Excitement, elation, ecstasy — none of these words could begin to capture the mood Xuan Pangzi was in at this moment.
Because he had successfully pinpointed his sixth True Qi acupoint. He'd spent over a year tempering and refining his five-meridian True Qi, and he'd long since made more than enough preparations to advance.
The trouble was, his comprehension had never been sharp enough to locate the sixth True Qi acupoint.
Now, with the "True Acupoint Resonance" technique, it had helped him locate that sixth acupoint as easy as you please — which meant he could break through on the spot!
That's right. Xuan Pangzi really did choose to break through right then and there. He didn't think twice about the occasion or whether he needed to enter seclusion.
With Brother Chen and Huqiu Yue around, Xuan Pangzi didn't worry about any of that. He trusted that these two brothers would guard him on-site.
About half an hour later, Xuan Pangzi was drenched in sweat. After his True Qi had surged wildly through his meridians, he looked as though he'd just stepped out of a steam room, every inch of his face and body glistening with beads of sweat.
"Ha ha ha ha!" Xuan Pangzi bellowed with laughter. "Xuan Yuan, you little punk — you've been running your mouth for days. Just wait until this fatty gets back and crushes you!"
Gloating — there was no denying it. Xuan Pangzi was thoroughly smug, brimming with the sense of a man finally able to hold his head high. A marquis's son, suppressed by a nobody within his own clan — even someone as thick-skinned as Xuan Pangzi still had his pride.
He could barely resist rushing back right now to find Xuan Yuan and beat him senseless, releasing all the pent-up frustration of these past few days.
"Pangzi, don't let it go to your head. You've barely broken through and your realm isn't stable yet. Going up against a six-meridian True Qi cultivator right now would be suicide." Jiang Chen doused him with a timely bucket of cold water.
"I'll give you some unorthodox training methods. Use those methods alongside pills as supplements. They'll let you temper your meridians to near-perfection in a short time. With that, given your foundation as a marquis's son, if you still can't handle an ordinary six-meridian True Qi cultivator, then go find a block of tofu and smash yourself to death against it. Don't bother calling yourself my brother."
Xuan Pangzi's face broke into a broad grin. "Brother Chen really does care about me the most. Brother, once you're my brother, you're my brother for life. Ha ha, meeting you, Brother Chen, is without question the proudest thing in my whole life. Tell me, Brother Chen — wasn't I a man of keen judgment? Back when you were at your lowest, only I, Pangzi, and Huqiu Yue stood by you as brothers. Tsk tsk, I'm almost swooning over my own good taste."
Huqiu Yue's eyes were also blazing with excitement and joy. His mood was no less turbulent than Xuan Pangzi's.
The only difference was that Xuan Pangzi had broken through on the spot, while Huqiu Yue hadn't reached his breakthrough just yet.
But breaking through or not — it hardly mattered anymore. With this "True Acupoint Resonance" technique, their future cultivation time would be dramatically shortened.
Moreover, their path in the martial arts from here on out would involve far fewer detours and hardships.
For True Qi Realm cultivation, many people didn't lack talent — they hit a bottleneck searching for the next True Qi acupoint, unable to locate it for the longest time.
It was a matter of comprehension, not something that could be compensated for by sheer effort alone.
And this "True Acupoint Resonance" technique could offset the downside of insufficient comprehension. In other words, this cultivation method was absolutely something that transcended the Eastern Kingdom.
"Perhaps such techniques only exist in those hidden sects?" Huqiu Yue thought to himself. "And even there, they probably aren't available to ordinary disciples." His admiration and reverence for Jiang Chen only grew deeper from the bottom of his heart.
"Brother Chen, I've made up my mind. In three days, I'm going to crush Xuan Yuan. You two are some of the few brothers I, Pangzi, have — you'd better show up and cheer me on."
"I'll definitely be there." Huqiu Yue nodded.
"Sure, I might as well go watch the spectacle." Jiang Chen agreed.
…
Three days later, Jiang Chen arrived at the Golden Hill Marquis's estate.
It was clear that Xuan Pangzi had kept things well hidden — this time, he'd even managed to conceal everything from his own father. It seemed the fatty was dead set on crushing Xuan Yuan in this match and giving the entire Golden Hill Marquis's estate the surprise of a lifetime.
The Golden Hill Marquis and Marquis Jiang Han were old family friends, so when he saw Jiang Chen appear, he was mildly surprised. The Royal Capital had been a hotbed of intrigue lately, and the Golden Hill Marquis had heard some of the rumors swirling around Jiang Chen. He had also personally witnessed Jiang Chen's performance at the Dragon Rise Marquis's estate.
His feelings toward Jiang Chen were therefore rather complex. In the beginning, he'd thought his son was wasting his time hanging around with someone like Jiang Chen — hardly a promising association.
But out of respect for the friendship between their families, he'd kept his thoughts to himself.
Still, the string of changes Jiang Chen had undergone recently left the Golden Hill Marquis rather perplexed. He'd even begun to wonder whether Jiang Chen had been deliberately hiding his strength all along.
He'd probed Xuan Pangzi about it a few times, but the fatty's talent for playing dumb was second to none. No matter how his father tried to fish for information, Xuan Pangzi feigned cluelessness and never let a single word of substance slip.
After the greetings were exchanged, the gravity on the Golden Hill Marquis's face had not eased in the slightest. "Xuan'er, this Xuan Yuan has suddenly surged to six-meridian True Qi. And several elders in the clan have been getting suspiciously close to people from the Dragon Rise Marquis's estate. I suspect that traitors have already infiltrated our Golden Hill Marquis's household — people who bite the hand that feeds them."
The Golden Hill Marquis dropped a bombshell. With no outsiders present, he decided to lay the severity of the situation out for his son in plain terms.
Xuan Pangzi chuckled. "Don't worry, Father. Whatever schemes they've got cooked up, today your son is going to crush them all with sheer force. Every last one!"
"Xuan'er, Xuan Yuan may have reached six-meridian True Qi through irregular means, but you must not underestimate him. If this fight doesn't go your way, don't drag it out. We'll find another way."
"Father, can't you have a little faith in your own son?" Xuan Pangzi protested.
Just then, a clan elder came striding over, wearing a peculiar smile. "Marquis, Xuan Yuan has already arrived at the dueling platform. The Council of Elders has sent me to invite the Young Marquis to come and face him."
"Hmph — seems he's in quite the hurry." The Golden Hill Marquis looked displeased.
Xuan Pangzi, however, sprang to his feet like a bouncing ball, his eyes alighting with that wild gleam that came just before he crushed someone. "So he's finally here? I can't wait."