Chapter 208: Fitness
“Lu Hanyan defeated Fang Jincheng in the Sword Forest?”
“Yes.”
“How can this be? At the previous banquet, didn't the Tianshu Academy Disciples keep saying that the Fang Worldly Family had deep roots in Tianshu Academy, and Fang Jincheng's own cultivation was very solid, making his entry into the Inner Courtyard a certainty?”
“At first, I didn't quite believe it either, but then I learned that Lu family's Second Miss’s Sword Dao was completely in the shape of Ji You.”
“?”
“What you're saying, my friend, had better truly be Sword Dao, and not some other Dao.”
Changle Princess Zhao Yunyue was currently sitting in a teahouse, having invited three or five close sisters for tea and discussing going to a mountain villa outside the city to escape the summer heat in a few days. Also at the table were several princesses left by the previous emperor's concubines.
When women gathered, they mostly talked about poetry, prose, and handsome in-laws. Zhao Yunyue didn't find much interest in this.
Just then, she looked beyond the pavilion and suddenly saw a group of Tianshu Academy Disciples descending the mountain.
They came from the middle of the long street, with a few familiar faces, but most were somewhat unfamiliar, inconspicuous Disciples, who walked together into the 'Food is Immortal' restaurant opposite.
Upon seeing this, Zhao Yunyue's brows furrowed slightly.
Prince Chong's Mansion had hosted a banquet yesterday, inviting many Tianshu Academy Disciples, including the Lu family sisters, Fang Jincheng, and Fang Zhiheng.
One reason was to forge useful connections before the Autumn Tournament, and the other was concerning the Yunzhou Spirit Stone matter.
Prince Chong had a stake in the Yunzhou Ling Shi Merchant Association, and as the transport route for snowy region demon stone shifted to Feng Province, the price of Yunzhou stone was falling again. Prince Chong intended to sound out the Ling Shi Merchant Association's next move through the Lu family sisters.
In their view, Yunzhou, with Spirit Stones as its Foundation, wouldn't just idly watch Feng Province's stone transport route proceed so smoothly.
But by the time the banquet was ready and the music and dance were complete, Princess Changle and Chong Wang had waited for two full hours, only to find that neither the Lu family sisters nor Fang Jincheng had arrived.
It was later that the Tianshu Academy Disciples who were present informed them that Lu Hanyan and Fang Jincheng had fought in the Outer Courtyard's Sword Forest.
Fang Jincheng, who had delayed his entry into the academy by a year to avoid Chu River's sharp edge, and who, after entering, had countless Disciples assigned by Inner Courtyard Elders to protect his Dao, was utterly defeated, nearly having his throat slit by Lu Hanyan's sword.
Subsequently, Elder Fang of Tianshu Academy hurriedly dispatched Disciples to retrieve him from the Sword Forest.
And that Fang Zhiheng, who had proclaimed himself a Sword Dao Genius upon arriving in the capital, reportedly left Shengjing early this morning.
Afterward, the entire Tianshu Academy Outer Courtyard was abuzz with talk of Lu Hanyan entering the Inner Courtyard.
In fact, when Zhao Yunyue first heard this news, she couldn't believe it.
She had met all three Junior Third Realm Completion students of this Tianshu Academy cohort: Fang Jincheng, Lu Hanyan, and Puyang Xing.
Lu Hanyan was actually ranked last. Not to mention Fang Jincheng, who had the most solid Foundation, she couldn't even compare to Puyang Xing. So how could such an unbelievable piece of news spread?
Zhao Yunyue then found someone to inquire, and only then did she learn that Ji You had personally descended from the Inner Courtyard, teaching Lu Hanyan Sword Dao from dawn till dusk.
This matter left her silent for a long time, and only today did she have the mind to come out for tea.
But what exactly was bothering her, she couldn't quite articulate, only that she found such matters extremely annoying.
Princess Changle's mood suddenly became irritable again. She then bade farewell to the princesses and returned to Prince Chong's Mansion by carriage.
Although Chong Wang was a representative of the pro-immortal faction, secretly involved in matters of Spirit Stones, Spirit Seedlings, and even tribute and Medicinal Pills, he always presented himself as an idle prince, usually just enjoying flowers and composing poetry in his mansion.
Seeing his daughter return from outside the gate, Chong Wang's right hand, which was about to scatter fish food, suddenly paused.
He had received intelligence today from a Feng Province agricultural official, learning the estimated yield of this year's farming in Feng Province. That astonishing number had left him silent for a long time.
And all of this revolved around the name Ji You.
In Taiwu 2, at the Tianshu Academy admission ceremony, there were three Junior Third Realm Completion students. Two were children of Immortal Sect Worldly Families, and the other was a rural self-cultivator admitted exceptionally.
He was the only one he hadn't chosen, who had steadily progressed to where he was now, even able to influence the selection of students for the next Tianshu Academy Inner Courtyard.
Chong Wang had made many investments in his life; some were profitable, some were losses.
The only one that caused him an unacceptable loss was that trivial banquet back then, which was even less than what he spent on feeding fish, yet he had deliberately not invited Ji You to attend.
Besides Chong Wang and Princess Changle, the Tianshu Academy Outer Courtyard Disciples were also discussing the sword duel in the bamboo forest, so much so that this year's Outer Courtyard Autumn Tournament finally garnered sufficient attention.
After all, unexpected events are the easiest to spark discussion.
But in fact, although everyone was discussing Lu Hanyan and Fang Jincheng, most of the content was actually about Ji You.
Inner Courtyard Disciples were also discussing him, but the content of their discussions was somewhat different from that of the Outer Courtyard Disciples.
They had also heard about that battle because it involved the Autumn Tournament admission.
And Lu Hanyan, who was at the center of that storm, didn't seem to have inherited Lingjian Mountain's Sword Dao from Ji You; what she learned was merely Ji You's own Sword Dao. In the eyes of the Inner Courtyard Disciples, this was the most thought-provoking aspect: after the bright spring day, the four seasons hurried on, and a night of warm wind brought summer heat.
Subsequently, the sun's shadow silently lengthened, the sky shed its spring powder, leaving only a clear, pure azure dome. Occasionally, flowing clouds would break through the stagnant ones, and the dappled tree shadows would shatter into dancing specks of light all over the ground.
At this time, the first transport route in Feng Province had been completed, and Danxia County, as the first stop, became the largest transfer hub for snowy region demon stone.
Subsequently, large quantities of high-quality Spirit Stones were sent into the Central Plains, causing the prices of Yunzhou stone and Zhongzhou stone to fall again.
And this year, Feng Province had everything it needed: wind when it wanted wind, and rain when it wanted rain.
So, looking around, everything was a vibrant new green.
On the other hand, the barbarians had been accustomed to attacking the northern border at this time of year for many years, but this year they were long overdue.
Regarding this phenomenon, the Great Xia imperial court couldn't help but discuss it. Some were wary, but others felt that after a thousand years of failed attacks, the barbarians had lost their morale.
This view was not unfounded, because according to the Human Race's political logic, the barbarians seeking an Alliance with the Yao Race last year was likely due to their morale being lost within their tribe after years of failed attacks, which led them to seek external help.
But the Yao Race did not fulfill the barbarians' wishes, which caused their remaining morale to vanish completely.
This seemed like a good thing for the Human Race.
However, a group of people, primarily the Immortal Monitoring Bureau, who held a cautious view, believed that the barbarians' millennium-long obsession could not possibly disappear in such a short time.
Nevertheless, it was indeed extremely stable.
At this time, Lu Hanyan had already gathered the sixth Mystic Light. Compared to Fang Jincheng, who had made no progress, her chances of winning increased again, and she had never neglected her Sword Dao cultivation, always working extremely diligently.
Currently, in the Outer Courtyard Sword Forest, Lu Hanyan, holding her Dao Sword, danced, causing the bamboo leaves in the Sword Forest to rustle.
After that battle, Fang Jincheng felt insulted and had not returned to the Sword Forest since, which made the place much quieter.
Ji You was currently standing at the entrance of the Sword Forest, watching Lu Hanyan's sword dance with eager eyes.
There were no further repercussions for the Inner Courtyard private duel. Neither Lu Hanyan nor Fang Jincheng received any substantial punishment, but more and more students in the academy wanted to learn sword from him, though he refused them one by one.
He had originally agreed to teach Lu Hanyan swordsmanship to resist the influence of the Deep Dao Heart. Now he continued because he felt that since some things were started, they should be finished properly.
Moreover, Lu Hanyan's figure, with her ample chest and buttocks, slender waist, and long legs, was quite pleasing to the eye when she danced with a sword.
No man doesn't love the beauty of women. A proper man like him, even without lewd desires, would still have an appreciative eye.
Ji You felt that people who could truly be like upright gentlemen, never looking askance at women, would only appear in 'gully literature'.
“Ji Gongzi, do you think my younger sister has a high chance of entering the Inner Courtyard?”
“Fang Jincheng’s level is outwardly strong but inwardly weak. If he can’t even get into the Inner Courtyard, then my Sword Dao is too weak.”
Ji You yawned, speaking as if he hadn't slept for days: “Don’t worry, what you accumulate through desperate effort won’t deceive you.”
Hearing this, Lu Qingqiu couldn't help but gently relax.
For some reason, so many people in the academy said her younger sister could enter the Inner Courtyard, but she still felt some suspense. It was only after receiving Ji You's affirmation that she seemed able to believe it.
Just then, Lu Hanyan's Sword Dao suddenly paused.
She then turned to look at Ji You, called out *Shixiong* (Senior Brother) in a high-pitched voice, and then reached for the wooden sword next to her.
She solemnly handed it to Ji You, then performed another sword flourish.
Upon seeing this, Lu Qingqiu couldn't help but blush and let out a soft gasp.
Her younger sister's buttocks had become much smaller recently, nowhere near as full and perky as when they dueled that day.
Seeing the wooden sword that had just been handed over, she could now confirm that the perky buttocks from that day must have been beaten by Ji Gongzi.
Lu Qingqiu had never seen Lu Hanyan get beaten, but she wasn't without a brain, so the image of her younger sister arching her buttocks, waiting to be spanked, naturally appeared in her mind.
At this moment, she couldn't help but recall how her younger sister, after finishing her sword practice each day, would look unsatisfied, her eyes sparkling with moisture.
The two sisters had grown up together and knew each other extremely well. Because her younger sister was the youngest daughter in the family, she was deeply loved by their parents, making her cold arrogance even greater than her own.
At home, even their parents dared not speak harshly to her, let alone anyone daring to hit her.
But this time, learning sword from Ji You, she seemed to be looking forward to having her buttocks spanked, which truly made her, as an older sister, feel a bit helpless.
Because when she sent the *dudou* (undergarment) before, if Ji You had accepted it, her younger sister would have called him brother-in-law. Wouldn't that have caused chaos at this point? Ji You was also looking at the wooden sword in his hand, weighing it a few times, thinking to himself whether Yan Shu would like it.
Next time I'll try, if I'm still alive.
Lu Hanyan's Sword Dao cultivation continued until the afternoon. Ji You left first, stopping by Cao Jinsong's courtyard on the way.
Old Cao knew that Ji You's state was lifted. Now, let alone money, he didn't even dare to show good tea.
When Ji You came last time, he refused to believe that he only drank cheap tea, and finally found a pack of spiritual tea from the cabinet. Cao Jinsong thought to himself, if that's the case, you might as well have entered the Demonic Path with your Dao Heart.
Others take a crooked path into the Demonic Path, but you seem to take a crooked path into the Righteous Path.
“The matter in the Sword Forest still has extremely far-reaching effects. It is said that Elder Fang said yesterday in the Inner Courtyard that Tianshu Academy has always followed the path of pure Dao cultivation since ancient times and should adhere to tradition, not determine the Autumn Tournament results by Sword Dao,
Otherwise, it would be no different from Lingjian Mountain.”
“But Elder Fang’s suggestion did not receive much support.”
“Although the Yunzhou Lu Family’s cultivation talent isn’t high, they started with Spirit Stones and have deep roots, making them not so easy to provoke. Many Worldly Family forces in the academy have been friends with the Lu family for centuries.”
“If it were you, the rules of the Autumn Tournament would probably really be changed. That’s why people always say that a good background is better than good talent.”
“However, Elder Fang didn’t make things difficult for you in the Inner Courtyard, did he?”
Ji You raised his teacup to his lips and said, “I don’t rely on Medicinal Pills from the Inner Courtyard, I don’t accept taxes from the Immortal Sect, and I don’t even go to the Purple Bamboo Zen Forest to comprehend the Dao. What can he make difficult for me? Steal the bricks from my wall?”
Cao Jinsong, who was pruning the osmanthus tree in the courtyard, couldn't help but turn to look at him after hearing this.
From the time he repaid the money until now, with the summer heat already here, almost a month and a half has passed, and Ji You truly hasn’t gone to comprehend the Dao again.
He thought Ji You had moved on, but now it seemed he had encountered an even bigger problem.
However, Ji You had skillfully evaded his previous attempts at probing, so Cao Jinsong didn’t want to force him to speak anymore.
Ji You naturally knew what Cao Jinsong was thinking. His abnormal behavior a few days ago was indeed very obvious in hindsight. Cao Instructor must have had many questions, but he held back from asking.
He was grateful for Old Cao’s concern for him, as there weren't many people in this world who treated him this way. So, with gratitude filling his chest, he took his tea leaves.
“Disobedient Disciple!”
“Drinking too much tea isn’t good.”
“???””
Ji You carried the tea leaves and walked through the mountains, returning to the Inner Courtyard and heading straight for Zhengxin Fairy’s courtyard.
He Lingxiu announced her closed-door cultivation a few days ago, intending to fully assault the Integration Dao Upper Realm.
So Wen Zhengxin also began her closed-door cultivation and has not returned for seven days now.
Everyone in the Inner Courtyard knew they were competing, and they also knew that when they competed for the direct Disciple spot back then, Wen Zhengxin was actually unconvinced.
Before going into closed-door cultivation, Wen Zhengxin told Ji You not to return yet and to help her look after the courtyard. So Ji You did not return to his own small courtyard.
Drinking tea and sitting idly for a while, until the sun set and the night, like a tide, began to surge endlessly along the winding mountain ridges, revealing a few scattered stars.
Ji You put down his teacup, blew on the cool evening breeze, then walked into the meditation room, picked up the meditation cushion, and threw it onto the bed.
Then he unbuttoned his outer garment, sat cross-legged in the room, and clasped his hands in his lap.
In an instant, the Spiritual Qi of the entire mountain seemed to find its home, gathering and surging madly with him as the center.
Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi is formless and intangible, but when it becomes dense to a certain degree, it will transform into a deep indigo blue.
At this moment, countless indigo blue Qi currents enveloped Ji You’s body, like agile swimming snakes, frantically surging into his body with his breathing, and then overflowing from his shattered Spirit Origin.
Initially like a murmuring stream, subtle yet resilient, it gradually converged, forming a rushing river, surging towards his limbs and bones.
Once his body was completely filled with Spiritual Qi, Ji You’s Divine Thought stirred. Using Spiritual Qi as the fiercely burning fuel, a blazing fire instantly ignited within his body, and the flames uncontrollably shot out of his body.
This was the twenty-first subtle illumination of Mystic Light.
The deepest obsession in his heart, like a deeply rooted stubborn stone, he could neither unravel nor easily forget it.
Therefore, he could not establish his Dao, nor did he dare to question his Dao Heart again. The path of Dao cultivation had reached its end.
As a cultivator, reaching this point was already a dead end.
But if, according to the previous judgment, Body Cultivation also had Realm progression, then Ji You still had a path he could try to walk.
So he had been Body Refining these past few days, the nineteenth time, the twentieth time—
Unable to question his Dao Heart, unable to integrate with the Dao, this was his only way out.
At this moment, a piercing soreness surged from his limbs and bones, as if countless steel needles were simultaneously pricking him.
This intense pain instantly covered Ji You’s forehead with fine beads of sweat, his lips suddenly turned as pale as paper, his shoulders trembled uncontrollably, and he couldn’t help but let out soft cries of pain.
The sense of restraint that he had broken free from during the Tongxuan Upper Realm now clung to him again, like a persistent ghost.
However, Ji You, having already experienced such a situation once, not only showed no panic but was even faintly pleased.
Because feeling this almost suffocating sensation again precisely proved that his previous judgment was correct: the path of Body Refining, like the path of Dao cultivation, must have its own Realm divisions.
He was now nearing the threshold of the next Realm, which was why this sense of restraint appeared so strongly.
It was as if a force was preventing him from moving forward.
Ji You endured the intense pain throughout his body, held his breath, and exerted all his strength to break free from that sense of restraint.
His muscles instinctively tensed, like a fully drawn bowstring, and a rapidly swirling Qi force gradually formed around his body, whistling incessantly around him.
And through his held breath and exertion, the spiritual fire burning fiercely within his body began to rage even more, burning from the inside out.
Then an even stronger pain appeared, as if shattering his bones.
This was not an illusion, because when the Physical Body reached a certain level of strength, it would inevitably need to be equipped with harder bones.
Ji You was now experiencing tinnitus, but the sound was not just a buzzing; there was also the constant grinding of bones, and the intense pain caused his jaw to clench tightly.
In just a few breaths, Ji You was drenched in sweat, his inner shirt instantly soaked.
And the spiritual fire surging within him seemed to be refining him, still flickering incessantly.
“Junior Brother?”
“?”
Wen Zhengxin returned home through the night. Seeing the courtyard empty, she couldn’t help but call out, but no one answered.
So she gently stepped into the house and instantly heard soft cries of pain.
What was Junior Brother doing in my house? Wen Zhengxin moved her steps, quietly peering through the door, then paused slightly.
There was only Ji *Shidi* (Junior Brother Ji) in the room, not the Lu family's Second Miss as she had imagined.
After a while, the whistling gradually stopped. Ji You leaned against the doorframe, weakly emerging from the room.
He was completely drenched, clearly exhausted, and even his lips were pale and bloodless.
He gasped for a moment, then looked up and saw Wen Zhengxin coming out of the room, holding several dresses.
“Senior Sister, why are you back?”
“Change your clothes. You—what are you doing?”
Ji You picked up the pre-prepared herbal tea and took a big gulp: “Cultivating.”
Wen Zhengxin had never seen him Body Refining before, so she stared at him for a long time: “Are you Body Refining?”
“Yes.”
“Cao Instructor told you before that you shouldn’t Body Refine anymore. It was already very difficult for you to break into the Tongxuan Upper Realm, let alone the next major Realm breakthrough.”
Wen Zhengxin knew he hadn’t been to the Purple Bamboo Zen Forest again, but she didn’t understand why he suddenly gave up on establishing his Dao and instead began Body Refining urgently. She was completely bewildered.
Zhengxin Fairy did not stay long. She took her dresses and left the small courtyard, telling him with a worried expression to be careful before she left.
After Ji You agreed, he watched her leave, then rested for a long time, sitting until his sweat dried before returning to the room. After entering meditation, he began his Divine Thought ascent.
As the progress of Body Refining accelerated, the Physical Body’s restraint on his Divine Thought also grew stronger.
If he couldn’t add flour when there was too much water, and water when there was too much flour, his Divine Thought might not be able to leave his body.
Although Ji You would no longer comprehend the Dao with Divine Thought, his sword control technique still relied on Divine Thought.
At this moment, his golden Divine Thought struggled continuously, then difficultly emerged from between his eyebrows, ascending endlessly into the boundless Void Realm. He felt a heavy sensation, as if being suppressed by a mountain, making his upward speed incredibly slow.
Half an hour later, Ji You completely collapsed.
The Body Refining just now had only consumed his physical strength, but now his spirit was also squeezed to its limit.
Ji You felt completely drained. Before he could exit his meditative state, he fell into a deep sleep.
In the following days, the temperature in Shengjing began to rise, with the taste of summer already faintly appearing, only cooling down slightly in the evening.
Zhengxin Fairy’s courtyard was surrounded by surging Spiritual Qi every night, rolling endlessly in mid-air, lasting for seven consecutive days.
Each time was more intense and lasted longer than the last.
Once, when it rained, even the scattered raindrops were thrown into disarray.
On the evening of the seventh day, as the last ray of twilight fell, night silently surged in.
There had been rain recently, so the night sky was not clear, and even the stars were a blurry mass.
Zhengxin Fairy arrived through the night, returning to the entrance of her small courtyard as the last trace of twilight vanished.
She would return every seven days to change clothes and sometimes catch up on sleep.
Just as she stopped at the door, her hand was already raised. Before she even pushed the door, she saw the birds perched on the tree flap their wings with a whoosh, flying into the night as if startled.
Wen Zhengxin paused slightly, then felt a surging heat wave gush out from the courtyard, far hotter than the summer heat.
Ji You was sitting in the courtyard at this moment, his forehead covered in sweat, while a hint of Mystic Light surged on his skin. Golden light flickered in his eyes, and his full chest continuously rose and fell with his heavy breathing.
This was the twenty-third subtle illumination, and he once again broke through the previous limitations he had encountered. The intense sense of restraint disappeared.
At this moment, he clenched his fists, feeling Qi constantly surging from every cell in his body, making him unable to resist the urge to throw a punch and directly crush the evening breeze in his hand.
A more distinct feeling was that he felt his Divine Thought trembling along with his hot Physical Body, as if they were fused together, and then a sense of Heaven and Earth clarity continuously echoed in his mind.
