The Punishment King (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Dawn was just beginning to break.

They had talked from the fourth watch of the night until daybreak.

Mourning Heaven King Yao Dang felt exhausted in both body and mind. The two great kings guarding outside were much the same. Listening to Xu Xing's unending stream of words, they had unwittingly become absorbed in them.

"Big Brother..."

"This is the specific plan of action."

Xu Xing shifted the subject, drew a sheet of silk from his sleeve, and handed it to Yao Dang.

"Fourth Brother..."

"Third Brother told me that you wanted me to grant you a resounding title."

Yao Dang carefully tucked away the plan as though it were a treasure, then looked at Xu Xing with a smile and invited him to sit nearby. "You are brimming with talent, yet you suffered the court's injustice and were thrown into prison in chains... In Big Brother's view, you should be called the Punishment King. What do you think of that title?"

Xing?

Xu Xing was puzzled when he heard this.

Since it was a title like Earth King Chang Kun's, why had Mourning Heaven King Yao Dang gone on and on for so long?

"Ahem..."

"It's the xing of the Ministry of Punishments—the xing of punishment."

Seeing Xu Xing's expression, Yao Dang knew he had misunderstood.

He coughed lightly and explained.

Ever since Xu Xing had entered the mountain, he had been pondering what title to give him. After turning it over and over in his mind, he felt that the character for punishment suited Xu Xing best. It echoed his given name while also making his "background" clear.

"This little brother thanks Big Brother for bestowing the name."

Understanding at last, Xu Xing cupped his hands in thanks.

After granting him his nickname, Mourning Heaven King Yao Dang racked his brains for a while before finally finding another topic. "Fourth Brother has only just joined the stronghold... The three houses at the western corner shall be given to Fourth Brother. There are also many women in the stronghold, unmarried and still in their maiden years. I'll have Third Brother choose a few for you and send them to your residence."

The women he spoke of had not been forcibly abducted.

Many of them were the younger sisters and daughters of the brothers in the stronghold.

Calling it "choosing" was indeed somewhat disrespectful to them. But in truth, becoming the concubines of Xu Xing, the Fourth King, was already a stroke of fortune and blessing. Besides, Xu Xing came from a good background. Though he was the family member of a convicted official, he was still, after all, a scholar... So long as Xu Xing let word out, within less than an hour there would surely be no shortage of eligible women in the stronghold volunteering themselves.

"This little brother is already married..."

"She has also gone south of the river. I ask Big Brother to send someone to help me look for her..."

Xu Xing spoke of Zhao Yunniang.

Though he did not have especially deep feelings for Zhao Yunniang, he had previously made her a firm promise that he would treat her well from then on. Now that he had escaped the heavenly prison, he could not truly become a heartless man who abandoned his wife.

Besides, Zhao Yunniang was carrying his child.

"Simple..."

"I'll send Eyeless Wraith to make inquiries."

Yao Dang had no objection at all and immediately promised to have Eyeless Wraith, one of the Five Tigers Envoys, seek news of Zhao Yunniang.

Once they had finished discussing family matters, Xu Xing's thoughts stirred, and he asked Yao Dang about something else. "May I ask whether Big Brother knows how one breaks through to the Innate Realm? This little brother was born into a poor family and is truly lacking in knowledge of martial arts."

In fact, he had already asked Chang Ji for some relevant knowledge.

But... channels for obtaining information had to be varied. If Chang Ji had not spoken truthfully to him, would he not have wasted his efforts in cultivation and gone down the wrong path?

There was another point as well: Mourning Heaven King Yao Dang came from Great Snow Mountain, a renowned martial arts sect.

When it came to martial arts knowledge, perhaps Yao Dang knew even more than Chang Ji.

"The Innate Realm?"

Yao Dang raised his brows. "It seems that Worthy Brother has broken through to the Reality-Preserving Realm."

He was greatly surprised. Earth King had actually forgotten to tell him this news. But then again, an internal martial artist at the Reality-Preserving Realm had limited strength. Without training external arts, they could at most fight ten men alone—not worth mentioning.

"Since ancient times, the Reality-Preserving Realm has been easy to break through, while the Innate Realm has been hard to attain."

Yao Dang pondered briefly before explaining, "For the Reality-Preserving Realm, one need only preserve a thread of one's life-origin true qi. But for the Innate Realm, one needs at least one hundred and twenty years of cultivation before one has a chance to glimpse that sliver of heaven."

"From the Reality-Preserving Realm to the Innate Realm... it takes grim, grinding effort."

"No matter how exceptional one's talent, one must still honestly accumulate one hundred and twenty years of true qi."

Xu Xing nodded repeatedly after hearing this.

What Mourning Heaven King Yao Dang said was not much different from Chang Ji's words; it was exactly the same.

But Yao Dang had not made one point clear.

Those one hundred and twenty years of cultivation did not refer solely to an individual's own one hundred and twenty years of cultivation. Otherwise, counting the years needed to begin martial training, sense qi, and temper the body, one would have to be at least over one hundred and twenty years old before breaking through to the Innate Realm.

The so-called one hundred and twenty years of cultivation was, in truth, merely the equivalent of an ordinary person's one hundred and twenty years of cultivation.

A genius might need only a few decades to accumulate enough inner force to break through to the Innate realm.

"Great Snow Mountain has a legacy..."

"It can increase the speed at which inner cultivation martial artists accumulate true qi."

Yao Dang hesitated for a moment, then patted Xu Xing on the shoulder. "Great Snow Mountain is already gone. There's no need for your elder brother to keep the sect's rules anymore. Remember this well—the name of this secret art is the <Three Mountains One Qi Spirit-Communing Method, Vein-Congealing Formula>..."

With that, he silently recited the mnemonic formula and spoke it for Xu Xing to hear.

Might King and Earth King had both already received this secret art from him. Passing it on to Xu Xing, his fourth brother, today was no great matter. They were all treated equally.

Sentence by sentence, the formula was recited in full.

Xu Xing quietly pondered the essence of this secret art.

With the aid of his crimson fate [Literary Brilliance], his literary talent could already be considered first-rate in the world. Master one path, and all paths became clear. Great Confucian scholars found cultivation far easier than ordinary people with the same innate aptitude.

"Building additional bridges within the meridians..."

"Thus reducing the time needed to circulate one grand cycle of inner force."

"As expected of Great Snow Mountain's never-transmitted secret."

A short while later, after comprehending the secret art, Xu Xing could not help but feel secretly stunned.

Joining Four Bright Mountain Stronghold this time had been the right choice!

A secret art such as the <Three Mountains One Qi Spirit-Communing Method, Vein-Congealing Formula> was surely an untransmitted secret of aristocratic clans and martial sects. Had Great Snow Mountain not been destroyed, and had he and Yao Dang not sworn brotherhood, Yao Dang would never have passed this secret art down to him...

"The Innate realm is hard to attain!"

"If you wish to pursue the Innate realm, worthy brother, then you must absolutely not cultivate an external forging method alongside it."

Yao Dang gave Xu Xing a timely reminder.

At a glance, he could tell that Xu Xing had never cultivated an external forging method. Though Xu Xing's body was somewhat stronger than that of an ordinary man, compared with an external cultivation martial artist, he still fell far short.

"Xu Xing understands..."

"To know a little of a hundred trades is not as good as mastering one skill."

Xu Xing nodded.

That was what he said, but it was not what he thought.

If he were an ordinary person, he would certainly choose to cultivate only one path. No matter how strong external cultivation martial artists were, unless they broke through to the Innate realm, they could hardly stand against a hundred men, much less withstand musket bullets.

But—

He had a cheat!

The time difference in dungeon worlds, the [Solidification] of Dao Fruits...

Cultivating both internal and external paths was no difficult matter.

"It's good that you understand."

"Your foolish elder brother cannot break through to the Innate realm through inner cultivation, which is why I cultivate external martial arts as well."

"Oh, and there is also the allotment of medicinal herbs..."

"Four Bright Mountain Stronghold has quite a few herbs that nourish qi and replenish vitality. You may choose whatever you wish. In any case, the three of us have no hope left."

Yao Dang generously took out the key to the medicine storehouse and handed it to Xu Xing.

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