Fellow Disciples

"I told you to take it, so take it! Starting today, you must eat nourishing meat or pills that strengthen your qi and blood every day. Cultivate diligently and strive to become a Fourth-Rank Martial Master as soon as possible, or the family rules will deal with you!" Xia Daoming said sternly, leaving no room for doubt.

"This servant obeys!" Liu Qiaolian replied solemnly. Then she rose without another word.

"You may leave now. I need to cultivate," Xia Daoming said.

"Yes, Master." Liu Qiaolian dipped in a curtsy and departed with light, graceful steps.

Watching Liu Qiaolian's lovely, swaying figure vanish through the doorway, Xia Daoming shook his head helplessly.

Once outside and beyond Xia Daoming's sight, Liu Qiaolian hurried back to her room. After closing the door, she suddenly covered her face and began to cry.

After a long while, she took out the brocade box containing the Silver Deer Pill and stared at it for some time. Then she suddenly pressed it to her chest and smiled through her tears.

Naturally, Xia Daoming knew nothing of Liu Qiaolian crying alone and then smiling through her tears. After she left, he returned to the training room, sat cross-legged, and silently recalled the strange visions he had witnessed while studying the secret diagram.

The snake's body writhed as its skin shed inch by inch.

Feet tore through its belly from beneath.

Fleshy lumps bulged from its forehead.

The snake's aura changed, becoming more ancient, more vast, more obscure, and more powerful.

It was like Manifest Strength undergoing countless rounds of tempering and refinement, continuously condensing into purer essence before transforming into the more powerful Hidden Strength.

A Flood Dragon was born. It might lurk in an abyss, swim beneath a lake, or travel upstream along rivers, seeking to enter the sea...

Xia Daoming "saw" more meridians and acupoints beyond the four meridians.

They wound and coiled through his body like serpents and dragons. Though they seemed crisscrossed and complex, they possessed their own patterns and laws.

Xia Daoming forcefully suppressed the urge to use his powerful strength to break through the barrier of the fifth meridian. Instead, using the Hidden Strength cultivation formula Liang Jingtang had taught him and the artistic conception he had comprehended from studying the secret diagram, he rhythmically circulated his qi, blood, and strength through the four meridians.

From a certain perspective, Hidden Strength was simply strength that had been further condensed and refined.

At every rank of the Martial Master realm, Xia Daoming's meridians had undergone nine stages of expansion and strengthening.

Tough, resilient meridians could not only contain more strength, but also made the strength within them more condensed.

The secret medicine Liang Jingtang spoke of served no purpose beyond condensing one's strength.

Yet its effects were far inferior to Xia Daoming's system.

To some extent, Xia Daoming's Manifest Strength was already a half-finished form of Hidden Strength. He had merely failed to understand the secrets of Hidden Strength before, leaving it stuck at that half-finished stage.

Now, not only had he received the formula for cultivating Hidden Strength, he had also glimpsed the artistic conception of Hidden Strength within the secret diagram. Transforming the strength in his body into Hidden Strength was naturally far easier for him than for others.

Wisps of filthy impurities seeped from his skin.

The qi, blood, and strength within his meridians became purer and more powerful, and also easier to rein in and render obscure.

Feeling the subtle changes within his body, Xia Daoming became immersed in them.

From the beginning of the Hour of the Dog to the beginning of the Hour of the Tiger, a full four hours, Xia Daoming remained in meditation cultivating Hidden Strength. Only when both his meridians and his head felt as though they were being torn apart did he reluctantly stop.

Under normal circumstances, even a martial arts genius could only endure half an hour in their meridians when first cultivating Hidden Strength.

Under the moonlight, Xia Daoming stripped naked, drew several buckets of well water, and joyfully washed away the filth covering his body. Then he returned to his bedroom and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

The next day, when he woke up.

Xia Daoming found that his meridians and head still ached faintly, but his entire body felt much lighter. At the same time, he was filled with an indescribable sense of power.

"Hidden Strength truly is different. I cultivated for only most of the night, yet I already feel that my strength has improved considerably." Xia Daoming was greatly delighted.

After breakfast.

Xia Daoming gave a few brief instructions, then headed to the Hidden Dragon Martial Arts School.

Becoming Liang Jingtang's personal disciple not only gave him the right to study the Mysterious Divine Rhyme Diagram and receive the Hidden Strength formula, but also allowed him to learn more profound martial arts.

One was a fist-and-kick art, Dragon Snake Nine Transformations.

One was a movement technique, Soaring Dragon Nine Steps.

One was a spear art, Dragon Snake Nine Spears.

What Xia Daoming had learned in Black Stone City before were merely some fist-and-kick techniques derived from these three martial arts, emphasizing stances and moves.

Yet the transformations of dragons and snakes were the most mysterious and unfathomable.

Therefore, the three martial arts Liang Jingtang taught emphasized intent over form.

The fist-and-kick art was said to have nine transformations, the Soaring Dragon technique nine steps, and the spear art nine spears, but in truth, they contained endless transformations and could not be fixed by numbers. The key lay in one's comprehension.

Xia Daoming had already glimpsed the entire process of a snake transforming into a hidden Flood Dragon from the secret diagram, and Liang Jingtang was personally teaching him the martial arts. He grasped them quickly.

This both delighted Liang Jingtang and filled him with regret.

With such comprehension of martial arts, paired with the cultivation realm of a Great Martial Master, his combat power would surely be astonishing.

However, in Liang Jingtang's eyes, Xia Daoming had little hope of becoming a Great Martial Master. No matter how strong his comprehension was, the power he could unleash would remain limited.

Several days later.

Outside the east gate.

Wu Family Fortress.

Within the courtyard of a grand residence stood three coffins.

Each coffin held a corpse, and one of them contained a headless body.

Beside the coffin containing the headless corpse stood two men.

One appeared to be nearing seventy. He had short, thick bowlegs, but his arms hung all the way to his knees, and his hands were enormous.

The other was nearing sixty, thin and tall, though broad-boned, with especially long arms as well.

Of these two, the bowlegged man was Wu Yueming, an elder of the Wu Family Fortress and Wu Changlu's father. The other was Wu Yueli, the fortress lord.

Yet strangely enough.

As Wu Yueming looked at the headless corpse of his youngest son in the coffin, little grief could be seen on his face. If anything, he seemed somewhat cold and indifferent.

Wu Yueli, on the other hand, was clearly filled with grief and fury, the veins on his forehead bulging one after another.

"How dare they kill a disciple of my Wu Family Fortress! This matter must be thoroughly investigated!" Wu Yueli said, murderous light flashing in his eyes.

Before long, eight Wu Family Fortress Black Cloud Guards clad in black cloaks rode out through the fortress gates like a whirlwind.

Flowing Cloud Workshop, Drunken Cloud Tower.

As soon as Xia Daoming and Yuchi Xiao stepped down from the carriage, they saw a middle-aged man in brocade robes coming out to greet them with a beaming smile. He had a large belly, a plump face, pale skin, and no beard.

"Senior Brother Yuchi, your esteemed arrival has graced us, yet I failed to welcome you from afar!"

"Enough, enough. Why bother with such pleasantries between fellow disciples?" Yuchi Xiao said with a smile, waving his hand. Then he pointed at Xia Daoming beside him. "This is Master's newly accepted disciple, Xia Daoming."

"So you are Junior Brother Xia. You truly are a young talent, a man of fine appearance!" The middle-aged man immediately looked at Xia Daoming and praised him with a broad smile.

Xia Daoming could not help but freeze.

With his face, what the hell did "fine appearance" have to do with him?

"Daoming, this is Jiao Yongbao, the owner of Drunken Cloud Tower. He was once Master's most formidable disciple, but after encountering certain circumstances, he abandoned martial arts for commerce. Don't let his wealthy appearance fool you. He has the cultivation of a Fourth-Rank Martial Master. If it truly came down to skill, you definitely wouldn't be his match right now," Yuchi Xiao said.

"Senior Brother Yuchi, stop gilding my face. With all this fat on me, and at my age, my skills have long declined. How could I compare to Junior Brother Xia, who is young, strong, and overflowing with qi and blood?" Jiao Yongbao said with a smile, waving his hand. A trace of melancholy flashed through the depths of his eyes.

"Senior Brother Jiao is too modest," Xia Daoming said with a smile.

"Have Xingji and the others arrived?" Yuchi Xiao asked.

"Hehe, when Senior Brother summons them and says he is introducing a new junior brother, how could they not come? They've been waiting upstairs for a while." Jiao Yongbao smiled and personally led the two men into the restaurant.

Third floor, Cloud Cassia Residence.

Two men and one woman were already waiting there.

"Daoming, this is Zhuo Xingji. He is the chief escort of the Xingyou Escort Agency. Those of us who practice martial arts burn through silver, especially if you wish to break through and become a Fifth-Rank Great Martial Master. Your expenses will inevitably be even greater in the years ahead.

"Sometimes, you can take work at the Xingyou Escort Agency. It is hard work and carries some danger, but you are fellow disciples, so Xingji certainly won't shortchange you."

Yuchi Xiao pointed as he introduced a man who appeared to be around thirty-four or thirty-five, tall and powerfully built, with rough facial skin and the look of someone who was constantly traveling outdoors through wind and sun.

"Haha, naturally. As long as Junior Brother Xia is willing to help at my escort agency, I'll pay you half again as much as escorts of the same rank," Zhuo Xingji said boldly with a laugh.

"Then this little brother thanks Senior Brother Zhuo in advance." Xia Daoming clasped his hands.

"This is your Senior Sister Liu Xiaoqiang. As for her place, you should try to visit less often these next few years," Yuchi Xiao said, quickly turning to introduce a charming married woman.

"Senior Brother Yuchi, what do you mean by that? Could it be that if one of our own brothers came to my Jade Flower Pavilion, this junior sister would still charge him?" Liu Xiaoqiang lightly smacked Yuchi Xiao with her raised hand, while also rolling her eyes at him.

"Cough, cough. That naturally isn't what I meant. I'm merely worried that Junior Brother Xia is young and hot-blooded, and might become lost in women, delaying his cultivation.

"Besides, when a man goes to such a place, there are always certain expenses he must pay himself. Could you possibly be expected to advance the money for him? Where would that leave Junior Brother Xia's dignity?" Yuchi Xiao said.

"Pah, pah! What do you mean, lost in women? The pleasure house this junior sister runs is perfectly respectable. We only listen to music and watch dances!" Liu Xiaoqiang rolled her eyes again.

"Yes, yes, the pleasure house Junior Sister runs is perfectly respectable!" Yuchi Xiao nodded hurriedly.

The others seemed long accustomed to this scene. They merely smiled without saying anything.

As Xia Daoming looked at this alluring young married woman before him, her curvy figure tightly wrapped in a purple dress and a veil of light gauze draped over her shoulders, she looked less like a Martial Master and more like a woman of the pleasure quarters. He was dumbfounded by what he had heard.

So this senior sister of his actually ran a pleasure house!

Didn't that mean he could visit her place for free in the future? Pah, pah, am I that kind of person?

Today's update is complete. Please give the new book plenty of support.

Thanks to Autumn Divine Light and RPG Defense for their tips.