Chapter 46

Xiao Ran's face was calm, with a hint of determination in his eyes.

This setback had made him see many things clearly and understand much more.

"You're back, that's good." Master Zheng's expression was a mix of relief and immense joy.

Xiao Ran's gaze swept over his fellow disciples present.

Jiang Su, who was nearby, wore a look of delight, clearly genuinely happy for him.

Not far away, Cheng Shaoju, who had just entered, looked bewildered, seemingly unaware of what had happened.

Further away, the eldest disciple, Zhao Hong, stood at the edge of the crowd, his expression calm. When he noticed Xiao Ran looking at him, Zhao Hong nodded slightly in greeting.

On the other side, Wei He, who had broken through after him, also wore a calm expression, seemingly unmoved by whether Xiao Ran recovered or not.

Xiao Ran retracted his gaze and focused on Master Zheng.

"Teacher, I'm back!"

"This time, I won't lose again!"

His words seemed to carry a deeper meaning.

"Good, good!!" Master Zheng's voice trembled with joy and relief as he patted Xiao Ran's shoulder.

Xiao Ran's return had rejuvenated the Huishan Boxing Academy, or rather, it had rejuvenated Master Zheng, the martial arts teacher.

He resumed his regular routine, his demeanor once again lazy yet hopeful and composed.

His focus also shifted back to Xiao Ran from Wei He.

Fortunately, Master Zheng did not cut off the supply of Red Earth Fish to Wei He because of Xiao Ran's recovery.

Instead, he took on the responsibility of providing both of them with blood and qi nourishment.

Wei He did not feel any psychological burden because of Xiao Ran's resurgence and the loss of attention.

On the contrary, he felt much more relaxed, no longer under the intense scrutiny of Master Zheng, and had more free time.

In the days that followed, he frequently traveled to the surrounding mountains and forests of Feiye City, familiarizing himself with the terrain and hunting constantly.

Most of the time, he could only catch a few wild animals in a week, and if he relied solely on hunting, he would have starved long ago.

But Wei He's purpose was to hone his skills and survival abilities in the wild.

During this period, he encountered bandits multiple times, but he easily dealt with them.

The strongest among the bandits was a twice-broken qi expert, who seemed to have broken through using some trick. Although his total qi was at the second breakthrough level, he was far inferior to Wei He and was beaten to death in a fist fight.

He also faced various ranged attacks like flying stones, arrows, and throwing knives, but his superhuman reaction speed allowed him to dodge them all.

Occasionally, he would meet other hunters and would exchange ordinary game for their knowledge and experience.

Gradually, Wei He found a hidden cave in the mountains and set it up as his second base.

The cave was originally a bear den, but it seemed to have been abandoned for a long time.

After discovering it, Wei He set it up as a hidden temporary base.

He named the cave "Tianranju," in memory of the neighborhood he lived in in his previous life.

Two months passed quickly.

Wei He's breakthrough pearl had progressed past the halfway mark, and his qi had officially condensed into one-ninth of a Nine Dawn Flower.

This slow progress was disheartening, not just for Wei He but also for Master Zheng, who finally shifted his focus entirely to Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran, having fully recovered from his severe injuries, had not only restored his lost qi but had also reached the level of eight Nine Dawn Flowers, the same as before his injury.

This time, Xiao Ran was preparing to break through to the third qi level, the Iron Skin realm.

On the other side, perhaps because his qi foundation was already at the second breakthrough level, Wei He's progress in the Five Ridge Palm was quite rapid. He could naturally break through the realms before the second qi level without refinement.

In two months, he had practiced up to the third realm of the Five Ridge Palm.

The Five Ridge Palm has five realms: Clear Mountain Ridge, River Mountain Ridge, Cloud Mountain Ridge, White Mountain Ridge, and Mist Mountain Ridge.

Each realm corresponds to one qi refinement.

Wei He had already broken through to the third realm, the Cloud Mountain Ridge level.

His palms, based on the Huishan Fist, had become slightly harder and more solid.

However, he was disappointed that this improvement was not significant.

Moreover, this dual cultivation had greatly slowed his progress in condensing the Nine Dawn Flowers for the Huishan Fist.

It was no wonder that few people practiced dual cultivation, as the benefits were minimal and it was extremely wasteful of qi and time, making it a poor trade-off.

But this training had given him a key insight.

In the Wei family courtyard.

In front of a large bluestone that several people could barely encircle.

Wei He wore only a gray tight-fitting tank top, which he had asked his second sister to modify for him.

It could absorb sweat, was easy to wash, and could cover the breakthrough pearl pattern on his chest.

Wei He, now about 1.85 meters tall, had grown a bit more.

At nineteen, he had gained a touch of maturity, and his demeanor had become more composed and solemn.

Standing in front of the bluestone, he raised his hands.

"The Five Ridge Palm's techniques are untaught, so they are of little use. However, its cultivation method has its merits.

As long as I can break through to the fourth realm, I will successfully reach the third qi level.

With the third qi level, I can practice the Huishan Fist more efficiently!"

Wei He realized that using higher-level qi to practice the Five Ridge Palm allowed him to break through more easily.

Therefore, if he could use the Five Ridge Palm to break through to the third qi level and then return to practicing the Huishan Fist, he could save a lot of effort.

"For others, this method would be an impossible task and might even hinder their cultivation.

But I have the breakthrough pearl, and its progress is faster than qi accumulation. Most importantly, the Five Ridge Palm seems to be more of a shortcut, with each realm requiring less qi accumulation, though it might be weaker in power, it takes less time.

This way, I can use the Five Ridge Palm to quickly reach the threshold, break through with the breakthrough pearl, and then return to practicing the Huishan Fist!"

Wei He had calculated this repeatedly.

This method could only be used by him.

In simple terms, the Five Ridge Palm's cultivation speed is faster, so he would use it to reach the third qi level.

Then, he would return to practicing the Huishan Fist.

If others tried this, they would likely waste their cultivation and potential.

After all, time is limited, and the older one gets, the less potential they have. Wasting time in the early stages is not worth it.

But he was different.

Perhaps many techniques that require less qi have their difficulties concentrated at the breakthrough points.

Different techniques have different difficulties.

For example, the Huishan Fist's third breakthrough is difficult due to the slow qi accumulation. Therefore, the key to practicing the Huishan Fist lies in the speed of qi accumulation.

The Five Ridge Palm, on the other hand, is difficult at the breakthrough points.

This is the difference between techniques.

But once one breaks through to the third qi level, the quality of the qi is the same, though the quantity may vary depending on the technique.

This is a secret Master Zheng had explained to Wei He long ago—many techniques are about breaking through the physical body, nothing more.

Wei He was not afraid of the difficulties at the breakthrough points.

He was afraid that the Huishan Fist could not even reach the threshold, let alone break through with the breakthrough pearl.

Therefore, how to quickly reach the threshold and the critical point of the technique was the key to his thinking.

Standing in front of the bluestone, Wei He slowly raised his hands.

He struck the stone with lightning speed.

His hands rained down on the stone surface, creating a series of palm prints.

Stone powder flew, and the bluestone remained unmoved, but the surface was covered with palm prints.

Gradually, as the palm prints deepened, Wei He began to sweat, and steam rose from his hair.

His qi and blood circulated rapidly, gathering in his palms according to the Five Ridge Palm technique.

With each strike, the qi and blood rushed to his palms, and the shock from hitting the stone repeatedly tempered his skin, muscles, and bones.

Unconsciously, his palms turned dark red, and his skin became increasingly tough under the qi and blood.

After about an hour...

Wei He's movements slowed, and he gradually stopped, gently pulling back his hands.

He stood still.

The sweat on his head evaporated, forming a faint white mist.

After a moment, he suddenly opened his eyes.

"Success!"

Since discovering that his progress in the Huishan Fist was extremely slow, Wei He knew that his talent was insufficient to support the progress. In desperation, he had to place his hopes elsewhere.

Now, he planned to truly test whether using other techniques to break through and then returning to practice the Huishan Fist was feasible.

If it was, he might have to start collecting evil and demonic techniques in the future.

These techniques progress very quickly but are extremely dangerous to break through and can cause significant damage to the body.

But with the breakthrough pearl...

Wei He suddenly sighed.

It seemed that the most suitable path for him was not orthodox martial arts but evil and demonic techniques...

Master Zheng had told him about many such techniques, which progress very quickly but become increasingly dangerous to break through as one advances.

The later stages are even harder to break through.

Wasn't this exactly what his breakthrough pearl was suited for?

Wei He shook his head, dispelling the thought, and carefully felt the Five Ridge Palm at the qi threshold.

The qi requirements for the Five Ridge Palm were much lower than those for the Huishan Fist. With his current qi accumulation, he was far from the Huishan Fist's perfection requirements but had reached the Five Ridge Palm's perfection requirements.

So...

"Let's wait for the breakthrough pearl."

Wei He touched his chest and pulled open his collar to look.

The breakthrough pearl was more than halfway through.

"It's almost there. If I stop practicing the Huishan Fist and don't consume qi to condense the Nine Dawn Flowers, and instead use all of it to accumulate the breakthrough pearl... it would definitely be much faster."

Wei He estimated.

Thinking of this, he acted immediately.

He returned to his room, filled a wooden basin with water, and began to wash himself.

...

...

...

As the sun set.

At the eastern gate of Feiye City.

A bloodstained team of escort guards, with a damaged escort cart and two limping horses, slowly entered the outer city, heading towards the Stone Bridge District.

The guards were dazed, their bodies wrapped in bandages, and some were even missing limbs.

The leader, Wang Biao, looked haggard, his lips pale and bloodless.

He had barely made it back.

Seeing that they had finally entered the city, Wang Biao could no longer hold on. His knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Wang Biao!"

"Boss! What's wrong!?"

"Quick, get some water!"

The surrounding guards were shocked and rushed forward.

Soon, the news reached the head of the Yonghe Escort Agency, Cheng Zheng, who hurriedly arrived with a group of guards and quickly took the injured away.

However, many onlookers had witnessed the scene.

The outer city, though dilapidated, was home to many poor people struggling to survive.

They made a living through manual labor, odd jobs, and farming outside the city.

The grain they earned, after paying the head tax, barely sufficed to get by.

Seeing the well-known Yonghe Escort Agency in trouble, many thought of selling the news for a reward.

The Yonghe Escort Agency had many rivals, and this first-hand information, if delivered in time, could earn them some grain.

It was said that the cargo the Yonghe Escort Agency was protecting was of great value. Losing this escort could be dangerous for the already troubled agency.