Quite some time passed before Chen Jinlong came back to his senses. All he could think was—

Flee!

I have to seize the moment and flee. Who knows what will happen if I really travel alongside that star of calamity?

What if, the moment that jinx finds himself in a bad mood, he decides to use me to vent his anger?

Will I have to kneel like that time at the House of Prosperity?

If so, I’ll embarrass myself in the provincial capital too!

Chen Jinlong couldn’t be bothered explaining himself to his friends. After a few hurried words of farewell, he turned and fled.

The night skies were dark as ink, and the streets were bright with lanterns. 

After leaving the Auspicious Inn, Chen Jinlong rushed straight out of Yangku Town.

But before he’d gotten even halfway, someone blocked his path.

“Please wait up, my young friend,” said a lean man in warrior's robes.

“Dammit, what the fu—...” Chen Jinlong didn’t have the patience for this and was just about to curse the man out when their eyes met. His entire body went rigid, and he forced the profanities back down.

A Grandmaster!? He quivered from head to toe; the man’s presence was subdued, but Chen Jinlong knew full well that only an Inner Furnace Realm Grandmaster had an aura like that!

“What can I do for you, Senior?” asked Chen Jinlong with a polite bow. He forced yet another rigid smile onto his face.

“Young friend, might you tell me about that youth in blue?”

The man in warrior's robes was none other than Qiao Leng. He witnessed Su Yi and Chen Jinlong’s exchange from outside the tavern, but just as he was trying to figure out how to approach him for a chat, Chen Jinlong left the tavern of his own volition. It was like he fell asleep, only for someone to slip a pillow under his head before it hit the ground. 

“Which young man in blue?” asked Chen Jinlong blankly.

“A young man and woman just walked into the inn. I’m asking about the man….” started Qiao Leng.

However, before he could finish, Chen Jinlong couldn’t help but exclaim, “Senior, you’re asking about Su Yi? I just knew nothing good would come of bumping into him!”

The sight of Chen Jinlong visibly jumping and gnashing his teeth took Qiao Leng by surprise. “Is there a grudge between you?”

“That…. Argh, it’s a long story.” Chen Jinlong sighed.

Qiao Leng was inwardly delighted. “Young friend, if you don’t object, how about we find a nearby teahouse and have ourselves a chat?”

He’d come here precisely to figure out Su Yi’s motives and origin. Wouldn’t it be even better if he could get some clues out of Chen Jinlong?

This was an invitation from a Grandmaster. How could Chen Jinlong refuse?

Before long, they were seated in a teahouse. In the face of Qiao Leng’s polite concern and small talk, Chen Jinlong was initially reticent, but once he got started, he couldn’t stop. His grievances poured out of him; he’d finally found someone he could vent to, and he got everything off of his chest.

As for Qiao Leng, he finally got some of the answers he was looking for, but his expression was somewhat strange.

The cast-off disciple of Blueriver Sword Manor?

The live-in son-in-law of Guangling City’s Wen Family?

If not for Chen Jinlong’s obvious distress and clear sincerity, Qiao Leng would have thought the kid was trying to pull the wool over his eyes.

But at least he’d finally obtained some useful leads.

For example, Su Yi carried the Lanling Xiao Family’s “Purple Jade Token”, and he’d once received aid from the Harmony Prefectural Governor, Mu Zhongting, and a noble youth. Then there was that time the head of the Zhang Family, one of the Cloudriver Prefecture’s peak-level clans, personally offered him a toast….

When he finished his tale of woe, Chen Jinlong felt lighter. He couldn’t help but ask, “Right, Senior, might I ask your honorable name?”

“Young friend, it’s probably best if you don’t know it. If you encounter trouble again on my account, it’ll weigh on my conscience,” said Qiao Leng. As he spoke, he was already rising to his feet. “It’s getting late. I’ll be on my way.”

Chen Jinlong hurriedly rose and saw him off. 

It was only after Qiao Leng disappeared into the distance that Chen Jinlong realized something: I told him so much. What if Su Yi finds out I…… Dammit! Why couldn’t I just keep my mouth shut?”

Chen Jinlong slapped himself right across the face.

……

A gaunt, withered elder in a deep blue changsan sat quietly in the teahouse across the street from the Auspicious Inn. A little red snake slithered between the fingers of his left hand, flashing in and out of view.

The snake was only about as thick as a chopstick, and its scales were entirely blood red. Its head was flat, and its ruby-red eyes glittered with strange, sinister light.

As it wove between his fingers, it occasionally flicked its tongue and let out a low, raspy hiss. It was fully spiritual and intelligent.

“Elder Wen, if I’m not mistaken, the ‘noble youth’ with Mu Zhongting has to be the sixth prince. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

Qiao Leng sat across from the elder in the deep blue changsan. He said in a low voice, “After all, everyone in the provincial capital knows that His Sixth Highness plans to help Mu Zhongting take over as our next provincial governor.”

The gaunt old man, Elder Wen, was Family Head Yu’s right-hand man, and his origins were highly mysterious.

Few in the Imperatorial Provincial Capital knew of his existence, or if they did, they just saw him as one of Yu Baiting’s elderly servants. He wasn’t at all famous.

But Qiao Ling knew full well that Elder Wen had mastered numerous strange and unbelievable spells and curses, and furthermore, that his cultivation was extremely terrifying!

Just now, Qiao Leng recounted everything he’d heard from Chen Jinlong in full detail, holding nothing back.

“It really is just as His Excellency suspected; that Su Yi boy is indeed in the sixth prince’s camp,” said Elder Wen. His voice was high and raspy, like a poisonous snake flicking its tongue. The sound was enough to make one shiver.

Qiao Leng sighed. “I misjudged him; most likely, Su Yi planned our encounter well in advance; his ‘rescue’ was just a pretense to get close to the young miss. It was no coincidence after all.”

“How could there be such a coincidence?” Elder Wen’s gaze was calm and sinister. “It doesn’t matter what the sixth prince sent him to do, or what his motives are. He’s already committed a taboo by touching His Excellency’s reverse scale.”

Qiao Leng hesitated. “Elder Wen, in that case, should we still go pay Su Yi a visit?”

“Why shouldn’t we?” asked Elder Wen. He rose to his feet. “We have to make that Su Yi boy understand: even if he’s got the sixth prince backing him, if he dares attempt to approach the young miss again, he’ll die beyond a shadow of a doubt!”

Qiao Leng felt rather conflicted.

Even now, he found it hard to believe that a young man of such caliber would plot and scheme just to get close to Yu Shuangning.

Besides, even if he had ulterior motives, under those perilous circumstances, Yu Shuangning and her entourage all would have perished if not for Su Yi’s timely appearance.

Qiao Leng muttered to himself, I just hope he realizes the trouble he’s in and backs down. It would be best if he never got involved in the Yu Family’s affairs ever again….. 

……

Meanwhile, in a high-end room at the Auspicious Inn, Cha Jin bit down on her pink lower lip,  feeling a bit nervous.

This blasted inn only had one room left!

Whenever she recalled that she and Su Yi were going to spend the night in the same room, she felt an indescribable unease.

But Su Yi seemed perfectly calm. He sprawled out on the bed, resting his head on his hands, his muscles loose and relaxed.

But on the inside, his thoughts raced. He was thinking about his cultivation.

The middle stage of the Qi Accumulation Realm is ‘Opening Meridians.’ With my foundations and assuming no shortage of resources, it’ll likely take me a few months to open all twelve ‘spiritual meridians’ if everything goes smoothly….

The Four Realms of the Martial Dao were Blood Circulation, Qi Accumulation, Inner Furnace, and Anāsrava.

The Qi Accumulation Realm was the second of the four, and it was subdivided into three levels: Unblocking Acupoints, Opening Meridians, and Astral Manifestation.

Unblocking Acupoints referred to quenching the body’s spiritual apertures.

Su Yi had already quenched and refined all one hundred and eight of them, and he’d awakened their spirituality, building foundations that far surpassed those of his past life.

As a result, he’d broken through, advancing from the early stages of Qi Accumulation to the middle stage, “Opening Meridians.” The human body contained one hundred and eight spiritually active acupoints, otherwise known as spiritual apertures, plus twelve spirit meridians.

These twelve meridians were also known as the “bridges to heaven and earth.” They formed a network between the body’s acupoints.

Opening all twelve spiritual meridians, one by one, was equivalent to forming a bridge connecting a martial artist to heaven and earth.

In a sense, the martial artist himself became a bridge. When he cultivated, he could absorb greater volumes of spiritual energy. 

In a mundane nation like the Great Zhou, almost no cultivator could open and connect all twelve spirit meridians.

This was true even at top factions like the Ten Great Academies. Those capable of opening all twelve spirit meridians did exist, but there were only a handful of them out there.

Every last one was seen as a peerless genius, someone born destined for greatness. Such geniuses were so rare, you might go hundreds or thousands of years without seeing one.

Even in the Nine Provinces of the Wilds, only the inheritors of the greatest factions could easily open all twelve spirit meridians

But to Su Yi, this wasn't a problem.

He was once the Wild’s Swordmaster of Abstruse Force, so he knew an enormous secret of the Qi Accumulation Realm’s Opening Meridians Stage:

In addition to the twelve spirit meridians, there was also a ‘hidden meridian’!

This hidden meridian ran through the twelve spirit meridians, connecting a martial artist’s fleshly body to their soul. You could only sense its existence upon achieving “full spiritual awakening of the acupoints”!

Back in the day, Su Yi’s youngest disciple, Qing Tang, opened her hidden meridian.

Su Yi hadn’t managed this in his prior incarnation. Qing Tang’s success was a reminder of how many flaws and imperfections he’d left behind during the Qi Accumulation Stage of his past life. 

After all, he’d only tempered seventy-two of his spiritual apertures to the point of awakening spirituality; he hadn’t realized “full spiritual awakening of the acupoints”, so he naturally couldn’t sense his hidden meridian.

Su Yi wouldn’t miss it this time!

As he pondered, Su Yi sighed. He’d just realized a problem.

He had few spiritual medicines and spirit stones left, and now that he was in the middle stage of Qi Accumulation, resources beneath tier two could no longer satisfy his needs….

Put simply, going forward, he exclusively needed spirit stones and medicines tier two and up just to maintain his normal cultivation.

And if he wanted to see fast progress and sudden breakthroughs, he feared he’d need to find “strokes of fortune”.

I hope this trip to the Imperatorial Provincial Capital doesn’t disappoint me….. Thought Su Yi.

The provincial capital was the heart of its six prefectures. It was incomparably vibrant and flourishing, and it offered sufficient cultivation resources to support a Grandmaster’s cultivation.

Su Yi was no Grandmaster, but even so, his path of cultivation was special; ordinary Grandmasters couldn’t even compare. His requirements for cultivation resources were extremely strict too.

Now, he could only hope that he’d be able to obtain sufficiently numerous and high-level resources in the provincial capital.

As his thoughts raced, he heard a sudden cry echo through the room.

Su Yi glanced over, and what he saw stunned even him.

The Jade-Eyed Crimson Flamebeast cub’s fluffy little feet were pawing relentlessly at Cha Jin’s ample chest. It was whimpering repeatedly, and it seemed ravenously hungry….

Cha Jin didn’t quite know what to do. Her clear features flushed red; she’d obviously been caught off guard. Her beautiful eyes shone with awkwardness and humiliation.

When Su Yi glanced over, Cha Jin’s face heated up. She couldn’t help but push down the little guy’s head, hard. Her heart filled with indescribable shame. It’s over. That guy definitely saw what happened just now…. I’m going to die of embarrassment….

Su Yi rolled over, sat up, and took out a tier-one spirit medicine. “Crush this into paste, then feed it to the cub.”

Cha Jin hurriedly agreed and accepted the herb, but before she could get to work, they heard someone knocking at their door.