Demon Meat, Sensing Qi

Hot! Hot!

In an instant, Li Cunxiao felt his entire body burning hot, as though surrounded by furnaces, though it had not yet reached the point of searing pain.

His blood and qi naturally began to surge, and his face instantly flushed crimson, giving Wood Fork beside him quite a fright.

"Big Brother, what's wrong?!"

"Big Brother's fine. I feel... great!"

Li Cunxiao could feel that vague yet tangible sensation of blood and qi growing ever clearer. Knowing that the moment for a breakthrough had arrived, he did not dare delay. He immediately took Wood Fork to a secluded, deserted spot, spread his feet, drew in his crotch and lifted his belly, and assumed the Tiger Form Stance.

As his blood and qi steadily grew stronger and clearer, the golden light on the Vajra Scepter in his mind also slowly increased.

Even stranger, perhaps because the jerky was too nourishing, an inexplicable irritability rose within Li Cunxiao. Whenever that happened, the Vajra Scepter would flicker with faint light, and the irritation would vanish.

Amid those flickers, the light on the dim Vajra Scepter seemed to be quietly growing as well.

After nearly half an hour like this, Li Cunxiao finally felt the heat gradually recede. Yet his chest and abdomen remained warm, and despite standing in the stance for so long, his legs did not feel the slightest ache.

He quickly found the reason.

At that very moment, he could clearly sense a finger-thick stream of "qi" coursing throughout his body. As his movements changed, that qi gathered and dispersed, came and went, changing with the moment.

Yet if he wanted to directly control it with his thoughts, he could not do so.

"So this is Sensing Qi? No wonder they only teach combat techniques after Sensing Qi. With only stance training, there's no way to actively use this power."

Li Cunxiao instantly gained a deeper understanding of how strict the escort agency was in passing down its methods. But soon, noticing the changes in the Vajra Scepter, he felt several degrees more delighted.

The charge increased?!

"About... one-sixteenth."

The solitary Vajra Scepter had a spherical center, with a pair of Lotus Seats extending from each end. Beyond the Lotus Seats were four-sided pointed cones, while the connecting section in the middle was recessed.

Zhao Heishe's death had originally caused one-quarter of the dim Vajra Scepter to glow with golden light, just enough to cover the pointed cone at one end. But one strip of jerky had pushed that golden light directly into the recessed section, leaving only a tiny distance before it reached the Lotus Seat.

"What kind of meat is this? Not only does it rapidly boost blood and qi, it can even charge the Demon Subduing Pestle?"

Li Cunxiao instinctively recalled the inexplicable irritation that had arisen earlier. He immediately grabbed his younger brother by the shoulders in alarm.

"Wood Fork, who gave you this jerky?"

"I-It was Que'er who gave it to me."

Wood Fork thought he had done something wrong and became nervous too, his little face scrunched up.

Li Cunxiao gently comforted him, coaxing and persuading him until he finally learned what had happened.

After becoming a pageboy, Wood Fork had won the favor of the women of the household because he was clever, lively, delicate, and handsome.

Especially Fourth Miss Zhang, Zhang Que'er, who often shared her snacks with him. At first, Wood Fork had been too embarrassed to accept them, but gradually he got used to it.

Today, when she heard that Wood Fork was going out, Zhang Que'er had initially been unhappy. But for some reason, just before he left, she suddenly gave him a small packet of jerky, saying it was for Li Cunxiao.

".She looked so smug then. She even said I'd definitely come back to find her big brother. This jerky looks no different from what I usually eat. I-I really didn't know..."

Seeing his brother's aggrieved expression, Li Cunxiao comforted him outwardly, but could not help pondering inwardly. After a moment, he spoke.

"Wood Fork, Big Brother can't accept this jerky."

"Not only can't we accept it, you need to return it right now."

"Ah?" Wood Fork's little head was filled with question marks, but he obediently nodded anyway.

He had always listened to his big brother.

"Also, after you return it, ask Fourth Miss what kind of meat this is."

"Go on."

Watching his younger brother's retreating figure as he ran off, Li Cunxiao let out a sigh.

One strip of jerky had helped him step into the realm of Sensing Qi. Even if he had already been close to breaking through, not to mention that it could increase the Vajra Scepter's charging progress, its value spoke for itself.

How could Li Cunxiao not want something so good?

But precisely because it was so good, he could not take it.

"Ordinary rewards can be accepted, but that jerky is absolutely not something like a child's snack."

"That scorching heat was too much even for me to bear. Eight times out of ten, it's a cultivation resource for martial artists."

"If Zhang Lishi or Shi Tie had given it to us, of course we could accept it. But Zhang Que'er is only a child. What if she stole it from her family?"

"She is the apple of the Zhang household's eye. Even if she is discovered, at most she'll be scolded."

"But Wood Fork and I were allowed into the escort agency, and even in outsiders' eyes, that was a favor from Chief Escort Zhang."

"If something really happened, we brothers would probably immediately become 'thieving house servants colluding inside and out.' Then..."

Being expelled from the escort agency and having their martial arts taken back would be the least of it. If things went badly, they might even be beaten to death with clubs!

People's hearts were ever-changing. The greater the kindness when granting favor, the crueler the retaliation might be upon discovering they had been "betrayed."

"Que'er, you're simply fooling around!"

Third Miss Zhang, Zhang Yuelu, stood with her left hand on her hip while fiercely poking her younger sister's forehead with her right.

"If you want something to eat, just tell the servants. How could you steal your sister's things?"

Zhang Que'er felt somewhat guilty at those words, twisting her fingers around and around.

"Third Sister, it's just a little jerky. Is that really such a big deal? I'll make it up to you later."

Zhang Yuelu was so angry that she laughed.

"That was demon meat. It's a highly nourishing item used for training! If a child like you eats it, you won't be able to sleep, you'll go crazy, and you'll turn into an idiot!"

Zhang Que'er's little face immediately went pale. Realizing she had caused trouble, she instantly hugged her sister's leg—but she was not pleading for herself.

"Big Sister, hurry and save Wood Fork! I don't want him to become an idiot! Sob, sob, sob... If Wood Fork becomes an idiot, he won't be good-looking anymore."

Though helpless, Zhang Yuelu was relieved after confirming that her younger sister had not eaten the jerky.

Of course, she had deliberately said those things to frighten her sister.

Demons were savage beasts. Even after death, their flesh and blood still retained baleful intent. Although they greatly nourished one's blood and qi, if eaten directly without processing, over time they could affect a martial artist's mind and temperament, making them violent and quick to anger.

But she was the dignified Third Miss of the Zhang household. The demon jerky she used for training was naturally high-grade goods that had been processed. At most, eating too much would cause some irritability; once the blood and qi were refined, there would be no problem.

"You're saying you gave the jerky to Wood Fork?"

Hearing the severity in Zhang Yuelu's tone, Zhang Que'er sniffled and no longer dared hide anything.

"I-I heard that Wood Fork's big brother was practicing martial arts, and I thought that since Sister could eat it, that big fellow could eat it too."

"That way, Wood Fork will have to coax me from now on."

Zhang Yuelu was speechless.

How had you, at such a young age, become infatuated with men?

"Que'er, you need to understand that Wood Fork is only your pageboy. There are things he may accept, and things he may not."

"This is propriety, this is status. It cannot be thrown into disorder."

"If you blindly treat people well, sometimes they won't thank you. Instead, they may even bully you."

"Wood Fork... is only a child. Now, I only hope that Li Nezha knows what's proper."

She knew well what that packet of jerky meant to a martial artist from the lower ranks. Deep down, she had already assumed that Li Cunxiao would keep it for himself as a stepping stone to rise in status.

Wicked servants deceiving their masters, colluding inside and out—countless such phrases flashed through her mind. She had even begun considering how to tell her father later, to kill a chicken and frighten the monkeys.

"Young Misses, Wood Fork has returned."

A maid outside the room suddenly announced this. Zhang Yuelu's expression immediately hardened, and she was about to teach her younger sister a proper lesson, so she would understand the consequences of acting recklessly.

But when she saw Wood Fork run in, panting, and saw the fear and conflict on that delicate little face, like a doe-eyed fawn in the forest, her stern expression could not help softening.

"Wood Fork, take your time. What happened?"

Zhang Que'er: ???