Chapter 128: Breaking the Restriction

Lei Zongkang silently nodded.

He did not place much hope in whether Huang Engui would actually keep his word about arranging a recommendation and guarantee. If it happened, all the better. If not, there was nothing Lei Zongkang could do about it. The important point was that he did not think highly of Niu Youdao at all, especially when following him might bring a fatal disaster down on everyone.

Judging by Black Peony and the others’ attitude, Lei Zongkang also worried about what would happen if he told them. It was entirely possible they would stubbornly refuse to see reason. If word leaked to Niu Youdao, the Liuxian Sect would probably never let them off.

Looking at it now, the safest course was to let the matter become a fait accompli first and explain afterward. It might be difficult to justify later, but surely everyone would understand that he had acted for their own good. At worst, they would be angry with him for a while, and then it would pass.

Seeing him agree, Huang Engui stood and smiled. “Then we have an understanding?”

Lei Zongkang silently nodded again.

When he saw Lei Zongkang say nothing, Huang Engui leaned close until his face was almost directly in front of Lei Zongkang’s. He spoke one word at a time. “It isn’t only the Liuxian Sect that wants to deal with him. The entire court of the State of Yan does. Weigh your own strength carefully. Is that something people like you can withstand? Niu Youdao is nothing more than a homeless dog, unable to guarantee he’ll survive from one day to the next. He can only fool independent cultivators like you. I trust I don’t need to spell out what happens if you follow him. Don’t try to brush me off!”

Lei Zongkang immediately cupped his hands and gave a clear answer. “Master Huang, rest assured. I know what I should do.”

“Good! I assume I don’t need to teach you where to contact the Liuxian Sect.” Huang Engui patted his shoulder, then quickly departed. He did not dare linger here, afraid someone might barge in and see them together.

Lei Zongkang was left alone in the room, sighing heavily...

Thump! Thump! Thump!

A series of dull impacts sounded from inside the hall. Hai Ruyue, who had just entered the courtyard with several attendants, paused.

Two men beside her immediately ran to the tightly shut doors and shoved them open to see what was happening.

Inside, Yuan Gang wore nothing but a pair of shorts, his upper body completely bare. A rope hung from the beam, suspending a thick round log. Wei Duo was driving the log forward again and again, smashing it hard into Yuan Gang’s body.

Ordinarily, there would have been no need for anything so cumbersome. The Provincial Inspector’s Residence had placed a restriction on Wei Duo because they feared the pair might escape, leaving him unable to use any of his cultivation. Otherwise, a single wooden staff in his hands would have been enough to help Yuan Gang train. There would have been no need for this elaborate arrangement.

The moment the doors opened, both men inside stopped and looked out.

Hai Ruyue, standing in the courtyard, saw the scene as well. A single glance was enough to make her heart flutter.

Yuan Gang’s towering frame and corded muscles seemed to contain explosive force. The lines of muscle covering his body made the entire figure look as though it had been carved from stone.

For a woman who had known men before, such a physique possessed an overwhelming visual impact.

Hai Ruyue had never seen a man built like this. During inspections of military camps, she had seen plenty of burly martial men stripped to the waist, but those men had merely been strong. The sight before her was almost shocking. She had never imagined a man’s body could look like this, much less that someone could stand bare-bodied and let such a massive log crash into him again and again. One could only imagine how powerful Yuan Gang’s body truly was.

Seeing Yuan Gang without proper clothing, the two men who had opened the doors remembered that Hai Ruyue was a woman and quickly pulled them shut again.

It made no difference. Some things needed only one glance to leave a deep impression. Yuan Gang’s physique had already been etched firmly into Hai Ruyue’s mind.

She slowly turned away and looked elsewhere, drawing a long breath in and then slowly exhaling, as though trying to dispel the image from her thoughts.

She had been passing by Liufang Guesthouse on other business, remembered that Yuan Gang was staying here, and decided to stop in for a look. She had never expected to see this.

Not long afterward, the hall doors opened again. Yuan Gang had dressed, and he and Wei Duo came outside.

Yuan Gang walked up to Hai Ruyue without saluting and asked coldly, “How long exactly do you intend to keep us confined?”

Hai Ruyue turned to look at him and smiled. “You should know this isn’t my decision... By the way, I can give you one piece of good news. Shang Chaozong is fighting well. I imagine it won’t be long before he takes all of Qingshan Commandery.”

Whether Yuan Gang heard or cared was impossible to tell. He asked, “Any news of Master Dao? None for the moment. I don’t want to damage our relations. Let us go. If anything happens after we leave, you won’t be responsible.”

Hai Ruyue turned away. As she left, she tossed back an indifferent remark. “This brother looks rather savage. Better restrain all that brute strength of his, lest some accident occur.”

The instant she said it, a cultivator flashed forward and rapidly jabbed several points on Yuan Gang’s body, imposing another kind of restriction.

Yuan Gang stood rigidly and did not resist. He knew resistance would be useless.

Only after he watched the group depart did he slowly turn around. As he did, his body swayed slightly, as though he could barely keep his footing. Weakness flooded through him, and he could not summon strength anywhere in his body.

Wei Duo knew his acupoints had been sealed to suppress his physical strength. He hurried over, caught Yuan Gang by the arm, and helped him back into the hall.

Once inside, Yuan Gang, breathing with difficulty and feeling as though his qi would not flow properly, struggled to push Wei Duo away. In a weak voice, he ordered, “Close the door!”

Wei Duo hurried back to shut it. When he turned around again, Yuan Gang had already ripped off his upper garment and bared his torso.

Yuan Gang spread his feet apart and slowly sank into a horse stance. His body swayed as though he might topple at any moment. He clenched both fists and slowly drew them back to either side of his waist, eyes fixed straight ahead. He exhaled one long breath, then drew in another deep one, repeating the cycle again and again.

Gradually, Wei Duo’s eyes widened.

Yuan Gang’s breathing grew louder and louder, like a bellows being worked.

Wei Duo had seen that before. What he had never seen was the faint white mist now appearing in the breath Yuan Gang expelled through his nostrils. In weather and temperatures like these, how could his breath possibly turn white?

The pale mist streamed from his nostrils, then was drawn back in through his mouth, cycling again and again.

Gradually, a small rounded bulge appeared in Yuan Gang’s abdomen. It slowly swelled larger and began rolling up and down beneath the skin in time with his breathing.

His breaths grew longer and deeper, while the moving bulge in his abdomen slowed more and more, as though something were obstructing it. Wei Duo’s gaze suddenly shifted to Yuan Gang’s body again.

Another change had appeared.

Tiny red patches emerged across Yuan Gang’s skin, each no larger than a fingertip at first. They gradually expanded and grew increasingly vivid, as though something had blocked the apertures beneath them and caused blood to congest around each point.

Wei Duo quickly understood. Every reddened spot corresponded to an acupoint, precisely where Yuan Gang had been struck earlier.

The patches of accumulated blood gradually swelled into raised knots, turning glossy crimson.

Pop!

One swollen blood knot abruptly collapsed. The crimson color gathered there rapidly shrank, seeming to drill inward through an invisible aperture.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

The sounds followed one after another. The swollen knots across Yuan Gang’s body collapsed in succession, and each concentration of blood-red color withered like a dying flower before rapidly fading away.

When every trace of redness on his skin had vanished, Yuan Gang inhaled deeply and drew all the faint white mist he had expelled back into his abdomen in a single breath.

Whoosh!

The fists held at his waist suddenly shot forward like thunder. Wind roared from the force of the blows. The veins along his muscular arms bulged sharply, shaking loose a faint haze of vapor.

Wei Duo stared in shock.

What kind of hard external-conditioning art was this? Yuan Gang had actually used nothing but his flesh-and-blood body to break a restriction imposed by a cultivator?

The force behind those two punches made the answer obvious. There was no trace left of the man who had barely been able to stand moments earlier.

The restriction was broken!

Yuan Gang rose from the horse stance and steadied his breathing. He looked down at his tightly clenched fists.

His strength had returned.

Not only that, but he could feel that his hard qigong had advanced somewhat as well. Even Yuan Gang himself found the result unexpected.

At first, he had only felt suffocated and uncomfortable after the restriction disrupted his breathing and blood flow. Wanting to vent that discomfort, he had practiced using his powerful breathing method. He had never imagined it would produce such an effect and actually break the restriction on his body.

He could vaguely sense that a certain degree of physical stimulation might not be bad for his hard-qigong training at all. It might even help drive further progress. The problem was that no one could tell him where the safe limit of that stimulation lay. Wei Duo looked down at his own hands, utterly speechless.

He was a dignified Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator and could do nothing about the restriction placed on his own body, yet he had somehow been outdone by a martial man who practiced an external hardening art. What kind of logic was that?

Yuan Gang picked up his clothes and put them back on. Then he turned and asked, “Didn’t they say we could ask for whatever we needed?”

“Yes!” Wei Duo nodded. “B-but... the condition is... is that we... stay honestly... here. Other than that... food, drink... entertainment... all can... can be provided... for us.” He shook his head hard and forced the whole sentence out.

Yuan Gang said coldly, “I want to buy a few things to play with. Find me paper and brush. I’ll write them a procurement list...”

At the Inviting Moon Inn, Niu Youdao stood by the window with his hands clasped behind his back, staring into the distance with deep, unreadable eyes.

Yuan Fang hugged a drawing board and held a stick of charcoal, trying to sketch a teapot. The result looked as though a dog had chewed on it.

Black Peony had spread a sheet of paper across the table and was also drawing with charcoal. Every so often, she looked at what she had produced and could not suppress a snicker.

The two had suddenly developed this refined interest because Yuan Fang had asked Niu Youdao whether he could teach him. Niu Youdao saw no reason not to. He pointed at a teapot and told Yuan Fang to begin by copying something simple.

He gave him only one piece of advice: practice makes perfect.

Yuan Fang started playing with it. Black Peony could not resist joining in, which was how the present scene came about.

Knock, knock!

Someone rapped on the door.

Niu Youdao called, “Come in!”

The door opened. Yuan Fang and Black Peony looked back and both froze slightly. They had assumed it would be one of the inn attendants or perhaps Duan Hu and the others. Instead, the person entering was the innkeeper himself.

The innkeeper was all smiles, carrying a rolled scroll. When he saw what was happening inside, he hurried over and looked at Yuan Fang’s and Black Peony’s drawings. Finding them almost too terrible to look at, he chuckled. “Our honored guests are all very busy, I see!”

Black Peony asked in surprise, “Innkeeper, what brings you here personally?”

Standing with his back to them at the window, Niu Youdao heard the question. The corner of his mouth curved in faint amusement.

The innkeeper lifted the scroll in his hands and looked toward Niu Youdao. Smiling, he said, “Mister Xuanyuan asked an attendant to have a painting mounted. It’s finished, so I’ve brought it back. The attendants all happened to be occupied, so I delivered it myself.”

Only then did Niu Youdao turn around. His expression was calm. “Then I’ve troubled you, Innkeeper. Add the mounting fee to my account. When I check out, I’ll settle it together with everything else.”

[End of Chapter 128]