Fantasy: Immortality Begins with Absorbing Demons

Chapter 316 Jing Tian Manor

Thinking of this, Zhong Yunxiu sighed. This matter would not have been a problem at all in the past.

Within Yunzhou, the Yuanmiao Sect is undoubtedly the strongest, suppressing everything. Below the Yuanmiao Sect, there are the Wanhua Palace, the Sanshan Sect, Jingtian Manor, Shouyi Temple, and the Yunzhou Prefecture Army—five major forces that are evenly matched, each having its own heyday and glorious past.

Jingtian Manor once held the upper hand decades ago and was a leader among the five major powers.

If it were back then, the Three Mountains Sect wouldn't have dared to suppress Jingtian Manor like this.

However, since that incident, Jingtian Manor has declined year by year, becoming less powerful than the Three Mountains Sect, and is now considered one of the weakest of the five major powers. Furthermore, Zhong Yunxiu, despite being one of the Seven Heroes of Jingtian, is far less influential than Chen Ying in terms of strength, status, and power.

In addition, Chen Ying, the Eagle Claw King, and Fang He, the deputy head of Jingtian Manor, have a close relationship.

If this matter succeeds, it will undoubtedly greatly strengthen the relationship between the two sects, giving Jingtian Manor, a sinking ship, a chance to rise again.

Therefore, Vice Sect Master Fang He not only agreed, but also came to persuade Zhong Yunxiu many times in person. He even used his power as Vice Sect Master to restrict the resources of Jiuqu Courtyard, trying to force Zhong Yunxiu to bow down and agree to marry her daughter Zhong Han to Chen Ying's son.

This matter has been going on for a while now. A year ago, Fang He personally brought Chen Ying over, wanting to propose marriage.

But Zhong Yunxiu withstood the pressure and stubbornly refused to agree.

"Sigh, Brother Tian, ​​if only you were still here... that would be so good..." She looked at the shimmering water, where fish were blowing bubbles and creating ripples beneath the surface, and sighed with a frown.

With that frown, two deep lines appeared on her forehead, which seemed somewhat out of place with her bright and beautiful appearance.

After a martial artist opens their meridians and gains internal strength, their lifespan can increase by more than twenty years, and they can maintain their youthful appearance for decades.

Logically speaking, Zhong Yunxiu is very strong. She had already opened her meridians and entered the realm of internal energy many years ago, and now she is only one step away from becoming a grandmaster. She is only in her forties, so she should not look so old.

But now, under the weight of worry and trouble, wrinkles have appeared on his forehead, clearly caused by too many worries and anxieties.

Whoosh!

At that moment, taking advantage of the instant the fish in the lake took a breath and exhaled bubbles, the black-beaked, white-feathered bird swooped down like an arrow. Just before reaching the surface, it grabbed the fish fiercely, and in an instant, a large fish, as long as a forearm, thrashing its tail and splashing water, was caught. Zhong Yunxiu watched the large fish, thrown onto the shore, struggle at first, but gradually lost its vitality due to lack of air, and remained silent.

She felt much like the fish, with immense pressure coming from all directions, squeezing her so tightly that there was no room to breathe.

But she must remain strong, just as she has for the past ten years.

She cannot fall, because behind her is her daughter…

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In the early morning, before the sun had fully risen, the delicate petals, still glistening with dew, swayed precariously under the influence of gravity.

Tick ​​tock!

As the morning dew accumulated, the little red flower soon became overwhelmed and bent over, causing the colorful dewdrops to fall and land on the little black insect that had been waiting beneath it.

There was a snap.

Before the little black insect could even absorb the dew, a large black boot hurriedly and forcefully crushed the insect along with the dew.

Han Yi kept walking quickly, and after leaving his residence, he followed the lakeside path towards the outer courtyard of Jingtian Manor.

The reason he was in such a hurry was that the outer disciples would receive cultivation medicine soup every morning, and if he arrived late, there wouldn't even be any left over from the medicine dregs.

Shifting stars.

The years of cultivation seem to leave no trace.

More than two months have passed since he passed the test. During this time, he found a house in Tianjing Town and has been living there temporarily.

Tianjing Town is a settlement of people near Jingtian Manor. It is a village that has been formed by serving the many martial arts practitioners in Jingtian Manor and the martial arts people from other places who come to learn from its masters.

Jingtian Manor is divided into two main parts: an inner courtyard and an outer courtyard. It sounds simple, and it is indeed not complicated.

The Inner Courtyard refers to the various separate courtyards where the Seven Heroes of Jingtian reside. Each courtyard has ordinary Inner Courtyard disciples and chief disciples. Chief disciples can be understood as personally instructed disciples.

The outer courtyard is where many outside martial artists are tested, hoping to enter the inner courtyard and achieve further development.

Outer disciples are not yet considered true members of Jingtian Manor. Only by obtaining the head of the academy's approval and formally joining the inner academy can they be considered true members of the inner sect. Only then will they receive the various benefits and perks of the inner sect.

Therefore, before this, Han Yi, as an outer court disciple, needed to take care of his own food, clothing, and lodging, so he chose to rent a small courtyard in the nearby Tianjing Town.

Of course, there are vacant rooms inside Jingtian Manor. Most of the outer courtyard disciples live near the outer courtyard, which makes it convenient for them to cultivate every day without having to get up early to receive cultivation medicine.

Secondly, it makes it easier to make friends. You might meet a friend who has connections within the inner courtyard, or you might encounter someone like the head of the courtyard or a high-ranking official while taking a nighttime stroll, thus making it easier to gain entry.

Han Yi didn't want to live near the outer courtyard, but the price was... well, it was way too expensive.

The poor study literature, the rich practice martial arts; when martial artists train, they truly spend money like water.

Outer disciples don't receive any salary or benefits; everything here has to be bought with money, and they have to spend their own savings.

However, most of his money was lost in the Yuanmiao Sect, and every aspect of life, from eating and drinking to relieving oneself, requires money.

All expenses can be reduced as much as possible, but there is one thing that a martial artist cannot skimp on: maintaining his vital energy and blood.

For the past two months, he has had to buy a certain amount of monster meat every day to maintain a stable level of qi and blood and prevent it from declining. Since he can't skimp on food, he has to cut back on clothing, housing, and transportation to save money as much as possible, and he has no choice but to stay in Tianjing Town.

Despite his frugality, his wallet grew emptier day by day, his money dwindled, and his frustration increased.

Spending money without earning it, and living off one's savings until it's all gone—that's the best description of him now.

Han Yi swiftly flew past the fragrant red wildflowers lining both sides of the road, startling a flock of birds flying over the lake.

The two conditions for an outer court disciple to be promoted to an inner court disciple are: first, their cultivation level must reach the Martial Master level; second, they must cultivate a special body-tempering method called the True Skill Body Tempering Method.

He has already met the first condition. All that's missing is the second requirement.

This body-strengthening method is not a martial arts technique; it does not involve strength or blood circulation. It is simply an external skill that develops flexibility, agility, and strength by activating certain parts of the body's muscles and bones.

This is also a prerequisite for outer court disciples to enter the inner court and cultivate true skills. If one cannot master this method, it means that the person's comprehension is insufficient and their physique is not compatible with the true skills of Jingtian Manor, thus preventing them from entering the inner court.

True skill body tempering, because it is only a technique for developing the human body, cannot be accelerated by the system; he can only explore it little by little through his own comprehension.

Although the money was almost gone, fortunately, it wasn't all bad news. He was starting to get the hang of the True Body Tempering Method.

Following the winding lakeside path lined with wildflowers and grasses and paved with cobblestones, a large cluster of gray buildings surrounded by the lake on three sides soon comes into view.

This is the headquarters of Jingtian Manor, the location of the manor lord's lineage, and most of the core buildings.

Because it is surrounded by lakes on three sides, and the lakeside is covered with a kind of wildflower called 'string of red', which grows densely and forms a circle around it, making it very lively. With water and flowers, this place has also been given a very artistic name: Flower Lake Courtyard.

Flower Lake is the lake surrounding Jingtian Manor. There are seven interconnected lakes of varying sizes, resembling blooming flower buds and sparkling like a string of pearls. Each of the seven courtyards occupies one of them.

Inside the courtyard by Flower Lake, on the right side closest to the lake, there is a training ground paved with gray tiles, which serves as a place for outer courtyard disciples to cultivate and practice.

At this moment, a long queue had formed inside the training ground. A large wooden tub was placed at the front of the queue, and each outer disciple held a container in their hand, waiting for their daily bowl of medicinal soup.

Seeing this, Han Yi breathed a sigh of relief. Without holding a knife, he quickly took out a bowl from a nearby storage cabinet and then lined up.

The person in charge of serving the medicinal soup was a middle-aged woman. Using a round wooden ladle, she scooped the steaming red liquid from the bucket into each person's bowl. Although everyone's bowls varied in size, she always filled them to the brim with exactly two scoops, no more, no less. Soon, the line ahead was finished, and it was Han Yi's turn.

The bright red liquid was steaming and swirling gently in the bowl.

Han Yi took a breath, picked up the hot medicine, and drank it all in one gulp.

This medicinal soup cannot be savored slowly; it must be drunk while it's hot. If it cools down, it will have a foul odor, and I don't know what ingredients were used to make it.

The liquid traveled down the esophagus into the stomach, and soon, waves of tingling sensations appeared inside the body.

"Go all out!" While the medicine was still working, Han Yi decided to master this body-tempering technique completely today.

He stood in the corner, took a deep breath, straightened up, clasped his hands together in front of his chest, and slowly squatted down.

As his waist and hips stretched, a tearing sensation gradually began to appear in his hip muscles, but the medicinal soup immediately took effect, relieving the muscles. Han Yi endured the discomfort and continued to pull down, finally placing his elbows against the inside of his knees, holding the position for three breaths before slowly finishing the exercise and changing his posture.

This kind of physical training method is somewhat similar to the so-called yoga in my previous life. It trains small local muscles, or subtle muscle groups that normal people would never think of or use.

At the beginning, Han Yi could only perform one movement, and he would feel soreness, numbness and pain from engaging many small muscle groups that he didn't use in daily life, and he couldn't sustain it for long.

Moreover, the techniques and steps recorded in this body-strengthening method are also very strange. Each step requires exerting force on the most difficult part, and the slightest carelessness can cause muscle strain.

Although he possessed the Qianyang Gong, whose rejuvenating properties allowed his energy to circulate through the torn small muscle groups and restore them, the internal fatigue remained. This was a major reason why he hadn't mastered it even after more than two months.

Actually, Han Yi's progress in body tempering wasn't slow compared to others in the outer academy; in fact, it was considered above average. After all, most of the people in the outer academy were independent cultivators practicing different martial arts, primarily at the bone and blood tempering levels.

There are also martial arts masters, but not many.

Among the nearly one hundred people in the entire outer courtyard, only a handful, like Han Yi, have reached the level of a second-tier martial artist. The rest are just newly promoted martial artists.

The main problem was that Han Yi was too impatient. He wanted to master the true body-forging technique as quickly as possible, so he had to be in such a hurry.

There was no other way; he didn't have enough money left. If he continued to rely on others like this, he would really be starving!

"Knees apart, slightly wider than hips, concentrate your mind, calm your spirit, let your energy swirl in the void..." Han Yi silently recited the incantation as he assumed the stance.

This is the last movement of the body-strengthening method. Being able to perform it in one go means you have mastered it to a basic level.

He crossed his hands, clasped them outwards, and arched his back in a bizarre, twisted motion. *Crack, crack.*

The joints between the bones in the body, as well as many small bones that cannot be touched, suddenly made a sound of being unable to bear the weight.

He took a deep breath and held the position.

In just a short while, his body began to sweat, and he felt his skin and flesh tightening, with soreness rapidly accumulating in his body.

He maintained this position for a while, and the blood and qi in his body flowed with difficulty in this strange posture, even emitting a low hum like an old car climbing a hill.

Han Yi started moving again, his body slowly lowering down. At this moment, he felt his heart beating faster and faster, pounding so loudly it felt like it was about to jump out of his chest.

But he remained expressionless and continued to contort his body into a bizarre posture.

A large amount of hot sweat poured out, running down his forehead and blurring his vision. His eyes were filled with mist, and he couldn't see anything clearly.

But he didn't need to see, nor could he. Because there was nothing in his vision, only pitch blackness.

The humming sound of surging blood and qi grew louder and more obvious, as if someone had stepped on the gas pedal and if they used any more force, the engine would explode.

Han Yi's mind was also in a state of chaos, and he felt a little dizzy. He had only one thought: to master the true body-tempering technique.

Snapped!

He shifted his hands to support himself on the ground, and his body suddenly pressed down, forming an almost 90-degree right angle between his upper and lower body.

Boom!

A large amount of qi and blood that had been stagnating at the ends of the blood vessels suddenly burst forth, and the large amount of qi and blood quickly flowed throughout the body, bringing an indescribable feeling of comfort throughout the body.

"Finally... I've done it..." Han Yi's vision returned to normal, and he collapsed to the ground, breathing in the fresh lakeside air. After more than two months, he had finally met the basic requirements for entering the inner courtyard.

"The body tempering is complete. Next, it's just a matter of whether the head of the academy who signed up earlier will accept me. If everything goes smoothly, the rest is just entering the inner academy..." After resting for a while, he sat up and thought about his future plans.

Inside Flower Lake, a misty haze lingered, the fog not yet completely dissipated, and layers of ripples continued to spread across the lake's surface, making the lakeside grass somewhat damp.

But he just loves this environment. He's still like a child, enjoying playing in the water. He has a natural affinity for Huahu Lake and loves the fresh, watery scent that fills his nostrils, allowing him to clear his mind.

He likes it here and wants to go into the inner courtyard and stay here.