The life of a practicing cultivator was repetitive and dull. Each day was akin to collecting enough dewdrops to form a stream, then drawing those streams into rivers that eventually collected into a vast sea.
The process was much easier said than done.
It was easy to understand that a person would not suddenly become plump overnight with only a single large meal—gaining weight required many meals over an extended time. Although Fang Xing had managed to gather enough Qi that he felt like he’d break through, he’d still only been practicing for a month and was stuck at the bottleneck. It felt like there was a wall blocking him from progressing into the next tier, bringing with it a sense of helplessness. The next tier was right in front of him, yet for some reason, he seemed unable to continue forward.
Within the past few days, there had been a major event within the outer court that caught everyone’s attention. An outer court disciple by the name of "Hou Qing" had decided to stop by the Danxia Valley to visit a female disciple who was an old friend of his, but he’d been stopped by three third-tiered disciples in front of the valley. Not only was Hou Qing alone and a new face among the outer courts, but he wore extravagant clothing with an extraordinary jade pendant hanging from his belt, making him a prime target for extortion in the three disciples’ eyes.
Without even saying a word, Hou Qing defeated all three men with a wave of his sword and casually walked away.
Such a feat astonished everyone in the outer courts. This man was one of the new recruits accepted six months ago, yet he was already strong enough to defeat three third-tiered disciples with ease? It didn’t take long at all before the name "Hou Qing" had become synonymous with "genius" within the outer court. Some people even declared Hou Qing would break into the fourth tier within a year and become the first inner court disciple from the batch of new recruits.
"Hou Qing? Isn’t that the guy who caught me before?" Fang Xing wondered aloud after Yu Sanliang had brought up the rumors, and a sly smile began to form as he remembered who this man was. "I remember you guys are like peas and carrots. You even let him skip the line and registered him in front of everyone else…."
Yu Sanliang looked at Fang Xing with confusion before laughing, "Shidi Fang, stop joking. How could someone like me even dare to be friends with someone like him? He was nice to me outside the sect, very polite and all, but it all changed once he was accepted. I even met him while I was doing a job for the department a while ago. I greeted him with a smile, but he didn’t even notice me…."
"Listen to yourself! So if someone pays you any attention, you go and suck up to them?" Fang Xing looked at the plump Daoist with contempt. The plump Daoist, on the other hand, only showed an embarrassed smile and poured more wine into Fang Xing’s bowl.
"Not only did that bastard catch me, but he kicked my Xiao Mahn! If I see him again, he’ll wish he was dead!" Fang Xing cursed with hate-filled eyes.
Startled, Yu Sanliang showed a comforting smile while wondering at how someone so young could hold such a deep grudge. "Shidi Fang, you can take it out on me if you’re still angry about that day, but that person is someone you can’t afford to offend…."
Fang Xing jumped to his feet in anger. "You think I can’t?" He started to kick Yu Sanliang to vent, but Yu Sanliang just grinned and didn’t mind. He’d learned quite a bit about Fang Xing after spending four months together, and although the boy was ruthless and bold, he wasn’t a mad dog that would try to bite everyone on sight. Furthermore, although Fang Xing was young, he understood loyalty as well; not everyone would have been willing to give up two Spirit Stones without a second thought.
Once the meal had finished, Fang Xing kicked the plump Daoist out of his cottage and returned to his practice. For some reason, a smoldering anger had lit up within Fang Xing’s heart after he heard about Hou Qing’s latest achievements. ‘I’ve practiced for four months and used twelve entire Spirit Stones, but I still can’t break into tier two, yet that bastard Hou Qing is nearly at tier four? Is the difference between us that great? Am I just stupid? No, how could I be so inferior?’
Fang Xing took out the thirteenth Spirit Stone while nursing his grudge. He adjusted his breathing and began to draw the Spirit Stone’s Qi inward to soak his meridians, and it didn’t take long for the same problem as before to rise to the fore.
Every time Fang Xing attempted to spread Qi evenly across his entire body, his control was hindered by an unknown force until the Qi eventually dissipated. He’d failed to break through yet again, but this time he seemed to find a pattern with this dissipation. Without giving up, Fang Xing started again from the beginning and worked to hasten the process, absorbing Qi from the Spirit Stone at a faster rate and causing a large amount of Qi to suddenly saturate his body.
A person can only eat so much at one time, and a person could choke if they tried to bite off more than they could chew. Cultivation was similar, and Fang Xing began to feel sharp pains all across his meridians, but he endured the pain and sent both himself and all of the force he’d accumulated violently towards the wall blocking him from tier two.
Boom….
Suddenly, it seemed as though something had broken within his mind, and a refreshing feeling settled all over his body. The feeling was very strange; where his body was too hot, it was delightfully cool and refreshing, and where he was too cold, the feeling would be filled with warmth—the remarkable effect of Qi.
‘Finally!’ Fang Xing murmured in his heart. He’d finally managed to break through into the second tier, and Qi filled his entire body. Now, he could move Qi anywhere inside his body with a mere thought, and although it wasn’t strong enough to protect from harm, he could still direct Qi to where he was wounded to improve his rate of recovery. If it was necessary, he could even use Qi to close a wound up completely to prevent blood loss or keep himself from using up too much physical strength. Shixiong Liu had tried to do exactly that when he’d been stabbed, but Fang Xing had struck him again to stop the process and make it more difficult for him to control his Qi afterwards.
Fang Xing had gambled with his luck to break into tier two, and it was truly fortunate he succeeded this time. If luck hadn’t been on his side, his meridians may have ended up damaged by the excess Qi and he would have required at least ten days to fully recover. However, this was all because of his temperament; although he was ruthless towards others, he was just as ruthless towards himself as well.
‘Let’s try using the Nine Snakes’ Sword again!’
Amidst the delight of finally breaking through, Fang Xing decided take a break and give the Nine Snakes’ Sword another try. Despite his efforts, however, he found that things hadn’t changed by much; although he could barely manage to make a full strike now, he had hardly any Qi left afterwards and an attempt for a second just made him dizzy.
Fang Xing put the Nine Snakes’ Sword away and—after some thought—decided there were two main problems: his cultivation level was still really low, and the Nine Snakes’ Sword power was just too high. The Nine Snakes’ Sword required far more Qi than an ordinary spirit sword, so the best wy forward was to find a regular, low-grade weapon instead for the time being.
‘There are strict regulations about stealing the spirit weapon someone else chose from the pavilion. What to do….’ Fang Xing gave it some thought before he suddenly remembered something. ‘Didn’t the fatty say they’ve resumed the Black Markets again? There were quite a lot of Flying Swords last time. Back then, I only took the best one and left the others behind; how sinful of me….’
It didn’t take long before he decided to visit the Black Market again.
Fang Xing asked Yu Sanliang for the time and place of the next Black Market before starting to prepare. After giving Fang Xing information on the next Black Market, however, Yu Sanliang began to have some suspicions. The last time Fang Xing asked for information, a rich disciple was so thoroughly robbed he was turned into a poor wretch. Fang Xing was asking about the next Black Market again; was he possibly…?
Fang Xing noticed Yu Sanliang’s gaze on him and fiercely replied, "What are you staring at? Do you think I won’t tear out your eyes?"
Yu Sanliang grinned but said nothing. He decided that even though the kid was bold, he still wouldn’t dare to do something like that. Besides, the people who’d seen the event take place said the perpetrator was a slender man….
As it so happened, the next Black Market was actually scheduled to take place that very night. Fang Xing made sure Yu Sanliang was well-intoxicated from the wines before kicking him back to his own cottage.
The plump Daoist had always admired Fang Xing for how much he could drink and was amazed that an eleven-year-old child could handle so much! Fang Xing, however, just scoffed at this; he’d pretty much grown up soaked in wine jars, so how could there be any comparison? Fang Xing liked to boast about his various skills from time to time, but his alcohol tolerance didn’t even require it—not even ten of the plump Daoist could match him!
Once Yu Sanliang had left, Fang Xing took out his Mask of Wanluo, placed it on his face to change his appearance once more, and then headed off towards the market.
The Black Market this time was within a hidden valley a few miles away from the sect. The locations for these events were carefully selected; it couldn’t be too close to the sect since the Black Market was against sect rules, but it also couldn’t be too deep in the mountains or the beasts and demons would pose a threat to lower-tiered disciples.
Following the plump Daoist’s instructions, Fang Xing traveled to the area and quickly found the market’s location because of how obvious it was. A total of eight guards stood at attention in front of the valley’s entrance, and all of them looked extremely cautious and capable.
Fang Xing chuckled. It seemed they’d learned their lesson from last time.