"Commander Jiang, the things you asked for."
At the rear gate of Zhu Manor, several young men in cotton robes stood before a flatbed cart with their hands tucked into their sleeves. When the elderly man at their head saw Jiang Che approach, he greeted him with great courtesy.
Jiang Che nodded, lifted the burlap covering, and inspected everything. After confirming that nothing was amiss, a smile tugged at his lips. He clasped his hands toward them politely.
"Thank you for the trouble. Once you return, please thank Gang Leader Kou for me."
"Farewell."
Having delivered the goods to Jiang Che, they had completed their task. After exchanging a few polite words, they turned and left without the slightest hesitation, even leaving the cart behind for him.
"Commander, this is..."
Geng Dabiao had also seen that the cart was filled with meat and could not help his curiosity.
"Don't ask what you shouldn't. Wait here for a while. I'm going out to handle something." One lie required more lies to patch it up. Jiang Che was no longer who he had once been; there was no need to claim that these things were for Captain Zhu or Liu Zhi.
Geng Dabiao nodded repeatedly and immediately shut his mouth with tact.
Not long after Jiang Che left, Zhu Qingqing, dressed in a cyan silk gown, emerged from the rear gate. She looked around, then walked over to Geng Dabiao. After lightly clearing her throat twice, she asked casually:
"Your name is Geng... Geng Biao, right?"
"This humble one is Geng Dabiao. Greetings, Miss Zhu."
Geng Dabiao bowed slightly.
"I heard Commander Jiang was at the rear gate just now. Where is he? Why don't I see him?"
Zhu Qingqing did not care about Geng Dabiao's name and continued questioning him.
"The Commander has some private business to attend to. He'll be back shortly."
"What business could it be, keeping it all hidden away?" Zhu Qingqing muttered a few words in disappointment.
"This humble one does not know."
"Fine, I know." Zhu Qingqing sounded somewhat impatient as she turned and returned to Zhu Manor.
Meanwhile, Jiang Che had already arrived at a nearby inn. He found a secluded place and stored the offerings inside the Heavenly Stele Space, while casually tossing the flatbed cart into a corner by the wall.
He could barely wait to begin the sacrifice.
Savage Bull Strength at Great Completion, Flesh and Blood Manifestation!
Inside a superior guest room, Jiang Che instructed the inn servant not to disturb him regardless of what happened. He then immediately shut the door, sat cross-legged on the bed, and slowly closed his eyes.
Sacrifice target: Savage Bull Strength at Great Completion. Sacrifice cost: one hundred jin of raw beef, one hundred jin of raw bull's blood, one hundred jin of raw bull bones, ten Deer Blood Grass plants, one Bone Strengthening Flower, and one year of lifespan. Proceed with sacrifice?
With a thought, he immediately confirmed it.
Sacrifice!
Just as during the previous two sacrifices, the blood-red patterns on the Sacrifice Heavenly Stele gradually began to glow. Then, a familiar gray radiance escaped from the stone stele and enveloped the beef, bull's blood, bull bones, Deer Blood Grass, Bone Strengthening Flower, and other offerings before it.
In the next instant, all the offerings vanished without a trace.
Then, that familiar sensation returned.
An intangible vitality was forcibly drawn from Jiang Che's body.
One year of lifespan was deducted!
Including the first time, he had already lost a year and a half of his lifespan. Though he still did not feel much overall, he had nevertheless taken the matter to heart.
After all, the day when one's lifespan ran dry would eventually come.
What he needed to do was rapidly increase his strength and extend his lifespan.
He had always firmly believed that once strength reached a certain level, it would surely bring the means to prolong life.
There must also be spiritual treasures in the world capable of extending one's lifespan.
What he paid now would all be made up for in the future.
The instant all the offerings before the Heavenly Stele disappeared, a red and a cyan ray of light emerged from the stone stele once more, circling a foot above Jiang Che's head.
The cyan light moved first as before, drilling into his spiritual platform.
In a daze, he saw a black savage bull several zhang tall, its four hooves planted on the ground as it charged straight at him.
Ten zhang,
Five zhang,
Three zhang,
One zhang.
The black savage bull crashed directly into him, but the trampling he had imagined never came. Instead, the black savage bull completely merged with him.
That once-blurry figure appeared before him again, practicing a set of boxing techniques one fist and one palm at a time.
It was Savage Bull Strength!
Yet the Savage Bull Strength it displayed differed subtly from the one he cultivated.
Every move and stance seemed born of heaven itself.
More unadorned, and more... mysterious.
His body followed his heart. With his eyes closed, Jiang Che stepped down from the bed and involuntarily began following that figure's movements.
Stance work, boxing techniques, footwork.
The blurry figure and Jiang Che punched faster and faster, becoming increasingly alike as they drew closer and closer.
Until—
The two figures completely overlapped.
He threw a punch, and a muffled explosion burst out ahead of him.
Jiang Che seemed frozen by Time Freeze, maintaining the posture of his punch.
Above his head, the red radiance circled around his body once before plunging straight into his chest.
A scorching current rose from his chest and surged through his limbs and bones like a mighty river.
The power of qi and blood!
Streams of white vapor coiled above his head, heat escaping from within his body. His whole person was flushed red, while his qi and blood circulated, surged, and boiled!
It continued for a full hundred breaths before white currents finally stopped rising from his body.
Because he had tightly shut the doors and windows, the room's temperature had risen considerably. A hazy white heat drifted overhead, nearly obscuring the entire room.
As Jiang Che calmed his mind, he could sense an invisible, cool current gradually flowing from his internal organs through every part of his body—his arms, fists, head, and legs.
Wherever the cool current passed, the scorching heat covering his body swiftly receded.
Gradually, he returned to normal.
After a long while, Jiang Che suddenly opened his eyes and exhaled a stream of white vapor. Like a sharp arrow, it shot out for over a zhang.
Inner breath!
Now that he had fully stepped into the Great Completion of Savage Bull Strength, the accumulated qi and blood within him had indeed forcibly condensed inner breath.
The cool current was linked to his will. With a thought from Jiang Che, his inner breath flowed to his right arm. There was no visible change on the surface, but when he threw another punch, it suddenly let out a thunderous roar.
"Bang!"
It was like a vacuum compressed to a certain limit before suddenly being released.
By his estimate, that punch carried at least a thousand jin of force.
And this was only the beginning.
As long as he could continue strengthening his inner breath, he might even make it exist throughout every part of his body at once. When that time came, even a casual wave of his hand would wield power enough to make ordinary people tremble.
"At least the year of lifespan I spent was not wasted."
Looking at his arm, Jiang Che murmured to himself. Joy spilled uncontrollably from between his brows, and his entire bearing became ever more confident.
This was the confidence strength brought him.
Jiang Che did not need to stabilize his realm after breaking through. After checking out of the inn, he hurried back to Zhu Manor. The time was almost upon him; it was time to officially assume his post at the training grounds and see these so-called thorns in the side for himself.
Since he had decided to stir things up, he needed to establish his strength and style in advance.
"Commander, Miss Zhu seemed to be looking for you earlier." To Jiang Che's surprise, the first thing Geng Dabiao mentioned upon seeing him was Zhu Qingqing.