Chapter 148: 148: Collecting Cultivation Techniques (Second Release)

The crowd murmured in low voices under the xenon lamps before dispersing with a bang; they started building wooden cabins about a mile away. Since there was no difference between day and night, it was best to focus on work.

Because they worked day and night, the wooden cabins were completed by the evening of the next day.

But that wasn’t the main point. The main point was… the next morning, Dongmu Province sent over a hundred more people to start quarrying stones to build Jade houses for Feng Jun.

On the third day at noon, it started to rain again, but Feng Jun sat under a thatched shelter and did not move into the wooden house—he was a man of his word.

However, the Jade materials intended for his house were moved into the wooden cabin, along with the motorcycle, diesel barrels, and other items.

Still, that wasn’t the main point. The main point was… today another hundred people arrived!

At this point, over three hundred people had gathered in this wilderness, mostly stout men, with a few women engaged in chores like washing clothes and cooking.

At first, Feng Jun didn’t understand why such fanfare was necessary just to construct a couple of houses. Did they really need that many people?

Tian Yangni’s response was that they really did need this many people. Not to mention the stone quarrying, which required a lot of workers, you must know that they were building houses made of Huashi.

This was indeed true. Jade is very hard; even the so-called soft Jade, Hetian Jade, has a hardness of over 6.0 on the Mohs scale, harder than glass, and after quarrying, it still needs the outer layer stripped off, a task easier said than done.

Of course, with Jade being abundant in Mount Zhige, when stripping it, there’s no need to worry about waste. It’s sufficient to cut out the usable Jade, greatly increasing efficiency.

It’s like making shredded potatoes. At home, you must peel, wash, and cut the potatoes, considering how to handle the irregular parts to avoid unnecessary waste.

But in a restaurant, there’s no need to peel. Just cut the potatoes into cubes, give them a quick rinse, and cut them like tofu, resulting in uniformly long shreds, not uneven in size.

Regarding the resulting waste? The restaurant owner says, “The potatoes are mine, don’t worry about the waste; this is how we do it!”

In short, mining and processing Jade is difficult. Even if wastefulness is affordable, to build a “Jade hall,” even Martial Artists must exert considerable effort involving substantial manpower and resources, so three hundred people isn’t too many.

Moreover, Tian Yangni said that this time they wouldn’t just construct two houses; they would build at least ten or eighteen houses to provide Divine Doctor with more spacious accommodations. Otherwise, it wouldn’t reflect the Tian Family’s sincerity.

Therefore, even three hundred people weren’t enough. The Tian Family had already sent out people to buy Huashi in the surrounding area, hoping to store enough for ten houses within ten days.

Upon hearing such an explanation, Feng Jun felt… like he was dumbfounded. It’s just me living there, what are you doing?

However, he couldn’t deny that he really liked the feeling: I just want to live there, and you went to build so many houses, even preparing a special room for storing Jade… hmm, the attitude is quite proper.

No wonder everyone likes being an official. Those in power only need to move their lips and their attentive subordinates will take care of everything, even exercising their initiative to a great extent.

Feng Jun’s second feeling was a mixture of amusement and helplessness. Back on Earth Realm, he had always been renting houses and was preparing to build one. Unexpectedly, he faced the same situation here; it seems that no matter where you are, a house is truly a basic necessity.

Apart from the house matters, Feng Jun also briefly checked his other gains. The greatest gain was a set of Flood Dragon Silk Soft Armor that he acquired from Luo Wendao.

Despite being called Flood Dragon Silk, it had no relation to actual Flood Dragons. Instead, it came from a Spirit Beast living in the marshes. After tanning its skin, they transformed it into protective clothing with excellent defensive capabilities.

According to Lang Zhen, even if Feng Jun used the spikes of a Spiritual Hedgehog, it was doubtful that he could penetrate this armor.

Luo Wendao, as an Innate Expert, wore this armor for protection, which showed its might. Only because Feng Jun used TNT, which had the shockwave effect of blast damage, was he able to hurt his opponent.

The Flood Dragon Silk Soft Armor wasn’t large, about the size of a short cape, covering only the vitals of the chest and abdomen. Even so, such armor was priceless, and not every Innate Expert could possess one.

Lang Zhen, who was responsible for cleaning the battlefield, understood the value of this armor and didn’t think of keeping it. Instead, he respectfully presented it to Feng Jun.

Feng Jun wanted to generously reward the armor to Lang Zhen, but… he really needed it.

Besides that, Luo Wendao also had some healing medicines, more than ten Meridian Opening Pills, and over twenty ounces of Gold on him—a modest fortune that hardly suited the status of an Innate Expert.

Feng Jun wanted to reward the Meridian Opening Pills to Lang Zhen, but Lone Wolf said he didn’t want them; could he perhaps have the precious sword instead?

Luo Wendao carried a short sword about a chi long, not considered a weapon of war—Innate Experts don’t place much value on such weapons as their Inner Qi is the foundation of their respect in society.

But even Innate Experts needed a good blade for protection, and this precious sword was just that.

This sword was exceptionally sharp and invincible. Considering its true value, it definitely far surpassed ordinary weapons—could anything an Innate Expert carried be cheap?

Lang Zhen admitted he fancied the sword and hoped the Divine Doctor would grant it to him.

Honestly, Feng Jun also liked the sword. With his grassroots temperament, he wasn’t very interested in swords; wielding a sword might look good, but it always felt somewhat pretentious. Unlike wielding a knife, which is wild, fierce, and straightforward, it’s much more satisfying.

Not to mention, he still had a manual of sword techniques that he hadn’t had the chance to practice yet.

However, seeing that Lang Zhen truly liked it, Feng Jun decided to part with it—the thought of returning to the real world and not being able to carry a sword out hampered the idea anyway.

On the body of the martial master who had died, there was a secret manual for cultivation of Tun Na (breathing exercises).

Since Lone Wolf was illiterate, Feng Jun gave the item to the Deng Family Brothers for evaluation.

During the discussion of this topic, Deng Lao Er wisely kept his mouth shut, however, Deng Lao Da, uncharacteristically, began to critique it, going on at length, and ultimately expressed: this Tun Na technique seems… to be better than the one we brothers have been practicing.

Actually, this was stating the obvious, the intermediate-level martial master was a disciple of Luo Wendao; could a manual he kept on him be of poor quality?

At that moment, Deng Lao Er made another suggestion: “Divine Doctor, concerning the quality of this manual, you could ask Tian Yangni.”

After considering it, Feng Jun shook his head with a smile, “Forget it, if I ask him for his opinion, he might think I’m coveting the Tian Family’s techniques… There’s no need.”

He truly didn’t fancy the Tian Family’s technique, because he was well aware that their technique was inferior to the Tai Chi Breathing Technique he was practicing, and he believed that the Tian Family’s technique couldn’t compare to Tai Chi Breathing either.

The technique he was practicing was Tai Chi Breathing, and how long did it take for him to advance from first sensing the qi to becoming an intermediate-level martial master? Less than a month!

Could the Tian Family’s technique achieve this? Don’t even think about it.

Feng Jun thought about not asking the Tian Family, but Deng Lao Er was… simply too loyal!

Feeling that he had a good relationship with Tian Yangni, he went to him and said as much.

Look, Divine Doctor doesn’t want to cause any misunderstandings, doesn’t want to ask you, so… shouldn’t you do something about it?

Do something? Of course! Tian Yangni immediately felt pumped. In all honesty, there wasn’t much that was unique about the Tian Family’s technique; most of their special insights were in the cultivation notes of their ancestors.

In fact, the reason why the Tian Family could maintain the situation of a medium-to-small-sized clan was fundamentally because they had relatively more resources for cultivation, and were able to employ more ruthless elimination methods.

Overall, Tian Yangni didn’t think their family’s technique was that precious; it would be priceless to people from Zhao Family Fortress, but to an immortal, it was just so-so.

Moreover, he was quite envious of the cultivation manual that Feng Jun had acquired—it was carried by a disciple of Luo Wendao.

So, he immediately went to find Feng Jun, “I heard Divine Doctor obtained a manual that requires validation, I am willing to offer my services.”

Using his rear to think, Feng Jun knew how this guy had gotten the news, so he made his point straightforwardly.

“I want the most direct comparison, between your family’s technique and this new manual, to determine which is superior or inferior. I was originally going to maintain my distance, but since you took the initiative to come to me, I’ll make a gesture. You don’t have to look, but once you do, don’t lie to me… consider the consequences if you do.”

Tian Yangni nodded without hesitation, “No problem! How could I dare to deceive Divine Doctor?”

He had already heard from Deng Lao Er that this technique was stronger than the Deng’s, that was enough for him.

At worst, he would offer up more ancestral notes. Even a tiny gain would be worthwhile, and it would please Divine Doctor as well.

After examining the techniques and pondering for a while, he slapped his thigh with joy, “Good technique, stronger than my family’s!”

Since this technique was better, he naturally had to provide explanations for his own family’s technique and present some of the ancestral cultivation insights.

You must understand, he was the one benefiting here, so he had to offer good explanations.

In fact, when Feng Jun saw the Tian Family’s cultivation technique, he only slightly raised an eyebrow: Wow, isn’t this just an abridged version of Tai Chi Breathing?

Feng Jun’s newly acquired technique only comprised Nine Forms Nine Diagrams, with a majority of the text being descriptions, making it difficult to discern the essence, whereas the Tian Family’s technique was Nine Forms Twenty-Seven Diagrams, which made it easier to adjust during practice.

What Lang Zhen was practicing was Nine Forms Eighteen Diagrams, which also had simple explanations, being the most basic of the Tun Na techniques.

Tai Chi Breathing is Nine Forms Thirty-Six Diagrams, following the same lineage as the Basic Breathing Technique, but with many more details.

Between the Thirty-Six and Eighteen Diagrams, it’s completely plausible to have a Twenty-Seven Diagrams, and the Tian Family had provided just such a technique.

The reason why Feng Jun cared so much about the manual was that he was considering obtaining a set for Xu Leigang to switch to… as Fatty Xu had been pestering him too much.

Of course, if possible, he also wanted to promote martial cultivation techniques in the Earth Realm.