74 Cambrian Consciousness
During the three days at the Tang family, they followed the young members of the Tang family for hunting every day. They enjoyed delicious meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and everyone looked energetic and fulfilled. Even Abu had gained some weight.
During these days, Cong Xia continued to cultivate and accumulated some energy. Together with the absorbed energy, he finally completely healed Cheng Tianbi’s injuries. Their team had restored their combat strength to Tier 1 and was ready to embark on their journey.
Tang Yanqiu also knew that they shouldn’t stay for too long, but he still felt somewhat reluctant to leave.
In fact, the Tang Clan didn’t need him to worry at all. They were self-sufficient in terms of food, clothing, and other necessities. They could even sustain more than 200 households in the entire town, making it akin to a safe little kingdom. With over a hundred members in the Tang Clan, including eight mutants, the chances of mutation were relatively high. Even for those who didn’t mutate, their martial arts skills were outstanding. Based on the current situation, there was hardly anything that could threaten them.
Tang Yanqiu knew it was time to leave. He didn’t want to wait for others to urge him, so he took the initiative to suggest it. Unexpectedly, Zhuang Yao, on the other hand, wasn’t in a hurry and asked to wait for two more days. Zhuang Yao was very interested in the various secret medicines passed down in the Tang Clan. Over these days, he had been mingling with the pharmacists, and thanks to Tang Yanqiu’s presence, they were given some non-confidential medicinal formulas. They obtained a good amount of powder that could repel beasts. Unless they encountered attacks from large groups of mutant creatures, they were almost safe in the forest with these powders combined with their own strength.
Since Cheng Tianbi and Tang Yanqiu’s injuries had healed, Cong Xia was no longer in a hurry to cultivate. For him, cultivating and studying the ancient jade were equally important, but time and energy were limited. During this period, apart from utilizing the power of the ancient jade to cultivate, he hadn’t entered the void again.
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So, only if Tang Yanqiu can grasp this method can he teach it to others. After finding Tang Yanqiu, Cong Xia explained his purpose and handed him a few pages of paper.
Tang Yanqiu glanced through it, unable to hide his astonishment, “If you didn’t tell me that this is a method for energy cultivation, in my opinion, it’s simply an advanced set of inner cultivation techniques.”
“Really? It resembles inner cultivation techniques?”
“Yes, it does. If we replace ‘energy’ with ‘inner strength’ in this theory, it would still be completely applicable to the human body. It might even be more formidable than the Tang Clan’s inner cultivation methods. I wonder what kind of martial arts genius could devise such a set of techniques.”
“Techniques…” Cong Xia murmured, “It actually resembles inner cultivation techniques?”
Tang Yanqiu’s expression turned serious. “That’s right. Actually, when you taught me the first method, the one involving regulating breathing frequency, I felt that it was very similar to cultivating inner strength. However, if you practice inner strength using that method, it would be difficult to achieve significant results even after decades. But when you cultivate the energy that exists between heaven and earth, the results are remarkable. It’s the same with this set of techniques. If it were used for cultivating inner strength, the progress would depend on one’s aptitude. Even the most gifted individuals would need at least ten years to achieve something. That’s why most experts in ancient times were older individuals because mastering martial arts is not something that happens overnight. It requires perseverance for decades. However, when this set of techniques is applied to energy instead of inner strength, the progress accelerates by a hundred or even a thousand times. I don’t know where you obtained this information, but the person who compiled it is undoubtedly a god-like figure.”
Cong Xia nodded. “He must be a god-like figure.”
To be able to predict the arrival of the Cambrian consciousness, seal so much useful information in the ancient jade hundreds or thousands of years in advance, and emerge after the outbreak of the Second Cambrian Period—this series of god-like actions is beyond human imagination.
Tang Yanqiu looked at the thin sheets of paper with a grave expression. “Give me a few days to study this theory. Once I have thoroughly understood it, I will teach it to you all.”
“Ah…” Cong Xia hesitated.
Tang Yanqiu said, “What’s wrong? Rest assured, I will never reveal it to anyone.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. To be honest, I translated this content, and I’m afraid there might be mistakes.”
“I understand. I will be cautious. If there are any obvious contradictions, I will be able to recognize them.”
Cong Xia nodded. “If you discover anything that doesn’t seem right, let me know immediately.”
“Okay.”
Cong Xia gave a few more instructions, and Tang Yanqiu saw him off at the door. As soon as he stepped out, he saw Cheng Tianbi standing under a nearby tree, looking at him.
Cong Xia was taken aback.
The two of them hadn’t said a word to each other these past few days, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward. He awkwardly pretended as if nothing had happened and said, “Tianbi, what’s up? You’re not waiting for me, are you?”
Cheng Tianbi had indeed been waiting for him since Cong Xia entered Tang Yanqiu’s room.
Cong Xia walked over and said, “Is it time for dinner? Let’s go eat.”
Cheng Tianbi responded calmly, “What did you go to him for?”
“Oh, it’s about cultivation. I’ve been studying the ancient jade these past few days and have come up with another set of cultivation methods.”
Cheng Tianbi frowned and asked, “Then why didn’t you come to me?”
Cong Xia hurriedly explained, “That theory is quite similar to cultivating inner strength techniques and involves meridians and qi and blood. It’s quite complex. I thought Tang Yanqiu, who has been practicing martial arts since childhood, would have a better understanding, so I let him take a look first. I didn’t mean anything else.” He was worried that Cheng Tianbi might think he was deliberately avoiding him because of what happened that day.
Cheng Tianbi’s expression eased slightly, “Don’t hide things from me.”
“I’m not hiding anything. Why would I hide anything from you? You’re the person I trust the most.”
The cold aura around Cheng Tianbi finally dissipated, and he looked at his watch. “Let’s go eat. You don’t look well.”
Cong Xia smiled and said, “Just a bit sleep-deprived, that’s all. I’m fine.”
Cheng Tianbi glanced at him deeply, imprinting the slightly tired smile clearly in his mind. They stayed at the Tang family’s house for a week and finally decided to leave.
atOptions = { ‘key’ : ‘819083b5141e2ddc81cd1b66b82e3d92’, ‘format’ : ‘iframe’, ‘height’ : 250, ‘width’ : 300, ‘params’ : {} }; document.write(”);The night before they were set to depart, the one who cried the most was Tang Yanqiu’s younger sister, mainly because of Liu Fengyu. Tang Yanqiu glared at Liu Fengyu with an annoyed expression.
On the evening before their departure, the Tang family held another feast and brought out a cask of fine wine.
As someone poured wine for each of them, when it came to Cong Xia, Cheng Tianbi waved his hand and said expressionlessly, “He doesn’t drink.”
Cong Xia felt extremely embarrassed and could only steal glances at Cheng Tianbi.
Liu Fengyu became interested and said, “Hey, did Xiao Xia drink too much that day? Was he acting crazy because of the alcohol?”
Cong Xia gestured and winked at him, really hoping he wouldn’t bring up that topic.
Liu Fengyu acted as if he hadn’t seen anything and continued teasing them, “What did Xiao Xia do? You were the one who took him back to the room that day, right? Did he vomit on you or talk nonsense? Or did he take advantage of you while drunk?”
Cheng Tianbi gave him a cold glance and lifted his cup to take a sip of wine. Cong Xia stared at him and desperately tried to communicate with his eyes.
Liu Fengyu chuckled mischievously, “You two are so amusing. But lately, I’ve found that Tang Daxia is even more entertaining than you guys.” Liu Fengyu had recently taken pleasure in teasing Tang Yanqiu. Taking advantage of his own advantage, he had inquired about many embarrassing incidents from Tang Yanqiu’s childhood from Tang Yanjin and other female relatives, and would occasionally mock Tang Yanqiu, often leaving him red-faced with anger.
Cong Xia shook his head helplessly. As long as they didn’t fight, he felt it was relatively worry-free.
During the banquet, Tang Yanqiu’s parents gave them many instructions. Looking at Madam Tang’s reluctant expression, Cong Xia felt a bit guilty about how they had coerced Tang Yanqiu into joining them on the journey. However, Zhuang Yao clearly didn’t see it that way and took the opportunity to acquire many valuable items from the Tang family.
Early the next morning, they made final preparations to set off. With the additional weight, the vehicle was packed to the point where there was barely any space left. Apart from the designated drivers, everyone else had to sit on Abu.
The Madam wasn’t a woman of many words. She looked at her son and, despite her reluctance, encouraged him to leave early and return safely. They set off with the gaze of onlookers.
Their next destination was Xi’an, a journey of over 800 kilometers. At their current speed, it would take at least half a month to arrive.
Calculating the days, it had been seven months since the earthquake occurred. He and Cheng Tianbi had decided to go to Beijing on the second day after the earthquake. Unexpectedly, after more than half a year, they had only covered half of the journey to Beijing, encountering countless dangers along the way. Surviving was already not easy, but what was even more difficult was that they had never given up on their initial goal. It was truly a cause for deep emotion.
The topography of the Emei Mountain range was complex. Although they had a compass and navigational maps, due to excessive vegetation growth, the terrain had changed significantly. It was difficult to discern the direction from the printed satellite images alone. As they walked, they had deviated from their original track. They only knew that their general direction was correct, but the hope of returning to the highway seemed out of reach.
During dinner and rest that evening, Zhuang Yao held a flashlight and studied the map, sighing, “At this rate, we might not even reach Xi’an. We don’t even know where we have deviated to.”
Cong Xia knew the seriousness of the situation but still tried to reassure them, “It’s okay. As long as our general direction is correct, we will definitely reach Beijing.”
Zhuang Yao wasn’t in the mood to encourage everyone. “After deviating from the established track, our fuel consumption exceeded my expectations. If we can’t find a large city for resupply, we might have to abandon the vehicle, and then we’ll be left with nothing.”
The mood of the group became somewhat gloomy. If they had taken the highway directly from Chongqing, they wouldn’t have gotten lost. Going through the detour of Mount Emei completely disrupted their route. However, retracing their steps would be a waste of resources. After a collective discussion, they decided to continue directly to Xi’an from their current location. But now, they had no idea where they were.
Tang Yanqiu asked, “So what do we do now?”
“If only we could find a place where humans live in groups, at least we could get some information.”
Everyone looked at the dark forest and felt that finding people wouldn’t be much easier than finding Xi’an.
Liu Fengyu wrapped his coat tightly around himself. “Damn, it’s so cold at night.” He huddled into Abu’s embrace, wishing he could cover his whole body with Abu’s fur.
Tang Yanqiu looked at the stars in the sky. “I wonder how many people won’t survive this winter.”
During the sudden drop in temperature in summer, batches of people had already died. If the temperature dropped during winter, they didn’t know how low it could go. If it reached below minus thirty degrees Celsius, everyone except Abu would likely freeze to death.
Cong Xia served Liu Fengyu a bowl of ginger chicken soup. “Liu Ge, have some hot soup.”
Liu Fengyu took the bowl and took a sip, sighing in relief.
Each of them held a bowl of soup, huddling around the bonfire in the cold winter forest, leaning against Abu, warming themselves with this fragrant chicken soup.
After dinner, Tang Yanqiu took out the few sheets of paper that Cong Xia had given him and analyzed his thoughts, particularly regarding the methods of cultivation, explaining them in as simple language as possible.
Zhuang Yao took the paper and stared at the rough energy circulation diagrams, deep in thought.
Tang Yanqiu said, “These are diagrams of the human meridian pathways. I brought a copy from home, which is easier to understand. The routes and patterns of energy circulation at various acupoints are also clearly written on these papers. It looks like a plumbing system, where you just need to control the flow of energy according to this diagram. But it’s not that simple, especially in terms of mastering the control of energy. We must be extremely careful. I tried it a few times yesterday, and progress was slow, but I believe that once I master the entire set of operating rules, the speed of cultivation will be much faster than before.”
Liu Fengyu said, “Let’s try it tonight.”
Zhuang Yao said, “No rush. Let me study this diagram…”
Cheng Tianbi interjected, “This method seems somewhat complex. If we can familiarize ourselves with it and master it, our current method might actually be faster.”
“That’s right, which is why I want to try presenting this theory in a more straightforward manner, so that you can grasp it as quickly as possible.” Zhuang Yao’s eyes were fixed on those few pages of paper. He tugged at Tang Yanqiu’s sleeve. “Don’t go to sleep tonight, study it with me. The rest of you can go to sleep. Tomorrow, the two of us won’t be driving.”
“Okay.”
The two of them began their research around the bonfire, while the other three found suitable spots on Abu to sleep, wrapping themselves in their clothes.
Author’s Note: One update~~ Finally, I didn’t procrastinate and started writing after finishing dinner. The sooner I finish writing, the sooner I can go to bed.
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Translator’s Note: I’ll be prioritizing the bonus chapters first for today and tomorrow, then will go back to the normal updates. Thanks!
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