What is up with the princ.i.p.al?Is there actually a meaning behind these gold coins that he gave me?
Duan Li turned all the gold coins upside down and squinted his eyes against the sun to see if there is any sort of mysteries hidden along with them.
After looking for awhile and finding nothing, Duan Li sighed.
Perhaps the princ.i.p.al was currently broke too and this is all that he could afford to give me?
It couldn"t be that he had mistakenly gave me these instead of spirit stones right?
"Perhaps.. the princ.i.p.al wanted me to use these gold coins so that I can contribute to the Xuan village when I go back..?" he said trying his very hardest to sound positive.
After all, the village he came from uses coins from copper, bronze, silver and gold.
Seeing the expression that Duan Li was making, Xiahou Yu hurriedly explained;
"Yes.. in villages and the majority of towns uses coins to trade.. only the capital city uses spirit stones for trading purposes.. perhaps you are right.." she said slowly to convince Duan Li.
"En... " Duan Li nodded as sighed again.
"Then.. I"ll treat you to a meal next time!" he said awkwardly as his face flushed red in embara.s.sment.
Here he was trying to be cool to someone of the younger generation, yet to think that he didn"t even have the proper money to buy her a meal!
If he knew this in advance..
Is there a hole somewhere here? Let me dive in and hide in it!
"En! Okay!" replied Xiahou Yu with a smile as she chuckled.
In fact, she could actually tell what was going on. The princ.i.p.al was probably trying to get even with Duan Li, as the latter had always surprised him time and again to the point that he might feel he had lost his disposition as the princ.i.p.al in front of Duan Li.
"I"ll go to the cafeteria.. We can use our student coupons there for a free food.." said Xiahou Yu.
As a student of the academy, they are each given two coupons to be used, one for breakfast and another for dinner. Every morning, the coupons will be delivered to the small box hanged in front of their door room.
"Okay then! I"ll have to go back and learn a few skill arts to prepare for tomorrow"s trial! I"ll see you until then!" gestured Duan Li as they both waved at each other and split ways.
...
Back in his room..
Thud!
Duan Li took out the first book off from the shelf as he laid it on his study table.
"Nine fist shattering meteor"
"The name of this book sounds very domineering.. does it mean that it can shatter a meteor if one punched it nine times?" thought Duan Li as he cupped his chin.
If that was the case and this was made specifically for the Qi condensation realm students, then not to mention foundation establishment, even nascent soul realm experts would palpitate in fear against such a mighty fist art.
Since there are lots of students under the Qi condensation realm, all h.e.l.l would break loose!
Shaking his head, Duan Li chuckled to himself as he imagined Qi condensation realm students running rampant throwing the fist to everyone"s face.
Social order would pretty much be in chaos.
Flip!
Duan Li flipped the first page as he scanned each details one by one.
...
After a while..
"Hmm.. this is weird.. "
After spending two hours reading the whole manual book and memorizing everything to its detail, Duan Li couldn"t help but to frown.
This is because he felt that the manual book was somehow.. incomplete.
With his superior a.n.a.lysis due to his photographic memory, he could tell that some parts of the book was actually being left out deliberately.
For example, when executing the first fist technique, the book underlined a total of 4 pathways and 4 acupoints to control in order to launch the fist successfully.
Yet however, according to Duan Li"s understanding after memorizing the whole skeletal muscles, bones, blood vessels, meridians and acupoints with their functions in detail, he is already able to connect their Yin and Yang concept. Thus, this manual book could have actually mention another 32 more pathways and 32 more acupoints to use.
Psheww!
Feeling mysterious, Duan Li flew out of his room through the window and this time, he just hovered in mid air.
He then drove his spiritual Qi according to what the book had mentioned and launched the first fist at the empty air in front of him.
BAM!
The air was compressed together as a series of strong wind blew all the way to the front before dissipating into the distance.
"Hmm.. the power isn"t that bad.. in fact, I could say that it was pretty accurate.. could I have been wrong?" his frown deepened as he contemplated further.
He then drove his spiritual Qi along the pathways that he had theorized before, driving them along 32 more pathways and 32 more acupoints as he then punched out.
Kapoof!
The first fist art exploded out prematurely as the condensed spiritual Qi leaked out and evaporated from the fist with a thick black smoke. His hair became dishevelled and his face turned charcoal"ed.
Cough cough!
".. It didn"t work..? This is really strange!" he said with a puzzled and blackened face.
He then tried it again and again several times more..
Kapoof!
Kapoof!
Kapoof!
The results was still the same and the fists keeps on exploding prematurely as his appearance ended up becoming more and more unkempt with each failure.
Hais..
"I don"t understand.. was the manual book is actually complete and there is nothing left out..? But why do I feel like they are missing a lot of important details.. "
Suddenly, a thought struck at him as he clapped his hands together.
"Wait a minute.. perhaps the book is indeed complete.. and that my theory is also correct too! Just that I was a.n.a.lyzing it from a different angle!"
Aiyoh!
Duan Li palmed his forehead.
He was someone with three dantians running actively together in complete synchronization. Even the Qi flow inside his body runs differently. That was why he felt that something about the book feels off..
Because it has actually been simplified to suit the needs of people with only a single active dantian!
With this conclusion, Duan Li made a quick revision towards the 32 pathways and 32 acupoints.
Redirecting his Qi flow accordingly, Duan Li could now feel that his entire body is building up with immense momentum as his spiritual Qi was draining like a broken dam!
Even with his practically infinite spiritual Qi reserves, the rate of usage had begun to outstrip the rate of which he could breath in spiritual Qi!
Level 2 of Qi condensation realm!
Level 3 of Qi condensation realm!
Boom!
Duan Li"s aura continued to climb as he unsealed his cultivation state to the level 3 of the Qi condensation realm!
But to his surprise, it was still not enough!
"This.. is still not yet the full power of the first fist.. but I can"t hold it in anymore!" Duan Li gritted his teeth as his breathing grew increasingly heavy.
He could even feel his meridians to soon rupture due to the immense strain from using the fist art this way.
Unable to withstand it any longer, he punched out.
BAAMMMM!
The surrounding air was compressed to the point that after the release, sonic booms could be heard from the punch as some of the clouds parted away, pushed by the gale force.
Powerful!
"Haa.. haa.. that was.. all I could.. do.. huh.. and that was only.. the first fist.. out of nine.. " Duan Li was gasping for air as he felt entirely drained by the skill.
A stifled sensation was churning inside his stomach as he then spurted out blood.
Urghh!
Closing his eyes to activate the All-seeing eye and scanning his interior body, he found out that several pathways were damaged by a slight rupture caused by the over-exertion.
He then rested for awhile sitting cross-legged on the sky as he absorbs spiritual Qi into his body.
"Hmm.. I guess I needed to reroute my Qi flow and let those damaged pathways to recuperate for awhile.. but for the original unmodified fist art to be this strong.. even if I were to unseal my cultivation states back to the level 9 of the Qi condensation realm, it would still do me no good.. "
Duan Li then suppressed himself back to the level 1 and trained the watered-down version of the fist art in succession.
Based on the manual book, the fist art uses momentum from each punch and absorbs the recoil to induce a greater force for the next fist, with the ninth fist being the greatest and most powerful.
For the normal Qi condensation realm people, that should"ve been the max they could accomplish, the ninth fist. This is because with each recoil absorbed, it would induce increasing pressure to the pathways or meridians it uses.
In fact, it was named Nine fist shattering meteors as each fist corresponds to one"s own level. One therefore needed to temper their physical body accordingly with each level they were in to withstand the increasing pressure to the meridians. Only then, would they be able to use the next fist up to the ninth fist!
But for Duan Li who seemed to have an infinite amount of spiritual Qi, he could continue to launch the fists as much as he wanted. Furthermore, with his masteries of meridians and acupoints, he could reroute his Qi flow so that the pressure increase are minimum while its prowess will continue to increase.
If he wanted to, he could actually spam these fists onto unlucky opponents or enemies successively up to the 50th fist and only then would he started to feel the pressure onto his meridians. Had he already tempered his physical body, he could actually spam it indefinitely..
"Well.. let"s stop here.. I"m kinda hungry.. "
Duan Li then flew downwards to go back to the dorm to collect his coupon. Along the way, he stumbled upon some students who were flying past by him that got shocked by his appearance.
"H-hey look! What happen to that guy?"
"Eh? His body is all charred black! Did he played around inside the mines? He sure has a lot of time!"
"Ewww! Dirty! Get away from me!"
People were avoiding him like a plague as his face turned red in embarrasment.
As he reached the dorm, he immediately went straight to the bathroom and took off his uniform to get it washed by a laundry box. This box was run by a series of runic formations strapped onto it that is extremely convenient as it automatically washes, clean and ironed the students uniform in less than ten breaths!
After taking a quick shower and donning back his squeaky clean uniform, Duan Li took the coupon in front of his door room and continued to proceed to the cafeteria.
As he flew, he look up towards the sky and found out that it was almost evening now.
Tap!
He landed gently onto the second floor of the cafeteria, where a platform was specifically stationed for students who came by air to land properly. Anyone caught landing elsewhere on the building will be punished as per the academy"s rule.
"Ohh? Hey Duan Li!" a figure called and waved out to him from the distance.
It was Shen Lu and another person besides him.
It was a tall figure with curly short hairs reminiscent of a wild fighter from the mountains whom Duan Li hadn"t met before.
That man"s expression seemed to be quite indifferent as he look towards Duan Li.
Gulp!
...