“One thousand and one hundred…”
“One thousand, one hundred and one…”
Li Xing keeps counting. With each more stab, his face darkens further. One stab will not kill a person, but over a thousand stabs are enough to leave an elephant half-dead. It truly is a miracle that he is still able to keep his mind clear despite the pain.
“Three thousand!”
Puff!
Li Xing pulls the awl out of his body, muttering, “Hope it will work…” He then collapses to the bed, unable to move any more.
But he is still conscious. Meanwhile, the bead in his chest pouch starts releasing its magical energy again. It flows into his body and slowly heals the numerous wounds caused by the awl.
It is only about five hours later before all the holes on his body disappear and Li Xing suddenly opens his eyes, with that same feeling of escaping death and regaining life once again.
Slowly sitting up, Li Xing is still hounded by fear, thinking, “I might as well use knife next time. The stab of the awl is too painful!”
In the meantime, the blood practicing starts again, with the blood essence in his body entering the dermal meridians from the blood vessels, then to the muscular meridians, the sinewy meridians, the skeletal meridians, and roaring all the way to the marrowy meridians.
There are six layers of postnatal meridians: three outer ones and three inner ones. The outer meridians include the dermal meridians, the muscular meridians, and the sinewy meridians, while the inner meridians include the skeletal meridians, the marrowy meridians, and the visceral meridians.
The reason it is particularly difficult to improve to level four blood power from level three is that one only needs to break through the three layers of the outer meridians during the first three levels of blood practicing, but reaching the fourth level requires much more efforts since he needs to break through the three layers of inner meridians.
The visceral meridians are the meridians in one’s vital organs, while the marrowy meridians refer to those in one’s bone marrows.
It is quite a painstaking process to break through the marrowy meridians because blood vessels are scarce there and there is not enough blood essence.
Most of the times, it takes a cultivator four to five years to break through all his marrowy meridians. Also, the person must have enough aptitude for blood practicing to begin with.
Li Xing keeps steering his blood essence through the marrowy meridians. This is his last chance.
Boom!
All of a sudden, Li Xing feels a bright light flashing inside his head, as if a lightning strikes deep within. He can immediately sense his longevity has been greatly lengthened.
The blood essence keeps sweeping all the way through his marrowy meridians.
Finally comes the breakthrough and Li Xing officially starts the fifth level of blood practicing.
The bone marrows have hematopoietic function, which means they produce blood and they are the origin of the blood essence. Therefore, once the marrowy meridians are broken through, Li Xing can clearly feel his physical strength improving exponentially. He knows his strength has at least doubled to over twenty thousand jin (ten thousand kilos).
As long as the first marrowy meridians are broken through, Li Xing is certain that he is able to press forward.
Different from the skeletal meridians, as each part of the marrowy meridians are broken through, there rushes a stream of blood essence which then sweeps through the meridians. The blood essence exists in the bone marrow in the first place, so as he pushes forward, more blood essence streams out and enters the meridians.
An entire day passes, and Li Xing has succeeded in breaking through one twentieth of his marrowy meridians. At this rate, if Li Xing spends all the time practicing without eating or drinking, he will only need twenty days or so to conclude this process.
“It usually takes years to break through the marrowy meridians, but it’s only going to cost me one month?” Li Xing himself finds it hard to believe, wondering how many people in the entire Ping state have this kind of aptitude to pull this off.
However, his excitement comes too early. When he continues practicing, he finds his marrowy meridians become stagnant and he can no longer bring any blood essence through, as if something powerful is obstructing the passage of the blood essence.
Although he hasn’t felt any pain in the process, Li Xing realizes this is as far as he can get at the moment. If he doesn’t continue to rely on the bead, he will not be able to practice any more.
For a blood practicer, aptitude is of the utmost importance. It decides how far one can go. For most people, their destiny has already been written the minute they were born.
Li Xing was originally constitutionally unfit for blood practicing, but with the help of the bead, he gradually broke through his meridians, rising from mediocrity to becoming a talent.
“That’s it then. Seems I need to get beaten up again.” Thinking of this, Li Xing has no other option but to step out of the stone cottage.
After going an entire day without eating, he is already starved. The moment he is out, he starts calling Xiaoxiu, asking for food. The girl pushes open the bamboo drapes in a hurry and sees Li Xing, “Young Master, you’re out?”
Li Xing nods. Impatient to wait for Xiaoxiu to prepare him a meal, he dashes into the kitchen, grabs a handful of bread, and starts gobbling.
Xiaoxiu tries to stop him, “Young Master, slow down. I will heat it up for you…”
Li Xing doesn’t care and quickly inhales a piece of bread and starts eating a second one.
Xiaoxiu pouts and hurries off to cook meal.
When Xiaoxiu finishing cooking, Li Xing has already devoured an entire small basket of bread. But that is barely enough. He then wolfs down everything Xiaoxiu prepared but still feels half-full.
Looking at the empty pot and bowl in amazement, Xiaoxiu asks, “Young Master, how much rice do I need to cook the next time for you?”
Patting his stomach, Li Xing thinks for a moment and says, “Five dou.”
Xiaoxiu sticks out her tongue in disbelief, “That much!”
One dou rice is about twelve to thirteen jin, and five dou is over sixty jin, or thirty kilos. Xiaoxiu could never figure out why a man needs that amount of food per meal.
After finishing his meal, Li Xing suddenly realizes he has another identity, which is a servant of the Chen family. So he says, “Xiaoxiu, don’t make me lunch today.” Then he strides out of Purple Bamboo Community.
After changing his face, Li Xing enters the Chen residence. A servant rushes forward with a notification, “Warrior Zhao, Miss Chen has come for you several times.”
Afraid there might be something wrong, Li Xing nods, saying, “I will go find Miss right away.”
The place Chen Shuang lives is located in the middle of a garden where grow a wide range of exotic flowers and rare herbs. Having learned of the layout of Three Chivalries Garden, Li Xing soon arrives at the garden where two girls are sitting and drinking tea in a gazebo. Li Xing stands far away from the gazebo and says in a loud voice, “Misses, Zhao Yun is here.”
The two girls are Chen Xue and Chen Shuang.
Chen Xue takes a glance at Li Xing and turns her eyes away, while Chen Shuang smiles and waves at Li Xing who then walks up to them. As he reaches the gazebo, he immediately smells the sweetness of the girls’ body scent. As he sniffs subconsciously, he thinks, “Xiaoxiu has lived a hard life since she was born. I need to buy her some rouge and power so that she can have a nice smell.”
“Zhao Yun, is everything all right in your family?” Chen Shuang asks.
Normally, a girl from a high social status like Chen Shuang would never care about a servant from a low status like “Zhao Yun”. But Chen Shuang has become more satisfied with Li Xing because what he did for her in Qingyun Hotel the other day has left this man in her good graces. Li Xing slightly bows, “Thank you for your concern, Miss Chen. Everything is fine in my family.”
But Chen Shuang keeps staring at Li Xing, asking, “Zhao Yun, I find something different in you from the previous days.”
It turns out the improvement to level five blood practicing from level four has changed Li Xing’s physique again. By breaking through the marrowy meridians, his body has got a greater injection of blood essence, which thoroughly changed him into a much more powerful person.
Li Xing decides to be honest and explains with little emotion, “I started the fifth level of blood practicing yesterday. I guess that’s why Miss Chen could tell the difference in me.”
Hearing this, even Chen Xue is a bit taken by surprise and turns her eyes on Li Xing again. If a brave warrior with level four blood power is valuable, a warrior with level five is of even greater value.
Most of the brave warriors with level five blood power will be able to enter the sixth level and by that time, they will have a physical strength of one hundred thousand jin (fifty kilos), which will make them the most vigorous and valiant fighters on the battleground.
And once the warrior completes level six blood practicing, there is at least a thirty percent chance he can press forward and enter the seventh level.
What’s more, after the breakthrough in blood practicing, there will be another three higher levels, namely Navigation of Dan (the ability to navigate the blood essence at will), Congelation of Dan (the ability to congeal the blood essence), and Condensation of Dan (the ability to combine the condensed blood essence and the spirit to form the elixir of life).
After one’s blood essence is in a complete circulation, there is a great chance he can enter the eighth level of blood practicing, which means he can steer his blood essence at will. The next two levels are even more challenging.
Take Li Yuan, the butler of the Li family, for instance. He has spent almost his entire life practicing but only stayed at the eighth level, unable to continue, because his age and aptitude have denied him the chance to keep practicing.
Therefore, a brave warrior with level five blood power is well respected at any place, because he will most likely reach level eight and become more powerful.
The pleasant surprise makes Chen Shuang stand up abruptly, “That’s wonderful! I’m about to be away from home for business and have considered to bring an entourage. Now I only need to bring you alone!” Apparently, she has confidence in a person with level five blood power.
Li Xing starts thinking, “This is not good. She wants to bring me along with her. What if I miss the competition two days later?” He secretly determines if it coincides with his plan, he will drop the identity of “Zhao Yun” and never return to the Chen family.
Chen Shunag further says, “A batch of jewelry of Three Chivalries Garden was robbed recently during travel. Father asked me to investigate. It won’t be a long trip and we will be back by tomorrow.”
Li Xing is slightly relieved, saying, “Yes.”
Chen Xue says, “Xiaoshuang, I heard bandits run rampant there. You must take extra care of yourself and bring more people with you in case of emergency,”
Chen Shuang breaks into a giggle, “I know. I will bring Zhao Yun and another four with level four blood power. That’ll be enough. It’s just a pack of robbers. We don’t need to take them seriously.”
Chen Xue seems to disagree, “They knew the stuff belongs to Three Chivalries Garden, but they did the robbing anyway. I guess they may be stronger than a bunch of daredevil bandits. You had better not underestimate them.”
Chen Shuang smiles, “Please rest assured, big sister. I’m starting off now.” Then she waves at Li Xing and walks out of the garden.
After Li Xing and Chen Shuang leave, a girl servant comes over, saying in a low voice, “Miss, I’ve asked around. Li Xing has never left Purple Bamboo Garden. He must be practicing.”
Chen Xue takes a sigh, “I’m not sure whether I want to see him win or lose.”
The girl servant seems aggrieved, “Miss, the Li family are bullies. How could Li Ziran just decide you and his loser son’s marriage with one simple sentence?”
Chen Xue smiles a wry smile, “Li Ziran had that kind of authority back then. My father couldn’t dare to say no even if he had me killed, let alone forcing me to marry his son.”
“But it was more than ten years ago. Li Ziran is a drunkard and doesn’t care about anything now. Also, Li Xing is such a…” The girl servant suddenly stops, wondering if it’s appropriate to call him a loser.
If a brave warrior who has level four blood power with twelve thousand jin in blood force and is bold enough to challenge Li Jie is a still loser, almost everyone else in Three Chivalries Garden is a loser.
Chen Xue continues, “I heard Father said Li Ziran had sobered up. He is a man difficult to reason with and means what he says. If he brings that up again, what is Father going to do?”
The girl servant means to suggest a rejection, but decides not to say anything, because she is also aware that Li Ziran has level three spirit power who has always been legendary and that he is also an on-site disciple of Qiyun Sect who used to enjoy a rather high place.
Chen Xue shakes her head, saying, “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. When it happens, it happens. But I will not back down without a fight!” A determined and cold look is seen in her eyes.
Li Xing and Chen Shuang each ride a horse, galloping pass the boulevard at a high speed towards the outskirts of the city. In addition to “Zhao Yun”, Chen Shuang also brings along four other people with her to a place called Luliang Mountain to look into the robbery.
“One thousand and one hundred…”
“One thousand, one hundred and one…”
Li Xing keeps counting. With each more stab, his face darkens further. One stab will not kill a person, but over a thousand stabs are enough to leave an elephant half-dead. It truly is a miracle that he is still able to keep his mind clear despite the pain.
“Three thousand!”
Puff!
Li Xing pulls the awl out of his body, muttering, “Hope it will work…” He then collapses to the bed, unable to move any more.
But he is still conscious. Meanwhile, the bead in his chest pouch starts releasing its magical energy again. It flows into his body and slowly heals the numerous wounds caused by the awl.
It is only about five hours later before all the holes on his body disappear and Li Xing suddenly opens his eyes, with that same feeling of escaping death and regaining life once again.
Slowly sitting up, Li Xing is still hounded by fear, thinking, “I might as well use knife next time. The stab of the awl is too painful!”
In the meantime, the blood practicing starts again, with the blood essence in his body entering the dermal meridians from the blood vessels, then to the muscular meridians, the sinewy meridians, the skeletal meridians, and roaring all the way to the marrowy meridians.
There are six layers of postnatal meridians: three outer ones and three inner ones. The outer meridians include the dermal meridians, the muscular meridians, and the sinewy meridians, while the inner meridians include the skeletal meridians, the marrowy meridians, and the visceral meridians.
The reason it is particularly difficult to improve to level four blood power from level three is that one only needs to break through the three layers of the outer meridians during the first three levels of blood practicing, but reaching the fourth level requires much more efforts since he needs to break through the three layers of inner meridians.
The visceral meridians are the meridians in one’s vital organs, while the marrowy meridians refer to those in one’s bone marrows.
It is quite a painstaking process to break through the marrowy meridians because blood vessels are scarce there and there is not enough blood essence.
Most of the times, it takes a cultivator four to five years to break through all his marrowy meridians. Also, the person must have enough aptitude for blood practicing to begin with.
Li Xing keeps steering his blood essence through the marrowy meridians. This is his last chance.
Boom!
All of a sudden, Li Xing feels a bright light flashing inside his head, as if a lightning strikes deep within. He can immediately sense his longevity has been greatly lengthened.
The blood essence keeps sweeping all the way through his marrowy meridians.
Finally comes the breakthrough and Li Xing officially starts the fifth level of blood practicing.
The bone marrows have hematopoietic function, which means they produce blood and they are the origin of the blood essence. Therefore, once the marrowy meridians are broken through, Li Xing can clearly feel his physical strength improving exponentially. He knows his strength has at least doubled to over twenty thousand jin (ten thousand kilos).
As long as the first marrowy meridians are broken through, Li Xing is certain that he is able to press forward.
Different from the skeletal meridians, as each part of the marrowy meridians are broken through, there rushes a stream of blood essence which then sweeps through the meridians. The blood essence exists in the bone marrow in the first place, so as he pushes forward, more blood essence streams out and enters the meridians.
An entire day passes, and Li Xing has succeeded in breaking through one twentieth of his marrowy meridians. At this rate, if Li Xing spends all the time practicing without eating or drinking, he will only need twenty days or so to conclude this process.
“It usually takes years to break through the marrowy meridians, but it’s only going to cost me one month?” Li Xing himself finds it hard to believe, wondering how many people in the entire Ping state have this kind of aptitude to pull this off.
However, his excitement comes too early. When he continues practicing, he finds his marrowy meridians become stagnant and he can no longer bring any blood essence through, as if something powerful is obstructing the passage of the blood essence.
Although he hasn’t felt any pain in the process, Li Xing realizes this is as far as he can get at the moment. If he doesn’t continue to rely on the bead, he will not be able to practice any more.
For a blood practicer, aptitude is of the utmost importance. It decides how far one can go. For most people, their destiny has already been written the minute they were born.
Li Xing was originally constitutionally unfit for blood practicing, but with the help of the bead, he gradually broke through his meridians, rising from mediocrity to becoming a talent.
“That’s it then. Seems I need to get beaten up again.” Thinking of this, Li Xing has no other option but to step out of the stone cottage.
After going an entire day without eating, he is already starved. The moment he is out, he starts calling Xiaoxiu, asking for food. The girl pushes open the bamboo drapes in a hurry and sees Li Xing, “Young Master, you’re out?”
Li Xing nods. Impatient to wait for Xiaoxiu to prepare him a meal, he dashes into the kitchen, grabs a handful of bread, and starts gobbling.
Xiaoxiu tries to stop him, “Young Master, slow down. I will heat it up for you…”
Li Xing doesn’t care and quickly inhales a piece of bread and starts eating a second one.
Xiaoxiu pouts and hurries off to cook meal.
When Xiaoxiu finishing cooking, Li Xing has already devoured an entire small basket of bread. But that is barely enough. He then wolfs down everything Xiaoxiu prepared but still feels half-full.
Looking at the empty pot and bowl in amazement, Xiaoxiu asks, “Young Master, how much rice do I need to cook the next time for you?”
Patting his stomach, Li Xing thinks for a moment and says, “Five dou.”
Xiaoxiu sticks out her tongue in disbelief, “That much!”
One dou rice is about twelve to thirteen jin, and five dou is over sixty jin, or thirty kilos. Xiaoxiu could never figure out why a man needs that amount of food per meal.
After finishing his meal, Li Xing suddenly realizes he has another identity, which is a servant of the Chen family. So he says, “Xiaoxiu, don’t make me lunch today.” Then he strides out of Purple Bamboo Community.
After changing his face, Li Xing enters the Chen residence. A servant rushes forward with a notification, “Warrior Zhao, Miss Chen has come for you several times.”
Afraid there might be something wrong, Li Xing nods, saying, “I will go find Miss right away.”
The place Chen Shuang lives is located in the middle of a garden where grow a wide range of exotic flowers and rare herbs. Having learned of the layout of Three Chivalries Garden, Li Xing soon arrives at the garden where two girls are sitting and drinking tea in a gazebo. Li Xing stands far away from the gazebo and says in a loud voice, “Misses, Zhao Yun is here.”
The two girls are Chen Xue and Chen Shuang.
Chen Xue takes a glance at Li Xing and turns her eyes away, while Chen Shuang smiles and waves at Li Xing who then walks up to them. As he reaches the gazebo, he immediately smells the sweetness of the girls’ body scent. As he sniffs subconsciously, he thinks, “Xiaoxiu has lived a hard life since she was born. I need to buy her some rouge and power so that she can have a nice smell.”
“Zhao Yun, is everything all right in your family?” Chen Shuang asks.
Normally, a girl from a high social status like Chen Shuang would never care about a servant from a low status like “Zhao Yun”. But Chen Shuang has become more satisfied with Li Xing because what he did for her in Qingyun Hotel the other day has left this man in her good graces. Li Xing slightly bows, “Thank you for your concern, Miss Chen. Everything is fine in my family.”
But Chen Shuang keeps staring at Li Xing, asking, “Zhao Yun, I find something different in you from the previous days.”
It turns out the improvement to level five blood practicing from level four has changed Li Xing’s physique again. By breaking through the marrowy meridians, his body has got a greater injection of blood essence, which thoroughly changed him into a much more powerful person.
Li Xing decides to be honest and explains with little emotion, “I started the fifth level of blood practicing yesterday. I guess that’s why Miss Chen could tell the difference in me.”
Hearing this, even Chen Xue is a bit taken by surprise and turns her eyes on Li Xing again. If a brave warrior with level four blood power is valuable, a warrior with level five is of even greater value.
Most of the brave warriors with level five blood power will be able to enter the sixth level and by that time, they will have a physical strength of one hundred thousand jin (fifty kilos), which will make them the most vigorous and valiant fighters on the battleground.
And once the warrior completes level six blood practicing, there is at least a thirty percent chance he can press forward and enter the seventh level.
What’s more, after the breakthrough in blood practicing, there will be another three higher levels, namely Navigation of Dan (the ability to navigate the blood essence at will), Congelation of Dan (the ability to congeal the blood essence), and Condensation of Dan (the ability to combine the condensed blood essence and the spirit to form the elixir of life).
After one’s blood essence is in a complete circulation, there is a great chance he can enter the eighth level of blood practicing, which means he can steer his blood essence at will. The next two levels are even more challenging.
Take Li Yuan, the butler of the Li family, for instance. He has spent almost his entire life practicing but only stayed at the eighth level, unable to continue, because his age and aptitude have denied him the chance to keep practicing.
Therefore, a brave warrior with level five blood power is well respected at any place, because he will most likely reach level eight and become more powerful.
The pleasant surprise makes Chen Shuang stand up abruptly, “That’s wonderful! I’m about to be away from home for business and have considered to bring an entourage. Now I only need to bring you alone!” Apparently, she has confidence in a person with level five blood power.
Li Xing starts thinking, “This is not good. She wants to bring me along with her. What if I miss the competition two days later?” He secretly determines if it coincides with his plan, he will drop the identity of “Zhao Yun” and never return to the Chen family.
Chen Shunag further says, “A batch of jewelry of Three Chivalries Garden was robbed recently during travel. Father asked me to investigate. It won’t be a long trip and we will be back by tomorrow.”
Li Xing is slightly relieved, saying, “Yes.”
Chen Xue says, “Xiaoshuang, I heard bandits run rampant there. You must take extra care of yourself and bring more people with you in case of emergency,”
Chen Shuang breaks into a giggle, “I know. I will bring Zhao Yun and another four with level four blood power. That’ll be enough. It’s just a pack of robbers. We don’t need to take them seriously.”
Chen Xue seems to disagree, “They knew the stuff belongs to Three Chivalries Garden, but they did the robbing anyway. I guess they may be stronger than a bunch of daredevil bandits. You had better not underestimate them.”
Chen Shuang smiles, “Please rest assured, big sister. I’m starting off now.” Then she waves at Li Xing and walks out of the garden.
After Li Xing and Chen Shuang leave, a girl servant comes over, saying in a low voice, “Miss, I’ve asked around. Li Xing has never left Purple Bamboo Garden. He must be practicing.”
Chen Xue takes a sigh, “I’m not sure whether I want to see him win or lose.”
The girl servant seems aggrieved, “Miss, the Li family are bullies. How could Li Ziran just decide you and his loser son’s marriage with one simple sentence?”
Chen Xue smiles a wry smile, “Li Ziran had that kind of authority back then. My father couldn’t dare to say no even if he had me killed, let alone forcing me to marry his son.”
“But it was more than ten years ago. Li Ziran is a drunkard and doesn’t care about anything now. Also, Li Xing is such a…” The girl servant suddenly stops, wondering if it’s appropriate to call him a loser.
If a brave warrior who has level four blood power with twelve thousand jin in blood force and is bold enough to challenge Li Jie is a still loser, almost everyone else in Three Chivalries Garden is a loser.
Chen Xue continues, “I heard Father said Li Ziran had sobered up. He is a man difficult to reason with and means what he says. If he brings that up again, what is Father going to do?”
The girl servant means to suggest a rejection, but decides not to say anything, because she is also aware that Li Ziran has level three spirit power who has always been legendary and that he is also an on-site disciple of Qiyun Sect who used to enjoy a rather high place.
Chen Xue shakes her head, saying, “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. When it happens, it happens. But I will not back down without a fight!” A determined and cold look is seen in her eyes.
Li Xing and Chen Shuang each ride a horse, galloping pass the boulevard at a high speed towards the outskirts of the city. In addition to “Zhao Yun”, Chen Shuang also brings along four other people with her to a place called Luliang Mountain to look into the robbery.
