Although that was so, Li Cunxiao still listened with rapt attention as Zhang Yuelu explained her insights into breaking through.
One could never be too prepared. He would not grow careless just because he possessed a treasure.
After giving him some more guidance, Zhang Lishi looked at his daughter only after Li Cunxiao had left the study.
"How was it?"
Zhang Yuelu sighed. "Only today did I learn how difficult things have been for Father."
"The various families in the city all harbor their own schemes, while the senior brothers within the sect all have their own calculations. The escort agency may look imposing, but its balance is delicate. A single move affects the whole body."
"And yet, we cannot do without these people. Father, when will Eldest Senior Brother return?"
"Before the Autumn Hunt. Though he can no longer be considered young, he must still show his face when the younger generation clashes."
Zhang Lishi stroked his beard with his right hand and suddenly asked:
"What do you think of Ye Chengxiao?"
Zhang Yuelu curled her lips. "Lust has muddled his wits. Eight times out of ten, he'll stumble in Senior Sister Xiao's hands."
Zhang Lishi laughed soundlessly. "Young men are full of vigor and hot blood. It is nothing unusual."
"I had held rather high expectations for him before. Now that we have Li Cunxiao, keeping him around can still count as a fine move to restrain the Ye Family."
"Then Yue'er, what do you think of Li Cunxiao?"
Zhang Yuelu was about to answer, but the moment she saw the smile at the corner of her father's eyes, she immediately became alert.
"Father, you promised me that after I broke through to the Muscle Realm, I could choose my own marriage. Would the dignified Great Escort go back on his word?"
"Ah, my good daughter, Father wasn't—"
"Martial arts, too, came in ranks of high and low."
As Li Cunxiao skewered demon meat for roasting, he reviewed the questions he had asked Zhang Lishi today.
The martial path began with planting a demon. Martial arts without a Demon Seduction Method were called unranked.
Among ranked martial arts, there were low-grade, middle-grade, and high-grade distinctions.
Tiger Demon Fist was outstanding among Low-grade Martial Arts. Its strength lay first in its complete Nurturing and Training Method for the Blood Qi Realm, which could establish a solid foundation.
Second, its breakthrough method was relatively mild. At worst, it harmed one's vital energy; even if one failed, one could recuperate and try again.
The Pure Yang Sixteen Hands obtained from the Green Snake Gang were different. Once one failed, cultivating it anew would be as impossible as making a chicken lay eggs without one. With one's limbs maimed, there would be no chance to start over.
Within the inner city, apart from the Three Great Families, the martial arts of other lineages all had one problem or another. That was why Zhang Lishi could get along so well.
Third was the demonic ability gained after Tiger Demon Fist practitioners broke through—Steel Muscles and Iron Bones.
The Muscle Realm, the Second Realm, had three minor hurdles: tendons, bones, and skin, corresponding respectively to fascia and muscles, the skeleton, and skin and hair.
When tempering the body, one could not truly train tendons, bones, and skin separately. Thus, a martial artist's strength was not distinguished by the tendon, bone, or skin hurdle, but by how many hurdles they had perfected—what were known as first refinement, second refinement, and third refinement.
Tiger Demon Fist's Steel Muscles and Iron Bones enhanced both the tendon and bone refinements among the Muscle Realm's hurdles.
After breaking through to the Second Realm, not only would cultivating these two hurdles progress more quickly, but one's combat strength would also far surpass that of ordinary martial artists.
The martial world often said, "An extra inch of tendon brings tenfold strength," and also, "Strong bones make strong tendons." This showed how closely the two were connected. Steel Muscles and Iron Bones, strength without limit—this was the hallmark upon which the Flying Tiger Escort Agency had made its name.
Tigers were creatures of utmost yang, fierce beasts capable of sleeping upon snow in the bitterest depths of winter. The enhancement to a martial artist's body from this Tiger Demon was easy to imagine.
As for the Minor Yaksha Saber Art, their trump card, he only knew that it was a middle-grade martial art. Zhang Lishi had said no more, clearly because the time was not yet right.
"Once I break through to the Muscle Realm and become an inner disciple, I'll naturally have the chance to learn about it."
Seeing that the meat was roasted, Li Cunxiao opened his mouth and swallowed it.
Glancing at the emptied bag beside him, he thought that seven hundred taels truly did not last long. Only when the demon meat released a warm current in his stomach did he carefully take a fist-sized crystal bottle from his chest.
The crystal bottle had been exquisitely polished, transparent inside and out. Within it, one could see specially prepared amber medicinal wine, as well as an insect egg soaking in the liquor.
Its shape vaguely resembled a tiger insect, and it seemed to be wriggling faintly.
"This great medicine for Tiger Demon Fist is a little too terrifying."
The Vajra Scepter's radiance steadily increased. Soon, even its last trace of dimness was covered, and it gave off a brilliant golden glow.
Li Cunxiao gritted his teeth, pulled out the stopper, and swallowed the insect egg.
A slick, nauseating sensation spread through his mouth, like a bursting beef ball. Yet Li Cunxiao did not dare let his mind wander. Very quickly, scorching Medicinal Power erupted like a volcano, and a terrifying feeling surged into his heart.
His flesh seemed to come alive and riot!
His fascia, bones, and flesh seemed to have received fertilizer, growing in a frantic rush. Li Cunxiao's body swelled as if it were an inflated balloon, expanding by a full circle in the blink of an eye. His skin turned burning red, his veins blue-black, as though the slightest poke would make him explode.
Fortunately, Li Cunxiao had received Zhang Yuelu's guidance and knew this was merely an illusion brought on by surging blood qi. He immediately drew the short saber beside him, aimed at several specific acupoints on his body, and stabbed repeatedly—
A fountain of blood shot over three feet into the air!
The naked Li Cunxiao instantly became a man of blood, yet his aura did not weaken. Instead, it seemed to reach a delicate balance after releasing the pent-up blood qi.
This was the greatest danger during a Tiger Demon Fist breakthrough. So-called "scraping bone and replacing blood" meant that, supported by the great medicine, one's blood-producing ability surged in an instant to an inhuman degree, using Demonic Power to cleanse the bones and marrow.
Whether bone cleansing and marrow washing succeeded depended on whether one could seize that delicate balance, visualize the demon, and even settle it within one's heart, turning the illusory false demon into a true demon.
If it took too long, the medicinal effect would fade, and if the bleeding was not stopped in time, the martial artist would die from excessive blood loss;
But if one seized the moment yet could not find a thread of clarity at the limits of body and mind, instead truly submitting to the demon one had visualized, then the powerful blood qi would instantly spiral out of control, and one would explode to death on the spot!
Of course, those were the worst-case scenarios.
Li Cunxiao was a cautious man. Ever since learning of the dangers of the Demon Seduction Method, he had never again entertained thoughts such as, I'll try it first; what if I don't need to rely on the Vajra Scepter? or The Vajra Scepter should be saved for breaking through later hurdles.
At this moment, as his vision gradually turned blood-red, the Divine General in the distant fundamental diagram twisted into a savage tiger of blood and flame. The intense negative emotions brought by the tiger insect's Medicinal Power battered his mind wave after wave. His body weakened from bloodletting, yet the transformation deep in his bone marrow left him sore, swollen, numb, and itching. Without the slightest hesitation, he called:
Vajra Scepter!
BOOM!!!!
It was an unprecedented sensation, like a waterfall crashing down from above. Li Cunxiao's mind instantly became blank. Frenzy, worry, tension—every emotion drifted away from him, and his heart became as tranquil as a still lake.
Within that mirror-clear lake of the heart, a mass of blood-red mist twisted and coiled, finally becoming a Blood Tiger Demon. It leaped down from his spirit platform and dispersed into the bone marrow throughout his body.
It seemed to be fleeing something in desperate haste. Before the Blood Tiger vanished, Li Cunxiao even saw it turn back with a humanlike glance. He could not help following its gaze and looking behind himself, then froze.
The light on the Vajra Scepter did not fade as it had before. Instead, it gathered and grew toward both ends, like specks of golden sand piling up to shape the original single-pointed spike into three venomous dragon heads, their mouths spitting curling forks that ultimately converged at one point.
A Three-pronged Vajra Scepter?
It upgraded?!!
Before you continue