Chapter 194: Talk to Yourself About Things That Make You Difficult
"Qingye, did you encounter any obstacles when refining the mist of history?"
Miss Canxin pondered for a moment. "There's no precedent for switching the Sin Bone from a single shadow element to a shadow + fog element, so I first tested it with two bones. Then I refined the training method and improvised 27 spells to successfully complete it... Honestly, the lifespan loss was much greater than expected. If I don't eat the fruit in time, I might age prematurely."
"That's not what I'm talking about." Chu Hengkong organized his words. "What I mean is...are you facing any difficulties in your heart or body?"
“?” Qing Ye tilted his head, “Can you be more specific?”
"For example, the fog of history turns into a gray-toned psychotic woman who appears when you're not paying attention and tries to kill you."
Qingye's expression on the hospital bed was quite subtle.
"Mr. Chu, I think this situation has nothing to do with cultivation, but rather a mental problem caused by being single for too long..."
"Go to sleep." Chu Hengkong sighed.
He placed the peeled pear on the bedside table and left Qingye's room. Vander poked his head out of his pocket, his eyes full of sympathy.
"Don't dream. This girl has been practicing the integrated Zanxin technique since she was a child. She mastered the Flash Finger Sin Bone Secret Soul step by step. Even when absorbing the mist of history, it was just a moderate innovation based on old methods. There's no such thing as a 'One Heart Ritual'." Fander said, "There must be a reason for a ritual to be optimized. You can't think it's better than a new secret technique just because it's older."
"Do I have any other solution?" Chu Hengkong smiled bitterly.
Qingye didn't need the One Heart Ritual because her path inherently involved the unity of mind and body. The elemental forces naturally merged with the Remnant Heart through her arduous training, so there was no need to create a separate target in her mind to attack. But Chu Hengkong was following the path of unity, and the external forces had all been forced into the group midway. What else could he do besides diligently studying the One Heart Ritual?
"I've recently made some progress on my graduation thesis. If you're brave enough, I can try to modify a version of the talisman for you." Finder began to offer bad advice, "Let's see if the Knight's Tree Talisman has any potential."
"screw you."
"Then you'll have to rely on yourself to continue challenging the crazy woman in your heart~" Vander said with a gloating look in his eyes, "Hey, have I really turned into a white-haired, one-eyed beauty?"
Chu Hengkong's face darkened: "Your tentacles are none of your business."
"Don't tell me, this is quite strange. How can I, a sexless creature, become a woman?" Vander pondered. "Maybe it's really a psychological problem. You haven't realized that 'everything you see is a beautiful girl'..."
"I'm 22, my friend. I'm not a 17-year-old adolescent anymore."
"Are you really only 22?!" Vander was shocked. "Are you sure you didn't lie about your age? 30?"
Chu Hengkong pulled the Eye Demon out of his pocket and pressed it hard on the table. Fander laughed three times and then squirmed to continue studying the information on the Knights.
The unrivaled genius on his path of cultivation finally encountered a tough challenge. How to defeat the demons within him became a thorn in his throat that he couldn't swallow. Yixin Ritual was unlike Longxiang Fist. No matter how hard you tried or how talented you were, if you couldn't defeat them, you simply couldn't learn it.
He was defeated in battle after battle and was upset. He walked to the martial arts field in the center of the settlement with a lot of resentment. On the way, he saw old man Silar hitting the fruits on the tree with a few leaves.
"You're back." Silar threw a fruit to him, "Give me one."
He bit into the fruit in one bite, smacking his lips at the overly sour juice. "Are you free? I'd like to ask you something about spiritual practice."
"I'm free every day." Silar looked happy. "Let's talk while walking... and try our hand at it."
He threw a leaf, and it suddenly fell mid-flight, heading for Chu Hengkong's wrist. Chu Hengkong caught it with two fingers, twisted his wrist and threw it, and the leaf reflected back, following the same trajectory.
"Not bad." Silar caught it and tossed it again, as if playing some new kind of catch. This time, the blade shifted twice in midair, the force unleashed in batches, the timing beautifully executed. Chu Hengkong, intrigued, followed suit, bending the blade back three times. Silar raised his hand to catch it.
"You learn really fast." The old man clapped his hands. "Try this."
It threw its leaves for the third time, and the leaves fluttered and flew, drawing an incredible pentagram in front of Chu Hengkong's eyes, and finally stuck to his head with a snap.
Chu Hengkong held the leaf and gestured for a long time before putting it down helplessly: "I can't learn it."
"Actually, you didn't learn it before," Silar said with a smile. "You made the leaf turn once, three times. How did you do that? Because you poured your finger power into the leaf, allowing it to activate when you needed it—you pushed it with your invisible fingertips.
But if you want it to move more delicately, forcing it with force alone won't work. You need to feed it something before you can 'invite' it."
"What are you going to do?" Chu Hengkong was stunned.
"Please ask it, ask your weapon to help you," Silar said patiently. "You must know that all things have spirits. From the giant trees that support the world to the tiny insects in the soil beneath our feet, everything has its spirit. The spirit of living things is stronger than that of inanimate objects. That's why the forest people like to use plants as weapons. Look."
He raised his claws, and the fallen leaves spun like a top. Chu Hengkong saw clearly that Silar didn't use any force, but simply sent out a little vitality, and the leaves began to move on their own.
"It's like raising a pet." Silar flicked his paw, and the fallen leaves whizzed out and pierced the tree trunk. "Of course, you still need to use some tricks—like your best instincts—but that's the general idea. It's not difficult, right? Just keep calm."
"I don't need this." Chu Hengkong shook his head. "It's too roundabout. If I had this idea, I could throw more hidden weapons."
"Then why don't you just use your fists?" Silar said with a smile, "Your fists are faster, harder, more powerful, and will definitely obey your command.
Hidden weapons are less direct means. If you throw leaves to hit your fist farther, then you should give yourself a flying fist.
The speaker may not have intended it, but the listener may have taken it to heart. Chu Hengkong fiddled with the leaf, lost in thought. Seeing this, the old man didn't bother him and walked away, carrying the fruit.
Chongming was walking towards this side, and he laughed when he saw this: "What's wrong with this idiot?"
"Hush." Silar tiptoed, "Don't disturb him. He's thinking about his flying punch!"
·
Although the evil wrist can be extended and retracted freely, it is not yet to the point where it can be separated from a human hand. Therefore, Chu Hengkong has been thinking about it for a long time but has not been able to successfully develop the Rocket Fist.
He held the leaf and wandered through the settlement, descending from the high steps and climbing up the lower ones. During this time, he racked his brains and used all his ingenuity to try to get the leaf to draw a pentagram. The leaf, unimpressed by his efforts, resolutely broke into eight pieces in mid-air, a gesture of its unwavering resolve to never bow to power.
Chu Hengkong ripped off a handful of leaves with a sullen expression, shaking the tree with such force that the soldiers in the settlement looked at him as if he were a red-eyed bull. He forced out a drop of blood, wrapped it in his will, and soaked it into the leaf, turning the veins a beautiful red.
Go draw a triangle. He said to the leaf and threw it out.
The leaf poked his face three times, then floated over his head and began to play dead.
Chu Hengkong tried very hard to suppress the urge to tear the leaves into pieces, but failed. He threw the leaves aside, sat down on the side of the road, and started to get angry with himself.
He knew full well that practicing hidden weapon techniques now was pointless. He'd been distracted by this practice in an attempt to draw inferences, to find that vague spark of inspiration from earlier exchanges. But as he practiced, that inspiration seemed to be drifting further and further away from him. If there was one thing he'd been certain of, it was that the forest folk's "communication martial arts" were simply not his own.
This method is suitable for Gulbo, Silar, Vander, or other quirky and friendly little animals in the forest, but he is a killer. What he needs is a glare to make the leaves salute instead of begging them to dance in a nice way.
Chu Hengkong took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, but his mind was becoming increasingly confused. The more he practiced the external path, the more pronounced the effects became. Forty-eight consecutive failures had robbed him of his patience, which was crucial. His state of mind was now worse than when he had practiced boxing with the old man.
Time to try the old method.
He sat up suddenly, startling the children around him. The little girl was wearing a small wooden helmet. It was Vita, who had previously been at odds with him.
"Is there a waterfall nearby?" Chu Hengkong asked without any hope.
"There are some to the northeast," Vita said, "but there is..."
Chu Hengkong walked away, delighted, not even hearing the rest of the sentence. He headed towards the woods outside the settlement, and not far away he heard the soothing sound of water. He effortlessly imagined a stream cascading down from a height, splashing over black rocks, then converging deep in the woods to form a mirror-like spring.
During his mountain retreats, he camped by small lakes like this one. He battled bears and wild boars at night, and during the day sat at the foot of a waterfall, meditating in deep tranquility. The water's relentless rush felt like a cold world flowing through his body. At first, the noise was deafening, a source of restlessness. But as he adjusted, he felt the stillness of the universe, a sense of solitude, a sense of solitude within a world as flowing as water.
For tranquility, there's no more ideal environment than a waterfall. Just thinking about it calmed Chu Hengkong's mind. He pushed aside the leaves that blocked his view and came to the source of the water's sound.
It was exactly as he had imagined. Pebbles dotted the lake's edge, the water crystal clear, and the cascading waterfall evoked a blood-red hue. Her wet red hair clung to her shoulders, water droplets trickling down her hair, flowing down her beautiful neck, swaying slightly before settling on her snow-white skin.
Qingxia was sitting at the foot of the waterfall, the bone armor that usually covered her gone. Her moist golden eyes were filled with astonishment, reflecting Chu Hengkong's dazed gaze.
Both sides froze in place, neither moving. Amidst the clatter of the waterfall, the water droplets finally fell, their inertia fading, disrupting the reflection in the lake.
The red-haired girl raised her arms and whispered:
"Do you want to... take a shower together?"
(End of this chapter)
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