Demonic Flesh, Sensing Qi

Hot! Hot!

In an instant, Li Cunxiao felt his whole body burning, as if surrounded by a furnace, but it wasn't to the point of agonizing pain.

His Blood Essence naturally began to surge, his face instantly turning red, startling Mucha beside him.

"Big Brother, what's wrong?!"

"Big Brother is fine. I'm very good right now!"

As Li Cunxiao sensed it, the faint feeling of Blood Essence became more apparent. He knew this was the opportune moment for a breakthrough, so he didn't dare to delay. He immediately took Mucha to a secluded, deserted spot, spread his legs, and straightened his posture, standing in the Tiger Form Stance.

The Blood Essence continuously grew stronger and more noticeable, while the golden light on the Vajra Scepter in his mind also slowly increased.

Even stranger was that, whether it was due to the nourishing properties of this jerky or not, Li Cunxiao felt an inexplicable sense of irritability. Whenever this happened, the Vajra Scepter would flicker with a faint light, and that feeling of irritation would disappear.

As the faint light flickered, the brilliance on the dim Vajra Scepter also seemed to be quietly growing.

After a full half-hour passed like this, Li Cunxiao finally felt the heat gradually dissipate, but his chest and abdomen remained warm. Moreover, after standing in the stance for so long, his legs felt no soreness at all.

The reason was quickly found.

At this very moment, he could clearly perceive a "Qi" as thick as a finger circulating throughout his body. As his movements changed, this Qi gathered and dispersed, adapting to the situation.

However, he couldn't directly control it with his thoughts.

"This is Sensing Qi? No wonder they teach the fighting techniques only after Sensing Qi. Without the stance, there's no way to actively use this power."

Li Cunxiao's understanding of the escort agency's strictness in passing down techniques deepened by another layer. But soon, noticing the change in the Vajra Scepter, he felt a surge of pleasant surprise.

'Charging' had increased?!

"About... one-sixteenth."

The design of the Solitary Vajra Scepter was a spherical center extending a pair of lotus seats towards each end. The outer ends of the lotus seats connected to four-sided sharp cones, with an indentation in the connecting section.

Zhao Heishe's death had previously added a quarter of the golden light to the dim Vajra Scepter, just enough to cover the sharp cone at one end. After consuming a piece of jerky, it had directly pushed the golden light to the indentation, leaving only a small distance to the lotus seat.

"What kind of meat is this? Not only does it rapidly increase Blood Essence, but it can also charge the Demon Subduing Pestle?"

Li Cunxiao subconsciously recalled the inexplicable irritability he had felt earlier and nervously grabbed his younger brother's shoulder:

"Mucha, who gave you this jerky?"

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

Mucha thought he had done something wrong and was also very nervous, his small face scrunched up.

Li Cunxiao comforted him with kind words and coaxing, and only then did he learn the whole story.

It turned out that after Mucha became a page, he was well-liked by the ladies of the manor due to his intelligence, quick wit, and handsome appearance.

Especially Fourth Miss Zhang, Que'er, who often shared her snacks with him. Mucha was initially embarrassed to accept them but gradually got used to it.

When Que'er heard that Mucha was going out today, she was initially unhappy. Later, for some reason, before Mucha left, she suddenly gave him a small bag of jerky, saying it was for Li Cunxiao.

"...She was smiling so proudly then, and she even said I would definitely go back to find her Big Brother. This jerky looks no different from what I usually eat. I, I really don't know..."

Seeing his brother's wronged expression, Li Cunxiao comforted him outwardly but pondered inwardly. After a moment, he spoke.

"Mucha, Big Brother can't accept this jerky."

"Not only can't I accept it, but you need to take it back right now."

"Ah?" Mucha's small head was full of question marks, but he obediently nodded.

He had always listened to his Big Brother.

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

"Go on."

Watching his brother run off, Li Cunxiao sighed.

A single piece of jerky helped him step into the realm of Sensing Qi. Even if he was already close to a breakthrough, it also advanced the charging progress of the Vajra Scepter. Its value was self-evident.

How could Li Cunxiao not want such a good thing?

But precisely because it was such a good thing, he couldn't accept it.

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

"That heat, even I found it a bit overwhelming. It's likely a resource for martial artists to cultivate."

"If it were given by Zhang Lishi or Shi Tie, it would be fine to accept it. But Que'er is just a child. What if she stole it from home?"

"She's the apple of the Zhang family's eye. Even if discovered, she'd at most get a scolding."

"But for Mucha and me to enter the escort agency, even in the eyes of outsiders, we are indebted to Chief Escort Zhang."

"If something really went wrong, we brothers would immediately become 'internal thieves colluding with outsiders.' At that time..."

Being kicked out of the escort agency and having our martial arts revoked would be the least of it. If things went badly, we could even be beaten to death!

Human hearts are fickle. The more compassionate they are when bestowing favors, the more cruel their revenge might be when they discover they've been 'betrayed.'

"Que'er, you're simply being reckless!"

Third Miss Zhang, Zhang Yuelu, put her left hand on her hip and pointed sternly at her sister's forehead with her right hand.

"Just tell the servants what you want to eat, why would you steal your sister's things?"

Que'er felt a little guilty upon hearing this, twirling her fingers.

"Third Sister, it's just a bit of dried meat, is it that serious? I'll make it up to you later if it's a big deal."

Zhang Yuelu was so amused she laughed, "That's demon meat. It's a great tonic for cultivation! If a child like you eats it, you won't be able to sleep, you'll go crazy, and you'll become an idiot!"

Que'er's small face immediately turned pale. Realizing she had caused trouble, she immediately hugged her sister's thigh, but not to beg for herself:

"Sister, please save Mucha. I don't want him to become an idiot! Wuwuwu… If Mucha becomes an idiot, he won't be good-looking anymore."

While Zhang Yuelu felt helpless, she was also relieved to confirm her sister hadn't eaten the dried meat.

Everything she had said earlier was, of course, just to scare her sister.

Demons were savage beasts. Even after death, their flesh and blood still retained malevolent energy. While it was a great tonic for blood essence, consuming it directly without proper processing could, over time, affect a martial artist's spirit and personality, making them irritable and prone to anger.

However, as the esteemed Third Miss of the Zhang manor, the demon meat she used for cultivation was naturally processed and of high quality. At most, eating too much would cause some irritability, but it would be fine after refining the blood essence.

"You're saying you gave the dried meat to Mucha?"

Seeing Zhang Yuelu's stern tone, Que'er, who had been sobbing, dared not hide anything now:

"I… I heard Mucha's older brother is cultivating martial arts, and I thought if Sister could eat it, that big guy could too."

"This way, Mucha will have to dote on me from now on."

Zhang Yuelu was speechless.

How did you, at such a young age, get into male attention?

"Que'er, you need to understand that Mucha is just your page. There are some things he can take, and some things he cannot."

"These are rules, it's about status, and they cannot be violated."

"Being kind to everyone indiscriminately won't always earn you gratitude; instead, it can lead to them taking advantage of you."

"Mucha… is still a child. Now, I can only hope that Li Nezha is sensible."

She knew very well what that piece of dried meat meant to a low-level martial artist. In her heart, she had already assumed Li Cunxiao would pocket it as a stepping stone for himself.

Words like "insolent servants bullying their masters" and "collusion from within and without" flashed through her mind. She was even starting to plan how to tell her father later and make an example of him…

"My Ladies, Mucha has returned."

A maidservant outside the room suddenly announced. Zhang Yuelu's expression sharpened upon hearing this, ready to teach her sister a good lesson and let her know the consequences of acting recklessly.

However, when she saw Mucha jogging in, out of breath, and noticed the timid, conflicted expression on his delicate face, like a timid deer in the woods with dewy eyes, her stern face couldn't help but soften.

"Mucha, speak slowly, what's wrong?"

Que'er: ???