Transforming Qi Ice-Fire Wine!

After daunting the other Meteor Peak disciples, Ling Feng gazed at his hands in surprise.

All he had done was duplicate Ren Yifei and Jia Peng's martial skills, so why had he been able to use their techniques better than they had?

Ling Feng quickly recalled the contents of the Chaos Heavenly Emperor Art and realized that he had simultaneously triggered the Deva and Human Path rune. With the activation of the two runes came a significant enhancement to his bodily constitution. The current strength in his body exceeded any martial artist who had spent decades forging their physiques in the Body Tempering Boundary.

Whether it was in power or in strength, he surpassed Ren Yifei and the other Meteor Peak disciples. It was why he had been able to use the Black Wind Claw and Chasing Cloud Step at levels greater than their own. And now, with Ren Yifei defeated, there was no one left with the strength to challenge him.

The confrontation quickly ended with the rest of the Meteor Peak disciples laid out on the ground, bruised and lacerated with their various acupoints sealed.

Although acupuncture techniques differed from martial skills, they were still useful in actual combat, particularly when an opponent needed to be immobilized.

Ling Feng looked to the ground at the several dead dogs. Their appearance had done much to confirm his suspicions. Several grievances existed between his "cheap master" and the higher-ups in the Questioning Immortal Sect.

Perhaps Duanmu Qingshan's style of non-interference was his own way of protecting Ling Feng.

However, he wouldn't leave the inner sect over a few bullies. The disparity between the treatment of inner disciples and outer disciples was simply too large give up without a fight. For one, the inner sect's world vitality was three times richer, which exponentially increased a disciple's cultivation speed. Additionally, only inner disciples could enter the Hidden Scriptures Pavilion to choose cultivation methods and martial skills.

If Ling Feng were to transfer to the outer sect, his time would be consumed with carrying out odd jobs. He would lose the chance to rapidly promote his strength and wouldn't be able to go to the Yan Family to recapture the second half of the Transcendent Acupuncture Technique.

"Remember not to mess with me in the future!" Ling Feng snorted coldly as he removed the golden acupuncture needles from Ren Yifei and the other Meteor Peak disciples. When finished, he headed back to the bamboo house.

Ren Yifei, who could finally move, crawled away from Ling Feng in a panic. Then he gathered himself, stood up, and glared, "Just you wait. Don't think you can rest easy because you defeated me. Tomorrow, my senior brother, who is even stronger than me, will arrive. Your fate will be miserable!"

Ling Feng frowned and turned to Ren Yifei, eyes fierce. His fists cracked as he clenched them tightly.

Ling Feng's fearful gaze caused Ren Yifei to run away in fear.

"Rats, all of you!" Ling Feng snorted coldly before entering the house.

Duanmu Qingshan, watching from the window above, lifted his wine gourd and drank several gulps. "So, you really are skilled in the medicinal arts," he murmured, a faintly discernable happy expression across his face.

Then his body flashed as he floated down the stairs.

As soon as Ling Feng was inside, he saw Duanmu Qingshan standing in the hall, hands crossed behind his back. Duanmu Qingshan was observing him with a curious expression.

"Master!" Ling Feng said, immediately running forward to bow.

Duanmu Qingshan hooked his finger at Ling Feng and spoke lightly, "Come here."

Hearing this, Ling Feng moved closer, arriving in front of Duanmu Qingshan.

"Coagulating Qi 3rd stage?" he said somewhat incredulous, "Did you promote to the Coagulating Qi 3rd stage overnight?"

"Eh…" Ling Feng scratched the tip of his nose, "I took some spirit medicines last night, therefore…"

"Ok, you need not say anything further." Duanmu Qingshan didn't have any intention of getting to the root of this matter. His gaze swept a nearby bamboo chair.

"Sit," he ordered.

Once, Ling Feng was seated, Duanmu Qingshan turned away from him and began to speak, "You must have a lot of questions for me, right?"

"Yes," Ling Feng responded with a nod, "I know that you are Senior Uncle to Yang Wei and the other peak lords, so why do you live here? And why do they want to send their direct disciples to humiliate me?"

"For your own good, it's best if you don't know too much," Duanmu Qingshan prefaced, turning back to face Ling Feng. "Each year, for the last ten years, they have delivered a low aptitude disciple and viciously humiliated him. By shaming my disciples, they hope to humiliate me."

"Why?"

"Do you really want to know?" Duanmu Qingshan asked, closely observing Ling Feng.

"Um," Ling Feng maliciously nodded his head.

"That is unfortunate because I don't entirely trust you," Duanmu Qingshan said as he untied his wine gourd and took a few more draughts.

Ling Feng's forehead grew dark. Duanmu Qingshan's reply surprised him. That didn't mean he didn't sympathize with the answer, though.

'Duanmu Qingshan has every right not to trust me,' he thought.

He understood all too well the consequences of giving away one's trust too quickly.

"I understand," Ling Feng said with a nod, "I have been betrayed once before, so I understand your feeling."

"Although you are young, you seem like a person with a story." The unusually talkative Duanmu Qingshan moved to sit beside Ling Feng, wine gourd still in hand. "If I determine that you are not a spy sent by Lin Canglang, I will take you under my wing."

"Lin Canglang? Who is that?" Ling Feng asked, somewhat puzzled.

Duanmu Qingshan deeply stared into Ling Feng's eyes before speaking in a light tone, "The sect master of the Questioning Immortal Sect."

"Sect master?" A forced smile appeared on Ling Feng's face. Not only did the peak lords want to cope with Duanmu Qingshan, but the sect master did as well.

This meant his own situation was…

Terrible! Terrible to the extreme!

"Your expression makes me believe that you truly aren't Lin Canglang's spy," Duanmu Qingshan took another sip of wine, a faint smile on his face.

"Your wine is a medicinal wine, isn't it?" Ling Feng asked suddenly as he turned his head to look at Duanmu Qingshan.

"Oh?" Duanmu Qingshan put his wine gourd down, "Continue."

"There is a wound in your body!"

"You have a keen eye," Duanmu Qingshan accented with a nod, "At your small age, your skill in the medicinal arts is not bad."

"I have a superficial understanding," Ling Feng said, eyes meeting Duanmu Qingshan's own, "Master, your wine recipe is not right."

"Um?" Duanmu Qingshan's facial expression finally changed, "Boy, even though I dare not say that my medicinal arts are unparalleled in the world, decades ago, the name of Doctor Duanmu covered the entire world. I can count on one hand the number of people whose skill matches my own. How dare you say something is wrong with my Transforming Qi Ice-Fire Wine."

"It is not right... it is not right!"

Ling Feng clenched his teeth. Any other topic, perhaps he would not have argued with Duanmu Qingshan. But his extreme passion for the medicinal arts would not allow it. It was because of this extreme love for medicine that he had reached the mortal saint level at such a young age.

Duanmu Qingshan stared at Ling Feng for quite a while until finally, he erupted into laughter, "You're right, my wine recipe is not right!"

Duanmu Qingshan slowly stood up, "If it had been right, I would have been able to remove the sword Qi from my body years ago…"

"Who would've thought that, years later, a kid would be teaching me?"

"Actually, Master, there isn't anything too wrong with your recipe, it just misses a single medicinal herb," Ling Feng said slowly, staring at Duanmu Qingshan's back. "The herb you need is actually in your medicinal garden."