"No trouble at all; I didn't have anything pressing, so I just came over," the girl named Qing said with a bright smile, then produced a book from her sleeve and handed it to Teng Qingshan. "Here you go!"

Teng Qingshan took it. The book was still faintly warm to the touch. He looked down at the manual; emblazoned across the cover were five large characters: Mang Niu Da Li Jue!

Finally, he had it!

With the final three layers of the Mang Niu Da Li Jue, his strength could advance once more.

"Mm," Qing replied briefly. "I won't disturb Brother Teng's morning practice, so I'll head back now." Before Teng Qingshan could say much more, the girl had already turned and hurried away. In the cold wind of the winter morning, the trailing edges of her clothes fluttered as she fled. Watching her running silhouette was, in itself, a pleasure.

Teng Qingshan smiled, tucked the manual safely inside his robe, and turned back to the drill ground to resume his spear practice.

On the drill ground, filled with shouts of exertion, the soldiers of the Black Armored Army drilled diligently. Yet, quite a few Centurions and Commanders watched from afar as Teng Qingshan and the girl Qing met and then parted ways.

"Hey, did you see that? Miss Qing and Brother Qingshan together. They look... quite close."

"Haha, Brother Qingshan is a young hero, and Miss Qing would be a perfect match for him. I say the finest bloom of the Guiyuan Sect is about to settle down right here with our Black Armored Army."

...

The Centurions exchanged knowing smiles, chuckling softly among themselves. Within the Guiyuan Sect, many men vied for the attention of Zhuge Qing. They generally fell into two camps: the core disciples of the Guiyuan Sect and the soldiers of the Black Armored Army. Secretly, the two factions were engaged in a quiet rivalry, betting on which side would ultimately win the beautiful maiden.

"Quiet down, all of you! This is a drill ground, not your idle chat spot!" A sharp cold voice cut through the air.

The Centurions turned to see that the speaker was Commander Bai Qi himself.

They exchanged a brief look, snickered twice more, and fell silent.

Commander Bai Qi glanced coldly at Teng Qingshan in the distance and sneered, "A poor farm boy, barely arrived at the Guiyuan Sect, and he’s already seducing Junior Sister Qingqing! I’ll have to find an opportunity to remind him of his true station!" Among the many men pursuing Miss Qing, Commander Bai Qi was certainly one.

Martial artists cultivating internal energy often enjoyed long lifespans; many in their early thirties remained unmarried.

Take 'Zang Feng' among the Four Great Commanders, or the only female among them—both were unwed. Commander Bai Qi was also among the bachelors.

The morning practice had been pleasant, the weather fine.

But soon the wind picked up, and the sky grew heavy. By the time Teng Qingshan and the others ate lunch, snow the size of goose feathers was falling relentlessly.

"A timely snow promises a bountiful harvest! A heavy snowfall before the New Year is a good omen," Teng Qingshan mused, feeling the cold kiss of snowflakes on his palm, a distinct pleasure stirring within him. He glanced at Teng Qinghu beside him and thought, Cousin seemed preoccupied this morning, what’s on his mind?

Teng Qinghu walked with his head down, silent.

"Cousin!" Teng Qingshan called out.

"Hm?" Teng Qinghu started, looking up at Teng Qingshan. "What is it, Qingshan?"

"You ask me what's wrong? You were cheerful just two days ago, but look at you now—you look burdened, as if the words 'I am troubled' are practically written on your face! Whatever it is, you can tell me. Don't keep it bottled up," Teng Qingshan said with a smile.

Teng Qinghu hesitated, then gritted his teeth and looked at Teng Qingshan. "Qingshan, do you... like Miss Qingqing?"

"Hm?" Teng Qingshan froze.

What was this about? Him liking Qingqing?

Teng Qinghu wiped his face. "Well, it's nothing really! I won't hide it from you. Seeing Miss Qingqing, I don't know why, but I fell for her. I also know I'm not worthy of her, so I kept it a secret in my heart, never daring to speak. Seeing her come to find you alone today, I guessed she likes you. I was genuinely happy for you, but I also feel... a little sour."

"But Qingshan!" Teng Qinghu urged, "Don't worry about me. Since I’m incapable of winning such a fine young woman, you should bring honor to our Teng Family Village and marry Miss Qingqing."

Teng Qingshan was dumbfounded!

"Slap!" Teng Qingshan playfully smacked Teng Qinghu on the head and scolded with a laugh, "Cousin, is your head full of paste? Who told you I like Miss Qing?"

"Uh, she’s such a wonderful girl, you don’t like her?" Teng Qinghu countered.

"She is a good girl, but does that mean everyone should like her?" Teng Qingshan managed a wry smile, then fixed his cousin with a stare. "Cousin, listen to me clearly. I have absolutely no interest in that girl. If you have the ability, you go and marry her. As for me... hmph, I wouldn't bother."

Teng Qinghu blinked.

"Alright, let's go back; stop standing here like an idiot." Teng Qingshan looped his arm around Qinghu's shoulder, and the two brothers walked arm-in-arm into the house amidst the swirling snow.

I fell for Miss Qing? Teng Qingshan chuckled internally at the absurdity of it.

When he saw Miss Qing, Teng Qingshan felt only the protective affection a brother has for his sister, reminding him of his own sister, 'Qingyu.' Furthermore, having lived twenty-nine years in his past life and sixteen in this one, he was long past the mentality of a starry-eyed youth. Having endured so much, his mindset was as solid as bedrock; how could he be so easily swayed? Towards such an innocent young girl, Teng Qingshan only harbored the desire to observe from a distance, never harboring any thought of defiling her purity.

Marrying a wife?

Without the wishes of parents pushing him, Teng Qingshan wasn't in a rush. He wouldn't marry unless he encountered someone who truly stirred his heart.

...

The snow fell harder and harder. By afternoon, his courtyard was already covered in a thick blanket of white.

Sitting cross-legged on the snow, Teng Qingshan was already dusted with a layer of white.

His steed, the Azure-maned Snow-treading Horse, lifted its head from the stable to regard the meditating Teng Qingshan, then returned to chewing hay.

"Cultivating internal energy is fundamentally about opening meridians during the process. As the channels become clearer, the cultivation speed naturally accelerates. Many people spend decades, even centuries, unable to open the most difficult pair: the Ren and Du Vessels. However... all my extraordinary meridians, the twelve primary meridians, and countless subtle channels are already unimpeded. Cultivating internal energy is therefore much easier and simpler."

Teng Qingshan felt completely at ease.

For him, cultivating internal energy was like traversing a perfectly flat plain.

In later generations, traffic was complicated by the need to build countless highways. Every highway required immense manpower and resources. But once built, transportation flowed smoothly, and economic growth surged swiftly. Opening the meridians was analogous to building those highways—the most troublesome part. But for Teng Qingshan, it was as if the highways were already constructed from the start; transporting the 'internal energy' cargo was naturally quick and simple.

"Eighth Layer!" Teng Qingshan was already circulating the mental recitation for the eighth layer.

Inside his body, internal energy surged like a tide, circling in every acupoint, sending waves of tingling numbness through his entire frame.

"Reaching the eighth layer, the speed at which I refine the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is more than a hundred times faster than refining internal energy through my Xingyiquan. It seems that even if my internal energy is completely depleted, I can restore it fully within a few hours," Teng Qingshan sighed with emotion. "In my past life, internal energy was a treasure, too precious to waste; it had to be refined slowly from the essence of blood. But in this life, this internal energy is practically worthless!"

Unconsciously...

Teng Qingshan broke through to the Ninth Layer of the Mang Niu Da Li Jue!

Internal energy flooded his extraordinary meridians like a deluge. The most challenging aspect of the ninth layer was piercing the 'barrier of the Ren and Du Vessels.'

"The tingling sensation is growing stronger! I didn't expect that stimulating the acupoints like this, using internal energy to vibrate the meridians, could actually make them tougher and more resilient." Teng Qingshan followed the instructions in the manual. The so-called stimulation of acupoints involved letting the internal energy circle the points, rubbing them gently again and again, extremely carefully, lest a vital point be damaged.

According to the manual, injuring a vital point would cause the internal energy flowing through it subsequently to slow down significantly.

"Acupoints? I understand that principle. If the meridians are the highways, then the acupoints are the bridges crossing those highways! If a bridge is damaged, the speed of crossing naturally slows. If the bridge collapses, the entire highway route is ruined." Teng Qingshan felt the internal energy within him accumulating, thickening like a snowball.

Vast amounts of internal energy poured into his Dantian, which acted like a bottomless pit, ceaselessly absorbing the influx.

After a long while, Teng Qingshan felt his Dantian swell, unable to hold any more internal energy.

"Ah, full?" Teng Qingshan inwardly sighed. "According to the Mang Niu Da Li Jue, a novice's Dantian is small. Over time, the Dantian expands. Eventually, it reaches a limit where it can expand no further. But I should still be some distance from that limit."

The Dantian size was finite, and the capacity for storing internal energy was limited, not infinite. This was precisely why martial artists sometimes exhausted their energy during fierce combat. However, as cultivation advanced, the Dantian would gradually grow larger—much like a person’s stomach, which expands the more it is fed. But there was a ceiling; once that limit was reached, further cultivation would not increase its size.

...

In the snowy courtyard, the cross-legged Teng Qingshan had transformed into a veritable snowman.

Hoo!

Teng Qingshan stood up, sending showers of snow cascading off him.

"Ninth Layer? That was simple; I've reached the ninth layer already. For me, the most precious part is the incantation for releasing internal energy in the ninth layer!" With a thought, the internal energy in his Dantian erupted violently, surging out along the extraordinary meridians before converging and rushing toward the meridian channels of his right arm.

"Ah!"

Teng Qingshan felt a searing pain shoot through his internal channels. His expression changed instantly as the internal energy rapidly dispersed from the fine vessels of his arm.

"Ssh, ssh!"

A good portion of the internal energy shot into the snow, burning small holes into the white surface.

"That was close," Teng Qingshan muttered, his face pale.

The eight streams of internal energy that had erupted from his extraordinary meridians had merged within his arm. The holding capacity of the arm's meridians was simply inferior to the confluence of the eight main extraordinary meridians. This merged mass of energy was far too great; it nearly ruptured a meridian in his right arm. Fortunately, because all his vessels were connected, he managed to disperse the excess energy through his minute collateral veins instantly.

"My extraordinary meridians are too wide; although they can unleash a massive surge of internal energy instantly, my arm's channels are too few—it’s like having too much ammunition for a small muzzle! I can't blast it all out at once. What a pity," Teng Qingshan said with a helpless smile.

When he practiced the sixth layer, the coalesced energy was less, and his arm channels could handle it. This time, they could not.

"It seems the Mang Niu Da Li Jue was right. I need to spend time widening and nourishing my meridians," Teng Qingshan resolved inwardly.

...

In the days that followed, Teng Qingshan enjoyed a leisurely existence within the Black Armored Army. Apart from his usual spear drills and occasionally leading the soldiers in equestrian practice, the majority of his time was spent practicing the Mang Niu Da Li Jue to nourish and condition his meridians. As time flowed by, Teng Qingshan's channels gradually became broader and more resilient.