Chapter 19: Peerless Divine Technique

After returning to the bamboo hut, Han Shuangjiang and Huaixu parted ways.

The Fox‑faced Man walked into the hut, sat cross‑legged on the bed, and began to attempt to cultivate the Sword Refining Art.

He was a bit curious: how much Experience Points could he gain through such “AFK cultivation”?

So far, Huaixu had spent a total of 79 Experience Points, with 121 remaining.

Breaking through the second acupuncture point required spending 140 Experience Points.

It was worth mentioning that his character panel showed those points as “freely distributable Experience Points.”

The Experience Points gained from cultivating the Sword Refining Art could only be used to upgrade that technique.

They could not be used to upgrade other techniques or any Skills.

After adjusting his state, Huaixu took a deep breath and established his mindset.

“Shouldn’t it hurt a lot too?” he thought to himself.

Using Experience Points for a one‑click upgrade compressed countless cultivation cycles, allowing you to reap the results instantly.

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The excruciating pain that felt like being run over by a motorcycle—each time he cultivated, the full amount of pain was experienced in an instant.

Huaixu was simply curious now: “What would normal cultivation feel like?”

Hmm, it wasn’t like he was addicted.

The Sword Refining Art began circulating within him, and the heavenly and earthly spiritual energy surged into his body.

The reason why the Qi‑Opening Stage wasn’t considered proper cultivation was because you couldn’t retain spiritual energy within, and so you wouldn’t generate spiritual power from it.

At this moment, the only function of this spiritual energy entering his body was to help break open the acupuncture point.

Only when all nine acupuncture points were cleared could one open the secret Xuanhuang Treasure within and truly step onto the path of cultivation!

During the Qi‑Opening Stage, the most obvious improvement was actually in physical fitness, which was why it was named the Qi‑Opening Body‑Refining Stage.

Right now, as Huaixu began to run the technique, his body couldn’t help but tremble slightly.

He began to feel the pain.

“How should I describe it… it felt like countless hands were twisting my flesh?”

“Every piece of flesh all over my body!”

Damn it, were they trying to remove all the dampness from my body?

Just as Huaixu began to overthink, he immediately sensed the converging spiritual energy starting to dissipate.

This made him realize why the reputation of the Sword Refining Art in its comment section was so bad—everyone warned “Don’t train this,” or “Take advice and listen.”

“So the entire cultivation process requires stabilizing the mind?”

You had to endure the whole time, otherwise it was wasted effort!

Otherwise, all that pain up to this point would be for nothing.

Huaixu immediately reined in his thoughts and tried to adjust as much as possible.

As the cultivation deepened, he could clearly feel the pain index continuing to rise.

The ache was intense—it felt like those countless invisible hands were not just twisting his flesh.

After twisting the flesh, they then twisted it from side to side…

Huaixu thought he would gradually go numb as time passed.

But oddly enough, he didn’t!

Just one cycle of directional energy circulation felt like a lifetime.

He began to miss the days when he was just a player.

Damn it, give me back my pain‑sensing adjustment function!

In the end, once Huaixu’s emotions surged, the surrounding spiritual energy began to dissipate again.

“…”

When he finally completed one whole circulation and snapped his eyes open, he could only prop himself up with one hand on the bed and start to breathe heavily.

“My nickname really fits—I might literally die from ‘Painful Menstruation.’”

“From now on I can’t train on the bed; I’ll sit on a meditation cushion on the floor. Damn it, I’m drenched in sweat and my mattress is ruined!” The virtual male model was pretty clean‑freakish.

He even considered training in the nude, too lazy to wash clothes and worried his clothes would stink from sweat.

Putting those distractions aside, Huaixu checked the cultivation Experience Points he had obtained.

“9 points?” He twitched slightly at the corner of his mouth.

And that was with him having 1 point in 【Spirit Embryo Attribute】—otherwise his cultivation speed would be even slower!

“This Sword Refining Art is damn stingy!” he gritted his teeth.

He did the math: after running the technique twice more, his total Experience Points would be 139.

But upgrading the technique required 140 Experience Points.

“Missing this 1 point is the most disgusting part! I’m seriously gonna puke!”

Frustrated, Huaixu hurriedly grabbed the booklet to vent.

He turned to the third page and added a big exclamation mark after the “Peerless Divine Technique” he’d written earlier, just to emphasize.

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“Whew—!”

In the neighboring bamboo hut, Han Shuangjiang, who was also diligently cultivating, opened her beautiful eyes and let out a long breath.

Her well-developed chest rose and fell slightly with the motion.

At the moment, she was sitting cross-legged on the bed, her long and shapely legs interlaced—a sight to behold.

She was naturally wide at the hips and had a golden waist-to-hip ratio, with full and perky curves.

Now sitting on the bed, the flesh of her hips was gently compressed and spread outward, puffing up her robes as if those rich curves were about to spill out.

The Joyous Sect’s plump-bottomed female sect master most admired this trait in Han Shuangjiang and believed she had found a worthy successor to her legacy.

—Capable of teaching the “Guanyin Lotus Seat,” seated to enlighten all beings.

At this moment, Han Shuangjiang’s beautiful eyes showed a hint of joy.

Each time she cultivated, she felt entirely relaxed and extraordinarily comfortable.

More importantly, she had easily broken through the second acupuncture point.

For her, clearing the points was honestly a little too easy.

“It’s just a pity that after breaking through each point, the body needs time to adjust.”

“Maybe I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to strike at the third point.” Han Shuangjiang speculated silently.

Today, she and Huaixu had already come to an agreement to live and cultivate together for now, aiming to break through the Qi-Opening Stage as soon as possible and become proper cultivators.

“I thought with the outrageous prices in the outer sect, one hundred taels of silver wouldn’t be enough and time would be very tight.” she thought.

“But now, it seems I was overthinking.”

She never once considered Huaixu’s cultivation progress.

In her eyes, since they were both taken up the mountain by the Sixth Elder, he couldn’t be too bad.

“But still, money should be spent sparingly.”

“Cultivation requires wealth, methods, companions, and place.”

“There’ll be more ways to make money in the future, but even more ways to spend it.” Han Shuangjiang at least understood this much.

After some thought, she felt it might be better to cook for herself—buying ingredients and making meals.

“Walking over to dine out also takes a lot of time. With that time, I could already cook a meal myself.” That was how she saw it.

Other people’s money should be spent even more sparingly.

From Huaixu’s clothes and style, Han Shuangjiang could tell his family background was probably modest—he just had an unusually refined aura.

“These hundred silver taels must be his parents’ savings, right?” That was all she could guess.

If it was money earned by someone else’s parents, it should be treasured even more.

Each copper coin and silver tael stitched together was filled with their earnest hopes for their child.

At that thought, her gaze dimmed slightly—she had been sold to a brothel by her parents when she was young.

She lowered her head and looked at her snow-white ankles—bare and empty.

Han Shuangjiang knew that some sisters in the brothel would tie a red string around their ankles.

Many patrons, during their merrymaking, found the red string to be extremely attractive, adding a touch of allure to their jade-like feet.

But only insiders knew: tying a red string around the ankle meant one still had something they were attached to.

Some women of the brothel had been kidnapped or sold because of family trouble.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one’s feet”—the red string tied on the foot was to not forget the road home.

But as for her?

She didn’t even have such a simple longing.

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Around noon, Han Shuangjiang walked out of her bamboo hut, planning to talk seriously with Huaixu about her money-saving strategies.

Huaixu opened the door after hearing the knock.

He glanced at her and couldn’t help but feel she seemed a little different.

Huaixu immediately tossed over an 【Information Probe】, and the system reported that Han Shuangjiang had already opened her second acupuncture point.

“You broke through?” he asked.

“Mm.” She nodded slightly, unsure how he had seen through it—almost as if she had no secrets before him.

“What a coincidence, I just broke through too.” Huaixu leaned against the doorframe, looking calm and composed.

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