While touring the Huang Clan mansion of Xiamen City, Fairy Xu greeted several elders and clan members close to her age. Even though the mansion was only a branch of the Huang Clan, they had a storied history that stretched back as far as the Warring Crane Sect. Similarly, they held many things in common, primarily the treatment of their members.

The elders catered to Huang Yun like royalty, flattering him and offering him many rare spirit fruits, weapons, and pills. Each understood that if he became the heir to the family, he had the ability to dictate many restrictions and rules that the branches would have to follow. Much like the sect members curried favor with Wang Zi in the Warring Crane Sect, the clan members wished to display themselves favorably to Huang Yun.

Originally, Fairy Xu did not want to tour the house, but Huang Yun was persistent and protesting would lead to an unfavorable outcome. She knew he would not resort to imprisoning her, but that was only as long as she played along with his requests and watched the competition. As of now, she was still unable to defend herself against his powerful guards so she could not offer much resistance.

Several powers in Xiamen City matched the Huang Clan in strength, but unfortunately, none were clearly stronger. This left her in a somewhat complicated situation, as she was not foolish enough to believe competing factions of similar strength would start a war because of her. She held no affiliation with any powers and using a beauty trap on other young masters would lead to the same problem.

For now, she was not in any immediate danger, and despite the elders treating her like an outsider, they tolerated her within the mansion. However, she could tell from their faces they most likely viewed her as a parasite that used good looks to latch onto Huang Yuns fat thigh. She could not blame them for that way of thinking though, after all if she were in their position she would feel the same way.

What Huang Yun said was true, the clan did indeed have a grandmaster alchemist in their family two generations removed, but the branch could not access any tomes he left behind. If she wanted to view that treasure trove of knowledge, Huang Yun would need to become the next head of the Huang Clan and she would need to become his cultivation partner.

This was exactly what she expected. Tomes such as those were heirlooms that clans built a legacy on. Her best option for information was a sect. Although most sects were averse to taking disciples that left other sects, she knew how to manipulate others. Even if she did not rely on her beauty, her talent was real and very few organizations would refuse a skilled alchemist.

It was not a favorable situation, but the martial competition was tomorrow and during that time, Huang Yun would be busy showing off to the crowd to build his name. While he was busy, she would connect with other competitors and sects as well while displaying her abilities.

This would be her sale of talent, no different from the fighters on stage selling their talents. The regional powers would not start a war for her, so she doubted the Huang Clan would start a war either. In her opinion, if she was able to become the direct disciple of a sect elder, Huang Yun would have little power over her and she could continue her journey towards the unknown.

***

Liang stood facing the old man with his legs slightly bent and spread apart. He was breathing heavy and desperately needed a break but he had no time. The boulder the old man threw at him was nearly as large as he was and if it hit him while he was unguarded, his injuries would be severe.

He wrapped his body in a layer of qi and strengthened his arms using the arrays the old man engraved onto his bones. As the boulder arrived, he stepped forward with his left foot and swung his right fist in an overhand fashion, shattering the large rock into thousands of pieces. By now, there was a large pile of rubble forming in all directions around him.

Several hours earlier, he was punching a cliff face as hard as he could hundreds of times with each arm, learning how to activate the qi within his body and forging his body anew. Any muscles within his body that were unable to withstand the force would tear and he dislocated his shoulders on many occasions.

The old man always made sure to have Liang endure the pain for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea between injuries before giving him a healing pellet. He told Liang he would need to accept the pain and harden his resolve, as injuries were common during battle and fear of pain could lead to death.

It was excruciating but just as the old man told him, his body strengthened rapidly and eventually he no longer had to worry about muscle tears when using his cores. It was difficult for him at first, but with a lot of practice, he was able to control the activation of arrays and qi within his body.

Whenever he activated the arrays within his arms, a slightly blue mark appeared on the back of his hands that the old man told him was a totem and represented the Zhuyan Ape. Though he was unable to see it, he was able to sense that there was also one of the Roc on his back.

As Liang grew stronger and incorporated more descendants of the divine beasts, the totems would become clearer and more detailed. He thought he would need to wear gloves to hide the marks but the old man told him the concealment arrays carved in his bones made the totems impossible to see. However, he could make them visible if he canceled the concealment.

Another rock flew towards Liang and he smashed it like the hundreds before when the old man said cheerfully, "Good, now you can defend yourself against stones, there are many jobs for people like you in the mines. But to be a true martial artist you'll need to protect yourself from many different weapons and skills. I'll give you 30 breaths before we continue."

While Liang steadied his breathing, the old man removed a wooden dowel as thick as his wrist and slightly shorter than an arm's length from his ring. As if holding a sword he activated the arrays carved into the dowel and a white, semi-transparent blade came out that shifted into an axe, a hammer, a mace, a spear, and countless others.

After displaying several movements for each weapon, the old man waited until Liang was ready before viciously attacking him. With the slightest flick of his wrist, the old man hit him in his side with a giant qi hammer and sent him crashing into the cliff wall nearly 100 meters away.

Earlier in the day there would be no way for him to survive a strike like that, but now, even though it left him extremely sore, he would not die from that blow. After staggering back to where he was moments ago, the old man told him, "That was close to twice as hard as the boy with the hammer struck the other kid in the arena. It's safe to say now he cannot kill you in one strike."

It was a painful reassurance, but one for which he was thankful. The torturous training continued well into the night and Liang struggled to dodge or shield himself from any of the attacks. However, after they ate a hearty meal for dinner he was able to anticipate the attacks by watching for subtle movements and he was able to time his shielding to protect himself.

Although he was never in a position to strike back, he was able to avoid the old man for several breaths, and instead of only dodging the blows, he could deflect some of them in different directions. Against opponents of similar strength, deflecting a weapon would usually leave an exploitable opening and the old man showed him how to take advantage of those openings.

When the intense bout of weapons training ended, they switched to bare handed combat techniques. The old man taught Liang how to attack body weaknesses, use leveraging, and perform energy transference during their brutal exchanges.

It was an incredible amount of information to take in but the old man did not expect him to be an expert on any of it. Instead, he wanted to prevent Liang from freezing during a battle due to unfamiliarity. It took the entire night but finally the old man was satisfied with their results.

Before heading back to the arena the old man told him, "You've learned the basics but you haven't mastered them. Your strength borders between mid and late core formation and so does your fighting ability. I've trained you against many weapons and bare fists but there's still one more attack you need to be worried about."

Moments later, streams of air rushed towards the old man and hundreds of qi blades formed around him, each as long as a short sword. After arranging them into a large circle, the old man flicked his wrist as if shooing a fly and the qi blades shot towards Liang like arrows, missing him by only a fingers width. Each blade was so powerful that after slamming into the cliff wall they bore through the rock drilling deep tunnels into the stone.

If the old man attacked Liang, he would have been dead without understanding why. Waiting for the shock to leave Liang's face, the old man told him, "Qi manifestations that aren't connected to your body are normally techniques you won't see until peak core, but talented martial artists may be able to do it. This is manipulating qi directly or manipulating the qi locked in objects like rocks, air, and water."

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"Place your shield in front of you and activate the qi barrier to its maximum if an opponent like that appears. For now, you'll need to block ranged attacks and move to a distance where you're capable of fighting. Alright boy we've talked enough. After eating we'll go back to the arena and prepare for the competition."

Liang nodded in understanding. The intense course taught him many things but his biggest discovery was how lacking he was. It was important to take his training seriously and the competition was another extension. It was his best chance to experience real combat against the geniuses of the many sects in the region.