42 Sixth Gate

"What's the matter? Leiyue?"

"Ping!"

The door broke, as Shi Yutong entered. It was obvious that she was observing outside all along.

"Didn't you say you had 70 to 80 percent chance of succeeding? Why did you fail?"

She held onto Lin Leiyue's right hand, transferring her Wu Zong elemental force. Lin Leiyue's skin became flushed. "Mas… Master?"

"Eh... You foolish girl!"

Shi Yutong heaved a sigh of relief. "Luckily you previously took the Frozen Moon Pill which protected your meridians from being damaged... You were too rash this time!"

"I'm sorry..."

Lin Leiyue winced, unable to tell the truth.

The only thing she was clear on, was that the young man's shadow would be her motivation to break through the next gate.

If she could not break through this mental barrier of hers, it would be increasingly difficult for her to improve. Even with the help of spiritual pills, the improvements would be minimal.

...

Within the secluded valley.

Fang Yuan opened his eyes and appeared joyful.

"The 6th Gate of Martial Arts, the Pain Gate, is finally broken through!"

He sighed for a moment, approached an old tree, focused his inner force on his palm, and struck towards the tree trunk.

Ka!

A distinct sound was heard, as though something broke.

When Fang Yuan took his palm away, a distinct palm shape appeared on the tree trunk. Not only that, in the middle of the palm print were many tiny holes, with wood shavings falling out of them.

"Inner power and inner force are two different things. If the former is likened to a cotton thread, the latter will be likened to a steel wire!"

Fang Yuan took in a deep breath and knew that it was his luck that he could kill Song Zhong.

"The difference between Pain Gate and the previous 5 Gates is too large!"

He clenched his fist and felt the inner force building up within him. He looked at his stats window, and observed a drastic change:

"Name: Fang Yuan

Essence: 3.3

Spirit: 3.2

Magic: 2.0

Age: 18

Cultivation: [Martial Artist (6th Gate)]

Technique: [Black Sand Palm (Grade 5)], [Eagle Claw Iron Skin Technique (Grade 6)]

Skill: [Medicine (Level 2)], [Botany (Level 3)]"

"Eagle Claw Iron Skin Technique------ A combination of inner and external techniques, the technique, when mastered, would be similar to coating the entire body with iron, making it impenetrable by fire and water, as well as making the body difficult to wound. At the current 6th Grade, defence is enhanced! Eagle Claw's inner strength is enhanced!"

"[Eagle Claw Technique (Grade 6)] enhances Eagle Claw's inner strength! Strengthens defence!"

The inner strength within Fang Yuan was something he had experimented on before, but for an increase in defence capabilities?

He mulled for a moment and dispersed his inner strength to every part of his body beneath his skin.

"Shing!"

In a moment, his skin tightened and became metallic in colour. His inner strength circulated under his skin within him, like an armour.

"With this defence, I can go head-on against any normal swords or knives..."

Fang Yuan was impressed. "Such a shocking improvement in defence and attack! After breaking through the 6th Gate, I now have inner force, and am indeed very different from a normal martial artist!"

With his improvement, he began to think of dealing with the spiritual birds at Green Peak.

"With my skills, if those Red-eyed White Birds dare to fight me, regardless whether they are normal or spiritual they shouldn't pose any problem. As for the leader, the large eagle, there might still be a little trouble!"

Fang Yuan was longing for the spiritual land at Green Peak, in the depths of the Clear Spirit Mountain.

He could not stand how every time he had to scavenge the place for loot and deal with the numerous spiritual bird's attempt at stopping him.

"The spiritual land at the Green Peak is a good place to set up a campsite, and the earlier we leave for it the better!"

Only spiritual lands were best suited to grow spiritual plants.

As of now, Fang Yuan depended on his botany ability to cultivate spiritual plants, but the amount of effort he put in and the lack of a suitable plot of land was always a pity.

And it was not the safest place.

Therefore, it was a must to get rid of the Red-eyed White Birds and take over Green Peak spiritual land.

"At most, I shall fight with all my might against those white birds. I can kill some every day, and we shall see if they can breed faster than I can kill them!"

Fang Yuan revealed a sinister look on his face.

...

Within the mountains, it was confined, and unknowingly, ten days had passed.

The people of Qingye City began to return to their homes, after being chased away in fear of being killed by Song Zhong. It was as though everything began to revert back to the peace it had before.

As for Zhou Family, which was almost wiped out, they were beginning to be forgotten.

The influence that the Zhou Family once had was slowly being taken over by other families, and one of the main contenders was the Lin Family.

One fine day at Qingye City.

A young man entered the city, and nostalgia was written all over his face. "Qingye City is still as happening as before!"

It was Fang Yuan.

He spent his time cultivating more Vermilion Jade Rice, drank spiritual tea for every meal, and waited at the outskirts of the Green Peak spiritual land, waiting for his chance to deal with the Red-eyed White Birds.

[Eagle Claw Iron Skin Technique (Grade 6)] was impressive. He did not have to care when the Red-eyed White Birds flew and pecked at him, unless if they were pecking at the vital points on his body.

Using this special ability, he killed many Red-eyed White Birds and hid in the fog if he encountered the spiritual bird's nest. Every day he survived on bird's meat, spiritual tea and spiritual water. As for his martial arts and foundation, there were gradual improvements.

The flock of birds were observed to decrease in size as days go by.

Against a cunning Fang Yuan, the Red-eyed White Birds might even migrate to another place.

However, for now, Fang Yuan's focus slowly shifted to the Vermilion Jade Rice farm.

He faced a huge problem. He was running low on realgar powder, an important ingredient of the Still Fire Liquid...

Even though he stored up large quantities of it previously, the farm did consume a lot of Still Fire Liquid, and the expansion of his production would naturally lead to this outcome.

With this problem, no matter how unwilling Fang Yuan was, he had to leave to get more realgar powder, unless he wanted to witness the demise of his farm.

Secondly, he did not dare to push the flock of Red-eyed White Birds too much.

After his massacre, the remaining Red-eyed White Birds were especially fierce and cunning. When they encounter danger they would immediately squawk for help, and catch the attention of the flock and the bird king.

There was once when Fang Yuan failed to escape and was pecked by a furious bird flock. He sustained many wounds on his back and with much effort escaped alive.

After getting rid of the old, weak, sick and disabled birds, the remaining were tough fighters.

He did not want to push them too much, as those spiritual beasts had the wisdom of humans. If they were desperate, they might destroy the spiritual land, and it was an outcome Fang Yuan had to avoid at all costs.

"Shopkeeper! Give me 40 pounds of the best quality realgar powder! I want the best!"

It was the same shop as before, and Fang Yuan exclaimed the moment he entered the shop, as though he was an uncivilised and aggressive customer.

He earned quite a bit from his previous trip to the county, and a little money did not bother him.

"40 pounds?!"

The shopkeeper, who was originally smiling, appeared shocked. "This amount is too much, we only have 20 pounds here..."

"If that's the case, I'll have them all!"

Fang Yuan waved his hand proudly and was prepared to wipe out stock from the next shop.

"Yes of course..."

The shopkeeper looked down, chased his subordinates away and personally packed the realgar powder. Out of a sudden, he smiled and asked, "Eh? Have we met before, brother?"

He felt a sense of familiarity as he saw the young man.

"Yes! The previous time, I also bought realgar powder from this shop!"

Being a [Martial Artist (6th Gate)], Fang Yuan had little considerations and became more direct.

"Previous time, realgar powder! I remember it now, you were the one who sold the red ginseng, but the Zhou Family took it!"

The shopkeeper thanked Fang Yuan.

"That's right!"

Fang Yuan took the package over, and asked, "I've heard that something big happened in the county town, how's the Zhou Family doing?"

"Sigh..."

The shopkeeper shook his head. "What else? The servants were either killed or have run away, their shop taken over, and their residence has become a gathering place for beggars. What a pity, for Old Zhou's efforts to start the family business, and now it has all been completely destroyed..."

Fang Yuan remained speechless.

In the Zhou Family, Zhou Wenwu was still alive, and since Spirit Returning Sect was willing to punish Song Zhong, it seemed that there was a conclusion to the whole episode.

To regain the Zhou Family's reputation in Qingye City would not be easy. Even if Zhou Wenwu returned, he could only do so much, and could never hope for the Sect to help him, for the Sect was not a charity organisation.

"Who has the biggest clout in Qingye City now?"

Fang Yuan probed further.

"No doubt it would be the Lin Family, as Old Lin had a good daughter... Following, it would be Zhang Family, Guo Family, and all these are newly-built families..."

In reality, these two families were initially small families in Qingye City.

As their opportunity arrived, they rose to power and could be said to have leeched on Zhou Family's influence.

Those who win would rule, and those who lose would become beggars. Even though it was just a small city, it was like a bloodshed competition.

'Looking at things now, it would be extremely difficult for Zhou Wenwu to start all over again, but then again, none of this is my business...'

Fang Yuan shook his head, slowly walked out of the shop and disappeared into the crowd.

The shopkeeper looked at his silhouette, shocked.

...

"Master would like to purchase some realgar powder?"

"That's right!"

Fang Yuan explored the city, and as he was preparing to buy some provisions, several people appeared before him.

These few people wore uniforms and seemed to come from the same origin. All of them looked proud as they smiled, and the strongest among them appeared to be a [Martial Artist (3rd Gate)].

"I am Zhang Han, and my family has long heard of master's name, and want to make friends with you, master! This is a small gift, please accept it!"

Zhang Han waved his hands, and several servants carried a delicate box. Opening the box revealed top-quality realgar powder, and another box glittered, as it contained 2 rows of small silver ingots.