So-Called Cultivation

Back then, it was the era when Longguo was soaring, and Feng Kang, eager to accelerate his expansion, naturally set his sights on real estate first.

He resorted to forced demolitions and sales, committing many illegal acts.

Later, the whole country embraced entrepreneurship, and countless people threw themselves into it.

His son also seized the opportunity, starting to provide loans to entrepreneurs.

If they couldn’t repay, the Feng family had plenty of ways to deal with it.

Feng Kang never expected that things from so many years ago would be dug up again.

“Who is it? Chen Cai? The Dai Family?”

Feng Kang roared angrily, “You all deserve to die! All of you!”

……

At the same time,

Dai Xuan of the Dai Family saw this news.

Opposite him sat a middle-aged woman.

Her eyes were sharp and fierce as she stared at Dai Xuan. “Isn’t it time to avenge Xiao’er’s death?”

“That’s right. I’ll contact people immediately and add fuel to the fire. We know all about the Feng family, but without evidence, we couldn’t act. Now that we have proof, we’ll make sure they go down.”

Dai Xuan nodded slightly.

“I don’t just want to send them to prison. I want to send them to hell!”

The middle-aged woman said fiercely.

“Fine, then we’ll send them to hell.”

Dai Xuan’s expression remained calm.

……

At this moment, Xu Mu sat in the boss’s chair in his office, watching the news.

That morning, Chen Cai had called him because she had found those damaging materials.

Xu Mu hadn’t met with Chen Cai in person but had her hand the information directly to the TV station.

He was very clear: in the past few days, the Dai Family must have learned about Dai Xiao’s death.

Once they knew, what would they do?

The Dai Family would never let this news sink without a trace; instead, they’d want the whole country to know.

So, Xu Mu didn’t need to intervene.

At that moment, he noticed the buzz about the Feng family trending higher and higher.

He clicked to take a look. Enterprises across Yang City were all speaking out.

Almost all were condemning the Feng family.

Some were even sarcastically demanding the government thoroughly investigate the Feng family’s assets and restore fairness.

Xu Mu smiled. With so many companies acting almost simultaneously, it was obvious who was behind it all—the Dai Family.

“It’s over.”

Xu Mu leaned back in his chair and turned to look out the window.

If nothing unexpected happened, the Feng family was finished.

His phone vibrated, pulling Xu Mu out of his thoughts. He checked the screen and saw it was a call from Xu Shou.

“What’s up?”

Xu Mu answered with a smile.

“Aren’t you at the company today? Come to my office.”

Xu Shou’s voice came through.

Xu Mu stretched vigorously. No surprises—this must be about the Feng family.

He arrived at the top-floor office.

Xu Ningbing was already there, as usual.

“The Feng family’s affair, you had a hand in it, right?”

Xu Shou smiled as he saw Xu Mu enter.

“That’s right.”

Xu Mu sat down on the black leather sofa.

He didn’t mention Feng Kang’s attempt to kill him.

Dangerous matters like that, he wouldn’t tell his family. They couldn’t help and would only lose sleep worrying.

“Hahaha! I never thought the Feng family, who once battled us blow for blow, would be taken down by my son.”

Xu Shou laughed as he lit a cigarette. “Fate is ironic.”

“Dad, back then, we were only dragged down by the Ye family. Otherwise, we might not have lost.”

Xu Ningbing looked at Xu Shou and said,

“No matter what, we’ve won this time.”

Xu Shou leaned back on the sofa, took several drags from his cigarette, then turned to gaze out the window. “The Feng family’s business overlaps heavily with ours. We have to seize this opportunity to replace them.”

“But if we do that, the hidden clans will target us again,” Xu Ningbing said, lowering her head and clenching her fists. “With the effect of the divine medicine, I’ve already reached the Dark Qi stage. I’m not sure if I can withstand the hidden clans.”

Xu Mu was secretly amazed. No wonder it was called divine medicine. Without any alchemical activation to trigger its potency—just simple absorption—it could produce such effects.

Still, since they were discussing cultivation levels, Xu Mu used his Divine Eye to check Xu Shou’s status.

Name: Xu Shou

Role: Chairman of Jiang City’s Xu Group

Favorability: (Maxed out)

Destiny Level: 3 (Max 10)

Xu Mu couldn’t understand why this old man’s Destiny Level kept rising. It had started at level one not long ago and was already at level three.

He continued clicking for more details, and other data about Xu Shou appeared.

Cultivation Level: Mid-stage Gang Qi.

Physique: 290

Spirit: 99

Xu Mu took a deep breath. Such rapid progress didn’t make sense.

However, after some thought, Xu Shou had previously suffered damage to his meridians.

Based on what Xu Mu currently knew, the most likely explanation was that Xu Shou wasn’t advancing but returning to his original state.

As his meridians healed, he gradually returned to his former cultivation level.

Once he reached his previous peak, his progress would probably stop.

“Ningbing, you still have a long way to go,” Xu Shou said, flicking ash from his cigarette. “If you want to become a hidden clan, you need to at least reach the Gang Qi stage. But even among hidden clans, there’s competition. If you try to grab resources at the early Gang Qi stage, the other clans won’t agree, and that will lead to your downfall.”

“What level do you need to stabilize the clan?” Xu Ningbing asked.

“To be a hidden clan, you need at least a late-stage Gang Qi expert to intimidate the others,” Xu Shou replied, taking another drag. “But that’s just the minimum standard—they’re usually even stronger.”

“Dad, are there higher levels beyond that? You haven’t told me,” Xu Ningbing said, sitting next to Xu Mu and looking at Xu Shou.

“You can ask Xiao Mu. Judging by his expression, he seems to know,” Xu Shou said with a smile, eyeing Xu Mu.

“Xiao Mu, speak up,” Xu Ningbing nudged Xu Mu lightly.

Xu Mu slumped on the sofa and explained, “Cultivation is basically the process of our Qi developing from the inside out.”

“Mm.”

Xu Ningbing nodded, listening attentively.

“Ming Qi is when the spiritual veins open and Qi starts to appear. It’s not much different from an ordinary person, just stronger.”

“Dark Qi means more spiritual veins open, allowing the Qi to be compressed and released explosively to cause massive damage.”

“Gang Qi means the Qi increases significantly, impacting the meridians inside the body, opening all the extraordinary meridians. The Qi can even burst out of the body.”

Xu Mu looked at Xu Ningbing and spoke slowly.

She said nothing, quietly waiting for him to continue.

She had already heard Xu Shou explain the first three levels before.

“Next comes the Divine Ability. As the name suggests, it means that all the meridians in the body are fully connected, allowing Qi to emanate visibly from the pores of the skin.”

Xu Mu raised his hand and said, “People are divided into five elements. For example, I belong to the Fire attribute, so my Qi is red. As for you...”

He suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

According to the later plot, he obviously knew that Xu Ningbing belonged to the Water element, meaning she had a Water attribute.

But it was a bit too soon to reveal that now.

“What about me?” Xu Ningbing asked.

“For example, if you are Wood attribute, your Qi in the future would be green,” Xu Mu explained.

Of course, there are some rare body types that don’t even fall under the Five Elements.

But for Xu Ningbing, it was still too early to delve into that.

“In the early stage of Divine Ability, the Qi that appears from the pores is quite sparse. By the middle stage, it becomes more abundant,” Xu Mu continued.

“If you reach the late stage of Divine Ability, the Qi on your body can almost connect into a continuous flow.”

Previously, when Xu Mu fought Lin Yang, he had used medicine to forcibly boost his realm, which should have been a brief entry into the late stage of Divine Ability.

“And then?” Xu Ningbing pressed on.