Attending the Banquet

Inside the training room.

In the corner by the window, beneath the stove, the coal fire burned brightly, and a pot of iron sand and miscellaneous materials was emitting billowing heat.

On the other side, Uncle Zheng had found some remaining stock of aged medicinal herbs and was adding them into the iron pot.

"Young Master, it is ready."

"This old servant will go and prepare the rest."

Seeing Feng Xiu walk in, Uncle Zheng cupped his hands and then took his leave.

Feng Xiu nodded, ignoring the scalding iron sand as he reached out, curled his fingers, and tempered his Bone Refining Claw within the iron bones.

With the inspiration from the martial arts killing move he had just created, Feng Xiu polished his hands with the external materials.

With every stir, he utilized the dantian qi and blood circulation method of the Tyrant Fist, mobilizing the qi and blood throughout his entire body to flow toward his palms in the manner of five-fold force.

The rough, grinding sensation originally felt in the bone joints instantly dissipated, and wisps of restless, violent qi and blood spread throughout both arms.

He did not know how much time had passed before a light screen flashed suddenly in Feng Xiu's mind.

[Life: 20]

[Spirit: 7]

[Strength: 16]

[Agility: 9]

[Technique Record: None]

[Recorded: Bone Refining Claw (Proficient, Strength +2, Life +3)]

[Wind Chasing Step (Small Success, Agility +2)]

[Synthesis: Not yet reached the pinnacle (Unavailable)]

[Ultimate: Vajra Finger Blade]

[Martial Arts Killing Move: Vajra Bone-Breaking]

Immediately following this, the sensation of qi and blood in his palms grew significantly stronger, and the rough, grinding sensation in his bone joints vanished instantly.

Wisps of restless, violent qi and blood spread throughout his entire arms.

Feng Xiu's heart shifted as he sank his consciousness into his perception; his arm muscles tensed, and the qi and blood surged up by the dantian Tyrant Fist seemed to become more solidified.

It was as if it had solidified, appearing to be permanently stalled.

"Compression, explosion—is this qi and blood flow sluggish at the Yangchi and Quchi points along the Three Yin Meridians of the Hand?"

Suddenly, Feng Xiu recalled what Xiang Geng had said earlier: to first rush the qi and blood upward and see how far it could go.

Then, one had to construct blood gates at the corresponding acupoints, but this step was extremely difficult; however, Feng Xiu had thought of a different approach.

"Using qi as a lock and blood as a weave—I could learn from a spider's web. First, use qi to lock the flow of blood, then slowly fill it with blood until it transforms into a blood gate qi lock."

Immediately, thoughts flashed through Feng Xiu's mind, and he once again mobilized the qi and blood in his arms to gather at the two core acupoints.

Suddenly, a sense of heaviness struck him, as if his arms had been burdened with a thousand pounds of force.

Feng Xiu tried slowly; this step was not difficult, and after the condensation was complete, that sense of heaviness did not dissipate.

"Four blood gates—this means that if I unleash my full power, the might of the Vajra Bone-Breaking could be even greater?"

Feng Xiu pondered in his heart, reaching out to touch the acupoints beneath the skin of his arms; the bronze skin appeared ordinary.

But with a slight press, it brought a soft yet firm sensation like a balloon, as if it were an air membrane.

Feng Xiu smiled; there was no need to test it, for the terrifying impact of the qi and blood after the blood gates exploded would be immense.

If this were added to his moves, he would have the confidence to suppress Feng Shouzhuo's Dragon Snake Combined Seal from yesterday with a single arm!

"The concept of the Tyrant Fist is initially formed, but... hiss~"

Before the surprise on Feng Xiu's face could fade, a higher martial arts variant based on his own changes emerged in his mind.

"Coagulating blood to gather force, converging blood into force—can this quality-changing force above qi and blood treat the blood gate qi locks as force nodes?"

"As long as there are enough blood gate qi locks, the amount of qi and blood force stored will be greater?!"

"Essentially, this is just dispersing the impurities of one's own qi and blood. Without needing to disperse one's cultivation, can I perfectly reach the stage of simultaneous cultivation of force and energy?"

"I could completely try to condense a qi lock at the heart, using this as a connection point to construct other blood gates?"

If this line of reasoning could work, he could completely store force in advance while still in the Body Refining realm.

When he truly broke through to Blood Burning, while others had one layer of force, he could have three or five!

Feng Xiu's eyes gradually brightened; just thinking about it made his body feel excited.

There is no so-called early, middle, or late stage for the Blood Burning force in martial arts, but generally, practical combat assessment is still based on the quality of one's own force.

According to Xiang Geng, cultivating nine layers of force is the limit of the Blood Burning realm.

This is because one must constantly dissipate and compress their total blood-qi to forge new forms of power.

If one pushes further, the skeletal frame will be the first to fail, and the impurities accumulated from one's own blood-qi will only increase.

Whether his body could withstand it was not a concern for Feng Xiu.

At the very least, judging by the recent experiment, this line of reasoning was sound.

Xiang Geng had advised Feng Xiu that while the concept of the Tyrant Fist could indeed dominate the Body Refining realm—as the blood-gate locking the blood-qi would be nearly unstoppable once released—it was flawed.

Ultimately, the blood-gate would lead to poor circulation of blood-qi, especially after reaching the Blood Burning realm.

If the blood-qi within the body does not circulate naturally and is instead obstructed by a blood-gate, impurities will inevitably accumulate over time.

Feng Xiu had indeed followed Xiang Geng's advice, condensing his blood-qi first to prepare for cultivating multiple types of power in the future.

But little did Xiang Geng know, Feng Xiu was even more insane than he imagined; he had constructed a blood-gate directly within his heart!

After all, the heart is the source of all blood supply.

The heart-blood surging from the heart is the most refined; since it has not yet circulated through the meridians, the issue of impurities does not exist.

Furthermore, as Feng Xiu condenses other blood-gates later, this will also greatly alleviate the problem of impurity accumulation.

Of course, this idea still did not completely solve the accumulation problem of the Blood Burning realm.

It merely eliminated the hidden danger that the Tyrant Fist's blood-gate would accelerate the formation of impurities.

After calming his mind slightly, Feng Xiu continued to soak in the medicinal liquid until his palms had fully absorbed it.

Only then did he slowly withdraw his cultivation.

"The qi has reached the Guanyuan point, but it can still be settled further," Feng Xiu muttered to himself.

As things stood, he was still not prepared to break through to the Blood Burning realm, even though his sense of blood-qi had reached its absolute peak.

With the concept of the Tyrant Fist, he could fully utilize his surging, boiling blood-qi to fill and cultivate new blood-gate qi-locks.

"If it doesn't work, I'll just cripple my foundation and re-condense my blood-qi!"

A flash of ruthlessness crossed Feng Xiu's eyes; with the clan's unlimited martial resources supporting him and the system panel as a safety net, he was truly not afraid of taking the wrong path. At worst, he would just start over.

If he could not reap the rewards he desired in the martial path, he would never be reconciled!

Knock, knock, knock.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door.

"Eldest Young Master, your formal attire is ready," Uncle Zheng's aged voice spoke.

"Good, I'm coming."

Feng Xiu cast his thoughts aside, rose to push open the door, and followed Uncle Zheng into the bedroom.

At this moment, inside the bedroom, a delicate maid held a brown wooden tray containing a set of robes.

Three other women stood by to serve.

"Young Master, let us serve you," one of the maids said softly.

This Heyang Elegant Banquet was a gathering organized by the younger generation of the Wu Clan, so they naturally could not be sloppy regarding attire.

Feng Xiu opened his arms, allowing the maids behind him to gently drape him in a deep cyan robe.

The fabric of the robe was extremely exquisite, made of cloud brocade produced in Shu Province, embroidered with patterns of flowing clouds in the dark weave. The collar and cuffs were slightly stiff, trimmed with a circle of pale gold velvet.

The belt buckle was made of warm, white jade, and after all his personal accessories were donned, a full half-cup of tea time had passed.

Afterward, Uncle Zheng looked him up and down, his expression quite satisfied.

He gestured for Feng Xiu to come before the full-length bronze mirror. "Eldest Young Master, take a look for yourself."

Feng Xiu looked up and was slightly startled by the figure reflected in the mirror.

Is this me?

His face was masculine, his features handsome, his back straight, and his eyes held a profound depth, seemingly carrying a sharp, imposing aura.

The three maids beside him had their mouths slightly agape, their eyes fixed on him.

The Eldest Young Master usually spent his time either training or handling affairs, so they never had the chance to get close. Dressed up like this today, he looked as if he had stepped right out of a painting.

Honestly, Feng Xiu had never really paid much attention to his own appearance, feeling it was a bit too rugged.

His height was nothing special, but this restrained, martial aura gave him a truly unique presence.

"Eldest Young Master, put these on as well."

At this moment, Uncle Zheng nodded with a smile and picked up a pair of exquisitely crafted pitch-black gloves from the table nearby.

"What are these?" Feng Xiu asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Eldest Young Master, Master Black came by last night and said these were the things you had previously arranged for him to find."

Feng Xiu suddenly realized.

He had long since forgotten about that—the conversation he had with Master Black in the bamboo forest.

Feng Xiu's arrangement was merely based on using a trivial matter to demonstrate his intention to cooperate with Master Black; he hadn't actually intended to keep the item.

That was what led to the aftermath, where Master Black, having agreed, instantly tossed out a piece of bombshell intelligence.

Truth be told, given Master Black's attitude, Feng Xiu didn't harbor much dislike for him.

Suppressing his thoughts, Feng Xiu reached through; the leather was supple and conformed to his palm, not hindering his movement in the slightest.

On the back of the gloves, a few simple patterns were embroidered with silver thread, and after flexing his fingers slightly, he was quite satisfied.

"Prepare the horses; we're heading to the Wu Clan Manor outside the city."