Each to His Own Plans 4

"So you see? You had best be more careful, and do not try to leave the Palace without at least one of us at your side. Or you might wish to bring Acting Guard Captain Wen Xuanran along with you, if you wish to visit the City."

Qin Feng nodded back at the Second Ducal Prince, who stepped away from his guest house in a somewhat hurried manner thereafter. He had just came to pay the younger man a visit, and to apologize for missing the lunch together with Lin Liushui and Du Yan. Apparently, he had been the one to arrange for them to dine at the pavilion next to the artificial lake at the rear of the Palace earlier. He had even fixed the menu himself!

But, as luck would have it, Li Changhai had been called away to meet his mother, and so had to give it a miss. And from the somewhat frequent grumbling of the Prince's stomach, he had not had a chance to eat either! Whatever it was that summoned him away from his friends, it was obvious that it had kept him occupied all morning.

Well, regardless of what had happened - Qin Feng wasn't so naive as to believe that it was simply because the Duchess wanted to tell off her son for his poor security arrangements! He was certainly there was more to it than just that! No doubt it had something to do with that Fatty Zhou fellow, and his ties with Li Changhai's sister.

Qin Feng had expected it to be troublesome, staying so close to Li Changhai and his friends like this. But he had certainly expected the trouble to come from that stupid sister of his! And that idiot Fatty Zhou actually had an older brother? Who was almost certainly going to come after him, to avenge his brother's defeat? Not to mention the loss of his arm?

This was something out of one of the long-winded, daily updated street puppet theaters that he had seen here, and back in Changqing City, wasn't it? How did he ever get involved in something as messy as this?

Nevertheless, that was now a problem for the Duke and his people, and nothing to do with him any further! Qin Feng sighed as he closed the door once more, and returned to his bed. The servants had changed the sheets and even the blanket, that had been soaked with his perspiration from his earlier efforts. By the time that he returned to his room after having lunch with Lin Liushui and Du Yan, the whole place was pristine.

However, after just one hour of cultivation, he had the sheets damp again! If he had not been interrupted by Li Changhai just now, come to offer his apologies, he would probably have had to sleep in bed-covers soaked in his own sweat!

Quite honestly, he was a little embarrassed by the attention that he was receiving. He was just going to make a mess again, once he started to go through his Breathing Exercises again. Perhaps he should just sit on the floor instead? So that he didn't make another mess?

He pouted as he considered the problem, and decided that it would make less of a fuss if he did leave puddles of perspiration on the tiled floor, rather than his bed. So he found a corner, next to one of the windows, and made himself comfortable. But he was not in a hurry to continue. It did hurt, and he thought that he deserved a bit of rest first.

It had not hurt as badly, when he started to run his qi through his meridians, once he had returned from lunch. Together with the interruption from the Second Ducal Prince, it had given him a bit of relief from the pain. Which was a good thing, he thought.

And Li Changhai seemed genuinely concerned with regards to his injuries. Which told Qin Feng that he must really look a sight, there in his underclothes. Du Yan and Lin Liushui had both commented on how pale and bloodless he looked. It seemed they had not been exaggerating. Or, at the least, not by that much. If the Second Ducal Prince bothered to point out the same thing, as he did earlier ...

"I should be better in another day or two. Du Yan's potion seemed to have helped. My channeling of my qi seems a little smoother now, so I should have no problem recovering within the next two, three days," he had assured the Ducal Prince quietly.

Which had Li Changhai promising to send the physicians to check on him again then. That had been when the growling of the Prince's belly could no longer be denied, and he fled Qin Feng's rooms shortly after.

That was enough to tell him that Li Changhai's concern wasn't fake. At least, not altogether. Qin Feng didn't really trust the machinations of noblemen very much. But he would have to say that it was more agreeable, looking after someone like the Second Ducal Prince than some of the others that he had met. Perhaps it was not such a bad thing, to leech off the fellow as he was now intending to do.

But to do that, he would need to bring his martial cultivation up another level or two, he reminded himself. And gave out a loud sigh, as he crossed his legs and began to run his zhenqi all over again.

The floor was a lot harder and colder than his bed, and he didn't really enjoy sitting down on that surface. So he decided to stop delaying and get it over with. He had started feeling the ache in his meridians around the third cycle earlier, so he was eager to check if he would encounter the same thing all over again.

But by the time that he got there, the agony seemed less intense. So much so that he pushed himself into the fourth circulation of zhenqi immediately, and pushed the same through his arms and his legs as well. He had not done that earlier, because of the pain.

His limbs seemed to burn with a heat that had clearly not been there earlier, during his second cycle. But it was certainly far less painful compared to what he had gone through, earlier in the morning, when he was exercising the same through the channels in his torso. What had happened? How did it turn out like this?

Qin Feng certainly had no idea at all. But since it didn't appear to be hindering his cultivation, he decided not to worry about it, and continued to push his zhenqi through the channels that ran through his arms and legs. That should widen the qi channels there, and strengthen them as well. Which should allow for him to push his qi faster through the same, if he needed to.

Like in another fight for his life.

The harder that he pushed himself now, the better his chances of survival, when they met with more idiots like that Fatty Zhou, Zhou Jinhu!

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