Chapter Thirteen: The Lovable Chubby

  Early morning, sunny and beautiful.

  Tang Qing stood on the steps in front of the door, squinting at the sun and stretching his waist. He had a very comfortable sleep this time.

  "You're finally getting out of bed."

  The sound came, and Tang Qing only discovered that a girl had appeared in the yard. The girl was wearing a green dress with a skirt, looking pretty and clever, and it was Bi Yi who had been delivering meals to Tang Qing for several days.

  "Good morning! Why didn't you have breakfast today?"

  Tang Qing had a very good impression of this girl, knowledgeable and reasonable, gentle and pleasant.

  "You got up so late, what's the point of having breakfast?"

  Shangguan Qixue was her master, so naturally Biyi didn't dare to slack off on the tasks assigned by her master. As soon as it dawned today, she came to this separate courtyard and found that Tang Qing hadn't gotten out of bed yet. She then started practicing here, but she didn't expect that this practice would take so long, nor did she expect that this guy would sleep from yesterday afternoon until now.

  "It seems like I can only eat at noon then."

  Tang Qing leaned against the wall again, sat back on the stool, raised his legs, narrowed his eyes, and prepared to bask in the sun.

  "Master has instructed that after you wake up, let you take this dan medicine." Bi Yi walked over, took out a white jade bottle from her waist, and poured out a dan medicine.

  "What is this dan?" Tang Jing took it over and smelled it, seemingly a foundation-building dan medicine.

  "This is the Huajiu Dan, taking it will be very beneficial for your foundation building, very... precious, you should take it quickly." Until now, Biyao still couldn't understand why her master would let this strange-looking guy take such a precious medicine.

  "Oh."

  Tang Qing didn't stand on ceremony, directly throwing it into his mouth and swallowing it like a sugar bean. Although this thing was of great help to building the foundation, it was of no use to him. But as the saying goes, having something is better than nothing. After all, it was the Building Foundation Spirit Dan, and taking it would still have some effect on recovering his physical body.

  "After taking the Huajiu Dan, your tendons, bones and skin will all be improved, and in the future, your cultivation will also be twice as effective. I hope you cherish this hard-won Huajiu Dan and don't waste Master's painstaking efforts. Now, let me teach you some basic knowledge of cultivation, listen carefully..."

  At the beginning of cultivation, building the foundation is the key. Building the foundation involves refining the nine layers of the physical body: the first three layers refine the skin membrane, the fourth to sixth layers refine the skeleton, and the seventh to ninth layers refine the tendons and ligaments. After completing the ninth layer, the foundation is established, at which point the physical body undergoes a transformation, becoming impervious to knives and guns, and possessing boundless strength.

  "Now, I will demonstrate a boxing technique for you. This boxing is called 'Qingquan', which was created by the ancestors of Qingyumen. Practicing this boxing can temper your skin, so watch carefully."

  Biqi took a few steps back, starting to practice her fist technique. This set of fist techniques didn't have overly complex skills, not too hard or soft, not too heavy or light, making it quite suitable for newcomers to train their skin membrane. Looking at Biqi's serious expression as she practiced her fists, Tang Qing couldn't help but think of his own appearance when he first started training a long, long time ago.

  It seems that she is also as serious and fearless as I am, even if it's bitter, I must persist, not for anything else, but to give myself a chance to prove myself. Thinking back to my younger self, I was young and reckless, daring to defy the heavens, daring to tread on the earth. Starting from the age of five, I have been cultivating for twenty years, and at the age of twenty-five, my cultivation had already reached the peak. Never did I think that I would fail in crossing the tribulation and end up on this path of a scattered immortal, falling to this half-dead state today. The path of a scattered immortal is a road of no return, an endless tribulation, life and death are predetermined...

  As for how many years he had been a loose immortal, he didn't know. Maybe it was a hundred years, maybe two hundred years, or perhaps even more. He really couldn't remember clearly.

  Master, senior fellow disciple, junior fellow disciple, how are you all?

  Former sect, former master, former fellow disciples...

  Tang Qing had never returned since he embarked on the path of a loose immortal, not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't dare. Until today, when he was crossing the tribulation, the expectations of the millions of people in the sect still lingered vividly in his mind.

  Tang Qing failed to cross the tribulation and didn't know how to face his sect, which had high hopes for him. Especially when he thought of what his master told him during the tribulation, it made Tang Qing feel uncomfortable for a long time.

  Tang Jing shook his head, not continuing to think about it, and once again examined his own body. The tangled meridians, the shattered dantian, the fractured skeleton... this was indeed... the ninth heavy tribulation of the scattered immortals, worthy of being called the tribulation of life and death. It's really abnormal to the point of being twisted.

  The current state of Tang's physical body is very poor, if he wants to recover as before, it's not impossible, directly closing the door for a few hundred years may be possible to recover, but he doesn't want to do the same as before, close the door and practice waiting for the heavenly tribulation, since stepping on this immortal path, it seems like he has always been closing the door, then crossing the tribulation, then closing the door again, then crossing the tribulation again...

  Tang Jing truly felt that it was enough, and the tribulations he had gone through made him feel sick!

  His body, although already in a pitiful state, was after all that of a Ninth-Trial Scatter Immortal, and still retained some immortal energy, allowing it to recover on its own. Although the recovery process might be somewhat slow, he wasn't in a hurry, nor did he feel like continuing to struggle anymore.

  He has no ideals or desires in this life, and even if he did, they would have been shattered by the tribulations of the nine heavens. He just wants to change his way of living, not wanting to continue living for the sake of crossing over, even if it means living aimlessly. As for what kind of lifestyle he wants to change to, there are no plans yet, and he intends to make a decision after his physical body is reborn.

  Taking the body of a 9th-level Loose Immortal as the foundation, he would reform his physical body and condense his immortal energy. In this way, with the immortal energy enveloping him, his physical body would recover faster. However, his current physical body was actually a bit too weak and couldn't withstand the pressure of reforming at all, so he could only nurture himself for a period of time before reforming.

  The sun sets in the west, after Biyi leaves, Tang Qing suddenly feels a bit bored, stretches his waist, and only then realizes that he has been here for so many days without leaving the yard. He walks out of the yard, looks around, decides to take a look at the mountain forest on the east side, and if he can catch a few wild animals, it would be great.

  What made Tang Jing somewhat disappointed was that after walking for a while, not to mention wild game, he hadn't even seen a single hair, and was pondering whether or not to head back. Suddenly, from who-knows-where, a sound drifted over, and upon careful listening, it seemed like someone was humming a little tune, though it was quite unpleasant to the ear. Before long, Tang Jing caught sight of a person.

  This is a fat man, a sleek and oily fat man wearing a long gown, with a purse hanging from his waist, hands behind his back, head held high, humming a little tune, looking very pleased.

  "Huh?" The fat man seemed to have also noticed Tang Qing across from him, "Buddy, are you going in there to gamble too?"

  Bet two rounds?

  Is there a gambling house at Qingyu Gate? Tang Qing was somewhat puzzled, but he was also bored and nodded.

  "Then let's go together." The fatty walked over, with one hand on Tang Jing's shoulder. "Buddy, you look quite unfamiliar, a new disciple just entering the door?" Not right, if it was a new disciple entering the door, I should have seen him before. The fatty looked up and down at Tang Jing, stroking his chin in thought for a moment, then said, "You're not a new disciple, but you came from that direction, so you must be a newly arrived servant?"

  "Yeah, I just got here two days ago."

  "Wow, I didn't think you were so bold! You've only just arrived and already dare to gamble a couple of times, but I like it, haha!"

  In casual conversation, Tang Qing learned that this fat guy was named Wang Kuan, a registered disciple of the Qingyu Gate, who had been in the door for eight years. Among many registered disciples, his seniority was quite high and his status was also very high. Wang Fatzi patted Tang Qing's shoulder and said with great righteousness, "Brother, I think you're an honest man too. Today, brother will give you some advice. When doing odd jobs in the inner door, you must learn to flatter, especially those who are close to the master. They all appreciate it very much. If you do well, maybe they'll reward you with a spiritual pill."

  Through Wang Pu, Tang Qing also had a preliminary understanding of the Qingyu Gate. The Qingyu Gate is divided into inner and outer gates. The inner gate houses the master, elder, and direct disciples, while the outer gate houses most of the registered disciples. Among them, the lowest status belongs to the miscellaneous workers, because many registered disciples started from being miscellaneous workers.

  "Haha, we're here, buddy! Today I'll show you some skills!"