Chapter 18

Yi Miss walked away in a huff, her samurai robe drenched, revealing her curves. She naturally couldn't stay any longer, or she would be giving everyone a free show.

Jiang Yi was also about to leave. He only had a thread of black essence energy left. If he went back on the field, he wouldn't stand a chance against a warrior of Yi Miss's level, let alone a Second Rank Cauldron Formation opponent. He had naively thought he could earn a gold medal trainer's pay to pay off his debts, but now it seemed that this money wasn't easy to earn...

"Blue Wolf, where are you going?"

Just as Jiang Yi was about to leave, Manager Yang immediately stopped him. Jiang Yi was taken aback and hurriedly took off his mask while saying, "Manager, I won't be a trainer anymore. I don't want the money either. Here's the mask back."

"Wait!"

Manager Yang panicked. He had finally found a good trainer, how could he let Jiang Yi leave? He had been pushed to the limit by these young masters and misses. He quickly approached Jiang Yi with a smile and said, "Blue Wolf, are you dissatisfied with the pay? How about this... if you stay, I'll pay you the silver medal trainer's rate? Ten taels of silver a day, how about it?"

Jiang Yi put on his hood and smiled bitterly. "Manager, I just remembered I have an urgent matter to attend to. I'll come back later."

Saying that, Jiang Yi ignored Manager Yang's attempts to retain him and walked straight out of the Martial Hall. Under the surprised gaze of the black-armored guard at the entrance, he quickly headed toward the Jiang family's eastern courtyard.

"Manager Yang! Manager Yang!"

About an incense stick's time after Jiang Yi left, a fiery red figure rushed into the training room corridor. As soon as she entered the hall, she scanned the masks of all the trainers and asked urgently, "Manager Yang, where is the gold medal trainer I was sparring with just now?"

"Gone."

Manager Yang blinked in confusion and asked, "What's wrong? Miss Yi, is there something wrong with that trainer?"

"Gone? Oh no!"

Miss Yi looked regretful. "If he comes back next time, make sure to notify me immediately. That trainer was amazing. I've been practicing the Rainstorm Fist for eight years, and it's been stuck at the proficient stage for the past three years. After sparring with him, I finally mastered it..."

"What?"

Manager Yang's face changed, filled with regret. The main purpose of sparring in the training room was to train reaction speed, combat instincts, and refine martial techniques. These three aspects were hard to improve and required long-term practice and refinement, which was why the essence energy was sealed in the training room.

Martial techniques were divided into three stages: beginner, proficient, and mastery. Miss Yi's Rainstorm Fist hadn't reached mastery in three years, but after sparring with Jiang Yi, it had directly reached mastery?

Was it a coincidence? Or was this guy pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger? Was he actually a powerful warrior in disguise, who had unintentionally guided and helped Miss Yi to master her martial technique?

Manager Yang couldn't figure it out, but he knew that if Jiang Yi came back as a trainer, he had to find a way to keep him. If he could indeed help the young masters and misses in the Martial Hall to quickly master their martial techniques, his value would be immeasurable...

...

By the time Jiang Yi returned to his courtyard, it was already noon. Thinking he had to go to West Mountain early the next morning, he hurriedly ate a meal and then went into his room to cultivate, preparing to break through to the Second Rank Cauldron Formation.

"Spirit Essence Pill!"

He took out a small white bottle and became excited. The Spirit Essence Pill was a high-grade human-grade medicinal pill that could help people cultivate essence energy quickly. His black essence energy could enhance the pill's power, and when combined, the Spirit Essence Pill would be comparable to an earth-grade pill. Consuming all ten Spirit Essence Pills would be enough for him to cultivate to the Second Rank Cauldron Formation.

"Extract black essence energy!"

He put down the Spirit Essence Pill and sat in meditation. After more than three hours, he woke up on time, immediately swallowed a Spirit Essence Pill, and began to cultivate the River Water Technique.

"Such a good pill!"

Feeling a warm current surge from his chest to his dantian, Jiang Yi marveled. Cultivating with the help of pills was indeed much better. Jiang Ruhu, despite his poor talent, could cultivate to the Fourth Rank Cauldron Formation, wasn't it because he often ate Spirit Essence Pills like food?

"Black essence energy, fuse!"

As the pill's power enveloped his dantian, Jiang Yi immediately gathered a thread of black essence energy to fuse with the pill's power, then fully operated the River Water Technique.

"This speed..."

Feeling the blue essence energy in his dantian surge like a geyser, Jiang Yi was incredibly excited. The combination of the pill and black essence energy had at least increased his cultivation speed by dozens of times...

After a dozen breaths, the black essence energy was exhausted, and Jiang Yi had to stop cultivating the River Water Technique. He gathered another thread of black essence energy to enhance the pill's power. This cycle continued until all ten threads of black essence energy were consumed, and he stopped cultivating.

"Phew... I've only been cultivating for this long, and it's already equivalent to half a month of cultivation in the past."

Jiang Yi internally observed his dantian, fearing that the pill's power would be consumed too quickly. He didn't dare to stay too long and began to extract black essence energy. This time, he felt a difference. Under the enhancement of the Spirit Essence Pill, the speed of extracting black essence energy had tripled. In just over half an hour, he had extracted six threads.

"Awesome!"

After cultivating for so many years, Jiang Yi had never felt so exhilarated. He was fully immersed in cultivation, even skipping dinner. He continued to sit in meditation, extracting black essence energy when it ran out and consuming Spirit Essence Pills when the pill's power was exhausted.

It wasn't until dawn the next day that Jiang Yi stopped cultivating!

He had used nine out of ten Spirit Essence Pills, and he... had finally cultivated to the Second Rank Cauldron Formation! Observing the dantian, he saw that the blue essence energy had doubled in quantity and deepened in color. Jiang Yi felt an overwhelming sense of joy, almost wanting to let out a long cry to release his inner satisfaction.

Starting to cultivate the River Water Technique at the age of seven, he had only reached the First Rank Cauldron Formation at fifteen. Now, he had broken through to the Second Rank Cauldron Formation in less than ten days, even with the help of pills, which was enough to make Jiang Yi extremely excited. Most importantly, his seal could be continuously broken, and his cultivation speed could continuously increase, giving him hope. A life with hope could make a person full of fighting spirit.

"Hmm?"

A moment later, after he calmed down and observed his dantian again, he suddenly noticed something odd! The blue essence energy had deepened in color, but the black essence energy had lightened in color?

As a warrior's realm increased, their essence energy would become more refined and powerful. This was common knowledge on the continent. Reaching the Second Rank Cauldron Formation, the change in blue essence energy was normal, but why had the black essence energy also changed color, and even lightened?

"Could the ability of black essence energy have increased again with the realm's advancement?"

Jiang Yi pondered for a while, gathered a thread of black essence energy from his dantian, and circulated it to the meridian near his eye, but found no difference from before. His vision was still terrifyingly sharp but hadn't further increased.

"Why has the black essence energy lightened in color?"

Jiang Yi was puzzled. He closed his eyes and observed the remaining thread of black essence energy in his dantian but found nothing after a long time.

After half an incense stick's time, he opened his eyes in surprise. He realized that the world was still clear, and the black essence energy hadn't been completely consumed even after half an incense stick's time.

"It seems that reaching the Second Rank Cauldron Formation, the blue essence energy has refined, and the black essence energy has also refined, so the consumption rate has slowed down a lot."

Jiang Yi closed his eyes and detected that there was still a thread of black essence energy near his eyes, not completely consumed. After a while, a black light flashed in Jiang Yi's eyes, and his vision gradually blurred as the black essence energy was completely consumed.

"Let's try again!"

Jiang Yi gathered the remaining thread of black essence energy to his eyes. This time, the enhanced vision lasted much longer, about half an incense stick's time.

"One thread for half an incense stick's time, ten threads for about an hour!"

Jiang Yi calculated the time and was delighted. Although experts could quickly determine the outcome of a fight, in a group battle, the longer his enhanced vision lasted, the more useful it would be.

Seeing that it was already light outside, Jiang Yi didn't dare to study further. He had to report to Manager Rong and go to West Mountain to count herbs. He needed to extract some black essence energy as a backup to avoid being intercepted by Jiang Ruhu and others.

After cultivating for two hours and extracting six threads of black essence energy, it was already mid-morning. He quickly got up, grabbed two steamed buns, and headed to the eastern courtyard's manager's office.

In the manager's office, he was scolded by Manager Rong. Jiang Yi quickly walked out of the west gate and went up West Mountain to count herbs. Fortunately, this time he was still doing miscellaneous tasks in the West Mountain herb fields, and Manager Rong didn't mention the token. When he went up the mountain, the family guards at the foot of the mountain recognized him and didn't ask for the token.

After spending more than half an hour, Jiang Yi finished counting the herbs in Field No. 7. Just as he was about to go down the mountain to continue cultivating, he heard rustling sounds from the small forest on the left.

"Who's there?"

His gaze turned cold as he scanned the small forest, thinking it might be Jiang Ruhu and others blocking his way.

To his surprise, a chubby youth with a fierce and mocking look on his face slowly walked out of the small forest. It was none other than Jiang Ruhu. Behind him, more people kept appearing, at least twenty in total!

One against twenty?

Jiang Yi swallowed hard. His strength had indeed increased, and he had black essence energy, but how could he fight so many people? Moreover, among them, besides Jiang Ruhu at the Fourth Rank Cauldron Formation, there were five or six at the Third Rank Cauldron Formation...

Seeing Jiang Yi's expression change, Jiang Ruhu laughed loudly. "Haha, Jiang Yi, you were so arrogant, weren't you? If I don't break both your legs today, I'll spell my name backward!"