For the Wang family, the night was peaceful and uneventful. The two battles that took place were over quickly and didn't cause much disturbance.
When they woke up the next day and saw the pile of fox corpses, the entire Wang family was in an uproar.
Wang Fulai was so grateful to Ling Xiaoyue and Fang Zhou that she almost knelt down to thank them.
For the past month, she had been tormented, unable to eat or sleep, nearly driven to the brink of a nervous breakdown. Now she could finally rest at ease.
Ling Xiaoyue was delighted because Wang Fulai gave her a substantial sum of money. It was the price for the Celestial horse's meat, which the Wang family had bought. Whether they kept it for themselves or sold it was none of her concern.
Fang Zhou was also pleased. His horse, which had been innocently caught up in the matter, had sold for the price of an Celestial horse. In life, While it was ridden without recognition when it was alive, in death, it could bear the title of a celestial horse. He presumed that it would be smiling contentedly in the afterlife.
Most importantly, the money for the horse was given to Fang Zhou privately by the steward. Ling Xiaoyue didn't notice, so it was Fang Zhou's own pocket money, belonging only to him.
As for the pile of fox corpses, Ling Xiaoyue instructed the steward to skin them for scarves and mince the meat for meatballs, which she intended to take with her.
Fang Zhou listened, his scalp tingling. Was this woman heartless? She seemed more ruthless than the most notorious swindlers, not letting anything go to waste.
Since they promised to refine a Yang Reviving pill for Wang Minghong, and there was still a large fox left to deal with, Ling Xiaoyue and Fang Zhou were not in a hurry to leave and decided to stay with the Wang family for a few more days.
In the meantime, Ling Xiaoyue took the opportunity to teach Fang Zhou how to channel Qi and some sword techniques.
Fang Zhou was a bit wary, wondering why this money-minded woman would be so kind: "Are you sure this is free?"
Ling Xiaoyue tapped his head with her finger. "Money, money, money? Is that all you can talk about? Do we, as master and apprentice really need to be so formal?"
"Hehe!"
Fang Zhou gave a contemptuous but polite laugh.
This made Ling Xiaoyue quite annoyed. She felt that Fang Zhou's stereotype of her tarnished her glorious image as a master, as well as the external image of their sect. What an ungrateful apprentice, she thought.
For these two things, she really had no intention of charging Fang Zhou, as these were the complementary techniques and sword skills for practicing the New Moon Qi technique, essentially after-sales service.
Ling Xiaoyue always maintained her integrity, offering goods of value for money, never taking advantage of anyone.
"Wait a minute, you're not going to teach me for free and then charge me for practicing or upgrading later, are you?"
Fang Zhou suddenly realized what was happening. It reminded him of situations he had encountered before, where some products were sold at a low price or even given away for free, but the subsequent maintenance or repair costs were sky-high.
Ling Xiaoyue's eyes widened, and she pointed at Fang Zhou, "You're slandering me! How could I, as your master, do something so shameless?"
Oh, he hit the nail on the head. She would definitely do that.
"So, do you want to learn or not?"
"Yes!"
Of course, he wanted to. It would be foolish not to take advantage of free learning. "If you charge me, I'll just owe you for now. If I pay back even a penny, consider me the loser," he thought.
The Qi Gathering Technique is a complementary technique to New Moon Qi, or it might be better to say it's a complementary skill. New Moon Qi can absorb, refine, and guide spiritual energy to nourish the body. The Qi Gathering Technique allows Fang Zhou to more quickly and easily mobilize the spiritual energy stored within his body, enabling it to spread throughout his body in an instant, enhancing strength and speed. However, it also intensifies the consumption of spiritual energy, so it can't be used for a long time.
For Fang Zhou, the Qi Gathering Technique was like a timely rain after a long drought. After starting his Qi cultivation, he hadn't felt significant improvement, only gaining one point in strength and one in stamina. Although he had accumulated much spiritual energy, it would slowly dissipate and had to be replenished through constant cultivation.
Gathering spiritual energy can enhance strength and speed, but in battle, there's no time for slow activation, nor is it possible to multitask and maintain the state of circulating spiritual energy.
Thus, the accumulated spiritual energy could not be used in combat, which seemed wasteful.
Now that he had learned the Qi Gathering Technique, Fang Zhou could rapidly mobilize the spiritual energy throughout his body without being distracted during combat. He could now finally and truly experience the combat power of the entry-level of the Qi refining stage.
Fang Zhou opened the system to test it out. After using the Qi Gathering Technique, his strength increased by 2 points, reaching 6 points, and his speed also increased by 1 point, reaching 6 points as well.
Originally, his cultivation talent was already astonishing, and with the Qi Gathering Technique, he became even more formidable.
The only drawback was that the Qi Gathering Technique speeds up the consumption of spiritual energy. When he stops using the technique, or when his spiritual energy is exhausted, his enhanced attributes will decline.
Overall, the Qi Gathering Technique had greatly improved Fang Zhou's combat capability. He can now proudly claim that if he encounters the female disciples of Xuan Ji Sect again, he can easily defeat them.
Additionally, with his illusions and the Random Left Hand, he wouldn't be at such a disadvantage when facing Li Ruyu.
Fang Zhou was very satisfied. Li Ruyu had been with the Xuan Ji Sect for a full eight years, while he had been practicing for less than a month.
Of course, the credit largely goes to the system, which has helped Fang Zhou improve the most. It is indeed like a loving father.
In addition to the Qi Gathering Technique, Ling Xiaoyue also taught Fang Zhou a sword technique.
Fang Zhou watched her demonstrate it with a tree branch, the aura was sharp and intense. Her movements were crisp and concise, without any flashy moves.
At the end, she extended the tree branch forward, and a sharp sword energy shot out, piercing through a rockery in the yard and disappearing somewhere.
Ling Xiaoyue threw the tree branch to Fang Zhou, "Did you remember the movements? When channeling your spiritual energy, follow the path of the Qi Gathering Technique."
Fang Zhou caught the tree branch, which in his hand was just an ordinary piece of wood, but in Ling Xiaoyue's hands, it was sharper than a treasured sword.
As Fang Zhou recalled Ling Xiaoyue's movements in his mind, he asked, "What is this sword technique called?"
"Call it... um..."
Ling Xiaoyue hesitated for a moment before squeezing out the words, "Call it the Invincible Sword, how about that?"
Fang Zhou immediately waved her off, "Forget it, I'll come up with a name myself. No need to trouble yourself."
Ling Xiaoyue was angered by Fang Zhou's disdainful attitude, 'Isn't my name good?'
Fang Zhou shrugged, "It's good, why don't you use it yourself?"
"Of course I must reserved the good stuff for my apprentice. This is my love for you."
"I can't afford to enjoy your love."
Ling Xiaoyue was helpless. She couldn't force Fang Zhou to use the name she chose. In terms of naming, it was indeed one of her few weaknesses.
This was simply unacceptable for the self-proclaimed handsome, charming, perfect, and powerful Master Ling Xiaoyue.
She was depressed for a while, but she seemed to have thought of something and became happy again. She reached out and put her hand on Fang Zhou's shoulder with an ambiguous expression, "My dear apprentice, do you know the other wonderful use of the Qi Gathering Technique?"
Fang Zhou glanced at her skeptically. He was now very familiar with Ling Xiaoyue, and whenever she showed this expression, it was always followed by something inappropriate.
Fang Zhou said, "Go ahead, I'm listening."
Sure enough, Ling Xiaoyue chuckled, "When you mobilize your spiritual energy, you can direct it to your spiritual root, and the effect will surely surprise you… tonight, you can ask the steward for some lard... try it yourself, but don't play too late into the night, hehehe!"
Fang Zhou: (눈_눈)
What on earth is going on in this woman's mind?
The high and mighty cultivation technique is being used by her in such a filthy way. It is simply an insult to the words 'cultivation'. Fang Zhou strongly condemns this and feels it beneath him to associate with such behavior.
But the effect she mentioned... is it true or false?
It's worth researching.
..
The steward was highly efficient. Several foxes were skinned by skilled craftsmen she brought in. The fox tails were made into scarves, the fox skins into capes, and the leftover pieces were sewn into gloves.
The fox meat was minced and made into meatballs, and the bones ground into powder, all of which was presented before Ling Xiaoyue.
Ling Xiaoyue used a secret technique to gather everything in her sleeves. Then, she secretly took out one fox meatball, turning it into a golden color using a hidden method, and had Fang Zhou give it to Wang Minghong.
"Is this what you call the Yang Reviving Pill?"
Fang Zhou asked, his face speechless. "You must be kidding! This is clearly just a colored meatball."
"Aiya, what do you know." Ling Xiaoyue said,
Disappointed, as if Fang Zhou were a piece of iron that couldn't be made into steel, she said, "The symptoms of Yang depletion are simply caused by sexual exhaustion leading to kidney weakness. Wang Minghong can recover with some rest. This meatball - ahem, I mean this Yang Reviving Pill - contains spiritual energy in it. It will provide him with some psychological comfort, helping him recover faster. It's called psychological comforting therapy. Learn something, would you? And this is free. A real Yang Reviving Pill would be so expensive that even ten Wang Fulais couldn't afford it. Are you planning to pay for him?"
Is she a supplement sales representative from another world?
Fang Zhou was dumbfounded by this woman's twisted logic, one after another.
But he didn't argue in the end, mainly because this was something Ling Xiaoyue was giving for free. This was indeed rare, even rarer than spending money.
After administering the meatball - ahem, the Yang Reviving Pill - to Wang Minghong, his complexion indeed improved at once, and he thanked Fang Zhou repeatedly.
It wasn't just psychological comfort. The purified spiritual energy was also highly nourishing for the body.
Seeing that everything was properly taken care of, only the fox that had escaped remained unresolved.
As Fang Zhou was preparing to ask Ling Xiaoyue when she planned to take care of this lingering issue, a visitor surnamed Hu unexpectedly arrived at the Wang residence.