Su City Stage

"Brother Ning, are your injuries any better?"

Wei Fan knocked on Ning Xuan's door and found that Ning Xuan's complexion had improved considerably.

He had been struck by Tiger King's blade. The injury had not been too serious to begin with, but while treating himself, Wei Fan's words had made him laugh, causing his True Qi to go astray and nearly costing him half his life.

"After resting another three or four days, I should be more or less recovered."

Ning Xuan invited Wei Fan inside and casually poured him a cup of tea. "Oh... two days apart, and Brother Wei's bearing has become even more outstanding."

Having comprehended blade intent, Wei Fan had undergone an earthshaking transformation in spirit. He seemed colder and sharper than before, his gaze more piercing.

Though Ning Xuan did not know that he had comprehended blade intent, he could sense the changes in his spirit and temperament.

"Brother Ning has remarkable insight. I made a small breakthrough in martial arts, yet I never expected you to notice it."

Wei Fan took a sip of tea. Of all the people at the yamen, Ning Xuan was the first to notice the change in him.

After a while, Su Xuerong, having heard the commotion, also came to Ning Xuan's room.

"Looks like you really want to join the Demon Suppressing Division as soon as possible!"

Su Xuerong still did not treat Wei Fan particularly well. She still held a grudge over him saying she was old that day, and when she spoke to him, she did not even call him by name.

She could roughly guess why Wei Fan had come: to see whether Ning Xuan had recovered. Once he had, they could quickly return to Su City and tell the guide about Wei Fan.

Wei Fan nodded. "I do indeed want to enter the Demon Suppressing Division. My cultivation has reached the True Qi Ninth Level, but because I have no Aperture Opening Realm cultivation method, I have been unable to break through."

Both of them nodded, understanding Wei Fan's feelings.

Ning Xuan said, "Brother Wei, there is actually no need for you to be anxious. Your talent is extraordinary, but I have observed that your True Qi is not sufficiently vast and vigorous. I imagine your dantian is not broad enough and can hold, at most, around ten years' worth of cultivation True Qi.

"In my opinion, you should now find a martial art that can expand the dantian, broaden it, and allow it to hold more True Qi.

"If you can expand your dantian two or three times over, then after entering the Demon Suppressing Division, you may one day stand shoulder to shoulder with those few freakish talents in the Demon Suppressing Division.

"If you do not expand your dantian now, then once you break through to the Aperture Opening Realm, the size of your dantian will be fixed.

"You do not know about those freakish talents in the Demon Suppressing Division. Back in the True Qi Realm, they did not rush to break through. They forcibly expanded their dantians until they could hold fifty or sixty years' worth of cultivation, establishing their status as freaks in one stroke. Invincible among those of the same realm, no matter whom they encountered, they simply crushed them head-on with their overwhelming True Qi."

The quantity of True Qi was indeed important.

No matter how formidable the martial skills of someone at the first level of the Golden Bell Shield were, they could never defeat someone at the seventh or eighth level of the Golden Bell Shield.

The other person would not even need to use any martial skills. With True Qi far surpassing yours, they could beat you to death.

Wei Fan frowned. "There are martial arts that can expand the dantian? Where can they be obtained?"

Though he had already slain a great demon of the True Realm, his understanding of martial arts was still very shallow.

It was his first time hearing of martial arts that could expand the dantian.

The reason his cultivation could no longer advance was precisely because his dantian's storage of True Qi had reached its limit, unable to hold any more.

If he could expand his dantian and continue storing more True Qi, then he truly would not be in such a hurry to break through.

Because he had heard Ning Xuan and the others speak of the cultivation path of the Aperture Opening Realm. The most important thing in the Aperture Opening Realm was opening apertures within the body that could hold True Qi, increasing one's reserves of True Qi.

Su Xuerong said, "You do not even know this? Do not tell me that no master taught you your martial arts, and that you cultivated them all yourself from the martial arts passed down by the yamen."

Anyone with even a little lineage or experience wandering the martial world knew such things.

Wei Fan possessed such formidable skill, yet did not even know this common knowledge. The only explanation was that not only did he lack a master's lineage, but he had not been a martial artist for long.

Wei Fan said nothing and merely looked at Ning Xuan.

Since this fellow had said so much, he should have cultivated a martial art that expanded the dantian.

Ning Xuan understood what he meant and immediately said, "I do indeed have such a martial art on me, but it is a supreme art of my school and cannot be passed to outsiders."

As he spoke, he looked at Su Xuerong. "Xuerong, your Su Family does not have my school's rotten rules. Why not give it to Brother Wei? Consider it making a friend."

Su Xuerong thought for a moment, then nodded. "Then I will give it to Wei Fan. As long as it is not a foundational inheritance, my family indeed does not have the rotten rules your sects do. But I hope you, Wei Fan, will not pass this martial art on to a second person."

She also wanted to forge a good bond with Wei Fan.

As things stood, Wei Fan's talent was astonishing. If she lent him a hand now, then in the future he might stand shoulder to shoulder with those few freakish talents of the Demon Suppressing Division. Surpassing them was not impossible either.

Wei Fan did not yet have any foundation or powerful backing. Once he had those things, who knew how far he might go in the future?

No one would mind giving someone like that a helping hand.

"Many thanks, Miss Su. I guarantee that I will not pass it on to a second person!"

Wei Fan naturally nodded in agreement.

"I do not have the manual with me. I will find time to copy it out from memory. Come back in two days to collect it."

Wei Fan was somewhat disappointed that he could not obtain the manual for the time being, but it was only a day or two. It would pass quickly.

At this moment, Ning Xuan spoke again. "Brother Wei, remember not to rush into breaking through to Aperture Opening. Wait until your dantian has expanded to its limit and cannot be expanded further before breaking through.

"The size of one's dantian in the True Qi Realm has a huge impact on the realms that follow.

"There was a senior brother in my school. When his peers broke through to the Aperture Opening Realm, he was still expanding his dantian. Now he has become a Heavenly Human Master, while those peers of his are still in the Aperture Opening Realm.

"Among martial artists, when many people assess someone's potential, the first thing they look at is basically how many years' worth of cultivation your dantian can hold.

"The more cultivation it can contain, the higher and faster you will rise in the future.

"If my dantian had not already been expanded to its limit, I would still be in the True Qi Realm now."

Ning Xuan and Su Xuerong took turns speaking, and before long they had told Wei Fan many things he did not know.

Great Chu Kingdom!

Demon Suppressing Division!

Martial Arts Sects!

Martial Arts Families!

Demon Race!

Greenwood Heroes!

Divine Weapons and Demonic Artifacts!

The stage of Su City was larger and more splendid than Cloud City's. Compared to it, Cloud City was simply a tiny corner of the world, where many things had never even been heard of.

He spoke with the two of them for a long time. They even had wine and dishes brought into the room, talking as they ate and drank. Only when Ning Xuan said he needed to circulate his cultivation to heal his injuries did Wei Fan rise, take his leave, and return to the yamen.

As a constable chief, Wei Fan did not have much to do. So long as no case involving a death occurred, he did not need to patrol the streets.

"Constable Chief Wei, Zhou Qi and the others have been beaten!"

Unexpectedly, just as he had sat down for a while, his subordinate Liu Chengzhou came to report that Zhou Qi had been beaten.

Wei Fan walked out of the hall and saw Zhou Qi and another subordinate being carried back into the yamen.

Both were bruised and swollen, their hair disheveled, with footprints still on their clothes.

"What happened?"

Wei Fan bent down to inspect them. Zhou Qi and the other yamen runner were not seriously injured and would not die; they merely looked miserable.

Zhou Qi said weakly, "The two of us were patrolling the streets when we saw a shop being smashed up, so we went over to stop it.

"But not only were those people unafraid when they saw us, they said we were meddling in other people's business and attacked us.

"There were martial artists among them, probably at the second level of the True Qi Realm. We could not defeat them."

Wei Fan's face darkened. "Where are the people who beat you? Do you know their identities?"

"They left after beating us. We do not know any of them, but when one of them left, he warned us that if we dared interfere in the E Shen Gang's affairs again, they would take us to feed the demons."

Zhou Qi forced himself upright. "I asked at the shop that was smashed up. The shopkeeper said those people had come to demand that they pay a sum of money to the E Shen Gang every month. The shopkeeper refused, so they smashed the place up."