Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Young Master, the Lu family chief is here.”
Three days later, Zhou Donghuang, who was practicing in the room, was awoken again by Fu, as Lu Qinghu had appeared.
“What’s the matter?” Zhou Donghuang sat cross-legged on the bed as he calmly asked Lu Qinghu, who had just entered the room.
“Young Master Donghuang.” Lu Qinghu bowed in greeting to Zhou Donghuang and said seriously, “I just received news… the Li family head lady is back.”
“So?” Zhou Donghuang was expressionless as if he was not concerned.
“The Li family head lady, Li Caiyun, did not come back alone… she came back together with her man.” As he said this, Lu Qinghu’s eyes were filled with fear. “Her man is Wu Nanxun, the first young master of the Wu family, the governor of the intermediate level Guangling county. The Wu governor’s household is a grand family, with many level-six adepts. Whenever Wu Nanxun leaves the house, there will be at least two level-five adepts following him.”
With that, Lu Qinghu breathed in deeply and looked at Zhou Donghuang as he said, “Young Master Donghuang, the second young master of the Li family that you killed is the brother of Li Caiyun. I fear that she will ask Wu Nanxun to avenge her brother and harm you.” Lu Qinghu revealed his worries.
“You hurried over here… just to tell me this?” Zhou Donghuang shook his head, thinking that Lu Qinghu was making a mountain out of a molehill.
“Young Master Donghuang, they are a grand family!” Seeing Zhou Donghuang not concerned at all, Lu Qinghu could not help but remind him.
In a grand family, there would be at least one level-six adept. In the Wu grand family, there were five level-six adepts and more than twenty level-five adepts. Even the governor’s household of the Wu family in Yunfeng county had just one level-five adept.
“If there is nothing else, please go back… don’t disturb my practice,” Zhou Donghuang said as he looked at Lu Qinghu impatiently before closing his eyes to continue his practice.
Three days ago, he had formulated a qi-gathering elixir that increased the sensitivity to qi by seventy percent. These three days, his progress had improved. Previously, using the qi-gathering elixir that heightened sensitivity to qi by sixty percent, he had taken around forty days to reach level-four from level-three, achieving that on March 10, 1228 of the Ziyun era.
It was now March 25, 1228 of the Ziyun era.
“Even with the qi-gathering elixir that increased senses by seven percent, I will still need at almost two months to reach level-five of the gathered Qi.” As he closed his eyes to begin his training again, Zhou Donghuang sighed quietly to himself. “Perhaps it is time to pay a visit to the royal city.”
The royal city was a large city second only to the imperial city. Not only was it prosperous, but there was a larger variety of herbs one could find there. Yunfeng county was on the western ridge of the Chu King, and the king’s household that controlled the ridge was the household of the Chu King.
Within the western ridge of the Chu King, the inferior counties, including Yunfeng county, and the intermediate and superior counties were all controlled by the Chu King household, which was in the royal city.
“Young Master Donghuang…” In the room, seeing Zhou Donghuang close his eyes and ignore him as he continued practicing, Lu Qinghu gave a bitter smile, but at the same time, his eyes shone exceptionally bright. The calmness that Young Master Donghuang showed had made him incredibly confident. “Looks like Young Master Donghuang does not fear the Wu family of the governor’s household of Guangling prefecture.”
This cleared all his worries as his face turned from worry to a smile. In the past, Zhou Donghuang had surprised Lu Qinghu on many occasions, such that Lu Qinghu had almost blind faith in Zhou Donghuang.
With that, Lu Qinghu left the room quietly and closed the door carefully after he left.
“Hm?” As Lu Qinghu was about to leave the Magnolia Guild, he saw Fu walking towards him. Beside him was an unfamiliar but cold face.
This young man in a black robe with a straw hat had a cold expression that seemed to repel people. The cold that dissipated from him made one’s hair stand on end.
“Chief Lu.” Seeing Lu Qinghu, Fu smiled at him.
“Fu, this is…?” Although Fu was just a servant for Zhou Donghuang, Lu Qinghu was still very courteous to him, as if he could not let his guard down. Previously, the first young master of the Ma family, Ma Jin, had been crippled by Zhou Donghuang because he had kicked Fu.
“This is Freezing Wind, Brother Freeze,” he introduced. “Brother Freeze, this is the chief of the preeminent Lu family.”
“Mm.” The man in black glanced at Lu Qinghu and nodded his head, then looked away.
This young man in black was none other than Freezing Wind, second commander of the Green Wolf Bastion. In January 1228 of the Ziyun era, Freezing Wind had left on a mission from Zhou Donghuang and had only returned the day before, two months later.
But on his return to Qingshan town, he found that his young master had gone to the capital. He then rode overnight to the capital on his ferghana horse. In Qingshan town, Freezing Wind had found out that his young master was now famous all over Yunfeng county. Even the governor of Yunfeng county had to be respectful when meeting him.
The return of Freezing Wind woke Zhou Donghuang up again, though he had just been immersed in his practice.
“Young Master.” In the room, Freezing Wind bowed to Zhou Donghuang as his cold face revealed a smile.
“How did it go?” asked Zhou Donghuang.
Two months ago, he had sent Freezing Wind out to look for some resolute orphans and choose some amongst them to nurture into adepts. For that reason, he had taught him the needlecraft “Nerve-Easing, Marrow-Cleansing Needle” that he had used on Freezing Wind previously.
Nerve-Easing, Marrow-Cleansing Needle was a craft that Zhou Donghuang had learned by accident on earth in his previous life. As long as the victim could withstand the excruciating pain during the process, he would be able to activate the extreme power in his body.
“Young Master, I found a total of three hundred orphans, of them, only 282 were willing after learning about the risks of the ‘Nerve-Easing, Marrow-Cleansing Needle.’ In the end, only three of them withstood the pain and successfully activated all the power in their bodies.”
As he said this, Freezing Wind paused as if he had something he wished to add.
“Speak,” said Zhou Donghuang as he saw Freezing Wind’s hesitance.
“Young Master.” Freezing Wind dropped to kneel on the ground. “According to your requests, among the orphans I found, all the rest were above twelve years old. But there was a small girl who is just nine years old. But this nine-year-old girl was able to withstand the pain that more than two hundred other teenagers couldn’t and successfully activated all the power in her body.”
“Did you take my words for granted?” Zhou Donghuang’s eyes flashed coldly as his voice immediately turned cold. “A nine-year-old girl suddenly utilizing all the power in her body? Her life has now been ruined by you!”
Back then, Zhou Donghuang had just two conditions for Freezing Wind: a willing orphan, and above twelve years old.
For anyone less than twelve years of age, the body would not be fully developed. And if all the body’s power was suddenly activated, that body would no longer be able to develop further, remaining in that shape till death. Someone like that would not be able to have an adult body unless they reached the level of the primordial spirit, and the primordial spirit leaves the physical body and takes over another adult body.
“Young Master,” said Freezing Wind as he smiled bitterly. “How could I dare to go against your orders… but that girl is different. I also took with me the other two orphans with her, but she insisted on coming with me, saying that if I did not, she would die before me. She smashed her head against a wall and would have died if I had not acted then. I saw that she was not even afraid of death, so I told her the consequences, but she said that she wanted revenge, even if it meant that she would remain in her nine-year-old body for the rest of her life! Later, the other two orphans with her could not withstand the excruciating pain from the Nerve-Easing, Marrow-Cleansing Needle, but she could.”
Freezing Wind paused before continuing, “Young Master, I taught her the Way of the Thousand-Star Sword and gave her a qi-gathering elixir that boosted her sensitivity to qi by sixty percent… In two short months, she has already reached level-two of the gathered Qi. Now, although her raw body power is only 250 to 300kg, using the techniques that she knows, her strength is not inferior to any level-three adept.”
For different people, utilizing the full raw power of the body yielded different amounts of strength. As a grown man with a strong body, Freezing Wind received an increase of more than 500kg of strength when he activated his full raw power. But for a nine-year-old girl, even if all the raw power in the body was activated, there was only a limited increase in strength.
“Not only could she withstand the Nerve-Easing, Marrow-Cleansing Needle, but she reached level-two of the gathered Qi in just two months?” Zhou Donghuang’s eyes narrowed. “Looks like she is not just determined but also has much talent.”
“Yesterday, the four of us reached Qingshan town together… Now, I rushed over first on the ferghana horses. They don’t have any horses, so they will only reach in two or three days.” Freezing Wind then took out a brocade box and handed it to Zhou Donghuang, “Young Master, this is a ‘thousand-year red fruit’ that I happened to find.”
“Thousand-year red fruit?” As Freezing Wind spoke, Zhou Donghuang’s eyes widened and shone brightly.
