Chapter 68: I Am Definitively Playing the Golden Finger

Near dusk.

Looking at the fruits of his labor, Jiang Ren felt a slight sense of accomplishment.

Unlike the recovery period needed when generating mysterious energy, using the mysterious energy to reinforce the blade body required no rest, making the process remarkably fast.

Within a major portion of the day, Jiang Ren had already depleted his mysterious energy. The hardness and sharpness of the blade had also improved significantly; if the original comprehensive rating of the blade was considered as 1, its current comprehensive rating was now 2.

The effect was even better than he had imagined.

From the blacksmith, Jiang Ren learned that he was described as a sharp weapon capable of cutting through metal as if it were mud. Now that his numerical rating had doubled, he assumed it wouldn't be long before he emerged to create a storm of blood and slaughter in the martial arts world as a divine weapon.

Meanwhile, Nie Qingge had entered a small town.

"Hero, would you like to stay the night?" asked the plump innkeeper standing in front of the establishment.

"Feed my horse some better fodder, prepare a room for me, and send three meat dishes up," Nie Qingge said, handing the reins to the nearby inn attendant before tossing over a few pieces of broken silver.

The innkeeper's eyes lit up and his hands moved swiftly to catch the silver. He scolded the attendant to "feed the best fodder," and then turned back to Nie Qingge with a beaming smile, saying, "Hero, please follow me upstairs. I guarantee the room we have prepared for you is the finest in our inn."

After leading him to the guest room, the innkeeper took his leave.

Though called the finest room, it was only slightly better than ordinary rooms in inns located in larger towns, with nothing particularly striking about it.

Nie Qingge paced around the modest guest room.

Confirming that nothing was amiss, he unslung the bundle from his back, sat down on a wooden stool, and placed Jiang Ren on the table.

"Come to think of it, I haven't taken a proper look at you yet."

Nie Qingge slowly drew the blade from its scabbard. The dim light of the oil lamp in the room shone upon the bright silver blade, exuding a chilling aesthetic.

"This blade..."

The blade was fully drawn.

Nie Qingge observed it, his brows furrowing slightly as he muttered to himself, "Why does it feel somewhat different from this morning? Could it be my imagination?"

"Not bad, a qualified toolman."

Seeing this scene, Jiang Ren smiled.

In just half a day, the blade's numerical ratings had doubled, yet its weight remained completely unchanged. The only difference was that the surface of the blade had become much smoother and flatter, causing it to reflect more light.

To be able to sense that something was amiss through such minor changes, having only seen the blade a few times, indicated a keen power of observation.

This also meant that although this toolman showed certain death flags due to his desire to repay a favor, he probably wouldn't die so easily.

"To be my blade-wielding toolman, young man, consider yourself lucky."

Jiang Ren was in a good mood; having a body like a legendary golden finger was quite entertaining.

In his first two worlds, he had fought tooth and nail on the front lines, constantly needing to guard against potential dangers, with very few opportunities for completely relaxed rest.

Now, he was still on the front lines, but who would target an ordinary-looking blade?

This identity, which was both conspicuous and low-key, was simply perfect, save for the fact that he could not directly influence the outside world.

After finishing his meal,

and taking a bath,

Nie Qingge extinguished the lamp in the room, sat cross-legged on the bed, placed the scabbarded blade—formed by Jiang Ren—across his lap, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.

Jiang Ren, who was concentrating on accumulating mysterious energy, suddenly had his rhythm interrupted.

He discovered that the rate at which mysterious energy was increasing had nearly doubled compared to the beginning. The turning point of this change seemed to have occurred three minutes after Nie Qingge closed his eyes.

"This state should be the circulation of the microcosmic orbit."

"According to the blacksmith, circulating the orbit involves guiding internal energy through the meridians in a specific sequence. This is the primary method for increasing internal energy, and generally, with every complete circulation, the internal energy grows by a fraction."

"Could it be that while he circulates his internal energy, I also receive some benefits, which causes the growth rate of the mysterious energy to double?"

Jiang Ren tried it again and found that the doubling effect on the mysterious energy's growth rate was still active, prompting a sudden wave of joy: "Splendid, I am definitely taking on this golden finger role."

For the remainder of the time, he once again immersed himself in cultivation.

The only pity was that these benefits could not help restore his mental energy, forcing him to watch time slip by passively for most of the time.

Half an hour later,

an hour later,

an hour and a half later, Nie Qingge's expression grew somewhat distorted, yet he persisted in circulating his internal energy.

"Not bad!"

For the first time in a day, Jiang Ren seriously sized up Nie Qingge.

Generally speaking, the better one's aptitude, the shorter the time required to complete a single circulation of the orbit. However, regardless of who it was, the absolute limit for daily orbit circulation was four hours.

Once four hours were exceeded, the internal energy would spin out of control, causing irreversible damage to the body.

In reality,

most people only spent around two hours a day circulating their internal energy.

Because starting from the third hour, as long as the circulation continued, the meridians would feel a searing, tearing pain akin to skin and flesh splitting apart. Furthermore, this pain would intensify as time went on, eventually reaching a point where it could literally cause someone to die of agony.

Take the blacksmith and his younger brother, for instance; both of them practiced internal energy.

Yet the time they spent circulating their internal energy each day amounted to just a little over an hour, roughly two hours and thirty minutes.

One had to bear in mind:

These two often stood in the scorching heat of the blacksmith's workshop, enduring high temperatures for hours on end to forge weapons with almost no rest.

Both their perseverance and endurance far surpassed those of ordinary people.

Yet even they could not sustain the orbit circulation for three hours. One could easily imagine how formidable the perseverance and endurance of Nie Qingge must be, now that he had already surpassed the three-hour mark.

Another twenty minutes passed.

Jiang Ren felt the enhancement effect dissipate. Looking outward, he discovered that Nie Qingge had opened his eyes.

"Strange, truly strange."

Nie Qingge touched his neck. "Today I actually managed to persist for an incense stick's worth of time longer than usual."

Thinking that he still had to wake up early the next day to travel, he shook his side, placed Jiang Ren on the inner side of the bed, and went to sleep fully clothed.

"A total of two hours of orbit circulation daily, and it gets harder to improve the further along you go—let alone that an incense stick's worth of time is roughly five minutes. Such a massive increase should be impossible."

Jiang Ren pondered for a moment, and an idea popped into his mind: "Could it be because of me?"

He couldn't help but think this way. Since Nie Qingge's circulation of internal energy could bring benefits to him, why couldn't his cultivation bring benefits to Nie Qingge in return?

In the days that followed,

Nie Qingge spent most of his time repeating the cycle of traveling, sleeping, traveling, and sleeping.

When luck was on his side, he stayed in inns or the homes of villagers and hunters.

When luck was against him, he stayed in dilapidated temples or even slept right by the roadside.

During this period, Jiang Ren also learned from Nie Qingge's occasional muttered monologues what task he was actually setting out to accomplish:

Acting as a temporary guard to escort a princess to a designated destination!