After sneaking back to the inn, Su Que immediately spread out tonight's gains on the table for inspection.
The yellowed sheet of paper taken from Fan Wuyang recorded a training prescription called "Startling Blood Soup."
"I wonder how the effects of 'Startling Blood Soup' compare to 'Body Strengthening Soup'?"
Su Que thought.
By now, Body Strengthening Soup no longer had much effect on him.
If Startling Blood Soup proved far more effective than Body Strengthening Soup, he would not need to search for any other prescriptions.
He carefully folded the paper and tucked it into his clothes, keeping it close against his body.
Then, he spread out all the money he had gained tonight, including Silver Notes, Silver Ingots, and loose silver, and counted them one by one.
His senses were now sharp. Just by weighing the Silver Ingots and loose silver in his hand, he could estimate their value.
"A total of six hundred and eighty taels."
"Those White Lotus Sect people were really rich. So this was what they meant by 'murder and arson earn you a belt of gold.'"
As Su Que marveled inwardly, he packed all the money into a large purse.
Only then did Su Que open the manual for the Wedding Dress Divine Skill.
This was the true purpose of his journey.
He roughly flipped through the manual and found that the contents of the Wedding Dress Divine Skill were indeed much the same as the rumors circulating through the martial world.
Any practitioner who cultivated internal energy would develop "true qi" within their body.
Yet the true qi cultivated through the Wedding Dress Divine Skill was fiercer and more forceful than that produced by ordinary internal arts, and it drove the blood faster.
Therefore, those who cultivated the Wedding Dress Divine Skill advanced through the martial realms faster than ordinary martial artists.
However, because the true qi produced by the Wedding Dress Divine Skill was exceedingly fierce, it would gradually inflict hidden injuries upon the cultivator's flesh and meridians.
The higher one cultivated the Wedding Dress Divine Skill, the more severe the hidden injuries became.
Once the Wedding Dress Divine Skill was cultivated to sixty or seventy percent, if its power was not dispersed or transferred to another person, the cultivator would no longer be able to endure its true qi. Their flesh and meridians would be ruined from then on.
The fortunate ones would merely lose all their martial arts.
The unfortunate ones might even lose their lives.
"Destroying flesh and meridians... This technique is truly excellent!"
Su Que praised it inwardly as he read.
After roughly finishing the entire manual, he turned back to the first page and began cultivating the Wedding Dress Divine Skill according to its instructions.
The first step in cultivating internal energy was to seek out the sensation of qi.
Su Que sat cross-legged on the bed, concentrated his mind, and used his will to search for that faint trace of qi sensation.
Once he found the qi sensation, he would be considered initiated into internal energy.
More than two hours passed. Suddenly, Su Que felt a threadlike warmth faintly stirring within his body.
His spirits lifted, and he hurriedly focused his will upon that warmth.
Then, the warmth gradually intensified, expanding from a thread into a wisp. It could move through his body according to his will.
"Success!"
With a thought from Su Que, five lines of tiny black words appeared before his eyes.
Name: Su Que (17 years old) Lifespan: 71 Talent Value: 12 Martial Arts: Seven Injuries Fist (5th realm Peak Mastery 15%), Five Animal Frolics (Initial Glimpse 1%) Internal Art: Wedding Dress Divine Skill (Initial Glimpse 1%)
For someone of mediocre aptitude, it would take at least two or three months to find the sensation of qi.
But Su Que possessed 12 points of Talent Value. His learning and cultivation speed had long since greatly surpassed that of ordinary people.
Thus, he entered the gate in just one night and successfully found the sensation of qi.
Su Que directed the wisp of true qi within his body into his fist, then suddenly threw a punch!
Crack!
The force of his fist tore through the air, producing a louder sound than before.
True qi could not only drive the blood; when combined with fist force, it also generated even greater power!
Before he knew it, the east had begun to show a faint fish-belly white.
Seeing that dawn had arrived, Su Que packed up his bundle, left the inn, and raced back toward Jade Water City.
The deaths of Fan Wuyang and the other White Lotus Disciples were quickly discovered by the remaining disciples at the White Lotus Sect stronghold in Jade Water City.
After examining Fan Wuyang's and the others' bodies, the White Lotus Disciples discovered something.
The manner of Fan Wuyang's and the others' deaths was very similar to how those White Lotus Disciples had died when their medicinal herbs were robbed before.
This manner of death strongly resembled being killed by someone proficient in the Seven Injuries Fist.
"Could it be the remaining disciples of the Kongtong Sect, hunting the White Lotus Sect?"
"Or had traitors emerged within the White Lotus Sect, leaking the Seven Injuries Fist manual?"
Bai Wuji, the branch master of the White Lotus Sect in Jade Water City, thought this to himself.
Even if he racked his brains to the breaking point, he would never have imagined that the one who had killed those White Lotus Disciples was a schoolteacher from Jade Water City.
After Su Que returned to the vicinity of Jade Water City, the first place he went was Qinghua Mountain.
Qinghua Mountain was the mountain where he hid his medicinal herbs.
He planned to immediately use the herbs he had stored away to brew a dose of Startling Blood Soup and see whether it or Body Strengthening Soup was stronger.
Startling Blood Soup required sixteen kinds of medicinal herbs, three more than Body Strengthening Soup.
It also required a greater quantity of herbs.
Startling Blood Soup and Strong Blood Soup shared several herbs in common.
Looking at the cave, where little remained of the thirteen herbs used to brew Strong Blood Soup, Su Que clicked his tongue.
"Looks like I'll have to rob medicinal herbs again."
"I just wonder whether the White Lotus Sect will still travel that road after being robbed once."
Suddenly, an idea arose in Su Que's mind.
The several major martial arts schools in Jade Water City each had at least dozens of disciples, and every one of them consumed no small amount of medicinal herbs.
On top of that, they sold medicinal soups to the public.
With such consumption, they must purchase medicinal herbs from the White Lotus Sect at regular intervals.
He could follow those who went to purchase herbs and thereby discover where the White Lotus Sect stored its medicinal herbs.
With that thought, Su Que felt reassured. He no longer worried about what to do once his herbs ran out.
From the remaining herbs, he selected sixteen varieties, lit a fire, and began brewing Startling Blood Soup.
A little over half an hour later, the Startling Blood Soup was ready.
The Startling Blood Soup was dark red. At first glance, it looked like fresh blood.
Su Que filled a bowl and drank it.
The medicinal soup passed down his throat, through his esophagus, and into his abdomen.
Immediately afterward, Su Que felt an incomparably scorching medicinal force rise within his abdomen!
Then it spread throughout every part of his body!
In an instant, the blood within his body began to boil and race.
Su Que felt as though he had been immersed in a searing hot spring.
"This medicinal force is at least twice as strong as Body Strengthening Soup!"
Delighted, Su Que continued drinking the Startling Blood Soup.
After three bowls of Startling Blood Soup went down his throat, his blood surged swiftly and his entire body burned hot.
Drops of sweat seeped from his forehead.
His body was brimming with medicinal force, and he felt uncomfortable all over unless he refined it.
At once, Su Que sat down cross-legged, took out the Wedding Dress Divine Skill manual, and placed it beside him.
After looking over the qi-circulation route recorded in the manual, he closed his eyes and began cultivating.
Su Que already possessed 12 points of Talent Value, and his cultivation speed far surpassed that of ordinary people.
Now, he also had the support of medicinal force.
As he cultivated the Wedding Dress Divine Skill, his progress was exceptionally swift.
As the medicinal force was refined, the wisp of true qi that had originally been inside his body continued to grow stronger.
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