Qi Sensation

A few streets south of Fukang Ward lay Tai'an Ward, the market district closest to the South City Gate.

Because it was near the city gate, the flow of people was immense, and all manner of fish and dragons were mixed together in its streets. Ordinary folk were generally unwilling to live here. Shops and inns lined both sides of the roads, while farther in stood shantytowns where the poor gathered, a place long plagued by filth and disorder.

Yet deep within stood a grand estate occupying one corner of the ward, quite imposing. Its frontage was not especially ostentatious—merely two ebony doors with the words "Hong Residence" hanging above them. Few people came or went, making it look like the inconspicuous private home of some wealthy household.

Only those with some standing in the southern city knew that this was the true center of power for the entire southern district. For this Hong Residence was the unassuming headquarters of the Dragon Tooth Gang.

Whether the southern city was orderly or chaotic depended on Hong the First.

If traveling merchants from elsewhere wished to make their fortunes here, they had to come pay their respects at this dock. And no matter how immensely wealthy they were, they could only enter through the side gate. No one had ever entered Hong Residence through its front gate.

As for Dragon Tooth Gang members, they usually came and went through the back gate.

That day, an inconspicuous middle-aged peddler entered the back gate of Hong Residence carrying a shoulder pole. Once he reached the covered corridor in the courtyard, he tossed down his load and hurried along the broad flagstone path to a side hall.

The plaque above its entrance bore the words "Leopard Hall."

"Hall Master, it failed again!" the peddler shouted as soon as he crossed the threshold.

In the seat of honor sat a scholar in a Confucian robe and cap, around forty years old, with two thin mustaches drooping into the shape of the character eight. He looked refined and courteous, yet there was a sinister cast to his eyes. One glance from him made people feel distinctly uneasy.

This man was Bai Zhishen, master of the Dragon Tooth Gang's Leopard Hall.

He looked over calmly. "What happened? Take your time."

"The men we sent to stir up trouble had already succeeded, and the Imperial Capital Guards from the South City General Office arrived as well. Before they could intervene, several Imperial Capital Guards from the Fukang Ward station came charging out midway. In just a few words, they exposed their tricks and arrested them. The General Office men tried to stop them, and the two sides even fought! The men we found were beaten off, and those troublemakers were taken away too," the peddler recounted.

From his account, he had clearly witnessed the entire affair from nearby.

"Fukang Ward station again." Bai Zhishen frowned slightly.

"That's right. And the one who made the arrests this time was the same person who solved the arson case last time! It was that subordinate guard both times!" said the peddler.

"That subordinate guard..." Bai Zhishen gently blew on the tea in his cup, the light in his eyes flickering in and out.

The scheme of using ice-sealing phosphorus powder for arson last time had been his idea. He had been quite pleased with himself, thinking that by the time that bunch of useless Imperial Capital Guards solved the case, the merchants of Linmen Street would have long since been driven away.

Yet it had been solved in only a few days.

The one who solved it had been a subordinate guard, and this time, it was him again.

"The gang leader has been in a poor mood lately. News of the Heaven-Piercing Tower is almost impossible to keep under wraps, and if we still fail to take Linmen Street, it may not end up in our hands." Bai Zhishen murmured, "When that time comes, Leopard Hall will surely be punished for failing in its duties."

"Recently, a Ministry of Works director was assassinated, and the culprit has yet to be caught. The Ministry of Works is about to undergo a thorough investigation. If the Lu family does not step in, Zou Fang of the Imperial Capital Guard certainly will not do us any favors at a time like this."

"..."

"Though I do not particularly wish to touch someone on the official side, a mere subordinate guard has ruined our plans time and again. We must act. Find out where that subordinate guard lives. Go to Tiger Hall and call a few brothers with dark hands and unfamiliar faces. Have them lie in wait outside his home. The moment he returns tomorrow, go over and break his arms and legs, then throw him into the river beyond the city. Give him a small lesson."

"Yes!" The peddler clasped his fist and accepted the order before leaving.

The Dragon Tooth Gang had four halls: Tiger, Leopard, Eagle, and Bear. Eagle Hall was responsible for gathering intelligence, Leopard Hall for secretly causing trouble, Bear Hall for forging connections high and low, and Tiger Hall for striking head-on.

Only through the concerted efforts of these four halls had such a massive power been built. How could the Dragon Tooth Gang, a colossal beast in the southern city, allow a tiny pebble to chafe its foot?

Bai Zhishen took a sip of tea and set down his cup.

Then, gazing into the distance beyond the doorway, he said faintly, "At such a young age, he needs to learn who he can provoke, and who he cannot."

"I've made some enemies lately. You all need to be more careful in your daily lives."

After returning home, Liang Yue secretly called his younger brother and sister together for another meeting and warned them.

Because of Linmen Street, he had become enemies with both the Dragon Tooth Gang and Zou Huainan. He did not know whether they would retaliate. Powers from both the underworld and the official world were enough to make anyone wary.

He spent most of his time at the station, and with his strength growing rapidly lately, he was not too worried about his own safety. What concerned Liang Yue was that they might cast aside all scruples and target his family.

"Try not to go anywhere alone. If strangers ask you to go somewhere, never agree. If danger arises at home, quickly ask the neighbors on either side for help..." He instructed them on various precautions.

"Don't worry, Big Brother." Liang Xiaoyun smiled gently. "The two of us can protect ourselves and Mother. You can just focus on your own work."

"That's right!" Liang Peng nodded heavily as well.

"Heh." Liang Yue smiled too. His younger brother and sister were indeed clever enough to put him at ease. Turning to Liang Peng, he asked, "Didn't you go see a physician? How did it go?"

"Mm..." Liang Peng paused, then suddenly smiled as well. "The physician said I had no illness at all. He invited a Qi Refiner with cultivation to examine me and confirmed that I had developed Qi Sensation."

"Qi Sensation?" Liang Yue and Liang Xiaoyun exclaimed in delighted surprise at the same time.

"It was probably from that fight with Zhen Xiaohao. It was one of the rare times I truly exerted myself, and it instead opened my Qi Channels." Liang Peng said, "That Qi Refiner said my Qi Sensation was not weak and my meridians were broad. Not only do I have a talent for Qi refinement, it is quite exceptional."

"That's wonderful." Liang Xiaoyun smiled. "Our family is going to produce a Qi Refiner."

Developing Qi Sensation meant that one's Qi Channels had been opened, allowing one to communicate with heaven and earth—this was the foundation of a Qi Refiner's cultivation.

Ordinary people could not sense the spiritual qi between heaven and earth through breathing. Once Qi Sensation developed, every breath could draw in spiritual qi. That was likely why Liang Peng had felt dizzy before.

This spiritual breath was too pure—it went straight to the head!

Qi Refiners were so scarce in the world because those who could develop Qi Sensation were one in ten thousand.

"The road of cultivation is difficult. I don't know how far I can go." Liang Peng was exceedingly calm, completely unlike other youths who had opened their Qi Sensation and become wild with joy.

"You have always been intelligent. Once you become a Qi Refiner, your comprehension will surely surpass others as well." Liang Xiaoyun encouraged him. "You can start preparing now to test into the Sword Dao Academy."

"If your talent is sufficient, entering a Mystic Sect would be good too," Liang Yue said. "Become a Mystic Sect cultivator living secluded beyond the world—Cloud Top Immortal Mountain, high above all!"

The Sword Dao Academy was the sacred ground of Confucian Qi Refiners, filled with Confucian Cultivators who pursued cultivation and scholarship with both hands.

The Mystic Sect Eight Veins were the orthodox lineage of Daoist Qi Refiners, the oldest inheritance in the world.

Among the so-called Qi Refiners of the Three Sects, aside from the Buddhist Zen sect for those who wished to become monks, the two paths before Liang Peng were Confucianism and Daoism.

There was, of course, also the legendary Devil Sect, but Liang Peng naturally would not consider that.

It was said that Devil Sect cultivators used bones, blood, and living creatures as sacrifices to refine their cultivation. They most longed for chaos under heaven, for whenever the world was in turmoil, the Devil Sect flourished, and whenever it was prosperous, the Devil Sect perished. The Yin Dynasty was presently in an age of prosperity, and a century ago, Demon Lord East Peak Mountain had been shattered by Master Chen Yandao of the Xuan Palm. Demon Cultivators could now be said to have vanished without a trace; perhaps many people did not even know they existed.

Of the Confucian and Daoist options, the Sword Dao Academy required not only talent for Qi refinement, but also a mind for reading and scholarship—something Liang Peng absolutely did not lack. The Daoist Mystic Sect Eight Veins, on the other hand, were far purer in their standards, looking only at talent. Even being slightly lacking meant one could not enter.

From the perspective of cultivation, Mystic Sect cultivators clearly held higher status, because the Mystic Sect's Immortal Realm practitioners had almost never ceased throughout the generations. This was something the Confucian Cultivator lineage could not remotely compare to.

"No." Liang Peng's tone was utterly firm. He had evidently made up his mind long ago. "I want to test into the Sword Dao Academy, then still take the Imperial Examination and enter the court as an official... that is what it truly means to stand high above all."