Taking a deep breath, Chu Xue prepared himself. With a quick exhale he struck out in full force.
"Hah!" The force of his punch rampaged out of his control. The wooden puppet was broken from the midsection up. The force-carrying all the way to the wall before stopping. 'That felt really good to let loose!'
*Crumble!* The impact against the wall showed a few seconds later. Lots of smoke in the area cleared away revealing a large hole the size of a fist.
"I broke it!" Chu Xue cried out in distress. "I broke the wall!" He moved about fretting like it was the end of the world. "I can't pay for that! What am I going to do!?"
It was just a bloody wall! Literally just made of stone and spackle. It looked nice, yes but it wouldn't survive an assault from a ram or something. Definitely lax in the defense department in some areas.
Not even a Formation.
Leroy paid it no mind at all as he walked over to the wall. On the outer edges of the imprint, there was a murky type of Qi mixed in. Qi that was familiar to him like that of that Alchemist Oda.
Master Jin walked over to calm the boy down, not catching Leroy taking an inquisitive look in regard to the wall. His thought mixed with awe and apprehension. Especially since the power used was more than a Qi Condensation II Rank.
"Calm yourself, my disciple." Soothing words didn't stop Chu Xue from freaking out still.
"Hmm?" Victoria was bothered by Leroy. His unimpressed look just felt wrong to her as well as his interest in the wall. Walking over, she confronted him. "Leroy, it seems that Chu Xue's strength has exceeded our own."
A very passive-aggressive statement by this one did not go unnoticed.
"Exceeded our own? Not likely." Leroy shook his head obviously not agreeing with the girl who already started to fall into a state of infatuation with the Child touched by Destiny. The character halo that existed around Chu Xue definitely fit. But it also fit Pin Feng and two others he looked into. "You are not even looking at what happened on the surface, and not the after effects."
"Is it not obvious from the surroundings this is true?" Victoria pointed at the puppets one by one. "Next to his, I did the most damage."
"That is nice. But I was not looking for damage." Leroy shrugged which infuriated her even more. He marveled at the fact she was not overly foolish as before. That weak demeanor seemed to recede just a little. "I want to test my control, which I failed at a little bit. Teacher Jin wanted to teach us a little yes, but did not do anything advance off the bat to keep from causing any issues with development I suppose."
Leroy circulated a little Qi into his palm without moving any of his Core Qi. Moving up to another puppet, he gave it a straight thrust to the center. Keeping his control exactly as he needed it.
*Pat!* The palm strike went completely through the log leaving a scorch mark around the surroundings. A faint handprint appeared on the wall scorching it some. Bits of lightning crackled in the air in front of the wall before dispersing.
Victoria's face was in a scowl. She could tell Leroy barely exerted himself. What was worse, his mind was calm when he did it. Reminding her she had a ways to go still. Unlike herself and Chu Xue who were both exhausted from their Qi usage.
"Must not only look at the surface but also look at what else is going on brat." Leroy walked away holding his hand up. With a clutch of his fist, the log he hit made a crackle and then burst into blue flames. "He cultivated recently almost to the 2nd Rank but that does not change the fact he has no control. Rampant Qi will allow for more damage. Especially for A Life Martial Artist that shows more Antlife Qi lately."
What he found on Corpse, Undead, and Antilife Qi was a drop in the bucket for what he really wanted to know. Oddly enough he didn't have any of those despite his involvement with the Corpse Pit and the Elixers from the market.
"Clearly you can not admit your shortcomings." Victoria felt compelled to push back against him. "Clearly that's the talent of a genius that has room to develop." Leroy gave her a smirk of amusement. That is when she realized she may be making a mistake. "You sensed them as well yet his efforts are better than yours."
"A Life Martial Artist can only shine so brightly to you, because you have not seen many. In fact, I assume he is the only one you have seen maybe this closely." Leroy moved away from her ready for Old Jin to continue what else he had to teach them. "A Life Martial Artist.. can only go so far on his own. Now if he has someone feeding him ideas and a backer like yourself helping him..."
The words were small but enough to cause problems if certain people got wind of what he was saying. After all, House Dark Rose would not take this lightly at all.
"You aren't fooling anyone!" Victoria said heatedly. Loud enough that it caught the attention of Old Jin and Chu Xue who were oblivious to what they talked about. "Do not spread rumors!" It was best the subject was changed quickly to hide what the two discussed.
"Chu Xue's power is growing too fast, I'm afraid he'll get into trouble if he proceeds alone in this way. I will guide him personally for some time." Old Jin did know what the two talked about when the mentioning of Antilife Qi was mentioned, but Chu Xue's matter needed to be addressed first. Leroy's could be addressed later. "You two practice on your own as I taught you."
A knot formed in the old man's heart. One that feeds his Inner Heart Monster a little. Another instant of him showing favoritism to one student and not the others.
Leroy went to inspect his finger with his qi in detail. If he was able to circle qi to that area, it was safe to assume that he should be able to hold it there and use that as a waypoint to search for damages.
Victoria went back to practicing to the point she reached exhaustion. Expending all of her Qi, she finally started to show signs of a Breakthrough. But the burning dummies and the burning bushes produced enough smoke that it would have been bad to try and do so now.
"Hmm?" Leroy finished up with his finger inspection and noticed the heat in the area. "Really..."
Sending out his Qi, and moving his hands in a grabbing motion, the smoke slowly came over to him. He opened his mouth to swallow it for anyone looking on but the moment the smoke passed his throat, it was pulled into the Internal Space.
He needed to study the uses of how to pull different materials into the place and also because of what happens at the Peak of Qi Refining. The various strands and the gaseous state of Qi would have to be turned into a liquid state and then harden into Pillars of Qi.
Once the Pillars were formed, basically like that of a structure within one's self, the Foundation Establishment Realm would be entered. The amount to do in there would help branch out everything for what one could achieve normally. Shaping the future path of Cultivation in various ways.
Those who arrive there with mediocre techniques, ones that had nothing really extraordinary about them, the cultivator would find themselves hard-pressed to break into the higher Realms. But they had a very solid Foundation of Cultivation because of the simplicity.
The smart ones would start grinding new ways to improve and branch out. Those who couldn't or were to stubborn would never go higher. These people were also the target of those who wanted to improve themselves quickly.
Stated in various texts talked about how the other Cultivators stuck here had great Qi that could nourish all sorts of CUltivation paths. The bad thing about having a single diligent focus.
Also a reason to stockpile techniques and information since the Foundation Establishment Realm was also the "Expermentnatation Realm" by regular people. The Nobles and Sects had their own thing they already focused on by then.
But the regular people needed to supplement to make it to the Nascent Soul Realm that came after.
.
Clear Tang People-
.
Leroy had left after taking the smoke and refined it a little. The he headed to his domicile. Victoria had broken through and seeing he was the only one there and the devastation of the fire she caused, left after saying a simple thank you.
Of course, Leroy didn't clean up the mess. He didn;t make all of it and since Chu Xue didn't have to pay for the wall, it couldn't be expected for them to pay either.
Tang Bo and Tang Xui had gathered enough materials from their connections as well as from their uncles and father. Trading it to Leroy, he then gave them elixirs that contained a blue tint to them when held in the light.
"My father said you were right about the elixirs from that Alchemist." Tang Xui passed a book over to him as payment for it. "Why the sudden interest in alchemy though?"
"Not sudden, need it to make better medicines for when operating. Best to know the effects more and how Alchemy works in the Pill and Elixir forming process. So what do you want to cover today?"
"Tang Xuan needs help.." Moving to the side, the injured guard walked over with a limp. "the medicine they gave didn't help much and he even said his QI is barely working to help heal."
"It feels sluggish and clogged. Of course, we didn't tell them that after I smelled something odd."
"Hmm?" Leroy put on some leather gloves and his magnifying glasses, they were bulky but the weight was nothing for his current strength. The first check over was more than enough to be alarmed about. "Tch! Blasted.. infection!"
Of course, the term was used to cover the weird gray particulates. Which he found out to be an Undead Qi, a byproduct of someone who was Undead or getting closer to death. Anyone with a production type Occupation would leave traces of it behind in their work.
But the Akademy had strict restrictions on that type of practice. That is not to say a few don't have it but it was scarce in use that maybe a total of 7 people were practicing it.
As they focused on taking care of Tang Xuan, Tang Bo, and Tang Xui asked questions. The other medical guards helped with the treatment of course. As the main part of the surgery was done by Leroy, all the small stuff was done by them. Especially dealing with the Undead Qi by pouring "Fire Tonic" to purge the infected flesh.
The Fire Tonic was a combination of a small amount of Leroy's Qi and Blood, and Alchemist Gonkutsu, whose Qi worked extraordinarily with his own. Fire and Light Qi worked best and were also both the types used in Alchemy generally.
"He should be fine in a few days. The operation went fine and he just needs to take it easy. Nothing strenuous mind you that will affect your body. Qi circulation at a low level and not too roughly. I suggest reading until everything is ready." Wrapping the leg in a complete cast to help stave off the wrong type of lookee loos, he made sure to emphasize being careful. "Also tell your father I made some headway with what he gave me."
Tang Xui and Tang Bo flinched at that. Pulling out some Talismans they ripped them creating a barrier. Leroy stiffened and was ready to fight if need be. But that didn't look to be the case.
"You could not have mastered Acupuncture already!" Tang Xui said first.
"What, I made headway is what I said. Two methods that can increase Qi flow as well as unlock the passageways of Meridians that are clogged." Of course, he only spent some time on reading it and didn't find much besides that. "Wrote it all down so your people should be able to make headway with the two Qi flow methods. The Meridian Clogging thing though... best of luck."