Town Alley Battle (1)

He nodded and said:

"We've already reached an understanding on our side. Next, we'll focus on breaking through to the eighth layer and preparing for the upcoming contest for fortune."

"As long as we hold the advantage, people will naturally come over to our side when the time comes."

"Oh, right."

Xie Linchuan raised an eyebrow.

"How has your cultivation progressed these past few days? I just broke through to the seventh layer last night."

"At this rate, reaching the eighth layer before the end of the month won't be difficult. My circumstances are unusual, though, and my True Intention is still lacking for the moment. You should be in much the same position, right?"

Xie Linchuan's eyes shone. He was already fairly confident about reestablishing the True Intention of his Qi Ingestion Method, as soon as today or tomorrow at the latest.

Once his True Intention was reshaped, it would immediately be complete. Breaking through to the eighth layer before the end of the month would be as easy as reaching into his pocket for something!

"That thing really was effective," Yu Tunzhou agreed with a nod. "I've broken through to the seventh layer too. I shouldn't be far from the eighth."

Xie Linchuan's face twitched. He had come to know Yu Tunzhou somewhat. For instance, the fellow was steady and never spoke in absolutes.

If he said it wasn't far off, then it was practically within reach.

Xie Linchuan stared at him. "Could it be that you're only a hair's breadth from the eighth layer?"

Yu Tunzhou nodded lightly.

Xie Linchuan was at a loss for a moment.

Thanks to his Seven-Orifice Exquisite Heart, few people or events around him escaped his grasp. Yet Yu Tunzhou seemed to do things beyond his expectations time and again, which was also why he was increasingly willing to keep company with him.

"Just how much of your True Intention have you comprehended?" Xie Linchuan asked, puzzled.

"All of it." Yu Tunzhou didn't conceal it this time, because he had learned that a Qi Ingestion Method's True Intention could be reestablished.

Xie Linchuan looked taken aback. He took a deep breath and said, "You reestablished your Qi Ingestion Method's True Intention?"

Yu Tunzhou nodded. "The reestablished Spark Instruction happens to correspond to the four characters for unceasing self-improvement. It fits my true heart."

"No wonder! Well, Yu Tunzhou, did you reestablish your Qi Ingestion Method's True Intention long ago?" Xie Linchuan laughed in exasperation.

And to think he had worried that this fellow wouldn't be ready for the first contest for fortune at the end of the month!

"When I first began cultivating, there was much I didn't understand. I stumbled and scrambled my way along and didn't dare speak of it lightly. Forgive me, Brother Xie." Yu Tunzhou sighed softly. "I still need to visit the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple later to ask about some cultivation matters."

"You've succeeded with the visualization diagram too?"

"I have."

"The Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple didn't choose to take you in?" Xie Linchuan frowned.

He had managed to cultivate even with that incomplete diagram. Was the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple blind? In terms of talent for cultivating the mind alone, this fellow would rank no lower than second in the town, with a shot at first.

"There was a bit of an accident. But Senior Brother Zhou said that if I needed to, I could stay at the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple anytime."

"Senior Brother Zhou?"

Xie Linchuan was puzzled. Why did it feel as though the seniority relationships around this fellow were especially muddled?

"I'll go deliver the fish first. You should avoid going out these next few days," Yu Tunzhou said seriously.

Xie Linchuan stood where he was, watching him walk away. He couldn't shake the feeling that the Yu Tunzhou he had just seen had changed subtly from before.

As soon as he turned around, he discovered that his granduncle-master had appeared behind him at some unknown point.

Zhang Qingtong looked beyond the gate and said slowly:

"The boy's spirit has changed."

"His spirit?"

As if awakened by the words, Xie Linchuan abruptly turned to look back.

That was it. His spirit had changed!

If the Yu Tunzhou of the past had been a deep pool whose bottom couldn't be seen, its surface still and unruffled, as though he had grown mature and steady at a young age,

then the Yu Tunzhou just now had ripples rising from the depths to spread across the surface, with the vague shape of a giant fish beneath the water, lashing its tail and stirring the waves.

Zhang Qingtong looked toward a place on the mountain and said slowly, "The reestablished True Intention of your Qi Ingestion Method is very interesting. I hope to see you open a new lineage for our Evergreen Mountain."

Xie Linchuan was stunned. This was the first time his granduncle-master had acknowledged him.

Yet he merely nodded lightly, feeling neither joy nor sorrow.

Xie Linchuan felt there was one thing about Yu Tunzhou that was well worth learning from.

That was to be the best version of himself.

Yu Tunzhou had deliberately made the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple his last stop.

He wanted to ask Senior Brother Zhou about a few obstacles he had encountered in his recent cultivation.

Seeing that it was Yu Tunzhou, Zhou Tianchen naturally opened the gate and let him in.

A wisp of breeze emerged from somewhere and stirred the ends of the boy's hair.

Zhou Tianchen shook his head. Well, it was much closer to the boy than to him. Just who was the disciple here?

He spoke first. "I have no use for this Dragon Fish either, so keep it for yourself. But things are unusual lately. Why don't you stay here a few days and return to the mountain once things have quieted down?"

"Thank you, Senior Brother Zhou." Yu Tunzhou neither refused nor agreed. He said, "There are some cultivation matters I've thought over, and I think it would be best to ask you about them, Senior Brother Zhou."

Zhou Tianchen readily replied, "Go ahead and ask. That Daoist priest is bound by the town's rules, after all, so it's more convenient to come to me about some things."

"My Qi Ingestion Method has already broken through to the seventh layer, and I can occasionally glimpse the Profound Qi in this world, such as the Water Fortune Profound Qi in the river. Can I try gathering and absorbing it?" Yu Tunzhou asked.

He hadn't used the remaining water-fortune Dragon Qi lately, but he had thought of the water-fortune Qi workings in the river.

According to Ao Xiyu, the water-fortune Qi workings should be the precursor to water-fortune Dragon Qi.

"Of course. You can never have too much Profound Qi. It can all be incorporated into the inner Qi seed in your Dantian."

Zhou Tianchen pondered and said,

"Just remember not to neglect the essentials for the sake of trifles. If you spend most of your time gathering only the merest wisp, the gain won't be worth the loss. For now, your focus should still be on developing your Qi Ingestion Method."

After hearing Senior Brother Zhou's words, Yu Tunzhou grew increasingly puzzled.

"Does gathering Profound Qi take a lot of time?"

He had experienced something similar in the river before, but it had only seemed as though the Water Fortune Profound Qi had come rushing into his embrace like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

Zhou Tianchen was speechless. Junior Brother Yu really still didn't understand the martial path. He gave an example:

"Outside the town, many Aristocratic Clans keep 'Qi slaves,' teaching them incomplete Higher Vehicle Qi Ingestion Methods and visualization diagrams. Once the Qi slaves reach the seventh layer, they have to go to 'Qi fields' and gather Profound Qi for the clans."

"The reason is that Profound Qi is not only scarce but also too troublesome to gather. If an ordinary martial artist relied on himself alone, he wouldn't gather enough Profound Qi to forge a Higher Vehicle foundation in ten or even twenty years."

Zhou Tianchen sighed softly. "These Qi slaves cultivate the incomplete inheritances of the various clans and never have their freedom for their entire lives. There are even fixed rules for how they're disposed of after death."

He shook his head and said no more.

The state of the world had grown worse and worse over the years.

The great Aristocratic Clans monopolized the Higher Vehicle path. Ordinary people within their spheres of influence, even those with Root Bones, had no way to ascend. They often had no choice but to attach themselves to the clans and devote their entire lives to the effort, only then gaining a little hope of giving their descendants a slightly better starting point.

A faint ripple stirred in Yu Tunzhou's heart.

Driven by Aristocratic Clans for their entire lives, gathering Qi and selling their lives...

So the world beyond the mountain was not as peaceful as he had imagined.

After thinking for a moment, Yu Tunzhou truthfully described the strange phenomenon by the river, where a hundred rivers had returned to the sea.

As expected, the water-fortune Qi workings' "hundred rivers returning to the sea" should have something to do with Little Black.

After hearing Yu Tunzhou out, Zhou Tianchen knitted his brows. He pondered for a moment and said:

"To draw Water Fortune Profound Qi to oneself is an innate Divine Ability of the pure-blooded dragon descendants of the Dragon Court of the Four Seas... But if your little black fish really is the Kun of the Northern Sea, that would hardly be surprising."

"The Kun fish our founding master saw in years past traveled all four seas, taking in and expelling the water fortune of all four seas, before transforming into a Peng bird and soaring into the blue heavens..."

"If you really can swallow up the water-fortune Qi workings in the river, then don't hold back! Swallow as much as you can!"

Zhou Tianchen's eyes shone as he said, "Everyone in the world thinks they have too little Profound Qi. No one has ever complained of having too much!"

Yu Tunzhou nodded solemnly.

He had been worried that doing so might conflict with the contest for martial fortune. Since Senior Brother Zhou said it was fine, he could go ahead without restraint.

"Once you've cultivated the Spark Instruction to the ninth layer and there's no path ahead, you can begin trying the Heavenly Peng Essence-Devouring Instruction. After my senior brother completed it, this Qi Ingestion Method reached the pinnacle, no worse than the core inheritance of any great sect!"

Pride showed on Zhou Tianchen's face as he spoke.

Higher Vehicle Qi Ingestion Methods stopped at the ninth layer.

Only a pinnacle Method Formula could advance another step from the top of a hundred-foot pole and reach the tenth layer.

And there was no prohibition against cultivating multiple Qi Ingestion Methods.

After asking about his other recent questions regarding his Qi Ingestion Method, Yu Tunzhou rose to take his leave.

"Senior Brother Zhou, I'll leave the fish basket here for now and come back for it tonight."

Zhou Tianchen said gravely, "Are you really going to force your way through? There are six people waiting for you outside. They've probably already figured out how to counter those two moves you used before."

Yu Tunzhou shook his head. "There are many of them, and I'm not stupid. Why would I clash with them head-on? My advantage is that I know this town extremely well."

"Besides, I still plan to go to the river and absorb the water fortune. I can't play hide-and-seek with them every day. You can't guard against thieves for a thousand days."

Outside the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple at that moment.

Figures lay in wait in both the alleys leading into town and at the roads out.

According to their plan, whichever way Yu Tunzhou went, they could stop him.

But the next moment.

A shadow swept over someone's head.

The boy looked up in astonishment, only to see someone leap high from the Heavenly Peng residence's wall and jump straight into a neighboring abandoned ancestral home.

Yu Tunzhou stood atop the high wall and swept his gaze over the area below, spotting four people: three men and one woman.

Without another word, he jumped into the abandoned old house.

"Fuck!"

The boy shouted angrily, "This fellow jumped into the Flying Vulture Palace's abandoned ancestral home!"

In an instant, several other figures emerged from the shadows, but before rushing into the old house, everyone visibly hesitated.

At that moment, a figure climbed over the wall from the side and said calmly, "Don't touch anything inside and there won't be a problem. Drive him out."

Hearing even this member of the Jiang family say so, the others hesitated no longer and rushed into the old house as well.

But by the time they charged inside, Yu Tunzhou was nowhere to be seen.

Jiang Yungu frowned, his gaze sweeping over every place. He didn't believe Yu Tunzhou could be that fast.

Just then, he suddenly saw a flutter of clothing vanish around a corner ahead!