CHAPTER 106: CHAPTER 94 ASCENDING TO GREAT ACHIEVEMENT

Inside Chen Ku’s spacious courtyard, though winter had stripped the pine and cypress of their eternal verdure, a massive holly tree lent an abundance of vitality to the space.

Yet, the dry chill in the air served as a constant reminder that the year’s end approached, and with it, the time when the cold could kill.

Chen Ku sat cross-legged on the large mahogany bed in his home, breathing out a puff of white air into the dry, cold atmosphere.

Inner Qi mid-stage.

Sensing the abundant Qi Power within his body, he knew there would no longer be the embarrassment of reverting to his original state after summoning even the slightest bit of it.

Sufficient Qi, Sufficient Qi, no wonder the mid-stage of Inner Qi is called ’Sufficient Qi.’ It truly is a marvelous description. Now there’s a foundation of Qi Power in my body that won’t dissipate. Even if my Qi Power is lacking, that foundation will always be there.

Chen Ku finally understood the meaning of that phrase.

It was called ’a martial artist having a solid foundation.’

So this was the foundation they spoke of.

After ’Sufficient Qi’ comes ’Robust Qi.’ Just having a foundation isn’t enough; it must be strengthened to turn Qi into formidable Qi Power, which is why the later stage is called ’Robust Qi.’

Chen Ku silently calculated in his mind.

Breaking through to the mid-stage of Inner Qi cost me five Treasure Herbs, but the later stage of ’Robust Qi’ might require even more, as it is a process of qualitative improvement.

But let’s not think about that for now.

Chen Ku walked out into his spacious courtyard and informed his long-term workers and maids that he was going to practice martial arts. They were to disperse and not come to the front courtyard.

Hu Zi and one of the maids had been playing hopscotch in a corner. Seeing Second Uncle retrieve weapons from the house, Hu Zi immediately shouted, "No more games, no more games! Hu Zi wants to watch Second Uncle wield the staff..."

Hearing the child’s innocent words, Chen Ku smiled at his nephew. "Then Hu Zi can stay. Go fetch a small stool and sit a bit further away to watch."

Dismissing the maids and long-term workers was due to a lack of trust, but his own nephew, a child, was not included in this.

"Okay!" Hu Zi immediately went inside to fetch a small stool. He obediently sat on the door threshold twenty meters away, placing his little hands on his knees and sitting up straight, his big eyes looking with anticipation at his Second Uncle. "Second Uncle, Hu Zi is seated!"

"Mm, good boy. Watch closely."

Chen Ku smiled and stood firm in the center of the courtyard.

He wanted to attempt to execute the Mountain-Lifting Palm now that he had reached the mid-stage of Inner Qi.

He held the staff behind his back with his left hand.

He closed his eyes.

Slowly, he squatted, circulating his Inner Qi, guiding it along the Qi Pathway of the "Mountain Roar Tsunami Seal" towards his palms.

As he circulated his Qi, There’s hope.

Chen Ku felt with extreme precision that, at the Sufficient Qi stage, executing this Palm Seal still presented some pressure, but it was far, far less. He could successfully perform it.

As the Inner Qi in his body traveled along the meridians in his arms, the Blood Qi inside Chen Ku suddenly surged with a tumultuous and overwhelming force!

Like ocean waves rising, a tsunami of Blood Qi converged between his palms.

The Mountain Roar Tsunami Palm Seal, here it comes...

Chen Ku suddenly opened his eyes, a flash of brilliance passing through them. Various transformations and moves of the Mountain Roar Tsunami Seal flickered through his mind, ultimately coalescing into one...

Holding the staff with both hands, he thrust it vigorously towards the sky. The tsunami-like Palm Force propelled the first move of the Furious Ape Mighty Staff: "Skyward Strike."

This single swing, merely sweeping halfway across the sky, formed a vortex at the tip of the staff, like the eye of a maelstrom!

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

In an instant, it sucked dry all the air within a radius of over ten zhang in the courtyard, stirring up a small tornado that swirled around Chen Ku. He became the eye of the storm, the center of the vortex of dust and air...

Hu Zi squinted, barely able to keep his eyes open. He could only vaguely see his Second Uncle looking like an immortal. His face, already ruddy from the highland winter, was now even redder with excitement. Unable to open his eyes fully, his mouth filled with dirt, he clapped his little hands, exclaiming, "Second Uncle is amazing! Second Uncle... made my eyes squint..."

"Hahaha!"

Hearing Hu Zi’s voice, Chen Ku abruptly stopped his staff and stood in the courtyard, bursting into hearty laughter, "Indeed, indeed... Originally, according to Master Yang, if one’s talent in Stick Technique is insufficient, then one should use Qi Power to drive it. As long as the Qi Power increases, the level of the Furious Ape Mighty Staff will also rise... After reaching the mid-stage of Inner Qi, I feel like my Four Symbols Power has doubled. But that alone was still not enough to bring Skyward Strike to great achievement... However, with the power supplied to my palms by the Mountain Roar Tsunami Seal, it’s different. It truly allowed my Skyward Strike to reach the ’great achievement’ level!"

The levels of mastery for the Skyward Strike technique were divided as such:

At the entry-level, the staff’s wind could only affect an area one foot around its tip, absorbing air and crashing down.

At the Minor Achievement Stage, the staff’s wind had to reach one zhang, encompassing the air within that range and striking with the force of that one-zhang expanse of air.

At the Great Achievement Stage, the staff’s wind had to be able to stir the air within a ten-zhang expanse, its power more than ten times that of Minor Achievement.

As for the Perfection Realm, it involved an unassuming stance, a return to the original. Only upon striking the enemy would it explode instantaneously, the staff’s wind sweeping across a li, gathering and crushing everything in its path.

My assumption was correct. The Mountain-Lifting Palm is indeed a Hand Technique for enhancing arm strength. That’s why the god-like man from my memories could stand atop the city gates and lift a kilometer-high peak with his bare hands. And he did this without any Internal Cultivation Methods—just the Hand Technique itself possessed such Divine Power! It’s perfect for wielding heavy weapons.

Chen Ku thought to himself, internally musing, With my current mid-stage Inner Qi cultivation, Four Symbols Root Bone, and two Ultimate Skills—the Mountain-Lifting Palm and the greatly achieved Skyward Strike—I wonder if I could kill a master at the Peak of Inner Qi with a surprise attack?

He felt it was very likely.

"Second Uncle, Second Uncle, you were so awesome just now!" Hu Zi, after the small dust tornado in the courtyard had dissipated, hopped around excitedly, exclaiming, "Just like a forest immortal..."

Chen Ku, holding his staff, stepped forward and let out a soft "Oh?" "Hu Zi, why are you speaking with a lisp?"

"Eh?" Chen Yinhuhu lifted his reddened face and asked in confusion, "What lisp?"

Chen Ku looked at his nephew’s missing front tooth, bent down to pick it up, and burst into laughter, saying, "So it’s that upper front tooth of yours, wobbly for ten days, that finally fell out! It was about time. Otherwise, how would a new one grow? Here, take it. Throw it onto the roof. The higher you throw, the better the new tooth will grow."

"Second Uncle, you hold me and throw it! The roof is too high, I’m too small, I can’t throw it up there..."

Chen Ku picked up his nephew and helped him toss the tooth onto a roof beam.

Then, he played with his nephew for a little while longer, patted his head, and said, "Go, tell Grandma that Second Uncle won’t be back for dinner tonight. No need to save me any food or leave the door unlatched. I have some business to attend to. Run along now."

"Okay!"

Hu Zi, as if he had received a military order, trotted off towards the inner courtyard.

With a smile lingering on his face, Chen Ku watched the little fellow run off into the distance.

He picked up the Refined Iron Dragon Stick, turned, and left his courtyard. The moment he stepped out the main gate, a cold smirk of murderous intent appeared on his face.

The sun had set, and various parts of the street were cast in shadow.

In a certain alley, a Blade-Handler wearing a conical hat was eyeing Chen Ku as he left the courtyard with his staff, heading towards the outskirts of the city.

Ten thousand taels of bounty, a disciple of Yang Luochen, Qi Sensation Realm... he’s indeed worth this price...

The Blade-Handler, Cheng Miao, lowered his conical hat.

He was about to turn and take a shortcut from another direction to set up an ambush on a necessary path outside the West Street gate when, unexpectedly, just as he turned around in the alley—

AWOOO!

He hadn’t noticed something the size of a small white rat at his feet. It opened its massive maw and bit clean through his body below the waist!

The Blade-Handler, Cheng Miao, had no time to react. His one-meter seventy-eight frame was reduced to one meter, leaving only his upper half.

His vision went black. As if cleft at the waist, his torso fell into a pool of blood. He felt the indescribable agony from his vanished lower body and the searing pain at his waist.

Cheng Miao had seen criminals publicly executed by being cleft at the waist. He knew that when some criminals were executed this way, they died instantly without needing decapitation. However, he also knew that if the cut was only below the waist, the person wouldn’t die immediately. Instead, they would feel an unbearable and terrifying pain, tormented for a quarter of an hour before bleeding out.

"AAAH..." He was about to let out a horrific, pain-filled scream.

The Flower Fox Mink darted forward and, with another bite, devoured his upper half as well, crushing his head.

...

[Diagram Master has killed the Blade-Handler Cheng Miao, who intended harm upon its master, obtaining a strand of Evil Qi from the Inner Qi Realm.]

「On a street leaving the city.」

Chen Ku received the notification from the Transformation Diagram, his expression calm and unchanged.

This Blade-Handler had been lurking near his courtyard for some time. He had received a prompt from the Transformation Diagram long ago. The reason he hadn’t acted immediately was to allow the Flower Fox Mink to get closer and assess the man’s strength.

He only made his move and left the house after determining the Blade-Handler was merely at the Sufficient Qi level.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this person, having seen the bounty, had come for the ten thousand taels of silver, aiming to take his head.

A Blade-Handler at the mid-stage of Inner Qi, merely at the Sufficient Qi level, thinks he can kill me...

Chen Ku shook his head.

Even without the notification from the Transformation Diagram, Cheng Miao wouldn’t have succeeded.

Besides, with the warnings from the Transformation Diagram, anyone attempting to harm him within a two- or three-li radius would trigger an alert.

Assassination! Ambush!

Only he could use such tactics against others; anyone trying them on him stood no chance whatsoever.

This was one of the reasons why Chen Ku, despite knowing there was a bounty on his head, still brought his family into the city. As for the second reason, that was Peace Path...

The bounty was originally placed by Peace Path. Their base of operations was in Snake Fish Town, a route that even passed by his home. It was a stroke of luck that the wandering Demon Person who had visited his home to attend to Hu Zi’s upset stomach didn’t realize that was the very Chen Ku family they had a bounty on. Otherwise...

So, knowing full well that neither the city nor the countryside was safe, he still opted to bring them into the city. At least under his watch, with constant alerts from the Transformation Diagram, it was the safest.

That Blade-Handler, Cheng Miao, was merely a pushover to be dealt with incidentally, not the primary reason for Chen Ku’s trip out of the city.

After leaving the city, Chen Ku looked at the few Talisman Papers he had obtained from his sister-in-law. He sniffed their scent and then rushed towards Snake Fish Town.

With his Inner Qi breakthrough and the Skyward Strike achieving great achievement, it was, of course, time to test the results.

After all, the life of a Peak Demon of the First Realm was not only worth more than two thousand taels of silver, but could also provide him with a strand of peak First Realm Evil Qi.