My martial arts skill bar can be infinitely merged.

24. Unspeakable

Lu Feng tossed and turned in the main room of the house for almost the entire night.

It's not that I can't sleep, it's that I don't have the courage to sleep. The outcome of the exorcism in the outer city is still unknown, and I can't calm my mind.

Fortunately, there was a red stone that could soothe people's hearts.

The effect of the redstone is regional; it doesn't need to be hung outside the main gate, but can be suspended under the eaves of the north courtyard.

Until the morning light pierced through the dark clouds and the earth lit up once again, nothing else happened around the new house.

Lu Feng then came out of his room and changed into a clean set of plain clothes. The clothes were made of breathable material, with simple blue thread embroidered on the front, and he wore black cloth shoes with multi-layered soles for easy movement.

Looking out into the courtyard, several swaying pomegranate trees were waving in the wind, their stamens shaped like inverted bells, their fragrance wafting in the air, becoming almost imperceptible.

The Lu family has always had the habit of getting up early, and the whole family got up one after another, each doing their own thing.

Zhang Dayou was the first to leave; he was very busy with his butcher shop.

Tiger didn't even have time to eat at the Lu family's house. He took his five men and left the house, planning to grab a bite at a roadside stall before focusing on finishing up the business in the outer city and bringing Lu Feng some money.

After finishing his congee and drinking a bowl of water, Lu Feng also headed to the Taoist temple.

He needs to go and see how things went last night, and hopefully find out where the battlefield was so he can go there and check if there are any remnants of black liquid.

Wearing only a cloud-patterned jade pendant, Lu Feng once again stepped into the wide-open gates of the Taoist temple.

On the road outside the courtyard gate, the armed guards remained as usual, calmly standing guard in their positions.

Standing once again on the white jade square, Lu Feng looked at the long stretch of Dao Palaces in front of him and headed to one of them.

They soon arrived at the residence in the Taoist temple that Ke Xing had mentioned earlier.

This is a small area in the south, with a path in the middle and a shallow pond on the left. In the distance, there should be clusters of lotus flowers, but at this time of year, only the floating leaves are visible.

Walking along the path, we arrived at the small palace in sight. Judging from its appearance, it was no different from the ancient buildings of my previous life. It was pure black in appearance, and bells hung in the corridors.

A gust of wind will make it make a crisp tinkling sound.

"Cough cough cough!"

As soon as I stepped onto the wooden stairs, I heard a loud cough coming from inside, the sound bursting out of his throat, extremely rapid.

Lu Feng quickened his pace, pushed open the door, and saw the situation inside.

To the right were tables, chairs, bookshelves, and a desk; to the left was a four-poster bed, on which lay Ke Xing, his face pale and weak, lacking his usual rosy complexion.

Lu Feng's gaze fell on the bedside, where a female disciple, also dressed in purple robes and wearing a lotus crown, stood. No, he should call her senior sister.

Looking at the familiar line of text above the other person's head.

[Skill Replication: One-Symbol Style (Minor Mastery) / Special Style Focused on Fast-Paced Attacks]

[Required Martial Arts Points: 5]

Previously at the outer city restaurant, there were two replicable targets, and the other one was the one in front of us.

Seeing this new mark, Lu Feng, with his abundant martial arts points, immediately copied it.

[Engraving successful]

[One-Character Formation Strategy (Minor Success)]

[Martial arts points: 12]

Great, add one more training session to your goal!

Replicating something is just a matter of a thought; Lu Feng came here with his own plan.

He immediately performed the salute typical of disciples of the Taoist academy, placed the small bag of gifts he had been carrying on the table, and asked with concern.

"How is Senior Brother Mingxuan? I was restless last night, so I came to visit him today."

He then bowed to the senior sister and said, "Greetings, senior sister. My name is Mingxu, a newly admitted disciple."

Mingdao responded with an "Mmm".

He first instructed Ke Xing in a cold voice: "Your master will give you one pill a day, and your injuries will be healed in three days."

After speaking, he turned around, revealing his face, which was like a piece of jade, with light eyebrows that reached his temples, a thin and straight nose, and thin, reddish lips. He gave off a cold feeling and seemed never to smile.

She then looked at Lu Feng before speaking again: "My name is Mingdao, and I am the senior sister who teaches Mingxuan. You must be Mingxu, the junior brother personally taught by Mingxuan?"

The voice was heavy, and even though it sounded pleasant, for some reason, it made others feel like they were being interrogated.

Lu Feng felt a little pressured and gave a brief answer.

Mingdao offered another word of encouragement and then swiftly left the room.

Ke Xing watched the whole thing, and chuckled softly when he saw Lu Feng breathe a sigh of relief.

"That's just her personality. Once you get to know her, you'll find she's a really nice person."

What could Lu Feng say? He could only nod and agree, then asked about the situation.

When the topic turned to business, Ke Xing's expression turned serious, and he began to briefly recount what had happened the previous night.

"The Bureau of Subduing Evils dispatched two chief guards and seven deputy guards, along with eight disciples from our Yunxia Dao Academy and one master. In the first half of the night, they wiped out all the night ghosts active in the outer city."

Wait, there are many Night Demons?

Lu Feng broke out in a cold sweat; thankfully, he had entered the Daoist academy early.

One of them could kill him now, let alone many.

Since Lu Feng's expression was normal and showed no abnormality, Ke Xing continued speaking.

"These are all derivatives, not the ghosts we are dealing with. The Night Ghosts have plagued Cangwu for a long time. This time, the experts from both sides joined forces, and we, the lower-level experts, cooperated to finally trap the Night Ghosts deep in the Canglong Mountains, sixty miles away, and the Night Ghosts were defeated."

Fortunately, the evil spirit was gone. Before Lu Feng could think any further, Ke Xing's next sentence startled him.

"Hmm... This demon-slaying victory will ensure ten years of peace for the outer city; the results are remarkable!"

What does "guaranteeing ten years of peace" mean?

Didn't they say they were to be executed?

Lu Feng lost control of his facial expressions.

Ke Xing also saw his junior brother's out-of-control expression. A flash of memory crossed his bloodless face—it was the same expression he had shown back then.

Another bout of coughing followed, and Ke Xing said in a weak voice, "Strive to cultivate diligently. It's best not to talk too much about the ghostly harm. If your cultivation level isn't high enough, forcibly knowing information will only bring harm and no benefit."

This statement cut off Lu Feng's follow-up questions. After asking about the location of the alleged killing of the Night Demon, he left the house.

Seeing that the senior brother who had introduced him to the school was unharmed, and having learned the information he wanted to know.

Lu Feng then took his leave and walked from the small pond toward the Taoist temple's Dharma Pavilion.

Now that we've arrived at the Dao Palace, let's first select a cultivation technique with completed engravings to strengthen our core abilities. This is the foundation for exploring everything.

The task ahead is arduous and the road is long!

The Dharma Pavilion is one of the few places that can be entered and exited despite being guarded by protectors.

When Lu Feng stepped inside, he saw the old Taoist in black who had turned his back to him last time, or what could be called a high-ranking master.

"Disciple Mingxu has come to seek a method for protecting the Dao!"

The old Taoist priest in black robes and with white hair standing before the furnace spoke up: "Have you broken through to a higher realm?"

"No," Lu Feng answered honestly.

The old Taoist priest shook his head slightly, his white hair swaying: "Come back to receive the teachings after you break through to a higher realm. Young disciples should not be overly ambitious. Go now."

After saying that, he returned to his original state and did not say another word.

Lu Feng was helpless; he had indeed not yet broken through to the next realm.

In the eyes of the high-ranking elders, practicing the protective methods would affect the progress of cultivating the fundamental method and would distract new disciples. If they were dull-witted, the bottleneck of the protective methods could hold them back for an unknown period of time.

Even those with strong comprehension skills will need to spend a considerable amount of time.

But what he didn't know was that Lu Feng had a cheat code!

Unfortunately, the cheat program cannot be activated for the time being.

After leaving the Dharma Pavilion, Lu Feng went to the Training Pavilion. Since he was already at the Dao Palace, he decided to finish his cultivation for the day first.