Xu Fu forcefully clapped his hands, making the disciples of the Spirit Division focus their attention.
"What are you all standing around dazed for, one by one?"
"You train your own. Wang Shanlu is born with divine strength; you can only make up for clumsiness with diligence."
In ordinary days Xu Fu was a strict master, and the deterrent force in his words was fairly effective, quickly calming the disciples down.
Zhao Liangxin also began guiding the junior brothers' movements; of course, Ren Qing was not included among them.
Ren Qing felt more like he had simply changed locations to continue practicing boxing. Xu Fu only spent a few breaths before giving up on the intention of teaching him martial arts.
That was fine as well.
These crude external techniques, how could they possibly compare to the thousand-year foundation of the Wuwei Daoist Temple?
One had to know that even the Restraint Officers' Hall took the Heavenly Dao introductory methods, made deletions, and openly placed them in the yamen's martial tower.
Ren Qing practiced boxing for more than half an hour, then pretended to rest.
In reality, he was absorbing the Nether Yuan within the jade pendant. The insect body had basically completed its transformation, and he planned to reach the Foundation Establishment stage as soon as possible to extend his lifespan.
It was just a pity that advancing the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method required a considerable amount of lifespan; otherwise, directly turning on cheats would be the simplest option, why go through all this trouble.
When Ren Qing practiced until the sun was high in the sky, the back kitchen of Qingfeng Hall brought out the food.
The food was all placed in large wooden barrels. Aside from the fine rice unique to Weian Town, one could also see very rare meat dishes.
Xu Tu and the other children swallowed their saliva. Qingfeng Hall did not have meat every day.
They impatiently surrounded the cook. The other disciples also followed the aroma, quickly forming three layers inside and three layers outside.
However, when Ren Qing stepped forward, they voluntarily made way for a path.
Seeing this, Ren Qing served himself some food and left the crowd, staying beneath the shade of a tree. In just a few mouthfuls, he stuffed a large bowl of food into his stomach.
At present, even though he was in a stable growth phase, his demand for nutrition was still very high. Ordinary meals were far from enough to fill his belly.
Ren Qing stood up and continued serving himself food; logically speaking, the supply was unlimited.
Immediately afterward, under everyone's incredulous gazes, he ate a full six or seven jin of food, yet his abdomen still appeared very flat.
Seeing this, the cook felt somewhat troubled and hurried off to the stove room to continue steaming rice.
Xu Tu's face was full of envy. If he had this appetite, he could just eat a whole day's worth of food at noon every day and save quite a bit of silver.
Zhao Liangxin, on the other hand, felt deeply frustrated. Looking at Ren Qing's back, he felt as though he were facing a great mountain.
What shocked them the most was that Ren Qing immediately afterward lifted a hundred-jin stone weight without pause, using it to perform squats and horse stance.
Ren Qing's legs were as steady as bedrock. He thought he might as well absorb Nether Yuan while tempering his body, accomplishing both without delay.
The slightly cool Nether Yuan circulated through his entire body, slowly being absorbed by muscles and bones.
Unknowingly, it also caused Ren Qing's physique to be tainted with part of Nether Yuan's characteristics. Over time, it would definitely stimulate the insect root within his spine.
In this way, it was equivalent to constructing a virtuous cycle.
However, hidden dangers were not absent. The Cancer Disease Tree disease type had already spread throughout his body along with his blood, and for the time being there was no particularly good method to suppress it.
Ren Qing felt that if this continued, the Cancer Disease Tree would inevitably erupt suddenly.
He could only place his hopes on body martial arts.
Ren Qing intermittently tempered his body on the training ground for an entire day. Seeing the sky gradually darken, the disciples also left Qingfeng Hall one after another.
As soon as they stepped out the main gate, they could not restrain themselves from discussing Ren Qing, their words filled with uncontrollable excitement.
Seeing this, Ren Qing felt slightly helpless. It would probably spread within a few days.
But after he used the Gigantification disease type to construct a split soul, wanting to keep a low profile was clearly unrealistic; in the future, he would only become more conspicuous.
Just as Ren Qing was about to return home, he was suddenly quietly stopped by Xu Fu.
Xu Fu's face flushed red as he opened his mouth. Looking at Ren Qing, who was a head taller than himself, he did not have the nerve to address him as a disciple.
"Shanlu, keep this book well. When you're free, look at it and practice according to it."
Xu Fu knew that although Ren Qing seemed to lack intelligence, in reality simple communication posed no problem, so he stuffed the book into the latter's hands.
Afterward, he did not linger, personally escorting Ren Qing to the entrance of the Martial Instruction Hall.
Ren Qing quickly walked toward his residence. Even though he took secluded alleys along the way, he still drew astonished looks from nearby residents.
When he arrived home, Wang Ling had already prepared the evening meal.
The two did not exchange a single word, yet the atmosphere was extremely harmonious, without the slightest stiffness, as if they had originally been real siblings.
Relying on just this evening meal was definitely not enough for Ren Qing. He also ate some dried meat he had brought along, then took out that manual from his robe.
The book recorded the breathing method of Qingfeng Hall. It was not profound at all, even newly initiated disciples had already mastered it.
However, considering that Ren Qing might be illiterate, Xu Fu had made the entire book out of illustrations. Instead, it had become even more obscure and difficult to understand.
Ren Qing flipped through it several times, feeling that Xu Fu was using the book to lay a foundation for him, then would provide instruction during idle times.
Ren Qing summoned the information stream to check, and discovered that it could be mastered without lifespan expenditure.
He did not hesitate to silently confirm it, but only felt a warm current surge into his lungs, after which there was no further movement, almost no change at all.
The information stream did display something.
[Martial Art: Qingfeng Breathing Method (Level One)]
Ren Qing discovered that advancing upward again likewise required no lifespan consumption. Only when reaching the third level of the Qingfeng Breathing Method did it show a requirement of one day of lifespan.
His throat felt slightly itchy. He could not help but grunt a few times, then spat out a mouthful of phlegm mixed with blood threads, finally feeling a bit better.
But Ren Qing did not feel the breathing method was particularly useful; it merely made his mouth and nose more unobstructed.
He did not choose to continue advancing it. Instead, he closed his eyes and fell into meditation, letting his body remain in a relaxed state to better grow and develop.
He did not sleep all night.
Early in the morning, Ren Qing went to Qingfeng Hall, once again delivering a heavy blow to Xu Fu.
Xu Fu saw that Ren Qing's breathing was steady, clearly having already grasped the subtleties of the breathing method, even surpassing most disciples in a short time.
He smiled bitterly and shook his head, then without holding anything back, tilted the resources toward the other party.
Xu Fu felt that if he did not put in some effort now, it would not be long before Wang Shanlu would no longer need to use clumsy methods to temper his body.
When the other disciples of Qingfeng Hall arrived, they saw Ren Qing wearing heavy iron armor, with an iron chain tied around his waist that was connected to a hundred-jin stone ball.
Ren Qing fast-walked around the training ground, sweat flowing down his legs onto the ground.
Every two laps, a menial from the Martial Instruction Hall would hand him medicinal tea.
The disciples were all dumbfounded. Not seeing him for one night, how did it feel like Wang Shanlu's status was already approaching Xu Fu's? Even Xu Fu did not train with this kind of spectacle.
But facing Ren Qing's livestock-like terrifying strength, even Zhao Liangxin did not dare say much. He even forced a laugh and went to hand Ren Qing a cup of tea. The title of "Senior Brother" was effectively in name only.
Under such circumstances, the enthusiasm for martial training in Qingfeng Hall instead reached an unprecedented height.
Very quickly, more than ten days passed.
Ren Qing's height finally reached that of Confucius. His muscle girth increased by another circle, and when he walked, he resembled a mountain god.
The cultivation of the Netherworld Heavenly Insect Method also reached the middle stage of Qi Refining. The insect body had already completed its molting, mainly manifested in bone density.
Because of Ren Qing, the disciples of the Martial Instruction Hall all carried themselves with more confidence when going out.
Later, after Zhao Liangxin intentionally or unintentionally called Ren Qing "Senior Brother," the other disciples' forms of address naturally changed as well.
Even when Xu Fu faced Ren Qing, whom he had to look up at, his tone would weaken by three parts.
Ren Qing also spent more than ten days of lifespan to advance the Qingfeng Breathing Method to the ninth level of great completion, but the effect was extremely trivial.
At that time, he coughed for a long while, and his lungs also swelled slightly.
In the end, it only amounted to an increase in lung capacity.
On the contrary, weighted training was very suitable for the current Ren Qing. The various disease types within his body, under stimulation from external force, continuously acted upon his physique.
The commotion from Ren Qing's martial training grew increasingly loud. Even separated by Qingfeng Hall's courtyard walls, passersby could still clearly hear the sounds coming from inside.
Xu Sanliang passed near Qingfeng Hall and recalled that he had not had time to pay attention to Wang Shanlu these past few days.
After all, he had been constantly running between towns and countryside, searching for survivors left behind from Undying Town. Unfortunately, there were not many leads to be found.
Xu Sanliang looked at the gate of the Martial Instruction Hall. After hesitating for a few breaths, he did not go in.
But at this moment, he noticed more than ten martial artists in gray clothes walking briskly toward Qingfeng Hall, they were all disciples of Blackstone Hall.
"Challenging the hall?"
Xu Sanliang narrowed his eyes. Thinking that Wang Shanlu might be involved, he immediately changed direction, vaulting over the wall and stepping into the courtyard.
He was not worried about Wang Shanlu's safety. He mainly feared that the latter might be unable to control himself, causing casualties among Blackstone Hall's disciples.
If that drew the attention of body martial cultivators, it would not be good.
Although after mastering body martial arts, cultivators were already independent of Martial Instruction Halls, the number of cultivators backing Blackstone Hall far exceeded that of Qingfeng Hall.
The leading disciple of Blackstone Hall, Ruan Gang, had a robust body that stood half a head taller than the surrounding junior brothers, and his palms were covered with thick calluses.
In recent days, he had heard that Qingfeng Hall had produced a disciple born with divine strength, and he had thought to come and see for himself, incidentally sparring a bit.
When Ruan Gang arrived at the gate of Qingfeng Hall, the menial straightforwardly opened the gate.
He hesitated for a moment, only to hear ear-splitting collision sounds coming from the courtyard, with even the ground showing slight vibrations.
"Senior Brother, what's going on..."
Ruan Gang quickly raised his hand to stop his junior brothers from speaking, then slowly walked toward the training ground.
A scene that made his pupils dilate entered his sight.
A stone ball that only the head master could barely move was, in Ren Qing's hands, as if it weighed nothing at all, while the surrounding disciples all looked as though it were nothing unusual.
After receiving a reminder from the menial, Zhao Liangxin hurried over to Ren Qing's side and said, "Senior Brother, someone has come wanting to test their skills."
Ren Qing said nothing, casually throwing the stone ball outside the training ground, then forcefully yanking apart the iron chain bound around his waist.
The iron chain was like a twisted rope, easily splitting into two halves.
When he looked toward the gate again, Ruan Gang and the others were already nowhere to be seen.
Ruan Gang was not a fool. He could clearly see Ren Qing's extraordinariness, any technique was meaningless in the face of absolute strength.
Only a few senior brothers in Blackstone Hall who cultivated body martial arts could possibly reach such a level.
Ren Qing did not care at all. The Double Pupils on his forehead casually swept across the surroundings, and he could sense that Xu Sanliang was secretly observing him.
If nothing unexpected happened, Xu Fu should let him come into contact with body martial arts.
Although compared to body martial arts, Ren Qing was more curious about the effects of longevity methods, fundamentally, only by increasing one's strength could one learn more secrets.