Chapter 41

"Junior Sister, what has happened? Why do you look so worried?"

Gongsun Chenxing thought it might be another upheaval in Xizhou, which had made the kind-hearted Nalan Ruyue extremely anxious, and her hatred for Bai Chen had deepened even more.

Mei Jiangxue, seeing Nalan Ruyue's extremely exhausted expression, asked with concern, "You've been traveling all day, haven't you? Why don't you rest for a day? It's fine to return a bit later."

Nalan Ruyue's eyes sparkled with unshed tears, but she hesitated to speak. After a long while, she muttered, "I'm tired..."

With that, she turned and went straight to her room without looking back.

Mei Jiangxue and Gongsun Chenxing exchanged glances, puzzled by the usually lively Nalan Ruyue's current state of confusion.

"It's all that little thief's fault!" Gongsun Chenxing gritted her teeth and said angrily.

"Chenxing, although that boy is immoral, it was wrong of you to use the Hundred Flowers Burial on him. Now he harbors resentment towards our sect. If his master finds out, there will likely be more conflict."

"Master, to let that little thief off like this, I can't bear it!" Gongsun Chenxing felt a surge of anger whenever she thought of Bai Chen.

"Enough, enough. As the young patriarch of the Nishang lineage, I only need you to understand what is right and what is wrong."

Mei Jiangxue did not overly criticize her disciple but showed a bit of indulgence and affection.

However, the song "Jiangchengzi" echoed in her ears, causing a slight waver in her heart, but she quickly dismissed it.

Her disciple might have gone too far, but that boy was not a good person either.

As long as Gongsun Chenxing could live with herself, Mei Jiangxue would not question her choices.

Bai Chen's current mood was extremely complex. On one hand, the Hundred Flowers Burial had brought him endless pain, but it also brought him great gains.

Soon, his true qi cultivation broke through to the Eighth Rank of the Postnatal stage, and the rate of growth slowed down.

After breaking through to the Eighth Rank of the Postnatal stage, the化解 speed of the Hanging Pot Technique became even more effective.

In just a few moments, the Hanging Pot Technique's化解 speed had completely suppressed the damage caused by the Hundred Flowers Burial. The amount of evil qi produced by each meridian and acupoint was minimal, and although it was still slowly increasing, it was no longer as explosive as before.

Especially the true qi demand limit at the Eighth Rank of the Postnatal stage had nearly tripled.

The number 35020/100000 seemed astronomical to Bai Chen.

The Hundred Flowers Burial, which struck fear into the hearts of martial artists, had only brought him brief pain. The joy of his true qi's rapid growth had temporarily overshadowed his anger.

Especially his feelings towards Mei Jiangxue were confusing.

On one hand, he asked himself if he was truly attracted to the woman who was ten years older than him, and on the other hand, he felt resentment towards Mei Jiangxue and her disciple.

The idea of retaliating against Seven Virtues had not faded, but if Mei Jiangxue was the first to stand in his way, what would he do?

Bai Chen was absolutely clueless about emotions, and his heart was even more restless under this mix of love and hate.

"Kid, it turns out you like it rough," Jiesha's voice always appeared in Bai Chen's mind at the most inappropriate times.

With a hint of teasing or perhaps a question, it was clear that the old monk's curiosity was burning.

"Old monk, what about the boxing technique you promised me? Why haven't you given it to me yet?"

Bai Chen clearly remembered the old debt. When he fought Yin Wqing, Jiesha had said that killing Yin Wqing would clear their debt and also give him a boxing technique.

But to this day, he still hadn't seen Jiesha's boxing technique, and he found the deliberate delay contemptible.

"Didn't I say that even if I gave it to you now, you couldn't use it? If you think I can satisfy you by just giving you a martial arts manual, I can do that right now."

Each time, Jiesha used the same excuse to evade Bai Chen. Bai Chen, feeling frustrated, asked, "Then when will it be?"

"First, your merit points must exceed one million, so you can open the second floor of the scripture hall and gain the right to access middle-level and above manuals. Second, your cultivation must reach the Pre-natal stage, so you have the capital to use middle-level and above martial arts manuals," Jiesha said calmly.

"But my Iron Shirt is already a middle-level martial art, why can I use it freely?"

"Because the Iron Shirt doesn't consume your internal energy, it only consumes your blood and qi. As long as you have enough stamina, you can use it for as long as you want. The Fire-Branded Iron Shirt is a personal evolution, unique to you. Because the method is the same as the Iron Shirt, it's a resonance between your body and the Iron Shirt method. No one else in the world can have it, even if you give the Iron Shirt manual to someone else, they can't cultivate the Fire-Branded Iron Shirt. This is your personal fortune."

"Can every martial art evolve?"

"Evolution is just a way to understand it. In the martial world, it's called transformation, like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. The possibility of transformation is almost zero, so many martial artists don't even know about it. As for whether every martial art can transform, no one can say for sure. There are too few cases to study. The benefits of transformation are clear, but it could also transform in a bad way."

"Bad? How bad?" Bai Chen asked curiously.

"This... you don't need to know. Do you think you have the fortune to transform a second time?"

"Can a martial art that has transformed once, like the Fire-Branded Iron Shirt, transform a second time?"

"Yes!" Jiesha gave a definite answer. "But the probability is very low."

Bai Chen grinned, "Have you heard of Schrödinger's cat?"

"Idealism."

"I've experienced something as absurd as time travel, which is more likely than a second transformation."

"I think one of your conditions will be met soon."

"You mean reaching the Pre-natal stage?" Bai Chen couldn't help but feel proud. He was at least a skilled martial artist now.

But Jiesha was unimpressed, "Do you think the Pre-natal stage is so easy to break through? Even if your true qi cultivation reaches the peak of the Ninth Rank of the Postnatal stage, if you don't open the Ren and Du meridians, it's all for nothing."

"That's easy. I know of at least five elixirs that can help break through to the Pre-natal stage."

"Breaking through with external help is just a fleeting moment. When you face a real bottleneck in the future, will you rely on elixirs?"

"Are you thinking too far ahead? I'm just a rookie at the Eighth Rank of the Postnatal stage. Why worry about the future so much?"

"You're right. Why should I care? Anyway, with your mindset, you'll never catch that woman. The gap between you and her is like a toad and a swan, unattainable."

Bai Chen was furious, "Bullshit! When I catch her, you better not hide in the corner and watch!"

"Ha... I'm not trying to discourage you, but even standing on equal footing with her is impossible."

"In terms of martial insight, I'm not as good as you, but in terms of romantic relationships, do you, a monk, have the right to discuss it with me?"

"Before I became a monk, I had thirteen wives and concubines, all famous heroines in the martial world. Each of them was in love with me. What about you? Need I say more? In three years of college, you pursued four girls, and none of them succeeded. The closest you got was holding that goddess's hand, and then she told you, 'I'm sorry, I don't deserve you.'"

Bai Chen was almost in tears, "You've said it."

Bai Chen knew he was a failure, but he didn't expect Jiesha to be so blunt.

In fact, he was thinking why his ideal goddess lacked confidence and felt she didn't deserve him.

"But I'm not the same person I was before."

"You're still you. Even in the martial world, you're just a nobody. Do you know who that woman is? How much do you know about her strength? Her future is far beyond your reach."

"You act like you know her so well."

Jiesha grunted twice and didn't respond, but his attitude suggested he indeed knew Mei Jiangxue well.

After a few moments, the cellar door opened again. Gongsun Chenxing first poked her head in, then slowly descended the stairs.

Seeing Bai Chen lying on the ground, she smiled, "How is the Hundred Flowers Burial? Not so pleasant, is it?"

Bai Chen was still weak, his face pale. He looked at Gongsun Chenxing with a weak gaze, "If you hope to see me beg for mercy, I think you'll be disappointed."

After a few words, Bai Chen was panting and his limbs occasionally twitched.

Gongsun Chenxing's face was cold. She had come to gloat.

She had expected Bai Chen to be unable to bear the pain and beg for mercy as soon as he saw her.

Unfortunately, Bai Chen's stubbornness was something she had never seen before. His invasive and mocking gaze almost drove her mad.

This put her in a dilemma. She had originally come to release the Hundred Flowers Burial. Although it wasn't fatal, the consequences of leaving it untreated for a long time were severe.

But Bai Chen's stubbornness made her unwilling to back down. If she released the Hundred Flowers Burial, it would mean she had admitted defeat.

After all, she had boasted that no one could last for three moments.

As a disciple of Seven Virtues and one of the few who had learned the forbidden technique, Gongsun Chenxing understood the terror of the Hundred Flowers Burial better than those who had only heard of it.

"Do you want to die?" Gongsun Chenxing was almost driven mad. All she wanted was for Bai Chen to admit defeat.

"With your half-baked skills, do you think you can kill me?" Although Bai Chen was weak, he mocked Gongsun Chenxing without mercy.