Chapter 336: Crafting Treasures and Teaching Disciples

After inspecting the city walls, Zhou You descended the stairs and arrived at the Tunbing Cave within the walls.

With rebel forces surrounding the city, he ate and slept on the walls, having no time at all to go home and eat with his parents.

The Tunbing Cave is a structure attached to the city wall, provided for the garrison troops to stay in and rotate shifts at night; it has wells, drainage, and other facilities nearby, so daily life is not a problem.

Not far away, Tie Niu even seized every opportunity to reclaim a vegetable patch, planting vegetables and raising a few chickens.

In the open space in front of the Tunbing Cave, Qi Qingdi turned and threw a punch, tearing through the air with the roar of a Meng Hu Quan, his afterimages flying.

The air twisted, his blood Qi surged, and one could vaguely see two tiger shadows merging and separating, entwining and circling.

This child has already mastered the form of this fist technique.

"Master!"

Seeing Zhou You arrive, Qi Qingdi stopped and bowed to him.

Zhou You waved his hand, signaling him to continue, and turned to enter his own room inside the Tunbing Cave.

Time was tight, and he still had many things to do...

Taking advantage of the fact that his blood Qi was full today, he would use it to hatch the Blood Qi Gu.

With his peak blood Qi, hatching 2-3 Blood Qi Gu eggs at the same time was completely effortless; as the blood Qi stimulated them, the eggs became increasingly transparent, and the outlines of the Blood Qi Gu curled up inside could be seen.

During the hatching, he specifically injected the Bewitching Seal Script into them to trigger the evolutionary mutation of the Blood Qi Gu.

In this way, when they broke out of their shells, they would be a brand-new species: the Bewitching Heart Blood Qi Gu.

These Blood Qi Gu were prepared for the fist-intent puppets, using quantity to create an advantage and striving to accelerate the progress of blood exchange.

The only worry was that after this hatching, the Blood Qi Gu eggs on hand were few and far between, not enough to use.

He didn't know where Hua Zhuomo had gotten these eggs from.

If there was a chance to find out, Zhou You would have to make a trip there no matter what to get more Blood Qi Gu eggs for backup.

After incubating for an hour, the eggs had not cracked, but the vitality inside was becoming increasingly rich and lively; they were not far from breaking their shells.

Zhou You observed the eggs for a moment, placed them into a specially made vessel, and sprayed a mist of water to keep them moist.

Next was to do some handiwork...

The stitched pouch was made from the material of a Primary Martial Master; he continued to seal the Hunger talent into it, finally reaching the limit after 52 times.

The skin material of the Witch Martial Master was quite good, better than that from Golden Crane Mountain, but the more times a talent could be sealed, the more it was reflected in its use—that is, the greater the suction, the greater the weight of the objects it could swallow.

Ge Er Bu Han's skin was still being tanned and dried; Zhou You wanted to see if using the skin of an Intermediate Martial Master to make a Hunger Pouch could break through the bottleneck of being a one-time-use item.

An hour later, he put away the 2 finished Hunger Pouch items, and seeing no one around, he took out the Baile Tianluo.

This item was stolen goods and could not see the light of day; he could only take it out to look at it privately.

After this period of time, the scratches on the Baile Tianluo had long since grown and healed, its surface as brand new as before.

It truly was a strange treasure, like a living thing; Zhou You even thought it could breathe and grow on its own.

The Baile Tianluo was the treasure of the Qi Family, and the secrets of how to maintain and use it were known only to the Qi Family.

Falling into Zhou You's hands, this item was like a chicken rib—or more accurately, a hot potato.

With Zhou You's level of blood Qi, he couldn't even penetrate it, let alone dream of refining it and making it his own.

The item was truly excellent; it felt silky to the touch, presenting the unique texture of a high-end product.

Zhou You played with it over and over, discovering that when not in use, it shrank into a ball; no matter how he looked at it, it looked like... a pouch.

A pouch?

Zhou You instantly associated it with the Hunger Pouch.

Since it was also a pouch, why couldn't he try to seal the Baile Tianluo with the Hunger talent?

The Hunger talent transcended blood Qi martial arts and had the magical effect of turning decay into magic for physical objects. Since he didn't know how to use the Baile Tianluo anyway, he might as well try; there might be an unexpected surprise.

"Talent, Hunger!"

Zhou You opened his mouth to inhale, activating the talent's sealing, and the Hunger talent fell upon the Baile Tianluo.

The result was like a stone sinking into the sea.

Zhou You was not discouraged; the talent had not vanished, but remained inside the Baile Tianluo—the sealing was successful.

The reason for this situation was not that the talent was too weak, but that the quality of the Baile Tianluo was too high, far beyond what one or two talents could affect.

Conservatively estimated, it would take at least 100 talent sealings to perhaps cause a change in the Baile Tianluo.

He would leave it for later to slowly conquer! Zhou You put away the Baile Tianluo, took a deep breath, and walked out of the Tunbing Cave, seeing that Qi Qingdi was still practicing his punches.

This child had good talent and could endure hardship; following Zhou You to practice punches day and night, he was progressing rapidly.

"Qingdi, come here!"

Seeing Zhou You arrive, Qi Qingdi stopped practicing and bowed to Zhou You with cupped fists.

"Master, I heard that the foundation of the fist technique you created comes from the Tiger-Subduing Fist. What is the meaning of this fist?"

Taking advantage of his master having time to instruct him, Qi Qingdi asked the doubt in his heart.

"Subduing the tiger does not mean subduing a fierce tiger; outsiders do not know the inside story and are prone to taking things literally."

"The two words 'subduing the tiger' actually mean to crouch low and posture oneself like a fierce tiger."

"Of course, this is Wang Laohu's fist intent, not mine..."

Zhou You changed the subject, "I left the Jian Xiong Martial Arts Hall, not living off past achievements, but walking my own path."

"Wang Laohu is a fierce tiger, while I am a hungry tiger—a Hungry Tiger Fist."

"You must keep the two words 'hungry' and 'cautious' in your heart; 'hungry' means having a clear goal, being good at patience, and never giving up until the goal is reached—it is both persistence and perseverance; 'cautious' means planning every step, lurking and waiting for the opportunity, not taking risks, and not being radical."

"If Wang Laohu's fierceness is like a sledgehammer hitting a wall, my hungry tiger is like a sharp blade scraping meat—precise and fatal."

Speaking to this point, Zhou You looked at Qi Qingdi meaningfully, "Your temperament is just right for this fist technique of mine."

Upon hearing this, Qi Qingdi's heart trembled violently, as if he had been seen through by Zhou You at a glance.

Zhou You greatly appreciated this Disciple and also knew that he was very deep in thought.

As a disfavored branch of a noble family, he was cautious in his daily life, and even his own sister had to be used as a tool for marriage alliances.

Under such circumstances, Qi Qingdi practiced the basics diligently, perfected his strength, and after taking a master, he stunned everyone by breaking through to the Blood Qi realm.

This cautious, walking-on-thin-ice personality is very much like Zhou You!

Zhou You took a fancy to this point and placed great importance on the Instruction of his Disciple; after all, he himself was a victim of incorrect upbringing.

Wang Laohu treated him poorly, which caused Zhou You to develop a rebellious streak and turn his back on the martial arts school; he did not want the same situation to befall his own student.

Therefore, while giving Qi Qingdi his full Instruction, Zhou You also constantly paid attention to his psychological state in order to provide proper guidance.

"Lord Zhou, Zuo Shier requests an audience."

Zhou You signaled that Qi Qingdi could leave.

Qi Qingdi breathed a sigh of relief and respectfully cupped his hands, "This Disciple will surely remember Master's teachings forever and dare not forget them for a single day."

Zuo Shier had returned from gathering information.

Zhou You glanced overhead; hmm, the sun had already set, and the time was a bit late.

It seemed that this trip either had complications or yielded great results, requiring time to organize before reporting.

Regardless, it verified Zhou You's conjecture that there must be something fishy about this matter.

(End of this chapter)