Yang Zhenshan

Front courtyard.

A black shadow flashed into view at high speed.

Zhou Qi gently pushed open the wooden door, slipped inside, then quietly closed it behind him.

He leaned against the door, gulping down breaths.

It was not because he was tired. It was mainly too thrilling!

He lowered his head and looked at his right hand. It was still faintly numb.

Yang Yuanshan, at Qi Refining, Seventh Layer, Early Stage, was indeed stronger than him, but Zhou Qi could still contend with him.

A martial skill at Great Perfection was actually so much stronger than one that had yet to reach perfection.

As for Yang Jinshan at Sixth Layer, Late Stage, Zhou Qi believed he could hammer him to death in three punches.

His entire body felt weak and sore now because the adrenaline had rapidly faded away.

Zhou Qi took off his night clothes, stuffed them beneath the bed, and carefully went over everything that had happened today in his mind.

He thought of Tiger Brother and the few other servants he knew. Their faces had been worn so thin their features were distorted, and the image refused to leave his mind.

They were actually using people to cultivate medicine. The Yang Family truly was no good place. He had to leave immediately.

Zhou Qi lay on the bed, replaying the scenes from when he had been discovered to when he had escaped.

After pondering for a while.

"There was a flaw..."

He opened his eyes and murmured.

Outside the window, moonlight spilled through the clouds, shining over his pale face.

Zhou Qi sat up and sorted through the situation.

First, although he had covered his face with black cloth, his build had been exposed.

Second, if he had no guilty conscience, why would he go out of his way to wrap up his head as well? He had been too clever for his own good.

Third, Mountain-Splitting Fist and Cloud-Wandering Step. There probably were not many people who cultivated both martial skills at once.

If those two elders gathered everyone in the residence tomorrow who had learned Mountain-Splitting Fist and Cloud-Wandering Step, he would likely be exposed at a single glance because of his build.

The gleam in Zhou Qi's eyes grew sharper.

"I have to leave!" he murmured.

But he had yet to obtain the later-stage cultivation method of the Nourishing Qi Scripture. Thinking of it made Zhou Qi grit his teeth in regret.

Suddenly, his expression froze, and an idea sprang into his mind with a thump.

"A blind spot beneath the lamp?"

"Take another shot, then run as soon as I get it?" The more Zhou Qi thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

"Even if I'm discovered, at worst I'll fight those two old bastards. I can still get away!"

The more Zhou Qi thought, the brighter his eyes became.

"Damn it, I'm going in again!"

Zhou Qi pulled the night clothes from beneath the bed. This time, he simply put on the black cloth over his face, then flashed out of the room.

Security in the rear courtyard had been strengthened somewhat, and there were clearly several more patrol teams.

Yet the place remained quiet overall. Clearly, they had not made a big fuss over the matter.

Zhou Qi did not approach the artificial mountain again. Security there was certainly the tightest.

He circled around to the back of Yang Zhenshan's study.

The bedroom was where Yang Zhenshan rested. Women of all kinds came and went there on ordinary days, so it could most likely be ruled out.

The training room was an empty chamber without even a single table inside. Ruled out.

The main hall was for receiving guests. Ruled out.

Yang Zhenshan would not visit the side hall often either. Ruled out.

Only the study was where Yang Zhenshan usually stayed by himself. If he were hiding a cultivation method, this was the most likely place.

He held his breath, lightly leaped onto the roof with Cloud-Wandering Step, and lifted a tile.

No one was inside.

The bookshelves were packed with books, while a massive landscape painting hung on the wall.

Zhou Qi stared at the painting and suddenly noticed that the wooden plug at the right corner of the scroll was somewhat faded, as though it had often been touched.

He jumped down from the roof, gently pushed open the window, and climbed inside.

Walking up to the painting, he reached out and felt it. Behind it was solid.

Then he felt the scroll. It was slightly heavy.

He supported the scroll with one hand and gently twisted the wooden plug at its right end with the other.

"Creak..."

Sure enough, the wooden plug of the scroll slowly unscrewed.

It was hollow.

A thin little booklet, rolled up inside, appeared right before his eyes.

Zhou Qi's heartbeat quickened as he carefully pulled out the booklet.

Written on it were the words: Qi-Nourishing Art: Lower Volume.

Suppressing his excitement, Zhou Qi immediately opened the Nourishing Qi Scripture.

The system before his eyes immediately lit up:

[New cultivation method detected: Qi-Nourishing Art: Lower Volume]

[Current proficiency: 0/20000]

[Reaching Great Perfection allows a breakthrough to Peak of the Ninth Layer of Qi Refinement]

[Usable cultivation method detected. After fully reading the circulation process of the cultivation method, proficiency balance may be used]

[Current proficiency balance: 14800]

Suppressing his excitement, Zhou Qi was just about to look through the booklet and commit the circulation process to memory.

But a faint breeze behind him immediately made him sense that something was wrong.

The room was sealed. Where had the wind come from?!

Zhou Qi reacted with astonishing speed. He flung the booklet behind him, then immediately swung a punch backward.

But it was useless. After throwing the punch, Zhou Qi felt that it had struck nothing, yet his wrist felt as though it had been clamped in a tiger's jaws. The powerful grip squeezed it so hard that it felt broken, and he could not move it in the slightest.

I'm finished!

Zhou Qi's heart jolted. He did not even need to look at the system prompt to know who the other party was.

Yang Zhenshan!

Peak eighth-layer Qi Refining!

No—when Zhou Qi met his gaze, he realized that he was not at peak eighth-layer Qi Refining.

[Name: Yang Zhenshan]

[Realm: mid ninth-layer Qi Refining]

[Cultivation methods: Dragon-Binding Hand (Major Accomplishment), Mountains and Rivers Sword Seal (Great Perfection), Shadow-Escape Steps (Great Perfection)]

[Weakness: Unknown]

Mid ninth-layer Qi Refining!

Yang Zhenshan, with his gray-white hair, was holding the lower-volume cultivation method in one hand and tightly gripping Zhou Qi's wrist with the other.

He was not tall, yet he still gave off the feeling of looking down upon all living beings. His eyes gleamed, and his entire aura was fully unleashed.

"Who are you?" Yang Zhenshan asked, without a trace of emotion.

Zhou Qi deliberately showed weakness. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "A front courtyard attendant, Zhou..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Qi moved.

With a twist of his right hand, he slipped free from Yang Zhenshan's grip.

At the same time, Cloud-Wandering Step surged to its limit, his body dragging an afterimage through the cramped study.

Even Yang Zhenshan was briefly startled by the movement technique at Great Perfection.

Then, a Mountain-Splitting Fist blasted straight toward Yang Zhenshan's face.

The force of the fist burst outward. Spiritual energy condensed without scattering, even faintly carrying the sound of tearing through the air.

"Hm?" A trace of surprise flashed through Yang Zhenshan's eyes.

This was not the spiritual power or fist intent that someone at Sixth Layer of Qi Refinement should possess.

He raised a hand and steadily caught the punch with his palm.

Bang!

The shockwave exploded, sending the rice paper on the desk flying all over the room.

Zhou Qi staggered back three steps, while Yang Zhenshan did not budge.

But Yang Zhenshan lowered his head and glanced at his palm.

It had actually turned faintly red.

He raised his head and reassessed the young man before him.

Peak of the Sixth Layer of Qi Refinement, yet his spiritual energy was absurdly pure. His Mountain-Splitting Fist had reached Great Perfection, and so had his movement technique. The power of that punch was already closing in on Qi Refining, Seventh Layer, Mid Stage.

Interesting, Yang Zhenshan thought.

Zhou Qi said nothing. The spiritual energy within him circulated wildly, while his mind raced just as frantically.

The situation was now extremely dire.

He had stolen the Yang Family's cultivation method and stumbled upon the Yang Family's unspeakable business.

If he were caught, he would die.

Although he had just obtained the booklet for Qi-Nourishing Art: Lower Volume, he had not yet had the chance to open it.

Though the system had detected the new cultivation method, he had to know its circulation process before he could use his proficiency balance.

Without the circulation process, even with fourteen thousand proficiency points, he could only stare helplessly.