The Missing Young Girl Raises Suspicions; Chen Duan Disperses His Cultivation to Probe the Source

The man known as "Yang Erlang" was actually named Yang Shude.

He was the one who had taken Little Bell in just recently.

Yang Shude had once received a great favor from Qi Baorui in his early years, and the two families had always kept in touch.

Though Qi Baorui had already prepared himself, hearing this still made his vision go black.

"Don't panic. Tell me slowly—what happened?"

Qi Baorui soothed Yang Shude.

Though his own heart was in turmoil, he could only force himself to remain calm at this moment.

The more it was like this, the less they could afford to panic.

Being "anxious" would not solve anything.

The little girl who always wore a red dress had been Zhong Shou's most beloved child during his lifetime.

Qi Baorui had once heard Zhong Shou mention that Little Bell was the daughter of one of his sworn brothers.

That was why, when arranging homes for those children, Qi Baorui had paid special attention to Little Bell and ultimately entrusted her to the well-off, kindhearted Yang Shude.

Who would have thought that something would happen so soon after she was sent there?

"Elder Brother Qi, I only turned around for a moment, and she was gone.

I thought... I thought the child had run off somewhere to play... Ah! It's all my fault, all my fault!"

As Yang Shude spoke, he fiercely slapped himself across the face.

Qi Baorui stopped him from harming himself and turned his gaze toward Luo Sanshui beside them.

After the upheaval at the Zhong Residence, with Qi Baorui's support, Luo Sanshui had opened a school.

The children from the Zhong Residence still attended classes there and could continue playing together as usual.

Luo Sanshui frowned deeply, his expression grave. "There is something suspicious about this. About two days ago, I noticed something was wrong. Several unfamiliar men had been wandering outside the school, and their movements were highly suspicious.

I sensed something unusual at the time, so I specifically told the guards to keep a closer watch and stay alert. I suspect Little Bell's disappearance may be connected to those men."

"Oh?" A cold gleam flashed through Qi Baorui's eyes.

"Mr. Luo, do you still remember what those people looked like?"

"I had people draw portraits based on the descriptions given by the guards and myself."

Luo Sanshui had come prepared and took out several portraits.

The moment he learned this morning that the girl had gone missing, he had immediately gone to arrange it.

"I also had Brother Yang identify them beforehand. He seemed to have a vague impression of one or two among them."

Qi Baorui took the portraits, studied them carefully for a few moments, then neatly folded them and tucked them into his robes.

"Good. I will investigate this immediately. Mr. Luo, I'll have to trouble you to take greater care of the other children at the school.

Please also remind the other families who have taken in children."

"Alright."

The wooden stick tore through the air in a sweeping arc, sending snow on the ground swirling up.

[Startling Wind Sword +10%]

[Startling Wind Sword (100%, Third Level) → Startling Wind Sword (Mastery) {Cannot be improved further}]

[True Cultivation Technique "Startling Wind Sword" has broken through to the Mastery realm, Potential +285]

[Potential: 14327 + 285 → 14612]

Chen Duan withdrew his stance. The wooden stick in his hand was still trembling, unwilling to settle.

Inner force clung to the wooden stick.

After this period of training, this casually snapped-off stick had, under the nurturing of Startling Wind Sword inner force, become his "life-bound sword."

Of course, Chen Duan knew perfectly well that if this thing truly clashed with a divine weapon, it would likely break after only a few exchanges.

He had once heard Wu Sheng mention swordsmen in the Jianghu who could "pluck leaves and toss flowers, and all could become swords."

But through his practice of the Startling Wind Sword, he felt that such methods were most likely due to the nature of their inner force.

At the very least, the Startling Wind Sword followed a traditional path. It still needed a weapon with the proper shape of a sword to unleash its greatest power.

With a thought, Chen Duan forced out a strand of Fuhu Fist True Qi and wound it around the wooden stick.

He casually swung it, drawing a line ahead of him.

Screech!

A mark more than an inch deep was plowed into the ground.

Using Fuhu True Qi to drive sword moves produced fairly decent power.

Yet when the sword swung out, he still felt a trace of resistance, preventing the full power of Fuhu True Qi from being unleashed.

It was the Startling Wind Sword's inner force instinctively obstructing the Fuhu True Qi.

Even though the Fuhu Fist inner force, under Chen Duan's control, showed not the slightest hostility toward the Startling Wind Sword inner force, the rejection stemming from the Cultivation Technique itself remained.

Feeling the True Qi wrapped around the wooden stick, Chen Duan fell into deep thought.

The fusion of inner force.

It was a question he had begun contemplating long ago.

Was inner force part of a Martial Master? Or was it some independent parasite?

"Perhaps I can try dispersing my cultivation."

Dispersing cultivation was a timeworn topic in the Martial World.

Martial Masters often chose to disperse their original cultivation in order to change allegiances and practice a more suitable, more powerful true Cultivation Technique.

But dispersing cultivation was not simple arithmetic. It affected the human body.

Once inner force was cultivated, it was like ink stains left on a sheet of white paper.

It participated in reshaping the skin, flesh, tendons, and bones. To forcibly erase those traces and reverse that process was undoubtedly an act that defied the natural order.

Of course, the wisdom of Martial Masters was boundless, and there were all manner of secret medicines and miraculous prescriptions that could lessen the effects of dispersing cultivation to a certain extent.

Chen Duan considered it, then began focusing his mind.

He chose the lowest-level Lingyan Step as his target.

He would first test the waters with this First Level true Cultivation Technique. Even if he dispersed it, there was nothing to regret.

Calming his mind and focusing his spirit, he locked his intent onto the Lingyan Step inner force.

Chen Duan made no preparations to reduce the effects of dispersing cultivation, because what he wanted was to examine the nature of inner force at close range without interference from External Objects.

At his command, the Lingyan Step inner force began to "dissolve" in a strange manner.

It was not collapsing, but rather like ice and snow beneath sunlight, changing from an orderly structure into a disorderly "fluid."

At the same time, the skin and membranes on his legs, which had been imprinted by the Lingyan Step inner force, began to experience faint abnormalities.

Fortunately, the primary foundation throughout Chen Duan's body had been tempered repeatedly by Fuhu Fist inner force.

The other Cultivation Techniques were more like "lodgers." They had merely opened channels through his body for their circulation and left behind a few superficial marks.

Therefore, dispersing this mere Lingyan Step inner force affected him far less than he had expected.

Before long, the Lingyan Step inner force had decomposed, turning into a mass of intangible, formless "impurities" that Chen Duan could nevertheless sense.

Like a body that had lost its soul, it was mixed into his flesh.

Strangely, this mass of "impurities" seemed to be freely controllable by him.

After a brief thought, Chen Duan understood why. This thing had completely lost the "autonomy" of inner force and become the most primitive unit of energy.

Yet though he could control it, it was useless.

Chen Duan tried to execute the Lingyan Step techniques.

Though he remembered every movement principle of the footwork with perfect clarity, he could no longer produce the effects of Lingyan Step. It was nothing more than an empty shell.

At that moment, the panel appeared.

[Potential: 14327 - 103 → 14224]

Chen Duan's gaze sharpened.

Potential had decreased instead?

This was the first time he had encountered a reduction in Potential.

Those 103 points were precisely the total Potential gained from Lingyan Step, from Entry Level to Mastery.

He tried to gather the Lingyan Step inner force again, but a broken mirror could not be made whole. That mass of "impurities" could no longer return to its original structure.

Next, he guided several other strands of inner force out of the Blood Worm and brought them into contact with that mass of "Lingyan Step impurities."

Just as expected.

Other than the Fuhu Fist inner force, every other kind of inner force displayed an obvious "appetite" toward that mass of "impurities."

Yet amid that pure "appetite," Chen Duan unexpectedly caught a trace of something unusual.