Outside the training room at the Prince of Zhennan's residence in Dali.
Rows of prisoners in shackles stood in line outside the door under the soldiers' escort. Every so often, one was sent into the room.
Before the time it took to drink a cup of tea had passed, another prisoner would be dragged out, limp all over and with a face ashen as death.
The process repeated itself, like an assembly line at a pig slaughterhouse.
The martial artists whose Internal Energy Xu Xiao drained did not die. They merely became third-rate fighters without Internal Energy.
The soldiers dragged them to prison for interrogation. Those who had broken the law were punished, while those guilty of no serious wrongdoing were released.
Xu Xiao had originally proposed killing them to settle the matter once and for all, but the Dali Duan Clan still dared not cut itself off from the martial world or push matters to the bitter end, so he did not insist.
The martial artists who had once ruled the roost in Dali had, over the past few days, learned what it meant for the imperial court to crush the martial world like a higher dimension descending on a lower one.
Two days earlier, after Xu Xiao and the Dali Duan Clan had formally reached an agreement, this operation against the people of the martial world had begun.
A security force made up of Dali soldiers and martial arts experts from the Dali Duan Clan began searching Dali City.
All martial artists previously recorded by Dali's Ministry of Justice as having a history of misconduct, as well as those who did not belong to reputable clans or major sects, were placed on the wanted list and arrested.
Batch after batch was sent to the Prince of Zhennan's residence in Dali for Xu Xiao to cultivate the Northern Darkness Divine Art.
The move prompted large numbers of martial artists to flee Dali City.
And as some martial artists who had committed no serious offenses were released after having their Internal Energy drained, the Dali Duan Clan's reputation in the martial world turned foul overnight.
Everyone said that the Dali Duan Clan was working with a demon, and that a Skeleton Immortal who looked like an evil ghost had taken up residence in Dali.
He controlled the Dali Duan Clan and used Dali's army to arrest and harm martial artists. For a time, everyone turned pale at the mention of Dali.
Xu Xiao, of course, knew nothing of this, and even if he had known, he would not have cared.
He was only passing through, after all. When it came to infamy or retaliation, the Dali Duan Family would be the first thing these martial artists thought of.
Besides, so far the Dali Duan Clan had not touched disciples of reputable and righteous sects. It had only targeted minor sects and families who had relied on their martial arts to defy authority, along with martial artists who had committed crimes.
With the stated purpose of restoring order in Dali City and punishing the ringleaders of the criminals, it was hard for the other righteous factions of the martial world to say much.
In the training room, Xu Xiao was practicing the Northern Darkness Divine Art. Today was already the third day.
Every day, the Dali Duan Clan sent the captured martial artists to his training room, where he personally drew out their Internal Energy.
Little by little, the water flowed back to its source. The Internal Energy in Xu Xiao's body, which had originally been below even the fifth-rate level, grew day by day, gradually becoming more and more abundant.
The Northern Darkness Divine Art had rather strict conditions for absorbing another person's Internal Energy: one's own had to be greater than the other person's to draw it out by force.
It was like two rivers meeting, with a small stream joining a great river before flowing into the sea.
If one rashly tried to absorb Internal Energy from someone with a higher level of cultivation, the mildest result would be Qi deviation; in severe cases, Internal Energy would flow back into the user, or the user might even lose their life.
But absorbing another person's Internal Energy was only the first step. What remained had to be circulated and assimilated continuously, transforming it into Northern Darkness True Qi.
On the evening of the third day, after Ye Erniang and Yue Laosan were sent into Xu Xiao's training room, there were no newly captured martial artists left in all of Dali City.
Ye Erniang and Yue Laosan, two of the Four Great Evils, were formidable experts of some renown in Dali City, and had been saved until now for Xu Xiao to finish with.
Paying no heed to the curses of the two evildoers, who had committed countless wicked deeds, Xu Xiao placed the five fingers of each hand on one of their Baihui acupoints and activated the Northern Darkness Divine Art.
The rich Internal Energy the two villains had cultivated over decades surged out in an instant, drawn into his body like the Yellow River flowing into the sea. In less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, both villains had been sucked dry.
With a wave of his hand, Xu Xiao threw the two villains, now stripped of their Internal Energy, out of the room and ordered coldly:
"These two villains have committed countless evil deeds. Don't let them die easily."
"Yes, my lord."
Several soldiers dragged the pair away like dead dogs. What awaited them was endless torment in Dali's prison.
When Xu Xiao killed, ordinary people died from a single blow, while great evildoers were tortured before he granted them death.
These two had committed countless evil deeds: one was a female devil who loved snatching children, playing with them, and then killing them; the other was a madman who took pleasure in torturing people to death. They deserved to die many times over.
Letting the two suffer several days of torture in Dali's prison could be considered doing good and eliminating evil.
Inside the room, Xu Xiao assumed the Daoist meditation posture with the five centers facing heaven, gradually refining the mixed Internal Energy he had absorbed into his body.
The Northern Darkness Divine Art drew in power through eighteen meridians, each paired with a corresponding method of storing it. The absorption meridians consisted of the body's twelve regular meridians and six of the eight extraordinary meridians, while the storage meridians were the two major meridians, Ren and Du. Eighteen multiplied by two came to thirty-six, secretly corresponding to the number of the Heavenly Dipper.
The thirty-six diagrams formed pairs, each pair showing the corresponding circulation routes and mnemonic formulas for absorption and storage.
Xu Xiao silently circulated the art according to its formulas, guiding the motley Internal Energy through his body, first along the hand taiyin lung meridian and the Ren meridian, then the hand yangming large intestine meridian, the foot yangming stomach meridian...
The Internal Energy that had gathered in his body after being absorbed by the Northern Darkness Divine Art over the past few days slowly circulated throughout him, going round and round, shedding impurities and retaining the essence.
The Internal Energy had originally been quite vast, stretching Xu Xiao's meridians until they stung. As its impurities were gradually stripped away and rose from the top of his head as white smoke, the Internal Energy circulating through his meridians slowly became streams of incomparably pure Northern Darkness True Qi and continued to circulate.
Only when all the mixed Internal Energy in his body had been transformed into pure Northern Darkness True Qi, flowing ceaselessly through him, did Xu Xiao open his eyes.
"Whew." Xu Xiao slowly breathed out a mouthful of turbid air, feeling the changes in his body.
He had a vague sense that his body had become much lighter, and his spirit was more vigorous than before his cultivation. The weakness that had originally come over him from time to time had also vanished without a trace.
"It really is worthy of being called the Northern Darkness Divine Art."
"It can overturn great ships and small boats alike, and contain great fish and small fish alike!"
"The things our ancestors left us really are better! Leaving its power aside, its ability to strengthen and nourish the body is truly beyond compare. Most importantly, it has practically no side effects."
Xu Xiao sighed inwardly.
He thought of the Nen Ability he had gained from the Superpower Crystal. Powerful as it was, it had also turned him from a lean adult man into the skeleton-like figure he now had.
Even with the nourishment of Internal Energy and the wild game and delicacies he had eaten nine times a day recently, he had only barely put a little flesh back on his bones, making him look less inhuman.
"I still need to find experts. I've absorbed so many martial artists these past few days, but Ye Erniang's and Yue Laosan's Internal Energy was each worth that of more than a dozen of the people before them."
Xu Xiao briefly reviewed his experience with absorbing power and came to that conclusion.
But Ye Erniang and Yue Laosan were by no means weaklings in the martial world, and there were not many martial artists like them in the whole of it.
"So I still need to set off for the Central Plains as soon as possible. That's the best place for me to nourish myself."
"Jiumozhi, when on earth are you going to arrive?"
Xu Xiao stood up and slowly walked out of the training room.
The attendant outside immediately bowed when he saw Xu Xiao emerge.
"My lord, the emperor and the prince have arranged a banquet at the residence. They said they have a matter to discuss with you and hoped you would come."
"Oh? What matter?"
Xu Xiao was delighted to hear there was a matter. At this point in time, could it be...?
"His Majesty said that the State Preceptor of Tubo intends to come to Dali and make trouble. He asks that you attend the banquet to discuss the matter and lend Dali a hand."
The attendant dropped to his knees and paid him full obeisance.
Ever since the Dali Duan Clan began working with Xu Xiao, everyone had known that he was one of Dali's trump cards.
The State Preceptor of Tubo was coming with ill intentions, and everyone hoped they could persuade Xu Xiao to act.
"All right, all right, all right. No need to kneel. I understand, and I'll take action."
Xu Xiao agreed with a broad smile, accepting before he had even reached the banquet.
Truth be told, if he had not been waiting for the big fish Jiumozhi, he would not have lingered in Dali for so long.
I just wonder what surprise you'll give me, Jiumozhi, one of the Four Great Masters of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils.
Xu Xiao was all smiles. He had now achieved minor mastery of the Northern Darkness Divine Art and was in need of a big fish to nourish himself.