Smelling the blood, the wolves became even more ferocious.
As time went on, Qi Zhiheng's injuries multiplied, and he was covered in blood.
He stood surrounded by wolves, swaying precariously, his blood loss causing him to become somewhat delirious.
The wolf pack in front of him appeared as a double image; his eyesight had become the most unreliable thing. The visual error caused him to mistakenly dodge the gray wolf's attack.
Such poor eyesight would lead her to make more mistakes; her hearing was much better. Qi Zhiheng gave up on observing her surroundings with her eyes and closed her heavy eyelids.
The sound of his breathing reached his ears clearly the moment he closed his eyes.
After Qi Zhiheng closed his eyes, he was attacked again on the thigh, a chunk of flesh bitten off. He frowned, enduring the pain, and listened intently with his eyes closed. The surrounding air currents moved with a rhythmic cadence. A gray wolf pounced, and Qi Zhiheng slightly shifted his body, dodging a wave of oncoming claws.
Qi Zhiheng himself was also a little doubtful. Could it really be that he was able to dodge it before because he heard it? Just as he was having doubts, he dodged another attack from the gray wolf.
In one dodge, he unknowingly created a range within which he could instantly detect any movement. Once inside this range, the gray wolves' movements seemed to slow down by tens, hundreds, or even thousands of times! He was as if he had become a god in this area, with everything under his control.
Qi Zhiheng held an arrow in his hand. After the gray wolf entered his range, he plunged the arrow deep into the wolf's eye, and it traveled through the eye into the brain.
Was it that his own perception had become faster? He knew very well that it wasn't that; rather, within this range, apart from him, time and space had become slower.
Qi Zhiheng wondered, could this be his awakened spirit? After half an hour, he had killed more than thirty gray wolves.
He collapsed to the ground, exhausted from blood loss and the fight, but seeing so many wolf carcasses, he knew the smell of blood would attract other wild animals.
He only sat for a short while before standing up, tying two gray wolves to his back, and quickly heading back the way he came in.
He breathed a sigh of relief once he reached the entrance; this was the outer edge of the forest, where dangerous wild animals were scarce. However, he needed to find someone; he didn't know where Liu Shan was.
Thinking of Liu Shan filled him with resentment. He was supposed to be Liu Shan's servant, but he wasn't following him around!
After walking for a while, he faintly heard some sounds, the voices of several people talking.
The voice sounded familiar. Qi Zhiheng ran over and soon saw two people, who were none other than his acquaintance Xu Jin and Qi Zhiheng's servant Liu Shan.
"Young...Young Master!" Liu Shan was very surprised to see Qi Zhiheng in front of him, wondering how he could have suffered such an injury.
Qi Zhiheng said with displeasure, "What are you still standing there for? Get down here now!"
Liu Shan shakily dismounted from his horse, trying to take the gray wolf from Qi Zhiheng's hands.
Qi Zhiheng tossed the gray wolf to him: "Tie it to the horse."
"Young Master Qi, are you alright?" Xu Jin stepped forward to inquire about his condition.
Qi Zhiheng asked, "You've suffered some injuries. Do you have any medicine powder?" He had given all his medicine powder to Liu Shan, but since Xu Jin had asked, he just asked as well.
Xu Jin took out the medicine powder she had brought and handed it to Qi Zhiheng.
Qi Zhiheng sniffed the powder; it was of average quality but still usable. He poured it onto the deeper wounds on his body, and after the bleeding had completely stopped, he mounted his horse.
"Young master, I..." Liu Shan was a little lost on the ground. He didn't really want to run behind the horses.
Qi Zhiheng snorted coldly and said, "What are you talking about?" Then he ignored him and turned his horse around to go back.
Xu Jin said with a helpless expression, "Why don't you share a horse with me?"
Liu Shan, his face full of gratitude, mounted Xu Jin's horse and caught up with Qi Zhiheng ahead.
Qi Zhiheng glared at the two people behind him and said in a somewhat perfunctory tone, "Xu Jin, are you coming back with me too? I'm injured and need to go back early. Why are you coming with me?"
“You’re injured, and I’m worried about you leaving alone,” Xu Jin said, expressing her concern.
Qi Zhiheng said, "Then it's up to you." After he finished speaking, he spurred his horse and headed towards the town.
Upon returning to the Qi residence, the servants hurriedly welcomed the injured Qi Zhiheng inside.
Qi Zhiheng handed the gray wolf over to someone else and then went to his grandfather Qi Dong to treat his wounds. His grandfather was quite skilled in alchemy, so he was the perfect person to treat his injuries.
After treating his wounds, Qi Zhiheng returned to his room, lay on the bed, and carefully recalled his abilities.
He closed his eyes, trying to recall that feeling, but felt extremely tired and could no longer find that feeling.
I can only put it aside for now, take a break, and think about these things again later.
When he woke up again, Qiu Yuerong sat by his bedside with a look of heartache on her face.
"My son, you're awake!" Seeing Qiu Yuerong so badly injured, she almost burst into tears.
Qi Zhiheng rubbed his eyes, somewhat dazed, and said, "Mother, I'm fine."
Qiu Yuerong couldn't possibly believe it.
Qi Zhiheng then remembered something: "Mother, I think I've awakened a spiritual body."
Upon hearing this, Qiu Yuerong was first surprised, then delighted: "Is this true? What kind of spiritual body have you awakened?"
This question stumped Qi Zhiheng, as he didn't know what his spirit body was.
Seeing her silent son, Qiu Yuerong felt a little embarrassed. She thought that her son must have awakened his spirit body too quickly, so she lied to deceive him.
Qi Zhiheng said, "I'm not sure either, Mother. Talk to Father and let me have my spirit tested." A test would reveal what my spirit is and help me find my cultivation path more quickly.
"Alright, alright, Mother will go and talk to your father right away." Qiu Yuerong placed the cooked medicine and porridge on the table and said, "I'll go discuss it with your father first. Remember to drink the porridge and take the medicine after you wash up."
"I know, Mother, you should go now." Qi Zhiheng was somewhat expectant. After washing up, he drank porridge, took his medicine, and covered himself with a blanket, waiting to go and test his spiritual body.
In the afternoon, a maid knocked on his door: "Young master, the master wants you to go to the study."
"Understood!" Qi Zhiheng quickly got up and went to the study to find Qi Zhenhe.
Just as he had expected, Qi Zhenhe asked him to come over to discuss the testing of spirit bodies, which wasn't a big deal, so he agreed.
Qi Zhiheng excitedly went to test it, but his expression turned somber.
The reason was simple: the test results showed that he had not awakened his spirit body at all. Qi Zhenhe, however, seemed to have heard something from his wife beforehand and was not surprised by the result at all.
Qi Zhiheng asked incredulously, "Could it be that the testing equipment is broken?"
Qi Zhenhe sighed, patted his son's shoulder to comfort him, and said, "Maybe it's just broken from years of disrepair. Don't worry too much about it."
Qi Zhiheng: "..." This attitude is far too perfunctory.
Frustrated, Qi Zhiheng had no choice but to give up on persuading Qi Zhenhe to get him another set of testing equipment and went back to his room to recover.
He was determined to find an opportunity to prove his abilities again. He felt that the situation from last time was not surprising at all; if there was a first time, there would definitely be a second, a third, and a fourth...
After staying home and behaving himself for a few days, Qi Zhiheng went out alone again.
He didn't inform anyone about this trip, and only took some weapons, medicine, and a horse with him.
Before entering the dark entrance, he found a secluded spot to tie his horse before finally stepping through the dark entrance.
Qi Zhiheng guessed that his state might erupt at a critical moment! To find that feeling again, he would have to face danger once more.
Qi Zhiheng ventured deeper and eventually encountered a black bear. This black bear was no ordinary creature; it was strong and attacked fiercely. After dodging a few times, Qi Zhiheng returned to that state of mind.
It really worked!
Qi Zhiheng was overjoyed and took out his dagger to finish off the slow-moving black bear.
After obtaining the spoils, Qi Zhiheng felt exhausted and guessed that this might be due to the limitations of his spiritual body, so he could only go back now.
Unlike his previous injury, this time he only suffered a minor injury, so he was much faster.
Carrying the black bear back to where the horse was tethered, and after securing his prey, he set off on his return journey.
Qi Zhiheng was immersed in the joy of hunting with his own abilities, and during this time he lost the joy of going out to play with his cronies, spending all his time running to the mountains and forests.
This behavior lasted for three months, during which time he gained complete control over controlling that feeling.
Six months later, he lost interest in hunting. His abilities weren't as impressive as others' moves, which displeased Qi Zhiheng. He wished he could create fire, ice, and wind like others.
With that thought in mind, Qi Zhiheng began his practice in his own courtyard and stopped running outside.
It was a hot summer day, so Qi Zhiheng placed a basin of water on the stone table and splashed it on his face when he got hot.
His senses remained open, and after some time when he went back to splash water on his face, he found that the water had become quite hot from the sun.
Such hot water is really unpleasant, and one can't help but wish that the water were a little cooler.
He wiped the sweat from his brow and looked at the basin again; wisps of steam were rising from it.
Seeing this, Qi Zhiheng thought to himself, "The sun is already this strong? The water is practically steaming!"
After observing for a while, I felt something was not quite right; the steam on the water didn't look like the steam coming from hot water.
He stretched out his hand and placed it on the water's surface. Instead of feeling heat, he felt a slight coolness. As he put his hand in the water, an icy sensation seeped into his heart and soul, and the heat instantly dissipated.
Qi Zhiheng scooped up a handful of ice water and splashed it on his face, feeling refreshed.
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