37 Foundation 3

By the time that he was done, running the three cycles of qi through his body as the manual said, he was already more weary than he had expected. Although he was more than pleased to note that on his last attempt, he could begin to feel a slight warmth within his so-called meridians.

This was a very, very small sign of success. So small that seasoned practitioners would laugh to hear him call it a sign at all! But it was enough to encourage him to keep on persisting. At least he could see the beginning of the tunnel now. All he needed to do was to keep doing what he was doing.

Well, for the next few moons at least.

That was something that was a little off from what he had been expecting. It seemed his talent for martial arts was ... a little more lacking than he had expected, after all.

It certainly wasn't going to be as easy as he had hoped, he realized as he gave out a self-mocking laugh. Perhaps he has had things go a little too easy for him, ever since Old Man Snow Mountain had saved his Soul from dissipating.

But he had other things to worry about, apart from just his training. Like how he was supposed to be dealing with the medicine field that he had under his name!

He sighed, as soon as he clambered out of the cave, and had a good look at the fields that he was supposed to be tending. It was still in a mess, for all that he could start planting immediately. The fringes were still untidy, and he would have to take care to make sure that there were no trees or saplings growing too close to his fields. Otherwise, they would not only block the sun, but attract birds that might be tempted to steal his seeds.

How strange that all of the knowledge that he had picked up, back in the days when he was helping his uncle out at his little farm, would turn out so useful to him now.

Now, all that he had to do, was to decide what sort of herbal medicines he was going to grow, there on his own little plot of land!

Looking through the list of plants that he could try his hand at, nothing really caught his attention. Most of the herbs and plants were simple things, that were only worth tens of Merit Points, if he exchanged them at the Medicine Hall.

Of course, he was just growing them to make good his rent, so that shouldn't be any problem. Not for him anyway.

But why was he even bothering with simple to grow herbs like that? Was the School really in need of another twenty or so bags of Brown Spirit Rice? Or ten small sacks of Ash Grey Old Melons? Did he really want to grow those simple thing here?

Then he reconsidered, setting aside his pride as he did so. He could grow something simple to make good his payment to the School. And use the rest of the space to cultivate those herbs and plants that would make him a sizable profit, once he put them in the exchange. Or those that would improve his zhenqi. That would make things a little more exciting, and profitable, wouldn't it?

Wine. That was first thing that came to mind when he was considering profit margins. A good wine would be able to sell for hundreds, if not thousands, of gold coins. And they had Three-veined Red Grapes on the list of approved plants! If one sold it in the School ...

However, the Three-veined Red Grape was not an easy thing to cultivate. And he certainly didn't have the means to turn it into wine. Still, the exchange wasn't too poor. Perhaps there was someone who was making it into wine? Was that possible?

Qin Feng shook his head then. It would attract a great deal of attention, if he brought in such an unusual product. And he didn't have the sort of background which would explain it away either. So ... wine was out of the question.

At least, until he got a better idea of what he could and could not do, there at the School.

Qin Feng sighed as he looked down at his hands. To think that he had signed away two years of his life, just to get his hands on a simple, basic Jade Tree Sixteen Breathing Exercises!

But that would form the basis of everything else that he hoped to achieve. And Old Man Snow Mountain had been rather insistent that he take up that particular Foundation technique. So, he was somewhat certain that he was unlikely to have any trouble with it.

Which was why he settled down once again, and began a second round of Breathing exercises. Another cycle or two should take him through to the School's official mealtime!

By the time the noon-meal bell sounded, Qin Feng was more than ready to rush towards the Dining Hall. But he held himself back, and stuck to a pace that he could sustain. The worst thing that could happen if he got there a bit late would be that all of the popular main dishes and most of the side dishes would be gone. That wasn't going to be too much of a problem for him.

However, if he were to fall and injure himself on the trail ... That was going to be much worse, wasn't it?

So he stuck to a comfortable pace, and took his time to look around, as he walked. He had not had such a chance before, when he was following Chen Xing about, and trying to memorized the routes.

He was perspiring heavily by the time that he reached the more inhabited areas within the back hills. Qin Feng was already muttering curses as he tramped along by then. He should have set aside a bit of time to work on his Lightness-of-Body technique. This bothersome trek was the whole reason why he had picked that Flowing Wind technique in the first place, wasn't it?

Qin Feng stopped then, and took a deep Breath, channeling it through his body to reinvigorate it after his exertions so far. He still had a long way to go, so there was no point in being impatient. This was a long road that he had chosen, after all.

But it was his choice, rather than something that someone else had picked for him. So he could hardly complain about that, could he?

He sighed again, as he shook his head at himself. It was going to get a lot more tiresome, he knew, the longer that he remained there at the School.

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