Chapter 60

Jiang Yan, Jiang Su, Senior Disciple Zhao Hong, Wei He, and the newly promoted Zhang Lu were all present.

All of them stood quietly to one side, heads bowed, eyes fixed on the body in the center.

"Teacher, how did Xiao Ran die?" Zhao Hong asked in a low voice.

Zheng Fugui was silent for a moment, took a deep breath, and slowly said, "He was struck by an extremely powerful palm, which broke his arm. The second palm hit his chest, causing the chest cavity to collapse and pierce his heart and internal organs, leading to his death."

He paused.

"The attacker had very strong palm power, likely a Third Qi Blood expert. But this kind of palm power... I can't think of anyone in the city who specializes in such explosive palm techniques."

"Every Third Qi Blood expert is a renowned master. Would Wei He dare to harm my son? There's no enmity, no grudge! My son doesn't have the qualifications to provoke such a renowned master! What is going on here!? I ask you, Teacher Zheng, what is going on!?"

Xiao Ran's father, Xiao Zhongcheng, stood up and asked, word by word.

His words clearly implied that he blamed Zheng Fugui for attracting enemies, which led to his son's death.

It wasn't entirely his fault to think this way; even Zheng Fugui himself suspected the same.

To put it bluntly, although Xiao Ran had great potential, after failing to break through once, his potential declined, and he was killed by a poisonous hand. This wasn't just jealousy or envy; it was a targeted murder.

A Second Qi Blood expert like him couldn't provoke a Third Qi Blood veteran.

Zheng Fugui was speechless, unable to respond.

Fortunately, Xiao Ran's father still had some sense. He knew he was facing a Strength Practitioner, a top expert in the city, even stronger than a typical Third Qi Blood expert, so he didn't dare to overstep.

He was just angry, suppressing his rage, and carried his son's body away with two servants, slowly leaving the martial arts school.

In this chaotic world, even someone as strong as Xiao Ran couldn't guarantee his safety.

"..." Zheng Fugui stood silently in the courtyard, next to Xiao Ran's body, without a word, in silence.

He was also suppressing his anger, vowing to find the true culprit and avenge his beloved disciple!

But no matter how much he vowed, Xiao Ran could not be brought back to life.

The other disciples dispersed quietly, some practicing, some resting.

Jiang Su, standing to one side, looked at the spot where Xiao Ran had been, her thoughts complex.

The guy she once liked and hated was now dead, in the blink of an eye.

Such thoughts were hard to express.

Now, there was no one in the courtyard with the potential to break through to Third Qi Blood.

As for herself, she knew that by giving all her exotic beast meat to Wei He, she had already given up hope of breaking through.

She had noticed that her qi and blood were recovering more slowly, indicating that her body was not healing well after damage.

With such potential, it was too difficult to aim for Third Qi Blood.

As for Zhang Lu, it would take a long time to reach perfection, and whether he would suffer the same fate as Xiao Ran was still unknown.

The situation was getting more difficult, and whether Huishan Martial Arts School could wait for Zhang Lu to grow was also uncertain.

She looked up at Wei He. Wei He had also been threatened and blocked by Xiao Ran, and they had a grudge.

But at this moment, Wei He's expression was no different from the other disciples, seemingly without much emotion, no hate, no joy, just a faint complexity and sadness.

It seemed he was lamenting and grieving over Xiao Ran's death.

Jiang Su wanted to say something but thought better of it, turned around, and returned to her position, continuing to grind her skin and condensing new Nine Dawn Flowers.

After her breakthrough, one of her Nine Dawn Flowers had disappeared, and she had to recondense it. Although she didn't have much hope, reaching qi and blood perfection could enhance her combat skills, which was the best guarantee in this increasingly chaotic environment.

Wei He didn't delay either, going to his position and starting to condense Nine Dawn Flowers. Now that he didn't need to save Breakthrough Pearls, he could freely use his qi and blood, finally continuing his Huishan Fist practice.

Ouyang Zhuang sighed beside him, looking as if he had lost his father.

"What's wrong?" Wei He asked.

"Nothing, just lost an old customer, so it will be harder to make money in the future..." Ouyang Zhuang said helplessly.

"Old customer?"

"Yes, the paintings I drew... uh... can't say, can't say." The kid quickly shut up, almost letting it slip.

Wei He instantly thought of the erotic paintings, feeling speechless.

"Practice, don't delay."

"Uh, yes!" Ouyang Zhuang quickly started heating his sand pot, but after a while, he looked up again.

"Brother Wei, can I leave a bit early?"

"What for?"

"A junior disciple is leaving and invited everyone to gather for a meal before he goes." Ouyang Zhuang said somewhat gloomily.

"Go ahead."

"Okay..." Ouyang Zhuang nodded.

Wei He said nothing, carefully started grinding his skin, and condensing Nine Dawn Flowers.

The quality of Third Qi Blood was clearly much higher than Second Qi Blood. He continuously punched the hot iron sand, which ground his skin, and each time he finished practicing and put his hands in the medicinal basin, he could feel qi and blood continuously condensing in his arms.

The position of each person's Nine Dawn Flowers was different. For Cheng Shaoju, it was on his back. Jiang Su's was unseen, but Senior Disciple Zhao Hong's was on his chest.

Wei He's were on the upper sides of his arms.

The high-quality qi and blood, the ultra-fast recovery ability, and the feeling of his body becoming more transparent after breaking through to Third Qi Blood, with qi and blood flowing much faster and with fewer obstructions, made him feel that he could clearly sense the progress of the Nine Dawn Flowers condensing.

Slowly, firmly, and unstoppable.

He practiced until the afternoon, feeling his right arm's upper side burning, as if something was condensing, but when he lifted it to look, he saw nothing.

Teacher Zheng went out in the afternoon, but when he returned near the end, his face was grim, looking unhappy.

After finishing his practice, Wei He was about to leave when a junior disciple called him into the inner room.

Teacher Zheng had summoned him.

Teacher Zheng instructed all the inner courtyard disciples to stay together as much as possible, not to travel alone, and to avoid going out at night, emphasizing safety.

There were no extra words, but Wei He sensed that something was about to happen.

After returning, for several days, Huishan Martial Arts School seemed as if nothing had happened.

Except that Teacher Zheng seemed a bit older, everything else remained the same.

Fortunately, there was the newly promoted Zhang Lu, a genius not inferior to Xiao Ran, giving Teacher Zheng new hope.

Wei He, however, was not paying attention to these things. Now that he had broken through to Third Qi Blood and returned to practicing Huishan Fist, his qi and blood condensation speed far exceeded before.

In just four days, he condensed the second Nine Dawn Flower. The difficulty of each Nine Dawn Flower increased, requiring more qi and blood to condense.

But he could easily and quickly reach the second one, proving that his previous approach was entirely feasible.

First evil, then righteous, combining the unusual and the orthodox!

Not only that, but in his free time, Wei He also began practicing the Flying Dragon Technique. This leg technique, under his powerful qi and blood supply, rapidly broke through levels.

In about ten days, he reached the second level.

The Flying Dragon Technique required condensing blood-colored dragon patterns on the legs, similar to the Nine Dawn Flowers, with each dragon pattern marking a level.

This technique was extremely difficult, requiring high qualifications and mental fortitude. If a breakthrough failed, qi and blood would backlash, piercing the heart, making it highly dangerous.

The technique had six levels, each corresponding to a different speed: step, walk, run, cross, leap, fly.

In total, six levels, each representing a different realm of speed.

This technique, at its highest, was for Third Qi Blood, but it was an extremely rare leg technique.

As Old Master Zheng said, all leg techniques that could channel strength were extremely precious.

Because a truly powerful leg technique could both attack and defend, naturally placing one in an invincible position. It was swift, allowing for quick support and retreat from the battlefield.

Wei He was thus very interested in the Flying Dragon Technique. With Third Qi Blood, he easily broke through two levels, significantly increasing his speed, but it slowed down after that.

Although he still progressed steadily without obstacles, the speed slowed considerably.

This made him increasingly wary of other Third Qi Blood experts.

It seemed that the older Third Qi Blood experts spent a lot of time and qi and blood practicing a second, or even a third, martial art.

This way, considering the twenty-year lifespan extension of Third Qi Blood experts, the gap between them and Second Qi Blood experts was enormous.

No one knew how many techniques these experts had practiced. The older they got, the stronger they might become.

Ordinary qi and blood boiling could only enhance physical attributes and reaction speed. But condensing qi and blood into martial arts was a different story.

After all, the body could only store so much qi and blood each day.

But different techniques were different. Once condensed, they required very little qi and blood to maintain.

Theoretically, the number of techniques one could condense was unlimited.

After two levels of the Flying Dragon Technique, about a month later, Wei He finally, without any obstacles, completed the condensation of all Nine Dawn Flowers, reaching the peak of Iron Skin.

Teacher Zheng hadn't checked his cultivation recently, as he seemed busy with other matters, often leaving early and returning late, and other martial artists frequently visited, seemingly discussing or preparing something.

Wei He didn't rush to show his cultivation. His condensation speed was too fast, and if he had only one Nine Dawn Flower a few months ago and now had all nine, it would be too abnormal.

So, he decided to wait a bit longer before revealing it. He also planned to practice the Flying Dragon Technique, which could increase endurance and speed, clearly stronger than Huishan Fist and Five Ridges Palm, making it a core technique.

Completing the Nine Dawn Flowers meant reaching Iron Skin, and Huishan Fist had reached its peak.

Next, he would explore channeling strength.

Reaching Third Qi Blood naturally involved initial strength, but this wasn't channeling strength. Only when strength was spread throughout the body, making one impervious to ordinary weapons, was it true channeling strength.

But that was the next realm. Wei He couldn't wait that long. Now that he had reached Third Qi Blood, he needed to quickly investigate his parents and elder sister.

It was time to return to Shaoyang Mountain...