6: Chapter 6: Four Levels of Meridian Opening

Upon leaving the ancestral hall, Ye Chen did not return to the West Courtyard.

He took a turn and headed toward the Ye family's back mountain.

The back mountain was a patch of wild forest where few people ventured; there was only a narrow, trodden path flanked by waist-high wild grass.

The mountain path was very slippery after the rain, the mud clinging to his shoes.

Ye Chen walked slowly, listening to the sounds of the forest as he went.

The chirping of birds, the buzzing of insects, and the rustle of wind through the leaves.

There were also the faint, distant shouts of the Ye family disciples practicing at the Martial Arts Arena.

Reaching halfway up the mountain, he found a flat rock and sat down. The rock was cold and his seat felt a bit damp, but he didn't mind.

He pulled the small cloth bag from his robe, untied the string, and poured out its contents.

Ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones, dusty and gray, were stacked neatly. They emitted a faint glow under the dim sky.

This was the monthly stipend for a Guest Elder of the Lin Residence—ten stones a month.

For a Cultivator in the Meridian Opening Realm, it wasn't a fortune, but it wasn't a small amount either.

An ordinary disciple of the Ye family would be lucky to receive three stones a month.

He counted the Spirit Stones one by one, then put them back into the bag, tied it tight, and tucked it back into his robe.

Then he closed his eyes and began to regulate his breathing.

The True Qi in his Dantian was robust, feeling even more stable than when he had first achieved his Breakthrough yesterday.

He was at the Third Level of Meridian Opening Peak, only a thin layer away from the fourth level. But he was in no rush to break through.

The True Qi flowed slowly through his Meridians like a gentle river.

Following the method of the Green Wood Art, he guided the True Qi through one full heavenly cycle, and then another.

With every cycle, the True Qi became a bit more condensed and a bit more obedient.

The jade pendant on his chest felt warm, but not hot.

The phantom image of the jade booklet hovered before his eyes, but he didn't look at it. Now was not the time.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but the light in the sky grew even dimmer.

The bird calls in the forest gradually thinned out, replaced by the louder chirping of insects.

Ye Chen opened his eyes.

A figure was slowly walking over from the other side of the woods.

It was Ye Hu.

He walked with a slight limp, his left leg struggling, and the purple bruises on his face were still there, swollen high.

But his gaze was fierce, like a wounded wolf, staring intently at Ye Chen.

He stopped three zhang away from Ye Chen and just stood there.

Neither of them spoke.

The wind blew through the woods, making the leaves rustle loudly.

A crow flew overhead, cawing twice before landing on a nearby withered tree, tilting its head to watch them.

"You did it on purpose."

Ye Hu finally spoke, his voice hoarse like a broken bellows being pulled.

Ye Chen remained silent.

"Last night, in the alley."

Ye Hu took half a step forward, his fists clenching with a cracking sound.

"You did it on purpose. You knew my grandfather would give me trouble, you knew I would try to frame you, so you..."

"I didn't hit you."

Ye Chen interrupted him, his voice very flat.

"Bullshit!"

Ye Hu suddenly roared, his voice exploding in the empty woods and startling several birds into flight.

"Who else could it have been but you? You were the only one in that alley! That chill, that deathly cold—who else could it be if not you?"

Ye Chen looked at him for a long while before suddenly asking,

"Did you go somewhere else last night?"

Ye Hu was stunned. "What?"

"The person who injured you didn't use the Ye family's martial arts."

Ye Chen spoke slowly as he stood up from the rock, brushing the dirt off his pants.

"That chill isn't something that can be cultivated from the Green Wood Art. No one in the Ye family practices a Cultivation Technique with a cold attribute; you should know that."

Ye Hu's face twitched, but he didn't say anything.

"You offended someone." Ye Chen walked up to him until they were very close, close enough to see the bloodshot veins in each other's eyes.

"But you don't dare say it, do you? Because they have a powerful background and you can't afford to provoke them. So you pinned it on me, wanting me to take the fall."

Ye Hu's lips moved as if to say something, but no words came out.

His eyes flickered as he avoided Ye Chen's gaze.

"In the ancestral hall, the Grand Elder protected you because your injuries were severe and he dotes on his grandson."

Ye Chen continued, his voice not loud, but every word was like a needle pricking Ye Hu's ears.

"But the reason you've run here to question me now is because you know that person won't let it go. He's going to come looking for you again, isn't he?"

Ye Hu suddenly looked up, staring fixedly at Ye Chen.

"You... how do you know?"

"I guessed." Ye Chen turned around and began walking down the mountain.

"Wait!" Ye Hu shouted from behind.

Ye Chen didn't stop.

"Ye Chen!"

Ye Hu chased after him for two steps, his leg buckling, nearly causing him to fall. He leaned against a nearby tree, panting heavily.

"Last night... the person who hit me was from the Wang family."

Ye Chen's footsteps paused.

"Wang Teng."

Ye Hu gritted his teeth, forcing every word out from between them.

"He said the way I looked at Lin Qingxue was wrong, that a toad like me shouldn't dream of swan meat. He brought two lackeys and cornered me in the alley..."

His voice grew lower and lower until it faded away. Only his heavy breathing remained, drifting in the wind.

Ye Chen turned around and looked at him.

Ye Hu's head was lowered, his shoulders trembling.

It wasn't out of fear, but anger. He gripped the tree trunk, his fingers digging into the bark until they bled.

"I can't beat him," Ye Hu said hoarsely.

"He's at the Meridian Opening Fourth Level, and he's trained the Wang family's Blazing Sun Art to the third layer. I... I couldn't even take three moves from him."

Ye Chen said nothing.

"My grandfather knows it was someone from the Wang family." Ye Hu looked up, his eyes slightly red, though he didn't cry.

"But he doesn't dare go to the Wang family. The Wang family is powerful now and close with the City Lord's Manor. He could only... only take his anger out on you."

Saying this made him feel embarrassed, and he lowered his head again.

"So you just went along with it and pinned it on me," Ye Chen said.

Ye Hu fell silent.

The woods became quiet again.

The crow was still perched on the withered tree, its head tilted, watching them with beady black eyes.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Ye Chen asked.

Ye Hu took a deep breath, looked up, and met Ye Chen's eyes.

"You're going to participate in next month's Clan Competition, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Wang Teng will be participating too."

Ye Hu spoke every word slowly.

"He's the Wang family's top seed this time. Since the Wang family is close to the City Lord's Manor, the manor will be sending someone to watch this year's competition. If Wang Teng takes first place, the Wang family will get a thirty percent share of that newly discovered ore vein east of the city."

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"And so, you can't let him win." Ye Hu took a step forward, his gaze very serious.

"Ye Chen, I know I've wronged you in the past. I... I was a bastard. But this time, if you can make Wang Teng fail, I, Ye Hu, will owe you a favor. From now on in the West Courtyard, no one will dare trouble you or your sister. I give you my word."

Ye Chen looked at him for a long time.

The purple bruises on Ye Hu's face looked even more gruesome in the dim light.

But his gaze was sincere, without any evasion, looking straight at Ye Chen.

"What makes you think I can beat him?" Ye Chen asked.

"You can," Ye Hu said with certainty.

"Three days to go from the First Level of Meridian Opening to the third. That's not luck. For someone as arrogant as Lin Qingxue to let you into the Lin Residence and give you a Guest Elder token, it means you have talent. I can see it—you're not the same as before."

Ye Chen didn't respond.

"That bastard Wang Teng is no good."

Ye Hu gritted his teeth.

"He's had his eye on Lin Qingxue for a long time. Yesterday in the street, when Lin Qingxue fell off her horse, it was his doing. I saw it—one of his men used a hidden weapon to hit her horse's leg."

Ye Chen's heart stirred.

He had been there when that scene unfolded in the street yesterday.

He had always felt it was strange that Lin Qingxue's horse had suddenly bolted, but he hadn't thought too deeply about it.

"Why would he do that?" Ye Chen asked.

"I don't know." Ye Hu shook his head.

"But it certainly wasn't with good intentions. Wang Teng is calculating and ruthless. You... you should be careful."

After saying this, he turned to leave.

After a couple of steps, he stopped, looked back at Ye Chen, and opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately said nothing and limped away.

The woods fell silent once more.

Ye Chen stood there for a long time, watching Ye Hu's silhouette disappear into the wild grass.

Then he turned and continued down the mountain.

By the time he reached the foot of the mountain, the sky was already dark. Sparse lights were coming on in the West Courtyard, and cooking smoke rose from the chimneys, drifting in the twilight.

...

Ye Chen pushed open the courtyard gate to find Xiaoyu sitting on the threshold, her chin in her hands, lost in thought.

Hearing the sound, she suddenly looked up, her eyes lighting up.

"Brother!"

"Mm." Ye Chen walked over and sat down beside her. "Have you eaten?"

"I have," Xiaoyu whispered, leaning closer to him.

"Brother, Steward Ye Fu came by again this afternoon."

Ye Chen turned to look at her.

"He didn't come in; he just stood at the door for a while and then left," Xiaoyu said, her voice even softer.

"I saw that his expression wasn't very good, is it..."

"It's nothing." Ye Chen patted her head.

"He won't dare come back again."

Xiaoyu blinked and didn't ask further, simply leaning her head on his shoulder as they watched the last bit of light in the sky slowly fade away.

"Brother."

"Mm?"

"Are you going to participate in the competition next month?"

"Yes."

"Is it dangerous?"

Ye Chen was silent for a moment. "It's not dangerous."

"You're lying," Xiaoyu said softly.

"I've heard that Wang Teng of the Wang family is very powerful, at the Meridian Opening Fourth Level. Ye Hu was at the Martial Arts Arena this afternoon and had two of his ribs broken by him; he's still bedridden now."

Ye Chen looked down at her. Xiaoyu was biting her lip, her eyes a bit red, but she didn't cry.

"I will win," Ye Chen said, his voice steady.

Xiaoyu looked up at him for a long while before suddenly nodding vigorously.

"Mm! Brother, you will definitely win!"

She stood up and ran into the house, returning quickly with a bowl of cool water.

"Brother, have some water."

Ye Chen took the bowl and took a sip. The water was very cold, but after drinking it, the tightness in his chest eased a bit.

"Brother," Xiaoyu sat back down beside him, her voice tiny.

"I took the wenmai pill and I feel much better. My chest isn't tight anymore and I'm not coughing. Don't worry about me, just focus on your cultivation. Once you win, we'll have a good life."

She spoke earnestly, her small face full of solemnity.

Ye Chen looked at her for a long time, then suddenly smiled.

It was a faint, gentle smile. He reached out and ruffled Xiaoyu's hair.

"Okay."

That night, Ye Chen did not sleep.

He sat cross-legged on the bed with his eyes closed, regulating his breathing.

True Qi flowed slowly through his Meridians like a gentle river, but beneath the surface, undercurrents were surging.

He was at the Third Level of Meridian Opening Peak, only a hair's breadth from the fourth. But he wasn't in a hurry to break through. He was waiting for the right moment.

The jade pendant on his chest felt warm. With a thought, he summoned the phantom image of the jade booklet and opened the bond log.

There was still only one entry.

Lin Qingxue, bond level: "like old friends."

He closed the log and looked at the "Mystic Yin Perception" column. With Intermediate perception, he was now very sensitive to cold Qi.

Earlier on the mountain, when Ye Hu approached, he could actually feel a faint, lingering cold Qi on him.

It wasn't the pure Mystic Yin cold Qi like Lin Qingxue's; it was a sinister, chilling cold Qi.

Like the fangs of a poisonous snake—insidious and ruthless.

The Wang family's Blazing Sun Art was a fire-attribute technique, and the True Qi it produced should be scorching hot.

Where did that chilling Qi come from?

Ye Chen thought for a while, but unable to figure it out, he simply stopped thinking about it.

He closed his eyes again and began to circulate the Green Wood Art.

The True Qi circulated through his Meridians again and again. With each cycle, it became more condensed.

He could feel the True Qi in his Dantian like a ball of fire, slowly burning, growing hotter and hotter.

The moon rose outside the window, its cold light shining into the courtyard. The puddles on the ground reflected the light, sparkling brightly.

The sound of the night watchman's clapper drifted from afar: bang, bang, bang.

It was the third watch.

Ye Chen opened his eyes, pulled the small cloth bag from his robe, and poured out the ten Spirit Stones, arranging them in a circle around him.

Then he reached out and pressed his hand against the first Spirit Stone.

The jade pendant suddenly became scalding hot.

The Spiritual Qi within the Spirit Stone surged into his body like a flood breaking through a dam.

The Spiritual Qi was pure and dense, more than ten times more concentrated than the ambient Qi in the air.

The True Qi in his Dantian suddenly exploded.

The Bottleneck of the Meridian Opening Fourth Level was like a sheet of paper, pierced through instantly.

The True Qi surged through his Meridians like a wild horse slipping its tether. He gritted his teeth, desperately guiding and suppressing it.

Veins bulged beneath his skin, and layers of sweat broke out across his body.

The ten Spirit Stones dimmed one by one, turning into grayish-white powder.

When the last Spirit Stone was exhausted, Ye Chen suddenly opened his eyes.

A faint white light flickered and vanished in his pupils.

He slowly exhaled a mouthful of turbid Qi.

The turbid air was grayish-black and carried a slightly fishy smell; it hung in the air without dissipating for a long moment before slowly drifting away.

He looked down at his hands.

Beneath his skin, the True Qi was flowing—faster, steadier, and more robust than before.

Meridian Opening Fourth Level.

He had succeeded.