Continued Conflict

After Jiang Liu finished three rounds of the Five Elements Fist, perhaps because he had mastered its fundamentals, his physical condition had improved considerably.

After three rounds, he did not even feel his blood and qi depleted.

Jiang Liu carefully savored the refreshing sensation brought by breathing with his lungs, slowly regulating his breath.

As he circulated the Five Elements Fist breathing method, he sensed faint threads of blood and qi being stimulated from his heart, flowing through the Meridians and blood vessels throughout his body before finally returning to his heart.

After the Five Elements Fist had become second nature to him last night, the system had crammed the perfect method of circulating it straight into Jiang Liu's mind.

Jiang Liu did not know how others cultivated the Five Elements Fist.

But he knew that his own method of cultivation ought to be the most perfect.

After all, it had come from the Auxiliary System. Products of the system ought to be premium goods, right?

That afternoon,

Because he was being punished, he had no medicinal soup at lunch to replenish his blood and qi, so he could only practice the basic fist technique.

Jiang Liu slowly performed the basic fist technique once, then exhaled a breath of stale air. Without medicinal soup to nourish me, my blood and qi really can't keep up.

What could he do? Jiang Liu pondered. Right—the Medicine Hall's Uncle Hai.

The square was now filled with people freely cultivating, and nobody was overseeing them at all. They practiced on their own now. If they had questions, they would usually go to Master Ma's courtyard, or ask Xiao Qing. They only gathered together in the morning.

Jiang Liu ran into the Medicine Hall and saw Uncle Hai holding a medical text, reading it with great relish.

He sidled up with a flattering smile. "Uncle Hai! Do you still remember me?"

Hearing this, Uncle Hai raised his head and blanked out for a moment before saying, "Oh! I remember now. Jiang Liu, right? The Drug-receptive constitution I tested a few days ago. What do you need from me?"

Jiang Liu gave an awkward laugh. "Uncle Hai, you know I have a Drug-receptive constitution, so my need for medicinal soups is rather great. Do you have any of those...?"

Uncle Hai rapped Jiang Liu on the head with his medical text. "You brat, instead of learning anything good, you learned from Lin Hai how to come mooching off me!"

"Fine! Since this old man likes you, I'll let you have it cheap this once."

"Er Gou! Bring over a serving of the brewed Blood Activating Concoction."

"Once you finish drinking it, get out of here quickly. If you linger too long, people will wag their tongues behind my back and say this old man is using public resources for private favors."

Uncle Hai spoke irritably.

Jiang Liu took the Blood Activating Concoction and drank it in one gulp. Though it was not the medicinal soup paired with the Five Elements Fist, it was still highly effective at restoring blood and qi. He immediately felt the blood and qi throughout his body begin circulating rapidly.

Jiang Liu hurriedly thanked Uncle Hai, then ran out and performed one round of the Five Elements Fist before the boiling blood and qi in his body settled down somewhat.

Uncle Hai watched Jiang Liu's departing back with amusement. He sighed, youth truly was wonderful! What a pity he did not have much time left here.

When Jiang Liu left the square, the Pan Family brothers, who had been keeping an eye on him, immediately noticed.

The Pan Family brothers followed Jiang Liu and saw him enter the Medicine Hall.

Pan Hou ground his teeth and said resentfully, "We were punished together, but he secretly ran off to the Medicine Hall. There must be something fishy going on! Big Brother, should we report him?"

"Report him? How would you report him? Do you have evidence? Stop doing things that offend people for no reason. Uncle Hai from the Medicine Hall is not someone easy to provoke!" Pan Duan said unhappily.

"Then what do we do? Are we just letting him off like this?" Pan Hou asked unwillingly.

"Let him off like this? How could that be? Don't we still have to drink medicinal soup tonight? We'll deal with him then!" Pan Duan said with a vicious expression.

When Jiang Liu returned to the square, he saw Wang Zhuang resting. Embarrassed, he said, "Sorry, brother! I got you dragged into this!"

"It's fine, isn't it just two fewer rounds of fist practice? Where did you go just now?" Wang Zhuang asked indifferently.

"I... I went to relieve myself just now!" Jiang Liu still did not want to mention going to the Medicine Hall. There were too many people with too many mouths in the square; he feared word would spread and cause trouble for Uncle Hai.

That night, after Jiang Liu finished drinking his medicinal soup in the Dining Hall and prepared to return to cultivate, he was surrounded by Pan Duan and several others the moment he left the Dining Hall courtyard.

"You bastard! Let's see who can save you this time!" Pan Hou said arrogantly.

Jiang Liu saw that the situation was bad! He immediately circulated his blood and qi, curled his hand into a claw, and while Pan Hou was caught off guard, seized him by the throat and exerted force.

At once, Pan Hou's throat made gagging noises as his eyes rolled back.

Seeing this, Pan Duan immediately shouted, "Jiang Liu, you'd better let go of my brother right now! Otherwise, I won't let you off easy!"

Jiang Liu continued applying force with one hand as he said, "Go on, tell me! How exactly won't you let me off easy? I have time to listen!"

The Pan Family's lackeys also shouted, "Jiang Liu, if you know what's good for you, let go of Second Young Master immediately! Otherwise, we'll make you regret ever coming into this world!"

Jiang Liu said unconcernedly, "Before I start regretting anything, you should collect your Second Young Master's corpse first!"