Chapter 17：Acting to Fool Elder Gu

The reason Mu Xuyang didn't want to continue staying at Ao Qing's residence was because he was still worried that Gu Zhenfeng might have noticed something when he evaded Lin Dong's attack, and secretly went to his residence to observe him. If he found out that Mu Xuyang wasn't there, he would go to Ao Qing or Nie Yifan's residence to find him.

If this happened, Mu Xuyang wouldn't be able to continue hiding the fact that he was teaching martial arts techniques to Nie Yifan and Ao Qing. He felt that if Gu Zhenfeng went to his residence and saw him practicing martial arts alone, he might think that Mu Xuyang was just an average person with no special talents. Furthermore, Gu Zhenfeng might tell others that Mu Xuyang wasn't with Nie Yifan and Ao Qing, which would prevent anyone from connecting Mu Xuyang's teachings with the martial arts techniques that Nie Yifan and Ao Qing knew.

After returning to his own residence, Mu Xuyang fed his old yellow dog some dry food, then sat cross-legged in the courtyard and entered the state of practicing the "Immortal Golden Body Technique". The cultivation levels of the "Body Refining Realm" and "Qi Transformation Realm" were only the foundation for entering the realm of cultivation in the future. The stronger the foundation laid during the "Body Refining Realm" phase, the greater the potential for promotion in the future.

There are ten levels of cultivation in the "Body Refining Realm". Initially, through the practice of techniques such as the "Tyrant Body Technique", the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is drawn into the body and the physical body is tempered. When the body reaches a certain degree of toughness, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth that exists within the body will gradually permeate and integrate into the tendons, and then penetrate deeper into the blood vessels, skin, bones, organs, bone marrow, acupoints, and sea of consciousness.

This process is simple to describe, but it's not easy to actually integrate the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the sea of consciousness, and attain the level of refining the mind. This requires a lot of time and effort.

At present, Mu Xuyang had been practicing for a month and was still in the initial stage of tempering his physical body, even with the top-level technique of the "Immortal Golden Body Technique". This shows that cultivation is not an easy task and cannot be achieved in a day. It requires unremitting efforts and persistence to gradually ascend and advance to higher realms.

After entering the state of cultivation, Mu Xuyang immediately felt that his perception ability had become extremely sensitive. Using his mysterious sensing power, he could even see clearly the movement of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in his body after it entered his body.

As time went by, more and more spiritual energy was absorbed into his body. Mu Xuyang could clearly see that his flesh and blood cells were changing under the mysterious power carried by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. They were becoming tougher and more resistant to external attacks.

After about two hours of immersion in the state of cultivation, Mu Xuyang suddenly noticed that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth flowing in his body began to penetrate into the tendons wrapped in flesh.

Feeling this, Mu Xuyang's face immediately showed an excited smile. He thought to himself, "Haha, my cultivation has finally taken a step forward, entering the level of refining tendons in the Body Refining Realm. If I calculate it based on one level of improvement per month, I only need one year to break through the Body Refining Realm. This is much faster than Nie Yifan and Ao Qing. This result is acceptable."

While Mu Xuyang was immersed in the joy of his small improvement in cultivation, the old yellow dog that had been sleeping nearby suddenly became alert and stood up. Perhaps it was worried about disturbing Mu Xuyang's cultivation, the old yellow dog did not bark. It just approached Mu Xuyang while vigorously wagging its furry tail.

The old yellow dog had been with the little beggar for many years, and the little beggar knew its body language very well. Mu Xuyang had also learned every movement of the old yellow dog from the little beggar's memory, which represented what information.

Seeing the old yellow dog approaching him and wagging its tail vigorously, Mu Xuyang immediately judged from its behavior that it had sensed a stranger approaching. From the information conveyed by the old yellow dog, Mu Xuyang guessed that it was Gu Zhenfeng who was quietly approaching his residence at this moment.

So Mu Xuyang quickly stopped his cultivation and made a gesture to the old yellow dog to enter the house and take shelter. After the dog entered, he picked up the martial arts manual "Eagle Claw Technique" that he had thrown aside and stood up calmly. He pretended to study the manual, flipping through it and clumsily mimicking the movements described in it.

The person who was quietly approaching was none other than Gu Zhenfeng. He came to Mu Xuyang's residence to check on the progress of his spiritual field cultivation and to observe his cultivation progress to confirm whether Mu Xuyang's evasion of Lin Dong's deadly palm attack was a coincidence.

After arriving, Gu Zhenfeng examined the spiritual field that Mu Xuyang had cultivated and carefully observed it for a while. He nodded in satisfaction and then carefully stepped to a hidden spot outside the courtyard wall, leaping up to secretly observe Mu Xuyang's cultivation progress.

When he saw Mu Xuyang practicing the Eagle Claw Technique at this moment and failing to memorize the techniques described in the manual after such a long time, Gu Zhenfeng's slight impression of him from seeing the spiritual field was completely erased.

After secretly observing for about half an hour and seeing that Mu Xuyang had not memorized the simple techniques in the manual and still had not discarded it, Gu Zhenfeng shook his head helplessly and showed a disappointed expression. He thought to himself, "I thought he had some special ability when he dodged Lin Dong's deadly palm attack, and we all overlooked it. But after obtaining the Eagle Claw Technique manual, he spent such a long time and still couldn't memorize the simple techniques in it."

After shaking his head in disappointment, Gu Zhenfeng had no desire to continue watching and quickly left. When the yellow dog noticed that Gu Zhenfeng had left, it wagged its tail and came out of the house.

Mu Xuyang learned of Gu Zhenfeng's departure from the dog's body language and stopped acting. He casually threw the Eagle Claw Technique manual aside and sat cross-legged to practice the "Indestructible Golden Body Technique."

Lin Dong is the youngest and most powerful disciple of the Thunder Hawk Hall, with the highest prestige and the most favored by the hall master. He has reached the mid-stage of the Magic Power Realm and is the main force sent by the Thunder Hawk Hall to participate in the sect hall meeting this year.

Moreover, Lin Dong is a complete villain and cannot tolerate even a tiny bit of sand in his eyes.

The collision between Mu Xuyang and him was originally a very small matter, but he had no intention of letting it go. If it weren't for Gu Zhenfeng intervening at the time and Mu Xuyang not having the ability to fight against him, it would have been impossible for Mu Xuyang to escape easily.

At this moment, a group of young disciples from the Thunder Hawk Hall had gathered at Lin Dong's residence. Their cultivation levels were lower than Lin Dong's, but higher than Ao Qing and Nie Yifan. In addition, with the support of their families, they had no worries about food and clothing during their cultivation days at the Thunder Hawk Hall. They did not need to plant spiritual fields like Ao Qing and Nie Yifan, or do some basic tasks for the sect to receive some subsidies and essential items for their daily lives.