Chapter 208: Carrying the Burden and Falling off the Cliff

Duan Rong carried a large chest, trekking through the mountain forest; with such a heavy chest pressing on his shoulder, performing his Cloud Snake Step was already quite strenuous.

Duan Rong simply strode forward, which was just like the way he had walked when he went into the mountains with Shen Ping that day, crossing mountains and ridges.

By dusk, Duan Rong finally arrived at the cliff above the cave hideout.

At this moment, the setting sun shone, looking like a giant piece of red gauze covering the valley before him, giving the mountains, rivers, and streams a hazy and gorgeous beauty.

Duan Rong unloaded the heavy chest from his shoulder. He wiped the fine sweat from his forehead.

Only then did Duan Rong open the chest, counting the items inside in the afterglow of the setting sun.

The bottom half of the chest was filled with neatly arranged gold ingots, totaling eighty ingots, each weighing twenty taels.

On top of the gold ingots were piles of jewelry, coral, tortoiseshell, giant clam, agate, and other such items.

In this realm, treasures were scarce and hard to come by; these things were even more valuable than gold.

"It seems the entire family fortune of the Quan Family is here," Duan Rong couldn't help but exclaim, then he picked up the few stacks of banknotes on top and roughly counted them; just counting the larger denominations, they added up to a surprising forty thousand taels.

In this way, the sixty thousand taels for the registration fee for Ximen Kankan at the end of the year would be no problem at all.

Duan Rong had originally planned to visit the casino a few more times and find time to conceive a few unique Spring Palace Paintings to resell to Ximen Kankan, but now it seemed all that effort could be spared.

For the days ahead, he only needed to focus on practicing martial arts!

Duan Rong then leaped from the cliff; as soon as his figure fell, he drew his Ox-Tail Saber, infused it with Internal Breath, and nailed it into the hard rock face. Duan Rong's figure hung on the cliff, his toes kicking at a spot on the rock, sending stone chips flying and kicking out a pit there.

Duan Rong then pulled out the Ox-Tail Saber, his figure suddenly dropping; he nailed the saber into the rock face again and kicked out another stone pit.

Afterward, he descended in turn, kicking out a row of stone pits from the top of the cliff to the cave entrance.

These were the footholds Duan Rong had kicked into the rock face for himself to carry that large chest into the cave.

Even though he had achieved the Small Success Realm of the Cloud Snake Step, without footholds, it would be impossible to carry such a heavy chest and step down the cliff.

After kicking out the footholds, Duan Rong returned to the top of the cliff, shouldered the heavy chest, and suddenly leaped down from the cliff.

As soon as Duan Rong fell, he tapped his foot onto the first foothold; Duan Rong's figure paused abruptly, then he fell again...

In this way, Duan Rong tapped his toes continuously, pausing and falling along the rock face, and finally jumped into the cave.

Duan Rong landed at the cave entrance, his whole body drenched in sweat; although it was only a short distance, Duan Rong realized his consumption was immense.

Duan Rong's eyes flashed suddenly, because he discovered that this thing consumed even more than Standing Stake.

Falling from the cliff and descending along the rock face not only required carrying weight but also controlling the balance of his body.

If he were to go from the top of the cliff all the way to the bottom along the rock face, wouldn't this repeated ascent and descent be a more intense training method than standing the Hunyuan Stance?

Duan Rong recalled slightly and realized that just now, he had not only performed the Cloud Snake Step movement technique to maintain his body's balance between the cliff walls, but also consumed quite a bit of Internal Breath because of the heavy load and the act of falling from the cliff.

However, this training method had quite high requirements; not only did one need to possess a Lightness Skill movement technique, otherwise one could not control the body's balance on the rock face, but the load also had to be heavy enough; if the load was not heavy enough, the consumption would not go up.

The essence of martial arts training was the repeated consumption of Internal Breath, followed by the regeneration of Internal Breath, and after regeneration, consuming it again—a cycle that was dull and tedious.

And every time it was consumed and regenerated, the Internal Breath would grow by an imperceptible sliver; only through the accumulation of time could progress be seen.

If one could consume it faster and simultaneously use medicinal supplements to regenerate it faster, then the cultivation of Internal Breath climbing would naturally be faster!

However, Duan Rong had no time to consider this problem carefully at the moment; he could only put this newly discovered method aside for now and study it in detail later.

Duan Rong shouldered the large chest, placed it in the innermost part of the cave, and then put the few large-denomination banknotes from his inner pocket inside as well. Only then did Duan Rong leave the cave and head down the mountain.

After Duan Rong left Wild Boar Mountain, he traveled along the Official Road all night, heading straight for Xiangu County.

When the sky was just beginning to brighten, Duan Rong finally entered the East City Gate, exhausted.

Duan Rong first ate breakfast on the street, then returned to the Yuanshun Escort Agency; he asked the gatekeeper Ma Wentao for some news, and fortunately, nothing had happened at the Escort Agency during the two days he was away.

Duan Rong returned to Liu Lu, washed the dust off his body next to the large water vat, then climbed onto the bed naked and slept wrapped in a blanket.

Duan Rong slept until noon before waking up.

After waking up, Duan Rong washed up simply, ate lunch at the Middle Courtyard canteen, then left the Escort Agency, bought some daily gifts at a shop on the street, and headed to the residence of Xiao Zongting.

When Duan Rong entered the main room of the Back Courtyard, Xiao Zongting was sitting there sipping tea, while Xiao Yu was wearing a green water-colored dress, standing by the side table arranging flowers. Seeing Duan Rong enter, Xiao Yu only glanced at him before turning and entering her own room.

Duan Rong was already accustomed to Xiao Yu's reaction; he glanced at the few fresh, dripping-wet Chinese roses in the vase on the side table, then placed the things he was carrying on the table.

Xiao Zongting gave Duan Rong a look, and Duan Rong sat on the chair opposite Xiao Zongting, chatting with him about daily life.

After the two chatted for a while, Duan Rong moved his sleeve and placed a Porcelain Bottle on the table between them.

Duan Rong said, "Xiao Lao, this is what Shen Ping asked me to bring to you when he left."

"He went back into the mountains?" Xiao Zongting glanced at the Porcelain Bottle and said indifferently.

In his view, what Duan Rong said about Shen Ping leaving must mean that the old guy had recovered from his injuries and gone back into the mountains. Moreover, regarding their last argument, where Shen Ping mocked him for being a cripple, he still hadn't let it go even now.

Duan Rong said, "Shen Ping has already left Xiangu County. He said he wants to travel the world for the rest of his life, treating illnesses and saving people."

Hearing this, Xiao Zongting was suddenly stunned, looking at Duan Rong with a shocked expression.

Duan Rong continued, "Inside this bottle is medicine personally refined by Shen Ping. It has a certain effect of alleviating and restraining various poisons. It can also serve as an emergency relief for some acute illnesses."

Xiao Zongting looked at the Porcelain Bottle, his expression suddenly becoming somewhat complex. He hadn't expected this old friend to just leave like this, and they had parted on such unpleasant terms during their last meeting.

"Old guy, if I had known you were going to leave, what would it have hurt for me to yield to you?" Xiao Zongting suddenly muttered to himself; he stroked the Porcelain Bottle and sighed deeply.

Duan Rong naturally saw the sadness Xiao Zongting felt over his old friend's departure; he comforted him a bit and chatted about other topics, but seeing that Xiao Zongting couldn't keep his spirits up, Duan Rong rose to take his leave.

However, when Duan Rong left, he casually plucked a Chinese rose from the vase on the table. There were seven or eight Chinese roses in there, and he plucked a bright yellow one.

Duan Rong sniffed the fragrance of the Chinese rose in his hand and walked out of Xiao Zongting's residence.

(End of this chapter)