Chapter 21: Return

"The first chapter of the Innate Qi-Nurturing Technique is on qi nurturing; the second chapter is on building the foundation. However, that doesn't mean that one wouldn't need to work on qi nurturing when they're building the foundation. Be it qi nurturing, foundation building, or forming the Golden Core, one would need to cultivate all aspects continuously.

"It'd be even better if one could cultivate all of them concurrently. However, one must reach a certain degree in qi nurturing before moving on to building the foundation. Similarly, one must reach a certain phase in foundation building before they could attempt to form a Core."

Li Pin sensed the primordial qi that he had accumulated thus far. With the nourishment from a tremendous amount of medicinal items, the primordial qi he had nurtured was strengthened at a rate that could be seen by the naked eye.

Of course, only he would dare to describe this process as possible to be "seen by the naked eye."

Any other person who cultivated the Innate Qi-Nurturing Technique wouldn't be able to ascertain if they had managed to manifest primordial qi when it had only increased by this little bit, let alone circulating it to heal their injuries.

They would at most feel a little bit more energetic for a few days.

"At the rate my primordial qi is strengthening, the number of cycles I'd need before I can reach the requirement for foundation building would be...." Li Pin quickly crunched the numbers. "1,316 cultivating cycles."

He could do that in less than a year. The improvement rate was very fast.

Moreover, as he continued to improve on the medicinal cuisine he was taking and on his training in the Innate Qi-Nurturing Technique, the time required would only continue to shorten.

He picked up a newly purchased ginseng with his right hand and accessed it carefully.

The injuries on his arms had recovered completely through the nourishment from his primordial qi.

He could sense the ginseng's medicinal effects and type through his fingers. However, his knowledge in this field was shallow and he wasn't able to come to a concrete conclusion. Not to mention that when sensing things outside his body, his gift would be many times weaker.

He could only assess the possible influences and effects brought by each item based on his standards.

"If I can grasp more knowledge, I can become an appraiser in the future. I'd be able to uncover different interesting uses of any item that I hold..." Li Pin said.

However, he soon realized that he couldn't become an appraiser.

He was only able to assess things by using himself as the benchmark.

He could lift an item that weighed 100 to 150 kilograms, but could an ordinary person do the same? Would ordinary people be able to withstand the same amount of pain that he could?

"Every person has a different constitution. The data that I come up with by using myself as a benchmark is not suitable for everyone."

Take the medicinal cuisine that he came up with as an example. it would be hard for Li Yunyao and Lin Xiaolu to withstand its effects.

***

As time passed, the Astral Advent Festival soon arrived.

It was a lot more lively in the Li Family during the festival. It was a pity that Li Yunyan was unable to return to Sanshun Town as she was a few months into her pregnancy. This made Ms. Li a little sad, but she didn't feel lonely since Li Pin and Li Yunyao were both by her side.

After the Astral Advent Festival passed, it was soon time for Li Yunyao's school term to start again, so the Li Family moved to Liuchuan County.

Liuchuan County wasn't a big county, and the population was less than 200 thousand. However, the average property prices in this small county city were still over three thousand yuan per square meter.

The closer the houses were to the county government office, the more expensive the houses were.

The Astral Cultivator that served as the Guardian resided here as well.

Sunshine District was less than three hundred meters away from the county government office. The apartment that was allocated to them was a standard one of ninety-nine square meters apartment, with three bedrooms and one living room. The apartment was already furnished and they could just move in directly.

As Lin Xiaolu and Li Yunyao were classmates, and she was also learning martial arts from Li Pin, she moved in as well, sharing a room with Li Yunyao.

On the other hand, Li Pin had to head to Zanglong City. After all, he had signed a one-year contract with Changfeng Martial Hall.

***

"Follow the training plan that I have come up with and come to the Zanglong City once a week. I'll make adjustments to your training plan based on your condition."

Downstairs, Li Pin, who was carrying a backpack, instructed Li Yunyao and Lin Xiaolu.

"There's still half a year before the examinations. If you follow the method I taught you, both of you have the chance to manifest Force within this period. If you can get a martial artist certification, I'll find a way to get both of you a spot in Jiang Province University's special recruitment quota."

Li Yunyao's eyes instantly lit up. "We can go to Jiang Province University to study?"

"There's hope if you can manifest Force," Li Pin said.

He didn't pin much hope on Li Yunyao scoring well in the college entrance examinations and thus could only go with this route.

"Manifest Force... Brother, how much is my progress?" Li Yunyao asked with anticipation.

Li Pin showed them his phone.

There were two rows of numbers on it.

[Li Yunyao 75/1,000]

[Lin Xiaolu 91/1,000]

This progress level was based on his understanding of Force as well as the duo's cultivation progress.

While this was an estimate and there were slight discrepancies, it was close enough to the real value.

For example, if they didn't feel the slightest feeling of having made a breakthrough when the progress meter was almost full, he would just say that they had reached a bottleneck. In the same vein, if they made a breakthrough in advance, he could attribute it to them having reached an epiphany.

In any case, he was the one who was regularly updating the data and when there were differences, he could make timely adjustments.

If both of them could see their results reflected through the data, they would have greater motivation in their training.

Li Yunyao's eyes opened wide. "Hmmm? The gap between Xiaolu and me has widened again? How is that possible!?"

"Clearly you aren't working hard enough. Look at Xiaolu. She never complains about training being tough or tiring. You, on the other hand, would keep complaining about muscle aches after training for a short while."

Li Yunyao was a little unconvinced. "I...."

"You'll have to buck up," Li Pin said with a smile.

The initial reason he agreed to teach Lin Xiaolu was so that he could try out his clairvoyance gift. What he didn't expect was that it also helped to give Li Yunyao a push in her training.

However, this made sense. People their age tended to be unconvinced of their losses. Watching as Lin Xiaolu slowly surpassed her, even if Li Yunyao occasionally felt too tired to carry on, she wouldn't allow herself to slack.

"Mom, remember to help them prepare the medicinal cuisine I left behind. There's no need to worry about money," Li Pin said.

Ms. Li nodded.

After Li Pin told them what to do, he waved his hand and then headed for the bus station as they watched him leave.

Li Pin paid for the bus ticket and it quickly set off. In less than two hours, he arrived at Zanglong City.

"Old Li, over here."

The moment Li Pin came out from the bus station, Fang Yubai's voice sounded out.

Fang Yubai knew that Li Pin was arriving today and had especially come to pick him up.

"You've been gone for over a month! I was so bored by myself here," Fang Yubai said.

Li Pin naturally didn't believe his words.

He followed Fang Yubai onto his Blue Horse x5 and they soon drove into the traffic.

"Oh, right. Do you still remember Jing Yunshan, that guy who likes to spread rumors? He came looking for me, wanting to make peace with you. He even said that he can try to request management to cancel your punishment at school and help you prove your innocence...."

Fang Yubai added, "There's no need to pay me any heed. I'm just playing the role of a mailbox."

Li Pin gave an acknowledgment. "Mmm."

"I've long disliked that guy. Now he's fallen in your hands," Fang Yubai said a little happily. "What do you plan on doing? Are you going to get him to offer you gifts and apologize publicly to recover your reputation?"

"I've already left Hanyang University. We'll leave the matters from there for later," Li Pin said calmly.

Outsiders may have thought that he had only jumped into the lake to commit suicide because he had lost his reputation, so things would seem to have taken a turn for the better if the school's punishment was canceled and his reputation was salvaged.

However, to Li Pin...this matter wasn't going to end so easily.

That was because...

"Li Pin" had died.