After returning from the East Hall Courtyard, Huang Xiaolong sat cross-legged on the wooden bed in his room, ruminating over the arrogant, indifferent, and hypocritical display of Huang Ming and his son at the North Hall earlier that day, feeling the malice within him rising continually.
Originally, he had some reservations about beating Huang Wei to the point where even his father wouldn't recognize him at the end of the year, but now that last shred of hesitation had completely disappeared from his heart.
"Huang Ming must think he has the position of Manor Master firmly secured by now," Huang Xiaolong sneered.
Since Huang Wei's Martial Soul had awakened, almost all of the Huang Family Manor's elders had sided with Huang Ming, which led to the incident with the Fighting Qi Pill and today's event at the North Hall.
A moment later, Huang Xiaolong suppressed the resentment in his heart and continued to channel the Mystic Azure Technique to cultivate his Fighting Energy.
The Mutant Two-headed Snake Martial Soul unfurled its twin mouths behind Huang Xiaolong, voraciously devouring the spiritual energy of nature around him. Huang Xiaolong noticed that after advancing to the Second Rank, the Two-headed Snake Martial Soul behind him swallowed the surrounding nature's spiritual energy at a speed much faster than before.
Moreover, the Martial Soul, which was originally only the size of two palms, had grown significantly larger, with the black and blue glows on its body becoming much more intense. As the Two-headed Snake Martial Soul's twin mouths swallowed the surrounding nature's spiritual energy, the black and blue glows continuously pulsed.
Masses of nature's spiritual energy flowed continuously into Huang Xiaolong's meridians, transforming into Fighting Energy, circulating within the Second Level of his meridians, over and over again.
Quickly, several days passed.
During those days, Huang Xiaolong cultivated day and night, almost to the point of madness.
After several days of cultivation, Huang Xiaolong gradually reached the peak of the early Second Rank.
Over these days, Huang Peng and Su Yan visited Huang Xiaolong's courtyard nearly every day. Seeing their son cultivating so fervently, they were naturally distressed. Especially Su Yan, who shed tears in secret on several occasions. Though Huang Peng and Huang Xiaolong did not speak of it, she had still learned about the incident at the North Hall a few days ago from the manor's servants.
Half a month went by.
In those half a month, aside from cultivating Fighting Energy in his courtyard, Huang Xiaolong would go to the back mountain to practice the Yijinjing. Naturally, this had to be kept secret, which meant Huang Xiaolong could only practice at night in the back mountain.
In the pitch-dark of night, under the dense trees of the mountain forest, a small figure stood in an odd position, with moonlight filtering through the leaves, dappling the ground.
Huang Xiaolong raised his hands high above his head, and as he channeled the Yijinjing, spiritual energy from nature flowed into his meridians at a visibly swift pace, then transforming into Inner Strength, converging at the Dantian located near his navel.
The darkness of night gradually faded, giving way to the light of dawn. As sunlight began to illuminate the morning dew on the surrounding grass, Huang Xiaolong finally opened his eyes and ceased the circulation of the Yijinjing.
Huang Xiaolong suddenly shouted, his palms moving in swift motions, his figure leaping and shifting atop the grass, leaving behind layers upon layers of handprints in his wake.
Currents of air swirled and whistled through the space around him as he moved.
This was the high-level Martial Art from his family in his previous life, Mian Palm.
As Huang Xiaolong swung his palms, his hands were as flexible as if boneless, and towards the end of his practice, each palm strike left a handprint of condensed moisture in the air, which lingered for a long time.
The ultimate level of Mian Palm was to be cohesive but not dissipate, with a subtle strength that was enduring and unbroken.
In his past life, Huang Xiaolong was a martial arts prodigy, not only because his body was excellent material for martial arts training but also due to his terrifying ability to comprehend martial arts.
Half an hour later, Huang Xiaolong slowly came to a stop.
A few breaths after that, the trees around the size of bowl openings had all toppled over, each tree trunk bearing a faint handprint.
Furrowing his brow as he looked at the faint handprints on the trunks, Huang Xiaolong thought that if it had been in his former life, his Mian Palm's palm power wouldn't have left any mark at all upon striking a tree. In the end, it was because his current Inner Strength was too weak.
"I wonder how powerful the Combat Skills of this Martial Soul World are," Huang Xiaolong thought quietly.
However, Family Young Masters generally had to reach the warrior Middle Stage Fourth-stage before they could learn Combat Skills, because only with a certain foundation of Fighting Energy could they bring out the power of Combat Skills. Even if a warrior at Initial Stage practiced Combat Skills, it wouldn't be very useful.
Just then, a strange noise suddenly came from behind him. Huang Xiaolong's heart stirred, and as he turned around to look, he saw a half-meter-sized, light purple monkey with pale blue eyes hanging on a tree ahead.
"Soul-devouring Purple Monkey!" Huang Xiaolong exclaimed in surprise.
In his past life, Huang Xiaolong had read in the family's ancient texts that the Soul-devouring Purple Monkey was a rare spiritual beast in the world.
Seeing Huang Xiaolong look over, the Soul-devouring Purple Monkey suddenly grinned and chattered, gesticulating with its hands and then turning its head to run deeper into the forest.
After some hesitation, Huang Xiaolong followed the Soul-devouring Purple Monkey into the deeper parts of the mountain forest.
What Huang Xiaolong hadn't expected was how fast the Soul-devouring Purple Monkey could move through the trees. If it weren't for Huang Xiaolong's years of cultivating the Yijinjing and using the Heavenly Revolving Steps, he would have found it very difficult to keep up.
Half an hour later, after crossing numerous small rivers and forests, Huang Xiaolong followed the Soul-devouring Purple Monkey to a valley. Silence reigned, an oppressive yin energy emitted from the valley, causing Huang Xiaolong to frown.
"Chitter chitter chitter!" As Huang Xiaolong hesitated whether to enter the valley or not, the Soul-devouring Purple Monkey that had gone into the valley ran back out and called out to him, clearly beckoning Huang Xiaolong to follow it inside.
After thinking it over, Huang Xiaolong lifted his foot and followed the little creature into the valley. Upon entering, he was greeted by a damp and musty air, tinged with an unpleasant odor. Not far inside the valley, Huang Xiaolong saw scattered human bones on the ground, which looked like they had been dead for many years.
As they went deeper, the number of bones increased drastically, nearly to the point where they could be described as mountains of bones. Even for someone like Huang Xiaolong who had lived two lives, the sight was chilling to the bone.
However, just as Huang Xiaolong was about to leave the valley, he unexpectedly entered a green meadow, fragrant with life and covered in exotic flowers and grasses—a veritable paradise. In the center of the meadow lay Green Lake, and Huang Xiaolong was dumbfounded, not expecting to find a paradise behind the skeleton-filled hell at the front half of the valley.
At this moment, the Soul-devouring Purple Monkey came to a standstill at a cliff within the valley, calling and gesturing to Huang Xiaolong, pointing toward the top of the cliff. Huang Xiaolong approached and followed its direction to see a short, thick green branch sticking out from the cliff with several red fruits on it.
The fruits were so dazzlingly red they captivated the eyes, and whiffs of unusual fragrance wafted from them, intoxicating to those who smelled it.
"Is this, could this be Yang Fruit?!" Huang Xiaolong gasped, a surge of excitement rushing through him.
Yang Fruits, growing in Extreme Yin Lands yet consisting of the condensed Nine Yang Qi of heaven and earth, when ingested by those cultivating Combat Energy, not only could enhance Combat Energy Cultivation but also possessed the incredible benefit of Washing Marrow, which would be unimaginable for future cultivation!