Chapter 40

"Breathe, breathe~"

In the *Heaven-Dependent* world, Zhang Jie, who had returned from the shared space, was still studying diligently and practicing Wu Gong in the quiet room.

The entire quiet room was filled with the airflow generated by his breathing.

Practicing Wu Gong without knowing the passage of time, a night's time had passed without Zhang Jie noticing.

"Breathe~"

"I know now why those big shots in the Xianxia world close up for decades or hundreds of years."

After finishing his practice, he sat on the cushion, feeling the strength coming from his body,

which was at least 30% stronger than yesterday, Zhang Jie sighed.

He now somewhat understood why there were so many fitness enthusiasts addicted to fitness before crossing over.

This feeling of being able to feel oneself getting stronger every minute and every second was simply too wonderful.

Compared to this, even the joy of men and women and the union of yin and yang paled in comparison.

If he didn't know that the rate of return for pure seclusion was too low, he would have wanted to go into seclusion until he was invincible in the world.

Knock knock~

A short, crisp knock on the door sounded outside the quiet room.

"Manor Master, it's time for breakfast."

The servant of the Zhu-Wu Manor knocked on the door and said.

"I know, go call junior brother Wuji and have him eat breakfast with me."

After a night of seclusion, Zhang Jie, whose clothes and hair were as neat as yesterday, ordered.

"Yes."

The servant took the order and left.

……

After finishing breakfast, Zhang Wuji said to Zhang Jie:

"Senior brother, I'm ready to return to the valley."

Zhang Jie, drinking mouth-rinsing tea, put down the teacup:

"Not staying in this Zhu-Wu Manor for a few more days?"

Zhang Wuji shook his head: "No, coming up to feel the human atmosphere is enough.

Besides, Brother Ape is still waiting for me to return in the valley."

For him, with his indifferent nature, occasionally contacting human fireworks was enough.

If he dealt with all kinds of complex people for a long time, he would feel uncomfortable instead.

Compared to the treacherous world, places like Ice-Fire Island and Kunlun Valley, which had beautiful scenery,

could be self-sufficient, and were happy and content, were more to his liking.

"Alright, I'll go back to Kunlun Valley with you in a while."

Zhang Jie nodded, agreeing with Zhang Wuji's idea.

He didn't have any opinion on Zhang Wuji's idea of living in seclusion from the world.

Everyone has their own way of living, whether it's struggling or living in seclusion,

as long as you are happy and don't regret it later, it's fine.

In *The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber*, Zhang Wuji not only gave up the power and wealth he had obtained at the finale,

choosing to take Zhao Min to Ice-Fire Island to live in seclusion.

Before this, he had also expressed his idea of living in seclusion many times:

When he accidentally entered the uninhabited Kunlun Valley,

Zhang Wuji's first thought was not to practice Wu Gong well and then go find Zhu Zhangling,

Wu Lie, and the others for revenge, but that it would be very nice to end his days in Kunlun Valley.

At noon, Zhang Jie, who had handled the affairs of the Zhu-Wu Manor in the past few days

and made relevant arrangements, took Zhang Wuji to Kunlun Valley.

He was not afraid that these people in the Zhu-Wu Manor would disobey him while he was away;

occupying an absolute advantage in martial force, he had the confidence to suppress all conspiracies and tricks.

In the end, even if the *Heaven-Dependent* world was not a Xianxia world where one could rival a country or catch stars and moons,

this world ultimately had the extraordinary power of internal energy that could allow one to rival a hundred,

or even rival a thousand.

The great man said it well: political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

Zhang Jie, who had power, even if he was a hands-off manager for a period of time,

would not lose control of the Zhu-Wu Manor.

Zhang Jie, who had already made a round trip, took Zhang Wuji, familiar with the road,

and used the rope on the edge of the cliff to descend to the stone platform.

A hundred-meter-high cliff was nothing in the eyes of Zhang Jie, who had brilliant light-body technique and a rope to borrow force.

The only thing that needed to be overcome was a little fear of heights caused by facing the bottomless cliff.

Directly ignoring the graves of Zhu Zhangling, Wu Lie, Zhu Jiuzhen, and others on the stone platform, Zhang Jie and Zhang Wuji entered the cave.

Arriving at the narrowest section, Zhang Jie used the Bone-Shrinking Technique to shrink his figure while traveling, while complaining in his heart:

"Think of me, Zhang Jie, a dignified traveler, a cheater with a golden finger,

how can I have to crawl through a dog hole every time I go back?

If this gets out, do I still want my face?"

Zhang Jie sized up the cave wall, thinking about whether he should open up a road.

This was not only for convenience, but also a kind of practice.

In his memory, in the world of *Frieren: Beyond Journey's End*, which netizens jokingly called *Neon Genesis Evangelion*

and *Funeral Frieren*,

there was a boy who exercised the power to make dragons fear by excavating mountains.

The dragon trembling in front of the boy:

An expert who can split mountains and rocks with a casual blow stands in front of you, just ask if you are afraid?

Even if the rules of the two worlds are not the same, the meaning of exercise is the same.

Hiss!

Thinking of doing it, Zhang Jie raised his index finger, channeled his internal energy,

and thrust it hard toward the cave wall; his index finger sank into the stone wall at once.

"Senior brother, what are you doing?"

Hearing the movement, Zhang Wuji turned back and asked.

"I am testing whether the cave wall is hard enough and whether it will suddenly collapse when we come and go."

Of course, Zhang Jie, who wouldn't tell Zhang Wuji his real thoughts, casually found a reason.

"Oh!

Senior brother, you are so far-sighted! I didn't think of these."

Zhang Wuji, suddenly realizing, said with full admiration.

"It's okay, you're just too young, you'll understand everything in two years."

Zhang Jie waved his left hand, indicating that these were all Brother Jie's basic operations, don't be surprised, everyone sit down.

"Hmm."

The innocent and kind Zhang Wuji nodded seriously.

"Uh~"

Even as unscrupulous as Zhang Jie, at this moment, he had a sense of guilt.

"I hope Wuji won't be crippled by me."

Zhang Jie silently blessed Zhang Wuji in his heart,

and decided not to instill wrong concepts in him again in the future.

A peerless expert second only to Zhang Sanfeng, if he were gone just like that, wouldn't it be a pity?

And Zhang Wuji had always called him senior brother; he was his beloved friend and brother!

"Hiss~"

After Zhang Wuji walked away, Zhang Jie took out his index finger, which had turned bright red, from behind him.

"Damn.

No wonder in the *Eagle-Shooting* era, Lin Chaoying carved words on the cliff with her bare fingers,

and made Wang Chongyang, who was the world's number one expert and revered as the Central Divine, bow down."

Zhang Jie thought secretly in his heart.

Just that one finger consumed one-thirtieth of his internal energy.

Zhang Jie sized up the cave, which was hundreds of meters long, and felt that with his current cultivation,

wanting to chisel a mountain and open a cave, there was still a little gap.

Zhang Jie realized deeply at this moment that the gap between the goal and reality was so large...

"Forget it, let's wait until *Heavenly Dragon* Zhang Jie gets Wuyazi's sixty-year North Dark Divine Art internal energy."

Zhang Jie suppressed this thought in his heart and hurried to catch up with Zhang Wuji.

"Squeak squeak~"

As soon as Zhang Jie crawled out of the cave, he saw the white ape dancing around Zhang Wuji.

It looked like this white ape had been waiting at the cave entrance for a whole night.

"Only the very wise and the very stupid can be unwavering."

Looking at the white ape playing with Zhang Wuji, Zhang Jie sighed.

This scene reminded him of *Under One Person*, no, in *Under One Person*,

because of a sentence from Xu Xiang's mother, "You wait here, we will come to find you later,"

Feng Baobao, Sister Bao'er, who waited bitterly in a mountain forest for forty or fifty years,

and snatched bamboo shoots from pandas during that time.

"Squeak squeak~"

After the white ape greeted Zhang Wuji, it ran to Zhang Jie's side again.

It seemed it had forgotten that Zhang Jie had deliberately emitted killing intent to scare it yesterday.

"Brother Ape."

Zhang Jie touched the white ape's fluffy head as if petting a cat before crossing over.

"Squeak squeak, squeak squeak~"

The white ape closed its eyes in enjoyment.

"Raising a pet is also very nice."

Looking at the white ape, which was like a puppy in front of him, Zhang Jie's mood also improved.

Zhang Jie, Zhang Wuji, and the white ape, two people and one ape, returned to the thatched cottage built by Zhang Wuji along the stream.

"Sure enough, the cultivation speed here will be much faster!"

Zhang Jie, who continued to sit in meditation and practice, opened his eyes with joy.

When he was practicing, he felt that some mysterious power entered his extraordinary meridians,

changing his internal energy growth speed, which was like a snail walking, into the speed of a turtle crawling.

Although it was difficult to make rapid progress in a short time, the power gained over a long period of time was quite considerable.

The Wudang Nine Yang Skill, which would take at least thirty years to reach great success in the outside world,

Zhang Jie estimated that it would take about seventeen or eighteen years in this Kunlun Valley.

Saving nearly half the time, this effect could not be said to be anything but heaven-defying.

If Song Yuanqiao, Yu Lianzhou, and the others could practice hard in this Kunlun Valley all year round,

then their Wudang Nine Yang Skill should have reached great success long ago!

"The ancients said, for practitioners, it is wealth, companion, method, and land.

Although land is ranked last, it is also an extremely important item."

Zhang Jie sighed repeatedly.

In ancient times, Mencius's mother moved three times just to find a treasure land where politics were clear and people were harmonious.

"Continue practicing!"

Zhang Jie, who experienced the joy of progress, was addicted to practice and couldn't extricate himself.