Chapter 100: Qingyang

It appeared that the youth carrying the giant sword on his back was of a similar age to Feng Zi.

Yet, there was a "pristine" clarity in the other's eyes, as if he had come from some village with very little contact with the outside world.

"I am Cun Xin, and this lady beside me is named Yue Yu," Feng Zi introduced himself quite solicitously.

Having said that, he patted the empty ground beside him with his hand, inviting the other to sit over:

"Meeting is fate; there is no need to be formal. Would you like to sit down and roast by the fire with us, and perhaps have something to eat?"

The youth did not pay much attention to Qing Lin's face, but instead subconsciously looked at the roasted meat in Feng Zi's hand.

The other could not help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, yet he still declined:

"That wouldn't be right... This Mighty Elephant is not easy to deal with. One should not accept rewards without merit; I cannot eat for free!"

Although he said this, the other's stomach still "disobediently" let out a growl.

Feng Zi did not mind the other's refusal and simply smiled as he handed over the skewer of roasted meat:

"Do not decline. There is no sign of human life here; I am very happy to encounter a traveler."

The youth seemed to have been hungry for a long time, and seeing Feng Zi so kind, he no longer refused.

The youth smiled shyly, took the skewer of roasted meat, sat beside him, and hurriedly took a big bite of the meat before introducing himself:

"Many thanks, Brother Cun Xin. I am a person from Qingyang Shan. I was fortunate enough to become a Qi Refiner, so I took the name of my hometown as my Daoist title and call myself Qingyang."

Qingyang?

Hearing this youth's Daoist title and seeing that he was still carrying a giant sword on his back, for some reason, Feng Zi thought of the "Chongming Sword" gifted by Qian Lao.

At the beginning of that cultivation manual, the author had left behind this passage:

"In the tenth year of the Great Xia Calendar, I observed the manual left by the Qingyang Sword Immortal and was moved, so I left this manual behind..."

Could it be that the youth beside him was that "Qingyang Sword Immortal"?

But after only a simple moment of thought, Feng Zi immediately suppressed this speculation in his heart and did not dwell on it further.

There were two reasons—first, Feng Zi had not yet obtained definitive proof that this was the Tianyuan Jie of the past; everything was just his own conjecture.

Second, even if this speculation were true, one could not make such a judgment; after all, "Qingyang" was just a very common Daoist title, not something specific.

While wolfing down the roasted meat in his hand, Qingyang looked curiously at Lu Hanwen and Feng Zi: "Who are these two...?"

Upon hearing this, Feng Zi immediately replied: "Ah, these two are my fellow villagers. They are not good with words; Brother Qingyang need not mind."

As he spoke, he also gave the two of them a look.

Lu Hanwen and Li Shou understood immediately that Feng Zi wanted them to hide their identities and act as a trump card, so they nodded one after another.

Seeing this, Qingyang indeed did not think anything more of it, but instead looked at the Mighty Elephant hide spread on the ground and could not help but exclaim:

"This Mighty Elephant is very difficult to deal with. Whenever such beasts appear in the world, small tribes simply cannot cope. Only when all the men of a large tribe are dispatched can they be hunted down.

"Brother Cun Xin and your group are only four people, yet you were able to hunt it down. Your strength is truly extraordinary!"

Hm?

Hearing this statement, Feng Zi subconsciously raised his eyebrows:

He remembered that according to the ancient texts mentioned by Lu Hanwen, the reason the Mighty Elephant went extinct was that it was an excellent source of food.

But according to Qingyang's statement, the Mighty Elephant did not seem easy to deal with?

But these questions were not the point; perhaps there was a discrepancy in the records of the ancient texts, or perhaps there was some other reason.

What drew Feng Zi's attention more was that Qingyang mentioned an unfamiliar term, "Qi Refiner."

This term was very similar to the "Immortal Dao"—that is, the path of Qi refining—introduced by Lu Hanwen.

This made him unable to help but ask: "Brother Qingyang, do you mean that you are a Qi Refiner?"

Seeing Feng Zi ask this, a shadow crept across the depths of Qingyang's eyes:

"Although I am indeed a Qi Refiner, I have only accidentally refined a wisp of innate spiritual energy and luckily stepped into the Qi Refining realm.

"I heard that in the distant south, a great expert broke through the shackles of Foundation Establishment and achieved a... realm that seems to be called 'Golden Core.'

"In order to advance further, I risked crossing the vast Yanglu Gulin, just to obtain a chance for a breakthrough."

Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment—hearing these terms, Feng Zi understood:

The so-called Qi Refiners were cultivators of the Immortal Dao; it was just that the people he had come into contact with who practiced the path of Qi refining all called themselves cultivators rather than Qi Refiners.

Perhaps because the eras were different, or perhaps because the places were different, there were slight differences in the terminology; these were not important issues either.

But the problem was—

A Foundation Establishment cultivator could still be called a great expert? Was there no realm above Golden Core in this world?

Hearing this, Feng Zi only felt it was somewhat inconceivable:

If Golden Core was the highest realm, wouldn't that mean that compared to martial arts cultivation, the Qi path cultivation of the "Qi Refiners" was no different!

This shouldn't be; after all, according to Lu Hanwen's account:

The Immortal Dao, that is, the path of Qi refining, was called the "Immortal Dao" precisely because its end point pointed directly to immortals who lived as long as heaven and earth!

Suddenly, a thought popped into Feng Zi's mind.

This idea was a bit risky, but he thought it was worth a try, so he spoke as if casually:

"Brother Qingyang, if you only want to advance your strength, why be confined to the path of Qi refining? Can't martial arts cultivation achieve the same goal?"

Hearing this question, Lu Hanwen and Li Shou indeed both looked at Feng Zi in surprise, their eyes full of disbelief.

Only Qing Lin continued to lower her head to eat meat, as if she had not realized what had happened at all.

But to Feng Zi's surprise, upon hearing this, Qingyang actually subconsciously asked in return:

"May I ask Brother Cun Xin, what exactly is... 'martial arts'?"

As a Qi Refiner, he actually didn't know what martial arts were?!

This ran counter to the claims of Lu Hanwen and Li Shou—was it not said that martial arts were a means used to shackle the lower classes?

Since that was the case, even if Qingyang did not know how to practice martial arts, he should at least know of its existence.

Feng Zi subconsciously looked toward the two, only to discover that they were just as dumbfounded as he was.

They stared fixedly at Qingyang's face, as if trying to discern any signs of lying from it.

Combining the cause and effect, Feng Zi suddenly realized that he seemed to understand how the Martial Dao was born.

Thus, he very naturally "offered guidance": "The so-called Martial Dao is a cultivation method that internally cultivates Qi and Blood Power.

"Look, the so-called Dao of Qi Refining is to absorb the Qi of heaven and earth and guide it into the body; I call this the method of 'cultivating the internal from the external.'

"But Martial Dao cultivation is exactly the opposite; it is to cultivate one's own physical body and strengthen the Qi and Blood Power within, which I call the method of 'cultivating the external from the internal.'"

Of course, Feng Zi did not understand what the specific cultivation method of the Dao of Qi Refining was.

But in his past life, he had read many immortal cultivation novels, and by combining the information provided by Lu Hanwen, he could also fabricate a framework sufficient to bluff others.

But to Feng Zi's surprise, not only Qingyang, but Lu Hanwen and Li Shou also fell into deep thought upon hearing this.

This made Feng Zi mutter to himself: "I was just saying that casually; could it be that I really stumbled upon the truth by accident, like a blind cat bumping into a dead mouse?"