Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill: Level Four. Special Effect(s): Accelerated Qi Replenishment, Accelerated Healing, Balances Yin and Yang.
‘I’ve been chasing strength too blindly…’ Lu Sheng tightened his fist in reflection. ‘If I had upgraded Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill consistently, just like in the beginning, my healing and poison resistance would be far stronger. I wouldn’t be lying here with my meridians torn apart, gravely wounded and poisoned.’
“Begin martial arts extrapolation?” The prompt appeared within the Modifier’s blue frame.
Lu Sheng drew in a steady breath, clearing his mind of everything else.
“Yes.”
…………
Pale yellow lanterns swayed gently in the night breeze. Xiao Hongye stood alone in the courtyard, his gaze fixed on the full moon hanging over the quiet sky.
“Not back yet?” he murmured.
“Senior Black has gone to look for him. I believe we’ll hear news soon.” Behind him, Taoist Bai Feng frowned. “The four Emissaries left long ago, yet not a single message has returned. And now, even Lord Officiator—who went out after them—has fallen silent. When did the Northern Lands become this dangerous?”
Bai Feng shook his head again. “What if there’s no news from Senior Black either?” He cast a glance toward Xiao Hongye.
“I’ll report the truth as it is,” Xiao Hongye sighed.
“One Officiator—a top-tier expert—disappearing along with four Emissaries… this will be a severe blow to Ashoka Manor,” Bai Feng whispered.
Xiao Hongye remained silent. In truth, given their connections and intelligence networks, both men had already learned of the violent explosions and the traces of a brutal clash discovered in Windless Valley. Only a battle involving experts of the Officiator and Emissary level could have left such devastation behind.
Their team had gone to ambush Martial League—yet now they had simply vanished. Since Martial League was Ashoka Manor’s sworn enemy, suspicion naturally fell upon them.
“Perhaps Martial League’s League Master made a personal move. But… it’s too soon to conclude,” Xiao Hongye said, shaking his head slightly.
“If something truly went wrong, we may have to relocate the Ritual Offering. The Northern Lands have become too unstable,” Bai Feng said softly.
“Yeah…” Xiao Hongye offered no further comment.
“Scarlet Dragon Tribulation, the Zhen Family’s departure, Scarlet District going into hiding… besides Martial League, no other force could possibly suppress Lord Officiator,” Bai Feng continued.
BAM!!
The courtyard doors burst open violently. The hunched, single-eyed Senior Black stormed inside, draped in black robes, his glare sharp and sinister as it fell on Xiao Hongye.
Without a word, he hurled the sack slung over his shoulder onto the ground. Blood seeped through the coarse fabric, pooling onto the stone floor.
“Inform the Manor: the four great Emissaries have been killed in action. Lord Officiator is missing—likely dead. Request reinforcements!!”
With that final, chilling declaration, he turned and strode out again.
Xiao Hongye and Bai Feng froze, stunned by Senior Black’s words. As the old man strode toward the exit, Xiao Hongye quickly called out,
“Senior Black, where are you going?!”
Senior Black halted. Slowly, he turned, his single eye burning with a sinister glare.
“To hunt down the real culprit. To avenge my master!” His voice dropped to a venomous growl. “Are you pleased now? With Master gone, no one remains to challenge your authority. The Northern Lands belong to you again!”
Xiao Hongye’s expression darkened instantly.
“How can you say that, Senior Black? If I cared for such things, I could’ve rejected Lord Officiator’s orders from the start! Even if I refused to relinquish my power, not even Lord Officiator could’ve forced me!”
Senior Black let out a cold, derisive laugh.
“Nice words. But who knows what schemes you hide in your heart? Who’s to say you didn’t tip off Martial League in secret and lure Master into an ambush?”
“Senior Black!” Xiao Hongye’s face turned ashen with fury. “That is something you cannot accuse me of lightly!”
“You know the truth in your own heart,” Senior Black spat. “Pray I don’t discover you were the traitor who stabbed him in the back. Otherwise…” A dangerous red spark flickered in his eye. Then he spun around and—with one swift leap—vanished through the doorway.
Taoist Bai Feng stepped forward. With a careful motion of his sword, he slit open the sack Senior Black had thrown down. The contents spilled out—broken limbs, mangled flesh, the clawed leg of some bird-like creature.
“These are…?” Bai Feng stared, unable to identify the remains.
Xiao Hongye stepped closer. His pupils shrank sharply the moment he recognized fragments of clothing and accessories.
His breath caught.
“These are the remains of Emissaries Bai Jing and Quan Huan… I can see their jade pendants.”
Bai Feng’s face immediately turned pale.
Until now, their suspicions had been nothing more than conjecture. But confronted with these tragic remains, the reality struck them like a hammer.
“This couldn’t have been done by Martial League’s League Master…” Xiao Hongye muttered, analyzing the gruesome state of the bodies. The League Master was far too merciful to inflict such cruelty, even upon enemies.
He exchanged a slow, heavy glance with Bai Feng—both men visibly shaken.
The Northern Lands… were growing ever more chaotic, ever more shrouded in mystery.
“News!”
A muscular man in a purple soldier’s uniform dashed into the courtyard and dropped to one knee. He held out a wax-sealed letter toward Bai Feng.
“Urgent memo from the Intelligence Agency!”
Bai Feng accepted the letter, broke the seal, and scanned the contents. His expression darkened almost immediately.
“That Sect Master Lu was also injured during this mission. If we want to uncover the truth, questioning him will yield answers.”
He folded the memo and lifted his gaze to Xiao Hongye.
“This Sect Master Lu definitely knows something. I just received intel that he led a group out at night—their destination was Windless Valley at the foot of Eastern Mountain. That’s the exact location Lord Officiator mentioned for the ambush on Martial League.”
“It seems Sect Master Lu is far more complicated than he appears,” Xiao Hongye said calmly.
…………
In the sanctuary, Lu Sheng sat motionless, eyes tightly shut. Within his mind, his focus locked onto the row labeled Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill in the Modifier.
“Since I’ve gathered enough Yin Qi, I should upgrade Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill as much as possible first. Otherwise, any Tom, Dick, or Harry could kill me right now. It’s far too dangerous.”
Without hesitation, he pressed the Modify button behind the skill.
“Hoo…”
The characters representing Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill blurred and distorted.
The fused life-force art trembled within his body—then surged.
As it accelerated, Lu Sheng sensed the shift clearly. The inner Qi pathways of Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill faintly mirrored the early patterns of Aquarius Qi, the technique he had only recently begun.
‘Could it be that it absorbed the strengths of Aquarius Qi and upgraded itself?’ he wondered, feeling Yin Qi drain from him at a staggering pace.
After only a few breaths, the blurring cleared.
Unknown Skill: Level Five. Special Effect(s): Poison Resistance, Accelerated Qi Replenishment, Balances Yin and Yang, Qi Transfer.
‘Huh? What’s this Qi Transfer effect?’ Lu Sheng blinked in surprise. Instinctively, a memory surfaced—an old mobile game from his previous life.
‘In that game, Qi Transfer let players channel their Qi into someone else. Since this is a hybrid life-force skill… could this mean I can now heal others?’
He settled into a cross-legged posture and circulated the newly enhanced Jade Crane Skill. The inner Qi moved with a thicker, sturdier flow, its coolness gentler than before. As it touched his wounds, a sharp numbness and itchy sensation rippled through him.
But the relief was short-lived. The freshly restored Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill was immediately drained—devoured by the severity of his wounds. Every trace of Qi that emerged afterward was instantly swallowed up.
“Again.”By his calculation, he had only consumed five or six units of Yin Qi so far.
He focused, and once more pressed the Modify button.
“Pa.”
He triggered the upgrade without hesitation.
The row for Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill blurred once more—this time for more than ten full breaths—before finally sharpening into clarity.
Unknown Skill: Level Six. Special Effect(s): High-Speed Qi Replenishment, Amplified Poison Resistance, High-Speed Healing, Yin-Yang Suppression, Qi Transfer.
Lu Sheng felt the transformation immediately.
The moment the extrapolation completed, a vast surge of inner Qi flooded his meridians. Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill gathered at his chest, condensing into a slowly rotating sphere of Qi the size of a goose egg.
What stunned him most was the sudden fade in the burning agony of his wounds. The Officiator’s fire poison—previously raging inside him—was being purged at an astonishing pace.
This upgrade had clearly integrated the strengths of Aquarius Qi, amplifying every aspect of the technique.
Coolness swept through his body, soothing pain he had endured since the battle. He glanced again at the Modifier.
‘It shouldn’t be called Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill anymore. After absorbing Aquarius Qi… hm… it should be… Yin-Yang Jade Crane Aquarius Qi.’
The moment he formed the thought, the name shifted in the Modifier’s panel.
Yin-Yang Jade Crane Aquarius Qi.
The numb, tingling coolness on his skin intensified. Lu Sheng slowly unwrapped the bandages around his thigh. The purplish-red toxin staining the wound had nearly vanished.
Moments ago, the wound had shown clear signs of fire poison infection. Now, only faint traces of the toxin remained.
“Impressive!” Lu Sheng breathed.
Though Yin-Yang Jade Crane Aquarius Qi lacked the Yang attribute—rendering it ineffective against ghosts and Anomalies—its needle-form Qi, potent detoxifying properties, and extraordinary healing made it a peerless restorative inner force skill.
‘Qi Transfer… it probably means I can channel Qi to heal someone else. I should find someone to test it on. At this rate, I should be fully healed within two months.’
A crushing weight finally lifted from his chest.
If he couldn’t heal swiftly, calamity would have been inevitable.
But now, he finally had hope.
‘I wonder if it could be even faster…’
Lu Sheng recalled the terrifying, near-immortal healing capabilities of those in the Bind realm. His gaze remained fixed on Yin-Yang Jade Crane Aquarius Qi, expectation rising.
This time, his harvest had been massive—over fifty units of Yin Qi. The two upgrades he made earlier had consumed only a little more than ten.
‘Let’s see what happens if I push it one more level. Since it absorbed the strengths of Aquarius Qi, maybe it can balance with Yang Extreme Mode as well!’
Without hesitation, Lu Sheng sat cross-legged again. After taking a few bites of food to steady himself, he sank back into meditation.
The Modifier interface hovered before his consciousness. Once more, he pressed the button beside Yin-Yang Jade Crane Aquarius Qi.
Szzzz…
The Modifier trembled, and the row blurred into a haze. Time slipped by.
Ten breaths.
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Only after sixty breaths did the row finally sharpen again.
Yin-Yang Jade Crane Aquarius Qi: Level Seven. Special Effect(s): High-Speed Qi Replenishment, Intensified Poison Resistance, High-Speed Healing, Yin-Yang Suppression, Qi Transfer, Assimilation.
‘Assimilation? What the heck is that?’
Lu Sheng’s brows twitched. Aside from a boost in the total volume of inner Qi, he felt no obvious change. Only a new special effect—Assimilation—had appeared.
Yet something deep within him whispered that this trait was far from simple.
Fortunately, with his greatly expanded inner Qi reserves, the lingering scorch of Yang Extreme Mode faded rapidly. A mild, balanced warmth swept across his body, easing every remaining discomfort.
“Forget it. For now, I should focus solely on healing. Once my injuries are fully recovered, I can use the remaining Yin Qi for more upgrades. The excessive Yang Qi in my hard body skills seems resolved for the moment. All I need to do is keep upgrading Yin-Yang Jade Crane Aquarius Qi in tandem.”
He set aside the rest of his thoughts. Recovery came first—above all else.
Ashoka Manor would not remain idle after suffering such tremendous losses.
Sooner or later, someone would discover that he had gone to the foot of Eastern Mountain that night.
And when they did… they would come digging.
----
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