I sunk into my thoughts and after a few incense sticks burned out, I had finally woken up and couldn't help but take quite the deep breath .
I couldn't hide the smile that had appeared on my face, those tea leaves are truly something else, the second I closed my eyes, insights I had gains started to flood my mind, the first thing I managed to grasp was that unique rhythm of breathing that Senior Brother Fu had asked me about before .
I now was fully aware of why he urged me to try and catch that weird state, the rhythm helped in vibrating the muscles and helped in guiding the tempering energy into the inner parts of the body .
Places that would have still left the Martial Practitioner vulnerable, Inner Organs, hidden Blood Vessels, this breathing rhythm was quite the addition to me not because these things, but what I cared for was the powerful effect it had on increasing the amount of tempering energy .
It can also be used effectively with the Inner way of practice, there is no longer need to punch something to gain tempering energy, even without doing that, you can still force your body to squeeze the Tempering Energy and temper your body .
Even though it might appear to not have that much impact on my current strength, I can already see a few new ways to exert my strength more efficiently with, that rhythm helped me with increasing my momentum, which in return helped me in delivering a full strength punch as much as I wanted .
Together with Compound Waves, my strength could be unparalleled on the battlefield, those two methods forced the user's body to take some time to cool down, but with the help of the Panel, I can already imagine myself unleashing devastating attacks continuously .
After regulating my breath after this rush of excitement and happiness, I once again calmed down and kept going through all the content of the Solid Rock Fist Technique in my mind, after that I found out that with that breathing rhythm comprehended finally .
I should have reached the Perfection realm of mastery, but why hadn't I gained the same enlightenment state as with the Thunderclap Fist, could there have been a problem with my understanding of this Martial Technique, perhaps, I'm not certain .
Not allowing the shadows of doubt to start gathering in my heart, I dropped that issue and couldn't help but wonder if my late Master would have had an answer for me .
Sighing deeply, I continued to stay cross-legged on the floor, my mind was still circulating with a bunch of thoughts on the different Martial Arts I have, I hadn't gain insights on Solid Rock Fist only .
In fact Gliding Swallow which hadn't made much an improvement all that time had now started to come after Charging Tiger and Crouching Tiger who were now just a little short from reaching consummation .
Even though this only the last step was left to be taken, that last step was the most difficult to take, no matter how hard I had tried, I just couldn't break through this hurdle, it seem that even with so much improvement, my Practice isn't subtle enough yet .
After accepting this, I opened my eyes only to see that I had actually spent the whole night practicing and had completely forgotten about the time, this much improvement would allow me to become closer to achieve success in my mission .
Just as I was rejoicing the good news, a piece of information came knocking on the window that overlooked the bustling scene downstairs and what made me quite interested was because the gossip had actually a relation to the Dojo .
The info was regarding the Alchemy Sacred Hall's decision on cutting all ties with the Solid Rock Fist Dojo from here on out, since they had sow discord among the nobles families and a disciple there had offended someone under the protection of the Sacred Hall .
The gossip didn't stop there, the person who was supposedly offended, is none other than the alchemy prodigy of the Gu Family, Gu Xing, as for the person who offended that guy turned out to be actually me .
I was stunned for a little bit after hearing this, after all I did indeed encounter that Gu Xing and in my mind I did want to beat him senseless at that time, but I didn't do it in the end, so why now was the Alchemy Sacred Hall interfering and protecting him like that .
It was no surprise to me that the Dojo and the Sacred Hall were both in a business relationship, after all even though the Dojo did have an alchemy hall, only master seemed to be the only one with a leaning and talent in alchemy .
But no matter how strong Master was in Martial Arts, Alchemy was different than Martial Arts and concocting pills wasn't easy even if the current alchemy process was like cooking, Master won't be able to provide all those disciples with enough Pills .
So this is where the Alchemy Sacred Hall came to play, with enough alchemists they can provide the Dojo with what pills it needed for an agreed fee of course, it won't be an exaggeration to say that the alchemy hall was indeed controlling the life and death of all the forces and different powers in the city in the palm of their hands .
Them cutting ties all of a sudden with the Dojo is quite strange, now that I thought more about it, many strange things had happened lately, first Master's death, then the City Lord declaration that he will destroy the Dojo .
Then the attack on the Moon-Whispering Willow or Enlightenment Conscious Tree and now this, there was also Lu Chiang and him being absent for all this time, only made things become even more suspicious to me, it seem that our Dojo had become a target .
And it didn't have one or two enemies, but multiple ones, but weirdly enough the Alchemy Sacred Hall choose this time in particular to do something like this .
I also heard that Uncle Li had been staying in the Alchemy Sacred Hall for some time now, doing his best to persuade them to reconsider extending a helping hand again even if that meant bowing his head down and giving them more benefits .
This had already gotten out of hand and the Sacred Hall was said to be doing this in purpose to humiliate our Dojo, a Martial Artist can never truly give up on training resources, so them cutting the source of those resources was the same thing as dealing the final blow to the Dojo .
So no wonder that Uncle Li would even do such a thing as pleading for them to reconsider, but this no longer can be described as coincidental .
The attack came so suddenly and the problem with the Gu Family had already been up for more than half a month already, so why now did they started to take action and how did Gu Xing manage to get the Alchemy Sacred Hall to get involved as well .
The whole situation seemed loaded with questions and traps, just as I was thinking like this, I suddenly heard the sound of something seemed to be cackling inside my body, then all of a sudden my heart began to beat louder than before .
If anyone was to sit here and listen quietly, he would be able to hear the sound of drums being played and the sound was constant and quite strong as well, but the problem is that the frequency kept on increasing until I was beginning to believe that my heart will come out of my chest .
Then pain started to kick in as well, this was one of the few times that I actually felt this much of tormenting pain since I came to this world, enough pain to force me to go down on all my knees and faint .
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After a while, I finally managed to wake up and the pain had already vanished, the notifications from the Panel informed me of how stupid I was just now .
What I felt before was a rush of energy that was enough to trigger a breakthrough, but since I had never got to learn about the process of practicing in this realm, I had no clue that I was having a breakthrough .
Luckily, even though I was quite stupid in dealing with the situation, I still actually managed to breakthrough, reaching the 2nd layer of Heart Quenching Realm, 80 more to go, the idea of me Quenching all my Organs meant that I will have to refine the same organ 9 times each, it was this or find other body parts that were already superior to my own and transplant them in me or something like that .
The mission was quite the difficult predicament one, but the gains outweigh the losses and it wasn't like I won't be able to found a few shortcut here and there .
With the help of wind and fire spiritual energy that existed in that blood Feng Rui had left me, I will be able to use the fire in my heart to finish Quenching this Organ in mostly a 3 to 4 months, that's as long as a steady stream of Blood Qi, Spiritual Qi to sustain the process and pay for the loss of Vitality, some price must be paid .
But that was easy to secure, in fact I believed this to be the most abundant requirement I currently have, just now the Yang Qi I absorbed from Lu Hua had been digested completely and with that I already finished Quenching my heart for the first time, even though it was reckless and without the help of the Panel I would have already died .
There was no room for mistake in practicing Martial Arts, the slight mistake can lead directly to death or getting crippled, but I guess me and the Panel are excluded from this unwritten rule .
I had already had some ideas in mind that could indeed help me with Quenching my organs quite fast, using the forbidden methods out there, the heritage of Martial Arts in this world was quite solid .
So there must be a few forbidden methods out there, either be it techniques or skills that I could be able to use without an issue, the only problem would be, where to find those methods and how to aquire them of course .
I should be able to go and ask Mu Lu to go and snoop around for any method that met my criteria, but for now all I can do is to wait patiently for news and of course I will need to continue practicing .
But first, I need to know more about the Dojo situation and why did those at those greedy people at the Alchemy Sacred Hall actually dared to involve themselves in such a dispute when there was little to no gains for them at all .
I put on my clothes, then descended the stairs and found the guys who were talking about this topic, but just as I appeared next to them all of a sudden, I ended up in startling them and one of them directly broke the barely hanging chair he sat on .
The inn glared at us and I tossed him something that satiate his anger and he even came personally from behind the stand to replace the chair with a new one .
Those guys here were a bit stunned at seeing this scene, but I misunderstood what they were stunned for, as I was about to ask something, the guy who collapsed on the floor, suddenly pointed his finger at me and with a loud voice, he screamed :
You are that Tian Long ? .
Instantly the pressure in the building become intense, several cold glares were suddenly aimed at me, some of the guests here even reached for their weapons .
I couldn't help but squint my eyes slightly watching this scene unfold, I turned towards the inn owner and saw that he was tapping on a black frame poster and on that poster was another wanted poster and an illustration of myself .
I instantly understood what this meant, since their was a royal decree used to make my official wanted posters be removed, those guys had instead put a bounty on my head, but this time I won't be hunted by officials or the Yamens, but I will now be hunted by the forces of the underworld .
Well, no matter, this is but yet another nuisance that I'm sadly forced to deal with only when it comes, the second one of these guys make a move, well I will even the odds and I guess we are going to see whose life is more tougher .
I nodded at the old man at the counter and returned to my business here, withdrawing one tael of silver and putting it on the table, then said :
" Since you know me, then I will make this brief, to whoever tell me the in and out of the situation between the Solid Rock Fist Dojo and the Alchemy Sacred Hall, can have 4 more silver taels .
Instantly three hands were directly trying to reach for the silver tael, two hands were already pulling and pushing one another and they finally settled on a draw and both of them start spilling what they have .
I stepped out of the building soon after I heard what was going on here with the situation, it turns out that some variables were behind the Alchemy Hall sudden intervention, some were related to me, while some others were not .
" You can step out now, as you can see I'm quite busy, so let's wrap this up quickly .
The second I said this, the air around me felt like it was vibrating, wind and trees were stirred and instantly 4 black clad characters appeared before me, all unsheathing their weapons, all of them were swordsmen, it seems .
Seeing that they still hadn't attack, I said something to dissuade them one last time :
" You 4 should know this before hand, the second you attack me, I will show no mercy and going to kill all of you, so this is your last chance to scram, else you all will be buried here .
They looked at each other and this was already a confirmation that they were together in this, then they shook their heads and one of them said :
No need for pointless words, the bounty on your head is quite hefty and will be able to live good for a while, so don't hold a grudge against us kid .
They directly started their attacks, four people were attacking from 4 direction, cutting any room for retreat, each seemed to be a veteran 8th layer Organ Quenching experts, but in my eyes, them and their attacks were quite usless .
" Well, I hope you will do the same thing .
Just as I miraculously evaded all their first set of attacks, I turned to look at the guy who spoke before and said :
" I meant that you won't hold a grudge against me doing the same, your thoughts aren't wrong, but a person need to be alive before thinking about spending money, don't you think .
After that my Resentment energy devoured them whole, with me in the center of the cage of swords they helped creating, all I needed to do with let my spiritual qi spread a wisps of resentment around me and it instantly did the rest .
Not even leaving their bodies to stay around, they were instantly turned into ash and their swords fell on the floor, clanking on the hard floor, I looked around me for a second there .
Looking directly at each other person who was still eying me, but didn't even have the courage to step out and confront me after this show displayed some of my power .
Each group looked aghast and were all being taken aback by what they just witnessed, soon I paid them no mind and started to walk in the direction of the the Alchemy Hall .
As I was walking across the street, for some reasons all eyes were on me, men and women alike, even though I had check my clothes thoroughly before, I couldn't help but gave them another look and I found that they were completely fine, so what is the deal with those guys looking at me as if trying to convey that I should be ashamed or something .
After the gazes become more intense, I felt like I no longer could be able to restrain my curiosity, so directly appearing like a ghost in front of one of those guys who were staring at me with disgust and held him in place, shocking the people in this crowded part of the street .
Some even shouted that someone was going to commit a murder, I looked at the guy in hand and didn't care in the slightest about the people shouting in the background one bit, I asked directly about what was going on and after knowing what exactly was currently happening in the Alchemy Sacred Hall, my blood boiled from anger and I directly went flying into the air quite forcefully, creating a shockwave .
Appearing on top of someone's house, I was starting to sprint with my full speed toward the Alchemy Sacred Hall, from that guy just now, I understood why they were looking at me with disgust and what exactly was currently going on in the area .
It turns out that Uncle Li had once again went to the sacred hall, but this time for a complete different reason than to try and rekindle and discuss the deal between the Dojo and the Alchemy Sacred Hall .
But this time he went there in hope of letting them revoke their last decree regarding me being forbidden from entering the Sacred Hall and any institution related to them .