Breaking Through

Xiao Qi looked at him and said softly, "You've already started to practise the Sentient Menace, right?"

Chu Li nodded. "I tried to, at least."

"How is it?"

"It's fine."

Chu Li had been training for ten days. The Sentient Menace was truly powerful. It formed a very unique spiritual force. Instead of flowing into the meridians, it piled up between his flesh and bones. When he channeled the Sentient Menace, the energy in his muscles circulated and formed a membrane that was invisible but tough.

There were six layers to the Sentient Menace. The skin, flesh, muscle, meridian, bones and marrow.

His first level had great progress. There was an energy membrane on his skin. It was as tough as the skin of a crocodile. It repelled attacks. Normal knives and swords would not penetrate through.

"Are there any side effects so far?" Xiao Qi looked at him.

"There certainly seems to be something wrong…" Chu Li answered.

Every since he began training the Sentient Menace, he felt his temper surge every now and then. In that moment, anything unpleasant would provoke him and trigger an urge to destroy, yet alone kill.

He was indeed lucky that his dharmic base was really strong. He was able to chant the Buddhist scriptures as soon as he felt like killing. When he felt like he had completely lost control, he would just activate the Omniscient Mirror. As it a was pure and clean energy, his thoughts of killing would immediately disappear.

If it was not for the Omniscient Mirror, he dared not train any longer. He would have definitely transformed into a murderous demon.

He felt that the Head of the Raging Tiger Troupe was probably behaving that way because he was eager to learn the Sentient Menace.

"If it isn't right then stop learning!"

"I'll be more cautious, if I really can't take it then I'll stop."

"You know your limits, right!?" Xiao Qi warned him.

Chu Li quickly nodded.

"We're leaving!" Su Ru waved her hands, and the both of them levitated away.

Chu Li sighed. Their graceful backs had left him feeling despondent. If such beautiful women did not belong to him, it would be such a tragedy!

He woke up and practiced the Delusion Split the next morning while Li Yue was practicing his fist techniques. The courtyard was quite busy.

Suddenly, the jade instrument rang.

Li Yue stopped practising. "I'll go and have a look."

Chu Li's swordplay did not stop. He nodded and continued to wield his blade gently.

Li Yue ran back to the courtyard. Chu Li heard him laugh for a few moments.

"Brother! Look who is here!"

Chu Li's Omniscient Mirror had already sensed it was Zhao Ying. Her lake green gown was flowing. Her great figure and face were as pretty as jade. She was lovely.

She gracefully walked into the courtyard and covered her mouth.

"Brother Chu."

"Sister Zhao Ying!" Chu Li did not stop his swordplay. He smiled. "Come here, let's practice!"

"Okay!" Zhao Ying drew her sword from her scabbard, and hopped in front of him. She immediately struck, showing her elegance. She was like a swallow flying across the lake.

Li Yue was surprised and impressed. He widened his eyes and it looked as if he was not blinking at all.

Chu Li's swordplay was still slow. He wielded it to the left and then the right slowly while Zhao Ying had already come up with whatever she could. Her elegant swordplay started to become scattered. After twenty moves or so, she flew backwards and glared at Chu Li. "Brother, that's a little too much!"

Chu Li kept his sword and shook his head. "Your swordsmanship hasn't improved much."

"I have been practicing all this time!" Zhao Ying sheathed her sword and smiled.

"Brother, I am now a rank seven Protector!"

"You haven't challenged rank six?"

"I'm waiting to reach the innate mastery. My chances will be much higher then."

"Hmm, that's true."

"A rank seven Protector?" Li Yue was shocked.

Zhao Ying turned and smiled.

"Do I not look like one, Li Yue?"

"My god! Zhuo Feiyang is ranked seven himself!" Li Yue praised Zhuo Feiyang.

"Another genius? Both of you joined the Public House together, didn't you?"

"Yes." Zhao Ying nodded.

"I'm from the same batch as Brother Chu and Zhuo Feiyang."

"Rank seven…" Li Yue shook his head in lamentation.

"Are you guys going to even give the others a chance!?"

Zhao Ying smiled. "If Brother Chu challenged the Ranking Tower, he would definitely pass rank six."

"He —?" Li Yue glared at Chu Li and smiled. "Hah, his swordsmanship is really good, but he's afraid of concealed weapons. What a waste.."

"Let's go and have a look at the flowers, shall we?" Chu Li said.

"Okay!." Zhao Ying agreed.

"Zhao Ying, have you had breakfast?" Li Yue quickly asked.

"Nope."

"Great! Let's have it together. What do you feel like eating?"

"I'm fine with anything. I'll eat whatever you guys are eating."

"Leave it to me!"

Chu Li and Zhao Ying left the courtyard and leisurely walked along the parterre on the island.

"Brother, does Lady Xiao know about the Raging Tiger Troupe already?"

"Yes, the Chief will lend a hand."

"That's great…" Zhao Ying let out a big breath. She shook her head.

"I heard that it isn't going to be easy to start a restaurant. We'd need to build a tall building and there are already four restaurants in town. Three of which belong to the Governor and the other is staffed by some really talented people! Competing with them is just…..very hard!"

Chu Li nodded.

"It will take at least one year to build a tall building and you're going to be spending a huge sum of money. After the building is built, we need a good chef. All the chefs in the Chong Ming Town are already taken. We can't possibly hire one from the Public House, can we?" Zhao Ying continued.

"Chief Su Ru will bring over a chef from the Fairy's Capital. And about the buildings, there's no need to rush. We can take it slow. We are only planning to start with a small shop to try things out."

"That sounds great!"

Two of them walked together side by side, with their shoulders touching occassionally.

"You've almost completed your acquired mastery, yes?" Chu Li asked.

"Hmm. Another two weeks and I'll be done." Zhao Ying said, "Brother, I realised that it was faster training in the ravine than here."

"It was nice and quiet there. The environment was great as well."

"It's unfortunate that we can't return. Or else we'd be able to isolate ourselves and train. It would be the best."

"It would the best if we could go back."

"Oh right! I want to go have a look at the Raging Tiger Troupe's ravine and see if anyone has found them. I am a little worried that they can't protect themselves."

"We'll go and have a look in a few days."

Zhao Ying smiled. "Deal! I'll go back and train, and we'll leave once I complete my acquired mastery!"

Chu Li smiled.

Both of them walked throughout the island. Zhao Ying's horizon was expanded, she was impressed and surprised with all the beautiful flowers. It was hard to resist their beauty!

Li Yue yelled from afar, "Time to eat —!"

Both of them returned to the courtyard. The stone table was filled with food that smelled amazing. Zhao Ying said thanks with a smile. Li Yue straightened himself and proudly introduced each and every dish. There were ten of them!

They sat down and started eating. As they were enjoying their meal, they heard the jade instrument ring again. Li Yue put his bowl and chopsticks down, and walked away from the table. "I will go and have a look!"

Chu Li furrowed his brows, it was Zhuo Feiyang!

Li Yue brought Zhuo Feiyang to them.

Zhuo Feiyang was wearing a sapphire blue gown. He looked distinguished and his eyes sparkled like the stars. As soon as he walked in, his face soured. He glared at Zhao Ying, and then Chu Li. He smirked. Both of them eating together like that. They looked like a married couple!

"Brother Zhuo Feiyang." Zhao Ying quickly stood up. "Why are you here?"

"Have I come at a wrong time?" Zhuo Feiyang said, with a cold face, "I'm sorry for bothering you guys!"

Chu Li put down his bowl. "Zhuo Feiyang! Such a rare guest!"

Zhuo Feiyang waved off his hand. "If it were not for Zhao Ying, I wouldn't even step into this doghouse!"

"We wholeheartedly do not welcome you!" Chu Li said monotonously.

"Zhao Ying, why are you eating with this man?" Zhuo Feiyang ignored Chu Li and turned to Zhao Ying. He sternly said to her, "It's better to stay away from these kind of men, let's go!"

"Zhuo Feiyang!" Zhao Ying furrowed her brows. "Don't behave like this!"

"Ah! Right on time too, I haven't had my breakfast either. Let's go to the Sky Inn."

"I'm almost done." Zhao Ying said.

"You should try it too! Brother Li Yue's cooking is very good!"

"That's the best he can do, running around the kitchen everyday doing what normal women would do," Zhuo Feiyang's mouth twitched as he glared at Li Yue in disdain. "useless piece of trash."

Li Yue clenched his teeth and grasped his fists, but he did not swing them at Zhuo Feiyang. He had no chance of winning against a genius like Zhuo Feiyang.

"Brother Li Yue, don't listen to his barking!" Chu Li pat Li Yue on his shoulder. He turned and called out, "Zhuo Feiyang! You must be insane! You're in our domain and you're still behaving like this?"

"Brother!" Zhao Ying waved off her hand. "Fine, I'll leave then!"

"Hmm, then I shall send you off." Chu Li stared at her, and shook his head.

Zhao Ying knew how powerful Chu Li truly was. If they had actually gotten into a fight, Zhuo Feiyang would end up disabled and since he had come to the East Garden uninvited, no one would speak for him even if he was killed.

Even though Zhuo Feiyang was unreasonable, Zhao Ying would still feel restless if he were beaten.

Zhuo Feiyang smirked. "You can't do anything to me."

Chu Li subtly laughed.

Zhao Ying quickly pulled Zhuo Feiyang out of the way. "Zhuo Feiyang, let's go!"

Zhuo Feiyang tried to escape the grip, but he realized that he could not. He was pulled to the small courtyard and quickly to the shore. Bai Zhijie was sitting on the boat, waiting.

Bai Zhijie let out a quick sigh as he saw them return. He quickly rowed the boat over to let them aboard.

Zhuo Feiyang stood at the helm of the boat and looked at Zhao Ying in surprise.

"Zhao Ying..since when did your inner energy become this strong? It's even better than mine!"

Zhao Ying smiled. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Every since you came back from the mission, you've changed, Zhao Ying!" Zhuo Feiyang shook his head and sighed.

Zhao Ying smiled and did not utter a word.

"Sister, have I done something wrong to make you angry...?" Zhuo Feiyang asked sincerely.

"No," Zhao Ying shook her head.

"Then why? " Zhuo Feiyang stared at her beautiful face. "...why are you so cold?"

"Zhuo Feiyang, I've always been like this. You are overthinking." Zhao Ying shook her head, avoiding eye contact.

Zhuo Feiyang stared at her. "Zhao Ying, with whom did you do the mission with?"

"It's top secret, we cannot talk about it. You know the rules, Zhuo Feiyang," Zhao Ying shook her head.

Zhuo Feiyang furrowed his brows. "You like someone else now, don't you?"

"What are you saying, Zhuo Feiyang?!" Zhao Ying waved off her hands.

"I do not like anyone! Don't misunderstand me, we're both just friends! We're not what you think we are!" Zhao Ying angrily replied.

"You...you..!" Zhuo Feiyang's face turned red and he immediately became enraged.

"We just happened to be from the same batch and are closer to each other, it isn't what you think it is! Brother Zhuo Feiyang, please don't mistake this for anything!" Zhao Ying said.

"You like someone else now!" Zhuo Feiyang coldly replied.

Zhao Ying shook her head and sighed. It was almost impossible to reason with him at the moment. She avoided eye contact and looked into the horizon.

Zhuo Feiyang furrowed his brows and had a deep thought. He decided to investigate with whom she did the mission with. He may not know anything about the secret mission, but he could try and find out. He could always check who went on missions at around the same time and eliminate the possibilities. He would definitely find something.

"Why did you to go to that idiot's place?" Zhuo Feiyang took a deep breath. "He's full of ridiculous ideas! You're too innocent, Zhao Ying! Don't be tricked by him."

"Zhuo Feiyang, Chu Li isn't that bad."

"If he isn't bad, then who is?!" Zhuo Feiyang smirked.

"But that is fine. It doesn't matter how bad he is, he's still a piece of trash. There's no point in taking him seriously."

Zhao Ying used to think it was unpleasant to hear when he called Chu Li useless. However, she believed it to be a tragedy to her ears when she heard it. She hated how she was unable to tell him off.

"Zhuo Feiyang, Chu Li isn't weak."

"He just happened to have better swordsmanship! But it'll never change beyond subpar quality! Just wait until I reach innate mastery! I'll beat him up till his teeth fall out! I'll make sure he becomes disabled!"

"Brother Chu is now a rank six Scribe!" Zhao Ying hmphed.

"Rank six..?" Zhuo Feiyang was startled. His facial expression changed. "He's ranked six?"

"You can go and check."

"That's impossible!" Zhuo Feiyang furrowed his brows and shook his head.

Rank six was indeed a large gap between the regular Scribes and the elite. Chu Li was still so young. How was it possible for him to achieve the sixth rank!

"Brother Zhuo Feiyang, do you remember the bet?" Zhao Ying suddenly felt a surge of happiness from revenge.

She smiled. "He's ranked six! And you're now ranked seven!"

"I'll go and challenge a rank six!" Zhuo Feiyang scoffed.

Zhao Ying shook her head.

"It's almost impossible to reach rank six before achieving innate mastery."

"I can do it!" Zhuo Feiyang firmly said.

Zhao Ying smiled. She said nothing.