Chapter 30: Bei Qi Ming Qi

“You’re cursing me?”

The young man suddenly straightened his body, his gaze sharp as he fixed it on Li Muxian.

Li Muxian raised an eyebrow and squinted.

“I’m just stating the facts. If you don’t believe it… well, then don’t believe it.”

Saying this, he turned his head toward the eunuch who had stopped ahead and said:

“You don’t need to guide me—just tell me which room I’m in.”

At these words, the eunuch quickly turned back, bowed, and handed Li Muxian a jade plaque:

“Young Master, your room is Room Seventeen in the East Building. This is your room token. Should you need anything, go to the house at the end of the corridor and instruct the servants.”

With that, the eunuch said, “Your servant takes his leave,” and turned away without looking back.

At this moment, Li Muxian turned to face the young man and said:

“Try pressing the midpoint between the Tanzhong and Jiwei acupoints—do you feel a needle-like pain?”

Hearing this, the young man froze, staring at Li Muxian for a moment. Seeing his calm demeanor, he realized he wasn’t making it up.

After a moment’s hesitation, he closed his folding fan and cautiously extended his hand to press the spot Li Muxian had described.

But the next instant, the young man turned pale and cried out in pain, then his head lolled to one side and he collapsed unconscious.

Seeing this, Li Muxian blinked in surprise:

“This kid’s too weak.”

At that moment, the eunuch who had already walked away heard the cry and turned back. His body vanished from the spot, and in a few flashes he appeared beside the young man.

The eunuch seized the young man’s wrist and immediately injected Qi to examine his condition.

Quickly, a look of astonishment appeared on his face:

“His meridians are stable, his breath is normal, his blood and Qi are abundant—why did he faint?”

Saying this, he turned to look at Li Muxian beside him, who merely shook his head and said:

“I didn’t touch him. Why don’t you try probing his Heart Protector Meridian through the Tianquan point?”

Hearing this, the eunuch frowned but still tried injecting Qi as suggested.

But the next instant, his face turned drastically pale and he yanked his fingers back sharply.

A wisp of black mist surged out from the young man’s Tianquan point, following the path of the eunuch’s Qi like creeping vines, wrapping upward and reaching his wrist in the blink of an eye.

Though the eunuch didn’t know what this black mist was, he could guess it was no good thing.

He immediately mobilized his dantian qi, trying to expel the black mist from his hand.

But to his shock, the black mist was like a bone-eating maggot—it merged into his Qi and rapidly invaded his meridians.

Seeing this, the eunuch was utterly alarmed, unsure what to do—when suddenly a hand gently tapped his shoulder from behind.

Then he saw the black mist that had already invaded his right arm’s meridians vanish instantly, completely gone.

He clenched his hand in disbelief, as if the entire scene had been an illusion, as if the black mist had never existed.

The eunuch turned his head and looked at Li Muxian—handsome, calm, expressionless. Regaining himself, he quickly rose and bowed:

“Thank you, Young Master, for your aid. Your servant is deeply grateful.”

Hearing this, Li Muxian waved his hand casually and pointed at the unconscious young man:

“Handle him.”

Saying this, he turned and walked away. But halfway, he suddenly looked back:

“By the way, this isn’t my doing. If you want to know what happened, you’ll have to find the cause from him.”

“But I advise you to hurry—after six hours, he won’t be salvageable.”

At these words, the eunuch’s face changed. He opened his mouth to ask something.

But Li Muxian paid no attention—he spun the jade plaque between his fingers and continued toward his room.

The eunuch glanced once at the young man on the ground, frowned, then bent down and lifted him onto his back, sprinting toward a room at the end of the corridor.

The Tianjin Guard, personally established by Emperor Yuanwu, holds authority to oversee court officials and the entire Great Li realm, and serves as a lethal weapon to uphold imperial power.

Its ranks are filled with martial experts who practice only the pinnacle martial arts collected from the Great Li martial archives—its overall strength rivals even the Six Gates.

Moreover, the Tianjin Guard is divided into Inner and Outer Guards. The Inner Guard consists of palace eunuchs with exceptional innate talent, answering only to Emperor Yuanwu’s direct orders.

The Outer Guard is composed of elite soldiers selected from the military, stationed across key prefectures and cities of Great Li, monitoring the realm and gathering intelligence on commoners and officials alike.

…

In a room filled with drifting incense, the chief eunuch of the Direct Palace Office, An Quan, opened his eyes and halted his cultivation of the “Kui Yin Treasure Scripture.”

At that moment, the young eunuch rushed into the outer chamber, carrying the unconscious young man, drawing the attention of several eunuchs inside.

“Little An, what happened?”

An Quan pushed open the inner door and stared at the young man on the eunuch’s back.

Xiao An lowered the young man and swiftly recounted everything that had occurred in the corridor.

“You’ve only just entered the Primordial Realm, yet you’re a true Primordial expert—how could a mere wisp of lingering black mist overwhelm you?”

An Quan frowned, his sparse eyebrows knitting together, his voice sharp with surprise.

He stepped forward and reached out to probe the young man’s Tianquan point, when Xiao An urgently said:

“Father, be careful—this black mist is extremely strange and dangerous.”

An Quan sneered.

“You underestimate your old man too much. I’m already half a step into the Primordial Grand Master realm—this black mist is nothing.”

Saying this, a wisp of Kui Yin Qi shot from his fingertip, chilling the air around him.

His finger darted like a shadow, striking precisely into the young man’s Tianquan point.

As expected, another wisp of black mist surged out from the acupoint, immediately curling upward along An Quan’s Kui Yin Qi.

Seeing this, An Quan suddenly recognized it—he instantly severed his Qi and leapt backward several steps, putting distance between himself and the unconscious young man.

“Bei Qi Ming Qi?”

Standing firm, the senior eunuch An Quan’s expression shifted wildly. The other eunuchs, unaware of what had transpired, dared not speak.

Only Xiao An, watching his master’s clearly shaken state, ventured cautiously:

“Father, what is Bei Qi Ming Qi?”

Hearing this, An Quan snapped back to himself. He paced slowly, carefully observing the young man on the ground, then said:

“Bei Qi Ming Qi is one of the supreme secret techniques of the former Da Qi imperial court. After Da Qi’s fall, it was lost—yet here it is, on this man.”

(End of Chapter)