Chapter One Hundred: Intent

"Please wait, Young Master Luo!"

Steward Li’s expression changed at once. Seeing Luo Tian stop, he forced out two dry laughs to hide the tension that had crept into his voice.

"What you just mentioned, Young Master Luo, this Brother Zhengfeng of yours... could he be Jiang Zhengfeng, one of the Four Young Masters of Myriad Wind City?"

"Whether he is one of the Four Young Masters, I do not know," Luo Tian said with a slight shake of his head. "Brother Zhengfeng has never told me."

The meaning was plain enough: he was tacitly admitting that this so-called Brother Zhengfeng was indeed Jiang Zhengfeng.

Luo Tian understood very well that saying too much only led to trouble. He had no real idea who these Four Young Masters were in the first place, so he simply pinned everything on Jiang Zhengfeng.

Steward Li immediately began to sweat inwardly. Jiang Zhengfeng had never acknowledged that the other three could stand beside him on equal footing. Though he was always full of talk about reason and persuasion, in truth he had not done many reasonable things at all. It seemed this Young Master Luo really did know Jiang Zhengfeng.

At that thought, the smile on Steward Li’s face grew even broader, though it looked especially exaggerated.

"Why did Young Master Luo not make your relationship with Young Master Jiang clear to me earlier? We nearly had a misunderstanding!"

"Hmph. Brother Zhengfeng and I share the friendship of gentlemen, light as water. Why would I need to trumpet it everywhere and invite suspicion from others?"

Luo Tian continued to bluff with great solemnity.

"Young Master Luo is truly amusing. Young Master Jiang is famed throughout Myriad Wind, a most remarkable youth indeed. Who would dare use his name to swindle people without knowing their place? Young Master Jiang is our honored guest, and of course you are as well!"

Steward Li assumed Luo Tian was displeased and became even more attentive. "How about this: one bundle of Origin-Devouring Golden Silkworm Silk for just one essence stone. If you have the time, you must certainly come and see the auction!"

"Brother Zhengfeng did not deceive me after all."

With a look of deep emotion, Luo Tian watched as Steward Li brought over a box. Opening it, he saw a mass of extremely fine golden threads. He then nodded as if it were of no concern and tossed an essence stone to Steward Li.

"Farewell."

"Take care, Young Master Luo!"

Steward Li looked miserably at the essence stone in his hand. This was a losing deal, and if this Young Master Luo did not come back to do business with him a few more times in the future, it would be hard to explain.

Of course Luo Tian knew the city lord’s son was not someone to provoke. But he would only be staying in Myriad Wind City for half a month. Could that man really uncover anything?

He soon arrived at Master Qi’s Divine Armaments Pavilion. Luo Tian said little, leaving behind the Jade-Breaking Sword and the Origin-Devouring Golden Silkworm Silk before returning to the Divine Sun Trading Company on Blackstone Street.

"Senior Brother Luo is back?"

The moment Yang Hui heard the commotion, he came to greet him. "Elder Liu already went back. He said for Senior Brother Luo to stay here in Myriad Wind City in peace, and when the time comes he’ll come to pick you up."

"Mm. Thank you, Junior Brother Yang."

Luo Tian nodded. "Does Uncle Shen have any other arrangements?"

"No. Uncle Shen said for you to focus on your cultivation, or go out and get familiar with Myriad Wind City if you like. For now, there’s nothing that needs Senior Brother Luo to handle."

Yang Hui clearly had been given instructions as well. "Uncle Shen had some matters to attend to and left."

"Junior Brother Yang, is there a place nearby where one may cultivate?"

Luo Tian felt relieved at once. Since he had nothing pressing to do for the time being, he might as well seize the chance to cultivate. Though he had not experienced many battles in the woods over the past few days, he had felt a persistent stirring in his heart.

"If you only want a quiet chamber for cultivation, we have those here, one for each person. If Senior Brother Luo would like..."

Yang Hui found Luo Tian’s behavior rather strange. Which disciple who came to the Divine Sun Trading Company would actively want to cultivate? Didn’t they all prefer going out to become familiar with Myriad Wind City?

"Just a quiet chamber will do. I want to see whether the place is large enough."

Luo Tian was somewhat surprised. The treatment offered by this shop was simply too good. It really did seem like a place for someone on holiday.

Following Yang Hui to the rear and down a flight of stairs, he found two quiet chambers standing side by side.

"Senior Brother Luo, this one is a little larger. It originally belonged to Uncle Shen, though he rarely used it. Since you need it now, you may use this one first."

Yang Hui opened the door to one of the chambers, and the countless tiny specks of dust that burst up from inside made him chuckle awkwardly. "It’s a bit dusty in here, a bit dusty..."

"That is fine."

Seeing this, Luo Tian instead felt reassured. At a glance, it was obvious the room had not been used for a long time, so there was no need to worry about anyone disturbing him. As for the dust inside, a little sweeping would take care of that.

After Yang Hui left and the chamber had been left open for a while to air out, Luo Tian judged that enough time had passed and finally stepped inside.

He already felt that he had thoroughly mastered the Form section of the Nine Beast Form-Intent Fist. The nine beast forms could now be switched freely in daily practice, and no matter the sequence, he could always complete the entire set smoothly.

As for the Intent section, according to the explanation in this body-refining secret art, it was best cultivated only after reaching the Meridian Flow Realm, once qi had transformed from a gaseous state into liquid primal force.

Of course, there were exceptions.

The reason the Intent section required Meridian Flow Realm primal force was that the nature of the energy at that stage had already changed fundamentally compared with the qi of the Condensed Qi Realm. If one could somehow strengthen qi already at the Condensed Qi Realm, then naturally it could still be attempted.

Over these past few days of uninterrupted cultivation, Luo Tian had already transformed all the ordinary fire qi in his body into Transmuting-Origin True Astral Fire Qi. At his previous rate, that would not have been possible. But once his body adapted to this Transmuting-Origin True Astral Fire Qi and the amount of this fire qi within him gradually increased, the refinement of new strands into Transmuting-Origin True Astral Fire became faster and faster. That was only to be expected.

He read the Nine Beast Form-Intent Fist through carefully once more, then exhaled slowly.

If the Form section was merely imitation of a magical beast’s movements, then the Intent section was true tempering of the physique. It was not just flesh and blood; from the inside out, from surface to core, it elevated the cultivator’s body in its entirety.

Transmuting-Origin True Astral Fire Qi!

Luo Tian drew the qi out of his dantian, and the first form he chose was the ox, to temper the skin.

Form is seeing the shape. Intent is pursuing the essence within.

And while the intent derived from the ox form was not easy to fully grasp, it produced results extremely quickly at the beginning.

The quiet chambers were built entirely from black stone, sturdy and durable. Luo Tian lowered himself onto all fours and advanced by alternating hands and feet, each step crashing heavily against the floor.

Though the black stone floor suffered no damage, the force rebounding from it made Luo Tian’s hands and feet ache fiercely.

Meanwhile, the qi refined from Transmuting-Origin True Astral Fire was, in the course of this process, forcibly pressed into the skin of his hands and feet.

"Hiss..."

Luo Tian frowned, his eyelids twitching from the pain.

Even his meridians, which had already been traversed countless times by qi, had made Luo Tian feel as though he were better off dead when suddenly touched by Transmuting-Origin True Astral Fire Qi. How much worse, then, was the skin that had never before come into contact with qi?

In that instant, it truly felt as though he were being seared by blazing flames. The illusion of being swallowed by fire seemed frighteningly real.

Luo Tian clenched both fists tightly, then dropped to his knees with a thud and pounded his fists into the floor with all his strength, again and again.

Waves of pain surged at him like a tide, one after another. The agony of his fists striking the ground seemed to offset, to some extent, the sensation of Transmuting-Origin True Astral Fire Qi flooding into his skin.

His hands and feet endured an indescribable torment at every moment.

And later, when that pain spread from his hands and feet to his arms and legs, Luo Tian even felt as though his whole body might be swallowed by flames.

"Huff... huff..."

After stopping the practice of the body-refining art, Luo Tian’s veins were still throbbing with pain.

Ordinarily, the Intent section of the Nine Beast Form-Intent Fist could only be cultivated by a Meridian Flow Realm cultivator. That was not merely because of strength itself, but because a Meridian Flow Realm body was much stronger than that of a Condensed Qi Realm cultivator. This was not something gained through practice; it was the natural effect brought about by a higher realm.

Gritting his teeth, Luo Tian rested for a while, felt that he was about ready, and once again began training the Intent section.