For Yan Liqiang, this feeling of inadvertently becoming the Silver Continent"s blow dart founder was utterly the same as someone who was down to their last dollar and winning the lottery with it, sweeping the jackpot.
On the way back from the martial arts academy to Wuyang Village, Yan Liqiang"s felt like his entire person was completely on cloud nine, his head spinning enough to make him dizzy. The phrase "Heavenly Bestowment" made his little heartbeat in excitement the entire way back.
According to what Dojo Master Song said, the number of times the founder of any battle technique or secret technique received the Heavenly Bestowment was that battle technique or secret technique"s highest level. For example, if they were cultivating the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique, the highest realm of this fist technique was only the fifth layer. That is to say, the founder of this fist technique had received five Heavenly Bestowments. Another example was the Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps— the highest realm was the sixth layer, which meant that the founder of this step had, in total, received six Heavenly Bestowments.
As for those even higher-leveled secret techniques and battle techniques, it was due to the high number of times that the founders received the Heavenly Bestowments and it was also why those people were so formidable as founding fathers. For every Heavenly Bestowment received, it meant that they were given an extra opportunity to increase their power level. The extra opportunities they had were the reasons why each of those founding fathers was able to rise above others to distinguish themselves and become heroes for the entire Silver Continent to look up to.
How many realms would this blow dart technique reach? Yan Liqiang didn"t know. All he knew was that if he wanted to change his fate, to avoid those tragic issues in the future, then he had to grasp this opportunity before him….
Yan Liqiang returned to Wuyang Village at noon. After eating a bowl of noodles and buying a few steamed buns, Yan Liqiang returned to his own little yard. He grabbed his handmade blow dart and went up the mountain to find a place to practice.
After pa.s.sing through the first realm in blow dart techniques, Yan Liqiang"s lung capacity underwent a major upgrade. No matter if it was breathing air in or breathing air out, it would have a longer duration, especially when he was expelling air: his lung strength was explosive. This meant that any blow dart he blew out would able to reach further distances. With tremendous power, it could even travel farther than twenty-five meters. He wouldn"t be able to improve with the length of his small yard, so he went up the mountain by himself to find a place to practice.
The area behind the hill that Wuyang Village was on was a ma.s.s grave. Therefore, if you stood on the top of the hill, you could see the side that had all the ma.s.s graves. Even during daytime, the villagers who chopped firewood or tended to livestock were unwilling to get close. In addition to the thick woodlands on the hilltop, wild gra.s.s grew everywhere. It was the perfect place to practice blow darts.
...
After merely one day, on the second day of the ninth lunar month, upon the hidden section of that small hilltop, Yan Liqiang once again was surrounded by red light and he accepted the second Heavenly Bestowment...
Four days later, on the sixth day of the ninth lunar month, the third Heavenly Bestowment came as expected…..
...
On the seventh day of the ninth lunar month, Yan Liqiang woke up early. After he finished his morning regime and ate breakfast at the small noodle shop, he retreated back to his small courtyard.
Yan Liqiang did not practice after he returned to his courtyard. Instead, he brought out the black-ringed viper that he bought and milked it again for snake venom. Then he spread the viper venom once again over the blow darts that he had made, maintaining the poisonous effects.
After the snake venom on the blow dart was dry, one could see that the needle head that poked out from the dart would have an extra blue-black layer that would faintly s.h.i.+ne under the light.
Out of cautiousness, Yan Liqiang had already tested the black-ringed viper"s venom a couple of days ago on a wild boar in the forest on the hilltop. The boar had only been p.r.i.c.ked slightly by the dart that he had blown and its body ended up being paralyzed for the entire night. It only recovered the ability to move the next day.
After milking the snake for venom, Yan Liqiang went up the hill and let the black-ringed viper go. He only brought back the bamboo cage and burned it to ashes right there in the small courtyard"s kitchen, destroying all the evidence.
Following that, he used waterproof oilcloth to wrap up his pre-prepared blowpipe and blow darts, securing them in several layers of material. After wrapping it all up, he placed it along with a change of clothes and a dagger into the leather luggage bag he carried along with him to Pingxi City. After he carefully tidied up everything, he picked up the luggage and left Wuyang Village, heading into Pingxi City.
Yan Liqiang did not go to the martial arts academy; instead, he headed straight to the Plum Gardens within Pingxi City and wandered through.
The Plum Gardens were a sacred place within Pingxi City. It was close to the Lake of Longevity and within the Plum Gardens, the flouris.h.i.+ng flowers were like cotton, and there were waterside pavilions everywhere. It was an extremely elegant place within Pingxi City, and many of the young men and women within the city, namely the poets and artists, all loved to walk through here. Of course, the cost of things in the Plum Gardens were also exorbitantly high; normal people definitely could not afford anything. The most they could do was stroll through and admire the plum flowers and scenery….
After wandering through the Plum Gardens once and checking every place that he needed to, Yan Liqiang walked out of the Plum Gardens and arrived at the large street on the other side of the Lake of Longevity.
There were inns and restaurants on either side of this large street and this was also a popular area within Pingxi City. Yan Liqiang wandered up and down this street twice and at noon, he had lunch before he walked straight into an inn on the side of the street called Vista Paradiso.
"Welcome, welcome. Are you here to book a room or to take a meal, sir? Our inn"s fish is guaranteed to be fresh, all caught from the Lake of Longevity…" After Yan Liqiang walked in, the inn"s waiter greeted him with a smile on his face.
"I"m here for a room. Do you have any rooms with a private entrance that is close to the lake?"
"Yes, yes, yes, of course we do. The small yard that is close to the lake is not only serene, you can also admire the Lake of Longevity"s picturesque scenery, especially at night when the lights from the Plum Gardens on the other side reflects across the lake. It"ll look like the sky and water have become one, and you can see it clearly from here. It definitely sets it apart from the norm, and it can be considered the best in Pingxi City. I"m not just boasting this, but along the entire edge of the Lake of Longevity, there are hundreds of inns with different rooms, and it"s only ours that stands out from the rest. It is the best and it lets people get a feel for the lake"s beautiful view. It"s only that the price for the rooms along the lake is slightly more expensive than a normal room and they require eight candareens of silver a night. But this isn"t that expensive — it"s our off-season pricing. During the peak season, the price will be at least one mace and one candareen of silver..."
Yan Liqiang pretended that money was no problem. "Yes, if it"s eight candareens of silver, then it"s eight candareens of silver. I heard that the view here at night is very good, so I came to experience it. Take me to have a look at the rooms…"
"Of course, please come with me, Sir…."
The waiter of the inn led Yan Liqiang to have a look at a couple of rooms that were located along the lake. Yan Liqiang picked one of the rooms and happily paid the money. He settling into the room and waited for nightfall...