Chapter 179

Whether they come or not is no longer important; Bai Lang focuses on cultivating his martial arts, and he has no time to entertain his few teammates. Besides, even if they brought martial arts manuals, they're now useless—Bai Lang's current martial arts are enough to occupy a lifetime of practice, and he truly can't spare any more energy or mind to study other martial arts. Perhaps someone could absorb the strengths of myriad schools, innovate and create something of their own.

However, such people are astonishingly talented and blessed with extraordinary fortune—far beyond what a mere transmigrator could possess. Bai Lang is skilled in combat, but he has no remarkable talent in cultivation. Looking back, the ease with which he entered the Golden Bell Cover likely hides some trick. For when he revisited the Golden Bell Cover manual, Bai Lang felt his initiation was too easy—this cannot be explained merely by the local spiritual energy being thin while his own internal force is abundant.

After arduous training for several months, Bai Lang made little progress in the Southern Dipper Holy Fist, but he did improve in the Arhat Benevolent King Fist—the fist technique that summons a tornado, which he can now barely control.

"This isn't a punch thrown with brute strength; the fact that this technique works shows only one thing—that the big guy in the prison definitely knew how to use battle qi earlier than this Jiansilang fellow. I'm now using this tornado-like move by manipulating my internal force and killing intent to form control, and it must be done within a certain 'domain.'" Bai Lang repeatedly tried to summon a tornado with his fist, carefully controlling its ascent in different places.

He had some insight, though the loss of power was not insignificant. Bai Lang felt he hadn't yet found the knack, and the martial art he should practice—his proficiency still wasn't enough. The day he could casually raise his hand and summon a tornado would be when he'd made it. However, the ability to blanket his wrist, arm, and even palm with turbulent, cutting vacuum wind blades when he strikes, Bai Lang has made modest progress; this is a martial art capable of swiftly defeating weaker foes.

The 'domain' his martial arts create by influencing the heavens could also be called a large-scale destructive weapon against weak foes, but the white tiger killing qi on his body isn't really like a white tiger's when it comes to controlling storms—after all, a white tiger ought to govern metal, so this wind‑controlling ability is more like that of an ordinary tiger spirit. "Combining the two, combining the two, having metal blades mixed in the wind is truly a good method." Bai Lang is quite satisfied with his modest achievement in the vacuum wave he now unleashes.

The jade fish is now emerald green like water, and Bai Lang feels moved; he at once stuffed some silver and medicinal pills into the jade pendant, still carrying some silver on his person, and placed the manuals etc. back beneath the mountain god seat—after the lightness skill scroll had been used for the true intention inheritance, it was basically useless, merely indicating the directions of the steps. If anyone could still cultivate the Ten Thousand Li Lone Walk lightness skill from this, that person would surely be a martial arts genius, a rarity beyond compare.

Bai Lang sat cross-legged in the mountain god temple, wearing a short jacket, long trousers, and cloth shoes—an outfit that could perfectly blend into any era, of course with short hair, drooping eyebrows, and a big mustache. "No matter the time or place, this attire should let me blend in from the start." Bai Lang thought to himself, and sure enough, the jade fish suddenly flicked its tail, with a slap he fell right into it.

After that expert stumbled and then steadied himself, what he saw was a rather dirty and gloomy place—"How come no one sweeps this alley?" Bai Lang muttered, stepping aside from the feces on the ground. The jade fish hung unremarkably around his neck; its jade looked pale but felt like fine precious jade to the touch.

Before him lay a city that gave Bai Lang a sense of withered, antiquated, old, and declining vitality; the faces of people coming and going bore an air of decrepitude—even though they looked fairly young. Only in children could one still see a vibrant energy. "These eyesore pigtails—must be the Manchu Qing, huh…" Bai Lang cursed; he now had sideburns, and even with short hair it wouldn't do—according to court law, he'd be beheaded.

That's what they say, but what does Bai Lang have to fear? He rubbed his hair and mustache, gave a hearty laugh, pulled out a bamboo hat, put it on, and then walked out.

The Manchu Qing era is the Manchu Qing era, but we need to figure out what time it actually is. Bai Lang is quite conspicuous—never mind his jacket and trousers outfit; just his height is already exaggerated. The jacket and trousers aren't particularly unusual, but it's not that hot yet, and this style of dress is more like late Qing, which hardly anyone wears these days. Then there's his height—Bai Lang noticed that everyone he sees reaches only to his shoulders; the average person's height is about 1.6 meters, whereas Bai Lang stands at 1.9 meters, a rare hulking big man.

Moreover, Bai Lang had a fine appearance, with a big mustache and drooping eyebrows, making him look even more imposing. "That's right—how could the title 'Earth‑Shaking Tai Sui' be in vain?" Bai Lang watched those people nervously sidestep from side to side as they passed before him, feeling quite pleased.

It didn't take long to figure it out—"The 18th year of Qianlong, huh…" Bai Lang grinned; thanks to the bamboo hat and his short hair, people couldn't see the pigtail behind him and thought he was bald. "Abundant prosperity, huh… another notorious but still capable spendthrift?" Bai Lang, even in just his jacket, strode like a dragon and tiger; no one dared whisper mockery of him on the side.

Under the short jacket was an exposed body of good flesh; although there were no striking, clearly defined abs or anything shocking, this sturdy physique with a body fat percentage around 15% was instantly recognizable as impossible to defeat by force. Junior Guardian Bai had no good feelings toward the Qing whatsoever, and consequently he also pretended not to see these people nowadays who had shaved off their queues. However, there was still some loose silver in his pocket, but the jade pendant was somewhat difficult to open.

Not only that, but even the Innate Internal Force is sealed—this Bai Lang had made some preparations, after all, suppressing an entire world is not something an Innate Expert can do; being suppressed by the world is normal. The Innate Internal Force still flows endlessly, but the power it exerts is greatly reduced—Bai Lang cannot directly influence the heavenly phenomena within a hundred zhang; at most he can now affect only twenty or thirty zhang......

"Hmph hmph hmph, this doesn't mean there's still no suppression, right?" Bai Lang laughed, but for the jade pendant's space, the suppression is actually quite strict; to this day Bai Lang still hasn't found a way to open it. Pouring Internal Force into it as before is useless; it's as if this jade pendant is just a plain jade pendant.

"First go get a set of clothes, then see what we can do. In short, if we don't turn the world upside down, I've come for nothing! Even the title of 'Standing Earth Tai Sui' can be thrown into a cesspool!" Bai Lang thought to himself.