Since all the hidden meridians in my right arm have been opened, could I try putting them to use by incorporating them into the Meditation Method's soul power circuit?
The more meridians the soul power circuit involved, the faster it refined soul power, which naturally increased his cultivation speed as well.
Now that all the hidden meridians in his right arm had been cleared, incorporating the entire arm into his soul power circuit should be far easier than when those meridians were still incompletely developed, with disconnected stretches that could not form a continuous route.
But even after a full week of attempts, right up until the Outer Court began admitting students, Ye Qing still failed to expand his soul power circuit.
Every time he tried to direct the flow of soul power into those newly developed hidden meridians, it disrupted the balance of the entire circuit.
It felt like trying to force another gear into an already complete gear assembly.
The soul power circuit was already a complete gear assembly capable of functioning normally. Forcing more gears into it only undermined its stable operation.
Ye Qing had even suffered a minor injury in the process.
When he tried to alter his soul power circuit, conflicting flows of soul power had caused a backlash that damaged his meridians.
Feeling the faint ache inside his body from that backlash, Ye Qing could only helplessly abandon his plan to expand the soul power circuit.
It looks like improving the Meditation Method really isn't something I can accomplish overnight. For now, I should finish developing all the hidden meridians in my body first. A meal has to be eaten one mouthful at a time, and a road has to be walked one step at a time.
Of course, Ye Qing no longer had any time to improve the Meditation Method anyway. Tomorrow, he would be banished to the Outer Court.
Not long before.
Heaven Dou City, the Tang Sect.
On a moonless, wind-swept night, this ancient sect with ten thousand years of history finally met its doom.
The Tang Sect had remained trapped in its old ways, and the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, after Tang San had gutted it, was nowhere near enough to sustain the sect's standing. As a result, the Tang Sect, once hailed as the greatest sect on the continent, now had only a Soul King sect master with a Blue Silver Grass martial soul as its strongest member.
The Four Single-Attribute Clans that had once joined the Tang Sect had long since gone their separate ways. How could a single Soul King with Blue Silver Grass possibly defend the Tang Sect's vast holdings?
The Tang Sect was located inside Heaven Dou City, after all, and when it was built ten thousand years ago, every building and facility had been constructed to the standards of a top-tier sect. Possessing such luxurious sect grounds without the strength to match would inevitably draw covetous eyes.
And so, on that day, the Tang Sect's remaining members were slaughtered. Only a girl of ten or so had the "extraordinary luck" to escape the massacre and preserve her life.
Normally, of course, the City Defense Army would intervene in a clash between factions on such a scale within the city, preventing other residents from being caught in the fighting.
But the Tang Sect was different.
The Iron Blood Sect, which attacked the Tang Sect, had contacted the Heaven Dou City Lord several months earlier and reached an agreement. Without the city lord's approval, how could the Iron Blood Sect have disposed of the Tang Sect so easily?
And the Heaven Dou City Lord's reason for agreeing was simple.
Just one word-taxes.
Back then, Emperor Xue Beng had promised the Tang Sect a whole host of favorable provisions, including a permanent exemption from taxes. This did not apply only to land taxes; none of the Tang Sect's activities in Heaven Dou City required it to pay taxes to the city.
The Tang Sect could even exploit loopholes in certain provisions to suck Heaven Dou City's blood instead.
More importantly, it had done so quite often. Especially after the Tang Sect declined and life grew increasingly difficult, it had spent most of its time living off Heaven Dou City's blood.
The Tang Sect: "Without our ancestor Tang San, your Heaven Dou Empire would've been wiped out by Spirit Hall! Our ancestor saved you back then, so what's wrong with you offering us a little tribute now?"
What city lord could tolerate these thugs?
Now that the Iron Blood Sect had stepped forward as the bird willing to stick its head out, the Heaven Dou City Lord could not have asked for more. He threw the doors wide open for it.
This allowed him to borrow someone else's blade to kill the Tang Sect's thugs while ensuring he could collect those taxes from the Iron Blood Sect afterward-two birds with one stone.
Yet neither the Iron Blood Sect nor the City Lord's Manor noticed the little girl who had escaped from the Tang Sect.
Tang Ya.
"Xiaoya, run!"
"Xiaoya, stay alive!"
"Xiaoya, you must rebuild the Tang Sect!"
"We're counting on you..."
And so, with her heart full of hatred, Tang Ya headed all the way toward Shrek Academy.
Interestingly, the Tang Sect's annihilation had occurred a full year earlier than in the original timeline.
When Ye Qing next saw Bei Bei, a timid little blue-haired girl was following beside him. Although she was only ten or so, as a Soul Master, she looked like a girl of sixteen or seventeen.
She looked somewhat bedraggled, but that could not conceal her lovely figure or her beautiful face, like a delicate flower just beginning to bloom.
Hmm, aside from not wearing a ponytail, she isn't much different from the Tang Ya I imagined.
Ah, this little brother really did end up caught in the Dragon-Binding Rope after all.
Ye Qing could not help sighing.
You'd already grown a spine. Even Zhang Lexuan couldn't shake your resolve to cultivate, so how did you lose control the moment you saw the Dragon-Binding Rope?
Wait, something seems wrong...
Ye Qing frowned, keenly sensing a faint, elusive allure around Tang Ya that could tug at people's hearts without them realizing it. Even he felt an urge to turn his gaze toward her.
If his ultimate light and darkness talent had not given him a similar ability, he would never have noticed this strange sensation.
"Fuck, something's fishy!" Ye Qing's ass clenched, and he hurriedly averted his eyes.
Sure enough, once Tang Ya was out of his sight, that heart-tugging sensation immediately weakened considerably. An ordinary person might have been unable to resist looking at Tang Ya again because of it, just like Bei Bei, who had already been caught in the Dragon-Binding Rope.
But Ye Qing, now on his guard, naturally would not fall for it.
Well, well, well. So that's how it is.
He had wondered how Bei Bei, who had such a wonderful Zhang Lexuan by his side all along and had even said, "Sister Lexuan, will you marry me when I grow up?" could later become so infatuated with Tang Ya.
Sure enough, that little punk San had set his schemes in motion long ago.
But I founded the Tang Sect, after all. How could I bear to watch it disappear just like that?
Those words had come straight from that little punk San's mouth. Using a few tricks to snare some pawns to help him rebuild the Tang Sect was perfectly normal and reasonable.
Damn it, I've only just been banished to the Outer Court, and I've already run into this crap. Ye Qing cursed inwardly, feeling for the first time just how difficult the Peerless Tang Sect dungeon was.
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