Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus spent an entire day practicing three-in-one Qigong . Chu Nanping and Long Fanyun were responsible for guarding outside . Shangguan Fei was invited to observe .

Shangguan Fei still held grudges for being forced to practice the manual before, but he was too scared to show that now . When he saw that the Dragon King and Maid Lotus were practicing the same way as he had, he felt much better . From time to time, he even made a few comments as a senior pract.i.tioner . However, there was one thing that he did not know —the Dragon King and Maid Lotus had made a lot of reparations to three-in-one Qigong, so it was now quite different from what he had practiced . These reparations had mainly involved the techniques of moving the Internal Strength, so there was no noticeable difference to the observer .

Gu Shenwei took the lead, with the a.s.sistance of Maid Lotus . Both were very careful . With the skills of New Moon Hall, Maid Lotus used her genuine Qi to guide Gu Shenwei . She poked her fingers here and there around Gu Shenwei's body, or patted softly around his Dantian, using her Wayless Qigong to help him generate Sumeru Mustard Qi .

During the whole process, Gu Shenwei kept the basic rule of "Yin and Yang Strength" in his mind, practicing slowly but steadily . He kept his original Wayless Qigong under control, while focusing on producing Sumeru Mustard Qi .

This was an unusual way of practicing . Wayless Qigong and Sumeru Mustard were from different sects and had conflicting characteristics . The former was based on Taoism and emphasized a purely Yin approach . The latter originated from Buddhism and advocated Yang Qi . To integrate the two was like to force water to live with fire .

The manual of "Yin and Yang Strength" was like a bridge to link the two of them together .

The Internal Strength of the Gu family was also based on Taoism . It contained two different strengths of Yin and Yang, but they were practiced with different approaches from other manuals . Gu Shenwei removed the skill itself and only retained the coexistence of Yin and Yang . Under the guidance of Old Man Mu, he had also created a method to retain the two different Qi in his Dantian .

He hoped that one day he could completely integrate the two Qi using the sped-up technique of "Yin and Yang Strength" . If everything went well, he would be able to completely remove the hidden dangers of Qigong Deviation . But if anything went wrong, it would be suicide .

After an hour, the first Qi of Sumeru Mustard was successfully generated faster than Gu Shenwei had imagined . At the same time, the conflict between Sumeru Mustard and Wayless Qigong was also unexpectedly strong . He immediately stopped practicing . In the meantime, Maid Lotus sped up the input of her genuine Qi into Gu Shenwei's body, not to generate his power, but to suppress the Wayless Qigong inside him . The purpose of this was so that it would not defeat the last little bit of genuine Qi that had just been generated .

This was the most important reason that three-in-one Qigong must be practiced with a partner . The confrontation of two different Qi in the Dantian was an inevitable instinctive opposing reaction, which was beyong the pract.i.tioner's control and could only be mediated by an outside force .

It was a very uncomfortable experience, as if the whole body had been torn to pieces and then pieced back together, over and over again . Shangguan Fei had had a painful experience of this . He looked at the Dragon King with sympathy, feeling that his Qi was also reacting in his Dantian . He prayed in his heart, wis.h.i.+ng the Dragon King would succeed so that he would also be saved .

It took an hour to produce the first genuine Qi, and nearly another two hours to retain it . At the end, both of them were sweating profusely .

Gu Shenwei made even faster progress than Shangguan Fei did . Both he and Maid Lotus were worried about this .

Shangguan Fei felt that it was suitable for him to talk now that the Dragon King stopped practicing . "Wow, you've made so much progress in such a short time . The Dragon King is indeed impressive . Well, have you found a way to stop Qigong Deviation?" he asked .

"Well," began Gu Shenwei .

Shangguan Fei was exultant, but became disappointed when he heard what the Dragon King said next: "Endure, and then it will pa.s.s . "

The feeling of being hot and cold at the same time was hard to endure . Shangguan Fei would rather die than suffer from that inhumane pain again . He said with a sulking face, "The Dragon King can bear the pain, but I can't . That's… that's like an endless cycle of being beaten half dead and then coming back to life . "

"Come and help," Maid Lotus ordered, as if she had not heard the complaint from Shangguan Fei .

"Help?" Shangguan Fei asked . He had an ominous feeling .

"What do you think you're here for?" she asked .

"I thought…" Shangguan Fei began, but did not know what to say . He was still hoping that he would only need to provide verbal help .

But he was so scared of Maid Lotus that he did not dare to stay still, so he slowly walked to the Dragon King .

"Come to me," Maid Lotus said harshly . Shangguan Fei had to force himself to move towards her with heavy steps, as if his feet were attached to heavy stones and every step needed a great effort .

"Dragon King, I have been hiding it from my sister . I never told her that you forced me to practice the kung fu . You… you have to remember that," Shangguan Fei said, still not knowing that his sister had disappeared . In the past few days, he had been only thinking about himself .

Maid Lotus did not care what he had to say . She poked on Shangguan Fei's lower belly with one finger, and input a strong Qi .

Shangguan Fei had been too slack in practicing the kung fu . With the same Wayless Qigong, plus an extra few months of Sumeru Mustard, he was still far worse than Maid Lotus in terms of skills . He did not even dare to implement his fierce fist position . Even if he had dared, he would not have had enough time to use it .

He felt like the temperature plummeted -- as if it had changed from a hot summer to a cold winter . Shangguan Fei had barely cried out before he fell into unconsciousness . That was not bad for him, since there was be no pain in being unconscious .

Maid Lotus was still very weak . She wobbled after the poking . "It's different," she said .

She meant the two genuine Qi inside Gu Shenwei was different from those inside Shangguan Fei . After thinking about it for a while, she explained, "The two different Qi are entangled in him, while yours are distinct from each other . "

"It's because my genuine Qi is too weak," said Gu Shenwei .

"That might be the reason, but I think the repairs we made are effective . Shangguan Fei's genuine Qi was not pure enough from the beginning, and there were signs of entanglement with Wayless Qigong at an early stage with him," said Maid Lotus .

Gu Shenwei's next task was to strictly control the Sumeru Mustard Qi, making it more pure, and preventing it from growing too fast .

"It's your turn to practice," Gu Shenwei said, keeping his promise and offering to help Maid Lotus practice .

"No hurry . You need to rest," she replied .

Gu Shenwei shook his head . He did not need a break . He needed more time .

They each sat for a moment, exerting their Internal Strength to heal and restore their strength .

Gu Shenwei's kung fu was relatively pure . He had never learned to input genuine Qi into the other person by poking . So he sat on the chair, putting his hands on Maid Lotus's belly to input his genuine Qi into her .

It was the first time they had been so close to each other since their reunion .

For a moment, Gu Shenwei was embarra.s.sed . He could feel her warm and smooth skin under her clothes . He lowered his eyes to avoid eye contact with her .

Maid Lotus had undergone two completely different trainings from Golden Roc Fort and New Moon Hall . In Golden Roc Fort, she had to regard herself as a man, senseless to any touch of the body, which she only made use of when necessary . At New Moon Hall, she had to learn how to increase the sensitivity of her body .

The purpose of both kinds of training was to regard her body as a foreign object . She had to learn to tame it and use it until it became a weapon as sharp as a sword .

Maid Lotus had long been able to handle it with ease .

Gu Shenwei quickly managed to control his mind, too, focusing on inputting his genuine Qi .

Surprisingly, Maid Lotus could not produce Sumeru Mustard Qi . An hour pa.s.sed, and she had made no progress, with only Wayless Qigong in her Dantian .

Not only that, but the original Qi inside her body was also constrained and she could not control it as much as before .

Gu Shenwei could feel her skin under his palms becoming hotter and hotter . Her breathing became more and more rapid, as if something in her body was going to leap out .

He retracted his genuine Qi and removed his hands from her belly . "Let's call it a day and try again tomorrow," he said .

Maid Lotus did not speak . Gu Shenwei raised his head to check on her . Her cheeks were as red as the freshest roses, and there were confusion, pain and madness in her eyes .

He had seen her charms before, but never like this . A simple glimpse made his heart beat like a little beast . The beast had been leashed firmly all this time, but now was struggling to break free .

Eye to eye, they wished they could forget everything and stay in this moment .

However, they were both true killers -- calm and ruthless killers . The eye contact lasted only a moment before both of them turned their heads at the same time to look at Shangguan Fei, who had come back to his senses .

The rosiness on Maid Lotus's cheeks quickly disappeared .

"I just woke up," Shangguan Fei said, emphasizing the word "just" with a scared face . He even forgot the residual pain of the Qigong Deviation .

He did not want to see or know any secrets . Secrets were curses, and he wanted to stay away from them .

The look on the Dragon King and Maid Lotus's faces were both scary . One was gloomy, the other was cold, but both were ruthless . He knew they could both take a life as easily as taking a breath .

Shangguan Fei barely squeezed out a smile and said,"Do you still need me? Please help yourself . "

"You can leave," said Maid Lotus .

Shangguan Fei was so glad to hear those three words that he almost cried . He immediately stood up and said, "Call me when you need me . " Before the last word came out of his mouth, he was already outside the tent .

There was still a bit embarra.s.sment between the two . Maid Lotus took a step back . Gu Shenwei stood up and walked to the table as if he was going to organize the objects on it . Suddenly he figured it out . "I've got it," he said .

"What?" Maid Lotus asked, for she could not fathom the Dragon King's thoughts at that time .

"I had my meridians opened up in the Joy Pavilion . That's why I could produce genuine Qi in such a short time," he explained .

The method of increasing the internal strength in the Joy Pavilion was extremely peculiar . Dozens of people sat in the teahouse and drank a bitter, nouris.h.i.+ng tea while listening to percussion sounds made by Immortal Peng upstairs with his crutch . In the process, the meridians were opened up so that genuine Qi could flow through more rapidly, and one's power could be increased at a faster rate .

"If that's the reason, then I don't have to worry," Maid Lotus said, as she knew about the experience of Gu Shenwei in the Joy Pavilion and understood what he meant .

The two were silent for a while, and then a voice came from outside and said, "Dragon King, can I come in?"

Maid Lotus walked to the corner, almost becoming invisible . Fang Wens.h.i.+ came in and did not even notice her . "Dragon King, are you by yourself? I have important news," he said .

Fang Wens.h.i.+ looked very excited . He had collected a lot of information that day . He was sure the Dragon King would be pleased .

"Speak," said Gu Shenwei .

The Dragon King was as expressionless as usual, but Fang Wens.h.i.+ was used to it . "Kuo Zhen confessed . I don't know what Senior Shou did, but Kuo Zhen told everything . Although he doesn't know much, we can guess King Kuari's plans through speculation," he said .

Fang Wens.h.i.+ paused, waiting for the Dragon King to ask questions . But the Dragon King just listened, so he continued, "Norland troops are not being mobilized the same way as the Central Plain and the Western Region's troops . The Norland soldiers only listen to the Army Commander or his kin, and they have to give the orders to the troops in person . A seal or decree won't work . "

Fang Wens.h.i.+ looked at the Dragon King firmly, eyes s.h.i.+ning . "King Kuari is going to mobilize the troops for a rebellion," he said .