Meng Zhao himself was something of a martial arts fanatic. He generally divided his cultivation time between dawn and the hours before sleep, sitting in meditation to refine his internal energy. During the day, he mostly practiced various martial techniques—the arts of killing.
After all, whenever one practiced forms and techniques, so long as one was not physically depleted, one's blood and qi would usually surge. For an Innate Martial Dao powerhouse like Zhou Gushan, his blood and qi would boil like a blazing furnace, his spirit all the more invigorated.
Trying to sleep afterward would be extremely difficult. One careless moment, and insomnia might strike that very night.
Cultivating stillness techniques was different. They refined the mind and internal true qi, gentle and soothing, like clouds and mist. One's bearing grew tranquil, and they could even aid sleep.
For someone like Zhou Gushan to finish cultivating stillness techniques late at night, then come to the training ground to practice dynamic techniques, either he had some special reason or there was something wrong with his head.
The instant Zhou Gushan stepped onto a bluestone slab at the center of the training ground, Meng Zhao caught a subtle, fleeting trace of qi. His mind shuddered, while his heart suddenly became a mirror lake, utterly without ripples.
Besides deliberately restraining his qi and concealing himself, he also drove the Emperor's Qi Gazing Technique to its limits, constantly adjusting himself to blend into the world around him. He became a part of heaven and earth—formless, traceless, everywhere and nowhere.
Even when crossing the final line of defense at the Zhou Residence, Meng Zhao had not used this concealment art fused with the Emperor's Qi Gazing Technique. Clearly, there was something extraordinary here, making him instinctively double his caution.
*It's that bloody, vicious, sinister