Chapter 53: Fatty’s Counterattack
Agitation, excitement, overjoyed… they were all inadequate to describe fatty Xuan’s current state of feeling.
Because he had successfully located his sixth acupoint! The five meridians true qi that he had strengthened and forged for around a year were actually in full readiness for ascension.
Unfortunately, his level of comprehension had never been enough to be able to locate where the sixth acupoint was.
And now, this “True Acupoint Resonance” method had easily helped him locate the sixth acupoint. This meant that he was almost able to breakthrough where he stood!
Yes, fatty Xuan had truly decided to breakthrough in his immediate vicinity. He gave no thought to what was an appropriate situation, nor paid heed to inconsequential things like closing his doors for training.
With brother Chen and Hubing Yue present, fatty Xuan totally didn’t think of any of this. He believed that his two brothers would monitor the premises for him.
Fatty Xuan was sweating profusely after roughly an hour. After a wild circulation of his true qi, it was like his entire being had been steamed. Droplets of water were on his face and head.
“Hahahahaha!” Fatty Xuan laughed heartily. “Xuan Yuan, you’ve been overbearing and arrogant for so many days, just want until fatty goes back and tortures you to death!”
One had to give it to him, fatty Xuan was very proud and felt quite the feeling of exaltation upon fulfillment. The son of a duke being suppressed by some nameless fellow in the family clan – even with fatty Xuan’s obliviousness, he still had a bit of pride that would be affected by a situation like this.
He itched to return immediately and find Xuan Yuan for a thorough beating to vent his frustrations of many days.
“Fatty, don’t have your head turned by success. You’ve only just broken through and haven’t stabilized your realm. You’d be seeking your doom if you picked a fight with a six meridians true qi right now.” Jiang Chen doused his spirits with a pail of cold water in the nick of time.
“I’ll give you some unconventional ways. These unconventional ways, along with the aid of pill medicine, will allow you to strengthen your meridians to a great perfection level in a short amount of time. This way, with your foundations as the son of a duke, you might as well ram yourself to death with a block of tofu if you still can’t beat an ordinary six meridians true qi. And don’t call yourself my brother.”
Fatty Xuan was wreathed in smiles. “Brother Chen cares about me the most. Brother, brothers for a day, brothers for life. Haha, knowing brother Chen is the most exalted thing of my life. Brother Chen, wouldn’t you say that my discerning eyes could recognize a gem when they saw one? Only Hubing Yue and I were your brothers when you were at the lowest point in your life. Tsk tsk, I’m a bit infatuated with my own foresight.”
Hubing Yue’s eyes also sparkled with excited and overjoyed light. His current emotions weren’t much calmer than fatty Xuan’s.
Except, fatty Xuan had broken through immediately and Hubing Yue had yet to do so.
However, to breakthrough or not breakthrough was actually not important anymore. With the “True Acupoint Resonance” method, the amount of time spent training in the future was sure to decrease greatly.
In addition, they would be able to travel a great many less winding paths, and avoid many pitfalls on the future path of their martial daos.
It wasn’t that many lacked the potential, but rather encountered bottlenecks when in exploration of the next acupoint and thus were continuously unable to find the location of the next acupoint when training in the realm of true qi.
This was a problem in the power of understanding, and wasn’t something that could be remedied by hard work.
But the “True Acupoint Resonance” method could offset the side effects of a lack in the power of understanding. Therefore, this method was absolutely beyond the existence of the Eastern Kingdom.
“Perhaps only those hidden sects possess such a method? And ordinary disciples are likely not allowed to practice it either?” Hubing Yue thought internally as his admiration and worship of Jiang Chen became even more struck from the depths of his heart.
“Brother Chen, I’ve decided that I’ll go put down Xuan Yuan in three days time. Both of you number amongst my few brothers and must come support me.”
“I’ll attend for sure.” Hubing Yue nodded.
“That works, I’ll also go to watch the show.” Jiang Chen agreed.
Three days later, Jiang Chen came to the Jinshan manor.
It could be seen that fatty Xuan had deeply concealed his intentions. He’d even hid the truth from his old man this time. It looked like that fatty Xuan had hardened his heart, and was determined to thoroughly thwart Xuan Yuan in order to give the entire Jinshan household a major surprise.
The friendship between the Jinshan dukedom and the Jiang Han dukedom spanned more than two generations. The duke of Jinshan was also vaguely surprised to see Jiang Chen attend. Strange and bizarre happenings had been occurring in the capital during this time, like that of fleeting clouds and ripples. The duke of Jinshan had also heard a few rumors about Jiang Chen, and after the events at the Soaring Dragon manor last time, the duke of Jinshan had personally observed with his eyes Jiang Chen’s performance.
Therefore, the duke of Jinshan felt rather complicated feelings towards Jiang Chen. He had originally felt that his son was more or less doing nothing useful by hanging around Jiang Chen.
But given the friendship between the two families, he hadn’t said much.
However, Jiang Chen’s successive string of changes somewhat befuddled the duke of Jinshan. He too wondered if Jiang Chen was purposefully concealing his true strength?
He had tried to solicit the truth from fatty Xuan a few times, yet, although fatty Xuan was adept at nothing else, he was first in class at playing dumb. No matter how his old man tried, he played dumb until the end, and never spoke a serious word.
After making his greetings, the gravity of the duke of Jinshan’s expressions didn’t lessen. “Xuan’er, this Xuan Yuan has suddenly shot to six meridians true qi and some of the elders within the family have indistinctly grown close with the people of Soaring Dragon. Your father suspects that a few traitors helping others have secretly already appeared in our Jinshan clan.”
The duke of Jinshan’s words were shocking. There were no outsiders present here, and thus he decided he might as well convey the seriousness of the situation to fatty Xuan.
Fatty Xuan chuckled. “Don’t worry, no matter what devious plots they have, today your son will subdue ten with the power of one, and suppress them all!”
“Xuan’er, although Xuan Yuan might not have trained to six meridians true qi through standard means, that doesn’t mean you can think less of your opponent. Don’t linger in battle if you are unable to handle your opponent, we can slowly craft another strategy.”
“I say father, can you have a bit more confidence in your son?” Fatty Xuan protested.
At this moment, an elder within the family clan hurried over with a trace of an odd smile. “Your Lordship, Xuan Yuan has already arrived at the demonstration stage. The conclave of the elders has sent me to invite the young duke to meet his opponent.”
“Huh, in quite a hurry are we!” The duke of Jinshan was a bit displeased.
Fatty Xuan however, bounced up like a rubber ball as his eyes sent out a wild light like that of someone about to torture another. “Has he finally arrived? I can’t wait.”
Fatty Xuan bounced away with surprisingly speed and hurtled towards the demonstration stage, leaving behind a chubby afterimage.
The duke of Jinshan was a bit dumbfounded and felt that it was a bit strange. Why was his son, who usually dispiritedly avoided battle, suddenly brimming with battle intent? This didn’t seem his style.
Clustered in pairs or groups of three, many of the people within the manor had already gathered around the demonstration stage. The Jinshan household was different from the Jiang Han household.
Numbers were thin in the Jiang Han household – Jiang Feng basically decided everything within the Jiang family.
But with the Jinshan household – because of numerous family members – multiple factions and cliques had developed. Many hills stood in great numbers within the entire Jinshan household.
Although the duke of Jinshan held the power, many other powers held him back by the elbow and often caused him to be in a bind.
And the Xuan Yuan who had appeared this time was something that had been drummed up by the conclave of elders.
The duke of Jinshan could have absolutely just refused. After all, it was an unquestionably moral truth that a father would pass a dukedom down to a son. However, the conclave of elders had thrown out the banner of a righteous cause, and called for the dukedom to be passed on to the strongest youth in the family. This was why such a farce had happened.
If the duke of Jinshan were to refuse, then it would undoubtedly cause great create harm to fatty Xuan’s reputation. It would be more difficult for fatty Xuan to successively inherit and control the situation in the future.
Therefore, the duke of Jinshan had wanted to make use of this opportunity to compel his unambitious son.
“Look, the young duke has arrived.”
“What young duke. If he loses the demonstration stage today, then he’s no longer the young duke, and at most a noble son.”
“Hmph, what do you mean by that? Are you in cahoots with Xuan Yuan? How dare a mere descendent from a collateral branch covet the vaunted seat of a duke?”
One indeed had to say, many camps had formed within Jinshan regarding the issue of the dukedom’s succession.
At this moment, fatty Xuan had changed from his usual status of muddy slime that wouldn’t let itself be helped over a wall. He walked unhurriedly onto the demonstration stage, with his thin eyes that were buried under fat eyelids staring intently at Xuan Yuan.
“Xuan Yuan, why don’t you look at yourself in a mirror? Someone like you wants to inherit the dukedom? Didn’t your mother and father ever tell you not to forget to bring a pillow when you dream?” Since fatty Xuan hung out with Jiang Chen, the foundations of his viper tongue naturally wouldn’t pale that much in comparison.
Xuan Yuan was someone that the conclave of elders had drummed up. When it came to birth, he naturally couldn’t measure up to fatty Xuan. His internal inferiority complex sensitivities made his face darken when he listened to fatty Xuan’s words.
“Xuan Xuan, as the noble son of the duke of Jinshan, you have no desire to make progress. The actions of I, Xuan Yuan, are but for the future of my Jin family.”
“Yo yo, now doesn’t that sound pretty. Don’t tell me that there are no Soaring Dragon dogs amongst you?” Fatty Xuan’s face darkened. “What I, fatty Xuan, hate most in this life are traitors. If you were only aiming for the dukedom, then I could have pinched my nose and bore it. But if someone wishes to betray the Jin family and throw themselves under the banner of those hotly ambitious fellows, then I, fatty Xuan, am the first to disagree!”
“Your tongue wags too fiercely!” Xuan Yuan stoutly denied. “Get the hell off the stage if you’re afraid.”
“Afraid?” Fatty Xuan laughed with a grimace. “What are you to say that I, fatty Xuan, should be afraid?”
Fatty Xuan’s rotund body abruptly bounced up from the demonstration after his words. His rotund figure was like a fat bird – rising into the air through sheer effort and persistence.
“Xuan Yuan, eat my fist!”
A fatty has a fatty’s intelligence. When fatty Xuan bounded into the air, his entire body had curled into a ball of fat. When this ball of fat had risen to the limits of its speed, it suddenly sprang open like a tightly coiled spring.
This strong punch accompanied that shocking bouncing speed and descended fiercely towards Xuan Yuan.
“Nice boxing skills, but you think to harm me with five meridians true qi?” A sliver of scorn and jealousy flashed through the corners of Xuan Yuan’s eyes.
He envied fatty Xuan’s boxing skills because they were the heritage of the duke of Jinshan’s direct line of descent. He possessed none of the rights to train in the skill.
The scorn was naturally contempt for fatty Xuan’s level of five meridians true qi.
Subduing ten with the power of one! The thing that Xuan Yuan relied on the most in order to stand on this stage was the six meridians true qi that could stomp firmly on the fatty!
One level of training was one realm!
Xuan Yuan coped with shifting events by sticking to one principle. He watched fatty’s punch descend and was ready to maintain a solid and balanced position to confront the tough with toughness.
Suddenly —
An accident suddenly occured.
Fatty Xuan’s bouncing speed suddenly accelerated with no forewarning. The trail beneath his hand suddenly expanded and doubled like the Big Dipper. The punch became even more bloodthirsty, and descended with even more frightening speed.
“Layered trail? Six meridians true qi?!” Xuan Yuan’s pupils abruptly contracted as they shot out endless looks of shock and astonishment.