Chapter Twenty-Two: Enlightenment

Poor aptitude—this, Xu Chen readily admitted. Yet when it came to combat talent, he felt he was not lacking. The entire afternoon, Xu Chen sparred with Niu Dali, each exchange nothing but brute force.

With a resounding thud, Xu Chen was forced back a dozen steps, his face alight with joy as he looked at Niu Dali. Meanwhile, Niu Dali felt a faint sting in his fists, casting Xu Chen a plaintive gaze.

“Brother Niu, want to learn? I can teach you,” Xu Chen offered.

His words instantly stirred Niu Dali’s excitement. “You’d really teach me?”

“It’s just a technique for channeling blood energy. As long as you’re willing, I’ll show you,” Xu Chen replied. “But you must spar with me often.” A sly smile played at his lips.

To him, this towering figure clad in golden armor, muscles hard as steel, was the perfect training partner.

“Alright, let’s continue!” Niu Dali agreed.

Night fell within the Sacred White Space.

The clone gripped Xu Chen’s crown with five fingers, a half-smile on its lips. “You don’t think you can defeat me with this, do you?”

“This crude technique for channeling blood energy—you don’t actually think I can’t counter it, do you?” the clone mocked. “It’s like an old lady crawling under the covers.”

Suddenly, the clone’s five fingers tightened, unleashing five swirling vortexes of blood energy in Xu Chen’s mind.

With a crushing sound, Xu Chen’s mind was obliterated.

Less than ten breaths later, Xu Chen pushed open the door once more.

“Your grandfather’s here!” he declared.

The battle resumed.

Only when his spiritual strength was spent did Xu Chen collapse onto his bed, sinking into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Xu Chen rose to find several wine monkeys outside his door, breakfast already prepared.

Seeing the exquisite spread arrayed before him, Xu Feng flicked a spirit coin toward the distant wine monkey chefs. “Excellent work—this is for you.”

The wine monkeys bowed excitedly to Xu Chen.

No sooner had breakfast ended than the earth began to tremble.

Niu Dali, wielding a boulder even larger than before, ran along the path he’d forged through the dense forest. Each step sent a shudder through the ground.

Xu Chen, too, wasted no time, beginning his practice of the Twelve Wave Body-Tempering Method in the open space outside the door.

For some reason, the method he’d engraved into his bones felt different today.

He seemed to float atop a storm-tossed sea. Waves surged and crashed, and from afar, billows rose and fell, pounding the water with wild force, stirring it anew.

Endless layers of power coursed through the sea, suffusing Xu Feng’s body. Empowered by this force, Xu Chen struck out, each palm sending the energy back to the ocean.

Boom!

A giant wave, dozens of yards tall, crashed toward Xu Chen.

He had reached the final move of the Twelve Wave Body-Tempering Method.

“A wave that touches the heavens!”

This palm seemed to unleash the ocean’s entire might, pouring it into a single blow against the colossal wave.

In that instant, Xu Chen felt himself become the sea.

Crash!

Palm met wave, and at that moment, Xu Chen returned to reality.

The force of his strike sent the grassland before him rippling in waves, surging across the earth like the tide.

Thunder echoed across the hundred-acre field, eight layers of sonic booms resounding.

Having finished the set, Xu Chen felt utterly spent, nearly collapsing to the ground.

“I did this!”

Before him, the grassland had opened in a fan shape, the earth overturned from his strike.

Feeling his blood energy nearly depleted, Xu Chen hurriedly popped a blood energy pill and sat down to recover.

Just then, Niu Dali approached, boulder in tow.

With a crash, the boulder hit the ground. Niu Dali leapt close to Xu Chen, spotting the overturned earth.

“Brother Xu, you did this?” Niu Dali asked in disbelief.

Xu Chen, still regaining his strength, nodded slightly.

“Amazing! To shake the air with force at the blood energy stage is a sign you’ve mastered the power of blood energy,” Niu Dali said with admiration.

“In my Golden Armored Thunder Ox clan, anyone who can achieve such force shaking the air is sure to become a disciple of the elders and receive a bounty of spirit coins and treasures—provided their talent isn’t poor.”

“Brother Xu, teach me!”

“That’s easy. Let me recover fully and practice a bit more, then I’ll show you,” Xu Chen replied with a smile.

He felt that, though his golden finger was a bit lacking, it still had its merits. Though often abused, at least it gave him space to excel in battle.

An hour later, fully restored, Xu Chen sensed his blood energy and physical strength had grown considerably.

“Brother Niu, first, feel how much blood energy I possess.”

Without employing any technique, Xu Chen threw a punch at Niu Dali.

Crash!

Niu Dali staggered back half a step, then assessed, “About the strength of two tigers and nine oxen—over twenty-nine thousand pounds.”

Xu Chen’s eyes brightened; a single breakthrough had increased his strength by five oxen.

That much strength would have taken him more than half a year to accumulate with resources alone.

Just as Xu Chen was rejoicing, a spirit vessel descended from the sky.

“Xu Chen, I’ve come to settle our debt!” a proud voice declared.

A figure leapt from the vessel—a child in a white robe, face aglow with arrogance, stood before Xu Chen and Niu Dali.

“A year of hard training has given me the strength of five tigers and three oxen. Today, I’ll avenge the humiliation you dealt me a year ago.”

“To settle our score, Xu Chen—are you ready?”

“I am no longer who I was a year ago!” Ye Bai declared, his proud demeanor causing Xu Chen and Niu Dali to exchange glances.

“You want to challenge me again?” Xu Chen asked.

“Of course. If I don’t, my path will never be smooth,” Ye Bai replied, head held high.

“I won’t fight unless there’s something in it for me,” Xu Chen said, uninterested in playing with children unless there was money involved.

“You want something?” Ye Bai scoffed, producing a yellow crystal card worth ten thousand spirit coins.

“Beat me, and it’s yours.”

“Deal!” Xu Chen’s eyes gleamed. After all, who could have too much money?

“Come!” Xu Chen’s gaze shifted, as if he saw a mountain of spirit coins.

Niu Dali stepped back, clearing the field.

“See the gap between us!” Ye Bai charged at Xu Chen.

“What a glaring flaw…” Xu Chen couldn’t help but remark inwardly.

Ye Bai struck swiftly, his palm landing forcefully on Xu Chen’s blocking arm.

Xu Chen staggered back dozens of steps, feigning shock.

Ye Bai’s heart soared at the sight—his desire for revenge fulfilled.

“See? That’s the difference between us!”