Part 1 Chapter 8 The Crisis Begins

A hall that appeared spacious enough to belong to a wealthy household, filled with countless books and exquisitely decorated rooms, but it was just one person's study. The owner, a man who appeared to be in his sixties but was actually approaching eighty, sat alone on the only chair in the room.

He was a man with a sharp and imposing appearance, untouched by the passage of time, exuding a formidable aura. Though dressed simply in plain yellow attire, the exquisite tailoring, superb embroidery, and delicate fabric all revealed his extraordinary status and accentuated his distinguished identity.

The old man closed the memorial in his hand and scolded angrily, "Such nonsense! How dare they ask me, the King of Deno, to stop waging war against the Taileon Empire? Do they not realize that they owe their high position to my favor? Voh, are you here?"

As if responding to the old man's call, a shadowy figure emerged from a dark corner of the room and bowed respectfully, "My King, you called for me?"

"Tomorrow, I want Senator Maitakin's head, let others know that although I, King Deno, have decided to retire, no one is allowed to doubt my decision." The old man declared with a domineering tone.

What? It turns out that this person is actually the Emperor of the Huana Principality - King Deno.

Voh bowed again and said, "I will follow your orders, Your Majesty."

King Deno nodded, "Go then!"

Voh's figure seemed to blend into the darkness and disappeared as if nothing had ever existed there.

After a moment of thought, King Deno suddenly said, "Shadow!"

A figure emerged from another dark corner, just like before.

It seems that he (or she) is the Shadow.

The Shadow bowed, and King Deno asked, "Shadow, what's the recent activity of the Lao Family?"

The Shadow bowed and replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the Lao Family is all at home and there is no unusual movement, except..."

The voice was crisp and clear, revealing that she was a woman.

At first, King Deno was not pleased to hear that there was nothing special, but he hurriedly gestured for the Shadow to continue.

The Shadow hesitated and said, "Two days ago, the eldest son of the Long Family came to visit, claiming to be visiting relatives, and left yesterday."

King Deno was pleased, "The Long Family from the Taileon Empire?"

The Shadow nodded, "Yes, and there's another report that on the night of his visit, he had a conversation with the current head of the Lao Family, but the report is not very reliable."

King Deno smiled, "It doesn't matter, call the informant to see me, and notify the Prime Minister to come and see me tomorrow."

The Shadow sighed inwardly, bowed, and said, "As you command, Your Majesty."

Her figure disappeared into the darkness once again.

Yahua suspected, "Third brother, you said 'also', do you also practice Qi?"

Yaxu knocked on Yahua's head and laughed, scolding, "Do you look down on your older brothers like this? Do you think our reputation was just handed to us? Let me tell you, not only us, but even grandpa and dad also practice Qi, and they are even stronger than us."

Yawen couldn't help but stick out his tongue when he heard this. He used to think that he was the only one in the family who could practice Qi and felt proud of it!

But then he realized something was wrong and asked indignantly, "Okay, brothers, you all secretly practiced without letting me know."

The three brothers, Yahua, exchanged glances, and Yahua said, "It's not our fault. It was Aunt Xiaoma who kept telling us that you shouldn't be exposed to Qi before you turn twenty, so father didn't teach you how to practice Qi. We were even curious why you started practicing Qi."

Yawen secretly wondered, "Mom said I shouldn't practice Qi before I turn twenty. Could it be because of my spiritual powers? I wonder if it's okay for me to practice Qi now?"

"Anyway, I don't feel any discomfort now, so maybe it's okay!" After reaching this conclusion, Yawen stopped thinking too much about it.

Yaruo asked him, "Yawen, what kind of Qi are you practicing now?"

Yawen answered, "Third brother, I'm just following what Uncle Lyon taught me, just practicing Foundation Building Qi. He said I need to reach a certain level before I can continue to advance."

Upon hearing this, Yaxu said, "Lyon is right in teaching you this way, but did he mention at what level you need to be before you can take the next step?"

Yawen shook his head, "Uncle didn't mention that, but based on what he said, it might take me another year or two to achieve something."

Yahua asked, "Yawen, do you feel anything while practicing Qi now?"

Yawen tilted her head and said, "When I practice Qi now, I can feel an extremely cold energy circulating rapidly along the Qi cultivation route that my cousin taught me. And when I store this energy in my dantian, I feel a cold energy swirling inside. When I practice my physical abilities, a portion of this cold energy will circulate around my whole body, making me feel cool and not as exhausted during my practice. Brother, what level do you think I've reached?"

Yahua, Yaxu, and Yaruo exchanged astonished glances, and Yahua asked, "Yawen, you said you started practicing Qi based on Lyon's teachings? But it's been less than two months since you started practicing Qi, right?"

Yawen nodded.

Yahua exclaimed in amazement, "This is truly incredible, Yawen. You know that your level of progress is already at the stage of stable True Qi cultivation, and you have already achieved the state of 'inwardly reserved and outwardly projected.' This is something that usually takes five to six years for most people to achieve. It took me four years to reach the progress you have made now. I really don't know how you did it."

Yaxu and Yaruo also nodded in agreement.

Yawen was overjoyed upon hearing the affirmation from his three brothers and said with a smile, "I just followed my mom's Tianxin Jue, which instructed me to practice 36 cycles of Qi circulation at once. I thought my cousin's Qi cultivation method didn't specify how many cycles to practice, so I simply practiced 36 cycles as well. I didn't expect the results to be so good."

Yahua exclaimed, "36 cycles in one go?"

Yaruo also chimed in, "Tianxin Jue?"

Only Yaxu nodded thoughtfully and muttered, "No wonder, no wonder."

Yawen was puzzled and asked, "Is there a problem?"

The three brothers exchanged glances and moved to a corner where Yawen couldn't hear them. They seemed to be discussing something, and after a while, they returned to Yawen's side.

Yaxu spoke up and said, "Yawen, do you mind telling us more about Tianxin Jue? How did you arrive at the number 36 cycles? If you don't want to share, it's okay. After all, this is something your mother left for you."

Yawen replied, "What's the harm in sharing?"

He then told his brothers about his mother's letter and showed them Tianxin Jue.

After reading Tianxin Jue, Yahua, Yaxu, and Yaruo had another round of discussion, and they still elected Yaxu as their spokesperson.

After returning Tianxin Jue to Yawen, Yaxu said solemnly, "Yawen, you must take good care of this book of Tianxin Jue. We don't know where little mom found it, but in our eyes, Tianxin Jue is a Qi cultivation technique that is no less than our family's 'Demon Breaking True Qi.' No, I should say it is slightly superior."

"Perhaps little mom and you both didn't understand the importance of Qi cultivation, so you only paid attention to the part about training mental power. But the part about Qi cultivation was overlooked. No wonder your progress in Qi cultivation has been so astonishing. After all, even though you only practiced the basic part of mental power training, unconsciously, you have laid a solid foundation for your future Qi cultivation...

Yahua interjected, "Yawen, you don't have to practice the basic formulas anymore. Your qi has stabilized, and now it's time to refine your qi."

With that, Yahua took the Tianshin Formula from Yawen's hand, opened it, and pointed to some places, saying, "When translating again, it was probably because of a lack of understanding of qi or a focus on mental power training that some parts violated the principles of qi cultivation. Some modifications should be made. That's why you have practiced for eleven years and only increased your mental power without making progress in qi cultivation. Now, if you modify the circulation route of qi, I believe you will surpass your brothers in a few years."

After speaking, Yahua pointed out the parts that needed modification one by one, the most important of which was that after the Five Hearts Circulation, Yawen must concentrate his qi in the dantian, otherwise the qi he painstakingly cultivated would turn into mental power again.

After finishing, Yahua returned the Tianshin Formula to Yawen, but Yawen refused to accept it, saying, "Big brother, since this Tianshin Formula is so good for breaking demonic qi, why don't you keep it and practice it with second and third brother?"

Yaruo smiled and said, "Silly little brother, although this Tianshin Formula is better than the Breaking Demonic Formula, as Sister mentioned, it is specifically designed for people like you with unique mental power. Not only is it not suitable for our constitution, even if we practice it, we won't have the same good results as you. We have been practicing the 'Breaking Demonic Qi' for more than ten years, and it wouldn't be worthwhile for us to give up the 'Breaking Demonic Qi' and start from scratch with the Tianshin Formula."

After finishing, he chuckled and said, "We practice the 'Breaking Demonic Qi' to obtain the 'Breaking Demonic True Qi,' so if you practice the Tianshin Formula, the true qi you obtain will be called 'Tianshin True Qi'."

Yahua and Yaxu nodded and said, "Yes, that's right."

From then on, Yawen's unique true qi finally had an official name.

After laughing for a while, Yaxu suddenly frowned and said, "Big brother, I think something is not right. Sister's original intention was for Yawen to control his mental power through the Tianshin Formula, but now that you've made such a change, turning the Tianshin Formula into a qi cultivation formula, isn't it against her original intention?"

Yahua also felt that something was not right, but for a while, he couldn't think of a solution.

He simply said, "Since that's the case, Yawen, you can spend half of your time cultivating qi and the other half cultivating mental power. This way, you don't have to give up either one, and you can train both at the same time. It's a kind of alternative solution. After a year, when your mental power grows slowly, you can focus on qi cultivation."

Yawen thought about it and agreed. But he had a question, "Big brother, do I have to practice thirty-six cycles every time?"

"Yahua frowned and said, 'I've never heard of practicing thirty-six cycles in one breath, because we usually only practice one cycle of Qi at a time and then stop. But since Xiaoma said that practicing thirty-six times is more effective, then you should try practicing thirty-six times. I also want to see if the Demon-breaking Technique can be practiced in one breath and if the effect will be as miraculous as she claims.'"

"Yawen nodded in understanding. If that's the case, anyone would want to give it a try."

"Yaruo suddenly said with ill intentions, 'Alright, alright, let's stop the discussion here.'"

"Yawen, come on, let's see how far you've progressed with your Heavenly Heart True Qi. It's not satisfying to just fight those small soldiers on the battlefield. It's rare that you have such a unique skill. I've been itching to try since earlier."

"Yahua laughed and scolded, 'Alright, you martial maniac, itching to fight your own little brother. Come on, if you're really itching, big brother will help you scratch.'"

"Yaruo was overjoyed and said, 'Really, big brother? Since we last fought three years ago, we haven't had a chance to spar. Today, we'll give it a good try!'"

"I also want to know how you've been progressing with your 'Demon-breaking True Qi' in the past three years." Yahua was also eager to try.