In the courtyard.
"My lord is practicing boxing again!" said Xie Xiaojiu.
"Yes!" Feng Jiuge nodded.
"My lord's muscle lines are really beautiful!" Xie Xiaojiu admired.
"I want to pinch them!" she suddenly exclaimed.
Feng Jiuge glanced at her and said, "Didn't you sleep with my lord before? Didn't you pinch enough then?"
Hearing this, Xie Xiaojiu immediately understood what Feng Jiuge meant.
She quickly shook her head, "Stop talking nonsense!"
"My lord is a gentleman, he never slept with me!"
"When my lord stayed at my house before, he slept on the floor."
Upon hearing this, Feng Jiuge looked at Xie Xiaojiu in surprise, "Is that true?"
"Of course it's true!" Xie Xiaojiu affirmed.
Feng Jiuge's expression brightened slightly.
Elsewhere.
Jiang Ning was practicing boxing in the courtyard, his upper body shirtless. Sweat occasionally dripped from his nose, and heat emanated from his body.
[Five Animal Fist Experience +3]
[Five Animal Fist Experience +3]
[Five Animal Fist Experience +4]
[... ]
Every time he practiced, a prompt would appear before him.
As time passed, his experience points steadily accumulated, bringing him closer to the second limit breakthrough.
By noon, after lunch, Jiang Ning was soaked in a bathtub.
[Skill]: Five Animal Fist (First Limit Breakthrough 1288/2000) (Trait: Essence Stored in the Five Organs)
He glanced at his status panel before closing it.
He slowly sank deeper into the tub, feeling his state steadily recover under the water's nurturing.
Half an hour later, Jiang Ning walked out of the room and stood in the yard, which had already been cleared of snow, and continued his boxing practice.
At Wanhua Pavilion.
"Sister-in-law, when can I meet the Jiang Ning you mentioned?" A girl dressed in a goose-yellow skirt lay her head on the table in front of her, looking like a limp doll.
Lin Qingyi smiled gently at the girl.
"Little Seventeen, are you in such a hurry?"
"It's so boring here, it's not fun at all!" The girl swayed left and right.
At this moment, a handsome man beside her said, "Little Seventeen, we're not here to have fun. We're here to travel the world and see what it's like out there."
The girl replied, "But we already saw it yesterday, Luoshui County is peaceful and prosperous."
Hearing this, Lin Qingyi spoke up, "Little Seventeen, what you saw yesterday was the inner city. The people there are either rich or noble, so of course it looks peaceful and prosperous."
"If you truly want to see how ordinary people live, you should go to the outer city!"
"The outer city?" The man immediately stood up, "Since you say so, Little Seventeen, let's go. Let's see what the outer city of Luoshui County looks like!"
"Great!" The girl stood up.
At the Yellow Heaven Sect's headquarters.
Liu Linmen looked at the man in white robes, his expression extremely serious.
He recognized the man in front of him. It was He Jinsheng, the second son of the Qinghe Marquis's family from Dongling County.
Although he wasn't the eldest son, he was the one truly qualified to inherit the title of Marquis.
This was because the eldest son, the heir to the Qinghe Marquis's estate, was a failure in martial arts with a terrible aptitude. At the age of thirty-three, he was still stuck at the peak of the ninth rank.
In contrast, this second son had outstanding martial talent. Before he was thirty, he had reached the peak of the sixth rank and had even won the title of Martial Champion. After the spring, he was even qualified to compete for the title of Martial Scholar.
In the Great Xia, only the strong could hold on to their foundations.
The eldest son of the Qinghe Marquis's family was not capable of martial arts, so the title of marquis would likely fall to He Jinsheng.
It was precisely because of this that Liu Linmen was so serious upon seeing He Jinsheng.
"Second Young Master, please come in!" Liu Linmen gestured with his hand, leading the way.
"No need," He Jinsheng shook his head. "I'll get straight to the point. I came here today with a simple intention! I want to know who in Luoshui County is most likely to be the murderer who killed my younger brother. I believe, with your reputation as the 'Celestial Master,' you must have a rough idea."
As expected!
Upon hearing He Jinsheng's words, Liu Linmen inwardly sighed.
Jiang Ning's image immediately flashed in his mind. He then apologized, saying, "Second Young Master, I'm sorry. As far as I know, Fifth Young Master's death was very strange. I don't know who could have done it."
"Is it really that you don't know, or are you pretending not to know?" He Jinsheng's eyes locked onto Liu Linmen, his brows furrowing, and a "川" character appeared between his brows.
"I don't know!" Liu Linmen looked at the aggressive He Jinsheng with a helpless expression.
The room fell silent for a few breaths.
After a while, He Jinsheng said, "If you remember any clues in the future, you can come and tell me. I'll remember this favor."
"Of course!" Liu Linmen immediately agreed.
Outside Luoshui County.
A man, leading his horse, stood about a hundred meters from the city gate, looking up at the three characters "Luoshui County" above the gate.
"Vice-officer Jin, Jiang Ning dared to kill Cao Rong. What do you think we should do?"
"It's up to you, my lord," Vice-officer Jin replied, though his heart was filled with complaints.
The heavy snow had blocked the road, and the journey had been extremely difficult.
Now, they were faced with such a difficult task how could he not be troubled?
He was well aware that Jiang Ning was a member of the Inspection Bureau, and not just any small figure, but a government-appointed official of the eighth rank, one of the key figures in the local Inspection Bureau.
Although everyone knew that Cao Rong was killed by Jiang Ning, how could they move against Jiang Ning, who was the deputy commander of Luoshui County?
Thinking about this, Vice-officer Jin glanced at the man beside him and cautiously said, "My lord, why don't we just follow Lieutenant Feng's example and fool around with the Senior Officer?"
"What? Do you think I'm no match for Jiang Ning?" the man asked.
Vice-officer Jin immediately responded, "My lord, your strength is only second to the lord of the county, and above everyone else. Jiang Ning, such a small figure, is no match for you!"
"But Luoshui County is Jiang Ning's turf, and he still has the Inspection Bureau behind him."
"My lord, if you and I were to have a conflict with them, it would be like fighting with one hand tied behind our back."
The man laughed upon hearing this.
Then he patted Vice-officer Jin on the shoulder, "You see things! You're right. I can't be bothered to deal with this trouble!"
With that, he took a big step forward.
"Let's go! Enter the city!"
"Yes, my lord!" Vice-officer Jin quickly followed, "My lord, do we still need to investigate Cao Rong's death?"
"Investigate what?" the man replied, "Let's go drink some wine, get ourselves a few injuries, and then go back!"
"Got it!" Vice-officer Jin immediately followed, grinning.
The next day.
The weather was clear, with bright sunlight and no clouds in sight.
The sun hung high in the sky, radiating endless light and heat.
It was a rare perfect day.
Jiang Ning had been practicing his martial arts in the courtyard.
[Five Animal Fist Experience +4]
[Five Animal Fist Experience +3]
[Five Animal Fist Experience +4]
[.]
After practicing the fist technique over and over, Jiang Ning gradually gained a deeper understanding of the Five Animal Fist.
After a long while.
"Hoo"
Jiang Ning gathered his fists and exhaled a breath of impure air from his stomach.
At this point, his body was drenched in sweat, emitting a lot of heat, with smoke rising from his head.
[Skill]:Five Animal Fist (First Limit Broken 1723/2000) (Trait: Essence Stored in the Five Organs)
He glanced at his panel and closed it.
"Almost there!"
"At my current rate, the Five Animal Fist should break the second limit by tonight, around the time of the midnight hour."
At this point, it was nearly time for the hour of the Snake (9:00 AM).
Jiang Ning leaped over the tall courtyard wall and landed on the rocky shore.
He then stomped his foot onto the frozen lake, creating a large gap in the ice.
Since it was a rare sunny day, he decided to seize the opportunity to absorb the essence of the sun and increase his Inner Alchemy cultivation experience.
After a while.
Jiang Ning sat cross-legged in the middle of the lake, his upper body above the water and his lower body submerged.
The water in the lake slowly started to freeze again.
At this moment, Jiang Ning, like a Taoist master, began to absorb the essence of the sun.
As the sunlight entered his stomach, a powerful wave of heat emanated from his body.
The ice that had been about to form on the surface of the lake suddenly began to melt, and the surrounding ice slowly started to dissolve.
Suddenly.
Jiang Ning opened his eyes abruptly, revealing a look of joy.
Something's not right!!
He looked up at the sky. The weather was clear, the sun was high, and even though half of his body was submerged in the water, he could still feel the warmth of the sunlight.
The next moment.
He leaped out of the water, landing on the ice beside him.
He then took a deep breath, inhaling the hot essence of the sun through his nose and into his stomach.
He slowly closed his eyes.
After a few breaths.
He opened his eyes, his expression filled with joy.
At that moment, he was sure that the essence of the sun entering his body no longer caused the burning sensation in his internal organs, which had occurred before.
[Skill]: Water and Fire True Force (Second Limit Broken 48/3000) (Trait: Water and Fire Immortal Robe, Mastery of Water and Fire)
[Water and Fire Immortal Robe]: Possessing the Water and Fire Immortal Robe, one can avoid the effects of water and fire. No harm from water or fire.
"Could it be because of this, the Water and Fire Immortal Robe's trait?" Jiang Ning muttered to himself.
Previously, he had tried this.
With the Water and Fire Immortal Robe, even flames that reached over a thousand degrees could not burn his body.
"It must be!" Jiang Ning confirmed his guess after seeing the explanation of the Water and Fire Immortal Robe on the panel.
If over a thousand-degree flames couldn't harm him, he could take a bath in magma.
In this case, how could the temperature of the sun's essence cause him any harm?
Naturally, it wouldn't cause any burning sensation in his internal organs.
Thinking of this, Jiang Ning couldn't help but feel overjoyed.
With no fear of the burning heat from the sun's essence, this meant that his efficiency in absorbing it would improve.
Increased efficiency meant an increase in experience points and inner vitality.
The next moment.
Jiang Ning sat down cross-legged on the ice and once again began to absorb the essence of the sun, his gaze fixed on the sun above.
[Inner Alchemy Cultivation Experience +1]
[Inner Alchemy Cultivation Experience +1]
[Inner Alchemy Cultivation Experience +1]
[.]
The rate of experience accumulation was now more than twice as fast as before.
Time passed slowly, and the experience in Inner Alchemy Cultivation continued to rise.
At the time of the Snake hour and the peak of midday.
Jiang Ning slowly opened his eyes.
Hoo
He deeply exhaled the incredible heat from his stomach, causing the ice in front of him to melt into a shallow layer, revealing some water beneath it.
Then, as the cold air from the ice spread, it quickly refroze the water into ice again.
[The total experience gained from absorbing the essence of the sun this time is 98 points for Inner Alchemy Cultivation.]
A prompt appeared in front of him, summarizing his progress.
Looking at the prompt, Jiang Ning's eyes lit up with joy.
This efficiency had increased more than twice as much as before!
[Skill]: Inner Alchemy Cultivation (Small Success 991/5000)
"At this rate, with just over forty days of sunlight, I can reach a great level in Inner Alchemy Cultivation, reaching the stage where my inner vitality is like a steel shield!"
"I didn't expect the Water and Fire Immortal Robe to have such a miraculous effect!!"
Jiang Ning couldn't help but feel deeply moved.
Since he had obtained the trait of the Water and Fire Immortal Robe, today was the first time it had been sunny.
Because of this rare sunny day, he discovered that the Water and Fire Immortal Robe could double his efficiency in absorbing the sun's essence.
What used to take nearly ninety days of good weather to achieve now could be done in about forty days of sunlight.
Thinking of this, Jiang Ning shook his head as he looked at the sky.
"Unfortunately, there are too few sunny days this winter. It's either snowing or cloudy!!"
"If there were more sunny days, I could break through to the next stage of my Inner Alchemy Cultivation quickly and gain the strength to rival the peak of the Fifth Stage. Even if the Qinghe Marquis's mansion caused trouble for me, I wouldn't be afraid!"
Returning to his courtyard, Jiang Ning continued practicing his martial arts.
Under the warmth of the sun, he worked up a sweat.
Suddenly.
Tread, tread, tread
Footsteps were heard from outside the courtyard.
Jiang Ning looked up and saw Jiang Li slowly entering his view.
"Big Brother?"
"A Ning!" Jiang Li smiled warmly.
"Big Brother, is there something going on?"
Jiang Li said, "A Ning, did you forget? At the third quarter of noon, the entire Cao family is scheduled to be executed at the market. It's almost time for us to go and have a look."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ning suddenly remembered.
"So, it's time for the Cao family's execution!"
"A Ning, are you coming?" Jiang Li asked.
"Let's go!" Jiang Ning nodded firmly.
Then he said, "Big Brother, wait here for a moment. I'll go take a quick bath and change my clothes!"
After saying that, Jiang Ning jumped over the courtyard wall and went to the lake.
After breaking the ice on the lake, he stepped into the cold water to wash off the sweat from his body.
Then, he changed clothes in the water.
By the time he returned to the shore, his clothes were instantly dry, without a single trace of moisture.
"This method is convenient!" Jiang Ning nodded in satisfaction.
After mastering the Water Manipulation technique, he could dry any wet clothes instantly.
Then, he thought of something and shook his head.
"Too bad the Water Manipulation technique can't remove blood."
He had previously attempted this method.
In the beginning, he found that his body seemed to be enveloped by a natural field, preventing him from extracting even the blood from a normal person's body.
Even now, he still couldn't do it he couldn't extract the water from a human body.
After a moment.
He reappeared in front of Jiang Li.
"Big Brother, let's go!"
Jiang Li looked at Jiang Ning's attire, slightly surprised.
Then he didn't say much and nodded.
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