Covering her face with her small hands, she peeked through the gaps between her fingers.
“I’m counting to ten~~!” Ling Ling called out beside the haystack under the quiet night sky.
“Don’t put down your hands.”
“Keep your face covered! No peeking!”
“Run, run! Let her chase us! Haha!”
With bursts of laughter, the children scattered, disappearing among the haystacks dotting the wide field.
Ling Ling didn’t know they were all in cahoots, that their sudden willingness to play with her came only because they had planned a prank. After all, who would want to play late at night with a girl everyone said was stupid—born with eyes that could barely see?
“One.”6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmUQFrLaDza
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“Four.”
In the lonely field, only her clear, earnest counting drifted through the darkness. The children who had pretended to hide were long gone by now. On that vast stretch of farmland, Ling Ling stood alone, palms still pressed to her face, leaning against a haystack as she counted with all her heart.
She wore only a thin shirt, fluttering lightly in the cold breeze. It hardly kept her warm, yet her smile never faded. No one had ever wanted to play with her—until tonight. Even if they made her the “ghost,” she didn’t mind. As long as others were playing with her, it was enough.
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“Ten! Ready or not, here I come!”
She spun around, peering through her fingers, excitement bubbling in her chest.
The field was utterly still. Only her voice echoed back at her.
“Let me see… where’re you hiding?” Ling Ling murmured as she stepped forward, her gait uneven. Her eyesight had always been weak; anything beyond arm’s reach blurred into shapeless shadow.
Tonight, with the moon dim and her hands still half-covering her eyes, her world shrank even further.
She crept toward a nearby haystack.
“Hey, Little Yuan! Is that you?”
She leapt past the stack and glanced around.
Nothing. Just emptiness.
“Aiya… it’s empty…” she mumbled, crestfallen, before shuffling toward the next haystack.
On the way, she nearly stumbled, arms flailing, but managed to keep her balance as she reached the second stack.
“Chen Daniu! Is that you!?” She circled the next haystack—larger than the last—hope flickering in her eyes.
But it was empty, just like the others.
Still, she searched on, one haystack after another, patient and earnest. No one had ever played with her before. Her family was poor, her circumstances even poorer, and she had always been the target of scorn. Yet tonight, she finally had playmates. She was happy—truly, deeply happy.
Ling Ling wandered through the field, searching and calling for who-knew-how long.
The night only grew darker.
And she still hadn’t found a single soul.
“Where are all of you…?” Ling Ling whispered, her breath unsteady as she stopped to rest, chest heaving.
Then—under the faint moonlight, seen only through the slivers between her fingers—she caught sight of something. A corner of a robe poking out from behind a haystack.
Someone seemed to be hiding inside that mound of hay. That bit of fabric looked just like one of the children’s clothes.
‘It must be Ah Jun,’ Ling Ling told herself as she crept closer.
Her steps were slow and shaky, and she nearly tripped several times. Each time, she flailed silently, forcing herself not to make a sound.
At last, she reached the robe’s corner.
Ling Ling sucked in a deep breath.
“I’ve got you! Ah Jun!!!”
She lifted the hay in one enthusiastic sweep.
Through the blur of her poor eyesight, she vaguely made out a child standing within the haystack. His face was pale as paper—and he seemed to be smiling at her.
HOO!!!
Dong Qi shot upright, drenched in cold sweat. Her breathing trembled as she stared at the painting of carps and shrimps hanging opposite her bed.
Even in the dark, the ink-black shrimps and crimson carps stood out in stark contrast. The colors seemed almost too vivid after that dream.
“Another nightmare…” Dong Qi murmured, taking a slow, steadying breath. It had felt painfully real; her heart was still hammering without pause.
She glanced toward the window. The full moon drifted high above, its silvery light spilling into her room like strands of silk.
“Young Miss! Young Miss!”
Hurried footsteps rushed toward her door, followed by frantic shouts.
“Young Miss, are you alright!?”
It was Cui Ping.
Dong Qi wiped the sweat from her forehead, rose from the bed, and moved to open the door.
Cui Ping, a young servant girl with two short, stubby ponytails, rushed into the room and immediately supported Dong Qi by the arm.
“Did you have another nightmare, Young Miss!?”
“Mm… I’m fine, I’m fine…” Dong Qi forced a small, weary smile. “Oh right, where is the Crimson Whale Sect representative we invited?”
“It takes two days to reach here from Mountain-Edge City. They should arrive soon.” Seeing Dong Qi regain her composure, Cui Ping finally exhaled in relief.
“Yes… they should be here soon…” Dong Qi murmured, her fingers curling tightly into her palms. Her hands were still damp with cold sweat.
…………
The carriage rolled steadily through the forest, flanked on both sides by dense walls of foliage. Leaves brushed lightly against the wooden frame as it made its way along the mountain path at a measured pace.
Inside, Lu Sheng sat beside the window, his body swaying gently with each rise and dip of the wheels.
Up front, Xu Chui held the reins. He was the only one Lu Sheng had brought on this journey. As one of the Soaring Eagle Squad’s most promising fighters, Xu Chui stood closest to breaking through Strength Proficiency and stepping into Intent Proficiency. Lu Sheng had long intended to groom him into a trusted aide.
Fortunately, they had packed enough fodder for the horses and plenty of rations for the journey toward Tea Sect.
“Xu Chui, how much farther to Pure Tea Town?” Lu Sheng asked as he reached for a small bottle of Golden Fragrance Ointment at his waist. Digging out a bit of the paste with his fingertip, he slipped it into his mouth.
“My Lord, once we cross that hill, we’ll be arriving. Pure Tea Town sits right beside Tea Sect. The entire area lives off planting tea leaves—the plantations stretch all around us. We should be very close,” Xu Chui replied respectfully.
Lu Sheng nodded and tucked the ointment away.
Golden Fragrance Ointment was nourishing, vital for maintaining the body in its prime state—especially for someone walking the path of hard body skills and outer force skills. He now consumed a little each day. With the monstrous accumulation of skills within him, normal meals were no longer enough to sustain his body. Without such medicinal supplements, his foundations would be strained, even worn down over time.
‘Fortunately, I’ve cultivated life force skills to support it,’ he thought. ‘Otherwise, simply maintaining my body would’ve been a nightmare.’
Feeling the ceaseless circulation of inner Qi coursing through him, Lu Sheng closed his eyes. He guided the flow gently, envisioning the overview diagram of Aquarius Qi in his mind.
“Man is born with three treasures. Extract the Qi of the three treasures and condense it into Essence, to replenish what is innately lacking.”
The meditation diagram formed before him: a painting of a sun suspended in a vast blue sky, within which soft, cotton-like patterns swirled in quiet motion.
Lu Sheng closed his eyes and sank into meditation. Within moments, his body shifted into the unique state required for cultivating Aquarius Qi.
However, the Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill instinctively repelled all other forms of inner Qi within him. Unfortunately, the meridians needed for Aquarius Qi overlapped with those dominated by the Nine Furies, making it nearly impossible for him to sense the flow he needed.
But Lu Sheng had anticipated this. He remained unfazed.
His inner Qi had long since pushed his meridians to their absolute limit. Only the qualitative transformation brought about by the complete mastery of his hard body skills had caused the meridians to expand slightly. That tiny increase in capacity was the only reason he had even a sliver of room to attempt cultivating Aquarius Qi at all.
After some time, Lu Sheng opened his eyes, a faint, bitter smile tugging at his lips.
“It still doesn’t work… My meridians and dantian have been crammed full for a long time. Before Aquarius Qi can even take form, it gets suppressed by Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill. If I don’t find a solution, I’ll never be able to advance my inner force or inner Qi.”
He sat in the gently swaying carriage, thoughts sinking deeper and darker. Without cultivating a Yin-nature inner force, he could not balance the Yang surging within his body. This imbalance was a silent threat—one that grew more dangerous by the day. Yet his meridians were already choked with Qi; there was simply no space left to cultivate anything new.
“Inner Qi… inner Qi… It’s the refined essence of what we eat, accumulated gradually, formed through the circulation of the meridians. It’s the surplus of the body’s physical strength, turned into energies of differing natures and attributes. Since it’s essentially Qi—gas—could it be compressed to increase its density? Just like air can be compressed into a liquid under the right conditions… high pressure, low temperature. If inner Qi were to be compressed into a liquid state, what conditions would be required?”
Lu Sheng shut his eyes once more, sinking into contemplation.
His hard body skills had grown so overwhelming that whenever he activated his strength, his physique shifted into another state entirely. He called this condition Yang Extreme. In that mode, his body alone produced a level of pressure that seemed to satisfy one of the necessary requirements—high compression.
“The first condition for compressing air into liquid is high pressure. If I want liquefied inner Qi to circulate through my body, the vessel—my body—must be strong enough to withstand it. That part… I think I’ve already fulfilled. Next, I need a way to increase the pressure even further.”
Lu Sheng raised his hand. Slowly, an invisible sphere of scorching Qi condensed above his palm.
He lifted his hand until it aligned with his eyes. Through the hovering orb of inner Qi, the scenery outside warped and bent, as though distorted by transparent, swirling gases.
“To compress it… I could try injecting Qi into a metal container—no, that won’t work. Metal conducts Qi. I need something that doesn’t conduct inner Qi at all. But where can I find a material like that? What a nuisance…”
He let out a quiet sigh and withdrew the energy of the Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill from his palm.
Outside the carriage window, the dense forest gradually gave way to rolling fields of tea. Tea bushes stretched across the hills in waves, like an undulating green sea. Many plants were withered and unpicked, lending the scene a desolate stillness.
The carriage rumbled forward, soon entering a small, timeworn town of only seven or eight narrow streets.
Cracked cement slabs lined the ground. Most shopfronts were shuttered. Here and there, fire basins filled with burned joss paper stood untouched. Few travelers were in sight—only a handful of hurried figures passed occasionally, their footsteps echoing faintly.
“This is Pure Tea Town?” Lu Sheng frowned. “Isn’t there a Winged Honor Guard fortress nearby? This area should be under their protection. Why does it feel so cold and deserted?”
Xu Chui shook his head. “Your subordinate isn’t sure either, My Lord. Perhaps we should locate Tea Sect’s headquarters first. Our Crimson Whale Sect branch left this region long ago—we’ll need Tea Sect locals to explain what’s happened here.”
Lu Sheng unfolded the letter requesting reinforcements from Tea Sect. The seal belonged unmistakably to Sect Master Dong Shengping, yet the handwriting was delicate and refined—clearly written by someone else.
“The letter was sent by someone named Dong Qi. Based on our intelligence, Dong Qi is the only daughter of Tea Sect’s current sect master. There must be a reason she wrote it herself. The address she provided is Holy Fame Plaza, East Sixth Street.”
“Yes, sir,” Xu Chui replied, guiding the carriage forward while scanning the buildings for street numbers.
After making two turns, they spotted a tall, thin man wearing a white cap. He approached them with a polite bow.
“May I know if you are the esteemed representatives of Crimson Whale Sect?” the square-faced man asked courteously.
“You are…?” Xu Chui questioned.
“We were sent by Young Miss Dong Qi of Tea Sect to welcome the esteemed representatives. This way, please,” the man said with a broad, welcoming smile.
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