Northern Qi Meditation Qi

"You cursed me?"

The young man abruptly straightened up, his sharp gaze fixed on Li Musheng.

Li Musheng raised a brow and narrowed his eyes.

"I was only telling the truth. If you don't believe it... well, then don't."

As he spoke, he turned to the young eunuch who had stopped ahead.

"No need to lead the way. Just tell me which room I'm staying in."

Hearing this, the young eunuch hurriedly turned back and bowed, handing Li Musheng a jade token at the same time.

"Young Master is assigned Room Seventeen of the East Building. This is the door token. Should you require anything, you may go to the room at the end of the corridor and instruct the servants."

After saying, "This servant takes his leave," the young eunuch turned and left without looking back.

At that moment, Li Musheng turned to the young man.

"Try pressing the spot between your Chest Center Acupoint and Dove Tail Acupoint. Does it feel like a burst of needle-pricking pain?"

The young man's expression froze. He stared at Li Musheng for a while and saw that he looked entirely composed, not like he was spouting nonsense.

After hesitating for a moment, he put away his folding fan and cautiously reached out to lightly press the spot Li Musheng had indicated.

Yet in the next instant, the young man's face turned deathly pale as he cried out in pain. Then his head lolled to one side, and he fainted on the spot.

Li Musheng blinked at the sight.

"This kid's way too weak, isn't he?"

At that moment, the young eunuch, who had already gone far away, suddenly turned at the sound. His figure vanished from where he stood, and after several flickers, he arrived beside the young man.

The young eunuch seized the other man's wrist and immediately sent true qi into him to examine his condition.

Before long, a strange look appeared on his face.

"His pulse is steady, his breathing normal, and his blood qi abundant. Why did he faint?"

As he spoke, he looked back at Li Musheng, who shook his head.

"I didn't touch him. Why don't you investigate his Pericardium Meridian through his Heavenly Spring Acupoint?"

The young eunuch frowned at this, but he still injected true qi and did as instructed.

But in the very next instant, his expression changed drastically, and he jerked his fingers back.

A thread of black mist surged out in reverse from the young man's Heavenly Spring Acupoint. Following the true qi released from his fingers, it coiled upward like creeping vines and reached his wrist in the blink of an eye.

Though the young eunuch did not know what this black qi was, he could guess it was certainly no good thing.

He immediately mobilized the true qi within his dantian, intending to expel the black mist from his hand.

However, to his surprise, the black mist was like maggots gnawing at the bone. Not only did it merge into his true qi, it also invaded his meridians at an alarming speed.

The young eunuch was instantly terrified. Just as he had no idea what to do, a hand behind him lightly patted his shoulder.

Then he saw that the thread of black mist that had already invaded the meridians of his right arm vanished without a trace in an instant.

He clenched and unclenched his hand in astonishment, as though what had just happened had merely been an illusion and the black mist had never appeared at all.

The young eunuch turned around and looked at the handsome, calm-faced Li Musheng. Coming back to his senses, he hurriedly rose and bowed.

"Thank you for saving this servant, Young Master. This servant is deeply grateful."

Li Musheng casually waved a hand and pointed at the young man sprawled on the ground.

"I'll leave this person to you."

With that, he turned and left. Yet halfway there, he suddenly looked back.

"Oh, right. I didn't do this to him. If you want to know what happened, you'll have to get to the bottom of it through him."

"But I advise you to hurry. Once six hours have passed, he'll be beyond saving."

At these words, the young eunuch's expression changed. He opened his mouth, wanting to ask something.

But Li Musheng ignored him, spinning the jade token around his fingertips as he continued toward his room.

The young eunuch glanced back at the young man on the floor and frowned. Still, he reached down, hoisted him onto his back, and rushed toward the room at the end of the side corridor.

The Heavenly Brocade Guard was a special organization personally established by Emperor Yuanwu. It held the authority to inspect the civil and military officials of the court and the whole of Great Li on his behalf, while also serving as a killing weapon that upheld imperial power.

Not only did it contain many martial arts experts, but all its members cultivated supreme martial arts collected in the Great Li Martial Vault. Its overall strength was no weaker than that of the Imperial Secret Police.

Furthermore, the Heavenly Brocade Guard was divided into the Inner Guard and Outer Guard. The Inner Guard consisted of palace eunuchs with exceptional innate talent and answered only to Emperor Yuanwu.

The Outer Guard was made up of elite troops selected from the military. They were spread throughout Great Li's important prefectures and cities, watching over the realm and gathering intelligence on the people and officials of every region.

Inside the incense-scented room, An Quan, the chief eunuch of the Directorate of Palace Ceremonial, opened his eyes and stopped cultivating the Sunflower Yin Manual.

At that moment, the young eunuch hurriedly rushed into the outer chamber with the unconscious young man on his back, drawing the attention of several eunuchs in the room.

"Little Anzi, what happened?"

An Quan pushed open the door to the inner chamber and looked at the young man on the young eunuch's back.

Little Anzi put the man down, then hurriedly recounted everything that had happened in the corridor, leaving out not a single detail.

"You only recently entered the Innate Realm, but you are still a genuine Innate expert. Yet you couldn't deal with a mere lingering thread of black qi?"

An Quan furrowed his exceedingly sparse brows, a trace of surprise in his shrill voice.

Then, in a few strides, he reached the young man's side. Just as he extended a hand to examine his Heavenly Spring Acupoint, Little Anzi hurriedly spoke up.

"Godfather, be careful. That black qi is extremely strange and difficult to handle."

An Quan sneered.

"You think too little of your godfather. This household already has one foot in the martial realm of an Innate Grandmaster. Mere black qi is nothing to worry about."

With that, a stream of Yin Sunflower True Qi shot from An Quan's fingertip. Its icy aura made the surrounding air turn several degrees colder.

His fingertip left an afterimage as it stabbed down in a flash, precisely injecting that Yin Sunflower True Qi into the young man's Heavenly Spring Acupoint.

Just as expected, another thread of black mist surged back out from the acupoint, immediately intending to coil upward along the Yin Sunflower True Qi at An Quan's fingertip.

At the sight, An Quan seemed to recognize something. He decisively cut off the Yin Sunflower True Qi at his fingertip in time, while he himself abruptly retreated several steps, distancing himself from the young man lying on the ground.

"Northern Qi Meditation Qi?"

After coming to a stop, the chief eunuch An Quan's expression shifted unpredictably. The surrounding eunuchs had no idea what had happened and did not dare make a sound.

Only Little Anzi, seeing that his godfather was clearly somewhat rattled, carefully asked:

"Godfather, what is Northern Qi Meditation Qi?"

At these words, An Quan regained some of his composure. He paced around the young man on the ground, cautiously examining him from all sides as he spoke.

"Northern Qi Meditation Qi was one of the supreme secret arts of the former Great Qi Imperial Court. It was lost after Great Qi fell, yet I never expected it to appear on this man today."