Chapter 383: Chapter 379: 379: Return (One more call for guaranteed monthly tickets)

The one who woke Feng Jun up was none other than the picturesque scenery.

Groggy with sleep, Feng Jun opened his eyes to see her and was startled at first.

His first reaction was to check his wrist for any attached leads, and upon seeing none, he breathed a sigh of relief.

For over a month now, his mood had been foul, but he wasn’t one to wallow in despair. Except when he was extremely down, he would still charge the Stone Ring most nights.

With more than a dozen Intermediate-Level Spirit Stones, the charging efficiency was truly low in comparison, but it was an attitude towards life.

He believed that he would return to that realm, even if it meant taking great risks; he had to get back there.

Persisting in charging was because of this belief, and inversely, he also used this action to push himself—I can’t give up.

So after being awakened by the beautiful scenery, his first concern was whether he was in the midst of charging.

Having a companion who could cultivate energy made it quite fortunate, but if he were to electrocute her… you know, that would not only be scary but also quite bad.

Then he remembered that before falling asleep, he had considered this possibility—no, he wasn’t charging.

Only afterwards did he realize what she was talking about, “What did you say… skin?”

Wrapped in a bathrobe, with a large towel around her head, she extended her pale arm, her face brimming with joy, “Feel my skin, doesn’t it seem a bit smoother?”

She had woken up at just past five in the morning and, feeling a bit sticky, decided to take a shower. Then she suddenly realized that her skin seemed to have gotten a bit better, or so she thought… Perhaps a little bit?

Feng Jun, being a rough man, didn’t have such keen senses.

He only knew that the scenery had always had nice skin, and even if it got better… how much better could it really get?

Still, a woman needs to be flattered, so he expressed surprise, “Eh, it really does seem a bit better, but… could it be because you just took a shower?”

He had to go along with her and show the right amount of skepticism, only this way could he boost her motivation to keep doing yoga.

The scenery indeed believed his words—as most women, especially beauties, can hardly resist such topics, “Really? Maybe, I always felt it was improving… I thought it was beginning to deteriorate before.”

“How could that be?” Feng Jun gazed at her, speaking with deep affection, “You are at the best age right now… I’m really quite lucky.”

“Keep talking nonsense,” she pushed him playfully, cheeks bubbling with delight, “You sure know how to sweet-talk… Alright, I’m off to take care of my skin.”

“No rush,” Feng Jun reached out to wrap his arm around her waist, “This early in the morning, let’s start the day with some yoga, a morning workout.”

“I really can’t,” she didn’t struggle but pleaded pitifully, “Can we… wait until tonight?”

Feng Jun let her go when he understood that she meant she wouldn’t leave that evening either.

The scenery stopped at the door to wave her little fist at him, “Keep dreaming, I’ll leave after breakfast!”

Of course, that was just the “defiance” shown by the beauty before the great demon king cruelly suppressed it.

In fact, Feng Jun just held on to her for a while, took her for a hike, and she soon gave in.

Feng Jun had wanted to take her yachting, but there was a strong wind today, and Xu Leigang hesitantly said that his wife and daughter also wanted to come over to enjoy the boat ride, Master, what do you think?

So, they decided to go yachting together tomorrow and skip it for today.

After the hike, it was already noon. The scenery ate lunch and unapologetically went to take a nap.

Feng Jun came to the pavilion and sat cross-legged, then circulated his energy—his Inner Qi was still being depleted.

Compared to yesterday, the speed of depletion had decreased a bit, which proved the Royal Secret Manual truly lived up to its name; it was remarkable indeed.

Feng Jun originally wondered whether the Foundation Establishment Pill and Natural Treasures he had taken before were just a catalyst that triggered previous accumulations. But after doing yoga last night… no, after his hair did last night, and seeing a significant improvement today, he finally realized: it was definitely this thing that had an effect.

So, he began his cultivation, aiming to advance to an Intermediate-Level Martial Master… or even a High-Rank Martial Master as soon as possible.

However, no sooner had he begun to cultivate than he knew something was amiss: his Cultivation Level was recovering faster!

That should have been good news, but it was problematic because Gazi and Xu Leigang were also cultivating nearby.

Wang Haifeng was not there; another section of construction had been completed today, and he went for an inspection.

When Feng Jun opened his eyes, he found, as expected, that Gazi and Xu Leigang were both looking at him strangely.

“What’s up?” While asking, Feng Jun sensed the Spiritual Energy, and sure enough, most of it was converging towards him.

Now that he had stopped cultivating, the Spiritual Energy was returning to normal, but the disturbance he’d caused wasn’t something that could be calmed immediately.

Gazi never treated him as an outsider, “Brother Jun, it feels like your spot… is like a vacuum cleaner, affecting our cultivation.”

“Hmm,” Feng Jun nodded, speaking casually, “I do have a little idea I want to test out, let’s keep going.”

Then he controlled his pace, but even so, two hours later, he had advanced to the rank of Intermediate Level Martial Master.

He had intended to continue cultivating for a while longer, pushing his cultivation level even higher when he suddenly heard two “caw caws” nearby.

Opening his eyes, he saw the crow had already landed inside the pavilion, its small eyes looking outside—its demeanor spelling out three words: It’s raining now!

Feng Jun glanced at the ground and couldn’t be bothered with it; a tiny bit of rain, sparse at that, and this creature couldn’t wait to seek shelter in the pavilion.

It was already a routine, he had no interest in fussing over it. The sky gradually darkened, and the rain was sure to increase soon.

However, he could no longer continue cultivating, otherwise, that crow—far too sensitive to disturbances—might just land on him.

He wasn’t the least bit interested in becoming a dandy young master with a bird on his shoulder, especially one that was a… crow!

This rain lasted a whole day and night, only stopping at noon the next day, thus ruining everyone’s plans to go out on the yacht.

However, this saved Feng Jun the trouble of having to convince Feng Jing to stay; walking on mountain paths in the rain is always dangerous.

What to do during the rainy period? Unable to cultivate, recharge, or even entertain the thought of wandering around, the most he could do was stand on the roof of the villa, peer through a telescope, and sigh at the misty rain, as if in Jiangnan.

So the next best thing to do was to practice yoga.

The rain stopped on Sunday afternoon, but the mountain roads… as everyone knows, they were still impassable just after the rain.

Feng Jing didn’t insist on leaving that evening, and decided to get up at six in the morning on Monday to head off to work.

Before leaving, she murmured softly, “I’ve never heard of yoga being so refreshing… What on earth are they up to in the Royal Family?”

At this moment, Feng Jun still felt a tinge of regret; he felt that despite practicing yoga multiple times, he couldn’t be sure whether his Inner Qi would stop depleting—if he could practice for another three or four days, he would be certain it wouldn’t be a problem.

Now, he could only hope it wouldn’t be an issue—he obviously couldn’t stop Feng Jing from going to work.

But this wasn’t a big deal; if problems arose once there, he could simply come back and practice yoga again.

So he found a flat spot on the mountain and began to cultivate earnestly—he didn’t particularly care about the presence of Spiritual Energy, but it’s safe to say cultivation was faster with it.

After a full day of cultivation, he finally returned to the Innate level, and there were no reactions of “a hundred zhang” or “ten zhang”; he had already reached that realm before, and it was simply a matter of retracing his steps.

That night, he thoroughly enjoyed a hearty meal and charged up all night long. Waking up the next day, he felt incredibly refreshed—to his own surprise, it seemed almost as if he slept better being plugged in like an electrical appliance.

Moreover, upon waking in the early morning, he could feel which direction was north and which was south, even with his eyes closed—it was as if he were a magnet.

After breakfast, he checked his Inner Qi again, took out his mobile phone, and said, “Let’s go~”

The next moment, Feng Jun heard a sinister laugh, “Haha, come get your antidote again.”

He blinked and saw Gu Maoyuan’s distinctively strange face in the distance. Then, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a light blue bubblegum-sized ball, and quietly popped it into his mouth, slowly chewing.

—This gum was mint-flavored.

Seeing Feng Jun still not giving up, Gu Maoyuan became even happier, “No worries, I can wait a bit longer.”

Feng Jun grinned at him, revealing his snow-white teeth, “You know… how do villains usually die?”

“Haha,” Gu Maoyuan continued to laugh heartily, his laughter combined with his eerie face becoming increasingly ferocious, “Do you know how you will die? Don’t worry, I won’t let you die so quickly.”

“Tsk tsk, I’m going to turn you into a human swine so that everyone in Donghua Country can see, this is the consequence of trusting the Imperial Court…”

“Villains die from talking too much!” Feng Jun shouted sharply, lifting his arm as the Spirit Blade left his hand, whistling through the air and flying towards Gu Maoyuan with lightning speed, with the imposing might of a thunderous descent, grand and unstoppable!

Gu Maoyuan might have been momentarily stunned, then he laughed even happier, “Haha, desperate move…”

He raised his hand and deflected the whistling Long Blade, but the force on the blade still surprised him, “Eh…”

In the next moment, he saw a figure flash before him, holding a strange brown needle, aiming for his shoulders.

He wanted to react, but regretfully, it was too late. He felt only a numbness in his shoulders and his Longsword involuntarily dropped to the ground.

Immediately afterward, his legs also felt pain and suddenly went weak.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Then, he realized what had happened, and couldn’t help but inhale a breath of cold air, “A Storage Bag… the spines of a Spiritual Hedgehog?”

Feng Jun lifted his hand and broke his limbs, then smiled slightly, “My favorite thing to do is to pay back in kind. What was it you said just now… human swine?”

He could have taken advantage of the other’s carelessness to strike and kill his opponent, but Gu Maoyuan’s words had truly upset him.

So he let his Spirit Blade fly not to kill, but to risk capturing his foe.

(May’s first update, during the double points period, calling for the guaranteed monthly tickets.)