Chapter 4 Tang Ming
Early morning, sunlight entered through the window, enveloping the whole room with a layer of golden yellow.
Birds were chirping outside the window, making outside very lively. w.a.n.g Chen was meditating on the bed; his back straight, legs cross-legged and eyes closed.
His breathing was rhythmic and with every breath he took, faint stream white mist entered into his mouth and nose, entering his body.
He was absorbing the Yuan Qi that was present in the Heaven and Earth which would be stored for his use.
w.a.n.g Chen felt a warm current slowly flowing towards every nooks and corners of his body, tempering his meridians.
An illusory figure was standing in front of him and was looking at the cultivating w.a.n.g Chen with a happy expression. He was w.a.n.g Chen’s master, Ling Zhan.
“This child’s future is boundless!” After a long moment, Ling Zhan sighed.
During the last two years, w.a.n.g Chen was not able to condense True Essence, but this however made his foundation solid. A good foundation was very important to a cultivator. This would be clear when one reaches a high enough cultivation height.
w.a.n.g Chen’s current foundation could be said to very strong, he will learn from experience in the future how much he had harvested during the last two years.
Ling Zhan revealed a smile when he thought of this, taking in a deep breath, his expression brightened up. Heavens were really not unkind to him, at this crucial time, they gave him such a disciple. And his disciple might be able to help him realize his unfinished wish when he grew up.
After a moment, w.a.n.g Chen exhaled turbid Qi as he slowly opened his eyes. A bright light flickered through his eyes, the corners of his mouth showed a light smile, his whole body looked radiant.
Though the True Essence inside his body disappeared again, but after learning about his condition, he was no more worried. As he saw hope, his fighting spirit was aroused again.
“Not bad, your cultivation speed is not slow. But, only relying on True Essence to refine your body is too slow!” Ling Zhan said to w.a.n.g Chen, after muttering to himself.
“Refining body? After reaching the third tier, the speed of refining the body became too slow.” Thinking of refining the body, w.a.n.g Chen slightly frowned.
His current body strength reached five hundred jin force which far surpa.s.sed that of the Body Refining third tier, so there was no need to doubt his strength. A Body Refining fourth tier, even while using True Essence, would not even be able to make him frown if they fought.
Reaching this level, it could be said to be very difficult to increase the physical strength because the physical strength had already reached the bottleneck of the present stage. After they reached this level, everyone would begin to cultivate True Essence force to increase their strength.
“Am I that incapable?” When w.a.n.g Chen was at his wit’s end, Ling Zhan’s voice echoed boldly and frankly, giving w.a.n.g Chen a feeling that it was able to cut through anything.
“Are there any ways?” w.a.n.g Chen felt as if he was a drowning person who had just found a life-saving straw when he heard the voice.
“External forces! Your body can be further strengthened by relying on external forces. You didn’t laze off in your cultivation so your foundation is very strong. Relying on some external forces will not affect you. Or else, who knows how long it will take you if you only rely on yourself to cultivate to the level when you can condense True Essence, bound to be around three-five years.” With his previous observation, elder Ling continued to speak.
“Really?” w.a.n.g Chen asked excitedly.
His effort was showing at this moment, he was somewhat excited.
When he heard the last words, three-five years, his whole body perspired with cold sweat, if it really was like that, then maybe he would give up halfway!
He celebrated inwardly, if he hadn’t meet Ling Zhan, he would perhaps continue to be dejected.
“What do you require?” As he heard about using external forces to cut down this process, w.a.n.g Chen promptly asked, looking at the translucent soul embodiment.
“Ice Dream gra.s.s, Costus Root, hundred years Baiyao, Inula flower…….. they are all common medical ingredients.” Ling Zhan spoke names of over ten medical ingredients in one breath, making w.a.n.g Chen’s scalp turn numb. These medical ingredients were very common and he, himself, had heard of their effects in stimulating the body at Body Refining stage and give twice the effect with half the work. But it was precisely because of this, their prices had already soared so high that it would be difficult for an average person to afford them.
He felt his dried out pockets and sighed.
w.a.n.g Chen had a deep realization at this moment, he finally knew why at the present Continent, along with the pa.s.sing of time, formidable Clans keep on getting formidable, but the poor people could hardly make any progress, the main reason was money.
It was difficult for talents to come out of a remote place, large clans’ younger generations would find it hard to be weak under the strong financial support. As for those poor people, unless they were exceptionally talented, they would just be engulfed among the crowds.
…………………………………………………………
“Brother Chen”
Early morning, w.a.n.g Chen was just getting out when he saw a figure approaching him rapidly.
The approaching person was wearing a gray sackcloth, had dusky complexion, was thin and small, his mouth was sticking out and his chin was like an ape’s. All in all, this person gave people a wretched feeling.
This person was w.a.n.g Chen’s sole friend at the Qingfeng City, Tang Ming. He was Han Clan’s servant’s son; all the three generations of his family, from his grandfather to his father to him, were Han Clan’s servants.
Seeing him, w.a.n.g Chen’s lips parted in a smile. In these two years, everyone ridiculed and humiliated him, even servants of the Han Clan put on airs in front of him. Only Tang Ming considered him a friend and would frequently comfort and encourage him, giving him a rare happy moment.
“Why are you here? Did you finish your work?” w.a.n.g Chen stopped his footsteps and asked.
“Eldest miss instructed me to help her buy some stuffs so I came to find you to go together!” Tang Ming said excitedly while flinging the heavy pouch on his hand, he had a sinister smile on his face.
Going to purchase stuffs was a lucrative job, one could seek a lot of profit every time and everyone would fight over this errand, Tang Ming also was no exception.
And the eldest miss he spoke of was Han Clan’s genius, the beauty of Qingfeng inst.i.tute and the one who saved w.a.n.g Chen yesterday, Han Yuxuan.
“Let’s go together then.” w.a.n.g Chen pondered and said.
At Qingfeng City, Han Clan was also considered as a strong and prosperous Clan, servants and maids could be seen going back and forth all over the place.
Seeing w.a.n.g Chen, these people showed a peculiar expression, it seemed yesterday’s affairs had already spread all over the Han Clan. These people should also have known and right now, their expressions while looking at w.a.n.g Chen was full of contempt.
w.a.n.g Chen’s expression slowly turned cold when he felt these expressions, his smile disappeared as he walked forward while tightly clenching his fists.
“Brother Chen, I also know about your affairs. There is nothing wrong with not being able to condense True Essence, don’t bother with these people. Humph, I actually feel an ordinary life is much better.” Sensing w.a.n.g Chen’s expression, Tang Ming hesitated a while and then said comfortingly. After speaking, he slapped his chest with a proud expression.
For instance, he, himself, was Han Clan’s servant in charge of taking care of the eldest miss and he received a considerable monthly income when compared to ordinary people. He had freedom and he was actually quite happy. And when he served the eldest miss properly, he could usually get quite a bit of reward, other people also didn’t dare to easily bully him, and for him, this was sufficient.
This was exactly common people’s thoughts and such thoughts could only make people, mediocre. There won’t be a day where they could hold their heads high.
“I, w.a.n.g Chen, won’t admit defeat, it’s better to live crazily rather than to live a mediocre life!” w.a.n.g Chen said, taking a deep breath, ordinary life was not what he wanted and there were also too many things that he needed to do.
“You……forget it. Do as you see fit. Tell me if you have any problems later on, eldest miss is relatively nice to me, so I can still resolve some problems.” Seeing w.a.n.g Chen so stubborn, Tang Ming sighed and said helplessly.
“Forget it, better protect yourself.” w.a.n.g Chen gave a bitter laugh.
He knew of Tang Ming’s plight; usually, he would be bullied by those young miss and young masters, and would frequently get battered, so being able to protect himself could be considered to be pretty good.
A warm current flew in w.a.n.g Chen’s heart, these words made him realize true friendship, and recalling the previous affairs, he felt somewhat ashamed to Tang Ming.
Several times, Tang Ming had come to his aid and was beaten black and blue, he remembered these matters very clearly.
“Hey……” w.a.n.g Chen’s words struck the nail which made Tang Ming give a shaky smile and reveal an awkward expression.
Tang Ming - chinese name 唐明 (Táng Míng) Tang is family name ( also represents Tang Dynasty), Ming means bright
Baiyao - a white powder to treat wounds, hemorrhage, etc. I couldn"t write it off as white powder so just wrote its chinese name.
Costus Root, Inula flower: They are both real names.