Chapter 34: 9 Apes Staff Technique

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: 9 Apes Staff Technique

Whether because she had blurted out her own embarrassing secret in a moment of desperation, or because she felt wronged after being reprimanded by Lu Zhiyuan, Lu Qingluo glared fiercely at Fang Xu. She threw her spear aside and turned to leave in a huff.

"Qing..." Lu Zhiyuan wanted to call out to his daughter, but he did not know what to say. Watching Lu Qingluo’s back disappear into the inner courtyard, he sighed softly, turned around, and looked at Fang Xu. "You’ve broken through to become a Martial Disciple?"

Fang Xu hurriedly cupped his hands. "A lucky breakthrough."

Lu Zhiyuan said evenly, "On the path of cultivation, every little bit is earned through your daily bitter training. There is no such thing as luck.

"I am very gratified that you were able to make Qingluo suffer a hidden loss right after your breakthrough."

Seeing that Lu Zhiyuan did not seem to dwell on the fact that he had taken advantage of Lu Qingluo, Fang Xu was just about to let his hanging heart settle back into his stomach. However, Lu Zhiyuan’s next sudden remark made him cry out in inward dismay.

"Qingluo is unskilled in her martial arts and failed to test your true strength, so let your master test it."

As soon as Lu Zhiyuan’s voice fell, his figure suddenly flashed forward. He struck out a palm toward Fang Xu and said, "Don’t say that your master is bullying you. I will allow you to use a weapon. If you can harm me in the slightest, you pass."

Watching the rapidly approaching palm, Fang Xu did not even have the chance to beg for mercy. He could only barely lift the Broadsword in his hand and chop at the incoming strike. Yet Lu Zhiyuan did not seem to care about the Broadsword’s sharp edge at all, and his palm continued to slap forward!

BAM!

The Broadsword and the palm swiftly collided! A terrifying force traveled down the blade, shocking Fang Xu’s hands so badly that they went numb. The webbing between his thumb and forefinger loosened, and the Broadsword flew right out of his grasp!

"If you can’t even hold your blade, how can you face an enemy!?" Lu Zhiyuan shouted. After slapping away Fang Xu’s Broadsword, he continued to press the attack. The dense barrage of palm strikes left Fang Xu entirely unable to fight back.

THUD!

After forcefully enduring at least fifteen to twenty palm strikes from Lu Zhiyuan, Fang Xu was sent flying by a final slap. He crashed heavily onto the bluestone ground a short distance away, feeling as if all the bones in his body were about to fall apart. However, Lu Zhiyuan’s control over his strength was extremely precise. Every move and stance merely inflicted pain without actually injuring his body.

Lying on the ground, Fang Xu forced himself to endure the pain wracking his body and struggled to stand up. "Master... your strikes were too heavy."

Lu Zhiyuan pursed his lips and said evenly, "Were they heavy?

"Since you can still stand up, let’s continue."

Seeing him raise his hand, Fang Xu repeatedly begged for mercy. He knew that Lu Zhiyuan’s move to teach him a lesson was somewhat intended to vent frustration on behalf of his daughter. His own hands had indeed been out of line. Seeing that Fang Xu harbored no displeasure after taking a beating, Lu Zhiyuan secretly praised him. Such a temperament was quite rare.

"Follow me," he said, and without caring whether Fang Xu could still walk, he headed straight for the inner courtyard.

The master and disciple sat down in the inner courtyard. Fang Xu rubbed his shoulder, glanced at Lu Zhiyuan with a slight shift in expression, and smilingly cupped his hands. "Master, has your anger subsided?"

Lu Zhiyuan glared fiercely at him and then said, "Do not be arrogant just because you’ve broken through to become a Martial Disciple. You must know that stepping into the Martial Disciple realm is only the beginning of Martial Dao cultivation. The trials you will face in the future will only be harder."

Fang Xu repeatedly cupped his hands, his face turning solemn. "I will keep your teachings in mind, Master!

"However, I have some doubts. After opening the Acupoint Secret Treasure, how does one cultivate?"

The process of a Martial Artist’s cultivation was to continuously open their own Acupoint Secret Treasures. However, Fang Xu was still unclear on how to cultivate between opening the first Acupoint Secret Treasure and the second.

Lu Zhiyuan slowly explained, "I have told you that because potential differs, everyone’s secret treasure is not entirely the same. After you first opened your secret treasure, your consciousness should have entered the Acupoint Space, right?"

Fang Xu froze for a moment, then thought of how his consciousness had been sucked into his Inner Acupoint last night. He immediately nodded. "It is a strange space filled with a hazy mist."

Lu Zhiyuan nodded. "When the Acupoint Space is first opened, a space of seven feet in size is considered passing. With good cultivation, one will have the chance to step into the realm of a Martial Master in their lifetime.

"A size exceeding thirty feet is considered superior aptitude. Such geniuses can easily break through to become a Martial Master in the future and reach higher realms.

"Those with a space of a hundred feet are geniuses rarely seen in a century. Just like General Zhao Wuji, who led the Yu Kingdom’s campaign against the Dusk Cloud Kingdom back in the day, being enfeoffed as a noble and appointed as a General in the future would be a certainty.

"A Martial Artist’s cultivation after successfully becoming a Martial Disciple is to use their own cultivation to gradually refine the power within the Acupoint Secret Treasure. This kind of cultivation becomes increasingly difficult as you progress.

"After all, as one’s own strength improves, the toughness of the barriers of the other acupoints will also slowly increase. There are many Martial Artists who spend years completely refining the power within one acupoint, only to find that the barrier to the next Acupoint Secret Treasure is as solid as a rock, making it impossible to break through again."

Although Fang Xu did not completely understand Lu Zhiyuan’s explanation, he generally grasped the path ahead for a Martial Artist.

He thought, "An Acupoint Space of a hundred feet is considered a rare genius seen only once in a century?"

Sinking his consciousness into his Inner Acupoint Space, Fang Xu fell silent as he looked at his Acupoint Space, which was the size of a football field, and the massive Stone Sect hidden behind the hazy mist.

He wondered what kind of genius he would be considered if he had an entire world inside his Acupoint Space.

"Fang Xu, I’m quite curious. What is the size of your Acupoint Space?" Lu Zhiyuan suddenly asked while looking at him. Being able to make his daughter suffer a loss with the strength of someone who had just broken through to Martial Disciple, Lu Zhiyuan felt that Fang Xu’s Acupoint Space shouldn’t be small.

"It should be... around sixty or seventy feet," Fang Xu estimated the external dimensions of his Acupoint Space and spoke with some uncertainty.

A standard football field was around sixty thousand square feet, whereas an area with a radius of a hundred feet was only a little over thirty thousand square feet. Fang Xu didn’t dare to tell Lu Zhiyuan the real numbers.

"Sixty or seventy feet is already quite good." Although Lu Zhiyuan felt a bit disappointed in his heart, he was still reasonably satisfied. With an Acupoint Space of sixty or seventy feet, it wasn’t impossible for him to reach General Zhao Wuji’s level of achievement in the future.

"Oh, right." Lu Zhiyuan suddenly pulled an ancient-looking book from his robes and handed it to Fang Xu. "This is something I just requested from a good friend. Practice it well."

Fang Xu froze slightly, taking the book and glancing at it.

He thought, "Nine Ape Staff?"

"Master, this is..."

"An eighth-grade Staff Technique Secret Manual. Just cultivate it yourself, and absolutely do not teach it to anyone else," Lu Zhiyuan said solemnly. "An eighth-grade Cultivation Technique secret manual is worth nearly a hundred gold pieces. Even Martial Artists at the Martial Master realm would covet it. You should know the principle that an innocent man will get into trouble because of his wealth."

Fang Xu nodded cautiously and tucked the secret manual into his robes.

"Master, when I came here, I saw that construction had already begun on the Wu Family’s Blood Food Shop. On your end..."

Lu Zhiyuan smiled and waved his hand. "I have already made arrangements for this matter. It’s fine.

"Go back and cultivate well. You don’t need to worry about the rest."

Focused entirely on getting Fang Xu to improve his cultivation base as quickly as possible, Lu Zhiyuan was unwilling to discuss these mundane matters with him any further.

Fang Xu was powerless to help even if he wanted to, so he didn’t say anything more and immediately cupped his hands, preparing to leave.

"One more thing," Lu Zhiyuan suddenly said. "Take a trip to the Blood Food Shop. I’ve prepared some high-grade Blood Food there. Have Yunshan fetch some for you."

Fang Xu nodded. Low-grade Blood Food was no longer very effective for him, so it was indeed time to get some high-grade Blood Food to assist in his cultivation.

Leaving Zhiyuan Hall, he went straight to the nearby Blood Food Shop.

At the entrance of the shop, the woman from the Wang Family was warmly entertaining a young man. Seeing Fang Xu, she smiled, nodded, and greeted him, "Fang."

Fang Xu smiled, nodded in return, and asked, "Is Li here?"

The woman from the Wang Family replied, "He’s inside."

Fang Xu walked into the shop and, seeing Li Yushan calculating the accounts, immediately greeted him and relayed Lu Zhiyuan’s instructions.

Li Yushan looked at him in surprise. "Fang has broken through to become a Martial Disciple?"

This exclamation made the delicate body of the woman from the Wang Family, who was receiving a guest nearby, tremble uncontrollably. Her gaze couldn’t help but wander over Fang Xu’s strong physique.