Chapter 14 - Results

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  Within the depths of the forest in Crescent Island, shadows would flash through soundlessly every once in a while.

  If one’s eyes wasn’t fast enough to catch a glimpse at it, they would simply think that they are merely hallucinating.

  The shadow that would flash by was of course… Gu Xuan.

  He was using the martial arts technique he had learned, The “Silent Step Footwork.”

  Gu Xuan’s physical adaptation went faster than expected and after basic training of 3 months, his body could withstand his full strength when he used inner qi strengthening.

  Since it was no longer as efficient as before, he decided to abandon basic training and change the direction of his training.

  In the following month, he began training his body and senses to get used to inner qi strengthening.

  According to the book he had read in the Martial Arts Library, a 1st Layer Qi Gathering Realm cultivator can use inner qi strengthening for 10 minutes, meanwhile at his current cultivation, the 3rd Layer, where his inner qi was doubled twice as he broke through two minor realms, he can use it continuously for an hour.

  When one uses inner qi strengthening to the peak, one could enhance the body’s strength by 5 times.

  His body was already strengthened by his breakthrough to the 1st Layer then he went through basic training to bring physique’s endurance up to par and be able to handle his full strength easily.

  How strong would he be when his strength is enhanced by inner qi?

  A lot.

  He originally thought that he would be able to adapt within 1 week to the strength and speed of inner qi strengthening, but he was only able to barely control his strength at that point.

  Only after another 3 weeks had he reached the level of proficiency enough to be able to travel through the forest trees at a level unlike before.

  Right now, with his current speed that he travels through the forest, he could travel from one district to another within 10 minutes. If it was in the past, he would need at least half an hour to an hour to travel from one district to another.

  Next, he trained his qi control.

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  To be precise, reducing the time of channeling inner qi throughout his entire body.

  It took him a month to be able to instantly spread inner qi throughout his body and strengthen his physique with inner qi within a millisecond.

  Then, he entered a harder part of the training, it was to target a specific part of the body for inner qi channeling.

  This part, precise inner qi channeling, took him 2 months to reach the level of a millisecond.

  He thought of climbing up the Central District but since he still had 5 months before he needed to return the books he took, he decided to train his “Silent Step Footwork” whilst occasionally reading the book, “Medicinal Herbs Vol. 1”.

  The concept of the martial arts manual was simple, it was to move in burst movements at the moment the inner qi is channeled to the bottom of his feet so that one would step onto the inner qi that bursts out of the pores when inner qi travels instantly from the dantian making movements soundless.

  Although the concept was simple, it was harder than one thinks, even with his master level qi control, it was still quite difficult for him to get it right.

  The technique was basically telling him to step on air and accurately timing his burst movement within that millisecond that the inner qi travel from the dantian to the soles of the feet.

  Why wouldn’t that be difficult?

  The “Silent Step Footwork” had 3 levels.

  The first level was to be able to step in all four directions soundlessly in burst movements.

  He had created countless craters and broken tree branches during his training but finally, after 2 months, he had entered the first level, wherein he could move soundless in all four directions within any problems.

  The second level was to be able to do it whatever movement he takes.

  For example, if one steps forward, wouldn’t they make a sound no matter how quiet it is?

  The point of the second level was to let inner qi travel in that exact moment.

  The first level focused on the burst movements, so Gu Xuan could time it as he kicked the ground, but now, the second level was to do it in ordinary movements.

  If he was walking, he needed to be able to time it precisely in those slow movements, and ingraining this to his instinct was far more difficult than one would expect. He was able to do so, only after 4 months.

  At this level, Gu Xuan could walk through a city, and one would feel that he was a ghost with how quiet he was walking. Of course, they wouldn’t notice it but when they think of it, they would feel something is wrong, especially martial artists.

  As for the third level, Gu Xuan had basically given up on it.

  The third level most likely required enlightenment.

  In Gu Xuan’s past life, he had experienced it before in the most ordinary stuff like realizing how to solve a math problem suddenly, or something similarly menial. In other words, enlightenment isn’t something one could seek, it comes on its own.

  The manual was telling him to basically suck on it and step hard towards the ground and the moment his feet neared the ground, use the compressed air as a stepping stone and be able to quietly move.

  Was that even possible? No it was not, not in a short term.

  Yes, the third level doesn’t use inner qi, which is a plus, but Gu Xuan had no plans to spend another year or maybe even years on a martial arts technique that has no practical value besides extreme mastery.

  If he gets lucky and goes through enlightenment in the future, he doesn’t mind but right now?

  It was simply a waste of time, in the end, he was training in order to gather cultivation resources to hasten his slow cultivation or else, he’d take too much time cultivating to break through to the next level.

  As Gu Xuan travelled through the forest tree branches, the wind blew on his robes, hair, and face.

  He turned towards the Central District with a smile, ‘I guess it’s time to go out.’

  He was a little late in giving back the books he took from the Martial Arts Library but surely, Elder Yan’s wouldn’t mind right?

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