The Huang Family's Gift: Four Realms of Martial Arts

Those two were Huang Yunchong and Huang Qianjun, father and son.

Su Yi was startled, then understood.

Sure enough, Huang Yunchong hurried forward, his expression excited as he said, "Yesterday, Huang learned that Young Master Su had bestowed a profound secret art upon my son. I was truly overwhelmed by favor. Today, I have come especially to thank you, Young Master!"

As he spoke, he bent at the waist in a solemn, earnest bow.

Su Yi accepted it calmly.

Though the Breathing Technique he had created on the spot yesterday could not be called profound, for the Huang Family, who cultivated the Form and Will Six Harmonies Fist, it already counted as a tremendous stroke of fortune!

Huang Yunchong clearly understood very well what this Breathing Technique meant to their Huang Family.

If he had not come to express his thanks, that would have been abnormal.

"It was only a small effort. If there is nothing else, Clan Leader Huang, please do as you wish."

As he spoke, Su Yi had already walked into the Mulberry Forest and begun practicing the Pine Crane Body Forging Art.

Though this attitude seemed a little cold, Huang Yunchong did not mind in the slightest.

Yesterday, when he learned from his son Huang Qianjun about the breathing method Su Yi had taught him, he had lost his composure again and again on the spot, so excited that words could not describe it.

Only after he calmed down did he reach a conclusion—

With this breathing method, their Huang Family would rise further and step onto a new level!

In the past, this was something Huang Yunchong would not even have dared to imagine.

The Dao could not be lightly passed on; the method could not be lightly taught.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, a powerful breathing method was enough to change the fate of an entire clan!

"Child, remember what I instructed you yesterday. Work hard, and do not disappoint Young Master Su's cultivation of you."

Huang Yunchong took a deep breath and patted Huang Qianjun on the shoulder.

Afterward, he cupped his hands from afar toward Su Yi, who was practicing his martial arts, then quietly left.

"Yesterday's instructions..."

Huang Qianjun could not help recalling what his father had said yesterday at home, before the spirit tablets of the Ancestors in the ancestral hall, in such solemn and grave tones:

"Child, you are still young and do not understand the significance of this secret art. I can tell you plainly that with this secret art, we Huang Family will have to remember Young Master Su's kindness for generations to come!"

That was the first time Huang Qianjun had seen his father so solemn.

It was also the first time he realized that he had merely followed by Su Yi's side as a subordinate, yet inadvertently, he had actually brought his clan an opportunity to change its fate!

"Is this what they call when one man attains the Dao, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven?"

Huang Qianjun looked toward Su Yi practicing in the distance, and unprecedented admiration and awe surged in his heart.

Brother Su is truly a godlike man!

When Su Yi finished cultivating and walked over, he saw that Huang Qianjun had long since prepared a steaming-hot breakfast and wine.

"Hm? Today's bone broth used a spiritual herb?"

Su Yi's nose twitched slightly, catching a different scent.

"Brother Su, my father said that in the coming days, he will have the clan stewards decoct one spiritual herb for you every day."

As Huang Qianjun spoke, he took out a brocade sack and offered it over with both hands. "There are also fifty Spirit Stones here. They are a token of our Huang Family's feelings. I hope Brother Su will definitely accept them. Otherwise, my father won't let me step through the Huang Family's gates again..."

One spiritual herb a day—over seven days, that would be seven herbs.

Add fifty Spirit Stones on top of that... the Huang Family had really put down serious capital!

Even Su Yi could not help being surprised.

There was no need to say how rare spiritual herbs were, or how expensive they were.

And treasures like Spirit Stones were even more exceedingly rare. They could not be found on the market at all, and were far from something that any amount of money could buy.

As far as Su Yi knew, among Guangling City's three great families, the number of Spirit Stones each family had stored would not exceed one hundred.

Yet now, the Huang Family had taken out fifty all at once to gift to him!

"This Huang Yunchong is rather clever. He knows that the value of a breathing method far surpasses these treasures."

Su Yi shook his head, no longer thinking further. He sat down on the ground, drank wine, and ate.

Huang Qianjun went to the open space in the woods and cultivated the Form and Will Six Harmonies Fist.

After Huang Qianjun finished practicing, Su Yi pointed out some of his shortcomings, then strode off.

Apricot Yellow Abode.

"With these Spirit Stones, there is no need to plan on going to Cloud Cang Mountain to gather herbs for the time being."

Sitting in his room, Su Yi poured the Spirit Stones from the brocade sack onto the desk. Each Spirit Stone was crystalline and lustrous, translucent and clear, spreading waves of spiritual fluctuations.

Although they were all the lowest-grade First Order Spirit Stones, in the Great Zhou Dynasty, where Spiritual Qi was barren, they were already very hard to come by.

"Not bad. With these Spirit Stones, in less than half a month, I'll be able to temper the Flesh Tendons stage to perfection!"

A faint smile tugged at the corners of Su Yi's lips.

Day after day passed.

Su Yi's life was peaceful and fulfilling, with no further twists or troubles.

Aside from cultivation, he would occasionally visit Apricot Yellow Medical Hall to see patients, check the accounts, and collect payments.

He would also call out the beautiful yet simple-minded female ghost Qing Wan in the dead of night and give her some guidance in her cultivation.

When the mood struck him, he would even chat with her for a while.

Unfortunately, the girl still couldn't change that timid, fearful look she had whenever she faced him.

This left Su Yi rather speechless.

She was this afraid of him even when speaking. If he touched her, who knew what sort of fright she'd be scared into?

If this went on, how were they supposed to dual cultivate together in the future?

After all, dual cultivation was no joking matter. There were far too many things that needed doing, and physical and spiritual contact would inevitably be involved.

If anything went wrong, it would turn into a disaster.

Of course, speaking of dual cultivation now was still a distant matter. As far as Su Yi was concerned, he had plenty of time in the future to train Qing Wan until she was no longer afraid of him.

Sometimes, in the depths of night when no one was around, Qing Wan would sit in the Old Locust Tree and sing ancient ballads. Her voice was ethereal and drifting, melodious and lovely.

It had to be said, Qing Wan truly was a versatile female ghost.

During this period, Nie Teng also came twice and reported some matters to Su Yi.

For example, every place within Guangling City had been thoroughly searched. A total of seven places raising Ghost Corpse Worms had been discovered, and all had already been cleaned out completely, leaving no hidden danger behind.

This left Su Yi somewhat puzzled. Since Wu Ruoqiu had raised Ghost Corpse Worms on his sect's orders, why was it that after he and all the Ghost Corpse Worms had been wiped out, his sect had yet to send anyone to investigate?

In the end, Su Yi deduced two possibilities.

The first was that the Yin Sha Sect might already have learned of Wu Ruoqiu's mishap and was secretly investigating the sequence of events.

The second was that the Yin Sha Sect still didn't know about any of this, and therefore had yet to react.

Whichever possibility it was, Su Yi knew very well that the evil cultivators of the Yin Sha Sect would absolutely not just let the matter drop.

Of course, this small potential danger wasn't something Su Yi took to heart at all.

What prospects could a lowlife sect that refined swords with a woman's menstrual blood possibly have?

And as time went on, the Dragon Gate Banquet drew closer and closer.

On the Great Cang River, boats and ships clustered densely, their silhouettes overlapping. Skilled craftsmen from Guangling City and Fallen Cloud City on the opposite bank were hurrying to set up the banquet grounds.

As for discussions about this Dragon Gate Banquet, they had practically become the hottest topic in both cities.

Even the ordinary people in the cities were filled with anticipation.

This was because the Dragon Gate Banquet began at night. When the time came, points of lantern light would dot the Great Cang River, like a flaming river of stars fallen into the mortal world.

When that time came, the night would be vast and dark as ink, and the river would shine brilliantly like a painting. It would be a first-rate spectacle.

That morning, in the Mulberry Forest outside the city.

"Brother Su, I've already started refining my Flesh Tendons!"

Huang Qianjun was very excited, like a student waiting to be praised by his teacher.

Su Yi, however, merely nodded and said casually, "With my guidance, plus the spiritual medicines the Huang Family provided you, if you still couldn't accomplish this much, there would be no point continuing to cultivate."

Huang Qianjun was instantly embarrassed, and the excitement in his heart faded.

Su Yi thought for a moment, then added, "However, with your current martial attainments, you can just barely be considered to have Entered the Hall. When you attend the Dragon Gate Banquet, you might still not be Wen Jueyuan's match, but at the very least, you won't lose too badly."

Cultivating martial arts was a process that went from shallow to deep.

Any martial art, in terms of attainment, could be divided into four levels: Initial Mastery, Entering the Hall, Pure Perfection, and Peak Perfection.

Initial Mastery meant being able to fully perform a martial art's moves.

For ordinary martial artists, reaching this step wasn't difficult.

Entering the Hall meant being able to understand the subtleties within and bring out the power of every move in meticulous detail.

Pure Perfection went a step further. It meant thoroughly seeing through and comprehending a martial art, the heart moving as intent moved, every strike capable of unleashing supreme force.

As for Peak Perfection, it meant cultivating a martial art to the point where one could understand other things by analogy and draw inferences from one instance, incorporating one's own insights and experience, allowing that martial art to erupt with unprecedented power.

When a martial art was cultivated to the stage of "Peak Perfection," one would possess a "momentum" of one's own!

Such as Sword Momentum, Blade Momentum, Fist Momentum, and so on.

However, ordinary Yellow Rank martial arts contained very few mysteries to begin with.

Forget cultivating them to Peak Perfection; even cultivating them to Pure Perfection was extremely difficult.

For instance, the Huang Family's original Form and Will Six Harmonies Fist only had potential up to the level of "Pure Perfection."

However, after Su Yi's guidance and supplementation, along with the Breathing Technique he had taught, this fist technique had already undergone a qualitative transformation.

So long as Huang Qianjun continued cultivating it, there would come a day sooner or later when he reached "Peak Perfection"!

"Brother Su, the Dragon Gate Banquet is going to begin in three days. Will you be going when the time comes?"

Huang Qianjun couldn't help asking.

"We'll see when the time comes."

Su Yi said it casually.

In his past life, he had attended countless "Dao debates" grand enough to shake the heavens. Of those qualified to take part, which one wasn't a major figure who could call the wind and summon the rain beneath the sky?

As for a small scene like the Dragon Gate Banquet, he truly couldn't muster any interest in participating.

Huang Qianjun was somewhat disappointed.

He had been thinking that if Su Yi participated, he would probably be able to take first place with effortless ease!

Just imagining such a scene made his blood surge.

"Brother Su, I heard that when the time comes, Zhou Huaiqiu, an Inner Disciple Elder of Green River Sword Mansion, will be taking part as well. Whoever performs outstandingly then will be directly selected as a disciple of Green River Sword Mansion."

Huang Qianjun suddenly recalled something and said with longing, "So I plan to put on a good showing this time. Even if I'm far from being able to take first place, if Senior Zhou Huaiqiu takes a fancy to me, I'll be able to ascend to heaven in a single step!"

"Zhou Huaiqiu..."

Hearing this familiar old friend's name, Su Yi was momentarily stunned, and bits and pieces of memories of the past surged up in his heart.

After a long while.

He glanced at Huang Qianjun, shook his head, and laughed mockingly. "That's the extent of your ambition? You're far too lacking in promise."