Wu Yizhou’s foot slammed into Li Qingshi’s calf.
There was a sharp crack. Li Qingshi’s calf bent at an unnatural angle and broke completely, while half of Wu Yizhou’s foot shattered as well.
Wu Yizhou groaned. This was entirely beyond his expectations.
He could tell that his opponent had not used any ingenious technique akin to redirecting an opponent’s force against them. It had been nothing but a head-on clash. Yet he had been the attacking party, and by all logic, he should never have been injured. Half his foot was ruined, however, which could only mean one thing: this kid’s bones were far too hard!
He had never encountered anyone with bones this hard!
That only shocked him, however. What happened next filled him with fear.
He watched as the kid, whose head was covered in cold sweat from the pain yet who had not uttered a sound, calmly straightened his own calf, smeared on some black medicinal salve, tore off a few strips of cloth, and wrapped them around it haphazardly. Then he stood up as if nothing had happened and said without changing expression, “Again.”
He had fought countless people, but this was the first time he had ever felt afraid.
This was not only the person with the hardest bones he had ever seen; he was also the most ruthless man Wu Yizhou had encountered in his entire life!
He knew one principle: being ruthless toward others was not truly ruthless. Only being ruthless toward oneself was genuine ruthlessness. He had to admit that this kid was far more ruthless than he was.
To lose one’s nerve before the battle even began was the greatest taboo in the martial world.
Thus, by the time he was beaten to death, he had done nothing more than break one additional rib of his opponent.
Li Qingshi panted heavily, set his rib back into place, smeared on some medicine, and said, “How was that, Old Liu? I did all right this time, didn’t I?”
This was his first time practicing fist techniques, and the fact that his calf had been kicked apart was partly due to carelessness, so it did not count. By that measure, in his first battle using fist techniques, he had only broken a rib. Compared to the first time he had practiced sword techniques, he had improved countless times over. Thus, Li Qingshi was extremely satisfied with his performance.
“What do you mean, ‘did all right’?! Are you thick in the head? You opened twenty-eight major acupoints for nothing? Let me ask you: did Primordial Qi emerge from those major acupoints you opened?” The old man still looked as though he hated iron for not becoming steel.
“It did.”
Li Qingshi had always been even-tempered when Old Liu taught him. Unless he was pushed beyond endurance, he would never argue with him.
“Then why didn’t you use it?” The old man could not understand.
Li Qingshi blinked and thought, I haven’t even broken through to the Hongmeng Realm yet. How am I supposed to use it?
Those who cultivate martial arts give birth to Primordial Qi within their acupoints after opening their major apertures. Only when all seventy-two major apertures are fully opened can Primordial Qi circulate through the body, form a Lesser Circulation, and return to the Sea of Consciousness.
Even if only one major aperture remained unopened, this path would be blocked. Primordial Qi could not circulate and could only remain within the major apertures.
However, even without being able to circulate, the seventy-two major apertures were distributed throughout the body. With Primordial Qi present in them, one’s strength and speed were both far greater than before Opening an Acupoint.
When Li Qingshi had fought his opponent earlier, he had already used the Primordial Qi in his twenty-eight major apertures to bring his strength and speed to their limits. Thus, when the old man asked him that question, he was confused and had no idea how else he could use it.
When the withered old man saw him make that confused face again, his anger grew worse. Glaring, he said, “If Primordial Qi can’t circulate, can’t you at least try directing it toward the muscles and bones around you? I spent ten years painstakingly Reforging the Bone Constitution for you. Did you think I did it merely to let you cultivate faster? Or to make your skin thicker and your flesh tougher?”
Li Qingshi’s eyes lit up. Fawning shamelessly, he limped over to the withered old man and rubbed his bony chest, saying with a sycophantic grin, “Calm down, calm down. You’re already so old, yet you still get angry so easily. Anger is bad for your health. Be careful you don’t shorten your life.”
The old man kicked him in the butt. “Get lost.”
That day, Li Qingshi killed two more people without suffering another injury and opened two major apertures.
…
Baitou Village gradually returned to how it had been before. During the day, the villagers worked in the fields. At night, when they had nothing else to do, they gathered to chat about everyday matters. Every few days, they would drink some cheap liquor. Aside from life being somewhat difficult, they were quite content and at ease.
If not for the search party passing outside the village every morning and evening, people would almost have forgotten that the Brutal Bandits in Guidang Mountain had not all been killed.
It was not only Baitou Village and the nearby villages and towns; Qingshui City also reopened its city gate.
County Magistrate Zhang Gaoshan personally visited Clearwind Manor, lavishly praised them, and took away the corpses found in the mountains, saying that he would request merit from the Imperial Court. As for whose merit he intended to request, only the County Magistrate himself knew.
Overall, this County Magistrate was fairly decent. He was willing to pay out of his own pocket to reward the disciples who had helped search the mountains, and he was quite courteous in his speech. He did not have the condescending manner of other officials. Although they had not dealt with him often and did not know what he was truly like, at least he maintained appearances well.
The several Sect Masters were also forthright and did not claim the credit for killing the bandits for themselves.
It was simply unknown whether White Jade Manor in Jingzhou City was willing to cultivate ties with the government. Since avoiding trouble was better than inviting it, they did not say that Young Master Qin had killed the bandits. They only said that the master who had slain them was from somewhere unknown and that they were still searching for him.
Zhang Gaoshan knew that martial world practitioners could generally be divided into two groups. One group tried every means to cultivate ties with the government, believing that sheltering beneath a great tree made for good shade. Such people had always been looked down upon by their fellow martial artists. The other group considered themselves lofty and pure, maintaining that the government and the martial world should not interfere with each other.
Clearwind Manor clearly belonged to the second group. Thus, he was half-convinced by their explanation and suspected that they had killed the bandits themselves, with no mysterious master involved at all.
But there was no need to expose it. In any case, he only wanted the result and did not care who had killed them.
Twenty days had passed since Zhao Fenghu led a group of Brutal Bandits into Guidang Mountain. The several Sect Masters had led their disciples in searching the mountain every day, yet they had not found a single living bandit, let alone Young Master Qin.
They had never given up, however. Judging from the corpses they had discovered, the time of death had been quite recent, which meant the bandits had not yet all been killed. Young Master Qin had to still be somewhere in the mountains.
The opportunity to cultivate ties with White Jade Manor was exceedingly rare, so naturally they were unwilling to abandon it easily.
That morning, Li Qingshi smashed his opponent’s chest with one punch. He closed his eyes and reviewed the battle in his mind.
By that day, he had practiced sword techniques and fist techniques for twenty days, killed eighty-nine people, and opened forty-three major apertures.
The withered old man withdrew his gaze from him and shook his head.
This kid’s heart had already begun to grow somewhat restless. It was not entirely his fault. He had waited more than ten years to avenge his mother’s murder, and now that he finally possessed the ability to take revenge, of course he would be somewhat impatient.
If his thoughts remained obstructed, cultivation would produce half the result with twice the effort. Rather than stopping him from seeking revenge, it would be better to let him go. Once he discovered that his cultivation was still insufficient, given this kid’s personality, he would certainly settle his mind again.
Still, speaking of which, opening forty-three major apertures in twenty days was much faster than Laozi had estimated. This kid’s comprehension was truly extraordinary.
To be fair, when all was said and done, it was still because Laozi had a good eye!
Liu Beidou rose from the large rock and said, “All right, that’s enough for today. You’ve been practicing for so many days in a row. You need to rest when it’s time to rest. I’m giving you the day off. Do whatever you like today, and continue practicing tomorrow.”
Li Qingshi opened his eyes, paused for a moment, and said with a smile, “That sounds great. I haven’t gone to Qingshui City in ages. I’ll go have some fun in the city today.”
The old man watched his exaggerated performance but did not call him out. He clasped his hands behind his back, hummed a little tune, and walked down the mountain on his own.
This kid had not had it easy. Keeping such a secret in his heart for more than a decade without telling anyone had truly been difficult.
After returning to the village, Li Qingshi changed into clean clothes, picked up the Seven Star Sword, and left for Liuyun Mountain.
Whenever he saw wildflowers along the way, he casually picked one. By the time he reached an inconspicuous mound of earth on the mountain, he had gathered enough for a bouquet.
He placed the wildflowers before the mound and began clearing the weeds nearby. “Mother, I’ve come to see you.”
After clearing most of the weeds, he added some soil to the mound. When he had finished, he dropped onto the ground and began chatting intermittently with the person in the grave.
“Old Liu has started teaching me martial arts. He isn’t a swindler; he really knows martial arts. I just don’t know how skilled he is. You know what he’s like—he loves to brag, so asking him would be pointless.”
“I’ve been practicing for twenty days and opened forty-three major apertures. Do you know how impressive opening forty-three major apertures is? Let me put it this way: at the very least, in Qingshui County, I absolutely count as a master!”
“So I’m planning to avenge you.”
“Don’t worry. I’m very strong now. Those people from the Broadsword Society definitely can’t beat me. If you don’t believe me, I’ll practice for you.”
He actually practiced a round of fist and sword techniques like a fool.
“You feel better now, right?”
“From now on, I’ll definitely become one of the greatest masters in the world, because Old Liu once said that the greater one’s ability, the more resources one can control.”
“Then I’ll be able to find him and ask him why he abandoned the two of us.”
“Ever since I was old enough to remember, I’ve hardly heard you mention him. So even now, I don’t know whether you actually hate him.”
“Actually, even though you never said so, I know you don’t hate him.”
“But I hate him.”
…
“I’m leaving. I’ll come see you again after I’ve taken my revenge.”
He patted his backside, gripped his sword, and walked down the mountain without looking back.