Simply Trading 36 Foundation 2

By the third hour after he had begun, Qin Feng began to lose heart.

He was not forming the continuous stream of qi as the manual had described! And worse, he could already feel his nasal pa.s.sages and throat start to burn. Was he going about this all wrong? Or was this technique completely unsuited for him?

But that could not be! Old Man Snow Mountain had recommended the Jade Tree technique himself, so there shouldn't be any mistake with that.

Was he going about this wrong? Or did he make some sort of stupid mistake? There were many tales in the martial arts world, about how some outstanding genius had blindly followed a manual or some written description of a technique and gained no progress for a decade or so. And whose cultivation soared in mere moons after he had figured out the flaw.

Could something like that be happening to him now?

If so, did it mean he would have to ponder over the technique that he had just received for ten years or more? But he was supposed to leave the Heaven Sword School within two years!

Or did it mean that he would have to look for some Elder or Master within the School itself, to guide him through the process? Or even someone like old man Chen Xing? Or some other senior brother?

Wasn't that as good as giving himself away? But what choice did he have? He couldn't understand what he was doing wrong at all! Or even if he was doing something wrong in the first place!

Then he looked up. No! That was not true! He did have someone that he could consult!

Granted, the puppet had no self-will now, but it used to be a rather high-leveled martial artist, wasn't it? Before Old Man Snow Mountain dealt with it? So ... wouldn't that information still be in its head? If it could circulate its own qi, and recover from exhaustion of the same, it should have retained at least a little bit of information regarding the Foundation Realm, wouldn't it?

Qin Feng sighed. He was grasping at straws, but what other choice did he have? He didn't want to end up like Chen Xing, becoming an old man before he could even manage to get his feet through the door. This was something that he had been after for the last two, three years, wasn't it?

Was he going to give up his dreams then, and simply follow the rules now?

No! No, he wasn't going to surrender! Not yet! Not without giving it another try!

He got up from where he was sitting, and started out of the door at once. It was almost midnight by his estimation, so everyone should already be asleep. Or engaged in their own cultivation. He should be safe from any spying eyes, he decided.

Qin Feng rushed towards the watering-hole behind his hut, and climbed down the slope that led down to the pond at the bottom of the cave there. The puppet was still seated there, on the dry, elevated patch of stone that stood above the water. And there was s.p.a.ce for more than one more person, on the same, just as he had remembered it when he guided the puppet there earlier.

Without wasting another moment, he sat down in front of the puppet, ignoring the ghastly blank expression on its face. Then he closed his eyes and sent his Spirit into the same. Only this time, instead of shunting the memories of puppet aside, he cautiously tapped into the same, drawing the dead man's experiences from its past ...

...

... sent his consciousness tumbling out of the puppet's head and cras.h.i.+ng back into his own! Qin Feng! He was Qin Feng!

It took him a long while before he could finally stop groaning from the agony that pounding at his skull. His teeth were still clenched and he had to force his hands to open, so that his own fingernails would stop biting into his palms. And draw in a breath of air.

What the h.e.l.l was he doing? No. What the h.e.l.l was he thinking? That was one of the most stupid decisions that he had ever made!

Qin Feng winced from the pain as he collapsed onto the slightly damp floor of the cave. Why did all of these experts have such miserable childhoods? And who would have thought that an almost supreme existence like that would have been tortured by his seniors when he was little more than a child? He was never going to try this again! Reliving the puppet's childhood memories to gain his knowledge on the Foundation stage? It was nothing but pure torture!

Worst of all, what it told him was enough to make him depressed!

Qin Feng felt like cursing out loud, and only restrained himself so that he wouldn't give his location away. Even a powerful character like who the puppet used to be had to take a whole month, just to get through the beginning stages of the Foundation level? If he was really someone with an ordinary talent like what Old Man Snow Mountain had said, didn't that mean that he would take even longer?

Then he shuddered, and pulled himself back upright again. Still, he now had an understanding of what he was doing wrong. He was rus.h.i.+ng himself, and forcing the tiny bit of qi that he could summon through his meridians in too much of a rush. That was why he was starting to feel uncomfortable, only after thirty times.

The proper method was to let it flow smoothly, at a rate that was comfortable for the channels in his body. Rus.h.i.+ng it would only cause injuries to himself!

So he sat himself down comfortably, next to the puppet. It was also gathering power from its surroundings, and Qin Feng had to remind it to leave him out. Then he took a deep breath, and began to channel his meager qi once more.

This time, he would get it right!

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