Xuanyuan put the bags filled with coins into his pockets and turned around. He saw Yun Zhenluo looking at him from afar. He scratched the back of his head and laughed sheepishly. He moved closer to Yun Zhenluo and cracked a smile, "Beautiful master, it's not very comfortable here in the wild. I made some money. How about in a few days, I go to the City and buy something nice for you?"
Yun Zhenluo shook her head and smiled. "No need. Keep the money. I can only teach you for a month, and six days have already passed."
After saying this, she left him. Since he started training, Xuanyuan understood more and more about how powerful Yun Zhenluo actually was. Attacking her would result in failure. Her power could not be measured.
However what she said had ruined his good mood. After all, she only promised a month.
"..."
Staring at her back, Xuanyuan was speechless. He thought of taking a break, but now he decided to practice again. He wanted to reach the warrior realm, and then perhaps he could successfully ambush Yun Zhenluo. He could then do whatever he wanted. Maybe, he could even convince her to stay.
Xuanyuan sat on a stone under the bright sun and began reciting. Once again, he opened his pores and let the Qi cleanse them.
Yun Zhenluo saw how hard Xuanyuan was working. She could only sigh, "If the Yun Family knew that I have acquired a genius apprentice, they would train you without rest. But now...I can't go back home. Otherwise you'll be dragged into a mess and would not be able to live in this peaceful place. I can only teach you as much as I can."
She looked at him silently. It took him five hours to recite The Heavenly Dragon with Burning Scales for ten full cycles. There was a loud rumbling noise within his body.
At that moment, Xuanyuan broke through his limit and reached the ten bulls strength. It took Yun Zhenluo by surprise, "Has he become a warrior now? No, you have to have at least twelve bulls to be a warrior. How come he only has ten?"
She suddenly remembered something and let out a low scream, "Could it be that he has a special physique? He already reached ten bulls but his body is still not fully purified. That should be it. Who knows how powerful he will become when he reaches the peak of fighter's realm."
Xuanyuan felt refreshed because more spiritual pores opened each time. But he also knew that the process was not complete. So even though he was happy with the progress, he was not complacent. He took out the dragon scale powder and applied it again. He endured the needle-like stings all over his body and recited the Heavenly Dragon with Burning Scales once more.
Another day went by.
Qian Kuai was standing near the lower course of the stream and listening to the tearful complaints of his injured subordinates. They claimed that Xuanyuan had eight bulls worth of strength. They didn't even have the chance to fight back. All this annoyed Qian Kuai.
The man with six bulls strength had lost eight teeth from Xuanyuan's strike. He was roaring angrily. Air whistled through his the missing teeth as he spoke.
"Housekeeper Qian, you have to avenge us. He took away all the money I was going to give to you. He lives near the upper course of this stream. That's why we couldn't find him near the mass grave."
"It's true. And he has a wolf with him..." This subordinate had many scratch marks across his body. Part of his backside was missing, because of Guxing's bite.
"That means the kid has at least eight bulls strength. Even if he reaches nine bulls, I won't be scared off. What can he do without a weapon? Not even a warrior has the guts to take a strike from my whip. He won't be able to protect himself from me."
Qian Kuai's expression was dark and vicious. He wanted to kill Xuanyuan because he defeated his subordinates. These two servants were trained personally by Qian Kuai. They earned him quite a lot of money each month. Now that the damn kid attacked them, it was an insult to Qian Kuai.
"Go, go to the upper part of the stream. I'll whip the life out of this damn kid." The whip in Kuai's hand was a lower ranked sacred instrument which applied poison. Anyone who took a hit from the whip would be weakened and lose part of his strength. If the whip hit a warrior and slashed through his skin, he would lose half of his strength from the paralysis poison. That was why this sacred instrument was so terrifying.
Qian Kuai squinted. There was a poisonous dart up his sleeve. That was also a lower ranked sacred instrument specializing in assassination. It was exponentially more poisonous than the whip. The amount of poison could even kill an adult magic bear with thirty bulls’ strength. A magical bear with an elixir growing inside wouldn't die immediately from the dart's poison, but with the help of the whip attack, it would slowly drain the bear's strength.
Qian Kuai brought seven servants along with him. He was in possession of nine bulls strength, three of the servant had seven bulls of strength, the rest only had six bulls of strength. They ran upstream. Qian Kuai said to the two injured subordinates,
"Go back and rest. People from the School of Yuehua will arrive in a few days. They will be picking young talents to become disciples. Since Yongfu and Yonglai won't be able to make it. I could perhaps recommend that you two follow Master Yuejue, when he is chosen to go to the School of Yuehua. It'll depend on how much money you have to give."
The two men were excited, they nodded frantically. If they seized this rare opportunity, they could start their lives anew. The School of Yuehua was a great sect among all the martial arts practitioners. Moonwaste City was nothing when compared with the Yuehua School.
While Qian Kuai and his men rushed upstream, Xuanyuan had applied the dragon scale powder generously. It accelerated his practice. He felt that the cleansing process became much faster.
Without him realizing, Xuanyuan’s strength went up a level to reach eleven bulls.
At this very time, Xuanyuan's ears picked up from the sound from the people moving in his direction. Guxing jumped up and started a low growl. They saw eight men approaching quickly. A middle aged man was holding a whip, smiling viciously. Behind him, were a bunch of evil-looking servants. They were getting closer with each second.
Xuanyuan took a step back. He scanned Qian Kuai and remembered that he was the person who whipped and almost killed him. A few days ago, Xuanyuan was like a stray dog on the street and Kuai whipped him like a cat playing with a mouse. But even though the old saying said, “an eye for an eye”, Xuanyuan wasn't expecting that the main instigator would come straight to his doorstep to take revenge.
Xuanyuan saw no reason to escape.
"You bastard, we finally found you. You are going to die here today." Qian Kuai held the whip up high and a sharp noise cracked through the air. He aimed at Xuanyuan and lashed out.