The Fifth Speck of Radiance

"Madam, one more thing."

Just as the man surnamed Guan was about to take Chen Ye away, Chen Ye spoke up.

Zhou, the widow, raised her eyes to him. "What is it?"

"I need some silver to make preparations in secret," Chen Ye said plainly.

In fact, he wasn't lying.

He did need the silver to redeem lifespan and improve his cultivation so he could face the turmoil ahead.

It was simply not something he could tell anyone.

Zhou assumed he was seizing the chance to line his pockets. She was used to that sort of thing.

And since she did need him now, she asked, "How much?"

"Twenty taels."

Chen Ye had not made an outrageous demand.

Over the past few days, he had observed how things worked in the Capital City.

In an ordinary lesser aristocratic clan, the master of the house might hand out a reward of a few taels, or perhaps a dozen or so, without a second thought.

Twenty taels fell within the normal range for a great clan. If Zhou was willing, she could produce it on the spot.

Any more—dozens or even hundreds of taels—and she would either need to send a personal maid or steward to the accounts office, or draw on her private savings.

If he asked for that much, Zhou might not be so quick to agree.

Even an aristocratic clan could not squander money at will, tossing out hundreds or thousands of taels whenever it pleased.

All things considered, twenty taels was a reasonable request, and the highest sum he reckoned he could get.

Zhou pondered briefly, summoned her personal maid, and had her bring out five silver ingots, which she handed over.

Chen Ye accepted the silver without another word. He silently followed the man surnamed Guan and was locked in a guest room.

On Zhou's orders, Guan assigned two trustworthy but unremarkable household servants to stand guard.

Before leaving, he personally checked the doors and windows. Only after making sure he had missed nothing did he withdraw into hiding and keep silent watch.

At the same time Chen Ye was taken to the guest room, Zhou had quietly set her plan in motion.

Soon, word spread through Feng Mansion that she had taken someone from the Dungeon and held physical evidence linked to the killer.

Chen Ye, who had set it all in motion, knew nothing of it.

The bait had been cast. Now he had to wait for the killer to lose patience and expose himself.

He had done what he could. The rest was up to fate.

By his reckoning, a fierce fight would be unavoidable.

Before then, he needed at least enough strength to protect himself.

In the guest room.

Chen Ye steadied his mind, closed his eyes, and took his stance before the bed, once again practicing the Foundation Cultivation Technique.

This time, he was alone.

He did not avoid the acupoints near his dantian. Instead, he gathered all his True Qi there and boldly stimulated them.

Specks of Radiance rose in succession over four acupoints: Guanyuan, Sea of Qi, Shimen, and Shenque.

In an instant, the warm current inside him surged, growing more powerful still.

Waves of vigorous vitality stirred throughout his flesh.

Heat spread through his body, and sweat broke out.

With the appearance of the Radiance, the injuries he had sustained in the Dungeon began healing before his eyes.

In less time than it took to drink a cup of tea, every injury had vanished without leaving even half a scar.

Chen Ye was astonished.

From what he had learned in secret, no Martial Master could do anything like this.

He suspected it was almost certainly because he possessed True Yang, and he knew he must not reveal that trait lightly.

Otherwise, he would only invite trouble.

Grrr.

His stomach suddenly rumbled.

A fierce hunger seized him, and he desperately wanted to eat.

Since entering the Dungeon, he had had nothing but a bowl of water. Not a grain of rice had passed his lips.

Once the Radiance at his acupoints faded, he went to the door and told those outside what he needed.

Zhou was not stingy.

Before long, a servant carried in a tray piled high with food and set it on the table.

The variety took Chen Ye by surprise.

There was chicken, duck, fish, and meat, with vegetables alongside them. It was the finest meal he had eaten so far.

Chen Ye stood on no ceremony. He swept through it like a gale through fallen leaves and ate his fill.

Afterward, he began another round of cultivation.

Chen Ye opened the Pawn System and, as usual, fed all twenty taels into it, redeeming eighty days of lifespan.

[Remaining lifespan: eight months, fifteen days.]

He weighed his options, calculated how much lifespan he needed to keep in reserve, and decisively pawned half a year for cultivation.

[Six months of lifespan deducted. Six months of cultivation granted.]

His Foundation Cultivation Technique had already reached perfection.

It was not a high-grade martial art and had reached a point where there was nothing left to break through.

Yet pouring half a year's cultivation into it still brought about a change.

Chen Ye found that the meat he had just eaten was digested in an instant, while the vitality in his flesh grew ever stronger.

His blood and qi boiled, vitality surged through him, and he felt as though he were sitting at the mouth of a volcano, burning with heat.

Chen Ye realized this might be a sign that his vital essence was overflowing and his body was about to change further.

He dared not be careless. He quickly gathered his focus, closed his eyes and directed his gaze toward the crown of his head, clenched his teeth, tightened his pelvic floor, and concentrated on refining and guiding that vital essence.

All at once, a powerful warm current burst from his dantian, smashed through an obstruction, raced straight up his spine, and surged to the crown of his head!

It then branched into his limbs and circulated through his chest and abdomen.

At first, the warmth was no more than a thread. After dozens of circuits, it suddenly flowed through without obstruction.

With every circuit, the warm current grew stronger, from a single barely perceptible strand to three, then five, then ten.

At last, it merged with the warmth he had cultivated before.

A trace of scorching heat suddenly appeared in Chen Ye's lower abdomen, and all the warmth gathered at that single point.

He looked down. A fifth speck of Radiance emerged from his flesh and stopped half an inch beyond his body.

The fifth speck of Radiance had appeared.

Chen Ye froze when he saw it.

He did not know what the fifth speck meant, but he remembered Zhang Tieyi's expression when he had first seen one.

If anyone learned about these five specks of Radiance, Chen Ye feared certain people would no longer see him as human.

He pushed the thought aside and silently watched the change.

It lasted for the time it took an incense stick to burn. Only then did the scorching heat inside him fully subside and the warmth stop growing.

Chen Ye moved his limbs to test them. Vitality brimmed throughout his body, and his blood and qi were full.

Though he had not undergone a third Mortal Shedding, he felt that day was not far off.

Chen Ye crouched down, found a tiny pebble, and pinched it lightly between two fingers.

The pebble cracked into several pieces.

His strength did not seem to have increased noticeably.

Judging by the Xie Family's desire to use True Yang in medicine, its changes probably affected the vitality of his flesh more than anything else.

Chen Ye glanced at the Pawn Panel in his vision.

[Name: Chen Ye]

[Current martial art: Foundation Cultivation Technique (perfected)]

[Realm: Mortal Shedding (second)]

[Remaining lifespan: two months, fourteen days.]

Once this matter was settled, he had best find another cultivation technique.

The Foundation Cultivation Technique was useful for nurturing True Yang, but its limits in other respects were far too low.

Setting that thought aside, Chen Ye resumed his training.

As he saw it, every bit of strength he could gain now mattered.

Time passed, little by little.

Soon, night fell.

Zhou let a second piece of news slip out: she had summoned several Feng Family apothecaries that evening.

Everything was proceeding as expected.