"My father is in the study, I will take you over there."
The young man led Xu Ning into the study.
The young man went inside first. "Father, Xu Ning is here to visit you."
"Xu Ning? Let him come in."
Xu Ning heard Tao Yunmeng's voice from the inside.
After that, the young man came out. "Xu Ning, go on in."
Xu Ning thanked him, handed the gifts in his hand to the young man, and walked into the study.
"Uncle Meng."
Xu Ning saw Tao Yunmeng, who was sitting at the desk with a glowing lamp.
Behind him was a bookshelf full of books.
Tao Yunmeng's mighty and fierce physique contrasted with the book in his hand.
"Xu Ning, sit."
Tao Yunmeng put down the book in his hand and greeted Xu Ning.
There was a smile on his face, his eyes full of admiration for the younger generation.
Tao Yunmeng had a good impression of Xu Ning.
Since Xu Ning practiced the Gale Knife Technique to the intermediate realm alone, Tao Yunmeng remembered Xu Ning's outstanding talent.
During their subsequent conversation, he had also noticed that Xu Ning was a humble and polite person.
Afterwards, this young man took risks to save others. He was courageous and righteous. This further strengthened his opinion of Xu Ning.
Hence, Tao Yunmeng was pleased to see Xu Ning visit him.
"What have you been up to lately?"
Although Xu Ning came to ask for help, it was Tao Yunmeng who took the initiative to speak.
"Practicing the internal skill and going into the mountains to collect medicine."
Xu Ning answered truthfully.
Tao Yunmeng nodded. "Internal skills are the foundation of practice. You must take it seriously. Although the cultivation of internal skill is difficult, you will benefit greatly after you improve. Don't feel discouraged just because your advancement is slower than practicing external skills."
Tao Yunmeng did not ask Xu Ning's progress, instead he gave some suggestions.
It had only been more than 20 days since Xu Ning obtained the internal skill booklet. He thought it would be impossible for Xu Ning to have any meaningful progress in his internal skill.
"Noted, Uncle Meng."
Xu Ning didn't tell him the fact that he had been promoted to the muscle bone realm.
He would expose his strength when it was necessary in the future.
"How's the income from going into the mountains and collecting medicine? If the income is mediocre, I can ask someone to arrange some lucrative jobs for you."
Tao Yunmeng knew that Xu Ning's family background was poor, and practicing martial arts required expensive medicinal materials and even spirit medicine from time to time.
"The income is not bad, but it is a little troublesome when I encounter beasts in the mountains."
Xu Ning answered truthfully.
"How so?"
Tao Yunmeng guessed that this was Xu Ning's reason for visiting him.
"When I encounter beasts, it is quite troublesome to escape. If I fight it directly, I could easily be injured in a close fight." Xu Ning explained why he was here, "I came to you this time because I want to learn an archery type external skill."
"Learn archery skills?"
Tao Yunmeng's eyebrows slowly tightened.
"Yes, Uncle Meng."
Xu Ning nodded.
Tao Yunmeng put down the book in his hand, tapped his fingers on the table a few times, and raised his eyebrows. "Xu Ning, you have to know that, since you have already cultivated an external skill to the intermediate realm, you should put more energy into your internal skills. External skills are not the fundamentals. Learning one more external skill will not bring a qualitative improvement in your strength."
"Generally speaking, those who practice a second external skill are those who can no longer improve their internal skills. If you do not practice internal skills, you are wasting your talent."
Tao Yunmeng's tone was quite sincere.
"Uncle Meng, I know."
Xu Ning said, "However, practicing archery is important to surviving in Yunze Mountains. Only by protecting myself can I obtain resources and lay the foundation for practicing my internal skill. Also, practicing archery will not delay the progress of my internal skill."
Tao Yunmeng heard his words and went silent for a moment. He felt that Xu Ning's words were reasonable.
He finally agreed. "Well, in that case, I will teach you archery."
"Thank you Uncle Meng."
Xu Ning quickly got up and thanked him.
Tao Yunmeng waved his hand and exhorted. "But you have to remember, you should only touch the surface of archery, but do not delve into it, as it will delay your internal skill progress."
"Understood, Uncle Meng."
Xu Ning answered.
Tao Yunmeng went out of the study room, leaving Xu Ning to wait.
After a while, Tao Yunmeng returned, holding an old book in his hand.
"I bought this from a down-and-out warrior when I was younger." Tao Yunmeng explained, "I was still in the village's hunting team then. I learned archery to defend myself in Yunze Mountains, but I only practiced it to the elementary realm."
Tao Yunmeng put the book in Xu Ning's hands.
Xu Ning grabbed it. The words "Light Feather Bow Technique" were engraved on the cover.
"Thank you Uncle Meng."
Xu Ning thanked him again.
After receiving the archery technique as he wished, Xu Ning made some small talk with Tao Yunmeng.
Tao Yunmeng taught Xu Ning some life lessons during their conversation.
He quite admired the young man.
Xu Ning also had a humble attitude towards studying. Although Tao Yunmeng's lessons were not particularly useful, he still gained a lot of knowledge.
After that, Xu Ning bid farewell to Tao Yunmeng.
Once again, Xu Ning received help from the Tao Village predecessors.
…
Yunze Mountains.
Inner circle.
This place was filled with beasts and not a single human in sight—it was full of danger.
A young man with a knife tied on his waist and a bow in his hand, ran between the steep slopes of the jungle, and behind him, a leopard the size of a tiger chased frantically.
The leopard was extremely agile and could easily avoid various obstacles.
But even so, it was not getting closer to the young man.
'After I got promoted to the muscle bone realm, my body became stronger. My explosiveness and endurance is not the same as before.'
The young man chased by the leopard was Xu Ning.
Although there was a beast chasing after him, Xu Ning's facial expression was still relaxed. He did not feel much pressure.
This was completely different from his first encounter with the black wolves.
'Is it tired yet…'
After running for a long time, Xu Ning noticed that the leopard behind him was moving a little slower.
This leopard had poor endurance.
'In this case, I should take the initiative.'
Xu Ning ran to one side of the hill, and soon he reached the high ground.
Xu Ning turned around and looked at the leopard.
After seeing that its prey suddenly stopped, the leopard slowly froze.
It bared its teeth and its eyes looked fierce. There was a whining sound in its throat.
'Light Feather Bow Technique…'
Xu Ning drew his bow and shot an arrow.
Prior to this, Xu Ning had already promoted his Light Feather Bow Technique to the elementary realm.
This consumed 4 units of energy, so he had 2 units of energy remaining.
Whoosh!
The arrow flew at the leopard.
The leopard suddenly felt a sense of danger. Its beast instincts allowed it to quickly dodge and avoid Xu Ning's arrow.
However, just after the leopard felt that it had avoided the dangerous situation, another arrow flew over.
This time, it was three arrows!
The three arrows flew towards the leopard, one after another.
This was the result of Xu Ning's archery technique practice.
The biggest feature of the Light Feather Bow Technique was that the arrows were shot forward quickly, making it difficult for the enemy to avoid.
The leopard let out a whine.
Its voice was high-pitched. It was clearly different from the roar of most beasts.
Xu Ning shot out three arrows consecutively, missing only one of them.
One arrow hit the leopard back, and the other scratched the leopard's shoulder.
The leopard finally realized that its prey had become a predator.
Almost without hesitating, the injured leopard began to flee.
But Xu Ning obviously did not let it go this easily.
He ran down from the high ground. With the help of inertia, he jumped several meters per step, moving at an extremely fast pace.
Xu Ning shot more arrows as he ran.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The arrows flew in the air.
Although the leopard was injured, it remained flexible, allowing it to dodge most of Xu Ning's arrows.
Even though only a few arrows hit the leopard, it was still greatly injured.
The leopard's movements slowed down, and Xu Ning caught up.
Xu Ning switched to his knife.
After a few slices, the leopard was killed by Xu Ning.
'It's a shame that there are holes in its fur.'
Xu Ning pulled out the arrows from the leopard and put them back into his quiver.
His previous shootings emptied out his quiver.
Then, Xu Ning took out a small knife and began to cut the fur.