Chapter 42: Breathing Recovers Health?
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Li Xuan prepared to leave, as the black notebook had been floating and waiting nearby all along.
Though it was merely an object, for some reason Li Xuan always felt that the black notebook was urging him on, as if any time spent not engaging in the main mission was an unnecessary drain of its energy.
Quite interesting.
At the school gates, Li Xuan carried his backpack, inside which were Liu Zhuobin, Charlie, Gao Hanqiang, and Di Zhiheng, along with the farewell gifts from Song Fen and Fang Xiaoyi...
There were no tearful scenes of dramatic parting.
A tinge of reluctance stirred within Li Xuan's heart, but knowing he did not belong here, he resolutely turned and walked away...
When no one was paying attention, his body dissolved into a cool breeze and vanished from this world.
...
Opening his eyes.
Li Xuan was back in his small garden, standing before the emerald-green seedling just as he had the previous two times.
The seedling swayed its body, sprouting a new leaf inscribed with the characters "The Haunted School", and then gave a jitter. Much like the sunflower from the mini-game "Plants vs. Zombies", it popped out a small ball of light. While sunflowers produced yellow ones, the one this seedling ejected was green.
You, oh you...
You always manage to come up with something new.
Li Xuan reached out, picked up the green light orb, and crushed it. A wave of indescribable comfort instantly washed over his entire body!
A row of glowing green text floated before his eyes, reading:
[Obtained mission reward from the world of "The Haunted School": "Tough Vitality". Upon suffering non-fatal injuries (such as decapitation, bisection, crushed heart, etc.), once removed from danger (third-party threats), the physical state will rapidly recover through the passage of time! Note: Adequate nutrition must be consumed in a timely manner to provide energy for the body...]
This...
After looking at it for a moment, Li Xuan immediately realized this was a god-tier life-saving reward!
The effect of Tough Vitality was very similar to the "health regeneration" mechanic in shooter games. As long as he wasn't killed on the spot, he could slowly recover his health once out of combat.
It was just that the "Tough Vitality" skill he acquired seemed to strictly obey the law of conservation of mass—if he wanted to regenerate health, he had to replenish his nutrition.
No one was around.
Li Xuan went to the storage room, found a utility knife, replaced it with a fresh blade, wiped off the maintenance oil, and sterilized it with fire.
Facing north, he said, "Your disciple is testing his skills for future adventures across the heavens, and has no intention of maliciously harming his physical body. May the Celestial Emperor forgive me!"
Although only high-grade novice judges were required to strictly abide by the "Black Code", it didn't have much to do with him, a low-grade novice judge.
But which elder doesn't like a polite child?
He recalled a clause in the Black Code stating that any judge who intentionally damaged their physical body would be expelled from the Taoist registry.
...
The utility knife slid across his index finger, the sharp blade slicing open the skin, and blood immediately welled up.
A sharp sting!
Enduring the discomfort in his finger, Li Xuan carefully observed the wound.
After about ten minutes, as his breathing grew slightly heavier, the wound began to slowly heal and scab over. Half an hour later, only a faint white mark remained on his index finger.
Under normal circumstances, such a wound would take three to four days to recover and a full seven days for the scar to completely disappear.
Feeling a bit thirsty at this moment, he went to the doorway, bought a bottle of glucose water, and chugged it down to feel better. Was this the so-called "conservation of energy"?
The timing of the seedling issuing missions didn't seem fixed, and largely depended on whether he showed any willingness to undertake them.
Li Xuan was not in a hurry. Cultivation in the real world was very slow, but he possessed the gourd presented by the White Crane Immortal, which he had kept with him for nearly half a year in the world of "The Haunted School".
That gourd had absorbed a considerable amount of "local" spiritual energy.
Whenever he meditated, he simply needed to pull out the gourd stopper, and the spiritual energy would drift out for him to absorb and refine into magical power, storing it in his elixir field.
The gourd acted like a spiritual energy power bank, solving the problem of his slow cultivation speed in the real world...
The practice of cultivation was an exercise in patience.
Whether in ancient Chinese tales of gods and demons, television and film, or Daoist scriptural introductions,
achieving mastery was never an easy task. Absorbing the essence of heaven and earth, seizing the creation of the cosmos, shedding the mortal shell, and ascending to immortality required at least a full sixty-year cycle before one could achieve success!
After all, not everyone was blessed with the profound fortune of Zhang Daoling, who, after thirty years of self-enlightenment, suddenly had Supreme Laojun bestow upon him magical treasures, talismans, and Daoist scriptures for a divine assist, subsequently slaying various ghosts and demon kings to achieve full merit and become one of the Three Heavens Grand Masters!
Li Xuan had arranged a strict schedule for himself.
Aside from cultivation, he had also signed up for combat training at a gym to build muscle, improve his physical fitness, and learn how to actually fight.
He was afraid he might suddenly cross over into the world of "Uncle Nine", where the people were exceptionally resilient, and even incompetent disciples like Qiucheng and Wencai could exchange blows bare-handed with jiangshis.
What the Marshal Tianpeng said was entirely correct.
Unless driven to absolute desperation, one should not casually summon this or that deity. For those walking the Dao, the only correct path was to focus on one's own foundation and harness the great power of heaven and earth within oneself...
Cultivation and physical training completely captivated Li Xuan.
The sensation of growing stronger was intensely addictive!
Over the past half year...
Early in the morning, Li Xuan, sitting cross-legged on the round stone table in the garden, opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air.
The amount of time he needed for regular sleep was growing shorter and shorter. Now, just five hours of sleep a day was enough to keep him energetic throughout the day...
With a nutritious three-meal diet combined with the absorption of spiritual energy,
Li Xuan—a college graduate of just over half a year (counted in real-world time)—had undergone a remarkable physical transformation.
Standing one meter eighty-two centimeters tall, his weight had originally been a mere one hundred and twenty pounds. Though somewhat handsome, he could not escape being categorized as a scrawny weakling.
Now, his muscle mass had increased, and his facial features had grown chiseled and full of vitality. Most importantly, the outline of an eight-pack of abs faintly showed across his once-flat stomach.
Building muscle through fitness required time, and transforming from a scrawny weakling into someone with visible abs was already quite impressive...
He hoped to continue cultivating in this flawless manner until he became unmatched in the mortal realm.
However, the power bank had run out of battery...
Having enjoyed member-level download speeds, he was instantly cast back into non-member status. A speed of 1KB per second was nothing short of top-tier torture.
Li Xuan stretched his limbs, looked at the seedling in the garden, and said, "I've rested for half a year; it's time to run some errands. Give me a mission!"
The seedling swayed its body, its leaves jittered, and green light flashed, enveloping Li Xuan's entire body!
Bang...
As the green light dissipated, Li Xuan vanished along with it.
...
Beep, beep! Car horns sounded.
What came into view was a bustling city street. The scorching weather and the cicadas chirping in the roadside trees made Li Xuan—still wearing long sleeves from his recent transdimensional jump—stand out like an anomaly.
A television broadcast reported that ground temperatures in parts of the urban area had exceeded 40 degrees Celsius.
Li Xuan pulled the black notebook from his pocket, which bore the following mission description: [Slay the reincarnated evil cultivator sisters (brothers).]
Hmm...
He looked around his surroundings. Oh?
He really seemed destined for Taiwan. He had only just left Taiwan from the world of "Incantation" two worlds ago, and now, separated merely by the strait, he was back in Hong Kong's neighboring regions.
Wait, which television or film works took place in Taiwan and featured sibling evil cultivators? It sounded somewhat like an urban xianxia flavor...