As the brand-new Cultivation Technique completely integrated into his memory, Lu Yun felt a faint, elusive wisp of energy—unlike anything he had ever felt before—emerge from his Dantian.
It was not the fierce, external power of Ming Jin, nor the intangible, penetrating power of Dark Force. This energy was as solid as a strand of silk, clearly perceptible, and roamed through his meridians at his will.
Then, this Qi grew more abundant and gradually stronger. It soon permeated Lu Yun’s entire body, circulating endlessly through his limbs and bones.
A Grandmaster of Huajin.
In this world, almost anyone could practice martial arts. Beginners had to temper their bones and hone their skin. Once they trained to the point where their bones and tendons hummed in unison and a thunderous sound emerged from within, they would possess immense strength, capable of shattering stone tablets. This was the realm of Ming Jin, characterized by its fierce, external power.
Above Ming Jin was Dark Force. At this stage, a Martial Artist could precisely control their entire musculature, opening and closing their pores at will to lock in all their strength, preventing any from leaking out.
Dark Force could penetrate an opponent’s body, intangibly injuring their internal organs.
The wonder of Huajin, however, lay in achieving perfect, harmonious circulation that generated Qi on its own. The body became a complete, leak-proof whole, and one’s Qi could leave the body, traveling several meters to kill enemies from a distance.
Those who reached this realm possessed perception so acute it was said a feather could not be added to their weight nor could a fly land on them without their knowing.
Now, that solidified stream of air circulating within his body was clearly the mark of a Grandmaster of Huajin.
Lu Yun closed his eyes and focused, feeling his aging body begin to radiate a surging vitality as a result of his breakthrough.
His blood and qi surged, and his bones and tendons loosened. It was as if time had reversed, returning him to the peak condition he enjoyed at forty.
When Lu Yun looked at the ethereal blue screen before him again, the data on it had updated.
[Extreme Blue Martial Arts Modifier]
Name: Lu Yun
Gender: Male
Realm: Grandmaster of Huajin (Early-stage)
Cultivation Technique: Mountain-Breaking Inch Force Fist First Layer (Initiate)
modified value: 0
’modified value!’
’modified value...’ Lu Yun’s gaze was locked on the number.
At this moment, he had only one thought: he had to obtain more modified value, no matter the cost.
’Where did that one point of modified value come from? Could it be... that bowl of Centennial Ginseng Chicken Soup from just now?’
The moment the thought occurred, Lu Yun shot to his feet. He moved with a brisk, powerful stride, showing no trace of his previous senility.
Although the bowl had shattered, Lu Yun paid it no mind. He reached out without hesitation and picked up the still-scalding clay pot.
Due to his many years of practicing Martial Arts, Lu Yun’s hands had long ago become rough and tough. To him, this heat was nothing more than a slight stinging pain.
What’s more, now that Lu Yun had broken through to Huajin, a mere thought was enough to summon a wisp of condensed Qi from his palm, blocking most of the heat.
He tilted his head back, raised the pot, and drank every last drop of the remaining ginseng soup.
’No change?’ Lu Yun’s brow furrowed as he stared at the motionless screen, a doubt suddenly surging in his heart.
’How is this possible...’
Unwilling to give up, he took the remaining contents of the clay pot—the entire centennial ginseng, chicken bones, and dregs—and swallowed it all.
As the sharp bone fragments and rough dregs slid down his throat, Lu Yun ignored the discomfort, his eyes locked on the ethereal blue interface.
It remained unchanged.
’...Could it be that one centennial ginseng is only worth a single point of modified value?’
He slowly put down the clay pot, his eyes glinting.
’No matter.’ Lu Yun’s mind gradually calmed. The Lu Family’s businesses were vast, their foundations deep.
A mere centennial ginseng... there were at least ten more in the storehouse, including two precious specimens that were several hundred years old.
Not only that, but the residence also housed aged Lingzhi, deer antlers, snow lotuses, and all sorts of other natural treasures—every single one an incredibly potent tonic.
At this thought, Lu Yun stood up, his right hand subconsciously gripping the Rosewood Walking Stick he had grown so accustomed to.
This time, he would personally verify his theory and find out how to acquire more "modified value."
Just as he reached the courtyard gate, he saw a stout man rushing toward him from the end of a long corridor.
Lu Yun’s brow furrowed slightly. The man was one of the Advanced Guards hired by the Lu Family. He was skilled, an expert at the Late-stage Mingjin, and was normally tasked with protecting his eldest son, Lu Jingteng.
"Old Master, this is terrible!"
The man’s voice was hoarse. The moment the words left his mouth, he dropped into a sliding kneel before Lu Yun, kowtowing repeatedly. "Something’s happened to the Eldest Master... It’s all my fault for failing to protect him!"
"Last night, on our boat trip back, we encountered something strange on the river. The wind and rain were raging, and lightning tore across the sky. Then, this morning, just as the boat was approaching the docks, the Eldest Master... he suddenly collapsed."
"The Eldest Master was soaked to the bone and ice-cold to the touch. We started a fire to warm him, but it was no use."
"Then, he suddenly gained the strength of an ox and injured several of the men. We could barely restrain him... Fortunately, he fainted again, and that was the only way we managed to bring him back to the residence."
On the west side of the estate stood a Western-style villa.
The younger generation of the Lu Family favored these novel architectural styles, and Lu Yun’s three sons had lived in this villa for years.
When Lu Yun was twenty, he had married his first wife, Luo Qinghe. She passed away from poor health a few years after giving birth to their three sons.
Lu Yun had always felt guilty about her death and never remarried.
The villa’s furnishings were mostly imports from the Western World: a chiming clock, glass lamps, gilded photo frames... Lu Yun’s gaze swept over the various novelties with indifference.
In his eyes, these trinkets were no different from old antiques; it was just that the people of this world found them novel.
Lu Yun strode quickly down the Persian-carpeted hallway to the second floor, arriving outside his eldest son Lu Jingteng’s bedroom.
A beautiful young woman in fashionable clothes stood by the door, her eyes welling with tears and her expression one of flustered helplessness.
Upon seeing Lu Yun, she rushed forward and said in a choked, tearful voice, "Father... Jingteng is ice-cold, and nothing we do can warm him up... What are we going to do..."
This was Lu Jingteng’s wife, Shen Luoying, the daughter of the Patriarch of Yun Port City’s Shen Family.
The Shen Family had deep roots within the official circles of Yun Port City, making them a good match for the Lu Family in terms of social standing.
"Don’t panic. I’ll go in and take a look. You all wait out here."
Lu Yun pushed the door open and entered, closing it behind him. Leaning on his cane, he slowly approached, his gaze falling upon the soft, white, Western-style bed in the room.
Lu Jingteng was bound firmly to the bed with thick hemp ropes. His eyes were shut tight, his face as pale as paper.
Even so, in the contours of his son’s brow and eyes, Lu Yun could still recognize traces of his own handsome features from his youth.
Lu Yun quickly reached out to touch his eldest son’s forehead. The instant his fingertips made contact, he felt a bone-chilling cold.
’This cold is so strange...’
Although Lu Jingteng had never liked practicing martial arts, he had still tempered his body under Lu Yun’s supervision since childhood. His constitution was definitely far superior to that of an ordinary person.
Symptoms like this—a sinister cold invading the body—could not be explained away as any ordinary illness.
The more Lu Yun thought, the stranger it seemed. He immediately grasped Lu Jingteng’s wrist, sending a wisp of condensed Qi from his fingertips to probe his son’s meridians.
A Grandmaster of Huajin was no longer an ordinary Martial Artist.
Their internal energy circulated in perfect harmony. Just as they could injure someone intangibly, they could also probe the internal condition of another person’s body with absolute precision.
The wisp of Qi roamed through Lu Jingteng’s limbs and bones. In an instant, Lu Yun sensed a mass of sinister cold energy, as thick as ink, near his son’s heart meridian.
It didn’t feel like an injury or illness. It was more like... he’d been latched onto by something.

Comments

Loading...