Beggars and the Minor Circulation

Jiang Ding closed his eyes and nurtured the twelfth primary meridian, the Foot Lesser Yin Kidney Meridian, occasionally mixing in practice of the Minor Breath-Concealing Technique. His aura was like stone and wood.

Suddenly, he frowned.

After thinking for a moment, he lightly tapped his feet and leaped onto the courtyard wall. A few steps later, he moved across the eaves of various houses like a silent bird.

"Mmgh..."

In a corner, the scarred, burly Liu Qi tightly covered the mouth of a filthy, scrawny beggar child with a handkerchief. Moments later, the child's body went limp as mud and was thrown onto the ground.

"Enough. Carry him to the carriage." Liu Qi snorted and said to the two men behind him, "Every time I give you a job, you either make this mistake or miss that detail!"

"Yes, Brother Qi!"

The two burly men nodded and bowed, swiftly lifting the beggar child into the carriage.

The curtain was lifted, revealing more than a dozen teenage beggar children sprawled haphazardly throughout the carriage.

"Hurry it up. The gang leader needs them urgently. Damn it, where are we supposed to find so many beggars..." Liu Qi wiped his hands in disgust. Just as he was about to do something, his expression changed drastically.

A youth in green robes had appeared not far from him at some unknown moment, silently watching.

His hand rested on his sword hilt.

Thud!

"Spare my life, young hero!"

Liu Qi dropped to his knees, his body trembling uncontrollably as he recalled the sight of the Wolf Guard's head hitting the ground, blood spraying everywhere.

"Talk."

Jiang Ding took a light breath and suppressed some of the icy killing intent within him.

"The Wild Wolf Gang has lofty ambitions. It hasn't been long, and you've already branched into the child-trafficking business. Your future is limitless."

He had always disliked involving himself in the slaughter and conflicts of the natives.

But seeing boys and girls his own age—or even younger—reduced to such a tragic fate, he could not bear it.

"This..."

Liu Qi glanced around. The two burly men understood at once and immediately ran into the distance, ready to flee at the first sign of trouble.

"Young master, I don't want to do something so devoid of conscience either. It was an order from above."

Liu Qi wore a bitter expression. "The Zheng Clan ordered the Wild Wolf Gang to provide fifty virgin boys and girls under twenty years old, or else... the Wild Wolf Gang wouldn't be able to withstand it."

That was naturally a lie. To people in these gangs, trafficking children was no different from collecting protection money.

What conscience could those who lived in the underworld possibly have?

"Why? What are they for?"

Jiang Ding's heart grew even colder, but the education he had received compelled him to trace everything back to its source and solve problems at their root.

"Maybe they're training dead soldiers? Raising eunuch slaves? Or perhaps harvesting the living and mutilating them to cultivate evil arts?" Liu Qi grimaced bitterly. "How could small fry like us know what great figures like the Zheng Clan are thinking?"

The Zheng Clan.

Killing intent brewed in Jiang Ding's heart, yet he had no choice but to conceal it.

The Zheng Clan was related by marriage to the Eastern Spirit Marquis's Manor. If he moved against them, he might very well draw the stationed army here and ruin the flourishing situation he had built.

Forget it. Forget it.

I'm only a high school student, with poor talent and weak strength, clumsy and useless. What right do I have to settle grudges as I please?

"I can't control what happens elsewhere."

Jiang Ding said in a low voice, "But on Rotten Plank Street and in the surrounding blocks, this must never happen again. Otherwise, Long Shi, you, and everyone else involved will pay with your lives."

"Yes, yes! Rest assured."

Liu Qi nodded repeatedly like a pecking chicken, regardless of whether he could actually keep that promise.

"It had better be so."

A cold voice drifted over. When Liu Qi looked up in every direction, the figure was already gone.

Back in the small courtyard, Jiang Ding felt somewhat depressed and summoned Huang Deyou.

"How many beggars are there near our shop who have been forced into it, rather than simply being lazy and unwilling to work?" Jiang Ding asked.

"Boss, you mean..."

Huang Deyou was startled. Thinking of Jiang Ding's recent conduct, he realized that aside from those who had actively provoked him, Jiang Ding was almost harmless to everyone and even took the initiative to consider others.

Though filled with admiration, he still advised, "Boss, it would be best not to do this. These beggars are the authorities' problem. We can't handle it all. Once we get involved, there will be endless trouble."

"All the beggars in the city may come to us."

"That is what you should be thinking about!"

Jiang Ding said flatly, "Do it. Investigate the number of beggars on Rotten Plank Street and the nearby streets. Find a way to make sure they are fed. Don't simply hand out porridge—find them work, teach them one or two skills for survival, and so on. I'll allocate silver for you."

"And... stop any more beggars from entering the area around Rotten Plank Street. Have Long Shi deal with it."

"Boss, your righteousness is truly admirable!"

Huang Deyou bowed deeply and said nothing more about the difficulties.

Ninety-nine percent of things in this world could be resolved so long as one was willing to spend silver.

"Go."

Jiang Ding sat in his chair, one hand on his sword hilt, continuing to use his inner force to nurture and temper the twelfth primary meridian, the Foot Lesser Yin Kidney Meridian.

At a certain moment,

A faint sound of mountains collapsing and seas roaring seemed to come from beyond the heavens. All the inner force throughout his body froze, then suddenly turned violent, surging toward a point at its center.

At his lower left abdomen, his inner force began to rotate, first slow, then fast, then gradually slowing again. Inner force from the twelve primary meridians flowed into this place, then emerged from it and circulated throughout his body.

His dantian qi sea had formed!

Jiang Ding felt the inner force between the twelve primary meridians become a unified whole. Even without his control, it could circulate on its own, and the rate at which inner qi was generated had increased by at least twofold!

He drew his sword.

Clang!

A flash of bright sword light vanished in an instant before returning to its sheath.

"The speed and quality of my inner force have both improved slightly."

Jiang Ding caught a bright yellow fallen leaf. With a slight exertion of his index finger and thumb, he split it into two identical thin pieces and let them drift to the ground.

With another thought, his inner force formed a complex true qi structure between the twelve primary meridians. His aura swiftly vanished without a trace, becoming like earth and stone.

"The Minor Breath-Concealing Technique has become easier to perform. I should be able to reach the proficient level within a week."

Jiang Ding muttered to himself.

This was the "Minor Circulation" realm of the Immortal Sect's Young Eagle Inner Qi!

The twelve primary meridians had undergone initial tempering and formed a unified circulation, bringing a minor qualitative transformation in every aspect.

Furthermore, he could now temper and nurture twenty tiny meridians each day, doubling his previous efficiency.

"The next stage of cultivation is to continue tempering the tiny branches of the twelve primary meridians, allowing them to hold more inner force, gradually returning from the acquired state to the innate. The next realm is the 'Lesser Circulation'—each of the twelve primary meridians must have one hundred tiny branches tempered, for a total of twelve hundred."

"With the Hundred Essences Transform Qi Pill every day, as well as the Purple Jade Qi-Nourishing Pill issued by the school, I can temper twenty tiny meridians a day under these conditions..."

Jiang Ding calculated briefly.

"Fifty-four days. Around two months should be enough to reach the 'Lesser Circulation' realm."

This speed was quite good.

He could certainly be called a genius. Before the college entrance examination, he had a chance of achieving great mastery in inner qi and completing the tempering of the twenty thousand tiny branches in the twelve primary meridians and eight extraordinary meridians required for great mastery.

However, he was still a long way from the hundred and eight thousand meridians throughout the human body required for Young Eagle Innate.

"Two paths."

Jiang Ding's gaze deepened. Naturally, he would not be satisfied with this.

"First, raise my comprehension of the cultivation method to great mastery or even perfection, which will greatly increase my tempering speed. Second, obtain the 'Blue Gold Potion'!"