Squandering His Talent, Martial Hall Exchange Meeting

"Hm?"

The instant he said that, Su Chen felt as though Hong Ming's beard was about to stand on end. The smile on Hong Ming's face instantly fell away.

Then his small eyes gleamed with an intimidating light as he stared at Su Chen for a long while.

A quiet voice sounded. "Xiao Chen, you have excellent talent and will surpass me sooner or later. Relying solely on medicine may speed up your cultivation, but it's putting the cart before the horse."

"Master Hong, I..." Su Chen opened his mouth, wanting to speak.

He knew Hong Ming meant well and was touched by his concern, but he really did need the Qi Blood Powder.

His mind whirled with thoughts. Just as Su Chen came up with a reason to explain himself to Hong Ming, Hong Ming sighed. "Forget it, forget it. I can give you the medicine, but..."

"Thank you, Master Hong!" Su Chen said gratefully before Hong Ming could finish.

Hong Ming, whose face had been taut, suddenly broke into a smile. He shook his head and laughed. "Don't get too excited. There are conditions."

"What conditions?"

Seeing Su Chen's eagerness, Hong Ming took his time, drawing out the suspense a little. Then he slowly raised two fingers. "There are two conditions."

Su Chen said nothing, waiting for Hong Ming to continue.

Hong Ming went on. "First, there'll be a Martial Hall Exchange Meeting in our city a month from now. I want you to go and make your master proud."

A Martial Hall Exchange Meeting?

Su Chen was taken aback, but still said nothing, listening quietly.

"As for the second condition, you have to move into the Martial Hall. Starting today, I'll make sure you keep up with your martial training."

After Hong Ming finished, he looked at Su Chen, waiting for his reply.

Of the two conditions, the one he truly cared about was the latter.

The so-called Martial Hall Exchange Meeting was nothing more than a group of Martial Hall disciples sparring, then bragging about their respective halls.

It held little appeal for him. He would be happier simply having a talented disciple.

Su Chen's talent was even a little better than Qin Hao's, which made the half-century-old Hong Ming want to devote himself to nurturing him.

That was why he wanted Su Chen to move into the Martial Hall, where it would be easier to guide his cultivation.

Just imagine: Su Chen had made such rapid progress without training hard. Wouldn't he improve even faster if he applied himself?

Every time Hong Ming thought of Su Chen's lax attitude toward cultivation, his heart ached. What a waste of talent!

Su Chen fell into thought. The first condition was easy enough. It was probably just a martial arts spar, a piece of cake for him.

The second was what made things difficult.

Moving into the Martial Hall and being kept under Hong Ming's watch meant sacrificing a great deal of free time, while the results would be negligible.

"Oh, there's one more thing I should tell you. This time, I can only give you three doses of Qi Blood Powder. If you want more, you'll probably have to wait a while," Hong Ming said casually.

"Only three doses?" Su Chen's brow furrowed slightly.

Seeing this, Hong Ming explained irritably, "You think Qi Blood Powder is that easy to prepare? I had to squeeze these three doses out!"

Su Chen gave an awkward smile. Three doses was three doses. It was better than nothing.

Then his expression turned serious. "Master, since you've compromised on the medicine you're giving me, why don't we compromise on the conditions too? I'll agree to the first one, but the second..."

After some haggling between Su Chen and Hong Ming, Hong Ming finally agreed to give him three doses of Qi Blood Powder.

But besides attending the Martial Hall Exchange Meeting, Su Chen would also have to visit the Martial Hall every seven days so Hong Ming could check on his progress.

Once they had reached an agreement, Hong Ming took out three doses of medicine and handed them to Su Chen, warning him, "Medicinal ingredients are ultimately external aids. Use them with discretion."

"Yes, Master!"

A warm current passed through Su Chen's heart, and he thanked Hong Ming gratefully.

A short while later, Su Chen left the Martial Hall and returned home with three packets of medicine. He couldn't wait to boil them.

Drawing on his experience from the previous attempts, he quickly brewed a fresh bowl of medicinal soup. Su Chen picked it up and drank it in one go.

As he drank more and more Qi Blood Powder, Su Chen's body seemed to adapt to the surging flow of qi and blood. In less than the time it took an incense stick to burn, he had recovered completely.

Fortunately, the panel's changes were real. After he drank a bowl of medicinal soup, his progress increased by exactly one dose's worth.

There are still two doses left. Even after drinking them all, I'll still be two doses short. If Master Hong was right, I'll have to wait until a month from now to get more.

How about I see whether the Blood Replenishing Medicine at the medical clinic works? It's all meant to replenish qi and blood, so maybe it'll help!

Su Chen pondered over it. Being stuck two doses short was frustrating.

He wanted to finish the progress for ten doses as soon as possible, so he could see what changed once he mastered the Iron Cloth Skill.

After turning it over in his mind, he came up with only two options.

One was to buy Blood Replenishing Medicine from the medical clinic. The other was to show Hong Ming his progress again after some time and ask for more Qi Blood Powder.

The first required money; the second required time.

"I'll go to the medical clinic tomorrow and buy a dose of Blood Replenishing Medicine to try."

Since he had drunk the Qi Blood Powder, Su Chen wasn't very hungry.

After a simple meal of leftovers from lunch, he read some medical texts and studied the Disguise Technique for a while before going to bed.

Early the next morning, Su Chen boiled the Blood Replenishing Medicine he had bought from the medical clinic. It, too, became a bowl of medicinal soup.

After drinking it, Su Chen looked at the panel, and his expression immediately turned grave.

There wasn't the slightest change on the panel, which left Su Chen rather helpless. He didn't know whether the Blood Replenishing Medicine was insufficient or simply didn't meet the panel's requirements.

To test his theory, Su Chen used up the remaining two doses of Blood Replenishing Medicine. This time, the panel did change.

...Iron Cloth Skill Fragment 0 times (8.1/10 portions of Qi and Blood Medicine/per time)

"Three doses of Blood Replenishing Medicine only increased my progress by 0.1. That's a huge difference."

Su Chen grumbled helplessly. He had originally thought of buying Blood Replenishing Medicine as a substitute for Qi and Blood Medicine, but it seemed he was better off waiting a while.

"And those three doses of Blood Replenishing Medicine cost me one tael of silver. That means I'd have to spend at least four hundred taels to fill the progress bar!

The medical clinic does have better Blood Replenishing Medicine, but it'll definitely cost even more. With my current finances, I probably can't afford it."

Su Chen shook his head and sighed. He soon made up his mind. "I'll earn money while buying medicine. Making progress on both fronts should be faster."

That afternoon, Su Chen changed into a different outfit and returned to his old line of work.

Passing the government office, he glanced at the Wanted List and saw that the latest wanted notice was still from a month ago. He had no choice but to give up.

Without the Misty Rain Pavilion as his intelligence network, finding the other party would take who knew how long.

After leaving the city, Su Chen headed straight for Lin Family Fortress. An hour later, he returned.

After all this time, the Misty Rain Pavilion was still closed. It looked like it wouldn't be reopening anytime soon.

By the time he got back to the city, the sky had already darkened, so Su Chen could only head home.

"Huh?"

But on the way back, Su Chen unexpectedly spotted someone he knew.

"Senior Brother Li Mo!"

At the far end of the street, Li Mo was strolling with a woman. They looked to be chatting and laughing together.

After glancing over a few times, Su Chen shook his head and turned away. His figure disappeared into the night.