Chapter 171: Comprehending the Bear-form True Meaning, Old Bear Embraces Simplicity!

Seven days later.

Jiang Ye and the others traveled without stopping, dusty and tired, and finally stepped into the territory of Yunling Prefecture.

In the distance, the towering outline of the prefecture city wall was already in sight, glowing with a deep cyan light under the afternoon sun, like a giant beast dormant on the plain.

"It's still reassuring to return to the prefecture city."

Zheng Feng pulled the horse reins, looking at the familiar outline of the city, let out a long sigh of relief, his expression full of emotion.

After these few days of recuperation, the internal injuries he had suffered when fighting the bear demon had basically healed, but a few traces of wind and frost still remained between his brows—that was the mark left by days of rushing.

Zheng Hui, standing to the side, rubbed her sleepy eyes, her pretty face full of fatigue.

But as soon as she saw the outline of the prefecture city, her eyes lit up, and her voice was full of irrepressible excitement: "Finally, I can have a good sleep."

To rush on the road on this journey, she almost hadn't had a solid sleep.

Jiang Ye smiled faintly: "Although this trip to the Duanling Mountain Range was dangerous, the harvest was quite rich, so it can be considered not a wasted trip."

Zheng Feng couldn't help but recall the danger of that day, taking a deep breath with lingering fear.

A moment later, he seemed to have remembered something, his brows furrowed slightly, his face showing a bit of solemnity: "By the way, that Xu Xu Shijie Qin before..."

He paused, weighing his words:

"I have been thinking about it for the past few days, and I always feel that she looks familiar. It seems I have seen her somewhere, but I can't remember where no matter what."

Hearing this, Jiang Ye and Zheng Hui both showed a look of surprise.

Zheng Hui rolled her eyes and giggled, the smile full of teasing: "Brother, you aren't seeing that Xu Xu Shijie Qin is beautiful and deliberately talking nonsense here, are you?"

Zheng Feng was choked by her words and couldn't laugh or cry, shaking his head helplessly: "What are you talking about. Although Xu Xu Shijie Qin is indeed... extraordinary in beauty, her age is clearly much older than mine, so how could I have that kind of thought."

Jiang Ye thought thoughtfully:

"That woman's demeanor is graceful, and she is by no means an ordinary person..."

"Perhaps she comes from a giant city in Linzhou. Disciple Zheng is from a great clan in Linzhou, so if you had seen her from afar on some occasion, it wouldn't be impossible."

"Elder Jiang makes sense." Zheng Feng nodded slightly, but his brows remained furrowed, his face full of entanglement: "It's just that I really can't remember when or where I saw her..."

Zheng Hui patted his shoulder generously and laughed carelessly:

"Brother, if you can't remember, then don't think about it! Anyway, Xu Xu Shijie Qin's beloved is that kind of great hero who can step on colorful auspicious clouds to save her. As for you..."

She deliberately dragged out the tail sound and blinked: "I'm afraid you're still a little bit short."

Zheng Feng rolled his eyes at her speechlessly and completely gave up the idea of arguing with her.

Jiang Ye's heart stirred.

He inexplicably recalled the figure that fell from high altitude and happened to fall into his arms.

"This shouldn't count as saving her..."

Jiang Ye thought to himself.

Amidst the laughter, the three of them whipped their horses and sped toward the city gate.

About half an hour later, Jiang Ye and the others finally stepped onto the stone steps of Tianyangfeng.

Zheng Feng said goodbye to Jiang Ye at the fork in the mountain path and took the tired Zheng Hui back to rest first.

That girl was already fighting with her eyelids, wishing she could find a stone to lean on and sleep right there.

Jiang Ye watched the brother and sister's figures go away before turning around and walking toward the herb garden unhurriedly.

Just as he stepped into the entrance of the herb garden, a figure rushed out of the wooden house impatiently.

It was exactly that little fatty, Lu Ming.

"Elder Jiang! You're back!"

Lu Ming's chubby little face was full of excitement, but there was a circle of faint dark blue under his eyes; he clearly hadn't slept well these past few days, and he had become even rounder.

A moment later.

Another graceful figure also rushed over upon hearing the sound.

It was Chen Lili.

She was a bit more reserved than Lu Ming; her steps were hurried, but her posture remained generous.

Only the joy hidden in her eyes was even brighter than Lu Ming's.

As she ran, her full chest swayed with subtle curves under her clothes, set against the fiery red herb field behind her, which was indescribably bright.

"Elder Jiang!"

She stood still prettily and bowed slightly to Jiang Ye.

Jiang Ye nodded to the two, his gaze lingering on Chen Lili for a moment, a flash of surprise in the depths of his eyes.

This girl's aura was more than a notch thicker than a few days ago, her strength condensed, and there was already a hint of roundness between gathering and releasing.

"Late stage of Transformation of Force?"

Jiang Ye asked softly.

Chen Lili pursed her lips and smiled, her smile bright: "I can't just stand still, can I?"

This was said lightly, but Lu Ming on the side heard it and roared in his heart: "Xu Xu Shijie, you are so hardworking!"

A look of approval appeared in Jiang Ye's eyes, and he nodded:

"Not bad, when your strength becomes more rounded and you reach the peak of the Transformation of Force, you can consider embracing energy to form a pill."

"It seems our little herb garden is going to have another Embracing the Pill Realm martial artist."

Hearing these words, Chen Lili felt as sweet as if she had eaten honey.

She pursed her moist red lips, looked at the old man before her with burning eyes, and opened her mouth seriously: "I will definitely not let down Elder Jiang's cultivation!"

Jiang Ye shook his head with some amusement: "When did I cultivate you two."

Although he said this, his hands didn't stop, and he had already taken out a moist jade bottle from his bosom and handed it to Chen Lili.

This was the Harmony Blood Pill, which was more advanced than the Blood Replenishing Pill Jiang Ye used to take, and could help martial artists replenish blood and strength.

It was a pill specially supplied by the Tianqing Sect to Embracing the Pill Realm martial artists.

"Thank you, Elder Jiang!"

Chen Lili took the medicine bottle with a happy expression, holding it in her palm with ten fingers, her gaze falling on Jiang Ye, her eyes actually seeming to overflow with watery intent.

She was from the Chen family and knew the preciousness of this pill even more.

Looking at the Tianqing Sect, how many Embracing the Pill Realm elders were willing to give away such precious things casually?

Even those with deep pockets mostly hid them and kept them for their own use.

Jiang Ye smiled faintly and turned to look at Lu Ming, who was standing with his hands down on the side.

The dark blue circle under the little fatty's eyes was still there; he clearly hadn't slept much while guarding the herb garden these past few days.

Jiang Ye knew it in his heart; although Chen Lili also helped manage the miscellaneous affairs in the herb garden, the one who truly worked from dawn to dusk, dealing with everything, was ultimately this inconspicuous little fatty.

He also took out a bottle of Harmony Blood Pill and handed it to Lu Ming.

Lu Ming was startled for a moment.

He didn't expect that he would have a share too.

He subconsciously wanted to refuse, rubbed his hands on his lapels, his lips twitching, hesitating whether to say "this is too precious" or "this disciple is ashamed to accept it" first.

But before he could weigh his words, Jiang Ye had already firmly stuffed the medicine bottle into his palm.

"You have worked hard managing the herb garden."

Jiang Ye said softly.

Lu Ming held the medicine bottle, his fingers trembling slightly.

His hard work was indeed seen by Elder Jiang.

He opened his mouth, his voice trembling:

"Elder... Elder Jiang, I am not hardworking..."

"This pill, I... am ashamed to accept it..."

Chen Lili on the side saw his appearance and laughed out loud, reaching out as if to grab the medicine bottle in his palm:

"Since you are ashamed to accept it, then it belongs to Xu Xu Shijie."

Lu Ming reacted extremely quickly, "swish" and put the medicine bottle into his bosom, covering it tightly.

The look of gratitude and tears from just a moment ago hadn't been put away, and a few more points of vigilance were added to his face, the expression quite wonderful.

Jiang Ye smiled faintly and asked casually: "During the time I was away, did anything big happen in the prefecture city?"

Lu Ming quickly opened his mouth, excited:

"There really is!"

"Elder Jiang, the Dinghai Divine Needle of the Feng family, that Divine Qi Realm Great Elder, died suddenly some time ago!"

"The cause of death was kept secret, and the Feng family covered up the news tightly, but paper ultimately couldn't wrap fire, and within two days, it spread throughout the prefecture city."

He caught his breath and continued:

"Once that Great Elder died, the Feng family collapsed directly. The retainers under them scattered, and the industries under their name were eaten up by the Yang family for the most part."

"Now, what three big families are left in the prefecture city? Only the Yang and Chen families remain!"

Hearing this, a flash of deep meaning crossed Jiang Ye's eyes.

He hadn't had time to settle accounts with the Feng family yet.

And the Feng family collapsed...

"It should be her means, right."

Jiang Ye's mind instantly flashed with Yang Han's peerless face.

Chen Lili on the side said with relief: "It really serves them right! Evil people have their own heaven to collect them!"

Lu Ming also nodded repeatedly, feeling refreshed.

These two didn't have a low hatred value for the Feng family.

Afterward, Jiang Ye learned some other small things from Lu Ming.

For example, after Jin Hai died, the Jin family, which had hoped to enter the four big families, also collapsed...

After a long while.

He ended his conversation with the two and returned to the Tiankui Herb Garden alone.

The garden was silent, with only the rustling sound of the wind blowing through the grass leaves.

He didn't go into the house to rest, but stood in that clearing and slowly set up the starting posture of the Five Animal Fist.

Since he killed the bear demon in the Duanling Mountain Range last time, he had vaguely touched a trace of new understanding of the Bear-form Fist.

Jiang Ye slowly closed his eyes, his intent sinking into that chaotic and unclear perception.

In a trance, he was no longer standing in the herb garden.

The solid mud under his feet had turned into a deep primeval mountain forest at some point.

Ancient trees covered the sky, and the scent of rotting leaves and moss floated in the cold, damp air.

In the distance, a low and long beast howl tore through the silence.

An old bear wove through the mountain forest.

Its body was as heavy as a mountain, and every step it took made a muffled echo in the forest, startling the birds flying in the grass.

However, nothing dared to block its path.

A leopard looked at it from afar and then silently hid in the depths of the bushes.

This was the majesty of a bear.

It didn't need to roar like a tiger, didn't need to form groups like a wolf; it only needed to walk silently, and the earth would speak for it.

A violent wind rose, and a heavy rain poured down.

A heaven-shaking tiger roar came from the depths of the mountain forest.

A mottled tiger walked slowly out of the forest, its golden vertical pupils locking onto the old bear.

The confrontation between the two mountain forest overlords had no prelude.

The tiger initiated the probe, a claw sweeping past, the sharp claws tearing open the old bear's shoulder blade, three deep-to-the-bone claw marks blooming in an instant, blood mixing with the rain and flowing down.

The old bear didn't show weakness and swung its palm to counterattack, but the tiger was as agile as the wind and had long since retreated out of its palm range.

One advance and one retreat, one attack and one defense, the old bear added several new wounds to its body.

But it never fell, nor did it show any intention of retreating.

The tiger finally lost patience, roared low, and turned to disappear into the depths of the mountain forest.

The old bear lowered its head and licked the shocking wounds on its shoulder blade, its movements slow and focused.

One day later.

Pink new meat began to grow at the edges of the wounds.

Those skin and flesh that had been torn open by the sharp claws were re-closing at a speed visible to the naked eye, like vines growing wildly after spring rain.

Three days later.

The three deep-to-the-bone wounds on the shoulder blade had condensed into dark red blood scabs.

Seven days later.

The scabs fell off, and the newborn skin was slightly glowing with a healthy pink; if you didn't look closely, you could hardly distinguish the traces of having been injured.

This is a bear.

It might be clumsy, it might not be good at shifting, but it never leaves the stage.

Thick skin and thick flesh is its talent, and what is truly hidden in its bones is that kind of almost barbaric vitality.

An ancient saying goes: The bear is the extreme of strength. Skin like hard armor, bones like iron stone, not fighting for the sharpness of a moment, not fearing the silence of the wild.

A realization that seemed to originate from ancient times rolled into his consciousness like deep thunder in a mountain stream.

【The bear is not just the hardness of thick skin and thick flesh, but the thick virtue of the earth, carrying things without fighting, bearing weight without breaking.】

【Its strength is in the bones, not the skin; its toughness is in the spirit, not the form. A thousand jun of weight on the body without collapsing, a hundred wounds on the body and returning to the beginning!】

【Your comprehension is superb, entering the spirit from the form, touching the deepest mystery of the 'Bear-form'—Old Bear Embraces Simplicity!】

The system's prompt sounded, but when it entered his ears, it seemed to be wrapped in the breeze and the thickness of the soil in the depths of the mountain forest.

Jiang Ye opened his eyes suddenly.

He was still standing in that clearing in the herb garden, his feet on the familiar red herb field, and his body in the bright afternoon sun.

But what was happening in his body made him unable to care about his surroundings.

He clearly felt that a strange change was taking place in the depths of his bones.

A warm airflow surged from the depths of the bone marrow, climbing up along the spine, and spreading outward along the ribs, penetrating into the most secret gaps of every bone.

What was even stranger was that he could actually "see" his internal organs through internal vision.

The surfaces of those organs, which were slightly dim due to seventy years of wind and rain, were slowly covered with a layer of extremely faint, extremely faint earth-yellow luster, which was there but not there, yet as tough as old cowhide.

The Bear-form True Meaning protects not only the skin, flesh, tendons, and bones, but also the internal organs.

This is a vulnerable place that hard work can't reach.

He looked down at his hands.

Withered and thin as before, aged as ever.

But when he channeled his strength, a layer of dark earth-yellow luster flowed under his skin, appearing and disappearing, like a piece of raw jade that hadn't been born in the depths of the earth, not dazzling, but thick enough to make people feel at ease.

Jiang Ye backhanded and drew the curved blade at his waist, didn't hesitate, and slashed at his arm with full strength.

CLANG.

A crisp sound.

The blade bounced up, and there wasn't even a white mark left on his arm.

Unlike the pure hardness when he practiced the "Diamond Body Refining Technique" before, his body now had not only hardness but also a thick toughness, like iron stone wrapped in layers of old cowhide, and the external force was quietly unloaded by that toughness.

A flash of brilliance crossed Jiang Ye's eyes.

If his body was iron before, now it was a layer of thick and tough cowhide wrapped over the iron man.

If he didn't use True Qi, he couldn't break his own defense anymore.

He became interested and poured the sharpest Gold-attribute True Qi into the blade edge.

Gold light flowed on the blade body, and the sharp intent suddenly became great, as if even the air was about to be cut.

He slashed at his arm again.

CLANG.

After another crisp sound.

This time, a small wound finally appeared on his arm.

A wisp of crimson blood slowly seeped out.

Jiang Ye didn't wipe the blood, but calmed his mind and felt the flow of blood in his body.

The blood was no longer the flat stream of the past, but like magma heated by earth fire, slowly surging in the meridians, carrying a warm and vigorous vitality.

The skin at the edges of the wound began to itch slightly.

That was the new meat buds growing wildly.

Under his gaze, the small mouth an inch long closed, condensed, and in a few breaths, it had formed a thin layer of blood scab.

After another moment, the scab fell off naturally, revealing the newborn skin underneath, smooth as before, without even a trace of a scar.

"What a great Old Bear Embraces Simplicity!"

Jiang Ye couldn't help but laugh out loud, the laughter echoing over the herb garden, startling a few birds perched on the locust tree.

The Five Animal True Meaning was complete.

Tiger-form True Meaning, Tiger Walks Like Sickness, gathering strength in the marrow, gave him the power of killing.

Ape-form True Meaning, Spirit Ape Thousand Changes, changing appearance, gave him the cleverness of change.

Deer-form True Meaning, Startled Deer Leaves No Trace, merging into heaven and earth, gave him the ability of concealment.

Bird-form True Meaning, Riding the Wind and Soaring the Sky, stepping in the air, gave him the technique of flying.

Now, Bear-form True Meaning, Old Bear Embraces Simplicity, bearing weight without breaking, returning to the beginning after a hundred wounds, filled in the last piece of the puzzle.

"This Five Animal Fist is truly extraordinary..."

Jiang Ye couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Afterward, he turned his head slightly and looked outside the herb garden.

Before long.

A disciple of Tianyangfeng arrived at the entrance of the herb garden, his face respectful as he bowed slightly to Jiang Ye:

"Elder Jiang, the Peak Master invites you!"

"Elder Jiang, the Peak Master requests your presence!"