Free Web NovelChapter 22: Chapter 22: Scheme
Chen Zhengtong said viciously, "Father, if we don’t get revenge for this, how can our family show its face in Lingxi Village anymore!"
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He slammed his fist on the edge of the bed. "And then there’s Chen Li, with his phony act and fake apology. It’s obvious he and his son planned this together."
"We can’t just let this go." Chen Zhengtong struggled to sit up, but the movement pulled at his wounds, making him hiss in a sharp breath of pain. "I’m going to the Tingtiao Martial Arts Hall to ask my senior brothers for help. We’ll find a chance to cripple that little bastard, Chen Shouheng."
"Nonsense!" Chen Yongquan’s brow furrowed. "Chen Shouheng has a martial arts hall backing him, too. He has senior brothers of his own. If this blows up, can you forget about taking the Martial Examination? Our family’s future is riding on you."
"So we’re supposed to just swallow this insult?" Chen Zhengtong snarled, unwilling to yield.
"Swallow it? Of course not!" Venom filled Chen Yongquan’s eyes. "But to deal with them, we can’t use brute force. We have to use our brains."
Chen Zhengtong said maliciously, "Father, I think there’s something strange about that little bastard Chen Shouheng reaching Marrow Refining in just three years. You know I haven’t missed a single Medicinal Cuisine meal in all that time. Does he have the resources for that?"
"Now that you mention it, I’m also curious," Chen Yongquan said, frowning. "Over the past three years, you’ve spent a total of three thousand taels of the family’s silver. Chen Li’s family’s annual income is, at most, three or five hundred taels. Where did he get so much money to support his eldest son’s Marrow Refining and also send his second to train? It’s not like martial arts training is free."
A flush crept up Chen Zhengtong’s face. "Father, are you doubting me?"
"I’m not doubting you." Chen Yongquan waved his hand dismissively. "I’ve had people keeping an eye on Chen Li’s family for a while now. All he does is farm, day in and day out. His harvests are a bit better than the others, yes. And even though none of his hired hands, long-term or short-term, are willing to talk, I had someone estimate his yield. It’s only about thirty or forty percent higher than average. As for any other ancestral properties, he shouldn’t have any. Otherwise, that good-for-nothing father of his would never have sold me their two hundred acres of prime land."
After a moment of silence, he suddenly looked up. "Zhengtong, do you think his eldest son could be a martial arts genius?"
"Impossible," Chen Zhengtong blurted out instinctively. Seeing his father’s intense gaze, he cleared his throat. "If he were a Martial Dao genius, Chen Shouheng would have started training long ago. He wouldn’t just be at Marrow Refining now. My third senior brother is a perfect example—he reached Blood Refining within three years of starting and is a publicly acknowledged genius throughout the county."
When his father remained silent, he changed the subject. "Father, a while ago, the Wang Family—Wang Shizhang’s family—was annihilated, right? Do you think Chen Li could have been in on it with those three?"
Chen Yongquan shook his head. "I’ve seen the wanted poster from the Government Office. Those three have been roaming around Jiangzhou for over a decade. How old was Chen Li back then? It would be pointless even to try and frame him; the Government Office would never believe it."
"Father," Chen Zhengtong said, suddenly looking up, "the most urgent task is to deal with the immediate crisis."
"Yes," Chen Yongquan nodded with a sigh. "But what good options do we have? Killing them... our family may not have the ability. A few years ago, I had your older brother try something. The local thugs I sent to cause trouble all vanished without a trace. They were probably killed."
A venomous glint appeared in Chen Zhengtong’s eyes as he spoke fiercely. "Even if we can’t kill them, we can make sure their lives are miserable. We can hire people to sabotage their grain fields and their storehouse. We could let a bunch of rats loose in there to eat their grain..."
"Petty schemes and tricks will never lead to anything great. It’s easy to be clever and play dirty. The hard part is learning how to endure an insult. Zhengtong, you still have much to learn."
Just then, the old patriarch, Chen Xingjia, who was sitting on the doorstep, took a long, hard drag from his dry pipe, cutting them off. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
"Father..."
"Grandfather, are we just going to watch their family grow stronger?" Chen Zhengtong sat up in agitation, but the sudden movement pulled at his wounds, and he grimaced in pain.
"You’ll just end up getting your hands dirty for nothing, and it will ruin our reputation," Chen Xingjia said, breathing out a cloud of smoke. "What has your older brother, Zhengping, been doing in the county town all this time? How long has it been since he’s been home?"
"I only know what my older brother told me. He’s gotten in with some very powerful figure and has been working for him for years. I don’t know anything beyond that," Chen Zhengtong said, shaking his head.
"Contact your older brother first. Ask him if he can get that powerful figure to eliminate them," Chen Xingjia said, taking a sharp drag from his pipe.
"Yes!" Chen Zhengtong nodded, his excitement renewed.
...
「Three months later.」
The night was still and silent.
Chen Li sat cross-legged with his eyes lightly closed, his aura completely retracted.
Within his Dantian, the Inner Qi that had once flowed like a babbling brook now converged into his Dantian Qi Sea, creating a sense of repulsion. It swelled and churned, threatening to be expelled from the Dantian.
Qi Storage Perfection!
Chen Li slowly opened his eyes. They shone with a brilliant light, betraying a hint of his joy.
For the past three months, he had stopped holding back, alternately consuming both the Mysterious Black Tortoise Tribulation Secret Medicine and the Nine-Turns Essence Rejuvenation Marrow Heart Pill.
Now, at last, the Inner Qi within his Dantian had reached a state of Perfection.
’By my count, it’s been fourteen years since I began cultivating the Five Grains Qi Storage Technique.’
Chen Li circulated his Inner Qi, feeling the immense power welling up inside him, ready to burst forth. He couldn’t help but sigh with a bit of emotion.
According to the Secret Manual, after reaching Qi Storage Perfection, one could begin attempting Ascension.
When his two sons returned home for the Mid-Autumn Festival, Chen Li had questioned them in detail about the Martial Dao.
Shouheng had advanced to Marrow Refining and taken the hall’s master as his teacher, giving him access to a wealth of knowledge that was previously beyond his reach.
This also allowed Chen Li to understand his own Realm.
For an Inner Cultivation Method, Qi Storage Perfection was equivalent to Qi Realm Perfection.
For an External Cultivation Method, one had to first reach Blood Refining Perfection. Then, they would perform a Qi Blood Rushing the Pass to enter the Qi Realm, convert all their qi and blood into Inner Qi, and finally achieve Qi Storage Perfection.
It sounded like several steps, but in reality, this process wasn’t difficult.
At Blood Refining Perfection, one’s qi and blood were already sufficient to be refined into an ample supply of Inner Qi. It only took a few more months of Cultivation to convert it all, pushing one’s Cultivation to Qi Realm Perfection.
After the Qi Realm was the Spirit Realm.
The Spirit Realm was further divided into nine minor realms. This corresponded perfectly with the Five Grains Qi Storage Technique’s instruction that one must perform Ascension nine times after reaching Qi Storage Perfection.
The first pass was the Meridian Passage. This required using immense Inner Qi to forcibly open the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and the even more intricate Twelve Main Meridians. The goal was to allow Inner Qi to flow without obstruction, like a great river, establishing a complete cycle of Inner Qi.
Chen Li was quite familiar with this stage, as it was a common trope in many of the novels he had read in his past life. Therefore, it wasn’t difficult for him to grasp the concept.
But what gave Chen Li a bit of a headache was the Secret Manual’s advice: it was best to complete this pass in one fell swoop, opening the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and the Twelve Main Meridians all at once.
If his Inner Qi proved insufficient, he would have to build it back up to Perfection before attempting the breakthrough again, a delay of several days, or even longer.
The first attempt is made with the greatest vigor, the second with less, and the third is met with exhaustion. freewёbnoνel.com
If he couldn’t break through all of them within three attempts, doing so later would become exponentially harder.
During this process, high-quality medicinal support would be indispensable for both repairing the minute damage to his meridians and replenishing the drastically depleted source of his Inner Qi.
At this thought, Chen Li’s brow furrowed slightly.
After the last few months of expenses, the silver coins he had on hand had dwindled to almost nothing.
To say nothing of the Mysterious Black Tortoise Tribulation Secret Medicine, just one batch of ten Nine-Turns Essence Rejuvenation Marrow Heart Pills cost one hundred taels of patterned silver. Preparing a single batch of the Vajra Bone-Forger Ointment also cost thirty taels of silver. These were his biggest expenses.
Although the family’s granary held surplus grain that could be sold for three or four thousand taels of silver, that was the foundation of their livelihood. It couldn’t be touched lightly.
’Looks like it’s time to go collect that windfall.’
Chen Li’s eyes gleamed as he recalled the money mentioned in the Unpredictable Three Fierce’s ledger—the cache hidden in the Luoyan Collection in Lixian County.
