"A Warrior Grade Qi Vein? This is an amazing finding! If we managed to harvest them, it will be beneficial to the people of the Apprentice Hall!" Zhang Wu Ji was delighted with the news he heard and immediately prepared his people to enter the Southern Bamboo Forest. As these findings is a great matter to himself and his people, Zhang Wu Ji put them into the first issue to handle first, before anything goes wrong.
Luckily, he read through some of the records related to the Qi Veins during his time compiling the books to be supplied to the Study Hall and also his Apprentice Hall. The Qi Veins are similar to a spring of water that was only found in place with a high concentration of Qi or Natural Energy. Their category is differentiated to many grades, starting from Fighter Grade Qi Vein that's beneficial to those non-cultivators, Warrior Grade Qi Vein for the Fighter Tier cultivators, and so on.
To harvest the concentrated Qi in the Qi Vein is nothing difficult, but proper preparation is required to reduce the losses during their harvesting moment, as the previous woven Qi can dissipate if they were to be disturbed. For each grade of Qi Vein, a different material is required. Luckily, the item that can work as the storage is Firestone that widely used in their day to day Blacksmithing tools.
Still, no matter how easy it was, the way to process them are slightly "Difficult" before they were ready to become a container for the concentrated Qi. In order to begin with, Zhang Wu Ji first needed a high amount of water to starts with. Hence, he gave the order to clear all available Fire Stones and also the available source of water. But due to the secrecy about the Warrior Grade Qi Vein has to be protected, the available disciples in the Apprentice Hall can only use the reason that they needed to craft a batch of minerals urgently, hence the need to clear their available stocks of Fire Stones and water.
As a cultivator himself, Zhang Wu Ji did become petty with himself, where through providing the Fighter Qi into the Longfeng Jade Ruler, he created a pure source of water out of thin air. Best of all, the Pure Sapphire Water's density is ten times better than normal water from the mountain and other places, thus, for each 100ml of the water he created, they were comparable to a liter from what the disciples collected from the Northern, Eastern, and North-Eastern side.
With only a hundred and forty-seven strands of Fighter Qi, Zhang Wu Ji created fourteen liters of Pure Sapphire Water to be diluted with the water they gathered inside of the Water Tank used by the Blacksmithing Department. With all of the disciples gathered at this particular department, the crowd begins to cook the Fire Stones in fifteen cooking cauldrons, and continuously adding cold water into the cauldron nonstop.
This way, they can help exhaust all the flame energy within the Fire Stone, but allow them to remain their initial shape before they were used. Their combined strength allows the Apprentice Hall to prepares fifteen hundreds of the empty Fire Stone, which it was carried to the Southern Bamboo Forest in over a hundred batches. This was done under the reason of secrecy again because a large quantity of moving of Fire Stones will end up revealing the intention of their previous collection.
Following the team, Zhang Wu Ji reaches the entrance to the Southern Bamboo Forest within a few hours journey and took the privilege to protects them as they entered deeper into the forest. The previous disciple that return with the news leads them as they reach the location about an hour after entering the forest with caution. It was weird to not encountered any Wild Beast as they march forward, but this only leads to more caution as they step deeper.
"Master Senior! That's where the Warrior Grade Qi Vein is located, all we need is..." the disciple exhales a deep breath he holds for quite long the moment they reach. But before he completes his sentence, a few sounds of metals clashing against each another can be heard.
"This is a great haul! Who will think that by purposely sneak into the forest, we will stumble across a Warrior Grade Qi Vein? And the heaven is putting the people from Seven Star Sect as the sacrifice for our brothers, how good is his lord!" one of the attackers reveals their own identity as they were trying to fight against the disciples from the Apprentice Hall for the Warrior Grade Qi Vein.
"Everyone prepares to fight! Our enemies should be from the Orchid Mountain's Bandits!" Zhang Wu Ji gave the others his instruction as they prepare to engage with the bandits. Inside the forest obstructed by the trees and shrubs, Zhang Wu Ji's method of battle by utilizing the air blades is completely disrupted. If he insisted to fight through that way, perhaps before the enemies are defeated, he would be completely exhausted.
"Enemies backup is here! Splits up and fight in two different directions!" it seems that the leader of this bandits team is more experienced compared to the previous three Lan Shan Clan members. But based on their speech earlier, they must be treating the incident related to the imprisonment of their members as a disgrace. No wonder their behavior towards his people are much more aggressive compared to what he'd seen.
"WUJI Long Fist!" Although he did not have the air blades to use, he did not lack Martial Arts to activates their skills. With the skill from his Entry Class Physical Strengthening Compilation. Fist of Destruction Qi, and the Fighter Grade Collapsing Fist. Armed with this three mere fist fighting technique, the crowd looks at the god of fighters for the first time.
He hunts the bandits like a death god, chasing each of them as they try to escape or retaliates. With each strike carrying the strength of a 2nd Stage Inner Qi Fighter, his perfect attainment fight attack decimates the opponent, until only the three strongest fighters of the Orchid Mountain Bandits remain standing. Their situation now was "Wanted to escape but can't, wanted to fight but dare not".
"Xiao Jing, Xiao Yan, let's combine our strength and break through their defense! We will return to the usual meeting point!" the strongest of the three of them, with a 5th Stage Inner Qi Fighter strength, instructed the other two to fight for an escape route, but they completely underestimate Zhang Wu Ji's ability.
He activated the Orchid Assassination Art and vanished from their sight. This sudden trick leaves everyone speechless for a split second before Zhang Wu Ji appeared in the middle of the three. "Daydreaming during a fight is the most fatal mistake one can do. Make sure you guys remember to remain calm no matter what happened." Zhang Wu Ji's voice was heard again when the crowd finally noticed his appearance between the three bandit leaders.
"How can we remain calm with you vanishing out of sudden!" the crowd wishes they can scream the lungs out with this sentence, but following from his words, Zhang Wu Ji landed three Fighter Grade Collapsing Fist on the three of them, and throws them lying on the ground, vomiting a mouthful of blood. By handling the group of hundreds in the time less than ten minutes, Zhang Wu Ji and his team protected the Warrior Grade Qi Vein, while capturing the hundred and three bandits.
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"Master Senior, what are we going to do with them?" the hunting department leader asked. According to their situation now, if they allow the group of bandits to leave or drag them back to the Wen Wu City, the secret about the Warrior Grade Qi Vein will be exposed to the public. By that time, they might attract more threats from different parties due to the preciousness of the treasure they obtained in their hand.
Maybe the patriarch of the Lan Shan Clan, Lanshan Lanyue will come personally to retrieve the harvested Warrior Grade Qi Vein from the Apprentice Hall because of the assumption it belongs to them, no matter they're the first or the last to found the Warrior Grade Qi Vein.
"I hope everyone here will maintain the secrecy of what happened here. All of you will remain here to harvest the concentrated Qi available in this vein, and I need two people to help me lead these people to a place where I can handle them." the moment Zhang Wu Ji completed his sentence, all of them felt a hint of fear from the restrictive aura he gave to the crowd.
As for the bandits, the feeling of them will end up meeting their end came even harder into their conscience, as they struggle when the two disciples helping Zhang Wu Ji to drag them to a secluded place.
Dragging the group to somewhere deeper inside the forest, Zhang Wu Ji stops as they found a deep crater that leads downwards into an open cave where it barely can protect on from the droplets of the rain. The two disciples drag the group of bandits here and left the area before they were presented with something they wished they did not see.
With only himself and the 103 bandits remained here, Zhang Wu Ji gave them the last chance to speak everything they wish. The group of bandits know it was their end as well, thus, they begin to curse as it will soothe their nervous heart before they met their ends. Zhang Wu Ji allows them to continue with their anger for ten full minutes before he withdraws his Longfeng Jade Ruler out from in the open.
In his another hand, Zhang Wu Ji holds a piece of White and Red colored Jade in his hand.
The 103 death-sentenced prisoners of his stares at the jade as they guessed it's usage, but none of them realized that this jade was the long-forgotten treasure that Zhang Wu Ji obtained earlier before he even enrolled into the Seven Star Sect as the Ninth Direct Disciple of the Sect's Headmaster. The Zhang's White Blood Jade possess the ability to any blood into strands of Inner Qi and based on the situation now, this hundred and three prisoners are the best tributes he can get.
[It would make him the most bloodthirsty killer in the world, but when he asked himself, "Which Inner Qi Elder and Inner Qi Lord did not have at least a thousand to ten thousand kills in their reputation?" the question gave his mind a salvation, as he swings the ruler with both of his eyes closed.
"Look at this idiotic Master Senior from the Seven Star Sect... Brother, if you want to kill all of us, you need swords, not Jade Ruler. How sharp can it be for you to chop our head? Hahaha! Idiot! Idiot!" the crowd that already on the way of losing their sanity did not put a reservation on their mouth, and spokes out without any restrictions. But that word came just a second early before the people belonged to the front was beheaded.
With a slight activation of his Inner Qi, Zhang Wu Ji spreads his strands of Inner Qi to form a net, catching the blood that flows out from the neck as they were directed into the White Blood Jade. When the cruel sight is shown to the remaining prisoners, they cried, but that was all they can do before the next swing came in and beheaded another group of prisoners. All of this finally ends when he completed four slashes and separating the 103 bandits into 206 parts.
It was an extremely cruel sight, but it was an extremely beneficial incident to the White Blood Jade too when the Jade begins to glow in red color. The blood red strands o energy formed from absorbing so many drops of blood begin to flows into his body, allowing him to assimilates the strands of Inner Qi one at a time, until they finally stopped after blessing Zhang Wu Ji with a total of thirty strands of Fighter Qi.
His sudden boost of strength was completely shocking, especially when the White Blood Jade is flashing brilliantly after refining so much blood on a single attempt. Zhang Wu Ji tried applying some strength as he executed a Fist of Destruction Qi towards the wall. The strikes destroy not only a part of the wall but also turning the soil from above him to get much more brittle as it begins to cracks.
Seeing the wall is beginning to collapse, Zhang Wu Ji robbed the cultivator cleans from any treasures before he left them inside the end of the cave. As it collapses, the soil of about three tonnes in estimation buried the 103 dried corpses thoroughly until it may become a difficulty to dug their corpses out in the future. As long the two disciples that lead the bandits here with him did not expose the secret, this incident will remain unknown.
He returned to where the Warrior Grade Qi Vein is located and started to inspects the Fire Stones that already been filled with the Concentrated Qi.
Concentrated Qi Stone
-Usage: preserve and maintain the quality of the concentrated qi to not allows them to dissipates. The quality of this Concentrated Qi can be refined into Fighter Chasing Dan, a natural treasure that allows any cultivator in their Inner Qi Fighter Stage to creates Fighter Qi ten times faster.
-Durability: 55/56
"Damn, the durability of the Fire Stone is not strong enough to contain the Concentrated Qi, and even just after half an hour it already loses 1 point in durability. I will have to prepare them as soon as possible the moment we returned to the Apprentice Hall but based on the light coming out from the Qi Vein, I estimate that we can fill another 600 Fire Stones before it ran empty. After that, this Qi Vein will turn back into a merely fertile soil seen all around the forest." Zhang Wu Ji estimates the number the Qi Vein can continue to fill before it ran empty.
It was useless to leave some of the Concentrated Qi inside after they ransack their content due to the known fact that their dissipation will start the moment somebody started to rummage their contents. This is also why Zhang Wu Ji prepared slightly more Fire Stones before their trip over to the Warrior Grade Qi Vein, because the moment they touch it, it will start to dissipates.
"How many injured members among us?" Zhang Wu Ji questioned as he walks closer to one of the members from the Apprentice Hall, by using the Small Nourishment Art on the disciple, his sword injuries spanned from his shoulder-blade to elbow is healed within a few seconds with only a hint of itchiness remained.
"Reporting to Master Senior, among the seventy members here, thirteen... No, twelve injured members are reported. We have all of them gathered together because these twelve member's injuries are much worst." the leader of the Hunting Department reported, while those from the Alchemist Department and Blacksmithing Department is helping each other to harvest the Concentrated Qi Stone.
He went to each of them to executes an attempt of the Small Nourishment Art and heal each of them, from grave injuries to only a scar remains, and from serious injuries back to their baby smooth skin. With no more members is injured, Zhang Wu Ji sent them back to the Apprentice Hall first while bringing a portion of the readied Concentrated Qi Stone. He will need to send a few members to collect some of the Fire Stones on their way back as well because his previous attempt might have exhausted the supply in town.
Once the harvesting of the Concentrated Qi is completed, the crowd returned to the Apprentice Hall with haste, leaving other remaining groups to spend their time collecting sufficient Firestones back to the Apprentice Hall so Zhang Wu Ji can start his Pill-Making Process. Based on the speed of the durability is deducted, Zhang Wu Ji estimates that they will only need about 28 hours to become a piece of worthless stone in the Apprentice Hall's vault.
The process to creates the pill wasn't difficult, and in fact, their process was similar to the method of concocting the Qi Sensing Pill from the Sun-Facing Fruit. All he needs is controlling the temperature and his Inner Qi while forming the pill, and strengthen their outer layer to create a protective shell that will hold all the beneficial effect of the pill inside its shell.
It was counted as a rare commodity not because of their difficulties to concoct, but the difficulties to find and harvest a Qi Vein like how Zhang Wu Ji did earlier. Perhaps if the Warrior Grade Qi Vein is found in the vicinity of Wen Qing City or Wen Yang City, there will be a bloodbath happening until the Qi Vein is completely exhausted from their Concentrated Qi. But even that will not mean the creation of the Pill is successful, because not all Pill Master has the ability to check the durability remains in the Firestone that acts as a container.
The moment he returned to the Apprentice Hall, Zhang Wu Ji holed himself inside of the Pill-Making Room by himself as he put all his attention in creating the Fighter Chasing Dan. Although the creation of this pill isn't difficult based on his ability in Pill-Making, the difficulty lies in their storage.
As a very sensitive end product, Zhang Wu Ji needed to use an only Clay-made container to hold the Fighter Chasing Dan inside. Although the completed product will not reach their expiry so fast after their completion, it was still important to have a proper container that can hold the pills without worrying about the pills and their expiry. At the end of the third day, Zhang Wu Ji completed 1,200 Fighter Chasing Dan and distributed 300 pills to the one hundred and fifty members in his apprentice hall for their future usage.
At meanwhile, during his first batch of Fighter Chasing Dan is distributed to those in their early 1st Stage of Inner Qi Fighter Stage, a total of 15 members advanced into the 2nd Stage from the consumption of their first pill. This little event end up allowing Zhang Wu Ji's Apprentice Hall to possess fifteen 2nd Stage Inner Qi Fighters on the day he completed the task of refining the Fighter Chasing Dans, and three days later after he returned to the Seven Star Sect, their number increased into ten 3rd Stage Inner Qi Fighters, fifteen 2nd Stage Inner Qi Fighters, and twenty 1st Stage Inner Qi Fighters.
As a small Apprentice Hall that suddenly rises in their strength, they become a business establishment that only the City Lord's Forces dare to disturb.