6: Chapter 6 Ye Long

The ripples from the minor competition had not yet fully subsided.

The injury to Ye Tian's left arm had not healed, so he kept it in a cloth sling, yet he still went to the Ancestral Hall every day.

With five additional Low-Grade Spirit Stones, his Cultivation speed could be a fraction faster.

This evening, he had just come out of the Ancestral Hall and turned into the secluded alley leading back to his small courtyard.

A person was standing at the entrance of the alley.

He was tall and strong, even more burly than Ye Hao, with features that were somewhat similar, yet his gaze was much colder and sharper.

He stood there casually, but his aura made the air in the alley feel several degrees heavier.

Ye Tian's footsteps halted.

Ye Long.

Ye Hao's Elder brother and the true Genius of the Ye Family's younger generation. He spent most of his time tempering himself outside, and it was said he had long since become an expert at the fifth level of the Qi Gathering Realm.

Ye Long's gaze fell upon Ye Tian's suspended left arm. His voice had no fluctuations, yet it carried an oppressive weight: "Ye Hao is lying in bed, while you are standing. It doesn't seem quite right."

Ye Tian didn't speak, his right fist quietly clenching.

"I have no interest in the outcome of the minor competition." Ye Long walked toward him. His strides weren't large, but the sense of pressure increased abruptly. "But you touched my brother, so there must be an explanation."

The moment the words fell, his figure blurred.

So fast!

Ye Tian's pupils constricted. He had no time to react at all, feeling only a gust of wind rushing at his Face!

Bang!

A completely irresistible, massive force slammed violently into his blocking right arm.

His bones felt as if they would shatter, and his entire body flew backward uncontrollably, crashing heavily against the earthen wall behind him, shaking loose dust.

A sweetness rose in his throat, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

His suspended left arm was also jolted, causing a piercing pain.

Ye Long stood in his original spot as if he hadn't moved at all, looking at him indifferently: "Second level of Qi Gathering? No wonder you could defeat Ye Hao, but it's still not enough."

Ye Tian slid down from the wall. Leaning against it, he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, panting heavily.

The gap was too large; they weren't on the same level at all.

Ye Long took another step.

Ye Tian gritted his teeth, the small current of Qi within his body circulating frantically as he prepared for a desperate struggle.

Just then, a raspy voice rang out at the alley entrance: "Kid Ye Long, you've been running wild outside for a few years, and you come back to bully an injured clansman? You've certainly gained some skill, haven't you?"

Ye Long's footsteps stopped, and he turned his head with a frown.

The old servant Ye Zhong, leaning on a cane, hobbled into the alley. His cloudy old eyes glanced at Ye Long before looking at Ye Tian in the corner, letting out a 'tsk': "Truly can't take a hit."

Ye Long's eyes narrowed slightly, appearing somewhat wary of Uncle Zhong, though his tone remained cold and hard: "Uncle Zhong, don't interfere in this. He acted ruthlessly and crippled one of my brother's arms. It's not excessive for me to seek justice from him."

"Justice?" Ye Zhong sneered. "The fight happened on the arena; you accept the win or loss. Your brother's skills were inferior to others, so who's to blame? If you want justice, go find the Clan Chief and Elders who set the rules. What kind of justice is cornering someone in an alley?"

Ye Long's Face darkened.

Ye Zhong tapped the ground with his cane: "Get lost already. The Ancestral Hall is still short on sweepers. I've gotten used to ordering this kid around. If you break him, will you come and sweep?"

Ye Long stared at Ye Tian, then looked at Ye Zhong. After a moment of silence, he suddenly gave a cold laugh: "Fine. Uncle Zhong, I'll give you Face."

His gaze shifted back to Ye Tian, bone-chillingly cold: "The Family Grand Competition isn't far off. When the time comes, we'll meet on the arena. I hope you don't get kicked off in the first round."

Having said that, he turned and strode away.

Only Ye Tian's heavy breathing remained in the alley.

Ye Zhong walked slowly up to Ye Tian and tossed over a small medicine bottle: "Take it internally."

Ye Tian caught the bottle and propped himself up against the wall: "Thank you, Uncle Zhong."

"Still too green." Ye Zhong turned and walked back, his mumbling drifting over: "Nothing but trouble. If you get beaten to death next time, this old man won't care."

Ye Tian watched the old servant's back disappear at the alley entrance, then looked down at the medicine bottle in his hand.

He wiped the blood and dust from his Face and hobbled toward home.

His back burned with pain.

Ye Long's words were still echoing in his ears.

The Family Grand Competition!

He gripped the medicine bottle tightly.

Ye Long's threat was like a stone weighing on his heart.

That single strike in the alley had made Ye Tian clearly feel what a desperate gap meant.

Second level of Qi Gathering was not enough.

Even if he struggled to reach the third level, he would likely still be unable to withstand a single blow before Ye Long.

Conventional Cultivation was too slow.

Late at night, the oil lamp flickered like a bean.

Ye Tian once again opened that Nameless Booklet.

The postures on it were still awkward and strange, and the Qi circulation methods annotated beside them were obscure and difficult to understand.

Previously, he had mainly relied on the Qi currents fed back by the stone bead for Cultivation, and these postures were more of an aid.

But now, as he stared at those distorted postures and blurred handwriting, a thought popped into his mind.

This booklet might not have been intended for Qi training at all.

His finger brushed over a diagram of a human figure.

The human body in the diagram was twisted at a bizarre angle, with muscle lines tensed to the limit. Small characters beside it marked several extremely obscure Meridian paths, which were not the main vessels commonly used in the Qi Induction Mantra.

Body Refining?

The term jumped out.

Within the martial Dao, besides Qi training, there was also the path of Body Refining.

Tempering the bones, muscles, and skin to develop the Physical Body's potential.

However, the process was extremely painful, progress was slow, and most methods were inferior with limited achievements, so few people sought it.

His body's Qi training Aptitude was Trash, but what about Body Refining?

He would treat a dead horse as if it were alive.

He selected the first posture that seemed the "simplest" and attempted to strike it.

His muscle fibers immediately sent out a tearing sensation of pain.

He gritted his teeth and endured it. At the same time, he stopped guiding the Qi current in his body to circulate according to the Qi Induction Mantra, but instead tried to separate a thread of it to move according to the obscure and narrow branch Meridian marked on the diagram.

As soon as the Qi current entered the branch Meridian, it became sluggish and difficult to move, and the pain intensified.

Just then!

The stone bead in his bosom suddenly grew hot!

A current of Qi, far hotter and purer than the usual feedback, surged out. However, it did not flow into the Dantian, but instead crudely crashed into that branch Meridian he was struggling to open!

Ye Tian let out a muffled groan, the veins on his forehead bulging.

It felt as if a red-hot branding iron was forcibly plowing through his body!

The pain was piercing!

But along with the intense pain, that branch Meridian was actually forced open by a fraction.

The heat from the stone bead merged into the branch Meridian. Wherever it passed, his muscles trembled violently, as if they were being torn apart and then forcibly fused back together. A faint sense of strength seeped out from deep within his flesh and blood.

It seemed to be working!

But this method was too painful!

He collapsed to the ground, his entire body soaked in cold sweat.

One of his arms wouldn't stop convulsing.

After resting for a moment, he struggled to sit up and tried again.

It was a night of torture.

By dawn, he was nearly exhausted, but that branch Meridian had indeed been widened by a bit. As he swung his arm, the strength seemed to have solidified slightly.

In the days that followed, he completely immersed himself in this self-torturous Cultivation.

By day, he worked in the Ancestral Hall, using the aura there to nourish himself.

By night, he used the stone bead's heat as a hammer and the nameless postures to frantically hammer his own flesh, blood, and Meridians.

Pain became a daily occurrence.

His body was often bruised purple; new injuries were added before the old ones could heal.

His mother saw this and was filled with worry, yet she only silently added an extra bowl of rice.

His resource consumption increased dramatically.

The five extra Low-Grade Spirit Stones he received each month quickly hit rock bottom.

He had to be even more frugal, breaking one Spirit Stone into two halves to use.

Progress was slow and hard to discern with the naked eye.

But he could feel his body changing.

He could take a hit better, his strength was heavier, and his control over that tiny current of Qi had become more refined.

This night, he once again guided the stone bead's heat to strike another marked branch Meridian.

The heat surged in, and the pain arrived as expected.

He gritted his teeth and endured it.

The moment the heat pierced through this branch Meridian, a series of extremely faint popping sounds suddenly erupted from the bones throughout his body.

It wasn't the vibration of a Breakthrough in the Qi training Realm, but a transformation from deep within his flesh and blood.

A sense of power, far more substantial than the Qi current, filled his limbs.

His skin faintly took on a very light bronze hue, which then quickly faded.

He stood up and threw a punch.

The wind from the punch was noticeably thicker.

Although the growth of the Qi current in his body was still slow, his pure physical strength had increased by a significant margin.

In the Nameless Booklet, those awkward postures were divided into nine levels.

He had now barely touched the edge of the first level.

Body Refining.