Chapter 9 - A Coincidental Encounter
Qin Nan didn’t place the two brothers in his eyes. During a life and death situation, he definitely would not be lenient.
Qin Nan carefully surveyed the surroundings once more. After making sure there were no traces of Demonic Beasts or Martial Artists, he finally let his guard down and walked towards the Yuan Qi Pond. Qin Nan sat cross-legged within Yuan Qi Pond, the Divine Battle Spirit emerged from his back and stood up. The fuzzy human avatar emanated a tyrannical attraction force, causing the Spiritual Qi within the Yuan Qi Pool to surge over.
Qin Nan proceeded to guide the Spiritual Qi to nourish his body. Allowing it to restore the injuries caused by the battle with the Demonic Ape. After he had absorbed roughly one-third of the Spiritual Qi within the Yuan Qi Pond, Qin Nan’s body trembled. He felt himself being completely revitalized.
“Hu! I’ve finally recovered from the injury.” Qin Nan opened his eyes in satisfaction as he thought to himself, “There’s still a lot of Spiritual Qi remaining within the Yuan Qi Pond, enough for me to properly cultivate and break through!”
Qin Nan promptly closed his eyes once again and wholeheartedly channeled the Divine Battle Spirit in order to absorb the Spiritual Qi into his body.
Currently, Qin Nan’s cultivation has reached the third-layer of Body Tempering Realm. His skin, flesh, muscles and bones had already received tentative tempering. Only the viscera and blood remained.
Qin Nan’s current objective was to focus on his viscera.
Tempering the viscera was different to tempering skin, flesh, muscles, and bones. This was due to the fact that the viscera was exceedingly weak. If one were to make a slightest mistake when tempering, then they could end up injuring themselves.
In the past, Qin Nan had heard about a Rogue Cultivator in the Linshui City who was tempering his viscera; he unfortunately made a mistake and exploded.
Qin Nan cautiously absorbed large amounts of the pure Spiritual Qi and guided it toward his viscera, merging them into it. Hence achieving the best effects of tempering the viscera.
A full six hours passed as he cultivated.
When the Spiritual Qi of the Yuan Qi Pond was completely absorbed, Qin Nan abruptly opened his eyes. From his body, a dull explosion which sounded similar to the sounds of a drum could be heard.
“I’ve broken through the fourth-layer of Body Tempering realm!” Qin Nan’s eyes gleamed with a trace of happiness, he nodded his head in satisfaction.
Qin Nan could clearly sense the changes to his body. For example, in the past when he had used the low-class Martial Skill, Collapsing Fist, he was only able to embed external strength to it.
However, if he were to use Collapsing Fist now, then he could imbue internal strength to it. If he imbued internal strength into the Collapsing Fist, it would unleash the power of a middle-class Martial Skill.
The fourth-layer of Body Tempering realm. Not only would it change the corporeal body, but it also gives you a higher understanding of your own body.
“These two days within the Longhu Mountain Range has allowed me to reap a great harvest. However, returning now would be a bit too early, it would be better if I remain here and continue practicing!”
Qin Nan pondered for a while before coming to a decision.
The five hundred Body Tempering Pills which Qin Tian is acquiring for him would take some time. If Qin Nan was to return to the Qin Clan, then he was only able to painstakingly cultivate by himself. In that case, it would be better to remain in Longhu Mountain Range. Firstly, this would increase his combat experience. Secondly, if his luck was good, then he could even obtain some sort of fortuitous encounter. Similar to how he had discovered the Yuan Qi Pond.
Qin Nan dedicated the rest of the time to hone himself. He was like a lone wolf within the forest, coming and going, incessantly slaughtering every Demonic Beast he encountered. The Demonic Beasts he had killed this time were of fourth-rank, he had even traded blows with those of fifth-rank.
“The power of my Thundercrash Saber Art is gradually becoming stronger and stronger. I feel like it won’t take too long before I make another breakthrough!” Qin Nan thought to himself as he darted through the forest at full speed.
During the two days of fighting, he had discovered that the speed of his saber had become faster and faster. Occasionally, the Demonic Beast would be dead before Qin Nan himself had realized it.
This state caused Qin Nan to raise some doubts. He naturally was clear on his own perception, and logically speaking, his perception has yet to reach this level. What exactly caused his increased perception?
After Qin Nan pondered over this, he gazed at the Divine Battle Spirit. At the moment, even Qin Nan wasn’t certain about this.
……
“If the Divine Battle Spirit really could increase a practitioner’s perception as well as increase its own grade, then its prowess would be more than what we call ‘fearsome’....” Qin Nan thought to himself.
As Qin Nan was practicing his skills, a faint voice was suddenly heard from the front.
Ever since he had made a breakthrough to the fourth-layer of Body Tempering Realm as well as strengthened his viscera, Qin Nan had noticed that his vision, hearing, along with other things, had significantly improved. Essentially, any movement within the circumference of twenty meters can be easily detected by Qin Nan.
“Let’s check it out,” decided Qin Nan as he retracted his aura. His figure was like a demon as he quietly followed the voice.
Not long after, a group of people appeared before Qin Nan. Within the group of people were three middle aged burly men, they gave off the aura of a third-layer Body Tempering Realm cultivator. Furthermore, the opposite party’s expression revealed a certain corruptness, it was evident that they have been killing people for over a long period of time.
Between the three middle aged burly men was a young girl.
Draped over the body of the young girl was a white fur cape and an indigo colored long skirt. This revealed the details of her curvy and delicate figure.
However, the young girl’s face was filled with impatience and arrogance.
Qin Nan was shocked as he saw this young girl, “It’s her?”
Qin Nan recognized this girl and was more than familiar with her. The name of this young girl was ‘Fang Xue’ and she was the daughter of the Patriarch of Fang Clan.
The Qin Clan and the Fang Clan were recognized as the two major clans within Linshui City. Both clans possessed a “Xiantian Realm” expert, their subordinates had limitless potential as well as an endless amount of disciples. Furthermore, the Qin Clan had only emerged within the ten or so years after Qin Tian came to power whereas Fang Clan had a history of one hundred years, this in itself was extremely frightening.
In the past, there was a rumor that there was an exceptional genius who had an eighth-grade Huang ranked Martial Spirit within the Fang Clan. However, whether this information is true or not was unknown as there was no proof.
Ever since the rise of Qin Clan, the two families had been in a small strife. That was also how Qin Nan had met Fang Xue on several occasions before, it was just that they never properly established a friendship.
“What is she doing here?” Qin Nan was suspicious.
Half a month ago, when the Qin Clan had their Martial Spirit Awakening, the Fang Clan also had it during the same time as well. The Fang Clan was not as regarded because the matter of Qin Nan, an exceptional genius, awakening a waste of a Martial Spirit attracted the attention of everyone else.
The Fang Clan was also very low-key, they didn’t let out much news.
However, since the Fang Clan has awakened their Martial Spirits, they should be staying within the Clan to carefully cultivate and increase their cultivation. Why did she suddenly bring a few personal guards with her to Longhu Mountain Range?
As Qin Nan was being suspicious, Fang Xue suddenly questioned in a sharp tone, “Are we still not there? Did you three idiots properly check the map? If you were to bring me to the wrong place, this young lady will not forgive you!”
“Miss, we didn’t go to the wrong place. Other than the shabby cavern that we came across, there really are no other caverns. It’s possibly...it’s possibly because this map is fake…” One of the middle-aged burly man reasoned with his face filled with bitterness.
“What?” Fang Xue’s complexion turned cold, “How could the map I brought with me be fake? You better properly look, and if you don’t find it, then at that time, this young lady will properly teach you a lesson!”
The three middle-aged burly men wiped the sweat off their foreheads as they promptly nodded, scattering off into different directions in order to search for it.
One of the middle-aged men was walking towards the direction of Qin Nan.
Qin Nan remained as still as ever while concealing his figure. To find Qin Nan with the current cultivation of the middle-aged man was practically impossible. There was a qualitative difference between a third-layer Body Tempering Realm practitioner and a fourth-layer Body Tempering Realm practitioner.
Additionally, from the brief conversation between the Fang Clan’s servants, Qin Nan was able to determine that the opposite party’s objective was the same as Qin Yu and Qin Xiao; to search for treasures within Longhu Mountain Range.
Qin Nan was slightly curious, he wanted to see what kind of treasure would they find.
At this moment, the middle-aged man who was walking toward the direction of Qin Nan suddenly stopped in his tracks. He gazed toward Qin Nan’s location and said with a voice filled with a killing intent, “Who is it? Show yourself immediately!”
Qin Nan’s face slightly changed. They had actually discovered him?