Chapter 79: Chapter 79: Two Cultivation Techniques

How expensive are these pills exactly? Lang Zhen said, “Just for Body Tempering Pills, it costs ten silver dollars apiece.”

Based on the cost of living in this plane, an adult’s expenses in the city per day are roughly around thirty to forty copper coins, and that’s without any big purchases. If one were to add the cost of new clothes, it certainly would exceed the budget.

So, by this calculation, a month would be about one silver dollar.

Feng Jun converted it to terms more understandable for himself, a Body Tempering Pill, if it were on Earth Realm, would be equivalent to a college student’s living expenses for ten months, at least over ten thousand yuan. Body Tempering Pills are consumed by martial artists at the foundational stage and can even be used when stepping into the realm of high-rank martial warriors.

Generally speaking, martial artists go through three stages: beginner, intermediate, and high-rank, and they can use three Body Tempering Pills at each stage, nine in total. Exceeding this amount would bring some toxic side effects from the elixirs.

Of course, if one really wants to use them in excess, it’s not impossible, but if one doesn’t want to affect their foundation, it’s best to take some detoxifying pills specifically.

By this reasoning, nine Body Tempering Pills would be equivalent to over one hundred thousand yuan in Earth Realm.

Anyway, in the large households of this plane, generally no more than twelve Body Tempering Pills are prepared for each junior. Any more than that, the accumulated elixir toxins really become hard to dispel.

As for Foundation Establishment Pills, they are even more expensive, ten to fifteen times that of Body Tempering Pills, depending on the market conditions.

Lang Zhen was only able to consume three Body Tempering Pills, one he bought with his own money, the other two he obtained through military merits. As for the Foundation Establishment Pill he took, he didn’t say where it came from, nor did Lang Zhen ask.

A single Foundation Establishment Pill is worth more than two taels of gold, and Meridian Opening Pills can’t even be bought with gold; they are not sold on the market. To obtain them, one must go through specific channels.

Speaking of this, Lang Zhen became extremely angry, “The year before my hand was severed, according to the regulations of the Escort Bureau, I had already earned the right to purchase a Meridian Opening Pill, who would have thought they would later renege.”

According to him, when he was an escort, he did not earn little money. Just by taking a few small traders with them, letting them follow behind the team, it was a considerable income. However, he spent money without any plan, so he did not save much in those days.

But no matter what, as long as the Escort Bureau was willing to sell the Meridian Opening Pill, Lang Zhen would be able to borrow the required ten or twenty taels of gold.

Regrettably, that year the headquarters of the Escort Bureau needed a large number of Meridian Opening Pills, so the quota for the branches was reduced by ninety percent. As a result, Lang Zhen ended up not getting the pills—The Escort Bureau did acknowledge his right, but… they had no stock at that time! He held out for half a year, and what was a new injury became an old one. With other people in the Escort Bureau getting injured as well, even if there were Meridian Opening Pills available, they surely would prioritize those with fresh injuries. Lang Zhen’s hand was already severed and of little use, so he left despondently.

Looking at Lang Zhen’s dejected expression, Feng Jun didn’t know how to comfort him. In the end, he still spoke with a smile, “If you hadn’t come to Small Lake Village, you wouldn’t have met me. There’s always a way out.” Lone Wolf showed a smile at this moment, nodding while laughing, “At first I was a bit upset with them for their betrayal, but now, I’m not angry in the slightest… really.”

Besides the cultivation-related medicines, the two of them also found two bottles of golden sore medicine and each took one.

Lang Zhen believed that minor wounds were nothing to cultivators, but he insisted on giving the better bottle to Feng Jun-the one from Gu Family’s Thirteenth Young Master’s package.

What Feng Jun was most interested in were the two books on the body of the Thirteenth Young Master.

He opened one and saw that it was written in small seal script. Although he had a strong interest in calligraphy and was also a student of the humanities, he easily recognized them: one was the Tai Chi Breathing Technique, and the other was the Mystic Element Sword Technique.

Opening the Tai Chi Breathing Technique, the first page was the general guidelines, which were rather difficult to comprehend, but the second page was a diagram of the human body’s meridian channels.

Lang Zhen was illiterate and simply looked on sideways, but when he saw the second page, he couldn’t help but let out a light gasp.

Feng Jun glanced at him, “What’s the matter?”

This is… this is the Basic Breathing Technique, right?” Lang Zhen looked at the book, somewhat uncertain, “I practiced the Basic Breathing Technique.” Certainly, martial arts practitioners also need to cultivate techniques. According to Lang Zhen, on this land of Donghua, there are countless Dharma methods for martial artists, and many large clans have their own unique techniques that they keep secret.

And the Basic Breathing Technique is the most widespread one; even ordinary bookstores sell it.

Lang Zhen practiced this very technique. When he joined the army, he was supposed to learn the military techniques, but since the foundation he built with the Basic Breathing Technique was very solid, his superior felt it would be a waste to discard his cultivation. Thus, they didn’t force him to switch techniques.

However, for Lang Zhen to reach the level of martial master by cultivating the Basic Breathing Technique, his talent was also rather remarkable.

In fact, Lang Zhen held this cultivation technique in high esteem.

Don’t look down on this technique because it’s common. The progress in cultivation might be slow and the power ordinary, but it’s balanced and moderate, the most upright and proper breathing technique. It’s also the summary and source of many breathing techniques, not to be underestimated…”

As he spoke, his eyes suddenly widened, “Huh?”

Feng Jun looked at him strangely. “What’s the matter?”

“It seems… it seems a bit different,” Lang Zhen said, pointing at the book. “Can n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

I take a look at it?”

He took the Tai Chi Breathing Technique and carefully flipped through two pages, his expression growing increasingly serious.

Feng Jun also felt that it didn’t quite make sense for the Gu Family’s Thirteenth Young Master to be carrying around the most generic copy of such a technique, “What is it, is there something different about it?”

Indeed… it’s a little different,” Lang Zhen smiled awkwardly, pointing at the page. “This cultivation technique… actually starts with cultivating this spot.” The spot he pointed to was on the figure in the diagram, precisely located between the legs of the illustration.

That’s pretty normal, right?” Feng Jun spoke nonchalantly. Coming from the information explosion of Earth Realm and not quite reaching the ’emotionless’ state, he felt no embarrassment from such crude drawings.

”Not quite normal, is it?” Lang Zhen scratched his head with his single arm.

‘When martial artists begin, they should retain the purity of their essential yang and yin. If they start by cultivating here, wouldn’t it be too easy to… you know?”

“You’re making a big deal out of nothing,” Feng Jun said, his face taut.

He had to criticize such stiff thinking without mercy. “This isn’t Basic

Breathing, but the Tai Chi Breathing… What is Tai Chi? Chaos is Tai Chi, yin and yang are also Tai Chi, so why can’t we cultivate that spot?”

Lang Zhen couldn’t even recognize the characters, let alone dare to debate the details of a cultivation technique with a cultivator. He laughed awkwardly and nodded. “The Divine Doctor is absolutely right. It’s just my ignorance; there’s so much I don’t understand. I hope for more guidance from the Divine Doctor in the future.”

Feng Jun nodded carelessly. “See if there’s anything else different about it.”

Lang Zhen flipped through the book again, taking in a sharp breath of air “It really is different. The Basic Breathing Technique has nine forms and eighteen diagrams, but this book has nine forms and thirty-six diagrams. Maybe…” At this point, he couldn’t continue, his face full of astonishment. “Maybe…” Feng Jun already had a guess in mind and immediately spoke up, “Maybe this is the real Basic Breathing Technique, and what everyone has been practicing is just the simplified version… right?”

Lang Zhen stayed silent for a long while, finally giving a thumbs up. “The Divine Doctor is quick-witted; I truly am incomparable… This could very well be the truth.”

Hehe,” Feng Jun laughed, unimpressed. Being quick-witted… is that necessary? Reading a couple of web novels is all it takes.

And besides, I am the protagonist with a fateful encounter. If the author doesn’t grant me some protagonist aura, wouldn’t that be inviting disaster? The next moment, his eyes lit up again. “Old Lang, you think I can cultivate this technique?”

Lang Zhen’s expression suddenly became strange, like someone who had inadvertently discarded the winning tile in a game of mahjong, complex and impossible to describe in words.

In fact, his expression could be summarized in one sentence: You’re already a cultivator, why bother with cultivation?

But he couldn’t say that directly. After being speechless for a good while, he finally said, “If you want to cultivate it, of course you can, but… are you sure you need to?”

“Of course I need to,” Feng Jun replied matter-of-factly. “I haven’t practiced it before. Tell me, what should I pay attention to?”

Lang Zhen was utterly speechless, unable to believe that a cultivator could be as clueless about cultivation as an idiot.

But… this was the purpose of the Divine Doctor’s training, wasn’t it? As someone accustomed to wild flights of fancy, he quickly concocted a reason. “When cultivating this Tun Na, it’s best to use it with a Body Tempering Pill,”

Lang Zhen cautiously informed the cultivator. “When you feel the Qi during’ your Tun Na practice, you take- hey, hey, hey, hold on, I didn’t tell you to eat it now.”

However, his warning came a little too late. Feng Jun, hearing he could cultivate, couldn’t wait any longer. He had been playing with a Body Tempering Pill, and without hesitation popped it into his mouth.

At Lang Zhen’s exclamation, he spoke unclearly, “I didn’t eat it, I’m just holding it in my mouth… Can I spit it out?”

“Sigh, it’s already met your saliva, so even if you don’t swallow it, it’s spoiled,” Lang Zhen said, stomping his foot in dismay. That pill was worth ten silver coins.

But the next moment, he realized that the Divine Doctor, being a cultivator, wouldn’t care about mundane wealth.

Immediately after, he was dumbfounded again. “Hey, you can’t take the entire thing… thirty percent is enough!”

As he spoke, Feng Jun stretched his neck and barely managed to swallow the pill, which was as large as a longan fruit-fortunately, his throat was big enough.

He stood there stiffly for a while, then patted his chest, looking annoyed at Lang Zhen. “Old Lang, can’t you say all you have to say at once? We don’t take such big breaths in between.”

Lang Zhen sucked his teeth in frustration. “It’s your actions that are too quick… hurry up and lie down, it’s going to hurt for a while.”

(Updated till here. Summoning clicks, recommendations, and bookmarks. It’s going on shelves on New Year’s Day, only one day left, everyone hurry up and push for the base monthly tickets.)