The residence left behind by the previous Director was quite large, a sprawling estate with three main courtyards and lush gardens. It originally housed dozens of maids and servants, but he had dismissed most of them, keeping only ten. He also established a strict rule: the rear courtyard was completely off-limits to all servants.
This led the maids in the residence to gossip amongst themselves. The new Director was young, yet he lived like an ascetic monk—he shunned female company, disliked banquets, and barely spoke. But they didn’t dare run their mouths; their monthly allowance was thirty percent higher than under the previous Director. A Boss like him was a rare find indeed.
The door to the rear courtyard was ajar. Zhuang Zheng pushed it open, stepped inside, and closed it behind him.
In the courtyard, an old man sat by a stone table. He was gaunt, dressed in a black robe. His face was thin with slightly high cheekbones, and though his eyes weren’t large, they were exceptionally sharp, as if they could peer right into a person’s soul.
"I hear your two senior brothers from the Martial Arts Hall have returned?" The old man lifted his gaze to glance at Zhuang Zheng. "Both of them are in the Blood Exchange Realm. If we were to use them..."
"Shut your mouth, old man."
Zhuang Zheng cut him off. "I’ll say it again. Cross my line one more time, and don’t blame me for renouncing my so-called status as a Disciple."
"Disciple, there’s no need for anger. Since you are unwilling, I won’t bring it up again."
The old man sighed to himself. ’After all the trouble of finding a Disciple who can practice the Blood Transformation Technique, I can’t possibly let him leave our sect.’
"Still, it is quite remarkable. To think that a small place like Guangping County Town, and a small place like the Yang Family Martial Arts Hall, could produce a Disciple and his two senior brothers. It’s truly hard to imagine."
The old man said this with genuine feeling.
He had traveled across most of Shandong Dao and had only found one person—the Disciple—capable of cultivating the Blood Transformation Technique. The Disciple’s special nature was self-evident.
And as for the Disciple’s two senior brothers, one was at the Blood Exchange Second Transformation, while the other had even reached the Blood Exchange Third Transformation.
"You’ve seen my two senior brothers?"
Zhuang Zheng stared intently at the old man, having caught a hint of something in his words.
"Don’t worry, Disciple. I mean your two senior brothers no harm. I just happened to run into them on the street when I left the residence earlier. Your Senior Brother Lin is no simple man. I only glanced at him from afar, yet he was able to sense it. That’s not something an ordinary Blood Exchange Third Transformation Martial Artist is capable of."
Hearing the old man mention Lin Yan, Zhuang Zheng became thoughtful. ’Senior Brother Lin has always seemed mysterious to me. When I’m around him, I get the feeling that he’s completely unfathomable.’
However, he didn’t tell the old man about his inability to sense Senior Brother Lin’s Qi Blood.
"I’ll say it one last time: stop getting any ideas about my two senior brothers."
"Rest assured, Disciple. I won’t overstep."
The old man nodded, then smiled. "You must have come looking for me for a reason, Disciple. I imagine it has something to do with your two senior brothers, doesn’t it?"
’If it weren’t important, the Disciple wouldn’t have come to the rear courtyard.’
Zhuang Zheng fell silent for a long moment before finally speaking. "When I was near Senior Brother Zhao, I felt that something was wrong with his Qi Blood. It’s like there’s a second stream of Qi Blood inside his body, and it’s constantly being absorbed by his own."
"Are you certain, Disciple?"
A sharp glint flashed in the old man’s eyes, and he shot to his feet.
"I’m warning you again, you old bastard. Stop getting ideas about my senior brother."
Zhuang Zheng rose to his feet as well, making no effort to conceal his killing intent.
"Disciple, to refuse a gift from the heavens is to invite disaster."
The old man looked extremely agitated. "If I’m not mistaken, it’s highly likely a Foreign Bone has been implanted inside your Senior Brother Zhao."
"What’s a Foreign Bone?" Zhuang Zheng’s pupils shrank. ’For the old man to get this excited, this Foreign Bone must be something special.’
"Old bastard, don’t you dare hide anything from me. I want to know everything there is to know about Foreign Bones."
"Rest assured, Disciple. I will naturally hide nothing."
The old man paced around the courtyard, pondering for a moment before he spoke. "The so-called Foreign Bone is an object from thousands of years ago. In those days, this world was home to many Exotic Beasts. You can think of them as being like the Treasure Beasts of today, Disciple, but the benefits Exotic Beasts provided to Martial Artists were far greater than any Treasure Medicine. By killing an Exotic Beast, extracting its Essence Bone, and implanting it in one’s body to cultivate, a Martial Artist could develop a Root Bone. A Root Bone is the source of exceptional talent. In the Martial Arts Realm thousands of years ago, there were toddlers born with the strength of ten thousand jin—that is the power of a Root Bone."
"A toddler with the strength of ten thousand jin?"
Zhuang Zheng’s jaw hung slightly slack. He struggled to picture it: a small child, barely old enough to walk, lifting a boulder that weighed ten thousand jin.
"The strength of ten thousand jin is nothing special. The Foreign Bones of some high-level Exotic Beasts grant other abilities, and among the various Root Bones, one that provides such strength is considered merely low-grade."
’Ten thousand jin of strength is considered low-grade?’
Zhuang Zheng was stunned. It took him a long moment to recover before he said, "For Senior Brother Zhao to have such an opportunity, it must mean he is blessed by good fortune."
"Blessed by good fortune? I’m not so sure about that."
The old man sneered. Seeing the confusion in Zhuang Zheng’s eyes, he explained, "A Root Bone that has been nurtured within a body from a Foreign Bone can be plundered. Foreign Bones disappeared thousands of years ago. Extremely few Martial Artists in all of Shandong Dao even know they exist. Why would your Senior Brother Zhao be so lucky? And even if he obtained a Foreign Bone, how would he know the method to cultivate it?"
"Without the cultivation method, a Foreign Bone is nothing more than a mysterious Bone Fragment in the eyes of a Martial Artist. One can neither absorb its energy nor use it to nurture a Root Bone. The Foreign Bone in your Senior Brother Zhao’s body... some Powerhouse must have given him the cultivation method and had him nurture it for them. Tell me, Disciple, do you really think someone who understands the power of a Foreign Bone would be kind enough to hand over such a treasure to a complete stranger?"

Comments

Loading...