Chapter 29: Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Gentleman Sword, Dou Changsheng!

【Northern Lands in Turmoil (Part 2): Since rescuing the Black Eagle Elder, Firecloud True Person has regarded you as a thorn in his eye and a splinter in his flesh; along your journey, assassinations have been relentless.】

【At the Battle of Shili Slope, the enemy was a white-robed man with long hair, stunningly beautiful as a demon, ethereal as a celestial being—you recognized him as Chen Weiquan, the martial artist who won the Three Yang Mountain Qingquan Tournament three years ago, a scion of Beijing’s official class, hailed as one of the Ten Outstanding Figures of Beijing.】

【With the Qingyang Spring protecting his heart meridian, his Seven Injuries Fist reached perfection, earning him a place on the Human List; over three years, he rose from beyond the top hundred to the top eighty, known as the Steel Fist.】

【Firecloud True Person has returned with a host of heroes—no longer the same as before—but neither are you the man you once were.】

【Flowers bloomed in midair, his fist momentum shook heaven and earth—no wonder he’s a Human List hero; he blocked all nine of your swords.】

【During the night raid on the Mountain God Temple, Purple Yang Daoist, a senior elder of the Three Yang Sect, lord of Purple Yang Peak, had long since defected to Chancellor Chen Qingyao and was dispatched by Firecloud True Person—his cultivation at the peak of Primordial Stage, having condensed the Three Flowers of Heaven, Earth, and Man—to personally ambush you, a junior.】

【Truly worthy of an elder, nearly a century of cultivation, the Three Flowers manifesting, primordial true qi flooding the heavens and earth—the Three Yang Sect’s ultimate technique, Purple Sun Rises, illuminating the mortal realm, opened your eyes wide; Purple Yang Daoist’s true qi was vast and exquisitely pure, his moves seasoned and masterful—he was indeed a powerhouse.】

【You had just completed the Five Qi Convergence, giving rise to primordial true qi—and now you felt pressure. You activated your self-created Five Qi Seal; boundless primordial true qi surged forth, the month’s accumulated reserves unleashed in a single sword strike.】

【A ten-zhang sword qi, infused with the power of the White Tiger—Purple Yang Daoist was dead.】

【Ten days of diligent cultivation rewarded: Five Qi Seal (Upgraded Version)!】

【Completed!】

Dou Changsheng glanced again at the quest and realized his future self had once again pulled off a showy feat.

This future Dou Changsheng was either on his way to showing off, or already in the middle of it.

Life flowed smoothly, uneventful and tranquil.

If this were a play or a manga, it would surely flop—no one would care—but in real life, this is what everyone yearns for: who doesn’t wish to spend their entire life turning misfortune into fortune, overcoming hardship with luck?

After sighing, Dou Changsheng began claiming his reward.

His future self had unbeatable luck—but he was also a diligent cultivator.

A martial scripture, spanning over three thousand characters, had repeatedly surfaced in Dou Changsheng’s mind; he deciphered it character by character, finally understanding why the Purple Yang Daoist had fallen.

This “Five Qi Seal” was a martial art created by future Dou Changsheng, built upon the foundation of a thousand-year Earth Pearl.

After ingesting the thousand-year Earth Pearl, even without cultivation, one’s primordial internal qi strengthened daily; with diligent practice, the growth accelerated further—but primordial internal qi could not rise endlessly; once it exceeded capacity, excess qi would constantly dissipate.

It was like a bottle with limited capacity: no matter how much you expanded the meridians or enlarged the dantian, turning a palm-sized bottle into a basin, the process took time—and each day, much primordial internal qi still vanished.

Dou Changsheng himself now felt this acutely: his daily capacity for primordial internal qi was far lower than its rate of growth.

Thus, the “Five Qi Seal” emerged: based on the five viscera, it opened unique acupoints—or internal qi spaces—capable of storing vast quantities of primordial internal qi.

This allowed the daily dissipating primordial internal qi to be stored instead.

When the body’s capacity reached its limit, one could still fill these spaces with primordial internal qi for use in battle.

A simple principle—but exceedingly difficult to achieve.

Dou Changsheng knew it required studying countless texts, mastering vast martial arts knowledge, and a measure of luck.

No matter how future Dou Changsheng accomplished it, the “Five Qi Seal” he created was undoubtedly a highly practical secret technique.

After ingesting the thousand-year Earth Pearl, one’s primordial internal qi was already formidable; with the “Five Qi Seal” storing vast reserves, Purple Yang Daoist was merely at the Three Flowers Convergence, Primordial Profound Stage—not a master who had transcended the mundane.

If he didn’t die, who would?

With this sword strike, few below the master realm could withstand it.

Of course, this was a burst state—not a normal condition; once all primordial internal qi was exhausted, one would immediately revert to their original state.

Future Dou Changsheng could truly be called unfathomable.

This was not his limit; with his near-invincible luck, who knew how many more hidden cards he held?

Reading this quest description, Dou Changsheng feared future Dou Changsheng might say one more thing.

“Little Yunzi deserves to die.”

Heart, Liver, Spleen, Lungs, Kidneys!

Five locations, each with a glowing point emerging.

In the depths of his being, Dou Changsheng seemed to see his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.

As the “Five Qi Seal” manifested, the torrent of primordial internal qi within him gradually flowed toward the five newly opened qi acupoints.

In an instant, all primordial internal qi within Dou Changsheng was consumed.

Yet none of the five qi acupoints were even half-full; the thousand-year Earth Pearl in his dantian began to vibrate slowly, the primordial internal qi within forming a vortex, spinning and continuously expelling more.

The five qi acupoints acted like black holes, endlessly devouring everything.

Dou Changsheng let the five qi acupoints devour his primordial internal qi; his sole task now was to fill the “Five Qi Seal”—this too was a hidden trump card.

When all five qi acupoints were fully opened and the primordial internal qi unleashed in one torrent, who could stand against such overwhelming force?

Future Dou Changsheng had slain Purple Yang Daoist across a realm boundary—with just one sword strike.

How majestic.

Merely reading the words made one’s heart yearn for it.

After a night of diligent cultivation, Dou Changsheng set out again the next day.

Cultivation. Travel.

This was Dou Changsheng’s daily life.

Only when Dou Changsheng arrived at Three Yang Mountain did the five qi acupoints finally become full.

Each acupoint held five times the amount of primordial internal qi Dou Changsheng could normally contain.

The “Five Qi Seal” only stored five times—Dou Changsheng realized this was not fixed, but tied to his own primordial internal qi limit.

As long as he continued to strengthen himself, the “Five Qi Seal” would strengthen too—this was precisely what made the “Five Qi Seal” terrifying.

This was the effect of the upgraded version; the original version would have been fixed.

Previous generations planted the tree; future generations reap the shade—now the benefit fell to Dou Changsheng.

Three Yang Mountain was a famed peak and river; beneath its slopes, a town had formed.

Upon entering this town, Dou Changsheng immediately noticed the abundance of martial artists—swords and blades hung everywhere.

Dou Changsheng had just seated himself at a tavern, placing the Hero Sword on the table, when a man in pale blue robes approached him, bowing: “Are you the Gentleman Sword, Dou Changsheng?”

“Young Master Dou!”