Testing

Xiang Geng smiled. "The young master is devoted to martial arts. Though I'm not as accomplished as the family head, I know a thing or two. If you have time, I'd be glad to discuss them with you."

The medicine tub and secluded training spot made it clear that he intended to focus on his cultivation.

Feng Xiu usually stayed at the residence handling affairs, so those of them stationed elsewhere in the family rarely got to see him.

As the undisputed next family head, this was a good opportunity to make a favorable impression in advance.

Feng Xiu readily agreed.

Xiang Geng nodded and took his leave.

After Xiang Geng had bowed out, Feng Xiu moved the round table in the room against the wall, clearing an open space.

He opened the wooden chest and took out a short, dark stone pillar.

The pillar was about as thick as a teacup and six fingers long. Escort guards usually used it to test their grip strength.

Feng Xiu lowered his head, focused his mind, and silently activated the Vajra Finger Blade.

On the thick index finger of his right hand, a curved, sharp nail slowly extended about an inch. It was as dark as black jade, its edge gleaming with a metallic, icy sheen.

Then, a curved, sharp nail slowly extended from the thick index finger of his right hand.

He reached out, pressed it lightly against the smooth stone pillar, and slowly drew it across!

"Shhk~"

At once, he felt resistance against his fingertip, so Feng Xiu applied a little more force.

"Crack."

Tiny chips of stone burst away as a deep groove was forcibly carved into the pillar. It split in two and crashed to the ground.

"The Vajra Finger Blade really is extraordinary."

A smile lifted Feng Xiu's lips, and a glint flashed in his eyes as he sighed.

In a sense, the satisfaction he felt from this gain far surpassed anything he'd experienced in any previous training session.

At last, Feng Xiu had fulfilled the longing that had welled up in him when he first saw Zhou Gang cut through a stone table, and the shock he'd felt at the time.

"Though I did take a bit of a shortcut, it's still more than enough to be a pleasant surprise."

Feng Xiu picked up one of the broken pieces, then held it beside the half in his hand and examined them closely.

Even though the pillar's cut was rough, he liked it more the longer he looked at it, and he fiddled with it for a good while.

"Right, let's test the Nail Bullet, too."

A moment later, Feng Xiu murmured to himself again, unable to keep a flicker of anticipation from rising in his heart.

Next, he placed the larger piece of the pillar on the wooden windowsill, backed away a few steps, and stopped at the edge of the bed.

He held his right arm straight out, turned his palm downward, and pressed his thumb against the base of his middle fingernail.

He drew in a gentle breath. The blood and qi in his chest paused, then erupted with a sudden, powerful surge.

He aimed toward the windowsill and flicked his finger!

Bang~

The middle-finger Nail Bullet shot out at once, its sharp, brief whistle cutting through the air. With a whoosh, the stone pillar jolted.

It clattered to the ground.

Feng Xiu stepped forward to inspect it. The Nail Bullet had sunk deep into the stone, missing a complete breakthrough by a hair.

Even more shocking to him, the violent force carried by the Nail Bullet had passed straight through the stone.

It had struck the wooden eaves behind it, leaving a web of cracks.

"Within ten paces, the force of my finger remains concentrated. Even after piercing stone, it still has power to spare. In terms of sheer lethality, this is enough."

"When necessary, I can use it as a trump card."

"And this is only an ordinary flick powered by my wrist. If I advance to the Blood Burning stage..."

A surge of heat rose in Feng Xiu's heart. "Once I condense my blood and qi into force, its power will probably multiply several times over!"

Blood Burning turned blood and qi into force, flowing without end. Martial Force was a higher-level power born from the transformation of blood and qi.

Feng Xiu had heard Han Che and the others mention that the Blood Burning stage was a watershed separating true martial experts from the rest of the jianghu.

To reach Blood Burning, one first had to build up sufficient blood and qi, but most martial artists could never reach that level in their entire lives.

By a conservative estimate, Feng Xiu had spent more than ten thousand taels on his martial foundation alone.

In Cloud Province, one tael of silver already had tremendous purchasing power. Even Han Che, a sparring partner with real knowledge who held nothing back, earned only two taels a month.

An ordinary person might not save up ten thousand taels in ten lifetimes.

And that didn't even count having a renowned master, a professional sparring partner, profound techniques, and the ability to train without distraction.

After his thoughts passed, Feng Xiu picked up the stone pillar again and tapped it against the table. He removed the Nail Bullet, set it in his palm, and studied it for a while.

Once detached, the Nail Bullet looked considerably duller, but it still felt hard and cold to the touch.

Then he focused his mind and tried to sense it with his blood and qi, but no longer felt the original connection, as if it were part of his flesh and blood.

"Looks like I was overthinking it. If I could control my nails, that'd be far too overpowered, wouldn't it?"

Feng Xiu froze, then shook his head.

Even so, this meant he had gained a concealed, short-range killing technique for future fights to the death.

In close combat, he could also build a system of offense and defense suited to himself, based on his hardened palms.

"Now, as for the regrowth speed..."

Feng Xiu pondered, then held out his right hand again.

As his blood and qi circulated, he deliberately forced out another middle fingernail and examined it closely.

After roughly the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, a new nail slowly grew from the nail bed. At first, it was soft and transparent.

But as blood and qi flowed into it, it gradually hardened and darkened until it had returned to normal.

"It regrows quickly, but the cost is high." Feng Xiu sensed the blood and qi within his body.

Restoring a single nail had consumed about five percent of his blood and qi.

"If I fired all ten nails, I'd probably be drained after one fight. I still need to reach Blood Burning."

Once his excitement had gradually cooled, Feng Xiu held back from taking the Blood Returning Pill right away.

The sky was growing dark.

Xiang Geng sent someone to bring over a medicine tub and hot water. Feng Xiu took the prepared medicinal herbs from the chest, added them to the tub, stripped off his clothes, and climbed in.

Feng Xiu leaned back against the tub wall, his eyes half-closed. He let the scalding medicinal power seep through his pores, speeding its absorption as the blood and qi within him flowed like breath.

With a thought, he summoned the light-screen panel again.

[Life: 17]

[Spirit: 7]

[Strength: 12]

[Agility: 7]

[Technique Record: None]

[Combination: Not yet at the Pinnacle Realm (Unavailable)]

[Supreme Attainment: Vajra Finger Blade]

The few lines of explanatory text that had appeared before were gone. With no technique in the record, Feng Xiu clicked his tongue, feeling strangely empty.

Then his gaze shifted slightly to the Life entry.

"Life force includes blood and qi, but it isn't limited to them. It also includes defense and regeneration speed."

He'd experienced this firsthand while testing the Vajra Finger Blade earlier.

"Cultivating techniques can increase my life force and blood and qi. So the only other options are health-preserving arts and qi-nourishing techniques."

Feng Xiu mused to himself.

"First, I'll use martial arts to shore up my overall qualities and balance out my attributes."

Back when Feng Xiu had raised all three techniques to the Pinnacle Realm, he'd already told Uncle Zheng to look for martial arts manuals.

But there had still been no news, despite Uncle Zheng's savvy and capable handling of affairs.

Feng Xiu suspected he'd misunderstood what Feng Xiu had meant.

Maybe he'd thought that ordinary, run-of-the-mill stuff wouldn't do, and that he should make a grand show of it or something.

"Uncle Zheng, I want ordinary, run-of-the-mill stuff! Golden Bell Shield, Iron Cloth Shirt, anything like that."

The Feng family wasn't a martial clan, so naturally there was no Scripture Pavilion or armory at the residence.

As long as it wasn't the Evil-Warding Sword Technique, he wasn't picky. He'd take whatever came.

The next day, just as the sky began to lighten.

Feng Xiu sat up in bed, with not the slightest urge to linger.

After a month of training, his body had long since grown used to getting up early. If he actually slept in, he felt uncomfortable all over.

He pushed open the door. The cool morning breeze swept over him, carrying the distinctive scent of grass and trees from the countryside. Feng Xiu took a deep breath and felt as if his lungs had been washed clean.

The courtyard was quiet, broken only by the occasional crow of a rooster in the distance.

The sky was growing brighter. The eastern horizon had turned the pale white of a fish's belly, and a few rays of light spilled through gaps in the clouds, falling across the humble earthen houses.

He walked to an open space in the courtyard, stretched his limbs, then assumed the opening stance of the Eight Sections Vajra Skill.

After completing a set, he slowly returned to a relaxed stance.

Feng Xiu let out a long breath. It streamed through the crisp air like an arrow, forming a brief white ribbon.

His breath and intent stirred through his body like a clear, cold spring coursing through his meridians.

Next, Feng Xiu brought up the panel.

Feng Xiu brought up the panel. As expected, the Technique Record showed no response.

He sighed inwardly. Now that the three techniques had fused, he couldn't use this to grind up his attributes anymore.

If he could still raise his progress, he'd dare to go slay a dragon at Tang Reservoir right now.

By then, the Grain Courtyard was gradually filling with the sounds of footsteps and conversation.

The guards got up one after another and drew water from the courtyard well with buckets. Someone, trousers in hand, headed for the latrine.

Smoke rose from the chimney of the kitchen on the west side, and the morning breeze carried the scent of rice porridge.

Before long, Xiang Geng came over carrying a wooden tray. On it sat a bowl of rice porridge, two coarse-grain steamed buns, and a small dish of pickles.

"Young master, have some breakfast first. The countryside is rather crude, so please make do."

Xiang Geng set the tray on the stone table in the courtyard.

Feng Xiu waved a hand and didn't comment.

He picked up his chopsticks and took a bite of pickles. His brow furrowed slightly, but he swallowed it anyway, then drank a bowl of thin porridge.

He finished the porridge in a few quick swallows, stood up, took a piece of blackish-yellow sealwort from his waist pouch, and tossed it into his mouth to chew.

He casually handed a piece to Xiang Geng as well.

"Let's go. Take me to the Dark Canal."

Xiang Geng paused, but accepted it and gave a small nod.

Then he began gathering the men. Once a team of more than twenty had formed up, they set off toward the Dark Canal while the sun was still gentle.

Leaving the Grain Courtyard, Xiang Geng led Feng Xiu away from the village's main road and turned northwest instead.

They followed a dirt ridge half-hidden by weeds, with young green wheat fields on either side.

After about the time it took to burn a stick of incense, the fields grew sparse, giving way to a stretch of scattered rocks.

Smooth river pebbles, rounded by the current, lay scattered across the ground. A broad, long-dried riverbed stretched across their path.

On the far side of the riverbed, the mountainside rose sharply. Dark green vines covered its gray-brown cliffs, and a bamboo grove spread nearby.

The bamboo grew tall and dense. The grove was dim, with only a few shafts of sunlight slipping through the gaps in the leaves.

"This bamboo grove has been here for ages," Xiang Geng said, pointing around them. "The village elders say it was already here in their grandfathers' time."

Feng Xiu looked around. There were several clearings in the grove, varying in size, where villagers had cut down bamboo.

It certainly looked like a good place to practice.

After memorizing the location, Feng Xiu crossed the bamboo grove with the others, and the view suddenly opened up.

A steep cliff stood before them, covered in vines and moss. A dark opening was just visible in its face.

"Young master, be careful."

Xiang Geng pushed aside the vines around the entrance, bent down, and crawled inside, motioning for Feng Xiu to duck.

Once Feng Xiu had entered, the others filed in after him.

It was much cooler inside the cave than outside. Stone surrounded them, and jagged rock formed the ceiling. The farther they went, the darker it grew.

Xiang Geng lit a fire striker, and someone lit several torches to illuminate the way ahead.

After about the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, an enormous iron gate appeared before them.

The gate was huge, almost completely blocking the passage. It was covered in rust, with flakes of iron peeling away to reveal dark-red corrosion underneath.

Dozens of bulging sacks were piled beneath the gate.

Stacked to the height of an adult, they formed a makeshift barrier, blocking the already narrow gap beneath the iron gate.

Below the sacks, water had collected in the path where the underground current had once flowed, pooling in a hollow to the front left and forming a pond roughly five zhang across.

Seeing Feng Xiu's gaze shift, Xiang Geng sent someone over to the pond to shine a torch down into it.

"Young master, look."

The water was emerald-green and murky, its depth impossible to make out. Dark green moss covered the rocks along the pond's edge.

Feng Xiu stepped forward, crouched down, and reached out to feel the water. It was cold.

Before the chill could seep into him, the surge of blood and qi within his body dispersed it.