After everyone was done for the day, Cao Yun kept training with Chief Instructor Peng for at least an hour more. The pain was intense but the feeling of pure energy coursing through his entire body, both his muscles, his skin, his bones and even his organs, was exhilarating.
Finally they were done as well.
"Good, good! For breaking through this fast and with a robust foundation, I'll award you 500 points. Then, for going through my personal training without any complaint, a hundred more. But you won't be able to enjoy them. Indeed, to progress in your training of the lesser meridians, you'll still need an external help. In our 'The Turtle Swims Through the Canals', there is a balm used on specific acupoints to temper and strengthen the lesser meridians. It's the Contrived Shell Balm. You can find enough to train until the end of the year in the Wubei Merit Market. From what I hear, it should cost a thousand merit points."
This was very similar to what the 'Cultivation of Wrath' suggested. But instead of using the blood of a 3-core demonic beast, a 5-star Earth medicine was enough. The Qi infused by Chief Instructor Peng would serve as the foundation and the balm would only consolidate it. Cao Yun's meridians were bloated from the training. This balm would only make sure that they would not revert back to their original size too much too fast. It was way cheaper, but Cao Yun needed the help of a Mortal Warrior regularly. Thankfully, he could get the help for free from Chief Instructor Peng.
"This balm is best applied by a young woman given her Yin aspect. It will balance out the Yang Fire from the balm and you won't need to get another medicine. It's always best to reduce the quantity of medicine you take. No matter how well you eliminate the toxins, they'll still leave marks in you."
"This junior understands and thanks the Chief Instructor." Cao Yun bowed deeply while cupping his fists.
"No need to be so formal when we're alone. I heard great things from you in all kinds of fields. I was worried that you would neglect your cultivation. So I'm happy to see that it isn't so. I'm sure you'll be a true pride of our sect."
Cao Yun bowed once more and left. He would have Huang Cixi apply the balm. Thinking about it, he was using her a lot lately with his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation. The best thing to do would be to ask her to apply it just before going to bed, that would not hinder her time during the day.
Servants were future disciples most of the time. As such, they had some time to train themselves. Of course they had access to way fewer resources and the trainings they went to were not personalized at all. So Cao Yun felt bad for using her during her free time. He was compensating her and he tried to only ask her when absolutely necessary but it was still weighing on his mind.
-
The next day, he used a thousand points to buy the Contrived Shell Balm and went in the library to read its exact effects. It was a very obscure medicine since only the Wubei Sect used it. By reading on it, Cao Yun came to the same conclusion as what Chief Instructor Peng had told him. Having Huang Cixi apply it for him would be the best way to optimize the results.
He also bought some ingredients to make some pills. As a way to compensate his servant, he would refine some True Essence Qi Gathering pills. Given her low level, this was the perfect pill for her with almost no toxin. He decided to make a batch of ten of those. While refining them, he realized that this was even easier than before.
When Huang Cixi came back, Cao Yun was already meditating cross-legged in his room. Despite her attempt to not disturb him, he opened his eyes.
"Mei Yuzhi, I need to speak with you." Standing up, he walked toward her.
"Yes, Young Master." It was unusual for Cao Yun to strike up a conversation out of the blue in the middle of his training. Most of the time, he would try to use all the time he had to train.
"I'm sorry, but I'll have to ask for your help again. Chief Instructor Peng advised me to use this Contrived Shell Balm." What Cao Yun showed was a small vial on the table. The servant quickly looked at it and could vaguely guess what Cao Yun was going to ask. "I need someone to apply it to my acupoints. And you're the perfect person to do it since you're a girl and thus richer in Yin." Quickly before she could answer, he took out another vial, the one filled with the refined pills. "I won't disturb you for free of course. These Qi Gathering pills are all True Essence. Those will be very beneficial to your cultivation. And if you need anything, feel free to ask."
Huang Cixi laughed a little. "Young Master, I'm your servant. This is my work to help you. What you're asking is very reasonable. You really do not need to give me all these."
"I insist! I still feel bad in delaying you. I know that you train really hard." Indeed, with his sharp senses, Cao Yun could feel that Huang Cixi was almost always tired in the evening. In fact, she was training the hardest among all of the servants. Even though she tried to hide it, Cao Yun's senses could not be fooled by her low cultivation.
And the time she had to spend with him, serving him, was a time during which she could not train at all.
Hearing this, Huang Cixi got surprised. In reality, she did not think that Cao Yun was that aware of her.
"Young Master. I... I can't accept your praise." This was the first time, she was sincerely flustered. Strangely, she was a bit embarrassed about her facade being seen through. It was the same thing with her brother Huang Lixin. She always tried to hide her worries and her fatigue but he never failed to see through her. And then, he would make sure to support and help her. The man who took her second brother from her was behaving exactly like him. Moreover, she understood that he was not playing a role at all, he was like that.
"Mei Yuzhi! I do not know which goal you're pursuing, but I can see in your eyes that something deep is pushing you. I do not wish to intrude on your private matters. However, you should learn not to punch a gift horse in the mouth." This was what Xiao Xuefeng had told him. At first, he always rejected a gift before accepting it after the other party had insisted. People could think that this was just being polite, but it could also be a problem if the other simply accepted his rejection. Instinctively he was still behaving a bit like that but was trying to get over it.
"Yes. I'll accept." Huang Cixi was defeated. What she did not dare to say was that Cao Yun was trying to help the woman who had sworn his death. However, she was slowly doubting her own conviction more and more.
"I'll just explain to you how to apply the balm." Cao Yun took off the top of his uniform and laid face down on the bed. Taking the balm from the table, Huang Cixi got closer and followed his instruction.
As Cao Yun enunciated each acupoint, Huang Cixi found them easily and applied the balm. While she was doing so, she felt rather strange. There was nothing erotic between them, but she had never touched a man in such a way before. Despite lacking any attraction for the young man, it still felt a bit off in a way.
On the receiving end, Cao Yun could feel the fire of the balm seeping through his body. And soon after, the Yin energy from Huang Cixi's hand massaging his acupoints soothed a bit of this fire. His meridians were still a bit bloated from the training similar to muscles filled with blood. If they were left alone, they would soon shrink back and most of the benefits of the training would be lost.
The Contrived Shell Balm sent another surge of fire through them and they stopped shrinking down. This process could be very stressful for the body. Once again, it was akin to training a sore muscle. However, the balm also had a small part of Water energy and the Yin from Huang Cixi promoted it. Just after the first surge of the balm, a soothing sensation cooled down the meridians.
Cao Yun could clearly feel the effects of this training coupled with this therapy. Overall, his lesser meridians had grown by 5 to 7%. Usually, these meridians were not actively trained so their size was pretty small. They were used unconsciously, just as the heart beat without any conscious thought. But cultivating them would bring great benefits. Cao Yun was already thinking about new pathways he could use to increase his reaction speed and his strength with his martial arts. To switch from one meridian to another, it was sometimes necessary to go through a vessel. But this was a waste of time. If he could directly go from one meridian to another through a faster course, the time necessary to activate any technique would increase by a bit. In a life and death scenario, this very tiny bit of time could make all the difference.
-
As Cao Yun was getting massaged in his room, the news of his breakthrough spread through all the factions.
Chan Weifeng was absolutely glad of the decision he had taken. If Cao Yun was cultivating that fast, he was sure to become a Mortal Warrior within these five years. In fact, he could probably reach this realm during his fourth-year or even third-year. Most disciples only reached the Mortal Warrior realm in their fifth-year. Some never reached it at all. And people like Chan Weifeng or Long Jian had reached it in the end of their fourth-year, but they were older than Cao Yun when they joined in.
At his side, Jiang Yifan was not as happy. He was still concerned with what would happen to this faction the following year. However, he had to agree with his faction leader, fighting Cao Yun was not a viable option now. His fame had spread too fast too wide. In fact, if he tried to suppress him and failed, it would increase Cao Yun's fame even more and the Red Cliff Faction's reputation would be harmed. The best thing to do was to treat the Heavenly Swallow Faction as any other faction.
They would not be neither friendly nor threatening. The Heavenly Swallow Faction was still very small and it would take a lot of time to grow big enough to compete with them. Moreover, their own members would not leave because of the penalty to do so. However, new disciples may choose to join this easier to leave faction instead of them. He had to rethink the strategy of his faction to recruit new members.
-
The Purple Northern Cloud Faction also got the news and Long Jian was delighted. He was eating with his little sister Long Huafang.
"This Chen Guo is amazing. If my calculations are correct, he cultivated for six to eight months in order to go from 5th-grade Mortal to 6th-grade Mortal. With his speed, he could maybe reach 7th-grade Mortal before the end of the year. If he does, he should be able to contend with a Mortal Warrior restraining his Qi Manifestation."
Listening to her brother's fiery speech, Long Huafang stopped eating. "Do you mean that you want to fight him in the final duels?"
Seeing his little sister's inquisitive eyes on him, Long Jian laughed out loud. "If I restrain my Qi Manifestation, I should be able to fight him on equal footings. I mean, if I don't fight him now, I'll have to wait almost four years to hope to fight him again. But then, I don't know what the disparity between us will be."
"Father will be angry with you again if you only think about fighting. Our Sunmen Province needs you. Father is almost alone to protect our borders right now."
Long Jian was the son of the governor of the most western province of the Hongchen Kingdom. This province was always threatened by demon incursions. In fact, this was also the native province of Chan Weifeng. This was the province with the most cases of demon attacks. Some small cities were raided fairly frequently and humans were either slaughtered or captured. The Hongchen Kingdom had sent some reinforcements but there were other problems on all borders so the fighting force was thin.
Long Cheng, the father of Long Jian and Long Huafang, was a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior. He was a little younger than 150. All of his children had died in the hands of the demons when he was younger so he had sworn never to have any more children. However, he had found a wife he was crazy about and broke his oath. In the end, she had also died, but from illness. Long Cheng wanted his children to be safe but both of them only dreamed of helping him in his fights. No matter how much he wanted to protect them, he loved them enough to grant their wishes. However, he was always angry with Long Jian who only thought about fighting.
Long Jian's face turned sour. "I know Father wants us to leave a peaceful life... But how can we?! We never met our brothers and sisters because of these abominations! I swore that I would protect my kind no matter what. Becoming stronger is necessary if we don't want our lives to be at the mercy of monsters. And it so happens that I quite enjoy the process as well." Ending his sentence, he gulped down an entire cup of wine. "Sister, tell me. Don't you also want to fight for our province?"
"Of course I do, Brother." Some sadness flashed on Long Huafang's face. "But I'd like to see Father happy as well. He tries to hide it but seeing that both his children are drawn to the same life he leads just eats it from within."
After a moment of pause, Long Jian took the entire bottle of wine and gulped it all down. Conventional wine had no effect on cultivators past a certain level and Long Jian was in this case. So the wine he drank was a special breed. It was known as Small Immortal Wine and it could intoxicate even early Spirit Warriors. But Long Jian had a strong constitution and he could hold his liquor.
"Then, we just have to give him plenty of grand-children! Don't you have anyone in mind, dear sister?"
With a reddened face, Long Huafang stood up. "Brother, you're drunk! Stop spouting nonsense! I only care about becoming stronger. To conquer me, a man should first be able to best me in battle!"
Just before she left, she heard the voice of her brother and reddened even more. "Chen Guo may be able to..."