Chapter 208: Chapter 203: Half-Step into the Primordial Realm – Part 1
Translator: 549690339 |
In the territory of the Black Tiger Gang right now, an insect calamity is wreaking havoc, and dangers lurk everywhere, he desperately needs to have enough strength to protect himself.
Even after having broken through to a new realm, it merely gives him the confidence to sit tight in this countryside, but for those top experts in Black Tiger City, this level of strength is still not enough.
In the short term, it’s impossible for his cultivation to make any significant breakthroughs.
This time, with the help of the elixirs, he directly advanced from the second layer of the Acquired Realm to the next major realm, which was absolutely like rocketing up in speed.
As the saying goes, too much is as bad as not enough.
What others might take ten or twenty years, or even a lifetime to achieve, he accomplished in just one day.
Compared to those experts who have climbed up step by step, his foundation is definitely not as solid as theirs.
If he doesn’t calm his mind now and stabilize his realm, it could easily collapse
like a “high-rise building.”
He plans to spend some time now to solidify his realm and lay a firm
foundation.
While at it, he could also practice the two martial skills and take them to the
next level.
Whether it’s the Slash Martial Skill or the Sweeping Martial Technique, both can help him turn the tide in dangerous moments, so he definitely needs to master them.
Especially with the “storm” about to come, improving his strength in any area, even slightly, could mean the difference between life and death in a crisis.
“Right, let’s see how much my lifespan has increased!
Qin Niu remembered the most important thing.
Ultimately, there is only one purpose behind everything he does, and that is to
prolong his life.
Check personal attributes.
Qin Niu
Cultivation: Everlasting Spring Technique Innate early stage 10,000/100,000 (Medicine King Sutra Acquired first layer 1,570/2,000), Intermediate Farmer 119/1,000, intermediate Insect Master 108/1,000, Advanced Beast Tamer 10,000/100,000
Lifespan: 188 years
Cultivation Technique: Everlasting Spring Technique, Grade Three 1,022/10,000, Medicine King Sutra, Grade Two 572/1,000
So after the Acquired Realm, comes the legendary Innate Realm.
“One step into the Innate, half a step into immortality,” means that as soon as one enters the Innate Realm, it’s like taking half a step into the Immortal Gate, qualifying for the true pursuit of everlasting life.
He has always found himself quite deficient in knowledge about cultivation, but now that he’s finally accumulated some power, he can spare some time to catch up on this knowledge.
He bought a number of books on cultivation, beast-taming, and insect mastering from the city last time, but he has never had the time to read them.
It couldn’t be helped.
At that time, he was being targeted by Old Master Huang. He had to give his all to outwit his opponent, as the slightest carelessness could have cost him his life.
It was impossible for him to be distracted and learn the basics of cultivation.
Although he killed Old Master Huang later on, the appearance of Grade Three giant locusts gave him a hint of the presence of the Nine Insect Gang. Faced with masters of the Nine Insect Gang hidden in the shadows, his mere second- layer Acquired Realm cultivation would likely not even suffice to fill the gaps between their teeth.
Without long-term considerations, there will be immediate worries.
Always being far-sighted, he naturally did everything possible to enhance his strength before the crisis hit.
Now that he has broken through to the Innate Realm, he finally can catch his breath.
His lifespan has increased by a total of sixty years.
That is, in common terms, a jiazi.
This result is slightly lower than he expected.
After all the hardship to break through to the Innate Realm, the total only adds
up to 188 years of life.
He finds it too little.
But the lifespan of humans is indeed fleeting, and it’s extremely difficult to
extend it.
For ordinary people, living past seventy is already very rare. Most people die in their fifties or sixties.
After seventy, every decade is a hurdle.
Those who live past a hundred can definitely be called centenarians.
120 years is the limit for the Mortal Realm.
Almost no one lives to be 120 years old.
If you break into the Acquired Realm and take good care of your body, living past 120 with little issue should be possible. For those at this realm, 140 is the limit.
In fact, those who can cultivate to the Acquired Realm are already rare.
Most people are struggling in the Mortal Realm.
The Innate Realm is a profound state of cultivation that ordinary people cannot even reach.
Mortals are like ants; those in the Acquired Realm are merely stronger ants, but only upon reaching the Innate Realm does one ascend to a new level.
Most Innate Realm experts can live beyond 150 years.
For someone like Qin Niu, who practices Life-Nurturing Techniques and is only at the early stage of the Innate Realm, to live nearly 190 years is alluring.
It’s equivalent to more than three times the lifespan of an ordinary person.
The key is that he’s only sixteen years old, which is a tremendous advantage.
Most Innate Realm experts are over a hundred years old, the kind of old men who are half-buried in the ground.
Being young has many advantages. It doesn’t just mean having a longer life to attempt breaking through to the next realm and time to accumulate strength, but it also means being more vigorous, making advancement relatively easier and the potential greater.
“It’s time to head back!”
Qin Niu glanced back at the Ancient Banyan Tree and the towering mountains, his heart still full of awe. However, compared to his previous trepidation, he now felt a bit more confidence and composure.
He believed that even if he were to encounter a half-demon or even a real demon beast at this moment, he would have the strength to fight.
With one step, he covered over three meters.
Moreover, his movements were as light as a swallow, hardly requiring any
effort.
He ran through the mountains, his pace getting faster and faster.
The armor from the Pig King allowed him to disregard all thorns and branches that stood in his way.
It let Qin Niu run freely, without having to worry about his clothes getting torn. And for his physical body, ordinary thorns couldn’t harm him in the slightest. As his speed increased, the distance of each step he took grew from over three meters to over four meters.
“It would be wonderful if I could learn a Step-Method Martial Skill at some point.”
Qin Niu secretly admired the movement skills Old Master Huang had demonstrated.
Genuine core cultivation techniques and martial skills are usually hard to find
on the market.
This is because all the top-level martial skills and techniques are collected by the government and noble clans.
After buying these techniques, they only pass them on to the core disciples within their families, strictly controlling them to prevent any leaks.
It is extremely difficult for ordinary people to learn them. Returning to the village, as he passed by the houses, he discovered he could actually hear voices coming from inside.
Sister Liu’s child was crying, Yu Le’s wife was losing her temper, scolding him
for being incompetent and useless…
Having ascended to the Innate Realm, his hearing had become much more sensitive, and he could detect many subtle sounds that he was previously unable to hear.
“Master, you really came back! Hehe, it seems my sensing ability is quite accurate!”
Xiao Qing stood at the door looking out, and upon seeing Qin Niu returning from the mountains, she revealed a happy smile.
” Have you had your meal?”
“Not yet!”
“Did you practice diligently?”
“I did practice, but I kind of wilted all the medicinal herbs you planted.”
She answered, looking down.
“No problem, I will help them recover later.”
Qin Niu was thinking, should he impart the Everlasting Spring Technique to
Xiao Qing?
After thinking over it, in the end, he gave up on the idea.
It wasn’t that he was worried she might betray him in the future; rather, he feared she might bite off more than she could chew.
It would be better to take her to train within the Ancient Banyan Tree Maze than to transmit skills to her.
However, before doing so, he still needed to test her.
After all, she was just a child, not yet of age, and if she couldn’t keep her mouth shut, it could easily result in disaster.
Moreover, after her cultivation level rapidly increased, it might also go to her head.
If she flaunted her power too openly without understanding the need to hide her strength, it would likewise bring trouble.
These were all issues that needed to be considered.
As for her loyalty, Qin Niu was not too concerned.
The bond between master and servant was growing deeper, and the likelihood of her betraying Qin Niu in the future was almost nil.
“Xiao Qing, do you still like the leather armor I gave you?”
“I like it! Every gift the master gives me is especially precious.”
She spoke earnestly.
“But I haven’t seen you wear it much!”
“I usually can’t bear to wear it, I only wear it when I go hunting m the mountains with Sister Wan Yan.”
“What’s there to bear? Wear it every day from now on, it can protect your safety.”
Qin Niu felt that at her young age, she was really quite sensible.
Hardworking and clever.
She kept the house tidy and clean, cooking and doing laundry for Qin Niu every day.
Perhaps because she had lived quite a hard life with her adoptive grandfather since she was young, she was usually very frugal.
“What would you do if one day your cultivation level suddenly broke through to the tenth level of the Mortal Realm?”
The two chatted idly as they ate.
“Hmm… I think I would be very happy, and I would find an opportunity to tell my grandfather the good news at his grave. Then I would continue to practice hard, striving to advance to the Acquired Realm as soon as possible. By then, I would have the ability to protect the master,” she said thoughtfully, expressing her genuine thoughts.
“At such a young age and with such high cultivation, is your grandfather the only person you think about telling?”
“Yes. Oh, no, no, I would tell the master first, and then my grandfather second.”
“You wouldn’t want to show off in front of Sister Wan Yan or other kids?
“I can’t show off. My grandfather told me that even with the closest people, you have to learn to hide, as a form of self-protection. Cultivation levels, money, treasures – these are all core secrets, not to be casually revealed to outsiders. Showing off even a little bit of strength openly can lead to a quick death. Master, you have to remember these too. When I was traveling with my grandfather, we saw people flashing their wealth and then they were targeted and killed for it.”
She ended up advising Qin Niu to learn how to be low-key in turn.
“Hehe, who would have thought you are so young, yet you understand quite a lot! Come to the mountains with me early tomorrow morning, I’ll take you to train. But you must remember, I am taking you there because I consider you my closest and most trusted person. You must not tell anyone about this,” Qin Niu was very satisfied with her answer.
As her master, now that he had become very strong, it was natural to help his maid as well.
Having such a loyal maid by his side meant she could help Qin Niu with many things on normal days.
At crucial moments, she might even save his life.
Supporting her aptly was akin to strengthening his own arms.
In the evening, Qin Niu did not rush to the Yan family’s fields after dinner.
The number of locusts seemed to be decreasing in the last few days, with even fewer special locusts.
The Black Tiger Gang likely had already taken action.
He genuinely hoped the insect disaster would cease soon.
Qin Niu had originally thought his three thousand ducks could be sold for a good price.
Now, after eating a vast quantity of locusts, some of the ducks seemed to be evolving, which made Qin Niu temporarily give up the idea of selling the ducks. Frankly, even if they sold for fifty silver coins each, it wouldn’t bring in much money.
Just one hundred and fifty silver money.
In the past, that amount was a fortune to him.
Now, it was just a small sum.
He went to the backyard, making his way toward the medicinal herbs.
They looked wilted, as if tormented by frost.
Now that he had attained the Innate Realm, could he use the power of the Everlasting Spring Technique directly to help them quickly recover their vitality?