Chapter 140

Damn! I slept till I puked blood! I'm probably the strongest under heaven! Bai Lang opened his eyes, blood still spurting from his mouth. The two women were flustered, scrambling to help him wipe it, shouting that Bai Lang was injured. As for the fact that he had been haunted in his sleep and ended up injuring himself, Bai Lang himself was completely at a loss. In his dantian, yin and yang converged; his Internal Force faced no obstruction, wandering from the Ren meridian to the Du meridian, threadlike purple qi dissipating into the dantian and circulating with his Internal Force.

Bai Lang merely raised his qi and felt something off; now his Internal Force was vast and surging, although its volume had shrunk considerably, its quality was no longer the same. 'Is this innate true qi? Have I pierced the Ren and Du meridians?' Afterwards Bai Lang began to circulate his qi, 'These meridians...' His whole body felt as if being cut by knives; the originally unified Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill seemed to have been broken as well. Huge cracks were everywhere, almost completely unable to provide defensive rebound capability.

Bai Lang's current situation—he did not want to expose himself before others—so he wiped away the bloodstains and said to the teammates gathering around, 'It's fine, just my qi went awry for a moment; I'll be okay soon.' That statement wasn't entirely true, but since he didn't want help, everyone had to refrain from helping. Forcing help would be unwelcome. At that moment the train also arrived at the station; Bai Lang took the lead, grabbed his backpack, and headed straight for the hotel—seizing the time to heal his wounds was the proper thing to do.

Whether it was Yan Xiaoyan or Tian Li, both wanted to accompany Bai Lang, but Bai Lang refused their company, 'Oh, I'm going back to my room to heal my wounds, that's right—just my qi went awry, I'm healing my wounds.'

Bai Lang arrived at the room; fortunately, the match was still three days away, winning or losing didn't matter—what mattered was resolving the problem in his body. 'The meridians were wounded by sword qi...... Where did this sword qi come from?' Bai Lang had seen such injuries before; when he first came to this world, wasn't he wounded by this very sword qi? He had merely thought he had driven all the sword qi out of his body......'Damn! It lurks so well, this thing is like a bone‑deep ulcer!'

Bai Lang again aroused the Internal Force in his dantian; the Internal Force of the Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill now felt as hot as the sun, naturally possessing a yang‑harmonious qi. Bai Lang guided the true qi slowly flowing through the meridians damaged by sword qi, step by step reconnecting them, gradually opening them up. This injury was actually not complicated, but quite serious; at this point one could see the benefit of the warm, yang‑harmonious nature of innate true qi—using it to heal wounds worked far better than before.

The only pity is that this innate true qi cannot replenish itself; what wanders and grows in the meridians is not innate true qi, it can only be produced by transforming through the dantian, and as for this true qi, it seems to be replenished by eating. 'If the heavenly earthly gateway is not opened, one cannot continuously draw primordial qi from heaven and earth, so naturally one cannot speak of the growth of innate true qi.' Bai Lang thought.

Innate true qi originally could take two paths—external gathering and internal strengthening; now Bai Lang can only take the internal strengthening path, restoring innate true qi by eating. Under the nourishment of true qi, the meridians—chiefly the Ren meridian—begin to be joined segment by segment, and afterwards those wounded spots also slowly recover, the blockages caused by the fractures gradually being cleared. 'I estimate that in two days I can make a preliminary recovery; true complete recovery will probably take at least half a month to a month.'

Bai Lang's martial arts cultivate from the outside inward, so it's absolutely not just sitting in the room meditating and regulating breath; he still needs to go downstairs to the garden to practice punches. By driving Internal Force through fist techniques, he can better penetrate those injured meridians.

At this point, thinking about women is pointless; earnestly healing wounds is the proper thing. Besides, Bai Lang, even while secretly pleased, knows that if he loses all his martial arts, probably neither of those two women would share weal and woe with him—although he has now pierced the Ren and Du meridians, and the innate great sun purple qi has already been sensed, he understands its profundity, so he fundamentally does not need to cling to primordial yang. However, worldly experience has left him with no trust in so‑called 'feelings'...

The daily absorption of that wisp of purple qi from the rising great sun actually amounts to a mere thread of 'intention' accumulating innate true qi—the intention of the great sun's yang‑harmonious qi; isn't that what took effect when breaking through the Ren and Du meridians? Yet Bai Lang still doesn't understand how he managed to pierce them in his sleep; he truly doesn't realize it was thanks to the dried Yu Yu. 'Has it turned into dead fish eyes again?' While cultivating and healing his wounds, Bai Lang also noticed the change in Yu Yu; the threat of it being pulled back at any moment has temporarily disappeared.

However, the charging of this thing follows no regular pattern; Bai Lang can only go along with it. The results obtained in two days were better than he imagined—innate true qi, especially the yang‑rich and robust true qi cultivated from his Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill, indeed works very well for healing wounds; now Bai Lang is not only seeing his injuries improve, but even stepping onto the stage to fight poses no major problem—unless he encounters a master, ordinary opponents he should be able to handle.

'The Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill has been reforged; although it cannot externally manifest as gang qi, the leaks in his physique have been sealed.' Bai Lang's vital point was still blocked, so this time he wore a groin guard, protecting his precious little brother. 'The day he cultivates the Yang‑Contraction‑into‑Abdomen technique, the problem will basically be half solved; the day he reaches the ninth level of the Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill, the problem will basically be fully solved.' Bai Lang thought, feeling the hard outer shell of the groin guard, which also had tiny holes for ventilation.

Bai Lang completed the pre‑match checkup; those two women and his classmates crowded the doorway to watch his examination—just drawing a few drops of blood for drug screening. As for any injuries or hidden injuries on your own body, that's your own affair; the organizing committee only needs to ensure you don't take medication. Bai Lang now is completely unlike his listless self when he got off the train; he can be described as radiant and spirited. Although not fully recovered, his innate true qi has been accomplished, the Ren and Du meridians pierced, and his martial arts floor has leapt upward a great step—he is now essentially a different person from before.

Where the upper limit lies depends on what level of martial arts he can cultivate after his injuries fully heal—at the very least, the Black Tiger Fist has already peaked with respect to innate true qi; even after reaching the pinnacle of perfection, its power remains about the same. Perhaps its subtle variations could yield boundless power in actual combat, but its 'upper limit' lies beneath innate true qi. Moreover, the Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill has become ever more substantial, so its rebound force is naturally stronger as well; and even if the Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill is shattered, with each inhale and exhale the circulation of innate true qi will immediately reforge it completely.

Bai Lang these past two days has been passing a lot of dark stools; his body feels much lighter, he feels very good—however his weight hasn't dropped, still around ninety kilograms, matching his 1.86‑meter height. Innate true qi has detoxifying and complexion‑enhancing effects, which Bai Lang also knows; he touched his own facial skin—this smoothness indeed needs a beard to balance it out, but a radiant complexion is probably a good thing as well?