The wind howled and the rain poured down. The street was completely deserted, cloaked in pitch-black darkness where no one could see another soul.
Liang Qu wrapped the disassembled little stove in his soaked cotton jacket and hauled his exhausted body back onto dry land.
From the reed thicket growing nearby, he plucked two withered, yellowing leaves, tore them into slender strips, and threaded them through the red-blood perch's gills before heading straight home with the treasure fish in hand.
Once inside, he shut the door, reassembled the small stove, added firewood, and lit the flame. When the water came to a boil, he tossed in the chunks of fish.
As the meat neared doneness, Liang Qu got up to make sure every crack and gap in the house was sealed tight, then retrieved the stick of Mind-Calming Incense he had brought back earlier and lit it.
A delicate fragrance gradually filled the room. Liang Qu could feel his concentration sharpen and his thoughts quicken.
His physical exhaustion had made him drowsy, but breathing in the incense left him feeling completely refreshed, as though waking naturally from a deep, restful sleep.
Drawing on the clarity granted by the incense, Liang Qu fished out the meat and wolfed it down despite the scalding heat, then launched into Ape Fist.
[Essence of the waters +3.5]
The blood and qi expended during the day began to coalesce anew. As it circulated, Liang Qu felt his aching muscles relax, bringing an immense sense of relief.
Blood and qi was a reflection of a martial artist's physical strength. A practitioner was not powerful simply because they had abundant blood and qi; rather, it was because their body was strong enough that sufficient blood and qi could gather.
Blood and qi was not the cause of strength, but its fruit—and that fruit, in turn, nurtured the cause.
The two cycled endlessly, feeding into each other.
So long as the body suffered no severe deficits, once blood and qi were depleted, they would replenish rapidly—especially when fueled by abundant energy, replenishing twice over or more in a single day.
Hu Qi had estimated that Liang Qu would need twenty days to break through. By that reckoning, around fifty rounds of skin tempering would be required to force the breakthrough and achieve a qualitative transformation.
As his stomach churned, churning the food within, surging energy was drawn out from the fish meat.
Strands of blood and qi gathered together. In just a few minutes, they swelled from the thickness of a few hairs to that of a chopstick, then to a little finger, and finally to the width of an index finger.
Liang Qu inhaled the fragrant air deeply. Following the sensation Hu Qi had guided him through that afternoon, his mind directed the blood and qi to flow and disperse.
With the help of the Mind-Calming Incense, the guidance went remarkably smoothly. The energy soon turned into a warm current, dissolving into his skin and fascia.
His skin quickly flushed red, radiating astonishing heat once more, which lasted for nearly half a ke before finally subsiding.
Liang Qu exhaled a long breath. Billowing white mist puffed from his nose and mouth, churning continuously.
His taut skin relaxed. It still felt soft to the touch, but it seemed noticeably tougher, better equipped to withstand an impact.
After completing one round of skin tempering, Liang Qu did not pause; he continued condensing his blood and qi.
The red-blood perch had far more energy to offer.
However, he made sure to extinguish the Mind-Calming Incense first. This stuff was precious—Senior Brother Hu had mentioned it cost half a tael of silver a stick!
The room was an enclosed space and the scent still lingered, so there was no harm in being thrifty.
Liang Qu had taken Yang Dongxiong as his master, which had dramatically elevated his standing and living conditions. But a master was not a real father after all; that Master Yang was willing to teach him was already more than enough.
Having just entered the sect, his fellow disciples naturally looked out for him, but he could not simply hold out his hand for everything. Ultimately, resources had to be earned by his own efforts—otherwise, how would he be any different from a parasite?
Forget Yang Dongxiong; Liang Qu would look down on himself. He had two hands, two feet, and a cheat to boot—he was in no way inferior to anyone else!
As the fish meat continued to digest, surging energy welled up from within his body, condensed into blood and qi again and again.
Before his crimson skin could fully regain its normal tone, it tightened once more, growing increasingly extraordinary under repeated tempering.
He cultivated until daybreak. Drawing on the red-blood perch, Liang Qu managed to condense blood and qi a total of twenty-eight times, repeatedly washing through his skin and fascia.
The energy in the red-blood perch was thoroughly depleted, leaving not a single drop to squeeze out.
A process that was supposed to take twenty days and fifty rounds of skin tempering now required only twenty-two more—less than ten days.
The price, however, was overwhelming exhaustion. Hearing the distant clamor of voices and the rumble of carriage wheels over bluestone pavers, Liang Qu collapsed onto his wooden bed and fell into a deep sleep.
When he woke again, the sky was dark once more.
In his daze, Liang Qu felt utterly disoriented, as though having lost all track of time. It took a quiet moment before he remembered what had happened.
He had actually slept from morning until night.
In the middle of the night, the martial hall was certainly closed, so there was no way to visit his senior brother.
Hearing footsteps outside, he figured some fishermen were preparing to take out their boats. That made it a perfect time to head into the water and hone his underwater abilities.
Liang Qu clenched his fists and threw a punch that whistled through the air, his excitement beyond measure.
His fusion with the marsh spirit was nearing fifty percent. He had a premonition that once he broke past fifty, a distinct transformation would follow.
His martial progress toward the skin gate was also nearing a breakthrough, which would make him a true martial practitioner.
Though a martial practitioner was not the same as a martial master and could not claim an imperial stipend, it was much like the gap between a xiucai and a juren—even a xiucai stood on the far side of a vast chasm from ordinary folk, a dream for countless people.
Both paths were advancing side by side. Oh, and there were Ah Fei and Cannot Move as well.
The essence of the waters required for those two beasts to evolve was less than what Liang Qu needed, and both were already more than halfway there.
One could truly call it blooming on three fronts.
When that time came, so long as no demon beasts from the deep waters ventured into the shallows of Jianghuai Zeye Marsh, Liang Qu could practically crown himself the tyrant of the shallows—the undisputed boss of Yixing!
Dressing himself, Liang Qu followed the road down to the wharf.
The temperature had dropped even further today; perhaps yesterday's rain had marked the arrival of colder air.
Reaching the water's edge, he saw a scattering of lamplight, far brighter than the night before. Still, quite a few boats remained moored at the wharf—about half the usual number. Groups of fishermen gathered in twos and threes inside the tea stall by the bank, murmuring about something.
Liang Qu went to untie his boat, but a voice called out to him.
"Ah Shui, you heading out?"
He turned and saw that it was Li Libo's father, Li Dakang, so he lingered on the bank. "Yeah. Something the matter, Uncle Li?"
"Nothing major. Just wanted to ask—how come my boy hasn't come home for two days? Is he still at the martial hall, or did he run off to mess around somewhere?"
Another voice chimed in right behind him; it was Chen Jiechang's father, Chen Cheng. "Yeah, my boy hasn't come back either. I thought about heading to Pingyang Town to look for you, but then I figured three grown lads together wouldn't get lost, so I let it be. Just saw you here, so I thought I'd ask."
"Oh, I got back late yesterday and forgot to tell you both. Because the three of us performed well, a martial master took notice of us and cleared out a room in the courtyard for us to stay in. That's why they haven't come home—they're focusing on their training."
Li Libo and Chen Jiechang were both nursing injuries, right on their faces. Too ashamed to go home and worry their parents, they had asked Liang Qu to pass along a message and cover for them with a lie before he left.
Having saved Chen Qingjiang's family a few days back, Liang Qu's reputation among the people of Yixing had changed dramatically. He was still leagues away from being treated like local gentry, but his words carried weight.
After returning, he had immediately set off to catch the treasure fish and run into two great demons. Shaken to the core, the matter had completely slipped his mind; only being asked now jogged his memory.
As for having become a personal disciple...
Gaining wealth and honor without returning home was like walking in embroidered robes through the dark.
Liang Qu dearly wanted to share the news, but looking at the fishermen scattered about, it didn't seem like the right moment.
He wouldn't be able to make a proper splash.
Hearing his explanation, Chen Cheng and Li Dakang beamed with joy, throwing their arms around the shoulders of their fellow fishermen and shouting,
"Did you hear that? Did you hear that? A martial master took a liking to my son! A martial master took a liking to my son!"
"Heard it, heard it! Congratulations, congratulations!"
"I could tell since they were little that Ah Shui, Ah Jie, and Ah Bo were different. The sharpest three lads in our village! See? They're bound for great things!"
"Good heavens, has Yixing ever produced a martial practitioner before? And now three all at once?"
"There were a few, but I think they all moved to Pingyang Town and never came back."
The expressions of several nearby fishermen shifted on the spot. No matter how envious or bitter they felt inside, pleasantries were required to their faces.
"Hahaha, a joy shared by all! If they really become martial practitioners, drinks are on me!"
Li Dakang and Chen Cheng wished they could shout their sons' success to the entire world.
Having seen plenty of such scenes in his past life, Liang Qu shook his head and moved toward his boat, only to be stopped by Li Dakang again.
"Ah Shui, I meant to stop you just now, but I didn't get to explain properly. You know about the heavy rain last night, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Then don't you know the river god revealed itself last night?!"
Liang Qu stared blankly. "The river god?"
"That's right! The river god leaped out of the river and snatched a giant bird covered in flames! It shattered the very sky! You'd best wait a couple of days before taking the boat out. Let the village head get a few prominent families to take the lead, gather a bit of money from every household, and hold a sacrificial ceremony for the river god. Wait until after the sacrifice to go out, or no one's going to feel safe on the water."
The fishermen around them nodded in agreement.
"He's right. If the river god shows itself, we definitely have to offer a sacrifice. Otherwise, if we upset His Eminence, catching no fish is the least of it—angering the river god is a catastrophe!"
Chapter 45