Chapter 29: Gathering Qi

"Tonight, Brother Lu Ren is hosting a banquet to celebrate, and he invites you to attend."

When it was almost dark, Luo Dehu found Xu Yang and the others.

Zhang Hong hesitated for a moment, as if remembering something, and said: "We don't need to pool money, right?"

If they had to pool money, he wouldn't be interested. He was very willing to have a free meal without spending money.

Luo Dehu glared at him and said: "What do you think Brother Lu Ren's status is? Now that he is celebrating for himself, why would he need us to pool money?"

Zhang Yong frowned and said: "Do you dare to leave the Weiyuan Hall?"

Xue Fangsheng's threat was still there; if they left the Weiyuan Hall, they might be intercepted and killed by Xue Fangsheng. ===== CHAPTER 55 =====

Luo Dehu said: "Brother Lu Ren has already greeted him; he won't touch us."

Once he broke the barrier and gathered Qi, Lu Ren was no longer a nobody struggling at the bottom, but a martial arts genius tied to the Huang family. With one word, even Xue Fangsheng, who had successfully gathered Qi for more than a year, had to give him face.

"Good!" Zhang Yong and Zhang Hong both agreed.

Xu Yang thought for a moment and also agreed to attend the banquet because people from the Huang family would also appear.

He was about to gather Qi, and it was time to lay some things out with the Huang family.

"Pay attention to your table manners later. Many inner courtyard martial arts senior brothers will attend the banquet, and some big shots who are on good terms with the Huang family will also attend. Don't lose face for Brother Lu Ren." Luo Dehu warned.

This banquet was mainly for the Huang family to announce that they had acquired a genius martial artist, so it wasn't just the few of them.

"Get lost, do you think we are starving ghosts?" The others cursed.

After washing the sweat and odor off their bodies in the bathroom, they walked out of the Weiyuan Hall together and arrived at the location of the banquet, where they were arranged at a table.

Besides the five of them, there were a few others at this table who should be Lu Ren's relatives, and their words were full of flattery toward Lu Ren, saying that the old Lu family had produced a dragon, and so on.

Lu Ren and Huang Jin stood at the entrance of the restaurant, personally welcoming those attending the banquet, and the smiles on their faces never stopped.

Xu Yang had the intention to step forward to talk to Huang Jin, but until the banquet started, he hadn't found a suitable opportunity.

After eating and drinking well, Huang Jin was still accompanying those big shots in the private room, so he had to leave with Zhang Yong and the others.

Unexpectedly, just as they left the restaurant, they were called back and taken into a private room to wait.

After waiting for a while, Huang Jin came in smelling of alcohol.

The group stood up and bowed together: "Greetings, Fifth Master."

Huang Jin waved his hand: "Sit down, everyone. I asked you to come back because I have something to tell you."

The matter he spoke of was exactly what Xu Yang wanted to clarify today.

Huang Jin said bluntly that the Huang family's foundation was shallow and they couldn't support too many martial artists; they only needed Lu Ren.

If they could successfully gather Qi, the Huang family would not hire them as guest martial arts masters; they could seek other paths. The Huang family's cultivation of them would be considered a good deed.

The group was not surprised by this; Lu Ren had successfully broken the barrier, so the Huang family must have already made their choice.

They didn't resent the Huang family either. Although the Huang family broke the agreement, they only had kindness toward everyone. Without the Huang family, they wouldn't have had the opportunity to join the martial arts hall at all.

If one could truly break the barrier and gather Qi, there were plenty of people willing to hire a Qi-Gathering martial artist as a guest.

The conversation ended quickly, and everyone dispersed.

The next day, Qiu Wenjie found Xu Yang and gave him the Qiu family's funding for this month.

"Senior Brother Xu, can you successfully break the barrier today?" Qiu Wenjie asked curiously.

In fact, not only him, but many people in the outer courtyard were waiting to see if he would follow the pattern and break through on the second day after Lu Ren broke through.

"Still a bit short, I have to wait a few more days." Xu Yang shook his head.

He was confident that the Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist could break through to the minor success realm at any time, but the Turtle-Snake Grand Stance was still a bit short because he had no money before, practiced the Turtle-Snake Grand Stance little, and his body tempering was not enough.

He planned to temper his body for a few more days before gathering Qi; he was not in a hurry.

The Huang family had already decided not to hire him anymore, so competing with Lu Ren no longer had any meaning; there was no need to show off like this.

On this day, Xu Yang did not break the barrier and gather Qi, which disappointed many people in the outer courtyard.

Lu Ren, who was watching in secret, also breathed a sigh of relief. He was truly afraid that Xu Yang would break the barrier and gather Qi today; if that happened, the Huang family might regret it and re-hire Xu Yang.

Two geniuses serving the same family—although he was confident that Xu Yang was not as good as himself, resources would definitely be divided, which was not something he wanted to see happen.

For this matter, he even made arrangements in secret in the morning.

For the next two days, Xu Yang used the Turtle-Snake Grand Stance to temper his body and accumulate blood and Qi. Both were key to successfully breaking the barrier and could not be sloppy.

Ordinary people couldn't control the time of breaking the barrier, but he had the panel and clearly knew the progress of his techniques, so he could control the time of breaking the barrier.

In the afternoon, the blood and Qi in his body surged, and the speed of accumulating blood and Qi increased significantly.

【Turtle-Snake Grand Stance · Minor Success (1/300)】

The Turtle-Snake Grand Stance had reached minor success!

Another key to breaking the barrier and gathering Qi was the minor success of the Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist. Most people couldn't clearly perceive the progress of their techniques, so many people started breaking the barrier unconsciously while practicing boxing, which was why the success rate was so low.

Another point was also because of the aforementioned reasons, many people were forced to break the barrier before their Turtle-Snake Grand Stance reached minor success.

If one reached minor success in the Turtle-Snake Grand Stance before breaking the barrier, the success rate would inevitably increase greatly.

"Breaking the barrier and gathering Qi will be today!"

Xu Yang found a corner to sit down, closed his eyes to rest and recharge, and at the same time summoned the panel to add to the Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist.

His mind shook, and a large amount of insight came.

【Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist · Minor Success (1/500)】

Looking at the panel again, the Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist had already reached minor success.

"My way of breaking the barrier is simply cheating!"

Others broke the barrier by triggering some kind of insight during the process of practicing boxing, and only started breaking the barrier when the boxing realm improved. This process was prone to problems, leading to failure in breaking the barrier, such as insufficient insight into boxing techniques, insufficient accumulation of blood and Qi, and body not being tempered to the extreme.

But he was fully prepared, and before he even broke the barrier, the realm of the Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist had reached minor success first, and he knew the entire process of gathering Qi, as if he were cultivating again.

In this situation, he couldn't imagine how he would fail. Unless he was disturbed, there was absolutely no possibility of failure.

"I am going to break the barrier, help me guard!"

After instructing Qiu Wenjie, Xu Yang jumped up.

Qiu Wenjie was confused; how did Senior Brother Xu know he was going to break the barrier?

Once the minor success Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist was performed, Xu Yang immediately felt the difference. The blood and Qi in his body followed the flow of the boxing technique, as if commanded by his arms, and were no longer scattered and uncontrollable things.

"Bang bang..."

The sound of his fist wind became louder and louder, and a "Qi" emerged from the limbs and bones of his body, merged into his meridians, and followed the boxing technique to circulate, penetrating some blocked meridians.

As soon as this Qi appeared, it was as if something in his body had been opened, and a large amount of blood and Qi surged from his limbs and bones, and his body strength increased sharply.

The process of gathering Qi was unexpectedly simple, and everything fell into place.

There was more and more Qi in the meridians, and Xu Yang only felt that his fist power was getting stronger, his five senses were getting stronger, the things his eyes saw were becoming clearer, and he could hear the breathing of people in the distance.

"Boom boom..."

The increasingly loud sound of fist wind attracted the surrounding people, and the disciples practicing boxing on the martial arts field stopped their movements, looking at Xu Yang here in shock. ===== CHAPTER 56 =====