That night.
After hours of training outside, Qingming finally returned to the Blackstone Base.
When he pushed open the door to his quarters, he saw a figure inside.
It wasn't anyone else, but his Shadow Clone.
The two exchanged a glance, and the clone immediately vanished into thin air.
What followed was a flood of memories.
Within those memories were not only the scenes of him following the Mist ninjas back to the Flying Fish Town, but also his meeting with Sano Nobuhisa after returning.
As for the former, Qingming simply glanced over it before discarding it.
Dazai Yushi had not played any tricks. After issuing the retreat order, he obediently led the remaining Mist ninjas back to Flying Fish Town.
As for the latter…
There wasn't much valuable information either.
The battle had just ended, and Sano Nobuhisa had much to do. The meeting was brief, summarizing the gains and losses of this battle as well as the status of the other three battlefields.
From his words, Qingming learned that the real focus of the Mist Village's assault was on the southern defense line's gap.
This also explained why Dazai Yushi had retreated so decisively—not only because of the pressure Qingming had applied, but also because this was not the main attack point.
As for that gap...
The battle there still hadn't reached a conclusion. However, due to the prolonged duration, it had turned into a stalemate, and the combatants had changed twice. The fighting was still ongoing.
Sano Nobuhisa told them to be ready to support at any time.
Although the village had agreed to dispatch more high-end forces, it would take some time. If the situation worsened, they might need to send reinforcements from their side first.
This was a direct order from the overall commander, Nara Keiko, and they needed to take it seriously.
Additionally, Sano Nobuhisa arranged some follow-up tasks.
However, these had little to do with Qingming. His mission remained the same: to scout the movements of the Mist ninjas in Flying Fish Town every night.
Of course, there was no need for him to go out tonight.
With the battle just ending, both the Konoha and Mist ninjas were licking their wounds and had no energy to launch another war immediately.
Thus, Qingming didn't need to take action tonight.
It was a good opportunity for him to continue his practice.
After several hours of training last night and today, combined with "Earth Style: Earth Spear," he felt he was getting very close to successfully imprinting "Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall" and "Earth Style: Hardened Technique" onto his skill panel.
"Keep going!"
With a silent determination, Qingming raised his hands and made the "Ren" hand seal, once again using the "Shadow Clone Technique."
Bang!
With a puff of chakra smoke, two figures appeared in the room.
Qingming looked at the two clones and immediately gave instructions: "Let's begin."
"Understood." x2
The two clones nodded, without saying much, and immediately moved to the corners of the room to focus on recalling and practicing the content of "Earth Style: Hardened Technique."
That's right, Qingming didn't have them practice separate techniques. Instead, he decided to focus all his energy on mastering "Earth Style: Hardened Technique" first.
The reason for this was simple: practicing "Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall" was too noisy. If he hadn't performed it yet, it wouldn't have been a problem. But once it was used, it would surely cause an uproar.
Qingming didn't want to draw attention, so he temporarily set it aside.
In contrast, "Earth Style: Hardened Technique" worked on the user themselves, and regardless of whether the technique succeeded or failed, it wouldn't attract attention, making it ideal for practice in this environment.
Moreover, "Earth Style: Hardened Technique" could significantly improve his survivability.
For ordinary people, trying to master a technique in such a rushed manner would be futile.
After all, to truly make "Earth Style: Hardened Technique" effective, it's not enough just to be at an introductory level.
But Qingming was different. With the proficiency panel in place, as long as he could imprint this technique on the panel and was willing to spend chakra, he could rapidly improve it to a high level.
Therefore, practicing in a rush wasn't a waste of time for him.
With his attention now shifted back to the clones, Qingming sat cross-legged on the bed. He then continued cycling through "Palm Immortal Technique" and "Reflection Heart Technique," strengthening his body while guiding his Sharingan toward further evolution.
The time passed quickly, and soon it was late at night.
Just as Qingming was about to recall his clones to summarize their progress and refresh his own state, his body suddenly froze in place.
The next moment, the corner of his mouth curled up, and a smile appeared on his face.
"Finally succeeded!"
Muttering to himself, Qingming opened his skill panel and saw a new technique listed—"Earth Style: Hardened Technique: Lv0 (1/100)."
That's right, he had successfully imprinted "Earth Style: Hardened Technique" onto his panel.
That was precisely why he was so pleased.
"Ahhh~~~"
He took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.
After calming himself down, Qingming immediately performed the "Shadow Clone Technique," creating five clones and instructing them to practice the technique simultaneously.
With five times the efficiency, the progress was incredible.
In just a few minutes, Qingming had managed to bring the technique up to the introductory level, or Lv1.
This was because there was a period of contemplation and understanding involved. Otherwise, the speed would have been even faster.
When all the clones were recalled, Qingming felt a moment of clarity.
After meditating for a moment, he made the hand seals, spending a few seconds to successfully cast "Earth Style: Hardened Technique!"
In an instant, Qingming's skin turned from pale to a grayish black.
Immediately, a feeling of extreme toughness flooded his body. He casually picked up a kunai and drew it lightly across his arm. He felt no pain, only a faint white mark appeared, which quickly faded away.
Although Qingming hadn't used much strength, the fact that the kunai couldn't cut through him was enough to prove the technique's effectiveness.
And this was just at Lv1.
As the level increased, the defensive power would surely become even more formidable.
At that point, regular physical attacks would be negligible.
With this in mind, Qingming deactivated "Earth Style: Hardened Technique," then created five more clones to continue improving its proficiency.
This time, it required 200 proficiency points, which took Qingming over half an hour.
By the time it reached Lv2, Qingming cast the technique again, and its defensive power had naturally increased.
Moreover, the time it took to use it also decreased.
At this rate, with five clones practicing, Qingming estimated that in just one and a half hours, he would be able to reach Lv3.
However, he had to stop for now.
Why? His chakra reserves were running low.
The method of rapidly improving proficiency was indeed fast, but it consumed a lot of chakra.
Just from raising the technique from Lv0 (1/100) to Lv2 (1/500), he had spent almost 30,000 chakra points. To reach Lv3, he would need another 50,000 points, which was simply too much for Qingming to handle.
In fact, after the battle earlier, he didn't have a chance to replenish his chakra, and he had already been training for several hours this evening.
Had it not been for "Chakra Refining Technique" and his body's natural chakra recovery, he might not have been able to endure the strain and reach Lv2 with "Earth Style: Hardened Technique."
Thus, it was time to slow down.
At this point, Qingming felt some fatigue, and it was time to rest.
With that thought, he climbed back into bed, not bothering to undress, and simply lay down to sleep.
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