Almost Done For

Soaring Dragon Spear's cultivation didn't seem particularly difficult to Chu Xiaotian. The route its spiritual energy followed was the only strange part. It didn't follow the spear's essence, which demanded charging straight ahead without hesitation.

The route was extremely winding. Two streams of spiritual energy surged out of the Sea of Qi Acupoint and entered the meridians in his arms. They twisted back and forth through the acupoints, making nine turns in total and passing through eighteen acupoints. At last, they burst out through the Laogong Acupoint in his palms and flowed into the spear in his hands, unleashing an earth-shattering attack.

Chu Xiaotian had opened only half of the eighteen acupoints so far. The other nine remained closed. To master the first move of Soaring Dragon Spear, his first step was to open them.

Every acupoint in the human body had its own purpose. Recklessly forcing one open could lead to unforeseen consequences, even death. Chu Xiaotian didn't dare to open them at random. But since Soaring Dragon Spear specifically indicated those acupoints, that proved they could be opened. After pondering for a moment, he began to force them open.

He had experience from opening the Sea of Qi Acupoint before, so he was quite practiced at it now. This time, he was opening acupoints to cultivate Soaring Dragon Spear. He focused only on the specified acupoints, following the technique's route and ignoring all the others.

The first acupoint opened with ease. He felt only a pinprick of pain before the spiritual energy surged through it and into the second acupoint he'd already opened. When it burst out of that acupoint, Chu Xiaotian could clearly feel that it had doubled in strength. The discovery filled him with joy, but then a problem arose. The now twice-as-thick stream of spiritual energy rushed through his meridians from the second acupoint toward the third, like a flood bursting through a dam. He could even hear it rumbling.

His meridians began to ache and swell. The spiritual energy smashed through the third acupoint like a force sweeping all before it, and a stinging pain ten times worse than before shot through Chu Xiaotian's mind. He almost screamed aloud.

But that was only the beginning. Greater pain still awaited him. When the spiritual energy burst out of the fourth acupoint, it had thickened further; it was now three times as strong as the original stream. The ache in his meridians had become intense, as if they might burst at any moment. The fifth acupoint had already been opened, so the spiritual energy passed through without pain. But after emerging from the sixth, it grew stronger still.

Chu Xiaotian now understood why Soaring Dragon Spear's spiritual energy took such a winding route. Every two acupoints, the energy doubled in strength. After passing through eighteen acupoints, it would be ten times stronger than the original stream. A stream of spiritual energy strengthened tenfold inside the meridians, then bursting out through the spear—he could imagine how terrifying that attack would be. The power of Soaring Dragon Spear was plain to see.

But the question now was whether his meridians could withstand spiritual energy ten times stronger. Could anyone endure the pain of opening the acupoints? Opening nine in succession meant each one would hurt ten times more than the last. The first few might be bearable, but by the end, even if his meridians held, the pain might kill him.

Chu Xiaotian began to panic. If things kept going this way, he might survive, but he'd still be flayed alive. He wanted to stop and draw the spiritual energy back, but the result only terrified him more: he'd lost control of it. It was now following the essence of Soaring Dragon Spear, charging straight ahead without hesitation.

Cold sweat began to bead on Chu Xiaotian's forehead. He knew he'd acted too rashly. He hadn't understood the risks of the technique before starting to cultivate it, and now he'd gotten himself into this mess. But it was too late to regret it. If he couldn't find a solution while he could still bear the pain, there was only one possible outcome: he'd be tortured to death by the pain as it multiplied, or his meridians would burst under the swelling force of his spiritual energy, leaving him utterly crippled.

His thoughts raced. He came up with one plan after another, only to reject each in turn. At last, a flash of inspiration struck: the Corpse Poison inside him. It could make him lose his senses. Once he did, he wouldn't feel the pain and couldn't be tortured to death. As for whether his meridians could bear spiritual energy ten times stronger, that was beyond his control. He might as well treat a dead horse as a living one: if he made it through, he'd soar to the heavens; if he didn't, he'd be right back where he started.

Without further hesitation, he directed the remaining spiritual energy in his dantian into his brain. It was a gamble. If the Corpse Poison invaded his mind, one wrong move could turn him into a mindless zombie who knew nothing but slaughter. Fortunately, after cultivating for so long, he'd gained a decent command of the poison—not perfect mastery, but he knew the amount it took to make him lose his senses and how long it would take him to recover. The yang energy was strong during the day, and the Jade Pendant around his neck could suppress the poison again after it erupted. Of course, something could still go wrong. He didn't dare imagine the consequences.

The result of the Corpse Poison entering his brain was immediate. The scene before Chu Xiaotian's eyes shifted violently, then everything went pitch-black. He could no longer feel anything in his body. When he regained his senses, it was all over. Apart from a faint ache in his arms and a hole in the ground ahead of him—over a foot deep and half a meter wide—nothing else had changed. He checked the condition of his arms and finally saw the result he'd been hoping for.

All eighteen acupoints had been opened. His meridians hadn't burst under the spiritual energy, which had grown tenfold; instead, they'd widened considerably. Overjoyed, he took a deep breath and used the same method to open the acupoints in his other arm. Only after opening every acupoint in both arms did Chu Xiaotian finally let out a long breath. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, dropped onto the ground, and panted.

That cultivation session had been far too dangerous. If he hadn't had the Corpse Poison to make him lose consciousness and feel no pain—or if his meridians hadn't been strong enough to withstand the tenfold increase in spiritual energy—the outcome might have been nothing like this.

Chu Xiaotian thought the Soaring Dragon Spear manual should have mentioned something this serious. Otherwise, it could get a lot of people killed. He picked it up and read it carefully again, but couldn't find any mention of it. However, between the first and second pages, he did find another trace of a torn-out page, proving that a sheet had once been there. The missing page must have contained the warning. Chu Xiaotian wanted to curse. What kind of heartless bastard had torn out such an important passage? Didn't they know it could get people killed?

He wanted to destroy the manual, but after thinking it over, he put it away. This was an unparalleled spear technique; destroying it would be a terrible sin. Besides, he knew the danger now. He could always write the warning back in himself.

Now that he could cultivate this unparalleled spear technique, all of Chu Xiaotian's frustration vanished. He picked up the spear on the ground, ready to properly practice Electric Dragon Spear. Huang Nian had prepared it for his own cultivation of Soaring Dragon Spear, but now Chu Xiaotian had ended up with it instead. He weighed it in his hands. It was about sixty jin, with a shaft made of an unknown refined metal. The whole thing was silver, cool to the touch, and remarkably resilient. The shaft was just the right size: not so thick that it would slip from his grip, nor so thin that it lacked heft. The spearhead gleamed coldly; its sharpness went without saying.

Chu Xiaotian flicked both hands and theatrically spun the spear into a couple of flourishes. Nodding with satisfaction, he decided it was flawless. Then again, that made sense. As the young master of one of the two great lineages in Yufeng Prefecture, Huang Nian couldn't possibly have been given a poor weapon.

With his acupoints and weapon ready, Chu Xiaotian took his stance and began practicing the unparalleled spear technique. Once he mastered Electric Dragon Spear, he was sure he could easily wipe the floor with five more opponents like Huang Nian and his men. Chu Xiaotian had thought his attacks were already fast enough, but as soon as he began practicing Electric Dragon Spear, he realized just how slow he was.

He couldn't even make Electric Dragon Spear look like a proper technique yet. He was too slow, and his spiritual energy couldn't fully merge with the spear form. Fortunately, Chu Xiaotian had expected this. If an unparalleled spear technique were easy to master, what would be the point? So even after practicing for half a day without getting anywhere, he didn't lose heart. He kept at it with all his might. He became so absorbed that he never stopped unless he was hungry. As soon as he'd filled his stomach, he went right back to practicing.

Xia Xue watched Chu Xiaotian train so desperately. Though she was a little worried, she was even happier. She knew he wanted to gain the strength to protect her as soon as possible. That wasn't all he had in mind, of course, but it was still part of it. Chu Xiaotian had handed her the dozen or so porcelain bottles and medicinal herbs, and she'd been delighted for ages. The pills were all second-tier, and the herbs were valuable ingredients for making second- and even third-tier pills.

While Chu Xiaotian trained in the mountain valley with total abandon, Greenwood Town was on the verge of chaos. A direct descendant of the Huang Family had disappeared there, and the family was furious. They sent a team to investigate. Nearly everyone in town was dragged in for questioning. Anyone who seemed suspicious and couldn't explain themselves was beaten, then bound and told they'd have to wait until the investigation was over to learn whether they'd live or die.