Level Up in Martial World

Chapter 139: Cold Qi

Astonished, Lu Zhen sought clarity, "Wait, I'm a bit confused. Is my body's cultivation similar to Qi cultivation?"

[From the database, yes, host. The key point is that your body has officially entered the realm of the second stage. You will need to refine your body through expansion and contraction. Eventually, your body will reach a state of perfection, paving the way for your advancement to the first-stage martial realm with your physique.]

Lu zhen had a thoughtful expression when he heard this.

"Let's make the most of the benefits here for now," Lu Zhen decided, trying to move around in the eerily dark place.

Suddenly, Lu Zhen felt a protective barrier surrounding him, which puzzled him. He refrained from questioning it, knowing that the ancestor had created it for his safety.

Lu Zhen's surroundings transformed from the pitch-black void back to Lu Estate. The sudden change caught him off guard, making him almost jump with shock.

"Wait, have we already arrived at our destination?" Lu Zhen wondered to himself as he saw Lu Ying and the ancestor standing there with amused smiles.

"You'll become accustomed to travelling like this once your body grows strong enough," Lu Ying said, her tone caring.

"In fact, it might not be long, especially considering you have the ancient warrior physique."

Lu Zhen remained silent as he followed the two into the mansion.

While he was walking, he reflected on something that made him frown. The ancestor knew that Lu Ying and Lu Zhen had killed the second-stage martial artist, and he was aware that Lu Ying had been unable to eliminate the two other second-stage martial artists.

This indicated that the ancestor had been covertly observing them for an indeterminate amount of time and was patiently waiting for the Xia family's patriarch to arrive. In essence, Lu Zhen and Lu Ying had been used as bait. However, Lu Zhen chose to keep this thought to himself.

Lu Zhen had momentarily forgotten that this was a harsh world, where no one was innocent or naive, especially not those higher-ranking martial artists who had decades of experience and had climbed to power by stepping on others. At that level, no one was so straightforward.

"Where will you be going now, son?" Lu Ying inquired.

"I will be going to my palace before entering the..."

"Oh, you're going to meet your lover, aren't you?" Lu Ying chuckled at hearing this as she interrupted Lu Zhen.

"Yes," Lu Zhen said without denying it. Actually, having a harem in this world was quite common. The strong martial artists had harems of hundreds or even thousands if they had enough strength, whether it was female or male, if they were strong and they wanted to have a harem they could. All that mattered was strength.

Strength was the key factor, and it will never change.

And the second important thing is that, as the young master of the family, he was obligated to marry at least 10 females to make more babies who could become suitable heirs for the Lu family. However, the case for Lu Zhen was different since he was the only child of the patriarch; he could only be the only one in line in succession to the patriarch.

As for Lu Zhen, his circumstances were indeed different. His mother, Lu Ying, had married Lu Huang the patriarch, and she had been quite adamant that he shouldn't entertain any other romantic interests besides her which was obviously unfair reasoning.

However, since the ancestor ordered it, he could only grit his teeth and agree to it due to his lacking talent as well as "strength" compared to Lu Ying. Thus, the poor man couldn't have harem, which resulted in Lu Zhen automatically being the young master of the Lu family.

In a quiet room filled with bookshelves, a woman sat cross-legged, emitting an icy aura that froze the floor beneath her for at least 10 metres. Strangely, the woman herself wasn't affected, and her clothes didn't freeze, despite the room's chilling atmosphere. The room was eerily cold.

As she breathed in a peculiar rhythm, her exhales released an incredibly freezing air that seemed to nearly freeze the very air itself. She cyclically inhaled and exhaled, maintaining the bone-chilling environment.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes as a terrifying aura spread from her, engulfing the entire room with the aura as a smile graced her lips.

"Finally, I have become a third-stage martial artist already." Xia Mei exclaimed as she took back all the cold. Instantly, the room returned to its normal temperature as the ice around her slowly melted.

Xia Mei swiped her hands, which produced a cold air that instantly froze the shelves of the book. She again swiped her hands, and instantly the ice melted. However, no water fell down; instead, a cold wind was brought in as it directly went towards her again.

Still, she was not satisfied as she kicked the ground with her feet, creating tumultuous earthquake-like waves that made the ground shake.

Xia Mei had constructed qi pathways for her cold qi to travel in her body, allowing her technique and combat art to be effective several times. And she could now take back the cold Qi when Xia Mei uses her combat arts; she could later take back the amount of cold qi that she used in the attack, although the conversion rate was lower. Still, she was essentially like an infinite reserve of cold Qi.

Cold Qi was a subcategory of ice qi, which is the mutated form of water Qi. Basically, the cultivation method she was practising helped her harness the ability of cold Qi.

This Qi was a famous attributed Qi that was desired by countless martial artists because it had the special properties that the martial artist could get back there Qi even after they used it, not to mention its terrifying power. However, it was a little lacking in the body-strengthening part, but either way, that could be supplemented by other things.