White Snake Martial School.
The morning sunlight slanted through the window lattice, cutting streaks of light across the floor.
Lin Nan woke on his mat on the floor and immediately felt soreness throughout his body. He had run all night without stopping, but at least the men in black hadn't caught up to him.
"The black market really is dangerous. One careless move and you're sunk. Good thing I'm used to preparing thoroughly before I act, or I'd have suffered for it."
Lin Nan sighed. He'd only gone to buy some demon-beast meat, yet had run into people looking to shake him down. What rotten luck.
"The Lime Martial Saint didn't lie to me. This really is useful!"
He got up and stretched, then slowly went through a set of White Snake Stance. As his blood-qi circulated, the soreness throughout his body eased considerably.
After the hour of the Snake had passed.
Lin Nan glanced around to make sure no one was there, then opened his private wooden cabinet and took out the demon-beast meat wrapped in coarse black cloth.
He had placed plenty of scented sachets inside the cabinet to mask the meat's smell.
He hadn't been idle at the martial school these past few days. From Liu Feng, he had learned a great deal about demon-beasts and Evil Spirits.
Demon-beasts were divided into demons and monsters. Demons referred specifically to certain animals and spirits, while monsters were creatures with special abilities.
As for Evil Spirits, they were more like sinister beings that acted according to some sort of rules.
"I heard demon-beast meat has to be prepared with special methods in the Inner City. Eating it raw lets its baleful qi invade your body and causes your blood-qi to wither."
He didn't know any special preparation methods, but he had the [Creation Furnace]!
The Creation Furnace could temper away all baleful things and refine one's true self!
But Lin Nan didn't eat the meat right away. He unwrapped it, picked up the steel knife from the table, and carefully cut off a small piece.
The slice was streaked with black and red, like a piece of black-and-red jade.
Then Lin Nan carefully put the piece of meat into his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.
The moment he swallowed, his expression changed dramatically.
"It tastes awful!"
Immediately afterward, a familiar chill, as if he'd been plunged into icy water, spread from his stomach.
A searing pain began to rise in his stomach. The mix of cold and burning pain made it cramp relentlessly, and cold sweat began to bead on his forehead.
"Creation Furnace!"
The crimson furnace suspended in Lin Nan's mind began to hum, as though countless flames were rising within it.
[Baleful qi has entered the body. Refine it?]
"It really works! To ordinary martial artists, baleful qi is something they wouldn't even dare touch. To me, it's a great tonic!"
Lin Nan was overjoyed. The pain in his stomach even seemed to lessen a little.
[Refine immediately!]
Above the Creation Furnace's mouth, countless illusory flames seemed to intertwine, refining all the baleful qi in one go.
A moment later, the pain in Lin Nan's stomach ebbed like a tide.
He checked the information displayed on the furnace.
[Available Yin Qi Points: 0.1.]
[Convert to proficiency?]
Convert!
The information on the furnace blurred. The 0.1 Yin Qi Point became 10 points of proficiency, all of which Lin Nan added to Coiling Snake Frame.
Hum!
Memories of the countless days he'd spent practicing Coiling Snake Frame surfaced in Lin Nan's mind, and his understanding of it grew clearer and clearer.
When he looked at the information on the furnace again, the words "Coiling Snake Frame" had disappeared, replaced by "Serpent Flow Force."
[Boxing: White Snake Fist · Serpent Flow Force (0/200)]
Serpent Flow Force imitated the sinuous movements of a long snake. Its power flowed without breaking, allowing it to wrap around an opponent's force and redirect it. It was a type of soft fist.
"Keep going!"
Lin Nan steeled himself and picked up the steel knife again, cutting off more meat to swallow.
An hour later.
He carefully wrapped up the remaining half or so of the demon-beast meat and put it back in the cabinet. He covered it with a partition and several bags of scented sachets to seal off the smell.
Then Lin Nan picked up the hot water he'd boiled earlier and drank it in one go.
As warmth spread through his stomach, his whole body felt much better, and most of the chill in his stomach faded.
"I can't eat any more."
Over the past hour, he had eaten a full four liang of demon-beast meat. Even though the Creation Furnace could refine the baleful qi in it,
his stomach could only digest so much untreated demon-beast meat. As he ate, he had clearly felt tiny injuries beginning to form in his stomach.
Those countless tiny injuries could add up and damage the foundation of his body. And Lin Nan could clearly feel that too.
"I can't rush things. As long as I stay steady, I won't make mistakes."
Lin Nan looked at the furnace's information:
[Art: White Snake Stance (Second Layer 10/300)]
[Boxing: White Snake Fist · Serpent Flow Force (10/200)]
"At this rate, I can eat four liang of meat every three days. One jin of demon-beast meat should give me about 3 Yin Qi Points. In fifteen days, I can push my blood-qi to the Third Realm!"
Lin Nan was thrilled.
The Third Blood-Qi Realm! His original self had never even dared to dream of reaching it!
South City, in the Tile-House District.
Bang!
A man in black suddenly kicked open the wooden door of a tile-roofed house.
Tu Kui walked inside with a look of disdain.
Before him was a crude little room, with faded, mottled furniture, a wooden bed, and the musty smell of dust.
"No one here?"
"Reporting to you, boss. It seems he left several days ago."
One of his black-clad subordinates reported.
"He left early? Coincidence?"
Tu Kui frowned and looked at the booklet in his hand. The name "Lin Nan" had been circled heavily in red.
"Who is this Lin Nan?"
"Reporting to you, boss. Lin Nan is a libertine who often frequents pleasure houses. I heard he recently got lucky and broke through the blood-qi barrier. He's now a newly promoted inner disciple of the White Snake Martial School, and he had a little run-in with Scar Lord in the street."
"Oh?"
Tu Kui's eyelid twitched. He seemed a little interested.
"He frequents pleasure houses and still managed to break through the blood-qi barrier? Interesting. The White Snake Martial School, huh?"
Seven days later.
At the White Snake Martial School's training ground.
Lin Nan kept hammering away at the wooden dummy, his blood-qi coursing through his meridians as he adapted to the way Serpent Flow Force generated power.
After a dozen breaths, he slowly lowered his hands. Heat surged through his body, and wisps of white vapor seemed to rise from him.
[Art: White Snake Stance (Second Layer 240/300)]
[Boxing: White Snake Fist · Serpent Flow Force (20/200)]
During this time, he had eaten a full eight liang of demon-beast meat and finally pushed White Snake Stance to the peak of its second layer.
He was probably among the best in his batch of disciples.
If only...
"My seven-day temporary stay is about to run out. If I go back to the tile-roofed house, there'll still be a risk."
And, to make matters worse, he was almost out of money again.
The Blood-Qi Soup and demon-beast meat he'd bought these past few days seemed like a bottomless pit, draining his entire stash of five taels of silver.
He didn't have enough money left to rent another room in East City, either.
East City was the most prosperous and safest area in Black Dragon Outer City. Jade Talismans hung all along its streets, and renting a room there cost at least one tael of silver a month.
"Strange. There seem to be more people than usual in the courtyard today."
Lin Nan noticed that quite a crowd had gathered in the courtyard deep inside the martial school. It wasn't just the newly promoted inner disciples from his batch.
Many senior disciples who had left the White Snake Martial School in past years to work as guards had come too. Even Master Jie had been drawn there. He stood in the middle of the courtyard, watching the Strength-Testing Stone with an excited expression.
"Zhong Jing broke through again. He's reached the Third Blood-Qi Realm."
Liu Feng came up beside Lin Nan, a complicated look on his face.
There was admiration, envy, and bitterness, all mixed together...
Before you continue