could only outpace Duan Yu's speed.

As for the Northern Darkness Divine Skill, Duan Yu only glanced at it a few times before learning the basics. Then, someone accidentally struck his Tanzhong acupoint, which unexpectedly activated his theatrical skill mode.

Zhou Feng and the others have now carefully studied all 36 pictures. Although their speed is much slower than Duan Yu's, they have laid a solid foundation, which will only make things more efficient in the future.

Zhou Feng moved his feet in the open space in the center of the martial arts hall, his body suddenly shifting three feet to the side. His robes stirred up a breeze, and he landed without even raising a speck of dust.

This left the doctors and fortune tellers standing by speechless.

After finishing his stance, Zhou Feng stretched his shoulders and could feel the faint but steady energy flowing slowly along his meridians.

Unlike Duan Yu, he did not absorb mixed internal energy before laying a solid foundation. He simply followed the Beiming Divine Skill's circulation route three times a day without fail, and practiced it for an hour in conjunction with the Lingbo Weibu steps.

The fortune tellers had broken down the footwork into individual steps and adjusted them accordingly. With their assistance, Zhou Feng and the five women were able to master the Lingbo Weibu (a martial arts technique) very quickly.

In particular, the Lingbo Weibu is a method of cultivating internal energy through dynamic exercises. Although they did not deliberately practice internal energy, the Qi in their bodies gradually became more abundant.

The fastest was Zhao Pan'er, who could complete the steps corresponding to all 12 hexagrams in one go. No wonder she is the embodiment of Liu Yifei, the white moonlight of ancient costumes and the last female warrior in the Chinese entertainment industry. Her martial arts talent is also first-class.

Sun San Niang was also quite fast, but Bai Ling, Qin Jingru, and Lou Xiao'e fell behind.

It's also possible that their past experiences have led to significant physical depletion, so they should focus on replenishing their vital energy first.

After confirming that everyone was capable of protecting themselves, Zhou Feng called Chen Xiao over.

Over the course of a month, he developed some affection for these 20 physicians and fortune tellers, so instead of executing them directly, he gave them rewards and official positions, but the position he gave them was that of an inner court attendant.

To put it bluntly, it meant spending the rest of their lives in the palace, with no chance of ever leaving.

These people were aware of this themselves, after all, they already knew what was going on after the government took out those two magical martial arts manuals.

However, in the palace, their food, clothing, and daily necessities were all of the highest quality.

The family members outside the palace also received compensation and arrangements from the court, and no one complained.

Or rather, faced with the overwhelming power of the authorities, no one dared to complain.

In ancient times, the emperor was the supreme ruler of all people; this was not just a saying.

After listening to Qian Yuan and Xiao Qinyan's report, Zhou Feng still handed over all the affairs of the "Dream Record" world to them. With Chen Xiao watching over them, he wasn't worried about any problems arising.

After everything was in place, he took Tie Jianguo, Bai Lang, the five women, and the ten fully armed special forces soldiers who had been sent to this world earlier, and activated the double-door system in the bedroom late at night.

After the white light subsided, the group reappeared between the stone walls of Langhuan Paradise.

Compared to last time, Zhou Feng and his group were much more confident this time.

Bai Lang and Tie Jianguo took the lead and walked out of the cave entrance, followed closely by Zhou Feng, with Zhao Pan'er half a step to his left.

All five women were dressed in short, fitted outfits that allowed for easy movement, with their waists tightly cinched and their feet in light, soft-soled boots.

The remaining 10 special forces soldiers, although dressed in ancient costumes, still spread out in a guard formation, walking at the front, back, left and right of the team, each carrying a short rifle equipped with a silencer, with the muzzle slightly lowered.

After leaving Langhuan Paradise, sunlight filtered through the forest, the dew on the mountain path was not yet dry, and the air was filled with the crisp fragrance of pine resin and moss.

Zhou Feng took a deep breath, and even felt that the internal energy in his body flowed slightly with his breath in this world, much smoother than in the Dream Record world!

The group had walked less than two miles when two figures appeared on the mountain path ahead.

The two men were both wearing short, gray-blue Taoist robes, with swords hanging at their waists; one was tall and the other short.

The taller man had a goatee, while the shorter one had a round, slightly chubby face. Both of them carried a cloth bag on their shoulders, as if they had just returned from shopping in town.

Upon seeing the group, the two men paused for a moment. The taller man immediately frowned, stood still, placed his hand on his sword hilt, and asked loudly, "Who are you? What brings you to our Wuliang Mountain?"

Tie Jianguo did not answer, but turned his head to glance at Zhou Feng.

Zhou Feng simply raised his chin forward, and he instantly understood, making a hand gesture.

Immediately afterwards, the 10 special forces soldiers spread out and flanked the enemy from the left and right sides in a fan shape.

The two disciples of the Wuliang Sword Sect sneered and casually drew their longswords.

It seems to be nothing more than the young master of some wealthy family, accompanied by his servants and guards, out for a stroll!

Since that's the case, then they'll teach this young master a lesson and let him know not to easily provoke people from the martial arts world!

Seeing that the ten people opposite were about to successfully surround them, the two men showed no sign of tension. They drew their longswords and leaped off in different directions.

The initial velocity of the jump was extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, the two figures were already more than half a meter off the ground, and it looked like they were about to swing their swords down at the special forces soldier in front of them.

"puff!"

"puff!"

"puff!"

Before they could even make a move to attack, they heard a few soft sounds, followed by a sharp pain in their calves.

Looking down, I saw that the upper part of my trouser leg was stained red with blood that was gushing out.

The two figures paused in mid-air, then fell like birds with broken wings.

Even after landing, his legs couldn't provide any support, so he could only kneel on the ground.

Seeing that they had been ambushed, the two tried to throw their longswords as hidden weapons, but Tie Jianguo, who was watching them intently, had already pulled the trigger.

Two bullets struck the outside of both men's arms. Although they didn't penetrate the bone, the tremendous impact stopped them in their tracks, causing their bodies to tilt to the side.

The next second, several blue arcs of electricity lit up simultaneously, and the probes of the stun guns controlled by 10 special forces soldiers accurately hit the backs and thighs of the two men.

These people possessed internal strength, and no one knew whether the stun gun would be effective against them, so the power was set to maximum.

The two disciples of the Wuliang Sword Sect shuddered violently twice, uttering short, strange noises in their throats, before collapsing to the ground one after the other, their limbs still twitching slightly and uncontrollably.

In just a few breaths, the two men were completely unable to resist.

Even if they are martial arts practitioners with internal strength, they are still powerless against modern technology.

Perhaps only martial arts masters like Xiao Feng and Kumārajīva would not be afraid of firearms?

After all, martial arts like the Flaming Blade and the Six Meridian Divine Sword are far more powerful than spears.

Even when Xiao Feng clashed with Duan Yanqing and others using their internal energy, the resulting explosion was far more powerful than a tank shell!

Seeing that neither of them could resist, Zhou Feng slowly walked up from behind.

He looked down at the two Taoist priests who were still convulsing, bent down slightly, and placed a palm on the Tianzhu acupoint on the back of the taller man's neck.

This was the first time he had truly used the Northern Darkness Divine Art to absorb the internal energy of a living person.

How should I put it? It's incredibly strange!

He could feel a warm current surging out from the man's meridians, slowly flowing into his body along the acupoints where the man's palm was pressed, like warm water flowing into a river along a predetermined route.

Zhou Feng was even able to control that internal energy to slowly circulate within his body along the path of the Northern Darkness Divine Art, before it merged into the internal energy cycle that had already been established in his dantian.

The whole process lasted only about ten breaths before the tall man's convulsions gradually stopped, and the pain on his face turned into weakness and confusion.

After releasing his grip, Zhou Feng walked over to the short man and did the same thing, placing his palms on the man's Dazhui acupoint on his back. He then slightly channeled his internal energy, drawing it out of the man's meridians and into his own body. After circulating for a cycle, the energy settled down.

Neither of them possessed particularly profound internal strength; in fact, their combined internal strength was only a small amount.

However, for Zhou Feng's current foundation, it was like pouring half a bucket of water into an empty bowl. After deducting the consumed and dissipated mixed internal energy, it actually tripled the internal energy in his body.

It can only be said that he has a good foundation, but his internal strength is indeed lacking!

Feeling the fullness in his dantian, Zhou Feng's lips involuntarily curled up.

This feeling is absolutely wonderful.

"Boss, what should we do with these two?"

Tie Jianguo walked forward with his gun and kicked the two Taoist priests who had already collapsed.

"Tie them up and wait for them to recover, then have them take us to the Wuliang Sword Sect!"

A dozen minutes later, the two men recovered and Tie Jianguo had already bandaged their calves.

Ignoring their ugly expressions, Tie Jianguo pointed his gun at them and said, "Get up and lead the way to the Wuliang Sword Sect. If you dare to do anything wrong, I'll shoot you in the head."

Although they had never seen a gun before, they could roughly guess that this thing was like a hidden weapon, but much more powerful than an ordinary hidden weapon!

Judging from the injury on my leg, if that thing had really hit my head, I probably would have died instantly!

The two exchanged a glance, then helped each other to their shaky feet. As their eyes swept over Zhou Feng, they couldn't help but feel a sense of fear, trembling uncontrollably.

They now suspect that Zhou Feng and his group are subordinates of Ding Chunqiu, the Old Immortal of the Starry Sky.

Who can blame them when that Dissolving Power Technique is infamous throughout the martial arts world? Now that neither of them has any internal energy left, what else could it be but the Dissolving Power Technique?

Moreover, the Xingxiu Sect is most skilled in hidden weapons, which can match the black iron pipes in the hands of these people!

Unexpectedly, the Xingxiu Sect actually came to the Wuliang Sword Sect in Dali and even attacked them!

Zhou Feng and the others followed behind the two men, continuing to advance along the mountain path.

However, what the others did not notice was that Zhou Feng and the other five people were using the Lingbo Weibu (a martial arts technique) even when they were walking.

He could even feel the newly absorbed internal energy within his body being continuously assimilated by the existing internal energy, steadily integrating into its original cycle.

This is the advantage of the fact that the Northern Darkness Divine Art and the Lingbo Steps share the same origin; the latter can even continuously help him convert external internal energy, saving him more effort.

Because the two injured men moved slowly, it took them more than an hour to walk before the mountain range ahead gradually opened up.

A mountain gate made of bluestone appeared at the end of the mountain path, with the four characters "Wuliang Sword Sect" engraved on the lintel.

Behind the mountain gate is a wide blue brick path, at the end of which you can vaguely see the upturned eaves of the roof and several apricot-yellow flags fluttering in the wind.

"Halt! Ah—"

The four Wuliang Sword Sect guards at the gate were knocked down by stun guns before they could even get close.

Zhou Feng used the same trick again, which greatly increased the amount of internal energy in his body.

"Tie them up, and let's continue up the mountain."

Although these people are not very capable, they are all "pigs" planned by Zhou Feng in the future, and we can't let them get away!

The group walked along the stone path towards the buildings behind the mountain gate. Zhao Pan'er murmured curiously, "This sect looks much larger than I imagined!"

"It doesn't matter how big it is."

Zhou Feng flexed his wrists, his footwork constantly shifting with the Lingbo Weibu technique. The newly added internal energy within his body was continuously cleansed and purified through the circulation of internal energy in his dantian.

Although he had already absorbed the energy of six people, Zhou Feng had not yet felt the same throbbing pain in his meridians as Duan Yu described in the original novel.

On the one hand, he hadn't absorbed enough, and on the other hand, the foundation of the Northern Darkness Divine Art was solid. Most importantly, back in the Dream Record world, he had intentionally had those doctors use traditional Chinese medicine to give him special meridian nourishment and strengthening.

This is to ensure that more internal energy can be absorbed and stored in the body.

"Let's go, let's continue!"

Zhou Feng, full of vigor, led everyone up the final step.

Several gray-blue figures emerged quickly from the shadows and approached them.

"Who are you people?"

Before Zhou Feng and the others could reply, the two disciples they had previously knocked down were already wailing in tearful voices: "Uncle-Master, quickly capture them! These people are demons from the Starry Constellation Sect! They've come to attack my Boundless Sword Sect!"

???

Zhou Feng was taken aback upon hearing this and turned to look at the two of them.

It's true that we're attacking your Wuliang Sword Sect, but when did I become the damn Xingxiu Sect?