Chapter 147: Tiger Aura Attachment and the Creation of Couplets

Ever since Zhou You began practicing the Heaven-Reaching Nourishing Origin Art, his Experience Points had surged.

Upon checking the end-of-month tally, he found himself wealthier than ever before.

"Experience Points: 7732."

He rubbed his hands together with delight, calculating how to spend this fortune.

After entering the Qi and Blood stage, the mode of practicing martial arts changed; it became a dual cultivation of both internal and external.

Previously, he only needed to focus on practicing punches to increase strength, but the Qi and Blood stage required internal cultivation methods.

The Subduing Tiger Fist had the Jade Tiger Art, and the Seven Step Poison Sand Palm had the Boneless Heart Method; both were time-consuming and laborious tasks that required steady, persistent effort.

Skills and cultivation methods were like walking on two legs; they had to progress in tandem, for focusing on only one would be like walking with a limp and unable to run fast.

The Yanxing Quan, which lacked an internal cultivation method, had been temporarily shelved by Zhou You.

In any case, Lu Zhigang's current nickname was Poison Goose, and his Poison Palm made people tremble with fear; he did not rely on Yanxing Quan as his signature skill.

Increasing Qi and Blood required Experience Points, and increasing the levels of skills and cultivation methods required them as well.

Furthermore, he had to open blind boxes from time to time for unexpected surprises; there were too many places to spend them.

Calculating it this way, the Experience Points were not as abundant as they seemed.

"Hmm?"

Zhou You pondered for a moment, and after a series of operations, the panel data refreshed.

He first spent 1500 Experience Points to increase his Qi and Blood from 150 to 300.

Then, he raised both internal cultivation methods, the Boneless Heart Method and the Jade Tiger Art, from lv1 to lv3.

The difficulty of increasing internal cultivation was immense; it only took 1000 Experience Points to go from lv0 to lv1, but it had already doubled to 2000 to reach lv2.

Zhou You spent 2000 + 4000 = 6000 Experience Points in one breath to raise them from lv1 to lv3.

After this series of operations, he successfully raised his realm to Qi and Blood 3rd Stage, and his body was filled with power.

The remaining fraction was added to his skills; several fist and palm techniques he practiced diligently daily, as well as the Seal Script he had been working on recently, all saw improvements due to sufficient accumulation and this final push.

After the panel settlement, the results were as follows: "Name: Zhou You.

Qi and Blood: 300.

Experience Points: 980.

Occupation: Martial Arts Disciple.

Level: Qi and Blood 3rd Stage (Seven Step Poison Sand Palm, Subduing Tiger Fist), Yanxing Quan (Qi and Blood 1st Stage). Skills: Seven Step Poison Sand Palm lv3 (Attribute: Corrosion), Subduing Tiger Fist lv27, Yanxing Quan lv23, Basic Lightness Skill lv3/lv7, Pipa lv3, Seal Script lv8, Alchemy lv14.

Cultivation Methods: Jade Tiger Art lv3 (Stone Tiger), Boneless Heart Method lv3, Heaven-Reaching Nourishing Origin Art lv1.

Ultimate Moves: Wind-Chasing Triple Technique lv3, Tiger Aura lv5, Feather Qi lv2, General Unloading Armor Great Cloak lv3.

Talent: Hunger.

Armory: Void Mask (Flesh Magic Treasure) — False Identity: Lu Zhigang.

Trial Project 1: Perfect the Basic Lightness Skill.

Trial Project 2: Master the technique of Tiger Aura attachment."

"Tiger Aura lv3 -> lv5, you have mastered the technique of Tiger Aura attachment, Trial Project completed, Experience Points +1000."

"New Trial Project 2 (Three-Star Level): Break through to the Martial Master realm, discover the secret of the Heaven-Reaching Nourishing Origin Art."

"New Trial Project 3 (Two-Star Level): Accumulate 3 kills of Charm-beings, 1/3 completed."

Zhou You flipped his palm, and a stone-gray aura rose, swirling around his palm and the back of his hand.

The Tiger Aura at Qi and Blood 3rd Stage condensed like a stone carving, intangibly carrying a heavy sense of vicissitudes.

Although still at the Stone Tiger stage, Zhou You's strength had increased by far more than three times since raising it from lv1 to lv3.

As his mind stirred, the Hu Zhua condensed from the Tiger Aura detached from his palm, shrouded like clouds and smoke, and landed on a stone.

According to previous scenarios, the Tiger Aura would dissipate within a moment of leaving his body, but this time it was different. The stone-gray Tiger Aura landed on the stone and clung to it firmly as if taking root, appearing to have merged into one.

Zhou You picked up the stone and weighed it a few times, then grinned; he had mastered the technique of Tiger Aura attachment.

From now on, he could carve wooden plaques with his bare hands and use his own Tiger Aura to protect his parents' residence.

The detached Tiger Aura had a connection with the main body; once danger occurred, the fluctuations of the Tiger Aura would be fed back directly to the main body.

Therefore, besides deterrence, the Tiger Aura wooden plaque also had the functions of automatic sensing and remote monitoring.

Zhou You took this stone and left the martial arts hall, dropping it as he walked, and then tested it from a distance.

He discovered that no matter how far he walked, he could sense the subtle fluctuations of the Tiger Aura.

If a street urchin touched the stone, even without malice, Zhou You, who was several streets away, would receive a sensation.

"Within a range of 1 to 2 li, it is the optimal distance; the Tiger Aura can be sensed, and I can return in time at my speed."

Through 3 days of testing, Zhou You determined the usage limit of the Tiger Aura.

The new house he rented for his parents was near the Jian Xiong Martial Arts Hall, less than 2 li away, about 800 to 900 meters.

If it were the original place, it would be several li away, which was inconvenient to travel back and forth and exceeded the sensing range of the Tiger Aura.

"Big Senior Brother's Tiger Aura wooden plaque only has a deterrent effect."

Lu Qiang had no blood relation to him, and being willing to carve a wooden plaque for him was already doing his best; he could not ask for more.

Now that Zhou You had mastered Tiger Aura attachment himself, he could carve wooden plaques for his own home.

The question arose, what should he carve? "You'er, it's not even the New Year yet, why are you changing the couplets? And they're carved in wood?"

At the door of the house, his mother watched in surprise as Zhou You busied himself replacing the couplets on the door with wooden plaques.

The two couplets, top and bottom, had 14 characters per row, plus a 4-character horizontal scroll, totaling 32 characters.

Zhou You had spent a fortune; after carving the horizontal scroll, he was almost drained, with not a shred of Tiger Aura left.

Hearing his mother's confusion, Zhou You explained, "I've been studying culture recently, and my calligraphy practice is quite good. I thought, why let the benefits go to outsiders? I'll write a couplet for our home."

This was not entirely false; when Master Zeng took him as a disciple and gave him Instruction in Seal Script, he had also included other things.

Moreover, Seal Script is meant to be carved into metal and stone; with his level 6 attainment, carving characters onto a wooden board was a piece of cake.

Hearing this, his mother looked carefully at the two lines of the couplet, feeling that her son's handwriting was truly beautiful.

On the surface of the two pieces of century-old hardwood, every character was imbued with a thick layer of Tiger Aura, fused into the grain and texture of the wood.

The wood alone cost 20 taels of silver, as it was top-quality timber.

Zhou You also used the scraps to carve a few wooden plaques, which he hung in the windows of their home as decorations after imbuing them with Tiger Aura.

In the following days, the area in front of Zhou You's house became lively.

People often stopped to look at the couplet; there were both scholars and martial artists, all gazing at the couplet with solemn expressions.

The martial artists were looking at the Tiger Aura on the couplet, which was so dense it was blinding, shrouding the entire house within it.

Using aura-imbued objects to guard a home is a popular practice in the city, usually involving one to three characters.

The entrance to Zhou You's house had a full 32 characters, a level of luxury that bordered on wasteful.

Once they inquired and learned he was a newly accepted Disciple of Wang Laohu, they felt it was normal.

The scholars' focus was different; they were looking at the calligraphy, which was forceful and deep, showing profound skill.

Seal Script is different from calligraphy on paper; although they are both characters, one must have extremely strong attainment to carve them.

These characters were done in one breath without a hint of artificiality, clearly coming from a renowned master.

However, upon learning that this was an ordinary family and the son was just learning boxing at a martial arts school, they feared he had simply stumbled upon good luck to obtain this couplet by accident.

Some were even tempted by the sight and thought of paying to buy it, but they were firmly refused by Zhou You's parents.

This was their child's display of filial piety and their pride; how could it be measured by money? (End of chapter)