Out of Seclusion!

Extravagant.

Buying a strand of Long Qi as a medium.

The Long Qi Xu Yuelong had truly consumed was surely anything but ordinary. After taking it, who knew what great transformation he might undergo.

Liang Qu picked up a large bone and tossed it to Oolong beneath the table.

"Is Xuanming related to Dark Yellow?"

The last one he knew that could be split apart and used as a medium was Profound Yellow Long Qi. Even the names sounded alike.

"They're related by blood, more or less. One is Qi born of heaven and earth, the other is marsh Qi born of heaven and earth. They sound impressive, but they're the easiest to produce and fairly middling. The latter appears mostly in water and is rarer.

"The former can be steadily produced by the imperial court every year. They say that the great cultivator who created the Qi Consumption method back then used Central Dark Yellow."

Liang Qu was astonished. "A great cultivator used Dark Yellow?"

"What's so strange about that?" Su Guishan snickered as he tossed aside a crab shell. "When I discussed the Dao with the Old Monk, he mentioned it. You inherited his legacy and mantle—did he never tell you his thoughts on the Five Difficulties of Qi Consumption?"

"I remember, I remember. Change 'difficulty in balance' to 'difficulty in contention.'"

"Then there you have it."

Difficulty in balance changed to difficulty in contention? Long Yanrui, Long Binglin, and even Guan Congjian, who had come running over to mooch another meal, all pricked up their ears. Among them were Grandmasters, Great Martial Masters, and Wolf Smoke cultivators alike, all curious about the underlying principle.

Long Yao and Long Li gnawed on crab legs, listening for the fun of it.

Oolong had been eating with gusto, but seeing