Zhang Yao's Thoughts

"Yeah, not bad. How about you?" Zhang Yao put away his dagger and nodded to show that everything was fine, then returned the question.

"Terrible! Absolutely terrible! Cooped up in this room every day, I'm almost getting sick!" Luo De shook his head and sighed, his face clouded with misery. "But now that you're back, everything's sorted!" His miserable expression instantly turned into one of delight. The speed at which his face changed was truly breathtaking.

With that, an excited Luo De picked up his coat and prepared to leave. Amelia, who had remained silent until now, spoke up. "Luo De, can I go out with you?"

"Uh, well... well... Amelia, for your own safety, you'd better stay at the inn! It's the middle of the night. Going out with me would be far too dangerous!" Luo De froze, looking somewhat troubled as he answered.

"No! You say you're almost getting sick from being cooped up in this room every day! So am I! I want to go out with you!" Amelia straightened her back and spoke with imposing confidence, armed with a perfectly sound argument.

"Well... well..." Helpless, Luo De turned a pleading gaze toward Zhang Yao.

"We promised your brother we'd keep you safe! So stay here and behave, or I won't rule out using other means to keep you in this room!" Under Luo De's pleading gaze, Zhang Yao spoke. He stared at Amelia and delivered each word with utter seriousness, a trace of oppressive chill in his voice.

"You..." Amelia pointed at Zhang Yao, too furious to speak. Finally, she stamped her foot, turned, and ran back into the bedroom, slamming the door with a bang.

"Hehe, Zhang Yao, you really know how to handle her! Thanks a million! If I had to take Amelia along, how could I possibly enjoy myself out there?" Luo De patted Zhang Yao's shoulder gratefully. When he mentioned enjoying himself, the lecherous look on his face made it perfectly clear to any normal man just what sort of fun he meant.

"Yeah. Remember to ask around for any important news from the past few days while you're out! Don't just have fun!" Zhang Yao nodded noncommittally. Of course he understood what Luo De wanted to do outside. As a fellow man, he especially understood Luo De's suffering. Spending every day beside a beauty like Amelia, allowed to look but never touch, was more than any man could bear. Thus, Zhang Yao said nothing about it and merely reminded Luo De not to forget the most important task.

"How could I forget something that important? All right, I'm off!" With that, Luo De hurried eagerly out the door.

After Luo De left, Zhang Yao was the only one remaining in the room. Well, strictly speaking, Amelia was still in the bedroom.

Zhang Yao slowly closed his eyes, once again feeling that familiar, rich spiritual energy pour into his body. For an instant, it felt so good that he almost wanted to moan. If someone asked him what attracted him most about Rodos, he would undoubtedly answer without hesitation: its boundless abundance of spiritual energy.

After experiencing the spiritual energy in his own world, so thin it was almost negligible, Zhang Yao had sorely missed the rich spiritual energy of Rodos. As he felt that swelling ache return to his dantian, he let out a deeply satisfied breath. "Whew! This feels incredible!"

Seeing his True Qi value in the Attribute Panel rise again after remaining unchanged for days, Zhang Yao threw himself into cultivation with renewed enthusiasm. He was so devoted because of a plan he had long held in his heart-once his True Qi reached five thousand, he would begin breaking through his acupoints!

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Actually, according to the Nine Nether Art, once he had cultivated True Qi and nurtured it to a certain degree, he could begin breaking through his acupoints. Though he did not know precisely what that degree was, there was certainly no need to amass as much as five thousand True Qi! Otherwise, if breaking through acupoints required five thousand True Qi, martial artists would probably never have existed in Zhang Yao's original world!

The reason Zhang Yao intended to do this was that he wanted to break through every acupoint along the conception and governing vessels in one unstoppable push!

If other martial artists learned of his plan, their jaws would probably drop in shock. Breaking through acupoints was exhausting work, taxing both mind and body. An ordinary martial artist would often spend ten days or half a month preparing to break through a single acupoint, only to fail even after painstaking effort!

Zhang Yao knew nothing about any of this! But even if he had known, he would probably still have done the same! He was precisely that sort of "lazy fellow": either he did nothing at all, or he got everything done in one go.

Though Zhang Yao was lazy, he was certainly no fool. To ensure that this attempt to break through all his acupoints succeeded in one go, he had put considerable effort into his daily True Qi cultivation. Whenever spiritual energy entered his body and flowed toward his dantian and heart, he always drew off a portion to nourish his meridians. He did this for two reasons: first, to prevent overly fierce True Qi from rupturing his meridians when he broke through his acupoints; second, to make those breakthroughs easier after his meridians had been nourished over a long period.

Zhang Yao cultivated with complete concentration as the dark sky slowly brightened. When half the sun had emerged in the east, he had no choice but to stop cultivating. An unwelcome intruder had appeared beside him, disturbing him.

"What is it, Miss Amelia?" Zhang Yao opened his eyes and asked coldly, looking at Amelia, who was circling him and studying him curiously.

"I'm hungry!" Startled by Zhang Yao suddenly opening his eyes, Amelia stumbled two steps backward. Then, perhaps realizing that she had shown weakness, she immediately took two steps forward again, proudly lifted her chin, and spoke loudly to him.

"Call a waiter yourself and have them bring your food up!" Zhang Yao glanced at Amelia. In truth, from his angle, the enticing curves of her body were laid out in full view, and he could not help admiring them inwardly. This girl really is well developed-even better than Li Qing'er. What a tempting sight! Though his thoughts were thoroughly lecherous, he maintained his cold, unapproachable exterior.

"I want to go downstairs and eat in the dining hall!" Looking at Zhang Yao, who seemed like a block of ice, Amelia felt her anger flare higher and higher. If she had merely been speaking loudly before, now she was outright shouting.

"Order it yourself, or go hungry!" After addressing Amelia coldly, Zhang Yao closed his eyes, making a show of ignoring her.

"You... you..." Amelia pointed her index finger at Zhang Yao. Suddenly, a wave of grievance rose in her heart, and her anger toward him turned into hurt. Looking at Zhang Yao, so close before her yet utterly indifferent to her, she began choking back sobs.

"Ah! Amelia, what's wrong?" Just then, Luo De pushed open the door and came in. Seeing Amelia sobbing, he immediately rushed over.

"Luo De! Boohoo..." Luo De's appearance was like the arrival of family to Amelia. She threw herself into his arms and burst into tears.