Blood Pool Acupoint

"Branch Leader, she isn't there."

"Not there? Where did she go?"

"According to the neighbors, the target picked her up, and she never returned afterward."

"Hmph, quite vigilant."

Ma Qianli snorted coldly, then paced back and forth through the room irritably.

Ever since encountering Chen Xun that day, Ma Qianli had sent people to investigate him in detail.

Before long, they had uncovered the exact location of the house Chen Xun rented.

Just as the Yu Sheng and Yu Qiang brothers had suspected, Ma Qianli also intended to use Chen Qingqing to threaten Chen Xun.

He had merely been one step too late.

When he sent his men to seize her, Chen Qingqing was already gone.

"Keep investigating. I want to know exactly where she is now."

"Yes, Branch Leader. I'll go at once."

After his subordinate took his leave, Ma Qianli sat back down, his expression gloomy.

"Sure enough, he's a troublesome one. I should have chopped him down with a single stroke back then."

A flicker of regret rose in his heart.

Several more days passed before his men finally brought back the results of their investigation.

"Reporting to the Branch Leader, we've found her."

"Where?"

"At the Li Family Martial Arts School."

"What? How did she end up there?"

Ma Qianli muttered.

The Li Family Martial Arts School was, as its name suggested, a martial arts school established by the Li Family.

Its fees were a tier lower than those of ordinary martial arts schools.

The reason was simple: this school's primary task was to cultivate Martial Artists for the Li Family.

After graduating, the school's disciples had to give priority to serving the Li Family.

Only if the Li Family took the initiative to reject them could they join another force.

Compared with the Martial Artists selected from the Li Family's household servants, these school disciples retained greater personal freedom after joining the Li Family.

If a task was dangerous, they could refuse to participate of their own accord. Li Family household servants, however, had no right to refuse.

The Li Family Martial Arts School had two recruitment channels. One was for individuals to come and enroll on their own.

The other was through recommendations from Martial Artists working for the Li Family.

Those recommended by Martial Artists also received discounted tuition.

Furthermore, after entering the school, they could choose either to commute or to live at the school.

"Send men to keep watch on the Li Family Martial Arts School. I refuse to believe she can stay inside forever."

"Also, send men to stake out Chen Xun's side. If he appears alone, report to me immediately."

"Yes, Branch Leader."

"I refuse to believe you can hide for a lifetime."

Ma Qianli slammed his palm onto the table, revealing the fury in his heart.

At the Li Family Martial Arts School's rear courtyard, Chen Qingqing was washing clothes.

"Qingqing, have you gotten used to living here?"

A matron came over and asked with concern.

"Mhm, I have. Where I live now is much more spacious than before."

Chen Qingqing wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled at the matron.

"Look at you, sweating from exhaustion. Didn't I tell you not to do this work?"

The matron lovingly wiped the sweat from Chen Qingqing's forehead.

"I can't stay here for nothing. Naturally, I should do what I can."

"Besides, I used to wash the clothes at home too. I'm used to it, so I'm not tired."

Chen Qingqing explained.

The matron tried to persuade her a few more times, but Chen Qingqing remained unmoved.

"All right, have it your way."

At the Li Family residence, after Chen Xun consumed the last of the Blood-Strength Powder from the porcelain bottle, he assumed the stance of the Stake Stance in the Martial Artist Courtyard and began cultivating.

After digesting its medicinal power, Chen Xun slowly withdrew from the Stake Stance and exhaled a long breath of stale air.

Pulling up his attribute panel, Chen Xun focused on his current cultivation progress.

[Cultivation: First Blood-Qi Transformation (85%)]

"Not bad. In less than ten days, I'll reach the First Blood-Qi Transformation Limit."

Chen Xun nodded in satisfaction.

One had to know that many Martial Artists might cultivate for a year without necessarily reaching the First Blood-Qi Transformation Limit.

Chen Xun had only become a Martial Artist around two months ago, yet he was already nearing this step. No one would likely believe it if it were spoken aloud.

"That means it's time to prepare a breakthrough secret art."

To break through the First Blood-Qi Transformation, one needed to find the Blood Pool Acupoint within the body, then open and expand it.

The hardest part of the entire process was finding the Blood Pool Acupoint.

Each person's Blood Pool Acupoint appeared in a different location due to differences in physique.

Even twins would not have it in the same place.

Once the Blood Pool Acupoint was found, one could rely on slow, grinding effort to open it up.

Thus, to make it easier for Martial Artists to search for the Blood Pool Acupoint within their bodies, sages of old had created a method known as the Acupoint-Finding Secret Art.

This secret art included a breathing technique and a Visualization Method. Through breathing, the breathing technique constantly moved Blood Qi through the human body.

If Blood Qi passed near the Blood Pool Acupoint during this movement, it would experience a slight disturbance.

Martial Artists could use that faint disturbance to pinpoint the Blood Pool Acupoint's location.

However, detecting such a faint disturbance required keen perception.

The Visualization Method, meanwhile, could enhance a Martial Artist's mental strength and sharpen their senses.

An excellent Acupoint-Finding Secret Art could locate multiple Blood Pool Acupoints.

Blood Pool Acupoints had limits, and the human body contained more than one acupoint capable of storing Blood Qi.

These acupoints were collectively called Blood Pool Acupoints.

Poor Acupoint-Finding Secret Arts could only locate one or two Blood Pool Acupoints.

Yet even the worst Acupoint-Finding Secret Art was not something an ordinary person could access.

In the Li Family, if Chen Xun wanted to obtain an Acupoint-Finding Secret Art, he first had to register and confirm that he had reached the First Blood-Qi Transformation Limit.

Only after a Martial Artist reached the First Blood-Qi Transformation Limit, when their entire body had been strengthened once by Blood Qi and no longer absorbed it as it flowed, could Blood Qi remain stable enough for them to have a chance of observing that faint disturbance.

Then, they also needed to make a certain contribution to the Li Family and hand over twenty taels of silver before qualifying to obtain the lowest-grade Acupoint-Finding Secret Art.

If he wanted a better one, he would have to meet even harsher conditions.

Of those three conditions, Chen Xun met only one.

But even if Chen Xun met them all, he would not dare expose himself at this time.

So he could only try to find an item that came with an Acupoint-Finding Secret Art.

"Where could I find such an item?"

After pondering for quite some time, Chen Xun's eyes suddenly lit up. "Perhaps that place will have one."

"But how can I get in?"

The place Chen Xun thought of was the Inner-Courtyard Training Ground.

Many members of the Li Family had cultivated there.

According to his guess, the birth of items was likely connected to humanity's seven emotions and six desires.

Martial Artists possessed powerful minds, and their desires were even stronger than those of ordinary people.

In a place like the training ground, they strove to cultivate, all for the sake of becoming stronger.

Bolstered by such desire, even an ordinary object might transform into an item over the course of many years.

If the material of the object were better, the chance of it becoming an item would be even greater.

And at the Inner-Courtyard Training Ground, the Martial Artists were stronger, and the quality of the training equipment they used was better.

The likelihood of items being born there was extremely high.

After all, even the outer courtyard's training ground had quite a few training objects that had become items.

But ordinary people simply could not enter the Inner-Courtyard Training Ground.

Only members of the Li Family and the attendants of Li Family disciples had a chance to enter.

At that thought, someone inevitably came to Chen Xun's mind.

Sun An—wasn't he now the attendant of the Li Family's Twelfth Young Master?

"Perhaps I can try asking him."

"But what reason should I use?"

Without a reasonable excuse, directly asking someone to take him to the Inner-Courtyard Training Ground would only backfire and arouse suspicion.

"Got it. I can try using this excuse."

Chen Xun clapped his palms together, his eyes shining.