Chapter 3

Jiang Yi could determine that he was not dreaming without pinching his thigh, as the pain from his wounds was all too clear. Moreover... the sky was still dark, the Great Elder had not returned, and Little Slave was still working outside. There was certainly no way that a pile of secret manuals as high as a mountain could be on the table.

But if he wasn't dreaming...

Jiang Yi closed his eyes and carefully focused his attention on his mind, where he saw once again those dozens of incomprehensible and mysterious ancient characters. Each character was incredibly clear, black and slender, lively and vivid, definitely not an illusion.

"At least... there are no adverse effects for now."

Jiang Yi carefully sensed for a long time, shook his head, and pinched his head. After confirming that the black characters should not be dangerous, he finally let out a long sigh. Years of a suppressed life had made his psychological resilience far exceed that of his peers.

"It's almost the third watch. I've delayed for so long, I need to treat my wounds quickly to avoid Little Slave's nagging when he comes back!"

Jiang Yi was now completely awake. He glanced out the window, then lit the oil lamp and, despite the pain, applied medicine to the two or three dozen wounds on his body. He then sat cross-legged on the bed.

To recover from injuries quickly, the key was in both external and internal treatment.

External treatment involved applying and taking medicine, while internal treatment involved circulating the body's primordial energy to promote blood circulation and repair the injuries. Therefore, after applying the medicine, Jiang Yi had to practice the River Water Technique to circulate the first level of the Cauldron Formation Realm primordial energy in his body, to help his wounds heal faster.

"The highest virtue is like water, which benefits all things without contention... The universe is vast, only the Great Dao is eternal, to prove the Heavenly Dao, one must first cultivate oneself... Uh, wrong..."

Although the effect of Jiang Yi's cultivation was limited by the seal, he was always very serious and focused during practice. But this time, for some reason, he was clearly distracted, making several mistakes in the circulation of his blood and qi. Fortunately, he corrected them in time to avoid a mental breakdown. However, those dozens of black characters in his mind kept floating before his eyes, making it hard for him to concentrate.

"Never mind... I might as well give it a try, even though Grandfather often warns me not to practice any technique until its reliability is confirmed."

Jiang Yi repeatedly recited those black characters in his mind. He felt that this incantation was distinctly different from the many cultivation techniques he had tried as a child, and it was very peculiar. But once the curiosity to try it arose, it was like a wildfire that could not be extinguished.

Say what you will, do what you must!

After a short while...

Jiang Yi opened his eyes slightly disappointed. This nameless incantation could indeed be practiced, and it could indeed produce a thread of primordial energy, but the speed of extracting the primordial energy from the heavens and earth was much slower than the River Water Technique he was currently practicing...

"I'll still use the River Water Technique to treat my injuries! Hmm—"

A person's dantian can only circulate one type of primordial energy at a time, a common knowledge on the Tianxing Continent. However, when Jiang Yi expelled the primordial energy he had cultivated through the nameless incantation from his dantian and prepared to practice the River Water Technique, he suddenly noticed that the new thread of primordial energy was black?

On the Tianxing Continent, due to the different cultivation techniques, martial artists would produce primordial energy of various colors, which generally had a direct relationship with the type of technique.

For example, when Jiang Yi practiced the water-based River Water Technique, the primordial energy produced was blue, and when he practiced the fire-based Blazing Flame Technique, the primordial energy was red.

In the Jiang family, due to his own physical constitution and the Great Elder's influence, Jiang Yi had tried many cultivation techniques as a child and had seen many different colors of primordial energy. Besides the blue of water-based techniques and the red of fire-based techniques, there were green for wood-based techniques, yellow for earth-based techniques... but he had never seen a technique that could produce black primordial energy!

"Whatever, the cultivation speed is so slow, even if it were nine-colored, it would be useless! No matter how powerful a cultivation technique is, if it can't reach a certain level, it's meaningless."

Jiang Yi didn't want to think about it anymore. He didn't care about the black thread of primordial energy that had been expelled from his dantian, and he casually sent it to a small meridian in his left arm that wouldn't affect his practice of the River Water Technique, planning to expel it from his body the next day.

He finally calmed down and focused on practicing the River Water Technique to treat his injuries.

...

"Jiang Yi, get out here now!"

After an unknown amount of time, a furious shout suddenly rang out from outside the courtyard. Jiang Yi's heart sank as he heard the voice and woke up from his meditation, realizing it was bad.

He was very familiar with this voice. It belonged to Manager Rong, who was in charge of the family's medicinal fields. He was supposed to report to him every day after taking over the task of counting the medicinal fields on West Mountain, but yesterday, after being beaten by Jiang Ruhu and others, he had woken up angry and confused, and had forgotten...

Jiang Yi quickly got up, hastily tidied his tattered robe, and walked outside.

The sky was already bright, and the morning air was fresh. Jiang Yi felt that after a night of meditation and healing, his injuries had recovered significantly, and his spirits were also much better.

Unfortunately, a middle-aged man in a splendid robe was standing at the courtyard gate, his back to the door. When he heard Jiang Yi's footsteps, he didn't turn around but instead gave a heavy cold snort.

"Manager Rong, I greet you!"

Jiang Yi bowed with his head down, a bitter smile on his lips. He, a fallen side-branch young master, still had to bow to a minor manager...

Manager Rong still didn't turn around, but he coldly asked, "Didn't I tell you to count the fourth medicinal field yesterday? Why didn't you report? In just a few days, you're already doing this? If I report this to the Punishment Hall, you won't get a single copper coin for this month, hmpf!"

"I..."

Jiang Yi wanted to tell him about Jiang Ruhu and others stealing the medicine and beating him, but he held back. He just remembered that Jiang Ruhu's father was the family's chief manager and the direct superior of this Manager Rong. If this matter were to come out, Manager Rong would not only not help him but might even twist the facts and severely punish him?

"What do you mean, 'I'?"

Manager Rong finally turned around and glared at Jiang Yi, scolding him, "Hurry up and go to West Mountain to count! If you don't report the accurate number within two hours, you'll be punished by the Punishment Hall!"

With that, Manager Rong flicked his sleeve and walked away. Jiang Yi could only awkwardly touch his nose, go back to his room to wash up, drink a few mouthfuls of the meat porridge in the pot, and then hurriedly head to West Mountain.

Although he still limped, the pain was clearly much less than yesterday, and his mood improved significantly.

Half an hour later, he arrived at West Mountain.

The main crop in the Jiang family's West Mountain medicinal fields was a blood-supplementing herb called Grass Ginseng. Grass Ginseng is a ninth-grade spirit herb, the lowest grade, but it still qualifies as a spirit medicine, which ordinary people cannot afford. In fact, the Blood Supplementing Pills made by the Jiang family, mainly using Grass Ginseng, were primarily supplied to family members, external martial artists, and military officers.

Jiang Yi stood on the field ridge, looking at the dense green leaves of the Grass Ginseng in the fields, a bitter smile on his face. It was here that he was beaten unconscious yesterday and barely managed to make it home...

Shaking his head, Jiang Yi forced himself not to think about it and began counting. Manager Rong had only given him two hours, and if he couldn't complete the count in time, being scolded would be a minor issue, but losing his monthly allowance would be a major problem.

"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."

As Jiang Yi counted and moved forward, he suddenly noticed a faint sound coming from ahead. He looked up and saw a suspicious figure in a patch of weeds in the distance.

"Someone is stealing medicine again!"

A cold look flashed in Jiang Yi's eyes, but he didn't rush over to check as he had yesterday. To avoid trouble, he pretended not to see and continued counting the Grass Ginseng.

"Ha ha, I thought who it was? Jiang Yi, it's you, the waste again?"

A moment later, a somewhat familiar voice came from the weeds, and a short, fat figure emerged, his face full of mockery.

"Jiang Bao!"

A flash of hatred appeared in Jiang Yi's eyes. He recognized this person, one of the side-branch family members who had stolen medicine and beaten him yesterday, and a notorious lackey of Jiang Ruhu. This guy probably thought he was still injured and wouldn't come to the mountain today, so he had come to steal more medicine out of greed?

Enemies meeting, eyes red with anger!

But Jiang Yi didn't dare to act, because although Jiang Bao had poor talent and no interest in cultivation, he had practiced for many years and had the strength of the second level of the Cauldron Formation Realm. Jiang Yi himself only had the strength of the first level of the Cauldron Formation Realm and was still injured from yesterday. If he acted rashly, he would likely lose again.

"Jiang Yi, if you know what's good for you, get off the mountain now. Don't say a word, and don't be a nuisance. Otherwise, if you ruin my good deed, I'll make you pay!" Jiang Yi didn't want to cause trouble, but Jiang Bao clearly had no intention of letting it go. His eyes were full of viciousness as he coldly stared at Jiang Yi.

His meaning was clear: with Jiang Yi here, he couldn't easily steal the medicine...

Learn from your mistakes!

Jiang Yi didn't want to meddle in other people's affairs, but if he didn't count the Grass Ginseng in the fields, he couldn't report back. His meager monthly allowance would be completely deducted, and Little Slave would have to work even harder outside...

So he stubbornly stood his ground, saying nothing.

"It seems I need to teach you a lesson, or your brain will never work properly!"

Jiang Bao's face darkened, a vicious look in his eyes. He roared and leaped up, his right fist surrounded by red spirit energy, like a meteor streaking through the sky, aiming for Jiang Yi's head.

"High-grade Human Rank martial technique, Meteor Fist? Jiang Bao, you..."

Jiang Yi quickly retreated, both angry and furious. He didn't expect Jiang Bao to start fighting again after just a few words, and to use such a powerful move! His injuries were not fully healed, and today would likely be even worse.

"Thud!"

The iron fist came through the air, and Jiang Yi, unprepared, only focused on dodging. He didn't notice the uneven ground and lost his balance, stepping into a hole. By the time he realized it, the fist was already right in front of his face.

In a panic, Jiang Yi quickly circulated all his primordial energy in his hands, crossing them to block, but he forgot that the thread of black primordial energy he had extracted from the nameless incantation yesterday was still stored in a small meridian in his left arm, not yet expelled. When he fully circulated the River Water Technique's primordial energy, he inadvertently circulated the black primordial energy as well.

"Ah? Bad! I'm going to have a mental breakdown..."

He suddenly realized and was almost terrified. At his current stage, different types of primordial energy could not be circulated simultaneously, or they would clash and cause chaos in his body, potentially bursting his meridians and blood vessels...

However...

The next moment, to his greater surprise, the black primordial energy from the nameless incantation and the blue water-based primordial energy from the River Water Technique collided but did not cause the chaos he expected. Instead, they perfectly merged, flowing freely in his meridians.

"Hmm... they actually merged?"

Jiang Yi blinked, feeling lucky, but with the fist so close, he didn't have time to think. He instinctively continued to circulate his primordial energy, twisted his body to dodge, and at the same time, blocked Jiang Bao's heavy punch with his hands.

"Bang!"

A heavy sound echoed, but it wasn't Jiang Bao hitting Jiang Yi. Instead, Jiang Bao's short and stout body flew backward several yards and landed heavily on the ground.

"Ah—"

A heart-wrenching scream echoed as Jiang Bao rolled on the ground. His right hand, which he had just punched, hung limply in a strange shape, as if... his elbow had been dislocated by the block from his left hand?

"This, this..."

Jiang Yi looked at his left hand in disbelief, recalling the strange events. After a while, he muttered in shock, "The black primordial energy, clearly not of the water type, actually perfectly merged with the River Water Technique's primordial energy? And the power after the fusion was so terrifying? I must have increased my strength by two or three times... otherwise, how could I have pushed Jiang Bao so far?"